Millionaire Boss, page 5
“What are you doing in here?” she cried.
His mouth dry as cotton, Erik had to swallow before he could reply. “I…I heard you crying.”
She whipped her head around to face the opposite end of the tub, her cheeks as bright a red as the hair she’d piled carelessly on top of her head. “I wasn’t crying. I…I was singing.”
“Singing?” He choked on a laugh as he picked up the two candles closest to him and relocated them farther down the side of the tub. “Hope you don’t have plans of making a career of it,” he said, as he seated himself on the edge of the tub.
She inched away from him, her hands still clamped over her breasts. Her tongue darted out and slicked nervously over her lips. “I…I don’t.”
He bit back a smile at the quaver he heard in her voice. Yeah, she was a mouse all right. She might seem like a different person when she got all dolled up, but stripped down she was still essentially a mouse. Bracing his hands on his thigh, he leaned across the side of the bubble-filled tub. “Good. ’Cause I’d hate to lose another secretary.”
She drew back, her eyes riveted on his face. “You’re drunk,” she accused in a hoarse whisper.
He chuckled and shook his head. “Not enough to do what you’re afraid I’m here to do.”
Her eyes grew round and her lips parted, indicating her surprise that he’d managed to read her thoughts so easily.
“Then leave,” she said and attempted to drill a hole in the opposite side of the tub with her shoulder.
He lifted his hands helplessly. “Can’t.”
“Can’t?” she repeated in disbelief.
“Nope.”
“And may I ask why not?” she asked, regaining a bit of the fiery temper he’d had the distinct pleasure of witnessing only a handful of times over the past two days.
“I can’t sleep,” he said, as if that explained everything.
“Well, you certainly won’t be able to do so while sitting on the side of my tub.” She hazarded exposure by lifting a hand and giving his arm an angry shove. “Go,” she ordered, and sat up high enough to snatch a towel from the brass rack hanging on the wall just above her head. She quickly stood, watery bubbles sluicing down her legs as she whipped the towel around her upper body, but did only a moderate job of covering her nudity.
When he remained on the side of the tub, she lifted a hand and pointed at the door. “Go,” she repeated more firmly.
With a sigh he pushed to his feet. “Okay,” he said in defeat. “If you insist.”
He probably would have left then, too, if he hadn’t noticed that her gaze slid to his waist, then lower, locking on his black briefs. He watched her eyelids slam shut, heard the rasp of a desperately drawn breath…and he took a step closer to the tub.
“Penny?”
She flipped her eyes wide, gripping the ends of the towel tighter between her breasts. “What?”
“Would you give me a good-night kiss?” He lifted a hand, opening a space between his thumb and index finger that measured less than an inch. “Just a little one.”
He watched her throat convulse in a swallow, her gaze drop to his mouth and had to struggle to keep from grinning from ear to ear. “Please?” he added, hoping to sway her.
She lifted her gaze to his, her cheeks now as rosy as the rest of her water-warmed body. “If I do, will you promise to leave?”
He sliced a finger twice across his heart. “Scout’s honor.”
She eyed him doubtfully. “You were a Boy Scout?”
“For about three months.”
She hesitated a second longer, then huffed a breath. “Oh, all right. One kiss. But that’s all. Then you’re leaving.”
“Deal,” he agreed, before she had time to change her mind and send him packing. He stepped closer and cupped his hands around her elbows. He felt the leap of her pulse at even that slight a contact and had to work hard not to laugh when she closed her eyes and craned her neck, shoving her puckered lips blindly in his direction.
A virgin, he told himself, then stifled a groan when the reminder placed a rock-hard ache in his groin. Knowing he had better get this over with quickly or she wouldn’t remain one for long, he leaned to touch his mouth to hers. “Relax,” he murmured as he brushed his lips over her tightly puckered mouth.
She jerked her head back. “Okay,” she said breathlessly, slicking her lips again. “You’ve had your kiss. Now go.”
His brows shot up. “You call that a kiss?”
