His Secretive Lover (The Thorpe Brothers) (8 page)

Cricket sighed as she got out of her car several days later.  She wouldn’t see Ryker today even though she knew he’d returned from Paris yesterday afternoon.  He’d left her a message on her cell phone letting her know and asking her to meeting him for dinner. 

She hadn’t returned
his phone call and this morning she was completely off schedule in order to avoid running into him.  She should be brave and just call him back, explain that she couldn’t see him anymore.  But she knew what would happen when she heard his voice.  She’d completely cave in and try to figure out a way to be with him without her father knowing. 

It was pointless, she told herself.  She needed to be firm, mostly with her own mind and body, both of which were craving just the sight of him.  She’d love to curl up in his arms and feel those wonderful, tingling sensations that only he could give her.  But she had to stay away from him. 

Now if she could just stop thinking about him!

Rounding the corner to her
office, she had come in the back way just to guarantee that she wouldn’t….

She gasped as
someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into one of the lobby hallways.  She was just about to fight, her natural instincts rising up, when she realized that it was Ryker’s hand and Ryker’s body that was pressing her against the wall.  And then she sighed with happiness when Ryker’s mouth descended to hers and smothered whatever protest she was going to make.  She kissed him back with all the emotions she’d been bottling up inside of her, eager to taste and feel him once again. 

He lifted his head briefly to look down at her and she smiled up at him.  “You’re back!” she sighed, shifting her body against his and wishing desperately that it was still summer and she wasn’t wearing this bulky coat. 
“I can’t see you,” she whispered, but her head tilted back, begging him to kiss her. 

He must have felt the same way since his fingers moved away from her waist and deftly unbuttoned her coat, slipping his body closer and Cricket sighed with desire as she felt more of his hard angles and planes.  “You feel wonderful,” she whispered, her fingers clenching at his shoulders as if he might get away from her. 

“Why didn’t you call me back?” he said while his head dipped lower to kiss her neck.

She tilted her head to the side, enjoying the frizzle of excitement that shot down her body.  “Because,” was all she would say for an explanation.
In her mind, she was trying to come up with a solution that would work with her father, but when he was touching her in this way, she wasn’t able to think about anything other than his touch. 

He bit her neck hard enough to make her
gasp and jerk away, but not hard enough to hurt.  “Give me a better reason,” he growled in her ear. 

“Because I can’t see you,” she said with a
groan while her hands smoothed down his body from his shoulders to his stomach, teasing him in the same way he was doing to her on her neck. 

He grabbed her hands before they could move any lower.  “That’s not really an explanation.  Nor is it even going to work.  We will be seeing each other.”

She sighed and laid her head against the wall behind her.  “We can’t.”

He chuckled.  “You’re going to have to give me a better explanation than that,” he said and pressed his knee between her legs, causing her whole body to jerk in reaction.  Her eyes closed.  He pressed her hips against his leg, shifting ever so slightly until he caught her shudder in his arms.  “What’s going on Cricket?” he asked, holding her hips so she couldn’t move away from him.

She bit her lip, trying to control her body’s reaction but it was pointless.  They’d spent only one night together but he already knew her body well enough, knew what she wanted and how to make her body hum with need. 

“You’re not playing fair,” she whispered through clenched teeth.

“I don’t ever play fair.  Tell me what’s going on.”

“My father doesn’t want us seeing each other.”

His hands moved higher along the silk of her blouse, easily finding her nipples underneath the smooth material.  His thumb was merciless as he flicked the peak to hardness.  She tried to grab his hands and pull them away, but she was his sexual prisoner for the moment.  “Your father can’t control us, Cricket.  You’re an adult.”

“You don’t understand,” she said, begging him with her eyes to stop torturing her like this.

Ryker sighed with frustration and need.  He hadn’t planned on seducing her in the hallway of her office building so he’d completely messed this up.  But she hadn’t called and she hadn’t arrived at work at her normal time so he’d been frustrated and determined to know what had happened in the past three days.  It hadn’t ever occurred to him that her parents would interfere. 

