Wild for Him (The Steele Brothers Book 6)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  Mindy wanted to know everything about this man.

  “So, how about if we start with the basics? Get to know one another?” she offered.

  Another eyebrow lift. She interpreted that as encouragement.

  Smiling, although it was a bit weak and awkward, she continued. “My favorite color is yellow. Know why?”

  His other eyebrow went up and she took a deep breath, continuing. “Because it’s a happy color. It makes me think of sunshine.” Nothing. No response. Eyebrows down again. “I moved to Seattle only five years ago. I used to live in Montana, but,” she shrugged and continued, “well, there aren’t that many jobs in Montana, at least where I used to live. Jefferson, Montana is gorgeous and I had a lot of good friends there, but unless you want to work with cows or bulls or ride horses, which I didn’t…I mean, I love riding horses, but cows are pretty stupid.” Still nothing. “So…I came out west and looked for a job. I have a degree in business management and started working for one of the airlines. When I interviewed with Steele Industries last year, and they offered me the job, I jumped at the opportunity.” She blinked. “Oh, but I was talking about colors.” She shifted on the wooden bench. “Yep. My favorite color is yellow because I need more sunshine in my life. I love sunshine and while there aren’t a lot of jobs in Montana, there is a lot of sunshine. And although there isn’t a lot of sunshine in Seattle, there are tons of jobs.” Still silent.

  She tilted her head slightly. “So I learned about these special lights that emit some sort of light that help to adjust one’s mood. And I filled my house with them and painted everything yellow so that it would feel more like the sun was shining.” Silence. “Everyone back east thinks of Seattle as a very rainy town. So I was surprised to find out that it doesn’t get nearly as much rain as people think. The rain shadow,” she finished off lamely.

  Leaning forward, she looked him right in the eye. “You know, this would be a whole lot more fun if you participated. Tell me your favorite color, at least.”

  Mindy watched as he crumpled up his lunch trash, knowing he was going to leave. She held her breath, trying to think of something witty, profound or just…lumberjack-interesting so that he would stay and talk to her.

  But he only stood up and turned away, tossed his trash and…turned back to her. “Blue.” He looked down into her blue eyes and winked. “Blue is my favorite color.”

  And then he was gone.

  Once again, he spoke, then walked away.

  Oh, not this time! No way! She hurriedly stood up from the picnic table and spun around. “See? You’re starting to like me! I can tell!”

  He stopped and turned around, looking at her and she could have sworn he was smiling. Well, not an actual smile on the outside. Nope – his lips didn’t even quirk slightly. But on the inside, he was laughing!

  He didn’t say anything. At least, not while he was facing her. But she could have sworn that, as he turned around and started walking again, she heard him mumble, “I like you too much.”

  Mindy’s head spun around so fast, she almost hurt her neck. Had she just heard what she thought she heard? Or…?

  Surely, she’d been wrong. Her ears had been mistaken. She’d only heard what she wanted to hear.

  Still…!

  Chapter 3

  Gus looked out the window again. It hadn’t moved! Damn her, what was she doing?!

  The phone rang and he grabbed it up. “Yeah?” he demanded, knowing that this was his personal line. Not many people had it.

  “Hi honey. It’s your mom.”

  Gus rubbed a hand over his face, cringing at the way he’d answered the phone. “Hi Mom. What’s up?”

  “I need some girl time. I’m here with Chloe and I was wondering if you’d allow me to take this little cutie for a sleepover.” Gus hesitated, not sure if he was willing to sacrifice one of his nights with his daughter, even for his mother. “We’re just going to catch the latest princess movie, then go out for some pizza. I’ll have her in bed by eight o’clock sharp.” Gus heard his daughter whisper to her grandmother. “Eight thirty, sharp!” his Mom hedged.

  Gus almost laughed, knowing that his little girl was trying to finagle an extra half hour on her bedtime.

