The air around him crackled dangerously. “You were eavesdropping?”
I flushed. “I was going to tell you, but then I heard … Henry started talking about me and it’s only natural to listen in to a conversation about yourself,” I argued. “And you were beyond insulting.”
His expression cleared. “Is that why you said yes to Henry? To piss me off?”
“I said yes because he was complimentary. And yes, I have to admit to getting some satisfaction out of irritating you since it was so clear you think I’m beneath you.”
His nostrils flared. “Bullshit.”
I blinked rapidly at the denial. “Seriously? You’ve been treating me badly all week. Not to mention how you were tonight? You’re not a stupid man, Caine, so you had to know I was hurt when my grandfather chose to ignore me, and you just dug the knife in deeper. You’re never going to see me for me, are you?” I clenched my hands into fists. “You’re just going to wound me and humiliate me. You’re determined to make me pay for what he did.” At his silence my anger increased. “Aren’t you!” I yelled.
Suddenly my back hit the wall behind me as Caine moved me there, caging me in as he crowded me against it, his hands pressed to the wall above my head. Emotion blazed from his eyes. “I don’t think you’re beneath me,” he hissed.
The surprise of finding myself barricaded in by him had knocked my attitude down a few levels. “Then why were you cruel?” I whispered.
Remorse flickered in his eyes. “I didn’t mean … I just didn’t want you there. With him.”
And the shocks just kept coming.
I sucked in my breath and then slowly exhaled. It isn’t possible … I didn’t think so, but … I took in the aspect of his dark gaze that hinted at another emotion besides anger. “You’re jealous?”
The muscle in Caine’s jaw flexed.
My heart started to slam against my ribs and I couldn’t seem to get control of my rapidly increasing breathing. With our eyes locked, our bodies touching, the heat around us blazing off the charts, I forgot where we were. I forgot everything but him.
“Cai—”
He crushed his mouth over mine, swallowing my gasp of shock and excitement. His cologne, the heat of his skin, and the taste of him, hot and sharp … it all overwhelmed me as he gripped the back of my neck with one hand and slid the other down my stomach … He smoothed it down my hip and under my thigh.
Realizing his intent, I kissed him back harder and clung to him, my fingers digging into his back, as he tugged my thigh up so he could press deeper between my legs. My lips parted on a whimper of lust and triumph. Caine growled. The sound caused a ripple of arousal in my lower belly and I pushed into him.
His hand tightened around my neck and he groaned again, the vibration of it causing more heat to shoot through me, tugging at my nipples, melting through my belly, and exploding between my legs in a burst of needy tingles. His kiss grew more demanding, long, drugging kisses that muddled my head and took me with him to somewhere else entirely. We were panting and pulling at each other’s mouths like we couldn’t get deep enough. Caine crushed me harder against the wall, grinding his erection against me. My belly squeezed again, and it occurred to me I’d never been this turned on from just kissing someone in my life.
It was him.
I slid my hands up his back and over his shoulders, my fingers sinking into his hair as I silently begged for more, for harder, for deeper … for everything.
From him.
Caine released his hold on my neck only to trail his fingers along my collarbone. As he skimmed his fingertips slowly over the silk of my dress, shivers cascaded down my spine, giving me goose bumps and causing my nipples to peak against the fabric of my dress. His thumb brushed lightly over my breast and stilled at the evidence of my arousal.
He broke the kiss, pulling back only an inch to gaze into my eyes. His lashes were low-lidded with lust as he studied me. I held his heated gaze, my lips swollen and stinging, my whole body taut with need.
Caine slowly lowered my leg and for a few awful seconds I wondered if that was it.
“Take off the dress.”
His voice was thick with need, but still there was authority in it—bossiness.
Turned out in the right situation, Caine being bossy was less annoying and actually very, very hot.
Slowly, I let go of him, and still holding his gaze, I reached behind my neck for the crystal clasp on the halter.
Caine took a few steps back, allowing cool air to rush in around me.
I’d undressed for boyfriends before. It wasn’t something I’d ever been shy about, because unlike most of my friends I didn’t really have any body hang-ups. But it was different standing in front of Caine, preparing to bare myself to him. For some reason it didn’t just feel like I was taking off a dress. It felt like I was letting him see me naked.
And there was a difference.
I hesitated, my fingers fumbling on the clasp.
Caine saw it. His answer was to tug at the bow tie around his neck. I watched him as he removed it and then he began to shrug out of his jacket. As he started unbuttoning his shirt, he said in a low, deep voice that made me pop the clasp, “I fantasize about fucking you in this office a hundred times a day.”
His confession made me breathless.
I’d wondered if he was attracted to me, but I never thought he’d admit it or act on it.
But to know he was as attracted to me as I was to him … well, that made me brave again.
I pulled the halter of the dress down and watched Caine’s eyes grow impossibly black with heat as I bared my breasts to him. My nipples pebbled under the kiss of the cool air, and gaining my confidence, I tugged down the dress and shimmied out of it. I lifted it up off the floor and draped it across the back of the sofa. Caine’s gaze devoured every inch of me.
I was left in only my jewelry, my underwear and my heels.
I curled my fingers into my panties.
“Stop.” Caine took a step toward me and I let my own gaze eat him up. His shirt was completely unbuttoned, revealing a sliver of his tan skin and hard abs. “Leave them on. Sit on my desk.” He moved aside of it, leaving me a clear path.
He could hear how breathless I was when I asked, “Are you this bossy with all your women?”
Caine grinned, a wicked full-on smile that made my heart palpitate. “No, you just bring it out in me.”
I smiled back. “You’re saying you have a thing for bossing me around?”