Voice tight, he demanded, “What the hell, Soph? Did I do something to upset you?”
She gave a hard swallow and reached for more of her papers. “No. I just don’t want to keep you.” And then, before she could stop herself, she added, “Isn’t Lila waiting for you?”
She glanced over at him just in time to catch something dark and frustrated flash in his eyes. “No, she’s not,” he replied in a clipped tone that she’d never heard from him before.
“Oh.”
She tried to glance away again, but it was impossible when he was looking right at her with so much piercing intensity. Voice low, he said, “If you’d stuck around long enough, instead of running off, you would have heard me explain to Lila that I’m not interested in going out with her.”
“You’re not?” she asked in a baffled voice.
His brows drew together again, and he seemed to be working something out in his head as he studied her. “I’m not, Soph. If that were the case, I would have asked her out the first time she came on to me. But I never have.”
She was surprised to hear herself say, “I’m not sure dating you is what Lila has in mind.”
His lashes lowered a little more, making it difficult to read the look in his eyes. But his voice was huskier when he said, “You’re probably right. But I’m not interested in fucking her, either.”
She actually gulped, her body temp probably spiking at least ten degrees at the sound of him saying that particular F-word. And the way he was watching her with that focused, narrow gaze was making her pulse race like a little rabbit trying to flee for its life.
“You’re staring, Riley. Do I, um, have ink on my face or something?” It might have seemed a strange question for most people, but it was depressing, how many times Sophie got home at the end of the day to find that she’d smudged ink or graphite over her cheeks or chin.
He suddenly laughed, the low sound doing dangerous things to her insides. “No, honey. You don’t have ink on your face.”
“Then why are you looking at me like...that?”
It seemed to take forever before he said anything. And in truth, he didn’t break the tension by speaking, but by action. The corner of his gorgeous mouth started to kick up in a sinful grin as he collected the rest of her paperwork, took the bundle gripped in her hands, then stuffed the papers into the outside pocket on the leather bag he had slung over one of his broad shoulders. Before she could ask why he’d put her things in his bag, he reached down and snagged her wrist, pulling her to her feet as he stood.
Oh...wow. The current of energy — of need — that slammed into her with his touch was breathtaking. She swayed a little, and his slightly callused thumb moved over the skittering pulse in her wrist. “Riley?” she questioned breathlessly, though she didn’t have a clue what exactly she was asking.
He tugged on her arm, sending her stumbling after him. “Come on,” he drawled in his deliciously deep voice, leading her toward the empty row of elevators at the end of corridor. Her lab and his office were both on this floor, which prompted her to ask, “Why are we taking the elevator?”
Shifting the grip he had on her wrist so that he was now holding her hand, he reached over with his free hand and hit the down button. With his attention on the blinking numbers over the elevator doors, he said, “We can ride down together.”
The only reason to take the elevator down was if they were leaving, and she still had two and a half hours of work left to get through. But instead of arguing, she found herself silently following him on to the empty elevator when the doors finally pinged open.
As the doors slid closed, Chris opened the control panel and pressed a series of buttons. A quiet beep followed, and the elevator stayed still while the doors remained closed. They were trapped inside, but they weren’t moving. With her lower lip caught in her teeth, Sophie tugged her hand from his much larger one and put a little breathing room between them. Pressing her back against the far side of the elevator, she tried to sound as normal as possible, as she asked, “Is there something wrong, Riley?”
“Don’t you think it’s about time you started doing as I asked the first time we ever met and called me Chris?” he asked in a rough tone that never failed to make her panties ridiculously damp, the lines of his face drawn tight with a keen, physical tension. “And, yeah, there’s definitely something wrong.”
“What is it?” She sounded completely baffled again, which was exactly how she felt at the moment.
“I want to ask you something, Sophie.”
“Okay,” she murmured, chewing on her lower lip. What the hell was happening here? She cringed when the horrible thought that he might be getting ready to tell her that he’d noticed her crush, but just didn’t see her that way, spilled into her mind. When he didn’t say anything, she finally whispered, “Are you going to tell...”