  His eyes glanced at the door to his office, the empty office. A night all alone. A night without Chloe! Damn but…his mother needed time with her granddaughter and Gus knew that Chloe adored his mother. They painted their nails and his mom braided Chloe’s hair, they made cookies and did all the things that his big, huge hands weren’t capable of doing.

  So instead of telling his mother that he needed Chloe that night, he relented with a sigh. “Make sure she brushes her teeth,” he told her, granting permission even as he thought about the story they were reading together.

  There was a girlish yelp of joy in the background and somehow, that sound made his sacrifice worthwhile.

  His mother laughed at Chloe’s exuberance as well. “Will do, honey. You go out and play some poker with your friends. It’s been two weeks since you’ve had a night off. Go have some fun.”

  Gus didn’t mention that he considered hanging out with his daughter to be fun. Mostly because he knew that his mom loved spending time with Chloe and Chloe needed some female time as well.

  “You too, Mom.”

  “Will do, dear. Take care and I’ll bring her back tomorrow morning.”

  Gus hung up the phone, irritated even though he knew it was the right thing to do for Chloe. And she was the most important thing in his world.

  Gus glanced out at the parking lot once again. No, the dratted woman wasn’t important but…well, he couldn’t leave until she was safely out of the building. Damn it, what was she doing?! Why was she here so late at night?

  He wanted to spank her adorable, sexy butt just for putting herself in danger like this.

  Okay, so he wanted to spank her adorable, sexy butt for many reasons, but definitely for not going home when the rest of the building staff left earlier.

  Yeah, it wasn’t a high crime area. But still…he needed her to be safe.

  He rubbed a hand against the back of his neck, trying to hold himself back from…

  It wasn’t working.

  Fifteen minutes later, when Mindy still wasn’t walking out to her car, he was finished. He’d had enough!

  Bursting into her office, he glared at the too-sexy woman as she stared right back at him.

  “Why haven’t you left yet?” he demanded.

  Those red lips formed an O and he growled at the temptation, moving into the office. “You’re supposed to be gone by now. Why are you still here?”

  Mindy jerked upright, startled by his intrusion into her mental listing of “How to Get Gus” plans. So far, she’d come up with kidnapping. That’s it. Just kidnapping.

  And since the guy was about a foot taller than she was and had a whole bunch more muscle, she didn’t think her kidnapping plan was doable.

  “Ummm…” she tried to come up with a valid reason for her still being here in the office after hours. But her mind was blank. Probably because he was here. Next to her. Okay, yeah, he was glaring at her but he was closer now than he’d ever been.

  “Answer me, Mindy. Are you okay?”

  She noticed that his eyes moved around the office. Was he searching for a threat? That was so sweet!

  “I’m just…” she waved her hand over her desk, but she was too efficient and her desk was clear of papers. Darn it, why couldn’t she have just a few files strewn about? Anything to make her appear busy and…something other than pathetic because she didn’t have any plans besides going home and dreaming about Gus!

  “I was working on a new schedule,” she finally said, lying through her teeth.

  “At this time of night?”

  She looked at the clock and shrugged. “Gus, it’s only six o’clock.”

  He moved around her desk, grabbing her purse and her leather tote bag. “Yeah, but you’re usually gone by this time of the night.” />
  She took both bags, but didn’t move. “I am?” she asked, her breath caught in her throat.

  He moved closer. Stalking her. She backed up, but then realized what she was doing and stopped.

  “You are.”

  “How do you know?” she asked a bit breathlessly.

  He moved even closer, towering over her. He was so close, she could smell the masculine scent of him, feel his heat and absorb the aura that was Gus.

  “I know.”

  “Really?” she breathed, not sure what he was admitting with that one word, but she knew it was significant. Once she was alone, once he wasn’t towering over her like this, making her mind remember every single one of her very erotic, very vivid dreams with him as the star…she might be able to figure out why his admission was so important. But at this particular moment, she was stumped.

  “Yes.”’

  “How do you know when I leave each night?”