“Well, yes,” she replied, looking uncertain.
He dropped his head back and laughed. “That wasn’t a kiss. That was an accidental meeting of mouths.”
“Look,” she warned. “You promised.”
“I’m leaving,” he assured her, then added, “Just as soon as I get my kiss.”
She dropped her shoulders in frustration. “Fine.” She slicked her lips again. “But this is your last chance.”
He gave her elbows a tug, pulling her closer. “No problem.” He watched her eyes close, but before she could pucker her lips again, he slammed his mouth against hers, taking her totally by surprise. He smiled against her lips, softening the kiss as she stared at him in cross-eyed dismay over a little button of a nose. She’s cute, he realized with a suddenness that had his fingers convulsing on her elbows. More than cute. She was downright sexy.
And her taste. He groaned and slowly traced his tongue along the crease of her lips in a slow bid for admittance, hoping to savor more of her tantalizing flavor. “Yeah,” he encouraged as her lips parted beneath his on a trembling sigh. “Like that.” He deepened the kiss, waited a heartbeat, then slipped his tongue inside.
He felt her stiffen at the unexpected invasion…then the slow, languid melt of her body as he stroked his tongue along hers in a sensual dance. The fingers she’d held fisted tightly between her breasts fluttered open, and the towel dropped to sink beneath the mountains of iridescent bubbles. With a muffled whimper, she lifted her arms and looped them around his neck.
The ache in his groin twisted tighter when her nipples stabbed at his chest. Moaning, he drew her closer, then groaned when she began to move her tongue in a teasing rhythm with his.
A virgin? he asked himself as she rocked her body suggestively against his. Maybe she’d lied. Maybe she had more experience than she’d wanted to admit. Maybe this was all a game of some kind. A game of seduction he had yet to encounter—though he was sure he’d fallen prey to every form of female seduction known to man.
Convinced by her passionate response to his kiss, the sensuous sway of her body against his, the desperate claw of her fingers against his neck, that he was dealing with a woman who knew her way around a man’s bedroom, he slid his hands down her back, dug his fingers deeply into her buttocks and brought her hips up hard against his.
He knew instantly that he’d made a mistake. As soon as he introduced her to his erection, she went stiff as a board in his arms and her eyes did that cross-eyed thing again, wide and staring in what looked suspiciously to him like terror. Slowly he relaxed his grip on her buttocks and eased his hips from hers. Slower still he broke the all-but-welded connection of their mouths and took a step back until their gazes met.
She gulped, then swallowed, her eyes wide and unblinking. “I…I think you’d better go now.”
He took another step back and made a second mistake when he let his gaze drop to her chest. The twin mounds, fully exposed now without the towel to cover them and reddened from chafing against his chest, rose and fell like bellows with each breath she drew. Surrounded by darker, rose-tinted flesh, her nipples stood at rapt attention, seeming to beg for his touch and his mouth.
Though he’d been close to certifiably drunk when he’d entered the room, he suddenly found himself stone-cold sober. Fearing if he didn’t leave, he’d do something really stupid, something he was sure he would regret by morning, he backed toward the door.
“Yeah. I guess I’d better.”
Four
Once Erik reached his own room, though, and crawled into his bed, he had second thoughts about his decision to leave.
Damn, but she was something, he thought as he punched his pillow up beneath his head. Imagine a woman hiding all those sumptuous curves beneath a shapeless business suit. He shook his head in regret. What a waste.
And her response to him! He’d been with a lot of women, but he didn’t remember ever running across one who could send his blood pressure shooting through the top of his head with a simple stroke of her tongue.
Feeling the uncomfortable swell of his sex, he lifted his head to peer at the door. Maybe if he—
He dropped his head back to his pillow. No way. If he went back to her room, she’d probably scream sexual harassment. It wasn’t as if she’d invited him into her bathroom. He’d barged in and, once there, refused to budge when she’d asked him to leave.
