Everything You Are (10 page)

“You just dozed off.” She took the towel out of his hands and pushed a cup into them. “You didn't even properly dry your hair.”

“Oh.”

She pushed the tablet out of its wrapper and gave it to him. “Here.”

He took it, popped it into his mouth and washed it down with a sip of tea. He set the cup on the nightstand.

Trying not to stare at his chest, she covered his head with the towel and gently massaged his head with it. In some ways he was like a child.

His legs widened and his hands curled around her hips, tugging her closer.

From the corner of her eye she noticed that the edge of towel around his waist had slid down, exposing his hip.
Don't look!
“There,” she squeaked out before she hung the towel she had been using around his neck. She was about to step backwards, but his hands held her in place firmly.

His blue eyes lifted to hers, they were unfocused and his pupils dilated. “Jane,” he whispered. His hand caught her wrist and he drew her down until their eyes were on the same level. He took off her glasses and set them on the nightstand.

She knew what was going to happen and, at that knowledge, the heat that was already there, in the pit of her stomach, burst like a volcano.

His mouth brushed against hers. He kissed her, slowly, deeply, while his hand slid from her hip to her back and then it trailed up her spine until it reached her shoulder blades. His fingers splayed and he pressed her closer as he reclined back.

She should have pushed him away and she should have run away as fast as her legs could carry her, but instead her arms embraced his shoulders. She sighed into his mouth. He had been away these past weeks, and the only connection that they’d had was his evening calls, and yet... He had filled her mind so completely. He was there inside her head every night after their chat, when she lay in bed, waiting for sleep to claim her. He was so handsome and so dangerous for her peace of mind and her heart. If she didn't watch out, she might fall for him.
But haven't you already fallen for him?
a small voice so similar to Mark's asked her.

The kiss ended. “Jane.” His whisper caressed her mouth. Holding her tightly against him, he rolled them around, so that he was half-lying on her, his hips between her legs. Their eyes met and she drowned in the icy blue of his irises.

Her hands caressed his face. She had been wanting him and yearning for him since Italy, or maybe even before that, but that was not something she was willing to admit to herself, not even now. Maybe she had already fallen in love with him. It would explain why right now she felt spellbound, as if nothing mattered but him. She fixed her eyes on his mouth. She wanted him to kiss her again

“Jane,” he whispered again before he leaned over her. His mouth kissed the side of her neck then slid down until the collar of her shirt stopped its progress. His tongue wetted the curve of her shoulder, while his hand smoothed down her side.

She tilted her head aside, sighing, while she tugged on the strands of his hair. This was bad, so bad. She should have left twenty minutes ago and yet she was still there, unable to move, unable to push him away.

“Oh, Jane.” The breeze of his words tickled her skin. His mouth captured hers in a searing kiss.

She was lost in his touch, in the heat of his hands that slid under her shirt and caressed her skin. The hands that made her moan and tremble. The hands that made her arch her body and call his name.

He pushed the skirt that pooled around her hips higher. With his mouth on hers, one of his hands was still cradling her neck, while the fingers of the other grazed the skin of her inner thigh. He fumbled with her panties.

She felt something hot and smooth press against her and she knew what it was. This was going too far. Somewhere in the edge of her mind, she knew that she was making a mistake by allowing herself to get swept away like this, but she didn't want him to stop. No, she wanted to feel everything that he was willing to give her, even though she would never mean anything to him. All she wanted in that moment was him. Even if it was just for a second, she wanted to feel as if he saw more in her than just his personal assistant.

He pushed into her.

Pain pierced her and her hands gripped his shoulders tightly, while her cry was lost in his mouth. He filled her so completely. The pain persisted, but as he started to move in and out of her, gently, slowly, like undulation of the sea, the pain slowly faded away.

His hand on the back of her neck tilted her head, he deepened the kiss, forcing her to breathe through her nose.

Her nails scratched his back as she opened wider to his plunges. A heated tension, sharp and deep pooled inside her.

His mouth was devouring her, seducing her, while his hips rolled as he thrust into her, faster and harder. And it was glorious. It was so glorious.

The kiss ended and she hid her face against his shoulder, her moans dampening his skin. The tiny voice in her head was right. She had already fallen for him. She knew that so clearly now. She looped her legs around him while her hips started to move, meeting him halfway.

His hand went between them, he touched her sensitive flesh and his mouth kissed her neck, leaving a wet trail behind it.