  He leaned in, forcing her to arch backwards against her desk. “Because I watch you get into your car and drive away each night.” His eyes moved over each of her features, almost as if memorizing them from the close distance. “I can’t leave until you’re safely in your car.”

  Her heart was pounding with his admission. That meant he cared, right? He wasn’t immune to her. “Why can’t you leave?”

  He shook his head. One moment, there was a bit of space between them and the next, his arm snaked out, wrapping around her waist, pulling her closer. “Because I can’t,” was all he would say. And then he was kissing her. His mouth angled over hers, kissing her and making love to her mouth in a way that no other man had ever kissed her before. It was like he was forcing all of his words to come through that kiss, all the words he couldn’t or wouldn’t say to her during the day when others were around. Everything he hadn’t said in words to her was in that caress, in the way his hands were touching her, holding her.

  A thud sounded in the back of her head but she didn’t acknowledge that it was her purse and tote bag dropping to the floor. Nothing mattered except Gus, this kiss and his hard, wonderful body against her curves. She loved it! He was all male and so incredibly intoxicating!

  Mindy lifted her arms up higher, wrapping around his neck, holding him close against her so that he wouldn’t leave her. She wanted this kiss, hadn’t truly believed it would ever happen. Yes, she’d been trying to make friends with Gus, but only late at night, in her dreams, would she think about kissing this man.

  When he lifted his head, looking down at her, all she could do was say, “Wow!” in a whisper. Then she grabbed his ears and pulled him down again, using his ears like handles to hold onto him as she lifted herself up and kissed him again.

  She felt her world tilting but didn’t realize it was because Gus was lifting her up and setting her down on her desk. All she knew was that he was kissing her. Finally! And she loved it!

  When he lifted his head, they were both breathing hard. She realized that she was still using his ears as if they were handles and released them, pulling back. “That was really nice,” she told him, thinking that she needed to say something. Anything at all! The silence was painfully awkward.

  He continued to stare at her and she wasn’t sure what else to say. When the silence went on longer, she jumped down off of her desk and, with shaking fingers, scribbled her home address down on a piece of notepaper.

  “Here,” she said, handing it to him. He took the paper, but didn’t look at it.

  “That’s my home address. I want you Gus. I’ve thought you were the most amazing man I’ve ever seen from the first moment I stepped into the building and saw you out talking with your pilots on the tarmac. And from what everyone else says about you, you’re a wonderful man.” She lifted her hand to stop him from speaking, knowing what he was thinking. “They don’t gossip about you. Your employees wouldn’t do that. In fact, the reason they don’t gossip is one of the reasons I know that you’re a good man.” She took a deep breath, smoothing her hair back down. “I respect the Steele family too much to continue this here in the office. But if you want me, come to my house.

  With that, she grabbed her purse and her computer, shoved everything into her tote bag then walked out of her office. She knew that he would lock up after her. Because he was that good of a man. Instinctively, she knew that about him.

  What she didn’t know was if he would give in to this sexual tension that was surrounding them. She didn’t know him well enough to understand that about him.

  All she knew was that she wanted to get to know him and her efforts during their one-sided conversations weren’t working all that well.

  Was she going to have her heart broken if she moved forward with what they both knew could happen?

  Probably. But what was life without a few risks?

  She slipped into her car, painfully aware that he was most likely watching her. Driving away, she could feel her heart pounding inside of her chest and wondered what would happen next. She wanted to know him, wanted…a lot from Gus.

  An hour later, she’d just about given up when the doorbell rang. Looking over at the door, she trembled, wondering if it was Gus. Or a salesperson.

  Only one way to find out, she told herself, forcing her feet to carry her to the door.

  When she pulled it open, she found him facing the street. But at the sound of the door opening, he slowly turned around, looking down into her blue eyes.

  “You’re here,” she whispered. He stood outside of her small house, his arms braced on either side of the doorframe, almost as if he were keeping himself from moving inside.

  There was a long silence before he finally said, “I shouldn’t be here.”

