by Nana Malone
Chapter Sixteen
“So explain to me how when you thought, ‘I'm going to break into my old place of employment,’ you thought of me?”
Jaya could feel Alec’s breath on her as they entered the elevator in the Trudeaux building.
Pressing the button to the top floor, she smiled up at him. “Aren’t you the one who keeps telling me I need to be more daring? I'm being adventurous.”
“When I said that, I meant maybe go rock climbing with me or something. Not a little B and E.”
“It's not B and E if it's my software. They have no right to it. I'm just going to get it back.”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t get me wrong. I like this new naughty mischievous streak of yours. I'm just telling you, if we get busted, I'll sing like a bird about how this was all your idea and you strong-armed me.”
She hid a smile. Casting him a sidelong glance, she doubted anything could strong-arm him. Not with all that muscle. “I'll keep that in mind.”
“It’s okay, I’m pretty sure I’ll make bail if we get pinched. And I’m down for anything that might help me get laid by you, but are you sure you want to do this? Maybe it’s time to face a new reality, Jaya. Maybe you’re not meant to be here at Trudeaux.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m not giving up on what I want. I belong here. Now you remember the plan?”
“If anyone stops me, I act like I'm looking for your office. Make whoever dares stop me have to deal with the unpleasant task of telling me you no longer work there. If they ask questions, kick a major fuss.”
“Right. While you do that, I'll just pop into Tamara's office and get what I need.”
“And if it's not there?”
She bit her lip. “It’ll be there. She stole it. I know my sister. Or at least I know Derrick.”
“Fair enough.” He rolled his shoulders. “Are you sure you want to do this? We can just push the down button and go back to the car. Maybe you could ask your father for the software.”
Jaya clamped her jaw. “And I've told you, he won’t give it to me. He thinks I’m doing the spoiled-brat thing. I'm tired of rolling over. Just taking what's mine.”
He grinned. “Then I'm behind you. I have a good lawyer on speed dial I did a favor for once.” He chuckled.
As they exited the floor, she led him to the guest waiting room.
“Remember, most of the staff is at the marina prepping for the wedding, so it's a skeleton crew. My office is next door. Just whistle or speak loudly as a warning. I'll hide or something. I only need a couple of minutes.”
“You know where to look?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Before it was Tamara's office, it was mine. I doubt she's had a chance to change the safe. If the software is here, it'll be in there. She probably doesn’t know how to use it yet.”
“You’re sure you want to do this?” He peered down at her and searched her face.
“Would you relax? I know what I’m doing.”
“As monstrous creations go, you’re one hell of a beauty.”
The moment Jaya entered her old office, the smell of perfume assaulted her. Of course her sister would turn this place into a girly fortress. Keep on the task at hand. She could lament about the unprofessional nature of it after she got what she came for. Lucky for her Tamara hadn’t begun a renovation of the office. The layout was the same, meaning the safe was in the same place. Slipping into the closet, Jaya opened the compartment that hid the safe. She tried the original combination. It didn’t open. Damn it.
She tried her father's birthday then her mother’s. Then Tamara’s. But as flighty as her sister might seem, she wasn’t stupid enough to use her own birthday as the safe combination. Jaya started sweating under the pressure. More than once she had to stop to wipe the moisture off her palms. “Come on, come on. What would it be?”
“What the hell is taking so long?” Alec's voice right behind her had her giving a squeal of alarm.
“Damn it. What the hell are you doing in here? You’re supposed to be the look out. How can you be looking out if you’re in here with me?”
“It's been more than ten minutes. I figure you'd had some sort of crisis of conscience.”
She rolled her eyes. “No. I'm trying to deal with the safe. Tamara changed the combination.”
Alec frowned. “Did you try her birthday?”
“I'm not stupid. Of course I did. No dice.”
“Any other bright ideas that can get us arrested?”
She hit him on the arm. “What about you? Aren’t you supposed to have some tales of a misspent youth or something? Don’t you have any safe-cracking experience?”
“Shit, not even I'm that good. What about something important to her? From what I saw, she's all about her all the time, but she seems to love the glory days. Anything from her past that would mean something.”