Her voice trailed off with a gasp when she caught the smoldering look in his chocolate gaze. And not the tasteless stuff, either. No, Chris’s eyes were the deep, rich color of pure Swiss cocoa, all warm and intoxicating, like he wanted to eat her alive. God help her, no one had ever looked at her quite like that before. It was even more delicious than the way she imagined him looking at her in her fantasies, and a powerful punch of lust slammed into her belly, causing a breathy sound of need to wheeze past her lips. She licked their dry surface, surprised when those brown eyes narrowed, following the nervous action like a hawk eyeing its prey. “I’ve been fighting this for what feels like forever,” he rasped into the heavy silence.
Her eyes widened. “Uh…” She shifted nervously beneath his stare. “Fighting what?” she asked lamely, feeling as if she’d slipped into some kind of alternate reality. Chris was looking at her as if he were actually interested, which meant this was the perfect time to let him know she was interested, too. To do a little harmless flirting. Heck, if Lila Carne were standing in her place, she’d probably already be on her knees, his erection halfway down her throat by now.
That is, if he had an erection. Did he? Was he hard? As hard and as hot as the look that was burning in those beautiful eyes?
She wished she had the guts to just do it. To just drop her startled gaze and check him out. And if he was hard, she wished she had the nerve to drop down on her knees and do exactly what Lila would be doing if she were the one standing in that elevator with him.
The only problem was that Sophie was about as good at flirting as she was at skateboarding. And the only time she’d ever tried to ride her older brother’s skateboard had ended with a trip to the ER and a cast on her left arm for two months.
But then, she’d never, in all her life, wanted — needed — to take a risk as badly as she wanted to take this man. She was so freaking tempted she could taste it.
She watched, fascinated, as a glimmer of pure, unadulterated hunger seemed to spark deeper within his gaze, setting the brown to a roiling, molten glow. “Can’t you guess?”
“No,” she whispered, shaking her head.
“Soph, we need to talk about this.” The hint of a dare played there in that warm, private stare. It was almost as if he knew her little secret, and the idea sent an exhilarating shot of panic down her spine.
Oh, God, did she actually want him to know? Could there honestly be a chance that he felt the same? That he wanted her as badly as the look in his eyes seemed to be saying he did?
The instant that crazy thought slammed into her head, she thought No... No, of course not! That was ridiculous. Despite how he was acting, she’d be a fool to think he was into someone as awkward as she was. Yeah, she had talents. But that was at work. They didn’t pertain to hot, sexy studs who made her ache for things she didn’t believe she could ever have — even for just one hot, incredible night. The way she felt about him was obviously making her imagination run wild. Heck, for all she knew, she’d hit her head when she tripped in the hallway and she was dreaming this entire thing!
When she bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to make it hurt
and didn’t suddenly wake up, a shocked Sophie assumed it actually was happening. But her courage was in shreds. “I’m not sure what you think we need to talk about, Riley, but I need to get back to the lab,” she murmured, so disappointed in herself she wanted to scream.
A slow, slightly crooked grin transformed his rugged good looks into something outrageously sinful. Flustered, she started to drop her gaze again, when he said, “Fuck work for the moment, Soph. I want to talk about us. About you and me.”
That jerked her eyes back up to his, unsure how they’d finally found the courage to wander down below his belt to the tempting, mouthwatering bulge at his groin. Jesus. Only Chris Riley could manage to look that sinful in gray pinstripe, crisp white dress shirt, and dark maroon silk tie. She knew he dressed so well because he wanted people to think he was more than just a gorgeous face and muscular bod. There were always going to be small-minded people who would take one look at him and assume he was nothing more than a dumb jock or a surf bum. But they couldn’t have been further from the truth.
