The Millionaire Meets His Match (8 page)

“I'll do it,” he said huskily, and peeled back the white lace cups. His nostrils flared as he stared at her exposed breasts.

“Beautiful,” he said, then took both breasts in his hands and used his thumbs to gently flick her nipples to a hard peak.

She caught her breath when he bent down and took her into his mouth, teasing one ultrasensitive nipple first with his teeth, then with his tongue, rolling and licking her firm tip until she groaned aloud.

He continued his tender assault on her other breast as he reached to unzip her pants and ease them down her legs. She took over, shimmying and finally kicking her pants to the floor to allow him full access to every part of her.

His eyes met her gaze and Trish saw a flicker of heat and pure masculine satisfaction in his dark eyes. He slipped his fingers beneath the elastic band of her thong and touched her most intimate spot. When he slid one finger inside her, she gasped.

“So hot and tight,” he murmured, then eased out and back in again. He repeated the action over and over, creating friction against her sensitive flesh that aroused and devastated her.

“Adam,” she whispered. “Please.”

Instead of answering, he stood and made fast work of taking his shirt off, tearing off his shoes and socks before unzipping and removing his trousers.

Trish watched, mesmerized as she savored the sight of his long, powerful legs and well-toned body. She
shivered with anticipation and her breath hitched as he pulled off his boxers and revealed his large, stiff erection.

She ached to touch him.

He was watching her now as he reached for his pants and pulled a foil packet from the pocket. He tore it open and slipped on protection, then stretched out on the couch and took her in his arms. He kissed her fiercely, carnally, at the same time as he found her moist core and entered her with one, strong thrust.

Trish's eyes opened wide and she cried out, but almost as quickly as the pain came, it was gone, replaced by a feeling of fullness, an intimate connection she'd never experienced before.

Adam stopped, held perfectly still, locked inside her and stared down into her eyes. “A
virgin?
” His words were strangled as if there were a fist clamped around his throat. “Why didn't you tell me?”

“Can we talk about this later?” she demanded, lifting her hips, drawing him deeper.

He hissed in a breath through gritted teeth.

“Don't stop,” she commanded, and latched her ankles over his legs.

He gave her a tight grin. “I have no intention of stopping, but we'll talk about this.”

“Later,” she moaned. Her hands glided over his shoulders in an attempt to calm him down, urge him on, reassure him it was okay to keep going.
Please
keep going.

His lips found hers again and he kissed her tenderly as he began to move again. Pleasure grew and spread through her and she relaxed beneath him.

“Wrap your legs around me, sweetheart,” he murmured. “Move with me.”

She did so, matching his rhythm. She could feel his heart pounding against hers and it made her feel alive. She watched his face—beautiful, strong, straining as he gave her pleasure. She tightened her legs around him, then lost sight of everything but the lush heat that was threatening to consume her.

“Open your eyes,” he said. “I want to see them turn dark when you come with me.”

She was helpless to do otherwise as he plunged and filled her. Heat built within her and need ignited every nerve ending as she climbed higher and higher. She cried out his name as color exploded behind her eyelids and electric pulsations coursed wildly through her body.

Adam stiffened above her and shouted her name. He drove into her one last time, so deeply that she could've sworn she felt him touch her heart. Then he collapsed against her and his full weight pressed her into the couch. He murmured words she couldn't hear, but his warm breath against her skin soothed her.

For the next few minutes, all she could feel were the tremors moving in waves throughout her body and all she could hear was their ragged breathing. She was completely drained and satiated. She felt free, joyfully free and more alive than she'd ever been before.

A
dam carefully shifted and stretched out alongside Trish. He tucked her closer to him and then, leaning on one elbow, stared down at her.

“Why didn't you tell me?”

Despite the fact that they were inches away from each other, she wouldn't meet his gaze. A virgin? Was she really that hungry to get her hands on his bank account that she'd given up something so precious?

Adam wondered what she was thinking. Was she getting ready to bolt? He wouldn't put it past her, but he wasn't about to let her walk out right then. Not until he knew what was going on. He wanted—no, he
needed
—to know what was going through her mind. If she'd felt so compelled to apologize for one measly kiss the night before, she must be drowning in guilt and regret now, after just having had wild, incredible sex on his office couch.

But that didn't mean she was going anywhere. No way. Not yet. His own guilt had ratcheted up a notch or two besides. Would he have taken her if he'd known she was a virgin? No. But that ship had sailed. Besides, he couldn't say why, but he wasn't ready to let her go. Not until he could taste her again. He thought of the private bathroom connected to his office, with a shower big enough for two. He could offer her the use of the shower, then join her there.

The soft curve of her thigh was nestled against his shaft, causing it to stir to attention. He almost groaned aloud. It wasn't bad enough that he'd taken her here, in his office, on the couch. Now he wanted her again.

“I'd better be going,” she whispered.

