"Not going to happen, baby." Robert closed and locked the door and leaned back against it. He lounged indolently there, all the while watching her.
Renee tried not to hyperventilate as a barrage of images from the past few weeks pushed through her mind. Him, pushing a mixed drink at her and entwining her hair in his fingers. Her, up against the door in his office as orgasm washed over her. And last night, his fists in her hair as he pushed inside of her.
And that was when he was being gentle. He didn't look gentle now. She moved back another step.
"He can't protect you from me." His voice was deep, guttural. "Nobody can protect you from me."
Renee moved behind the bar and into her kitchen to put some space between them. She dragged in a breath. "Do I n-need p-protection from you?"
She received no answer. She pushed her hair behind her ear and saw her fingers tremble. She was a mess.
Robert pushed off the door and took two steps toward her but stopped when she let out a whimper.
He eyed her up and down and then spoke his mind. "There's one thing we have to get straight before this goes any further."
Her big eyes stayed glued to him but she didn't respond.
He held his ground and attempted to control his tone but his voice still vibrated with jealousy and suppressed sexual tension. "You can't see Cameron. You got that? No lunches, no dinner dates, nothing. I don't even want to catch you talking to him at the office. Understand me?"
She moved her head slightly in a negative motion.
He started advancing on her again. "No?" His voice was a growl. "No? You don't understand, or you think you're going out with him?"
She held up one slim hand to stop him. She was about to come unglued with him stalking her. "Stop!"
When she shouted, Robert halted in his tracks. Only the bar stood between them.
She took a deep breath and tried to form words. "I want to know why you think you can tell me what to do? Who to date? You're my boss, not my keeper."
His eyes narrowed into slits. "This doesn't have a goddamn thing to do with me being your boss and you know it. This is about you and me and last night. You remember last night, baby?" His voice was like gravel, his jealousy on the surface. "You remember me pushing in and you creaming my cock? Goddamn, I remember. It's you and me and nobody else. Nobody fucking else. You want proof? You want me to come over there and prove it to you? Dare me. Come on. Right now. Dare me to prove it." He waited for her little hand to come up in the air to stop him.
Renee held her breath and stared at the incensed madman standing so close to her. All at once a buzzing went through her blood and reached her brain. What would he do?
The words came softly. "I dare you."
Chapter Nine
Robert stared at her a split second before her words penetrated the thick fog of jealousy that devoured him. He moved on her immediately.
He swung around the counter and was on her in seconds. His hands reached out and snagged hers and pushed them behind her back. He held them with one hand while his other reached up and grabbed her hair and pulled her face to his.
His eyes glazed over with lust as he fastened his mouth to hers. The kiss was rough, possessive, uncompromising. He restrained her body while his mouth plundered hers.
Renee hung in his grasp as sensation hit her. Twin feelings engulfed her. Joy, that she would know the full extent of his desire. And pain, because she knew she wouldn't be able to keep him. He disturbed her like no other man before him, and she didn't think she had what it would take to capture a man as intense as Robert Thibodeaux. But that wouldn't stop her from enjoying the experience. It was a once in a lifetime moment, to feel this kind of passion. And she was old enough, and woman enough, to realize it.
Robert hung in the grip of the most intense arousal he had ever experienced. His body was thinking for him. He barely recognized that he had no control. He just couldn't hurt her. He needed her naked, now. But he couldn't hurt her. It was like a mantra in his head.
He let go of her hands and lifted her shirt and pushed it over her head and off. This was going to go fast. There would be no slowing down. But he needed to touch all of her. See all of her. He reached between them and unsnapped the front clasp of her bra. Her breasts spilled into his hands. He groaned and lowered his head and took a firm pink nipple into his mouth.
Renee was inundated by desire so quickly she felt like she was drowning. His mouth on her breast was moving in a sucking motion, making her wet between her legs. Liquid heat spilled from her and she pushed her torso against him. She clasped his head to her breast.
It wasn't enough for Robert and he lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom. He dropped her on the bed and ripped his shirt over his head. He caught his breath and watched her lying there, her legs sprawled apart and leaning on her elbows, her chest heaving.
Jesus Christ, he was going to come in his pants.
He stood at the foot of the bed and reached out and grabbed her by the legs. He pulled her to him and unsnapped her shorts and pulled them off, dragging her panties down at the same time.
The suddenness of the movement dismayed Renee and she scrambled back on the bed, away from him. Her chest was heaving from the physical exertion and excitement. She lay there, naked, except for the opened bra, watching him.
He took the opportunity to rid himself of the rest of his clothes. He stared at her the entire time, moving his eyes from her glorious blond hair, down to the perfection of her small, painted toenails. His erection hardened to aching fullness.
