Marrying The Boss (27 page)

She looked up. He'd come closer. His eyes
were dark and unfathomable, a tiny flame burning in their depths. A
raw shiver ran right through her from head to toe. She wanted the
right to lean on his strength.

"
Ah, Kate, Don't look at me like that. It's
all in the past now." Spencer slid his hand up her arm to cup her
cheek. "Come here. Let me make the bad memories go
away."

"
I wish you could." Anything else she
wanted to say was lost in the pounding of her heartbeat. Heat
licked through her veins. She felt foolish, scared and more turned
on as she'd never been in her whole adult life. All rolled into one
quivering package of nerves that would surely shatter into a
million pieces if Spencer didn't make some move to kiss her right
now.

Muttering a string of strange words she
didn't understand, Spencer slid his hand around to cup the back of
her head. Kate became acutely aware of the heat of his powerful
body as he drew her to rest beneath the line of his chin. The clean
masculine scent of him enveloped every one of her overwrought
senses, his warm breath fanning across her cheek.

She could feel the steady beat of the pulse,
in the base of his throat, against her forehead. Her own heartbeat
began to race, her hands clamping tightly around the wineglass she
still held, pressing against the hard, flat plane of his abdomen.
Unshed tears closed her throat.

"
Somehow you got to me, Kate." On a rough
breath, Spencer hauled her even closer. "In more ways than I know
how to deal with. I had hoped to keep you at a distance. Make
myself not want you, even when I asked you to marry me. I thought I
could set all the rules, make you feel safe."

"
If you still want me," Kate breathed. "I'm
here."

The fragile glass wedged between
them was under serious threat of permanent damage.
Just like my
heart
. Kate
closed her eyes.
Where is all this leading?

For once she had no idea and
strangely she
didn't care. This was one night out of time. They could go
back to being sensible in the morning. She wriggled, pushing closer
to the large warm body pressed to hers, of parting her lips and
lifting her face up to his and forgetting—

"
Make love to me, Spencer," she breathed.
"Please."

"
God, Kate..." She felt the sharp catch of
his breath. "Are you sure?"

He drew back a little to remove the glass
from her tight clasp. He set it aside with a taut grimace. "You
don't know what you're asking."

"
I'm not a child, Spencer." She looked up
at him. "I am aware of what I'm asking. If it's too much..." she
left the rest unsaid. "I'll go."

"
It's not too much." Spencer's eyes scanned
her face. "Never think that. But, are you sure you want this? I
mean, this wasn't meant to be part of our agreement. You need time
to adjust."

"
This isn't some knee jerk reaction to
Eric's phone call." Kate looked into the winter blue depths of his
eyes. "I've never been more sure of anything before."

Spencer didn't reply immediately. His eyes
traced slowly over her face. "I can't make any promises other than
never to hurt you."

"
I know." Kate released her breath as she
thought briefly of Eric and then dismissed his image from her mind
forever. "I don't want any promises. They can be broken. I don't
want to think about tomorrow. If it's all we can have together,
then let there just be tonight. Tomorrow we'll go back to being
sensible. Talk about what we need to do for the best."

"
Sensible Kate." Spencer's lips curved as
he stared down at her, desire burning in his eyes. Kate waited. He
hadn't refused her. She didn't know what she would have done if he
did.

"
You are so beautiful. So delicate and
fragile."

He leaned closer, his gaze intent on her
lips. "If I was a stronger man..." he muttered roughly and gave an
oddly strangled laugh. "A man with any sense at all, I would throw
you out. Come back here."

Kate's
heart leapt as she tilted her chin,
raising her mouth eagerly to his. Spencer's first kiss was all too
brief, the barest contact on her lips, tempting her to want more.
The feather-light contact brushed and tantalized, lifted and
retreated, then came back, the same slight contact that made her
groan with suppressed need.

Kate shivered, flicking out her tongue to
taste him on her mouth, his deliberate baiting of her senses
driving her to become bold enough to reach up to nibble her way
across the sensuous width of his mouth.

She felt Spencer shift his stance, a slow
smile brushing against her mouth as his lips lifted at the corners.
His second kiss invited a more sensual contact; again letting her
set the limits of their erotic dance.

Kate dragged air into her starving lungs,
opening her lips a little, testing and tasting the texture of his
mouth. It felt so right, so warm and firm against hers. He pulled
back again, his accelerated breathing fanning against her face as
he rested his forehead against hers. Her sense of loss lasted only
a heartbeat before he returned again, his third kiss frankly
plundering as Spencer finally dragged her closer, his fragile
control snapping, pinning her against his hard, powerful body.

Kate felt the hot, moist push of his tongue
sliding across her own. She rushed to meet him, both taking and
giving. Kate groaned, pushing closer into his warmth, feeling the
solid heat of his arousal pressing hard against her lower
stomach.

"
Kate, I want you," Spencer confessed.
"Ever since the first day I saw you, I haven't been able to get you
out of my mind. You won't let me rest. I thought I could control
it. I told myself I didn't need you. That I didn't need, period.
Ours was supposed to be a strictly business relationship, a means
to an end. It's the sensible solution."

"
Crazy idea," Kate confessed as a shudder
pulsed through her, trailing fire in its wake. "I don't feel like
being sensible right now. So stop talking and kiss me again
now."

Is it enough
? That he only wanted her. That
he could never be anything more to her, even if she did agree to
marry him tomorrow? At least his confession was honest, that tiny
voice inside her head replied. Spencer was hiding nothing, giving
her nothing beyond the promise of the passion evident in his
questing touch.

Kate nodded. It was enough for now. "Let's
go to bed," she whispered, hoping she could finally overcome her
fears of such an intimate contact.