“No,” he said immediately, telling himself she was too vulnerable right now for him to allow her to leave—and he refused to dwell on why he cared one way or another. He'd never wanted a woman to stay with him any longer than absolutely necessary. But Trish was different. He wasn't prepared to say how or why she was different. She just was. Gold digger or not, he felt something for her. And besides, he wanted answers to some questions.

“You're not going anywhere until I find out why you didn't tell me you were a virgin.”

“Why does it matter?” she asked, still averting her gaze.

“Because I wouldn't have taken you on a damn couch, that's why.”

She glared at him. “Well, then, that's why I didn't tell you.”

He frowned as he brushed a strand of hair back from her face. “But I could've gone slowly and not hurt you so much.”

“You didn't hurt me,” she insisted softly, shaking her head as she said it. Her eyelids fluttered and she finally smiled at him. “Well, not too much anyway. And after a few seconds, it was perfect.”

“Not yet,” he said with determination. “But it will be.”

 

Trish sat at her desk early the next morning, torn between preening like a satisfied cat and crawling under her desk to hide in shame.

She'd had sex with the enemy.

If it had only happened once, she might've chalked it up to temporary insanity. But it hadn't happened just once. Not even twice.
Three times!
In three different ways. She shivered at the memory of everything he'd done to her. One thing was certain: she'd never look at his conference table the same way again. And she was considering erecting a small shrine in front of that awe-inspiring couch of his.

She knew it was wrong, knew what a mistake she'd made, but it had been amazing, wonderful, thrilling. She'd reveled in Adam's kisses, each caress and every whispered word. He'd made her feel like she'd never felt before.

Well, of course she'd never felt those things before. Up until last night, she'd been a virgin.

She couldn't have told Adam why she was still a virgin at the ripe old age of almost twenty-six, so it was a good thing he never asked. She'd grown up sheltered, surrounded and protected by her grandmother and her neighbors at the Victorian Village. Once she went off to college, she was working too hard to mix in much with the party crowd.

She graduated a year early, then came home and
enrolled in the MBA program at the local university. Grandma Anna was starting to slow down, so Trish tried to help out in the store every day. She took over the purchasing and handled all the shipments. She rotated the displays and dealt with advertising and promotions.

Grandma was always teasing her, telling her to go out and meet people, have fun, fall in love. And Trish always figured there would be plenty time to do just that.

But that was around the same time her grandmother and their neighbors applied for historic landmark designation for the Victorian building. And that's when their world came crashing down, thanks to Adam Duke's company.

That's why she was here. Because Adam Duke had destroyed their lives and now she was out to ruin him. If only she could remember that.

Trish sighed heavily and powered up her computer. It was still early enough that she could do some personal work without feeling too guilty.

“This is for you, Grandma,” she murmured, then logged onto the company's Web site and did a search of their mergers and acquisitions over the past two years. She made a list of the companies Duke had acquired, and planned to search the Internet to see if any unsavory dealings had gone on during the transactions. She might even try to set up some interviews of the former employees of those companies to see how badly they were treated by the Dukes.

She sat back in her chair, feeling better now that she'd taken some small action toward avenging her grandmother. After the way she'd spent the previous evening, she wasn't sure she'd ever lose these feelings of
guilt, but at least she could tell herself that her mission was still on track. She owed that much to her Village friends.

So why did her thoughts keep drifting back to Adam?

This morning it seemed that all she could remember was Adam's skillful moves, his talented mouth and the scent of his skin. Suddenly her loins tightened and fresh waves of excitement surged through her. She could barely suppress a moan.

“Oh, good grief,” she muttered as she stood up. She had to get busy. What if someone caught her daydreaming at her desk? What if
Adam
caught her? It was still early and he wasn't in yet, but he'd be walking down the hall any minute. She swept up a handful of correspondence and rushed off to the copy room to work.

Standing in front of the copy machine, Trish realized she had some serious decisions to make. Where would she go from here? What would she do? She leaned against the machine, closed her eyes and exhaled wearily. It was time to admit that she was in deep trouble.

After all, it wasn't bad enough that she'd slept with the man she'd once considered her worst enemy, the man she'd held responsible for destroying her happiness and the life of her beloved grandmother. And it wasn't bad enough that the man she'd slept with was her
boss,
the person whose company she'd infiltrated in order to destroy him. And it wasn't even bad enough that she'd made a promise to her grandmother on her deathbed that she would avenge the wrongs done to Grandma Anna and her neighbors, that she would find a way to make Adam Duke experience the same level of pain that she and Grandma Anna had known.

No, what was really, really bad was that she couldn't wait to be in his arms all over again.

But it couldn't happen again.

The copy machine stopped and Trish jolted at the abrupt silence. In that moment it became crystal clear exactly what she would have to do. A switch had been thrown inside her conscience. Even though she hadn't gotten a lot of sleep last night and now felt as though she were walking through a heavy fog, she knew at last the direction she must take. Deathbed promises were not to be treated lightly. She'd betrayed not only her grandmother but all her old neighbors by becoming involved with Adam Duke.

How could she ever face her old friends again?

There was only one thing to do.

