KISS AND MAKE-UP (10 page)

“It’s for the best.”

“Because?”

“Because…we, uh, might be working together. Best to keep everything professional.”

He looked relieved at having come up with that excuse, and Cassie almost laughed. But she took pity, knowing Wyatt was confused and upset with himself for letting things to so far.

Cassie wasn’t. In fact, it hadn’t gone nearly far enough to suit her. But it was a start.

As was his comment that they might be working together.

“So you’ll take me on as a client?”

“I’m pretty busy, but I’ll see if I can squeeze you in. You’re not leaving me much choice. You’re very persuasive when you want something.”

“Yes, I am,” she said with a tiny smile, more sure than she’d been in years about what she really wanted. Another chance with
him
.

And if he thought she’d been persuasive about him taking her on as a client…just wait until she saw what she was willing to do to get him to take her back on as his wife.

W
yatt was in
trouble. Big, enormous trouble. It was all because of the day they’d spent together. And that brain-zapping encounter behind the wheel.

He’d been doing okay, telling himself he could handle having her in town, hearing her voice, seeing her face. He’d even allowed himself to indulge in the fantasy that they could somehow be friends—could go out and spend a day together with no problems, no repercussions, no longing.

But no. Uh-uh. Because he’d made the monumental mistake of letting his guard down and truly enjoying being with her. Not to mention the whole hot-and-heavy makeout session.

He’d kissed her, touched the body he’d dreamed about for eight long years, and it was as if time had completely fallen away. No one had ever felt as perfect in his arms. No one, he feared, ever would.

And now, nothing was going to help get Cassie out of his mind, his dreams, his fantasies. Not until she left. Or not until he
had
her again.

“Did you want me?” a familiar voice asked, startling him as he stood at a table in his office, looking at some head shots.

Her words stunned him for a second. Did he want her? Only more than he wanted to keep breathing. He closed his eyes briefly against the thought, then stiffened his shoulders.

“Hi, Cass,” he said, slowly turning on his heel as she walked into his office.

She was all springy and sunshiny again, dressed in bright colors and soft fabrics that draped across her curves and emphasized her femininity. She didn’t look nearly tough enough to run a major international cosmetics firm. Yet from the research he’d done about her on the Internet over the past week, she was about as tough as they came. Ambitious and bright. Charming when she needed to be, and ruthless if the occasion warranted it.

Right now she looked about as ruthless as the Easter bunny.

“Sylvia called and said you wanted me to come in this morning,” she said, her smile indicating she was pleased at that.

“Thanks, I did want to talk,” he admitted as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the table. “I’ve been thinking about your company, the new campaign—and I think I’ve got some ideas about how to squeeze you in as a client.”

He’d rather squeeze her into his bed. But this was the
sane
option.

She clapped her hands together. “Wonderful. You have no idea how happy that makes me. I don’t think I realized how stale our previous campaigns have been until I came here and started talking to your people, seeing some of the innovative stuff you’ve done.” She moistened her lips with a flick of her pink tongue, nearly making him forget to breathe. “I never knew you were behind that sexy Gleam Detergent commercial. The whole ‘go ahead, get a little dirty’ thing was incredibly hot and suggestive.”

It
had
been, but he didn’t want to think about it. The last thing he needed was anything causing more hot, suggestive thoughts about the woman standing a few feet away.

Suddenly looking more serious, she stepped closer and said, “You’re really good, you know. You deserve to be where you are.”

He held her stare for a moment, hearing what she wasn’t saying. She was proud of him, happy for him. Cassie was pleased to see that his drive and ambition and dreaming had paid off and things had worked out so well.

They had…in every way but one. And that one way was standing here, staring at him with honest admiration shining in her big baby blues.

Wyatt cleared his throat, more certain than ever that he had to make Cassie go away. Because after only a week back in his life, she was already making him feel things he didn’t want to feel. Not for her. Not again.

“Thanks. Now that we’ve settled things, you’re free to go on back to New York and have your marketing staff get in touch. We’ll need to see what you’ve done in the past, as well as product samples and descriptions.”

Her jaw stiffened. Steeling himself against the flash of disappointment that took a bit of the sparkle from her eyes, he continued. “There’s really no point in you sticking around anymore. You were here to convince me and you have. So it’s probably time for you to get back to your real life. I don’t imagine your company is running itself.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment, instead walking silently closer, until she stood only a foot away from him. Close enough for him to smell the sweet, delicate scent of her hair. Close enough for him to feel the warmth of her breath. Close enough for him to see the moistness of her pink lips.

Close enough for him to lose his mind.

“You’re trying to get rid of me,” she murmured.

His jaw clenched and he tightened his arms across his chest. “That’s ridiculous. You’re getting what you want. Now we can proceed just like I do with any other client. I don’t need you here for this.”

“What if I say that I
want
to be deeply involved? That I want to stay here for the initial planning sessions?”

Then I say so long forever to a good night’s sleep.

“There’s no need,” he said from between gritted teeth. “If you want me to take the account, you must let me do it my way.”

She raised one fine brow. “Meaning, you insult the client and kick her out of your town?”

Out of his memory would be better. But his town would do for now. “Do you want me to do this job or not?”

She simply stared, her yes wide and assessing, as if she was trying to peer into his mind, to read his thoughts.

If she knew exactly what he was thinking—that he’d very much like to know what she had on under that silky, sleeveless blouse of hers—he’d be in deep, deep trouble. And she’d probably slap his face. Or take off her blouse.