Renee closed her eyes at his naked strength. He was large all over.
Robert put one knee on the bed and started for her.
Renee had just enough snap to know it was now or never. "I'm not protected." She watched red slashes form across his cheekbones, and thought for a moment that he wouldn't stop. He gave her a look filled with resentment. "Please. There. In that drawer." She motioned with her hand to the small drawer below her jewelry box.
He turned toward it and came back to her a moment later, protection in place.
He moved back to her immediately, grabbed her legs again and pushed them apart. He stood for a moment, staring at her between her open legs, with one knee on the bed and his huge erection pulsing between them.
Renee began to pant. When he didn't move, she blushed deep red and moved one hand to cover herself from him. He looked up into her eyes. Tension ricocheted between them.
His arms were sinewy and straining with muscles. His features were menacing, his outcome sure, his pursuit accomplished. His hands tightened on her ankles. "Let go. It's mine. Let me see." His voice was a guttural growl, and she wasn't inclined to dispute him.
Renee responded by moving her hand and covering her eyes so she wouldn't see him looking at her there. It was too intimate. Way too intimate. He was asking for the very heart of her. Demanding it.
He moved up on the bed. He pushed her ankles up, and it bent her knees, just as he intended. Renee was both appalled and intensely excited by the position he had her in.
He moved his hard torso between her thighs and used it to hold her legs spread while he reached with one hand and slipped a finger inside of her. She gasped and rained liquid heat all over him. "That's it." He played with her with his fingers while he watched. In a matter of moments, Renee was straining and lifting against him. She had been the recipient of an orgasm like this before from him. She ached to feel it again.
It wasn't to be. Just when she felt like the waves were about to take her, he removed his hand. For the first time, she lowered her hand away from her eyes and looked at him. His attention had moved up to her clit. He began stroking her. "You're so pretty. So goddamn pretty." He watched his hand as he manipulated her.
Renee was fascinated by the honesty and tenderness in his voice. It was enough to send her on the path toward orgasm again.
But he lifted his hand again. She panted. "Please."
He reached up and softly
stroked a pink nipple. "Okay, baby."
He reached down with both strong hands and opened her wide. His eyes moved to hers just before he pushed his head between her legs and began swiping her with his tongue. Electricity hit her. His tongue on her, abrading her. Up and down. Up and down. Up and down. His mouth fastened on her clit and he began sucking at it as he slipped two fingers inside her. He used his mouth and his fingers on her ruthlessly, demanding an orgasm from her. Renee knew a mindless moment when she hung in the air before being thrown into an orgasm more hauntingly erotic than any she had ever known.
He continued to push against her with his mouth and hand until her internal muscles loosened. She came down from the high he had set her on and modesty took over. She closed her eyes against him and tried to push her legs together.
He would have none of it. He pushed her legs apart with one smooth motion and moved up on her. He settled himself in the juncture of her thighs and lifted one of her legs over his arm. She gasped as he opened her to him completely.
"Open your eyes, Renee." He pushed against her wet opening.
Her eyes flew open. She was captivated by what she saw. His face was arrogant, oozing possession as he hung at the entrance to her body. His eyes were harsh. Primal lust emblazoned on his features. He took a short stab and pushed into her a bit more. He grunted and lifted her leg to adjust her position to accommodate him better. He slid another inch into her and Renee's eyes closed.
Robert saw her eyes shut him out but he was too far gone to demand her attention. His body separated completely from his mind and he started taking short, stabbing thrusts at her. She was wet and soft around him. And tight. God, so tight. He pushed all the way in and savored the moment for a second as he filled her completely. She was wet silk around him. His brain felt drugged and he began to stroke her again. He reached his hands down and lifted her butt up and into him. The pleasure was intense. He tried to take it easy but had no control. He rode her hard. He thought he might regain control but then her soft hands wrapped around his shoulders and the feminine scent that was her own lifted into his nostrils.
He flew up and over the edge as he ejaculated into her.
Robert held her in his arms while their heart rates slowly came back to normal. His brain began to unscramble and his thoughts regained some order. Shit. He couldn't believe what had just happened. Jesus Christ, if she hadn't stopped and begged him to use a condom, he wouldn't have thought about it. And that had never happened to him before. Ever.
He felt again that moment of irritation when he had to sheath himself. It wasn't impatience at the delay. Fuck, no. It was much worse than that. It was resentment at having something between them. Something separating him from her.
He didn't want anything stopping him from having her, getting to her.
His mind went over the events of the evening. He hadn't started out with an agenda. He just wanted to see her. He needed some fucking time alone with her. And that acknowledgement pissed him off.