She had to tell him she could never have sex with him again. If she didn't put a stop to it now, her goal of righting the wrong she'd set out to do would have to be written off as a total failure. Which meant that it wouldn't be Adam who was destroyed. It would be Trish.

As she walked back to her desk with the stack of copies, she concluded that she would talk to Adam as soon as possible. It shouldn't be difficult. After all, why would he care that she was refusing to sleep with him again? He had a million women waiting in line for the same opportunity.

She wrinkled her nose at the thought. Even if that was true, she didn't like to think about all the women in the world who were chomping at the bit for a chance to have wild jungle sex with Adam Duke. It was downright depressing.

As she sat down at her desk and began to check her e-mails, she shook her head in dismay. All those women.
Just waiting in line. Why in the world would he even give a hoot that plain old Trish James would never make love with him again?

 

“No, absolutely not.” Adam had heard enough. He stormed across the office and halted within a foot of her. “I refuse to accept your resignation. You're still my assistant, Trish. There's work to do. So, go back to your desk and do…something.”

“Do something?” she repeated, then had the nerve to smile at him.

“You heard me,” he grumbled. “Go.” He waved his hands as if to shoo her away. Dammit, he couldn't be this close to her without inhaling her luscious scent. He wanted to strip her naked and nail her against the wall. Probably not a good idea to bring that up, given her present mood.

“Adam, please,” she said patiently, as if she were a wise parent and he a recalcitrant child. “I didn't say I was resigning. I said I'd been rethinking my job here at DDI.”

“Yeah, I heard you,” Adam said, crossing his arms tightly across his chest. “I just don't know what the hell you're talking about. Rethinking. I'll probably be sorry I asked, but what the hell's that supposed to mean?”

“It means that things have become complicated,” she said carefully. “It means I don't think we should…” she huffed out a breath and fisted her hands against her thighs in frustration. “Do I really have to spell it out for you?”

He took another small step toward her. “Yeah, Trish. Spell it out for me.”

“We can't have sex again,” she shouted, then
slapped her hand over her mouth and stared at him in astonishment.

“Okay.” He grimaced and rubbed his ear. “I don't think they heard you down on the third floor.”

“See what you made me do? I didn't mean to yell.” The apology was a bit muffled as she still had her mouth covered.

“That's okay,” he said, and reached for the hand covering her mouth to coax it away. “I don't agree with your ‘rethinking' plan but I appreciate your honesty.”

“You do?”

“Of course I do,” he said, keeping a strong grip on her hand. “And I've got to say, I also appreciate your feelings.”

“Really?” She gave him a suspicious sideways glance. “Well, thank you.”

He nodded. “You're welcome. And I'm really glad you're not quitting.”

“I would never leave you in the lurch.”

“I'm glad.” He stroked her shoulder paternally. “I need you, Trish.”

She nodded earnestly. “I know. And I won't let you down.”

He continued the stroking, gradually moving his hand up to cradle the back of her neck. “You never have.”

“Um.” She craned her neck ever so slightly to allow him more access. “Thank you, Adam.”

“No problem.”

“Okay.” She bit her bottom lip, then said, “Well then, I guess I'll just go…do…something.”

“Yeah, one thing before you go,” he said, then bridged the short distance between them by tugging her close to him.

“Um, what are you doing?” she asked warily as they stared at each other.

“Just testing a theory,” he said, and nipped gently at her ear. It was gratifying to hear her moan.

“But—”

“You see,” he murmured as he ran slow, nibbling kisses along her jaw. “In the interests of full disclosure, I should tell you that I absolutely do intend to have sex with you again.”

“Oh,” she said, breathing out a sigh as he licked the pulse point at the base of her neck. “But really, that's not a good idea. And I—I should get back to…um, work.”

“Yeah, me, too,” he said, eliciting a strangled sob from her as he cupped her breast through her silk blouse. “I won't keep you too long.”

She arched her back, then groaned, “How can this be happening again?”

“I'll show you,” he said, and covered her mouth with his in a devastating kiss that left no doubt about his intentions. Dammit, he'd missed the taste of her. Now he wanted to savor every inch of her skin, inside and out. In seconds, he was reaching to unzip her pants while she fumbled for his belt.

He'd thought after one night that he would've had his fill of her. He'd figured he'd be calling her bluff this morning, revealing her to be the gold digger that she was. But as soon as Trish had tried to call it quits, he'd known he wasn't ready to end it with her. The fact that she'd tried to end it first was something he'd have to think about.

Was she playing him? Was she deliberately being coy in hopes that he'd be the one to push for a relationship? A relationship that would lead to him standing at the altar watching her walk down the aisle?

While that vision should've been enough to send him running for cover, it didn't matter right now. He still wanted her, still needed her with a bone-deep passion that was relentless. And until the need faded, he wasn't about to let her go.

“Adam, touch me,” she whispered.

“Glad to,” he said. Picking her up, he walked her backwards, then pressed her against the wall and urged her to wrap her legs around his waist. “On second thought, I'm keeping you here all morning.”