He’d be better off being slapped.

“You want me…”

He waited, figuring she wasn’t finished her sentence. But she didn’t say another word. She just kept watching, waiting. Her mouth curved into a tiny smile and she took another step closer, until her bare arm lightly touched his. He wished he hadn’t rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt because the delicate brush of her warm skin against his took the tension and awareness and thrust it up exponentially.

Then he realized that there
was
no more to her sentence. She’d said all she was going to say, accusing him of wanting her. That he
did
want her didn’t make the accusation any easier to deal with. Because he knew, he’d known for years, that he couldn’t
have
her. Their short-lived marriage had proved that.

They were opposites, from completely different backgrounds, going in completely different directions. The media stories he’d seen about her over the years had hammered that reality into his brain. Sure, she laughed about her wild, exotic lifestyle, but she still lived it. She hadn’t made any effort to change it.

She was still the rich golden girl and he was, deep down, still the simple, hardworking blue-collar guy he’d always been.

What it came down to was that they’d only ever hurt each other. Going down that road again with Cassie would be not only self-destructive but damn near suicidal.

Wyatt was a strong man and he wasn’t afraid of much. But letting himself love her again, only to have his heart skewered when she returned to her flamboyant, jet-setting lifestyle among the rich and jaded…well, he wasn’t strong enough for that.

“You can’t even deny it, can you?” she said, that sultry half smile still playing about her lips.

He stiffened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Liar.” She moved until her bare legs, gloriously emphasized by her short skirt, brushed against his pants.

“You’re trying to get rid of me to keep yourself from doing what you really want to do.”

What he really wanted to do was grab her, spin her around, lift her onto the conference table and devour every inch of her. But he didn’t figure her imagination had taken things quite that far. “What I really want to do?”

She nodded.

“Maybe what I want to do is get you out of my hair so I can get back to work without you underfoot,” he said, straightening up so she had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes.

“Double liar.” She raised up on tiptoe, lifting her face to his until he felt her slow exhalations on his chin. Their breaths mingled. “What you really want to do is kiss me again.”

Kissing was definitely part of the devouring-her-on-the-table thing. So he didn’t try to deny it.

“But you won’t do it,” she whispered. “You have this invisible wall around yourself and you’re not going to let it drop.” She stretched up just a bit more and placed her hand flat on his chest, right above the heart she’d once mangled and left in tiny chunks. “So,” she added, “maybe I’ll just have to climb over it again, just like I did yesterday in your car.”

She moved another centimeter, another breath closer, until there was nothing but a sliver of air separating their lips.

And Wyatt gave up all resistance.

With a helpless groan, he lowered his mouth to hers, tasting the sweetness of her lips. That same immediate sense of pulse-pounding pleasure and
rightness
rushed through him. It was a feeling he’d forced himself to forget until yesterday when she’d shocked him with her “thank-you” kiss. Just like then, he was overwhelmed with the memory of all the kisses, the passion, the desire, the emotion they’d shared from the day they’d met.

Hearing her moan of pleasure, he gave up any last hint of doubt, deepening the kiss into a hungry mating. She parted her lips and their tongues met and tangled, wet and hot and carnal.

Cassie slid her arms around his neck, pulling him tighter against her body. Almost shaking with want for her, he wrapped his arm around her waist, one hand pressed possessively on the small of her back. He teased the gentle indentation above her sexy backside with his fingertips. With his other hand, he cupped her head, letting his fingers slip into her soft, curly hair.

The kiss went on and on, lethargic, then frenzied. Sweet, then sultry. A dance of give and take that soon had them both breathing hard, with pulses pounding.

Cassie writhed in his arms, pressing against him. The pebbled tips of her breasts scraped with agonizing delight against his shirt and Wyatt hungered to taste them, remembering how sensitive her pretty pink nipples were.

When she tilted her hips closer and rubbed against the erection barely contained in his trousers, they both groaned at the delicious torment. Because they knew how good it could be, how good it had
always
been. There was no wondering. They
knew.

Never taking his mouth from hers, Wyatt leaned down until he was again half sitting on the table. And it was so easy, so damn easy, to lower his hands to her hips and lift her higher, until he bore all her weight. She whimpered and tightened her hold around his neck, even as she lifted her legs and wrapped them around his hips, sitting completely on his lap.

The position was incredibly intimate. Incredibly intense. Even through his clothes, he could feel her heat, feel the welcoming, hot place where he’d once found ultimate satisfaction. More than anything, Wyatt wanted to tear away whatever sexy little panties she wore beneath her skirt—which had risen to pulse-pounding heights—and plunge into her. He’d thought of almost nothing else since they’d gotten out of his car yesterday.

“Please, Wyatt, take me,” she whimpered against his lips. “I’m dying for you.”

Unable to resist, he reached for one long, smooth, silky thigh and ran his palm over it. Caressing the delicate skin, he moved higher and higher, under her skirt, until his fingertips brushed the elastic edge of her panties. She jerked in reaction. Needing, wanting, silently pleading for more.

And oh, how he wanted to give it to her. Even while somewhere in the back of his mind he knew this was utterly crazy. The two of them had no business doing this at all, and they absolutely shouldn’t be doing it
here.
His office door wasn’t locked and his secretary was right outside.

Somehow, though, Wyatt couldn’t bring himself to care. He had to touch her, drench himself in her. She’d been so soft and wet against his fingers yesterday. Now he wanted to feel all that silky warmth wrapped tightly around his cock.