A little light bulb flashed in Jaya's memory. “Of course—why didn't I think of it?” She tried one combination of three numbers, then another. Neither worked. On the third try it finally clicked open.
Alec's eyes widened. “What did you use?”
“Through high school, she had three boyfriends from the moment she could date. Each was captain of the football team at the time. I used their numbers.”
“You’re kidding me.”
She shook her head. “Tamara was on the cheerleading squad. Captain was no less than she thought she deserved.” Jaya reached into the safe. There were several papers, the petty cash box—and the flash drive with her software. Snatching it out of the safe she waved a fist in triumph. “Got it. Now let’s get the hell out of he—”
A noise in the outer room shut her up. Alec pulled her close and clicked the closet door shut behind him, closeting them in together in the confined space. Her breasts brushing up against him, she sucked in a breath, only to have her nipples rub against his chest.
Neither of them breathed, straining to hear the sounds in the adjoining room. What the hell was Tamara doing back? She should have been so busy with the planning, she wouldn’t have gone anywhere near the office. Unless it was someone else. Though that person had a death wish if she knew her sister. Tamara hated anyone touching her stuff. It was the one anal quality she'd been born with.
“Do you think it's your sister?” Alec's voice was so low, she was only sure of what he said by the vibrations coming from his chest.
She shrugged. “Dunno.”
He opened his mouth to speak again and she shoved a hand over his moving lips. They didn’t need to be discovered poking around the safe. Her father would for sure have her arrested. Or at the very least, disowned. She heard the chair in the office slide against the hard wood and smack into the window. Damn, whoever was in there, planned on being around for more than a second. She forced her shoulders to relax. If they had to stay in here for a little, she didn't want cramped muscles as a result. Too bad that was easier said than done. She could literally feel everything about Alec. His breath, his body, his tension, his hands, which settled just above her hips.
Her body screamed for them to do more than just sit on her waist. Her mind screamed warnings. Danger Jaya, danger. Man too close. She compelled her brain to force-quit the alarm. That was, of course, until she felt the hard length of him butting up against her. She sucked in another breath. He bit out a low curse through clenched teeth as his hands tightened imperceptibly.
He tried to move away, but that only made it worse, brushing the hard length of him against her abdomen some more. This time she joined him in the cursing. His spicy scent enveloped her and her mouth went dry. The usual cool temperatures of the office felt ten degrees hotter.
He mumbled something that sounded like an apology. She couldn’t be sure, as he said it through clenched teeth.
“Let's just think about something else,” she muttered, trying not to picture the elevator, her with her legs wrapped around him, begging him to make love to her. Him stroking her core ‘t
il she’d had an orgasm so strong, she'd collapsed. Stop. Stop it now, Trudeaux. You’re not helping yourself.
“I’ll stop thinking about it when you stop looking like you’re remembering the other night in the elevator.”
For the first time since she'd been wearing them nonstop, her shoes began to pinch and she shifted.
“Jaya, you need to stop moving.” Alec's voice was tight.
She understood where he was coming from. This was too much. They’d had sex in numerous positions and all kinds of places, but being trapped in something the size of a coffin played havoc on her nerves. If only he didn’t smell so good. If only her whole body didn’t itch to have his hands on it. She heard the low moan and didn't realize it was coming from her until she felt his hands on her hips again, rubbing and soothing.
“I know. It's not easy for me either, sweetheart.”
“So much for my bright ideas. I can't believe I thought I could come in here and just do this. So stupid.” From now on I’m back to following the rules.
Alec hushed her. “It's okay. So it didn’t go according to plan. Could be worse.”
She would not cry, though tears pricked her eyelids. Stupid stupid stupid. His arms went around her and it was almost worse, because it reminded her of how they'd met. He pulled her even closer and there was no hiding his need from her. There was also no hiding her response to him as her nipples pressed into his shirt.
Hey, it’s not every day I get locked in a closet with a Greek God right? I might as well enjoy it.
He held her head to his chest and stroked the back of her head, still hushing her, still in comfort mode. Until she breathed into his neck. She felt the instant change in him. The tension creeping into his shoulders. The way his hands tightened on her waist. The low rumble in his chest. The hardening of his dick against her. She knew the kiss was coming even before he dipped his head.