A smile spread across his face as he envisioned her standing in the tub, bubbles sluicing down over her curves…and wondered what old Buzz would say if he learned that Erik had gotten a sneak preview of Penny’s feminine charms.
Frowning at the thought of his friend, he pushed himself up to his elbows, remembering how Penny had raved on and on about what a gentleman Buzz was, what a skillful dancer he had proved to be. Hell, to hear her talk, the guy could all but walk on water!
He flopped to his back and folded his arms across his chest, scowling at the ceiling. Well, Erik Thompson was more a gentleman than Buzz Kenney could ever hope to be, he told himself. The opportunity to demonstrate his finer points to Penny just hadn’t presented itself yet.
There wasn’t a man alive who could romance a woman with more finesse than Erik Thompson. Nor was there one who knew how to please a woman more once he got her into his bed.
And he’d get Penny there, he promised himself. And it would be her idea, not his. Or at least she’d think it was hers. All he had to do was show her a few of his finer points, prove to her what a gentleman he could be, pour on a little of that Cyber Cowboy charm.
And he’d do just that, he told himself with a confident smile as he closed his eyes. Starting first thing in the morning.
The next morning Penny postponed leaving her room as long as she dared, dreading facing her employer after the humiliations she’d suffered the night before.
“A virgin,” she moaned miserably, remembering. What had possessed her to foolishly confess her innocence to a man as worldly and experienced as Erik Thompson? And why had she insisted he leave when for years she’d wanted so desperately for him to be the one to free her of that stigma?
Knowing she couldn’t hide in her room all day, she moved to stand before the dresser mirror, checking her appearance one last time before facing him again. She smoothed her hands down the front of the yellow, calf-length sundress she’d purchased the afternoon before, studying her reflection with a critical eye. Though not nearly as jazzy as the dress she’d worn the previous evening, the sundress was stylish yet simple and promised to be a functional addition to the new wardrobe she intended to build. The earrings, though, might be a bit much, she thought uneasily as she touched a finger to the large gold-and-bronze leaf dangling from her earlobe.
Don’t be silly, she told herself and turned from the mirror. She often saw women wearing much flashier jewelry than the hammered-metal earrings the clerk had insisted would look perfect with the dress. It was simply her nerves that were making her question the selection now.
Reminded of the cause of her nervousness, she glanced uneasily at the closed door, then squared her shoulders and drew in a deep breath. Pretend it never happened, she told herself. Simply blot the embarrassing incident from your mind. More than likely a man with Erik’s reputation with women wouldn’t have given another thought to seeing a woman as unappealing as Penny Rawley standing naked in a tub, dripping bath bubbles.
With that reassuring thought, she opened the door and stepped into the suite’s living room.
At her entrance Erik turned from the open balcony doors. “Good morning.”
Every assurance she’d given herself that he wouldn’t remember the previous night’s events slipped away when confronted with his knowing smile, leaving her feeling weak, exposed and pitifully vulnerable. “G-good morning, Mr. Thompson.”
He clucked his tongue in disapproval. “Erik. Please.”
Surprised by his request for informality, she slowly nodded her head. “All right…Erik.”
Seemingly satisfied, he smiled again and opened an arm wide in invitation toward the balcony. “I ordered breakfast for us. I hope you don’t mind.”
She glanced past him to the balcony and the linen-draped table arranged for an intimate breakfast for two. Swallowing hard, she forced her gaze from the silver-domed platters and the slender column of crystal holding a single yellow rose and back to him. “No. I don’t mind.”
“Excellent. Then why don’t we eat before our food grows cold?”
She hesitated a moment longer, not sure she should trust him. The dramatic change in his behavior was enough to make anyone question his motives. His warm and charming demeanor was a startling contrast to his usual scowling indifference and his equally irritating domineering attitude toward her. And the sultry smile he continued to grace her with… Well, it gave her a better understanding why women all but fell at his feet to gain his attention, and why People Weekly magazine had ranked him in their top-ten list of the world’s most eligible bachelors.
