His Challenging Lover (12 page)

She was about to start picking up her reports, but her body froze with those words. “Everything?” she asked softly, staring up at him. Was he lying to her? Was this just another one of his lines that he told all the women? Xander was one of those charming men who knew all the right things to say to make a woman feel special and feminine. Had he learned that particular line worked exceptionally well? Because it was definitely making her body warm up, even if it was just a line.

Xander smiled softly and took her hands in his. She only resisted for a moment before she stood up and let him pull her into his arms. “I’ll admit this resistance to seeing me, avoiding me in the hallways isn’t very exciting. But when I do see you, and get a glimpse of your long, sexy legs in your ultra-sophisticated skirts and those heels – yes, that turns me on.” He bent and nuzzled her neck and smiled to himself when her arms reached up to lay gently on his shoulders. “And when I think about what you wear underneath those silk shirts and stiff suits, I sometimes have to go back to my office and hide out until I can get my body back under control.” He let his hands slide up her waist, cupping her perfect breasts in his hands, even enjoying the silk of her blouse when he knew that the silk of her skin was even softer.

“We can’t do this,” she sighed, leaning her head back and pressing her body against his, loving the differences in the way they were made.

“Yes we can,” he countered and bit her earlobe.

She shivered, but still managed to shake her head. “No. It would be embarrassing.”

He wasn’t sure why it would be embarrassing, but he didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable. “We’re not going to ignore this anymore Autumn,” he warned as he moved his hands down to her bottom, pressing her hips more closely to his own. “And I want to know why you walked away from me last week.”

She took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to focus. “I need space if we’re going to talk about this,” she finally said, unable to think when he was holding her so tightly.

He grinned as he leaned down at nibbled on her lower lip. “Then maybe I won’t stop touching you,” he replied and kissed her, teasing her until she kissed him back. When he lifted his head, she was clinging to him, exactly how he liked her to be.

She laughed nervously, terrified of how easily he could make her want him. “I refuse to be the latest office bet,” she said firmly as she pulled out of his arms.

He shifted so he could see her more clearly. “What are you talking about?” he asked, his hands still moving along her body.

Autumn sighed with irritation which was just a mask for how badly she wanted to slide right back into his arms. “Don’t you ever go into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee?”

“Sure. What does that have to do with anything?”

She rolled her eyes. “The paper on the fridge?” she prompted then waited a moment for him to get it. But his eyes were still blank. “It’s the office betting pool for your current lady love,” she finished.

His hands stilled. “What do you mean?”

She pulled out of his arms and moved to the opposite side of the copy room. “The entire office bets on how long your current lover will last. When a new woman shows up, a new pool starts. Hence the new dates, the initials by each of those dates….” She prompted, hoping he would get the picture.

He thought about those for a moment, then shook his head. “You’re kidding, right?”

She shook her head, trying to hide the pain she felt every time a new paper went up onto that fridge. “Not at all. When the dates are all filled up, the paper is taken down and someone is assigned control of the money. It’s currently five dollars a date,” she explained.

Xander threw back his head and laughed, completely amused by the idea of his entire staff betting on how long a woman would stay in his life. Especially since there hadn’t really been any woman in his life for so long.

Autumn took that time to gather up her materials, irritated and indignant that he would be amused by someone betting on his personal life. Not a good idea when he was asking to make her the next woman in his personal life. That was SO not going to happen.

Xander knew that his laughter was creating more problems, but he couldn’t stop. It was so hilarious that his staff was betting, winning and losing money, on something that wasn’t actually happening! Almost from the moment Autumn came to work from The Thorpe Group, the women in his life had been temporary only because he wouldn’t, couldn’t, give them what they wanted, a real relationship. The ladies became frustrated with how little he would communicate with them, how he barely even kissed them goodnight. Some of them even asked if he was gay because he was so disinterested when they tried to tempt him.

He’d tried often enough, desperate to get Autumn out of his mind. But none of them could compare to her innocent beauty or the energy and passion she put into everything she did. He loved watching her work, getting involved in whatever might not be working perfectly and making it better. She was like the efficiency energy bunny. He’d been entranced from the moment she’d walked in and sat her adorable butt down in the receptionist chair and he’d become more enraptured by her ever since.

But he could see how she might not want to become the latest office gossip. And he would probably need to ease her into the relationship he wanted from her. And then another thought occurred to him. “Are you seeing someone now?” he demanded, furious at the very idea of another man touching her.