It felt so good, so good, the thrusts, the touch of his hands, the strokes of his tongue. So good that she couldn't take it anymore. Her body jerked and warm shivers spread through her body, while her toes curled. So good.

He continued to drive into her, prolonging her spasms, the trembling and the sensation of height that made her feel as if she were floating, until he froze inside of her. A soft moan left his throat.

He rolled them sideways; his hand on her back, he slipped out of her.

She gasped, her face still buried against his shoulder. She didn't know what to do or say.

Rushed breathing slowed down and the seconds turned into minutes, and the silence covered them like a comfortable blanket.

She lifted her head, facing him.

His eyes were closed and his mouth slightly ajar. He was softly snoring.

She smiled. Beautiful. He was so beautiful. Her hand caressed down his back before she wrapped her arm around his waist and snuggled against him.
I love you
.

“You look well. Norway did you good.”

“Norway wrung me out.” Ian turned away from the windows with a view of the city below. He faced his father, who was seated behind the large desk. “I was so tired that after I got home, I slept sixteen hours.” And he had had the most wonderful dream about Jane. Just thinking about it, desire washed over him. He hardened.
Great!

“They were very impressed with your work and they proposed that for the duration of the project you take the position of Director of Production Operations. It would be a great learning experience for you.”

“No thank you.” Ian walked toward his father and sat on one of the two chairs before the desk. “Now, tell me why you prevented Jane from joining me in Norway.” After a few days there, when he had learned that his stay would stretch into weeks, he had requested that Jane join him. His father had intervened and busied Jane with projects at home, because of which she hadn’t been able to come. When he had demanded to know why Jane, who was his assistant, was working for somebody else, his father had refused to tell him over the phone, saying that he would find out when he got home. He was home now.

His father rested his wrists on the table and laced his fingers, his forehead furrowing. “Our company has had quite a few problems over these last two months.”

“Yes, I noticed. I had to take care of some of them.”

“There are too many of them to be coincidence. I believe that all the setbacks are the result of third party interference.”

“Sabotage?” Ian shifted forward.

“We are looking into it.”

The troubles started a few weeks after Jane came on board, yes, but Ian was certain she had nothing to do with the problems that plagued the company, and not only because he would like to get into her panties. “That's the reason why Jane couldn’t join me? Because you suspect her? But with her limited access to our data, she couldn’t have known about the Norway projects or Gambini.”

“She has been using your computer.”

“Which is not connected to the main database and on which I only have my current projects.”

“We had to make certain.”

Ian crossed his arms and with a frown on his face leaned back in the seat. “I do hope the three weeks that I was gone was enough time to cross her off the list of suspects.”

“Yes.”

“Who is still on the list?” It had to be short though; there couldn't be a lot of people who had complete access to all the company's projects.

His father unlocked a drawer and after browsing through it, he pulled out a folder. He gave it to Ian.

Ian opened it. There were four batches of papers inside: each one contained personal information and a photograph. He read the names out loud, “Richardson, Lean, Dunaway and Guinness.”

“I hired an investigator to conduct a comprehensive investigation on each one of those men. He hasn’t found anything that would implicate any of them.”

“Of course not.” Ian closed the folder and tossed it on the desk. “You chose them yourself and you have never been wrong about people before.”

“Nobody else can access all the projects but them.”

“What if somebody hacked the system?”

“The Norway project is not in the system.”

“Oh, right.” Ian rubbed his chin while he pressed his lips together. “Do you have a list of all the projects and deals that need intervention?”

“Yes.” His father took a paper from the desk and gave it to him.

“Why these?” Ian lifted the paper with the names of nine deals and projects before he started to skim through them. “There are some big projects and deals here, like the Green project, Norway, and the Gambini deal, but there are also two or three that we did as a favour. If those fell through, it would be a plus for us.”

“You think they were chosen randomly.”

“Yes, but why?” A moment of silence as Ian pondered it. “There could be more possibilities: because the saboteur isn't aware of their importance, because he doesn't care, or because he only has access to the information about these projects.” He looked at his father. “Have you already requested the list of all the people involved in each project?”

“Yes.”

“Including the loved ones to whom they might talk about their work?”

“Yes, but since some of the projects are common knowledge, like the Veri, where half of the employees know about it, gathering such information takes time.”

“So what now? Wait?”

“Do we have any other option?” his father said.

“I assume you already have the list of people aware of the Norway project.” Since they were contracted by the Department of Defence, they treated the project, even though it had been announced in public media, as confidential, and only a few people in the company were aware of the details or even knew the project's name.