And right then, at that very moment, his business attire wasn’t doing anything to dull his raw sex appeal and intensity. He could have been wearing barbarian fur and he wouldn’t have looked more primitively sexual than he did standing across from her in the quiet elevator, the front of his slacks straining over a shockingly full erection. The sight had sizzling licks of lust rushing through her veins, her heartbeat pounding to a heavy, hypnotic rhythm.
His eyes held hers, waiting for a response. “What about us?” she yelped, inwardly scowling at the ridiculous sound. Geez, what was it with her today? She should be acting like “Sophie the Sex Goddess”, not squeaking like a friggin’ mouse.
He dropped his bag and took a step forward, then another, quickly closing in on her. All the wonderful little details came into sharper focus, from the small, jagged scar at his temple to the slight bump on the bridge of his nose, as if it’d been broken at some point. He didn’t stop until he was standing right in front of her, his broad, well-muscled shoulders dimming the bright glare of fluorescent light from overhead. “Do you really not know what I’m getting at, Soph?”
“Uh...I, um...” she stammered, while his rich, earthy, masculine scent messed with her head. It was like something you would smell in the wild, fresh and clean and entirely too addicting for her own good.
He slowly shook his head, his hot gaze following the soft curve of her chin, trailing up the line of her jaw, across what she knew must be a pink cheek, to land on the curling wisps of light brown hair at her temples, more than a few strands slipping free of her messy bun. It seemed unusually warm in the elevator and her skin was beginning to feel damp, though she suspected that had more to do with the fever building inside her than it did with the actual temperature.
The corner of his mouth twitched as he stared down at her, the look in his eyes somehow as tender as it was intense. “Take a deep breath, honey. You don’t need to be so nervous.”
She wet her lips with the tip of her tongue, trying to focus on what he was saying through the haze of desire clouding her senses. Was it going steamy in the tiny elevator, or was she about to combust?
“Do you have any idea how fucking sexy it is when you lick your lips like that? How crazy it drives me?” He cupped the right side of her jaw, the thrilling touch of his skin against her own electric, the metal of his ring cold against her feverish warmth. A barrage of potent sexual images invaded her mind, stealing through her system, nearly bringing Sophie to her knees. Using his thumb, he outlined the shape of her mouth, then pressed against the center of her lower lip, testing its fullness. “Yeah, I can’t stay away from this. Not for another second.”
“Riley?” she moaned, licking her bottom lip again. When the tip of her tongue grazed his thumb, he visibly shuddered.
“Jesus,” he growled, already lowering his head. “Use my goddamn name, Soph.” And then his mouth was on hers, hot and so blissfully skilled, his tongue thrusting past her lips to rub against her own, and her heart jerked so sharply she nearly died. She got lost in the beautiful, mind-drugging place where she took in his breath for her own, his warm lips and his tongue claiming her mouth in ways that were exquisitely sinful...explicit. Startled and feeling completely inept in the face of his experience, she struggled against it as strongly as she longed to surrender, to give in, and as if he sensed her internal battle, his kiss became nearly violent in its power, ruthlessly demanding her submission.
God help her, she was ready to give it. Ready to crawl up his big, beautiful body and let him teach her everything she needed to know to make him like it. To keep him coming back for more. For as much as he was willing to give her.
But then, the next thing Sophie knew, he was ripping that wicked mouth away from hers, the low, guttural sound on his lips burning through her, leaving her melting between her trembling thighs.
“Chris?” she whispered, using his name for the first time when his dark gaze locked hard with hers.
“Listen,” he said roughly, caressing her cheek as he pulled back with a ragged, audible breath. “We’ve skirted around this thing between us for long enough, and now I... Christ, I can’t keep my hands off you. So I’m just going to put it out there. Do you want me, Sophie?”
Chapter Three
With his blood pounding in his ears, Chris waited for Sophie to answer him, knowing damn well that he needed to come clean with her now, before this thing between them went any further. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it when there was a chance she might run. And after wanting her for the past four months, fighting the attraction every goddamn day, it’d fucking kill him if she ran.