She quickly shook her head, which relaxed his muscles again. “Good.” He moved closer to her. “So if you don’t want the rest of the staff to know that we’re seeing each other,” and he put a hand over her mouth when she immediately opened hers to argue with him, “And we will be seeing each other,” he told her firmly. She stiffened for a moment and he watched her eyes. There was resistance for a long moment, then it seemed like she was accepting his statement so he released her mouth. “How about if we keep the office gossips from knowing about our relationship?” That would give her an easy out if she discovered that she didn’t really like him as a man. Okay, so she liked him as a man if her reaction a few minutes ago was any indication, but she might not like him as a person and keeping it quiet would help her if she wanted out. But it would at least give him some time to be with her, to hold her in his arms and enjoy her company. He’d have to figure out how to not pressure her though. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t do everything in his power to convince her.

“What do you propose?” she asked, thinking she was a fool to even consider a relationship, secret or otherwise, with Xander Thorpe. He was a ladies man, through and through. He was jaded about relationships. He rarely spent any time with a woman before moving on to the next one that caught his eye because, in his mind, relationships didn’t last. But maybe she could just take what he gave and tuck those memories into her mind for the future.

He grinned at her response. “We won’t let anyone in the office know that we’re together. We’ll meet at your place or mine and get to know each other.”

She wasn’t sure she liked the idea. Well, she definitely loved the idea of being with Xander even if it was only temporarily. But the secret thing might be difficult to maintain. “And in public? Or at the office?”

“We can be cordial to each other, right?” he teased.

She bit her lower lip, trying to decide how big of a fool she was going to be when she agreed. Everything in her told her to reject the offer. It was insanity and she couldn’t believe it when she said, “Okay.”

She was rewarded by his grin which sent shivers throughout her whole body, filling her with decadent anticipation.

“So it’s already Thursday,” he said, moving closer one more time. “Are you going to come home with me tonight?”

She tried to take a deep breath, but his hands moved to cup her breasts again and it turned into more of a gasp. “It’s late,” she finally got out although it was hard.

“And?” he asked as if that weren’t a good enough excuse.

Autumn knew what he wanted to hear, but she couldn’t be that brazen. She wanted to tell him to take her home to his house or hers and start all over on what they’d just done, but this time in private. And slower. More thoroughly.

But she wasn’t that confident around him.

He realized where her mind was going and finished his thought for her. “And you should come home with me so we can finish what we started again.”

She shook her head and pushed against his shoulders. “If I go home with you, we won’t get any sleep.” Her nudge wasn’t very convincing since she didn’t want to sleep alone tonight. Good grief, she didn’t even want to sleep!

He laughed, his hands moving higher on her waist. “I don’t see a downside to that.”

She thought frantically, trying to figure out what was good and bad about the whole situation. She knew this wasn’t going to work, but her body wanted him so badly. “You have Ms. Goswin coming in at eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”

He groaned at the reminder and his hands stilled although she felt his fingers clench on her hips. “That woman!” he snapped.

Autumn couldn’t help but laugh. She’d never seen him express any kind of irritation with any of his clients. They all seemed to love him and he loved them. Some of them were repeat clients, which was truly crazy, but others considered Xander a personal friend after their divorce was finalized. Autumn didn’t want to know which of those offers he accepted.

“I thought you and Ms. Goswin were friends.”

He quickly shook his head. “Can’t stand her,” he explained. “She’s not a very nice person,” he said in a low, irritated voice.

This was a new side to the man and she had to admit that she was amazed.

He looked around, still wanting to figure out how to get her back to his place and into his bed. “How about if I help you clean all this up and then I can take you home?”

She automatically bent to pick up the reports that had fallen to the floor during their bout of passion, trying to hide her blush at the mess that was all over the floor now. “I have my car here,” she said as she grabbed all of the papers on her side of the copy room work table while he pulled together the ones on his side.

“It’s late and you shouldn’t be driving home at this time of the night alone.”

She laughed and shook her head. “That’s a crazy excuse and you know it.”

He laughed as well and they both stood up with all of the gathered papers. “Yes, but it will get me closer to your bed, which is where I want to be.”

“It will also leave my car here.”

“I don’t mind driving you into the office tomorrow morning.”

“But everyone will see my car here. And some might see us driving in together. My name would be at the top of the kitchen pool paper by nine o’clock tomorrow morning.”

He sighed, realizing what she was saying. “Okay, good point. So follow me home. That way, you’ll still have your own car.”

Again, she shook her head. “I’m going home alone tonight, Xander.” She was proud of herself for being so firm about this.

“Then leave work early tomorrow and come with me. I’ll show you my lake house and we can spend the whole weekend together.”

Her eyes widened. “You have a lake house?” she asked, interested despite herself.

He shrugged slightly. “Only my brothers know about it,” he said. “It isn’t big, but it suits my needs.”

She smiled, intrigued by yet another side of him. “And what needs are those?” she asked, more than a little curious.

“Privacy.”

Her eyes widened. “I thought you were more of an extrovert.”

“Normally, I like being around people, but every once in a while, I need the silence of nature.” He looked at her cautiously. “I’m not kidding. It’s pretty small and rustic.”