And then he had walked up and seen that goddamn Cameron making a move on her and he lost it completely. Went ballistic. Just like that, his intelligence left the building and his testosterone kicked in. His plans were getting screwed. Fuck, he didn't have a plan. This was a situation that needed precise planning and a tactical strategy. And he was flying by the seat of his pants. Shit, he didn't even know what he wanted anymore. He still wanted to sleep with her. Even more so, now that he knew what it felt like for her body to yield to his in a tight gloving and her silky beauty to surround him.
But, he didn't know where the whole job thing was going. In the last few days, he had felt a sense of pure selfishness at what he was trying to accomplish by getting her to quit. That was purely what he had wanted, and he had never taken into consideration her needs or her life. And now he wasn't even sure he wanted her gone. Why couldn't he have it all? Why the fuck couldn't he have her in bed and at his office? As long as she was willing, what fucking rule said he couldn't have it all? And there was no doubt she was good at the job. She obviously needed it. She needed the money.
Images of this tiny condo came to his mind. The one bedroom that she had been sharing with her daughter for fifteen years. And other things. He remembered back to the other night when she had wrapped her leftovers and put them in the refrigerator. My God, was she saving ramen noodles for later?
His gut clenched. She was so strong-willed, so beautiful. Too beautiful to have to worry so much about money.
A vision of his ex-wife came to mind. The grasping, greedy slut who had never known a day of hard work in her life. Always demanding more, better, newer. The house, the clothes, the car. She had made his life miserable from the first day he had put the ring on her finger. And she had been screwing him ever since. Her lawyers had fucked him, and fucked him good, even though they had no children together.
Renee wasn't like that. He knew by her resume that she had kept her previous job for ten years. She wasn't dependent on a man, and never had been. If anything, the father of her child was probably only a liability to her.
She had accomplished a lot, and all with only a high school education. She had been burdened with a child early on, but to all intents and purposes it had only made her stronger. She had made a home for the two of them here, and she had done it with next to no help, and with very little money.
She wasn't obsessed with getting a man to take care of her, even though she was beautiful enough that she could easily accomplish it. That was obvious. James Cameron said she had shot him down, and that fucking bastard probably had more money than he did. No, by all evidence, she was completely independent, and she liked it that way. He admired her for that. Respected that about her. After his experience, the idea of an independent woman was heady. But then, the evocative picture of her being dependent on him sprang to mind. The idea of her being completely dependent on him was compelling. Already, the subtle idea of her needing the paycheck he gave her was beginning to appeal. Erotic images of having her in his power, his control, were stealthily invading his brain.
He didn't know what the fuck he wanted.
Except for her.
He wanted her.
Chapter Ten
Renee lay completely still under him and tried not to let absolute horror invade her senses. She couldn't even play the victim here, or cry rape, because it had to be obvious to him that she was with him all the way. One-hundred percent, she had been with him.
God, she couldn't even blame him for this. Since day one, she had been infatuated. He was so compelling, so demanding, so blatantly male. He did something to her, pushed something in her, she couldn't control. She had sworn to herself that she wouldn't make this easy for him, and here she was, naked underneath him again.
The reality jolted her. She began pushing against him in an effort to free herself. She needed space. Space to think. Space not to think. Confusion gripped her and she pushed harder against him.
Robert felt her go from complete stillness, to frantically pushing away from him. "Hey. Be still a minute. You went to so much trouble to make me use a condom, I know you don't want any accidents here."
Renee tensed. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Robert felt himself begin to swell at her unconscious movements. "Nothing. Not a damn thing. Just be still." He slowly pulled out of her, bringing the soiled condom with him. He swiveled his big body and grabbed a tissue from the bedside table and removed it.
"There. Happy now?" His short, salient words abraded her raw feelings. She jerked away from him.
"Yes. Just great." She pulled the edge of the duvet up and over her, covering her naked body from his view.
He watched her with dark, inscrutable eyes. "You're wasting your time. I've already seen it all." His voice was flat, unemotional.
A new kind of tension invaded her body as he continued to watch her. The butterflies in her stomach were set loose when he reached up a hand and gripped the duvet between her breasts and tugged.
; She held on tight.
"Let go." He could easily take the covering from her, but he wanted her to give in to him.
She shook her head and held on.
"Renee. Sweetheart. You don't think this can go backwards, do you?" His hand released its grip and slid up to her exposed collarbone. His finger moved back and forth. "It already happened. It's going to continue to happen. You need to understand that." His hand moved to the back of her neck and brought her mouth up to meet his.
The kiss he gave her was tender, unexpected. So completely different from anything he had shown her tonight. Her thoughts turned off as she was inundated by his touch. An insidious weakness invaded her system. Her eyes closed and her body trembled as she felt light sips taken from her mouth. His lips moved to her cheek, up to her forehead, and then to her ear.
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