His to Possess (6 page)

*   *   *

Jessica picked up the ringing phone from her desk.

“He’s back,” Melanie said from the other end. “He wants you to come to his office.”

“Thanks.”

She saved the document she’d been working on and grabbed a pen and spiral pad from
her desk so she could take notes. Melanie had shown her where the office supplies
were and given her some materials to read until Dane—Mr. Ranier—could talk to her.

She left her office, which was situated beside her boss’ office, and glanced at Melanie
who was sitting at her desk a few yards away.

“When he’s expecting you, just go right in,” Melanie said.

Jessica opened his office door and went inside. He glanced up from his computer and
stood, then gestured toward a sitting area by one of the large windows. There were
two easy chairs facing a low, round table. In another part of the office, there was
a high table surrounded by chairs where he might hold more formal meetings, but this
spot was clearly meant for more relaxed conversations.

She sat down and set the pad and pen on the table, within easy reach.

“The job you’ve been hired for is to be my personal assistant,” he said.

Had he put ever so slight an emphasis on
personal
? But after the conversation with Melanie, she realized she was being a little crazy.
Why would a wealthy businessman like Dane Ranier hire her just to get sex? With his
looks and confident demeanor, he could have any woman he set his mind on, without
need of offering her employment, or anything else for that matter. He oozed masculinity.
All he’d have to do is smile and women would drop to their knees.

She should know. She had.

“How is that different from what Melanie does for you?” she asked.

“Melanie is my secretary. You are my personal assistant, so you’ll be doing more personal
things for me.”

A tingle danced along her spine as she remembered some of the very personal things
she’d done for him that night. Damn it, she thought she’d avoided the whole morning-after
awkwardness by slipping out of the hotel early, but it had returned with a vengeance.
Her gaze flicked to his but she ensured her expression remained neutral.

*   *   *

This morning, Dane had been shocked to discover that Jessica actually thought he’d
hired her just so he could have sex with her. When she’d said she wouldn’t take the
job because of her anxiety about it, he knew they had a problem they needed to deal
with. But that hadn’t been the time. He’d decided she’d needed a little time to calm
down and think about it, so he’d sent her away.

Sure, he’d love to continue a physical relationship with her, but she clearly wasn’t
comfortable with that.

He sighed. “Jessica, it seems we have an issue.”

“We do?” Her eyes widened slightly.

“When I say you need to do personal things for me, I’m not talking about you dropping
to your knees and unzipping my pants.” Though at the thought of her kneeling in front
of him, her fingers brushing against the fabric covering his shaft, it began to swell.
“I’m talking about you picking up my dry cleaning, sometimes getting me coffee, ensuring
I have everything I need when I head to a meeting.”

Her cheeks tinged pink, but the rest of her expression was unreadable.

“And occasionally you may have to work after hours. I have projects outside the office
that I need help with and that’s also part of your job as my assistant. I don’t want
to have you quivering in fear of being seduced every time I ask you to work late.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Is that understood?”

She nodded, but he wasn’t sure she was convinced. They both knew she really needed
this job, so despite her earlier claim that maybe she couldn’t accept the position,
he was sure she would cling to it even if she had doubts about his intentions.

“Jessica, we had sex. It was intense and amazing. And I would love to do it again.
But that won’t happen unless
you
want it to happen. In that, you are totally in control.”

Her gaze flicked to his, then down to her notebook.

“But in everything else, I’m the boss. Got it?”

Again, she nodded.

He stood up and walked to the front of his desk, then turned around. “Good, now come
over here.”

Her eyes widened, but she stood up and took a step forward, leaving six feet between
them.

“Keep walking until I tell you to stop.”

She continued forward slowly, her hands clenching into balls at her sides as she approached.
He waited until she was two feet from him before he told her to stop. He was a good
eight inches taller than her, towering over her as their bodies infringed on the usual
comfort margin of personal space. He watched her cheeks tinge a deep rose and she
stared at his tie rather than meeting his gaze.

The closeness of her body, and the sweet scent of orange blossoms from her hair, sent
his senses reeling. He wanted to drag her into his arms and claim that soft, pink
mouth of hers. To feel her soft breasts crushed against his chest again.

But he didn’t.

He smiled. “You see. I’m not ripping off your clothes. We can work in the same office.
We can sit side-by-side.”

He wanted to reach for her chin and tip it up, so she would look at him, but as confident
as his words were, he was afraid touching her would be his undoing.

“Look at me, Jessica.”

She raised her gaze to his. He could see it. The heat in her big green eyes. And that
heat set his blood simmering. He wanted so badly to stroke her cheek. To drag her
body against his and storm her mouth.

Instead, he reined in those feelings with an iron will.

“We can even stand facing each other like this without me throwing you onto that couch
and having my way with you.” He paused, letting that sink in. “Nothing is going to
happen unless you want it to.” When she didn’t say anything, he said, “Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

Oh, God, when she called him sir he wanted to take total control of her, and order
her to do some
very
personal things.

“Good. Now for the next week or two, you’ll need to learn about what we do here. You’ll
be working closely with Melanie. She knows what I expect of you and will explain your
duties in detail. In a few days, I’ll have you accompany me to a few meetings. I assume
Melanie has already given you some reading material.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. That should keep you busy for the rest of the day.”

“Yes, Mr. Ranier.” She turned and headed for the door.

His gaze fell to the delightful sway of her hips as she walked. When she reached for
the doorknob, he said, “Jessica.”

She turned to face him.

“If you do change your mind, I’ll be only too happy to continue what we started that
night.”

He was sure he saw heat flicker in her eyes before her gaze darted away and she opened
the door and escaped.

Damn it, why had he said that? The whole point of this conversation had been to calm
her down, not to deliver an invitation to party.