She loved the idea but didn’t want to appear too enthusiastic for fear of putting him off. She had to play it cool, she thought. “What time would you like to leave?” she asked.

He grinned right back at her. “Can you get out of here after lunch? It takes about two hours to reach the house so that will give us plenty of time to get out of here and head to the lake so it won’t feel like the weekend is already gone.”

She nodded her head, smiling shyly now that she knew his secret. “So that’s where you go when you leave here early on Fridays,” she said with a grin. “I can be ready tomorrow. And yes, I can get everything cleared off of my desk by lunch time.”

“Great,” he said. “I’ll walk you to your car,” he told her as he took her hand and led her back to her office where they both dumped all of the reports.

She grabbed her purse and her coat, leaving the rest of her work on her desk. There was no way she’d get anything else done tonight. She needed a shower and a bed. Preferably his, but she had to be firm about this and sleep in her own bed tonight. Tomorrow, there would be plenty of time to be in his arms.

Autumn nervously packed her bag, not exactly sure what to include but she stuffed a couple pairs of jeans in, a bathing suit, some shorts and a sweater along with both long sleeve and short sleeve shirts. She included makeup, but only because she knew she wouldn’t be ready to face Xander without any makeup yet. She might need, oh…maybe ten years, before she would have the courage to face the man with a fresh face. He was too suave and sophisticated and she couldn’t imagine sitting across the table from him without looking her best.

She threw her bag into her trunk, then bit her lip as her mind worked through the details. She couldn’t leave her car at the office because then everyone would know that she’d left with someone else. But she didn’t want to waste time coming all the way back to her place. She lived about thirty minutes away, in the opposite direction from his place. Maybe he wouldn’t mind if she left her car in the parking lot of his building, which was only about five minutes from their office.

With that settled in her mind, she dumped her bag in the trunk and slammed it shut.

All morning, she scrambled to get her desk cleared off. Every time she received a new e-mail, she jumped on top of the issue, eager to get it taken care of so no one would be upset by her leaving early. When her phone rang right before lunch, she jumped and glared at it, initially thinking it was another task to get cleared up. But then she saw Xander’s extension, she smiled with relief and answered the phone.

“Are you still able to get out of here in say…an hour?” he asked.

“I’ll be ready,” she replied, feeling silly for the huge grin, grateful he couldn’t see her.

“Good. I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

He was about to hang up when she stopped him. “Wait!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Can I drive to your place and park at your apartment instead?”

There was a long pause and then he sighed. “Sure. That will work as well.”

Autumn ended the call and turned back to her computer. There were three more messages that had come in just during that short conversation. She quickly opened all three and read through them, then quickly cleared up the issues that needed to be resolved.

Forty-five minutes later, she looked around. Her reports were collated and ready to be distributed, her e-mail was…well, not empty but all the major issues were cleared up, her desk was also clean of any major issues….

Was she really ready to go?

Her stomach flip flopped at the idea of a long weekend with Xander. There wouldn’t be anyone around, just the two of them. Was she really going to do this? How stupid was it?

She should cancel, she thought. It was ridiculous to think that she would be any different from all the other women in his life. She would last just as long as they did and then she’d have to watch him with his next woman.

Could she handle that? Did she have the strength to endure him with another woman, knowing how she felt about the man?

Did she have a choice?

Not really.

Before she could come up with a reason not to, she grabbed her purse and headed out of her office.

“I’m leaving early today,” she said to Mary, not seeing the surprise in her assistant’s eyes as she swung her purse over her shoulder and headed out for the weekend. She was so embarrassed and nervous about what she was doing, afraid her guilt would be written all over her face, that she couldn’t look anyone in the eye.

She told the receptionist that she was leaving as well and to talk to Mary if there were any problems, since the receptionist also worked for her as well. When Xander walked out just as she was reaching for the door handle, she cringed when he told the receptionist that he too was leaving early for the weekend.

They stood awkwardly in the hallway waiting for the elevator to arrive, not saying a word to each other. When the doors opened, Autumn stepped in and moved to the opposite side of the cab while Xander politely stepped back from the front to allow another woman to be in front of him.

Once outside the building, she walked to her car, got in and drove away without once looking in his direction. She noticed him pull out of the parking garage right behind her but she didn’t even hesitate, too afraid someone from the office might be walking to lunch at one of the many restaurants along this street during their own lunch hour.

She pulled into the entrance of his building and, somehow, the gate for his building’s parking garage quickly opened. She supposed he had some sort of electronic opener on his car but she was too nervous about what they were about to do to wonder about it too thoroughly.

She heard her phone ring and answered it from her steering wheel.

“Park in number three,” Xander told her. She did so and he moved into space number one.