Unfortunately, he had a meeting and he knew she had to get to work.  “Meet me for dinner tonight and we’ll discuss it,” he said, shifting his leg ever so slightly in the hopes that she would agree. 

“I can’t,” she argued, but her body shifted again. 

Ryker knew exactly what she was doing and if sex was the only way he could get to her, he’d use it.  He wanted this woman, but he wanted more than just sex.  He pulled his leg away and almost laughed with the frustrated look on her face.  “Meet me for dinner and we’ll continue this afterwards,” he coaxed, bending down and going straight for that spot on her neck. 

Cricket whimpered, her hands both holding him in place one moment, then wanting to push him away.  Her fingers gripped his hair, unsure of which need was more overpowering, the one to make him stop or the one to make him finish what he’d started. 

“I can’t.”

His fingers moved up to cup her breast once again, his thumb hovering over her nipple.  “Just dinner, Cricket. No harm in meeting me for dinner.”

Cricket held her breath, her whole body primed to feel his thumb on her nipple
.  But he didn’t touch her, just hovered, driving her crazier than she’d ever thought possible. 

“Dinner.  Fine!” she screamed and was rewarded by his thumb flicking over her nipple again.  It was both sweet and painful since there was no way to culminate this liaison and her need for him was making her crazy. 

Ryker stepped back, his eyes hot with his own need shining through.  “I’ll pick you up,” he said. 

“No!” she gasped, not wanting her father to see Ryker arrive.  “I’ll meet you somewhere,” she countered.  “Just give me an address.”

Ryker didn’t like that suggestion.  He wanted to pick her up and talk to her in the privacy of her house where they wouldn’t be disturbed.  He fully intended to take her out for dinner, but he wanted answers first.  He could see in her eyes that she wasn’t going to give in on this issue so he relented, wanting her company too much to argue.  “Fine.  Meet me at Simpson’s at seven.  Does that work for you?” he asked gently, wanting to grab her back into his arms and find a more private place to finish what he’d started, but that was impossible. 

“Simpson’s,” she repeated and nodded her head to reinforce it.  “Yes.  Seven o’clock, I’ll be there.” 

He watched her closely, seeing something in her eyes that worried him.  “If you’re not there, Cricket, I’ll come to your house and wait until you arrive.  I’m not giving up on you.  And whatever is going on, we’ll work through it.”

She nodded numbly, but brushed past him as she hurried back to the main lobby area.  She pressed the elevator call button with shaking
fingers, eager to get up to her office and pull herself together again.  Good grief, the man knew what he was doing! 

Once she had the door to her office closed behind her, she took several deep breaths.  Running her hand over the stacks of invoices and reports, she grounded herself in reality.  Ryker was fantasy.  This was real.  This was what was important.  Normalcy.  Her parents.  Ryker was a fling that could destroy her family.  Her job and her parents, they would be with her forever. 

Yes, she told herself firmly as she turned on her computer and logged into her e-mails, this was what she should be focusing on.  She shouldn’t have let him kiss her.  She shouldn’t have even spoken to him.  If he did that again, she’d just press her hand against his chest to keep him away. 

The image of his broad, muscular chest came to mind.  And all the ways she’d touched that chest a few nights ago.  He tasted so good.  And he had that sexy indentation right under his breast plate.  She’d run her finger over that place several times, fascinated with the area.  He’d
even shuddered when she’d kissed his flat nipples.  She smiled at the memory and her body reacted. 

“Who is he?” Josie asked, leaning against the door to her office.

Cricket jumped about a foot in the air, almost falling off of her chair at Josie’s voice.  She’d thought she was alone! 

“Who’s who?” she asked, grabbing onto the chair and pulling herself back into place.  She smoothed her hair and laid her hands over the papers on her desk. 

“Who is the guy you’re thinking about?” she clarified, her eyes excited at the prospect. 

“Is Jason in?  Shouldn’t we be working?” she asked. 