As he sat down at his desk, he knew the reason was because he wanted her. Badly. She’d
really gotten under his skin and despite the fact he’d told himself he could handle
keeping the relationship between them strictly professional—and he could—he was quickly
discovering how excruciatingly difficult that would be.

*   *   *

Jessica escaped to her office, her cheeks still warm from her encounter with Dane.
When he’d ordered her to stand in front of him, so close she could feel the heat of
his body, she could barely keep her breathing in check. She’d wanted him to pull her
into his arms and kiss her. To ravish her lips, then throw her down on the couch and
take her.

He’d calmly pointed out how he could stand so close to her yet not tear off her clothes,
which should have made her happy, but instead it had instilled in her a deep desire
for him to do just that.

But she knew that was just her raging hormones. Of course she wouldn’t initiate sex
with him. It would make it too difficult to work with him.

She rested her chin on her hand and gazed out the window at the city below. But a
girl could dream.

After a few moments, she sighed and opened one of the thick binders Melanie had given
her. She started reading, familiarizing herself with the organizational structure
of Ranier Industries.

Over the next couple of days she spent her time at the office reading and talking
to Melanie about her duties. A big part of her job was to keep Dane organized, including
maintaining his calendar to coordinate both his business schedule and personal schedule.

Today, she was to start accompanying him to meetings and, as soon as she was up to
speed, it would be her job to ensure that he was briefed on what he needed to know
for any meeting or appointment he had, to keep at hand all the materials he would
need when going into any meeting, to track what went on once there, and to follow
up on any action items that arose.

She found it all a bit daunting, but Melanie assured her that Dane was reasonable
and would give her plenty of time to learn.

Her phone rang and she picked it up.

“Jessica, come into my office,” Dane said on the line.

“Yes, sir.” She rose and hurried toward his office.

Her hand slipped into her jacket pocket and she stroked the flat, soothing stone as
she opened the door and entered his office. Instead of sitting at his desk, he was
at the round meeting table with his laptop open.

He glanced up as she walked toward the table.

“Sit down.” He gestured to the chair beside him. “I want to go over the agenda for
this afternoon’s meeting.”

She rolled the chair closer beside him so she would be able to see the screen, quivering
as she remembered when he’d made her stand so close to him the other day, the heat
of attraction simmering between them. She sat down, intensely conscious of his big,
masculine presence beside her. Her thumb continued to stroke the stone in her pocket.

As he walked through his talking points for the meeting, she tried to calm her unsteady
physical reaction to him. He was her boss. She had to be able to sit beside him without
wanting to fling herself into his arms.

But he was so masculine. So sexy. If they just had sex again, maybe that would get
rid of all this pent-up desire and allow them to move forward. But she knew that was
just her libido talking.

“Jessica?”

She locked gazes with him and flushed when she realized she hadn’t been paying attention.

“I’m sorry, sir, I missed that last bit.”

*   *   *

Dane had been going over the agenda with her, trying to ignore the simmering heat
inside him at her closeness, but then he’d realized her attention had drifted off.
Now her cheeks tinged a deep rose, a response he was getting used to.

Clearly, she was having just as much trouble concentrating when they were close as
he was. And it didn’t help that she kept calling him sir. He didn’t tell her to stop,
because he felt it would help keep a professional distance between them, but damn
it, it also turned him on.

“Okay, just give it a read over on your own to see if you have any questions.”

He leaned back in his chair and watched her as she scanned the document on the screen.

He hoped that this intense craving for her would diminish over time. He knew he could
wait it out. On the other hand, if she ever decided to give in to the heat simmering
between them, he knew they could find a way to make it work. And if they allowed themselves
that release, then the rest of the time in the office together could be more relaxed.

But, damn, he wanted to sweep her into his arms right now and plunder that sweet mouth
of hers.

She shifted her gaze from the screen to him. “It’s all clear, but I’ll go over the
documents you reference so I have the background.”

“Good. We’ll meet back here at 1
P.M.
”

She nodded and stood up to leave. She pulled her hand out of her pocket and something
fell to the floor. He leaned down and picked it up.

“This is the stone I gave you when we first met,” he said.

It was still warm from being close to her body.

“Yes. Did you want it back?”

He chuckled. “No, of course not. I’m just surprised you still have it.”

He handed it to her and her delicate fingers brushed against his skin as she took
it from him.

“I … like it. It’s very calming.”

She slipped it in her pocket again and headed out the door.

He couldn’t stop smiling at the knowledge that she valued the simple stone he had
given her.

He’d originally intended to give the stone to his brother, because the blue-lace agate—light
blue with white streaks—reminded him of the summer sky at the cottage they’d gone
to one summer as kids, where they’d skipped stones on the lake. They’d been close
that summer, probably more so because there were no other kids around, but whatever
the reason, he treasured those memories. He’d wanted to remind Rafe of that time,
in hopes they could get past the issues between them and move forward. Unfortunately,
Rafe had up and left before Dane could give it to him.

*   *   *

Jessica knew Dane had walked into the room even before he said anything. She and Melanie
were sitting in the cafeteria, enjoying coffee and muffins during their afternoon
break. Even in such a big room, Dane’s authoritative aura filled the space. Only a
few other employees were taking their break at this time and several glanced up at
his arrival.

“There you are.” He walked to their table. “I’m afraid I’ll have to cut your break
short.”

Did he want to talk to Melanie or her? She tried to ignore the quiver of excitement
that danced along her spine every time he got close.

“Is there a problem with the presentation?” Melanie asked.

Jessica had covered Melanie’s basic duties this morning because Dane had sent Melanie
to the Marketing Department for a few hours to help them put together a quick presentation
for this afternoon. Jessica knew everyone was quite anxious about it, so Melanie must
be worried something had gone wrong.