She was just gathering her purse when her car door opened up and Xander’s strong, powerful hands were reaching in, lifting her up and into his arms. “That was ridiculous,” he said a moment before he covered her mouth in a kiss that had her knees shaking so badly she couldn’t even stand any longer.

When he lifted his head, their breathing was rough and rapid and she didn’t want him to move away. In fact, if they weren’t in a parking garage, she might be begging him to keep on going. She’d had trouble sleeping last night after his teasing touches and now that desire was right back, just as intense. Possibly more so because she knew what was going to happen.

“Get in my car,” he ordered her with a heated look that told her he was just as on fire for her.

“Shouldn’t I change clothes?” she asked, smiling. Or at least trying to smile. She wasn’t sure she actually made it.

“If you even start to change clothes, I’ll have them all off of you and we’ll never get to my lake house. And I really want you where no one will be able to find either of us until Sunday night.”

She could agree with that. So she pushed away from her car, her legs still pretty shaky, and slipped into his luxurious, black Jaguar sedan. The sleek lines of the exterior were mirrored on the inside and she loved the way the seat hugged her body, keeping her in place.

A moment later, Xander was right next to her and he was pulling out of the space.

“My clothes!” she gasped, forgetting that she needed her bag from her trunk.

“No need,” he teased. But then relented when he saw her worried expression. “I got them out already. Your bag is in my trunk so there’s no slowing down.” He actually stopped at that point and looked at her in the dim light of the parking garage. “Are you sure about this, Autumn?” he asked gently, his hand touching her cheek, smoothing down to her jawline. “I don’t want to pressure you into anything you don’t want to do.”

She almost laughed at that but he was being too sincere. “I guarantee that there isn’t anywhere I’d rather be right now,” she assured him.

Those beautiful, indigo blue eyes smiled right back at her and he drove quickly out of the garage. In only moments, they were speeding down the highway out of the city. They talked about everything and anything that occurred to them and Autumn couldn’t believe how nice it was to have that camaraderie back that they’d had when she’d first started working at The Thorpe Group as a receptionist. He could make her laugh about the silliest things and yet, they argued about everything as well. The arguments this time were good natured, not nearly as heated as they had been before that afternoon in his penthouse. And she discovered things about him that she never would have believed.

The biggest surprise of all was two hours later when they pulled into a wooded, gravel driveway. This lake house wasn’t anything like what she was expecting. While his penthouse in the city was gorgeous with all the latest gadgets and designer decorated, his lake house was the complete opposite. The house wasn’t enormous and elegant. It was a small cabin, just like he’d told her. And it really was just a cabin. There were rough logs and stones and the edifice stood almost right on the water. The lake wasn’t very deep right here, but it expanded out and looked cool and amazing farther to the right. There were pine trees behind the house and a perfect porch with two deep chairs that looked out onto the lake.

She didn’t realize it, but Xander was standing behind her while she took it all in. When she just stood there, looking and not saying a word, he couldn’t take the suspense any longer. “What do you think?” he asked.

Autumn didn’t even turn her head. “It’s perfect,” she whispered, not wanting to raise her voice for fear that it might break the solemnness of the atmosphere. “How did you get such a perfect spot?” she asked.

He moved closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. “I bought up several lots up and down the lake from this point.”

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head at how wealthy he was. “Only you,” she laughed.

He squeezed her slightly then kissed her neck before releasing her. “Come see the inside.”

She followed behind him, feeling warm and protected with his large hand holding hers. It felt like their first, real date, but that didn’t make any sense after they’d known each other for so many years. Well, and the fact that they’d made love…um…had sex…so many times.

He led her down a dirt pathway towards the small cabin. There was a double door and a large window looking out onto the lake, but inside, there was only a rustic kitchen powered by solar panels on the roof. Nothing was turned on so Xander had to power up the fridge and small stove so it would at least be ready to use. There was a sitting area filled with deep, rough wood chairs surrounding the large, stone fireplace but not much else other than fishing and snow equipment against the wall. Other than that, there was only one bedroom with more rough wood as the bed and piles of blankets as well as one dresser and a closet in the corner.

“There’s only one bedroom,” she said as she backed up.

Xander looked down at her, his eyes confused. “Isn’t that the whole point?” he asked, matching her step for step.

“Where am I going to sleep?” she asked.

Xander froze, his eyes trying to figure out if he’d completely misunderstood what was going to happen this weekend. Then he saw the teasing glint in her eyes and he growled. “You’re not!” he told her in a deep, husky voice, ignoring her squeal as he bent low and tossed her over his shoulder.

Autumn was laughing so hard she could barely breathe but then she found herself on her back, staring up at the man and all her laughter died out while that delirious lust surfaced once more. The time for talking was gone. There was no teasing, no laughing. The only sound either of them made was gasping pleasure as clothes were pulled off and scattered, skin revealed and his hard body finding her softer one.