“No!” Marey’s furious exclamation joined Ella’s as they both faced him now.
He chuckled in response.
“Go play or something, James.” Ella waved her hand at him dismissively. “This is girl talk.”
“So I heard,” he drawled. “But maybe you would both like to know that Sax is due here in about ten minutes to go over a new product that’s in design at the moment and to share a beer while he bemoans a certain woman’s stubbornness. Marey might want to run while she has the chance. He’s just waiting to catch her out of that fortress she owns, and she looks pretty primed right now.”
He glanced to her br**sts and Marey’s gaze dropped to the royal blue silk covering the full mounds. Her ni**les were poking against it like a four alarm signal for an all-night f**k.
Her gaze flew to Ella’s in horror.
“This is your fault,” she snapped. “I didn’t need to hear any of that.”
“But you still love me.” Ella grinned.
“Bitch,” Marey snarled again. “And yes, I still love you. But I am gone like the wind.”
And she wasted no time in running. Sax was on a very, very short leash right now, and she knew it. As much as she loved Ella, there wasn’t a chance in hell she was sticking around to see him. Because her own desires were on an even shorter leash, and growing fiercer by the day.
Chapter Three
She locked her doors when she got home. Ignored the doorbell, thanking God that Ella hadn’t given Sax the code into the house as she had the gates. The next morning, she did likewise. Cowardice? Hell yes, she told herself fiercely. Sax terrified her where her weakness to him was concerned.
She finally slipped out around noon, unable to cancel her meeting with Ella at Delacourte to complete the planning for the annual Christmas party. She slipped in without incident. Getting out wasn’t as easy.
“When are you going to stop running from me, Marey?”
Damn.
Caught in the empty outer office where James’ secretary should have been standing guard, but was absent instead.
“I’m not running from you,” she denied the charge calmly, despite the fact that she knew she was running. Every chance she could get for now on. “I was heading home. I’m finished for the day, Sax.”
He stood in front of her, too close, but she refused to retreat. She had run from her ex-husband for years—that was humiliating enough. She wasn’t going to back down from another man. Especially one she knew as well as she knew Sax. One that could make her senses sing with pleasure. Her body rock in orgasm. Her mind dissolve with no more than a touch. God, she was hopeless.
He towered over her, tall and broad, his shaved head gleaming in the light above them. Teak dark flesh was emphasized by the charcoal gray of his suit and his dark, chocolate eyes. Eyes that warmed as he watched her, just as his smile did.
How was she supposed to fight him and herself?
“I’m getting tired of waiting on you, Marey.” Sax didn’t beat around the bush. “You’re tempting me into that little kidnap fantasy we discussed before. You might think hiding from me is achieving whatever objective you’ve set, but I can assure you, baby, the day is going to come that I’m not going to let you run any longer after yesterday.”
She felt the flush that suddenly washed over her face.
“You really need to forget about that,” she muttered, crossing her arms over her br**sts as he braced his arm against the doorway, leaning against it casually.
He was about as completely yummy as a man could get. Yummy enough that her mouth watered with the thought of tasting him, her hands itched to touch him. And she knew every muscle under that skillfully tailored jacket was as hard and tight as that bulge behind the zipper of his slacks. A bulge well capable of satisfying a woman in any and every way.
She risked a quick glance down. Oh, hell yes, definitely yummy.
“You can touch if you want.” He was openly laughing at her as her gaze flew back to his. “After yesterday, there’s really no sense in being shy, honey.”
Marey cleared her throat, not so much embarrassed and never shy, as she was aware of the tightrope she was walking. Fighting herself was hard enough. She didn’t know if she could fight him as well.
Not considering the years of dreams and the silly emotional attachment she had developed to him after her divorce. Why she was running now made no sense to her, and she doubted it would make any sense to anyone else.
“That’s all right,” she finally replied calmly, refusing the invitation to touch him. “I do need to leave though, if you don’t mind.”
“Leave with me.”
The offer left her stunned. Her eyes widened, her breath stuttering in her chest as he stared back at her somberly, intently. It was tempting. So very, very tempting.
“That’s not a good idea, Sax,” she finally whispered. “You know it’s not.”
“You can’t keep running,” he finally sighed. “And I’ll be damned if I’m going to keep chasing after you. How long are you going to let Vince run your life like this?”
She glanced away from him, turning back as he straightened from the doorway and came closer. She stepped back, then stopped. She wasn’t going to run from him. But God, how could she handle…
Her swift indrawn breath was fully audible as his hand lifted, smoothing down the silk covering her arm. The caress had her nerves tingling, but when his hand gripped hers where it rested on her other arm, she shuddered in response. The back of his hand brushed her hard nipple, sending shards of awareness whipping through her.
Her clit caught fire, swelling, burning out of control from no more contact than the back of his hand brushing the hard point. Her pu**y clenched in empty hunger, reminding her that even her vibrators suddenly lacked the satisfaction she had once found with them.
“Sax, this isn’t smart,” she whispered. “You know it’s not.”
His head lowered, his lips smoothing over her forehead as she stared up at him. The warmth, the velvet roughness of the kiss had her eyes closing and weakness sweeping over her.
“I want you, Marey,” he whispered as his lips moved along the side of her face to her ear. There, his teeth caught the sensitive lobe, tugging at it erotically as she shivered, her arms unfolding, pressing against his hard chest, her fingers curling in the silk of his shirt. “Yesterday was just a small treat. I want all of you. Hot and wet, moaning beneath me as I show you just how good we can be together. Wouldn’t you like that, baby?”