“Jason is out of town this week so we have a quiet few days ahead of us,” she explained with relish.  She moved away from the doorway and came to sit down in her chair.  “So spill it.  Who’s the guy?”

Cricket shrugged.  “What guy?”

Josie laughed and shook her head.  “The fact that you keep repeating that phrase only makes me more positive that you have a new guy in your life.  So who is he?” she demanded.  “Come on, give us a hint.  I’ve been married for fifteen years and I have four kids.  I have to live through your escapades and this is the first time I’ve heard of you doing anything other than working.  So tell me!” she teased. 

Cricket shook her head.  “I’m not seeing anyone,” she told Josie.  And it was only partially a lie.  She wasn’t supposed to be seeing Ryker.  And just because she’d agreed to meet him for dinner, that didn’t mean she actually would get to the restaurant. 

Besides, had she really seen him this morning?  Only briefly, which technically counted, she guessed.  But most of the time her eyes had been closed so she didn’t feel like she was genuinely lying to her friend. 

“If it wasn’t a guy, what put that dreamy, star gazing look on your face?” she asked, not believing Cricket for a moment. 

Cricket felt the blush coming up her neck and tried to stop it, but since she’d never felt this way about a man, she’d had no idea if it was even possible. 

“You are!  You’re seeing someone!” she laughed, pointing at Cricket’s now-pink cheeks.  “Who is he?” she demanded, on the edge of her chair now.  “Is he someone in this building?”

“No!” Cricket exclaimed, worried that Josie would follow her around and find out the truth.  “Seriously, I’m not dating anyone.”  She made the assertion with a strong voice and prayed that Josie would believe her this time.  She couldn’t imagine how embarrassing it would be if anyone caught her doing what she and Ryker had been doing earlier this morning. 

Josie clapped her hands excitedly.  “Is he hot?  Is he absolutely gorgeous?  Or is he one of those geeky, cerebral types that make one think of dark, desperate poetry?”

Cricket stared at Josie for a long, pregnant moment before the woman’s words sunk in.  She laughed and leaned back in her chair, wondering how Josie ever came up with these ideas.  “Josie, you read way too many romance novels.”

“I know.  Now stop changing the subject and tell me what he does for a living.  Is he rich?”  Her eyes narrowed as she watched for any reaction on Cricket’s face.  “No, he’s probably one of those desperately poor men who are more earthy and yummy.”

“Why do you think that?” she couldn’t help but ask.

Josie grinned and bounced a little in her chair.  “Because you’re one of those extremely nice women who don’t hurt any sort of living thing.  So it would be natural for you to be attracted to someone who
needs your sort of compassion and understanding.”

Cricket blinked, wondering where Josie had gotten the idea that she was a nice person.  She hadn’t ever thought about that before, al
ways striving just to be perceived as normal.  “You think I’m nice?” she asked, feeling a startling sense of warmth seep through her body at the idea.  She also had to laugh at the idea of Ryker Thorpe needing anyone’s compassion or understanding.  She didn’t know him very well, but what she did know of him, she could tell that he wasn’t the kind of man who would need anyone, much less their compassion.  And understanding?  He went his own way, forging his own path.  People came to him for his understanding, not the other way around. 

“Of course you’re nice,” Josie
replied, rolling her eyes.  “Probably too nice which is why you need to ‘fess up and let me stalk your man for a little while, find out if he’s good enough for you.  I wouldn’t want some creepy guy trying to spin you up into a frazzle and then dump you later on.”

Cricket thought about Ryker’s hands and mouth this morning.  Yes, he’d definitely worked her up into a “frazzle” this morning. 
She blinked and refocused on Josie, shaking her head at the ridiculous thoughts she was having about Ryker.  “I’m fine.  And I’m just as boring as I was yesterday and the day before.”  That was a perfectly honest statement if she’d ever heard one.  “And there’s no guy in my life.  I have a very obnoxious father who steps in whenever he thinks I’m dating someone so it’s too hard right now.  Maybe later,” she told Josie, feeling her heart clench at the idea of never seeing Ryker again.  But that was how it had to be.