For several moments she couldn’t believe he was going to kiss her. But she knew. She wasn’t that innocent. She was bracing herself. When his lips met hers, it was all she could do not to climb all over him. His lips were soft at first, undemanding. Subtle. Then he angled his head and deepened the kiss. His tongue crept in to meet hers. It teased hers into a dance. Tasting, stroking, begging for an answer. And the answer was heat and sex and need. God, the man could kiss. She moved against him in an ancient need to get closer. Her hips rocked against his and he growled.
“You keep doing that, and your sister’s going to hear you screaming my name.”
Alec shifted position. Jaya found her ribcage pressed up against a cabinet in the miniscule closet space. Finding her back crowded by a large, hard, very earthy male, she held her breath as the voices in the office drew nearer. She felt Alec’s hands tighten at her waist in silent warning not to make a sound, and strained to listen, but the voices were too muffled.
When his hands tightened on her hips again, her stomach contracted. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ward off the sensations. She shifted in an effort to create more space between them, but all she managed to do was bring herself closer to Alec—all of Alec.
After that, she tried to keep as still as she could, which proved increasingly difficult as he placed kisses at her temple, presumably to keep her calm. She took deep breaths and tried to think of something innocuous. Though every time she shifted, she could feel the length of him against her ass. She tried to swallow, but her mouth felt like sawdust. The things this man could do to her body by barely touching her. All she could do was brace herself against the safe in front of her. She rolled her head forward, exposing the back of her neck.
She held her breath as she felt the telltale sign of his arousal nudging against her insistently. God, he picked a hell of a time. Heart thudding in her chest, her brain was conflicted.
They couldn’t do this here. Though, her body was in no mood to listen to her brain. Why did the one man who could make her feel this way have to be Alec? They had no future. He would leave and she’d be left holding the pieces.
No, for her it had to be Mr. Handsome as Sin, who was all wrong for her. When his hands began to move up her ribcage, beads of sweat popped on her brow. Did he have any idea what he was doing to her? She shifted some more, trying to alleviate the throbbing ache between her legs. When she heard his muted groan, she felt a swell of feminine pride.
His hands paused just under her breasts. It was all she could do not to put them on her breasts herself. He beat her to it and gently rubbed her nipples with his thumbs.
Body on fire, she rolled her hips again. What the hell was wrong with her? There they were up shit’s creek with no paddle and she was giving serious thought to having sex in a closet.
Her nipples had started to tingle and pebbled into hard peaks. Her thighs quaked with the force of her arousal. Her bones had taken on a jelly consistency.
She had to touch him. Unfortunately, her current position and the need to be quiet limited her options. She twisted her arm behind her. Her palm came in instant contact with his hard, steely thigh. He was solid everywhere, all sinew and stone.
She drew her hand up until she hit pay dirt. He hissed as she stroked him once…twice…three times. She felt him go from firm and interested to rock-hard and relentless. She settled into a rhythm of rocking against him each time he squeezed her tender flesh. She was further rewarded with a feral nip at her neck.
She should have been reminding him that they were in danger of getting caught instead of kneading him to full readiness. She should have been doing everything to keep quiet, not wanting to feel his hard flesh buried deep in her. She wanted him. Her dewy core was already slick in preparation for him. She moved against him again and reveled when he tensed.
Alec let his hands roam back down past the front clasp of her skirt and it was her turn to hiss. His fingers tapped a sensuous rhythm down to her aching core. When he finally reached her strip of springy curls, he paused and nipped her ear. “Stay still and don’t make a sound,” he whispered. She stilled and his hand continued its journey. He inserted one impossibly long finger into the silken heat and she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. To reward her silence, the one finger was joined by another, sliding into her in an ancient rhythm.
In a breath the voices drew nearer. Both of them held completely still, save his moving fingers. What a sight they must have been. Her hands behind her, stroking him. His hands in front of her, stroking her.
She was out of her mind. First the Nancy Drew antics. Now this. She’d never behaved like this a day in her life before she met him. She was out of her mind, pure and simple. Clearly this was not the place or the time. But it didn’t stop her with Alec.
If either of them made a sound, they would be discovered. Alec was dangerous to her sanity. She should have listened to him. But oh, no, she wanted to follow her heart.