“Yes.”

Ian stretched out his hand.

“I'll ask Tomas to forward it to you.”

“Okay.” Ian's hand fell to his side, he stood up. “If that's all?”

“You haven't even touched your coffee.” His father pointed at the untouched cup at the edge of the desk.

“I'll drink it later.” He picked up the cup. “I have some business I need to take care of.” Something that had nothing to do with the company, but everything to do with his little mouse of an assistant, who he couldn't get out of his mind. And who he had kissed yesterday. He shouldn't have done that, not yet anyway, but seeing her after three weeks of just hearing her over the phone... She was such a lovely sight and his self-control had slipped. “I'm taking Jane with me.”

“She's your assistant, who we, in your absence, only borrowed.”

“And kept her busy in case she's the one causing problems.”

“Something like that.” The old man smiled.

Ian gave his father a shake of his head before he turned away from the desk and walked toward the double doors. The first person his eyes descended on after he opened the door was Jane.

She sat behind the desk by the door, opposite Richardson's desk.

“Gather your things, you're coming with me” he told her, then without waiting for her, he strode out of the office into the hallway. Using the staircase he descended to the floor below, where his office was. As he crossed the reception area, he noticed that in the time he had gone they had replaced the small desk with a larger one. He waited for Jane at the door of his office.

She walked through the door almost one minute later, a large box with folders, a lamp, and a laptop in her hands. She put it on the desk in the reception area before she sat down and started to pull the things out of the box and set them on the desk. Before now, when she had needed to make a calculation or prepare a report for him, she had used his desk or the sofa in his office.

He stepped closer to the desk. “Jane, about yesterday...”

“I know why you did it.” She pushed the cup of pens to her right side before she started to fumble with her laptop.

“You do? Great. That makes things so much easier.” So she knew that he liked her. It seemed that he couldn't hide the attraction and lust he felt for her. No surprise there, he had never been a good actor.

The landline phone on his desk started to ring.

He lowered his cup to her desk and what he hoped was a charming smile stretched his mouth. “Do you have any plans for lunch today?”

Without looking up at him, she grabbed the landline phone on her desk, picked up the cordless receiver and pressed a few keys. “Sebastian Thornton's office. How can I help you?”

Did she really have to answer the call? In the moment that he was trying to ask her out?

She listened to the person on the other end before she lifted her head, her gaze downcast, and offered him the receiver. “It's Amanda.”

“Amanda?” He took the phone.

A scowl furrowed Jane's forehead. She still hadn’t lifted her eyes to his. “That stylist you took out when we met in the city.”

“Oh, that Amanda.” He grabbed the receiver. “Hey,” he greeted the girl on the other end of the line. She invited him out but, uninterested in seeing her ever again, he politely declined. “I'm afraid that I'm going to be far too busy.”

Amanda let out a sigh of disappointment. “What about next week?”

“I'm sorry, I won't have time next week either, nor the week after it,” he said and then quickly added. “Did you get the gift that I sent to you?”

“Yes.” Her voice lightened. “It's lovely, thank you.”

With a loud plop a stack of papers fell onto the table.

“Good, good.” His eyes glanced at Jane, who was slamming the items from the box onto the table with sharp, quick motions. This was bad, him talking with a woman he had gone out with before Jane, the girl he would like to seduce to bed. “Amanda, I have to go now,” he said. “Goodbye.” He cut the line and set the receiver down.

Jane hadn't commented, but continued to loudly put away the things from the box, this time into drawers.

“Jane.”

“What?” she said sharply.

He sighed. “Okay, what's wrong?”

“Nothing.” She shut the drawer. She swung the chair toward him and faced him. From the way her lips were pressed tightly together, and her furrowed eyebrows, it was obvious she was angry.

“I only slept with her once,” he said in his defence. “It didn't mean a thing.”

“So as long as you sleep with a girl only once, it doesn't mean a thing?”

“It's not like that. Amanda knows that.”

“You could have been nicer to her and let her down more gently.”

“I bought her a ruby bracelet, it doesn't get nicer than that.” He crossed his arms.

“So, I guess money --”

“A gift.”

“Can solve everything?”

“Not everything, but it can fix quite a few problems.”

The crease between her eyebrows deepened and she pinched her lips so tightly together that they turned white.

He sighed. “Okay, what did I say that is so horrible?”

She sent him a dark, ominous glance of her grey eyes before she averted them and turned away from him.

He frowned.
I guess this would be the wrong time to ask her out to lunch
.