Those big light brown eyes swallowed her face, giving everything away — her shock, as well as her powerful arousal. “What?” she croaked in a throaty voice, looking past him as if seeking a route of escape within the cramped interior of the elevator. Or maybe she thought there was a secret cameraman getting ready to jump out of the wall, as if this were all some sort of set-up. It would have pissed him off, if he didn’t know how shy she was. Not to mention cautious around men. He just wished she had more faith in him than that.
He took a deep breath, struggling to stay in control. They probably only had a handful of seconds before one of the guys on his security team used the intercom to make sure everything was okay, considering he’d had the elevator in lockdown for nearly a minute now. He needed this thing settled between them before they reached the lobby and she was able to run and hide. “You heard me, Sophie.”
“I’m not... I don’t, uh... I mean, I’m so confused.”
“Jesus,” he groaned with a choked laugh, “just answer the question.”
A small frown formed between her delicate brows, her expression as wary as it was puzzled. “What’s this really all about?”
He took her slim hand in his much larger one and studied the fine tracery of veins beneath her fragile skin, stroking a pale blue line with his thumb. “I’ve been fighting the desire to ask you out since meeting you, Soph.”
“But — why? Why fight it?” she whispered, sounding breathless with disbelief. “If you wanted to ask me out, why didn’t you?”
Tension crept through his muscles, and though he managed a lopsided grin, he had a feeling it looked strained. Giving her only part of the truth, he said, “I know there were some crazy rumors going around about me right from the first day I started at Blackwood, and I was worried you’d turn me down because you believed them. I wanted to give you time to get to know me — not the reputation. Because whatever you might have heard, Soph, it’s mostly bullshit. I’m not a playboy. And despite the fact that I’m not a genius like you and most of the others, I’m also not a moron who has more muscles than brains.”
A flash of fiery anger lit her expression, sparking within those big brown eyes. “I never thought you were. I can’t even imagine who could know you and still think something like that.”
His chest got this weird melting sensation right
in the middle — one he strongly suspected had been nurturing its roots since he’d met the intriguing, delectable little Sophie Ward. “Your boss, for one. He looks at me like I’m nothing more than a beach bum. And a few of your co-workers.”
She scowled. “You know how I feel about Dr. Hastings and a lot of the guys in my lab. They’re assholes to anyone they can’t intimidate,” she muttered, sniffing with disdain. “And their Rogaine isn’t working. It makes them bitchy.”
A deep, rumbling laugh surged up from his chest, and he shook his head, thinking she was too damn cute for words. And so innocently sexy, he didn’t know how much longer he would be able to keep himself together. He could tell by the way she was staring up at him that his hunger was carved into the hard-edged angles of his face, burning in his eyes. He gently brushed a wayward lock of hair back from her flushed cheek, tucking the errant strand behind the small shell of her ear. “So you don’t see me as the resident idiot stud of the institute?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Of course not. I’ve never given you any reason to think such a ridiculous thing.”
“You assumed that just because Lila shoved her breasts in my face, I was going to pounce on her,” he pointed out, trailing his fingertips from her ear down the tender side of her throat. He cupped the slender column in his palm and brushed his thumb across the base, seeking out her racing pulse beneath the delicate skin. “So what am I meant to think?”
Sophie swallowed, licked her lips, and spoke in a breathless rush. “I wasn’t... didn’t... I was just... I mean...” She closed her eyes, a frustrated breath escaping her mouth.
“Just tell me this. Have you ever thought about me, Soph?” His voice was low, hypnotic and seductively rough, a light rasp to the deeper tone that made her shiver. He has a voice made for sex, she thought, trembling as arousal thrummed through her starved system. A voice made for seduction. Only, she didn’t need to be seduced. Just having the magnificent male near was all it would ever take to make her pulse stutter, her body readying itself in a flash of heat and swelling, aching need.
Making His Move Page 2