Fearing he would hear her knees knocking together if she hesitated much longer, she forced herself to cross the room and step out onto the balcony. She jumped, startled, when he reached around her and pulled out a chair. But when he merely inclined his head and dipped a hand in invitation, she sank weakly down onto the chair he held for her.
After seating himself opposite her, he lifted one of the domed lids, closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. “Eggs Benedict,” he said almost reverently, then opened his eyes to meet her gaze. “Do you like them?”
“Y-yes,” she stammered, unable to tear her gaze from the unfamiliar warmth in his bedroom-blue eyes.
“I’d hoped you would.” He served her, then himself. After slicing a neat wedge from the gourmet dish, he slipped it between his lips, then closed his eyes again and moaned deep in his throat. “Delicious,” he murmured, then opened his eyes and waved his fork at her plate. “Eat. I’ve got a full schedule planned for us today.”
Though it took all her strength to do so, Penny obediently lifted her fork and turned her attention to her meal. “Do we have meetings?”
He smiled as he filled a tall, slender flute with a decadent blend of orange juice and champagne. He offered it to her across the table. “No…at least not of a business nature.”
Swallowing hard, she accepted the glass. “What then?”
He winked and lifted his glass in a silent toast. “You’ll see soon enough.”
Penny couldn’t remember the last time she’d visited a zoo. Long before her parents’ deaths, that was for sure. But she’d never ridden in a convertible sports car driven by a breathtakingly handsome man, with the wind whipping mercilessly through her hair. Nor had she had her face dampened by a fine mist of ocean spray while sailing across the sparkling surface of a sun-kissed bay, her hand linked with that of a sexy multimillionaire. And she’d never had dinner before a campfire on a beach with a man stretched out at her side, while the tide tugged the edge of the water farther and farther away from her bare feet. But more, she had never experienced with a man the slow build of intimacy that she’d sensed developing between her and Erik during the day they’d spent together.
Even as she reflected on these firsts, he caught her hand and laced his fingers through hers. “What are you thinking?”
A shiver chased down her spine as she looked down at him, unable to think of anything but the strength and power hidden in the fingers linked with hers, the intimacy his husky voice suggested, the warmth in his blue eyes. Though tempted to reply with a vague “nothing” and avoid giving him the proof he needed to support his claim that she was indeed the country mouse in the city he’d pronounced her to be…she discovered she could only offer him the truth. “About all the firsts I’ve experienced today.”
His gaze on hers, he drew her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against her knuckles, sending shivers chasing down her spine.
“There are a few more firsts I’d like to introduce you to.”
Her eyes snapped to a sharp focus and she stiffened, wondering if losing her virginity was one of the other firsts to which he referred.
He pushed himself to his feet, drawing her to her feet, as well. “Ever walked barefoot on a moonlit beach?”
“Uh…no,” she stammered, embarrassed that she’d thought he was referring to sex, when he’d only meant something as innocent as a stroll along the beach.
He drew her to his side and led her to the edge of the ocean. She gasped when the cold water lapped over her bare toes. He laughed at her reaction and dropped down to hunker at her feet. She felt his fingers brush over her ankle, then curve around her calf, and she curled her toes into the sand as heat rose to churn in her belly.
“What are you doing?” she asked, finding it difficult to breathe as she watched him unfasten the lower buttons of her sundress’ skirt.
“Tying up the hem of your dress.” He looked up at her and reassured her with a wink. “Wouldn’t want you to get it wet.”
She shivered as his knuckles chafed against the skin he’d exposed, then waited nervously while he rolled his pant legs up to just below his knees. Oddly, she found the dark hair that shadowed his muscled calves unbelievably sexy.
Taking her hand again, he drew her along with him, wrapping an arm loosely around her waist as he started down the beach. They walked a ways in comfortable silence, their hips bumping occasionally. Penny couldn’t remember a single event in her past that equaled the pleasure of simply strolling along at his side, or one that topped the magical mood created by the moonlit night.