  Mindy’s face slowly spread into a grin. Stepping back, she waved for him to come inside. “Well, you’re here now. You can regret coming over later.”

  He still hesitated and Mindy wondered if he would actually enter her house. Thankfully, he stepped inside, following her into the kitchen. Mindy was only slightly self-conscious of her bottom in the yoga pants she’d changed into after coming home tonight.

  “I brought dinner,” he commented, lifting a white bag that looked to be stuffed with food.

  She was touched, and amazed since the idea of eating hadn’t even occurred to her. She’d been too worried about him stopping by and too worried that he wouldn’t.

  “That’s so thoughtful!” she gasped, taking the bag he handed to her. Peering inside, she looked at the varieties of items. “Cheese, crackers, chocolates and…” she looked up at him. “Wine?” She smiled up at him. “I would have pegged you for a beer kind of guy.”

  Ignoring that teasing remark, he moved closer, his eyes looking into her soft, blue ones. “What do you want from me?” he asked, moving closer. One large hand slipped up to her hair, pushing it behind her ears as he’d seen her do so often in the past.

  Mindy looked at him, felt his heat and smelled the incredible scent of him. “Everything,” she admitted honestly.

  His hand stilled for a moment, but then he shook his head. “I can give you tonight.”

  She lifted her own hand, covering his wrist to hold his hand against her cheek. “I’ll take it,” she told him, ignoring the quiver in her voice.

  And that was the end of conversation for a long time.

  His head lowered, kissing her gently at first, but when she didn’t pull away, his kiss intensified. His hand tangled in her hair and he pulled her closer. Mindy reveled in his touch, in his kiss, her hands sliding along his chest. She loved the way he felt, all those muscles rippling under her fingertips.

  With a swift move, he lifted her up onto the countertop, staring at her for a long moment. She realized that he was still debating the stupidity of staying with her, so she leaned forward and kissed him. Still only able to reach his neck, but she didn’t care. Darting her tongue out, she licked his skin, feeling his heart pound in his chest under the palm of her hand.

  With a groan, she felt his resistance evaporat
e and wanted to throw her hands up into the air, cheer with victory. But that was the precise moment that he slid his hands under the stretchy material of her shirt, his hands cupping her breasts and…

  She was lost! Mindy groaned as his thumbs unerringly found her nipples. She could take that, but then his thumb and forefinger pinched, just lightly, and she gasped at the pleasure that shot throughout her whole body. Unconsciously, she moved her hips closer, her legs wrapping around his waist and bringing his erection into direct contact with her body. Shifting, she found the right place and groaned with the pleasure. He was hot and heavy with arousal, making her body throb with her own need.

  “Let’s go upstairs,” she whispered, then gasped when her stretchy top was tugged up over her head and dumped onto the floor.

  “We’ll get there.” He cupped her breasts, his hands lifting each of them, testing their weight even as his thumbs once again moved over the taut nipples. Her hips shifted with each rub of his thumb against that peak and she whimpered, feeling as if she might explode right there on the island countertop. She held onto his shoulders, needing some sort of anchor in the midst of this storm.

  “Tell me what you like,” he growled, bending lower to nip at her earlobe. “Fast? Slow? Hard? Gentle?” He scraped his beard against the delicate skin of her neck, then leaned her back further so that he could suckle on her nipples, tasting her breasts.

  “I like it all,” she replied back, surprised that her mind could form the words. But it was true. Everything he was doing felt incredible and she wanted more of it. She needed his pants off, needed to feel him against her, skin to skin.

  “Take off your clothes,” she pleaded, forgetting that they were still in her kitchen.

  He didn’t obey her, instead, his fingers slipped into the waistband of her yoga pants and tugged, pulling everything off. She was naked! Completely naked and sitting on her countertop while he looked down at her with those dark eyes that normally told her nothing. But right now, she knew that he wanted her. Arching her back, she lifted his hands, moving one to her breast and the other to the juncture of her thighs. “Touch me, Gus. I need you to touch me here.”