"
If it's what you want." Spencer took her
hand, drawing her after him down the hall to his shadowed bedroom.
Kate clutched his hand tightly, trying to slow the swift beat of
her heart. The pace of her breathing must surely give away her
growing state of nervousness. Spencer turned to her in the doorway
of his room.

"
Don't look so scared," he chided gently.
"We don't need to do this if you're not ready."

"
I...it's been a long time." Kate
swallowed. "I thought…" She shook her head in
frustration.

Spencer leaned back against the doorframe,
holding her at arm's length, his hands encircling her waist. "There
has been no one...since Eric?"

Kate grimaced. "No, he and I...we..." She
felt as if she was drowning in embarrassment. "He was the only one,
ever. I was always wary of men, of their power. I knew, I'd seen
too many times, what it could do. As a child I often felt so
helpless and alone. I tried to stay invisible."

"
I understand." Spencer reached to switch
on the light. He drew her into his arms and looked down at her.
"Don't be afraid. I could never hurt you. I..." he shook his head
as he frowned, obviously unable to say whatever it was he was
thinking. His expression told her he'd had some kind of revelation.
Or second thoughts. Her whole body cried out, demanding she push
on; finish what she had started, or pull back and run away. And she
was so tried of running. Now it was time to face the truth. If this
night was all there could be, then so be it. She would make it work
for her. For both of them.

Her nervousness melted away. She moved
willingly into his embrace. "I know. This was meant to be, from the
moment we first met."

"
We won't do anything that you don't feel
is right," Spencer cupped her face in his strong hands. "This night
is for you, Kate. Only for you."

Kate felt humbled. No one had ever made
such a sacrifice for her before. "But, what about you?" She frowned
up into his hooded eyes.

Spencer taut laugh was full of chagrin.
"I'll survive, if you're having second thoughts."

"
No, no second thoughts." Kate swallowed
tightly, her throat closing with the strength of her love for this
man. The words almost escaped her control then. But she managed to
contain them within her heart.

But she still felt shy as his hands moved to
the hem of her shirt, drawing each button with torturous slowness
from its companion buttonhole. Slowly, oh so slowly, Spencer peeled
the two halves upwards, until they fell apart of their own
accord.

"
Very nice," he approved throatily of her lacy
lilac bra.

Kate shivered as his long dark fingers
curved over her ribcage, moving slowly higher. Her breath caught,
arching her back as his thumbs flicked over the taut peaks of her
breasts. Her shirt slid from her shoulders and was gone.

Her searching fingers attempted to undo the
snap of his jeans, her usual dexterity deserting her. Her hand was
stiff, the bandage an impediment to the need to touch his naked
flesh.

Spencer growled low in his throat as he
lowered his hands, unsnapping his jeans for her. Kate smothered a
small laugh in the strong column of his throat as Spencer gathered
her against him, turning to lay her down on the covers of the
bed.

His mouth sent shivers across her exposed
skin as he lowered his lips to the base of her throat, kissing
lower in tormenting circles until Kate felt like screaming.

Spencer pulled back slightly to watch her
face as she moved beneath his hands. He skimmed his hand lower,
cresting over the peak of her breast. The lacy scrap of lilac lace
and satin was the perfect foil for her creamy smooth skin, but it
was also in his way. Sliding his hands behind her, he released the
clasp, drawing off and tossing the garment aside.

He looked down at the beauty his action
revealed. Kate opened her eyes and stared up at him. Her blue eyes
were full of unfocussed desire, but behind that still lurked a look
of fear. He sighed, cupping and teasing out the fullness of her
breast.

"
Oh, God..." Kate arched against his touch.
"Spencer, I..."

"
Shhh." He pressed a finger to her lips.
"Don't speak, don't think, just feel."

He slid his hand around to the back of her
neck, drawing her up until her mouth met his. The kiss was hot and
urgent, drawing them both in to a vortex of need.

A slow heat built up in the centre of her
body, flaring outwards. This was the man who had promised not to
hurt her. She had to believe in that promise, even as she watched
his dark head dip towards her exposed breast, to lave her skin with
the heat of his tongue.

She wanted so badly to believe in all that
Spencer was promising her as he moved over her, his hands stripping
her of her jeans and panties, then urging her wordlessly to strip
him as naked as the desire burning in his fathomless darkened eyes,
his strong hands traveling ever lower in slow circles to prepare
her body for their union.

Kate arched to his questing touch, staring
at his mouth, the generous sweep of his bottom lip and then at his
eyes, the pupils enlarged, but with the glitter of desire in their
depths as he withdrew his fingers from her and slowly entered her
body.

Kate pushed upwards against him, welcoming
his elemental claim. The scent of his body teased at her nostrils,
the friction of his naked skin against hers became electric.

They belonged together and this—this
loving was so right. With the heat building to fever pitch within
her, she clung to his broad shoulders, finding the courage to begin
touching him. Moving against him in a timeless rhythm, as if
something beyond her was activating her instincts to know how to
touch this man in ways that forced deep groans from him. Had him
whispering her name over and over as their world tipped over and
fell apart in a shower of stars around them.

Kate collapsed on a sigh, nestling her
face into the heated curve of his shoulder. Spencer's harsh and
jagged breath was like music to her ears.

She felt him shudder as her fingers began to
explore the rigid muscles of his back and knew she could move him
with her lightest touch. He growled, deep in his throat as he
shifted to renew his claim to her willing body, and with a tiny sob
she followed him to a place where her whole being felt reborn.

Kate's
heart filled with wonder. In the
morning there would be time for regrets and sensible words of how
it could never happen again. How the marriage he had proposed
needed to be established on practical grounds. But she could easily
get used to this. For once she allowed herself to dream of a future
together, held secure in Spencer's strong and passionate
embrace.