Legal Heat (25 page)

She wandered over to the window and stared down at the street below. Although small on the world-scale, Vancouver was always busy. Traffic jams. Crowds of tourists. But no one complained. It was all worth it for the view—mountains sweeping their way down to the ocean, the inky blue water of Burrard Inlet. Spectacular.

She felt Mark before she heard him. His body heat warmed her back through the thin cotton of her shirt when he came up behind her.

“What are you thinking, sugar?” His cheek brushed against her temple, his breath hot and moist in her ear.

“Just admiring the view.”

He smoothed his hand down her back and kneaded her bottom, squeezing gently. “So was I.”

A tremor ran down her spine. He was insatiable. How could he want her again? Didn’t he need time to recharge? Steven had never managed to stay awake for more than thirty seconds after their seven minutes of “fun time” and then he wouldn’t bother again her for at least two weeks.

Mark’s powerful arm circled slid around her waist, pulling her against his long frame. His erection pressed firmly against the cleft of her buttocks. Rock hard and ready to go for the third time in under two hours. Apparently he didn’t suffer the same limited endurance or lack of enthusiasm as Steven.

“Mark, I think we should—”

“Shhh. The office is closed. The cleaners are gone. No one is going to disturb us. I’ve been waiting far too long to let it end now.” His hand drifted over the front of her shirt and eased under her bra to capture her breast. She gasped at the intensity of the sensation and arched into his heated touch.

“No clothes this time,” he said, his voice husky and low. “I want to see all of you.”

He didn’t wait for an answer. His hands swept down her body stripping her of her shirt, bra and skirt without a wasted movement. He spun her around to face him then raked his hungry gaze over her body.

A blush crept down from her face to her breasts and her nipples tightened under his scrutiny.

“You’re beautiful, sugar.”

Flustered, disbelieving, she had no idea what to say. Her mouth opened and closed but no words came out.

“You don’t believe me?”

“No.”

He cupped her hand with his own and placed it on his chest. Then he dragged it down over the hard planes of his pecs and his rigid stomach muscles to the arousal clearly defined beneath his trousers. He pressed her hand over his engorged length.

“Do you believe this?” he murmured.

Katy stroked his arousal and squeezed gently. She believed he wanted her. Enjoyed her. But the question was, for how long?

Mark hissed in a breath. “Take it out. I want you to see what you do to me.”

His words awakened something primal in her, carnal. A fevered desire rushed through her, filling her core with liquid heat. She tugged open his fly, and slid his clothing over his hips.

His erection sprang free—long, thick, and threaded with pulsing veins.

She couldn’t tear her eyes away.

Mark stepped out of his clothes and kicked them to the side. For a long moment, she indulged herself, drinking him in. She hadn’t realized how much she had craved this view of him. Mark in clothing was mind-numbingly gorgeous but without clothing…his body was nothing short of divine. She was not only aroused, but entranced. Need shot deep to her darkest, most secret core and she murmured her approval.

Mark crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you going to keep staring at me, sugar?”

Her cheeks flamed and she bit her lip. “Yes,” she breathed. “Oh, yes.”

She let her gaze play all over him, moving along well-defined calves to thighs she ached to touch, over taut abs and the ripple of muscles across his broad chest. Finally, her gaze drifted down the soft, dusky trail of hair to his shaft, engorged and straining toward her, stirred by her visual examination.

What would it be like to feel the swollen head in her mouth, smooth and glistening, or lick the teardrop of moisture at the tip? How would he taste? Salty? Sweet?

“If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to come for you,” he rasped. “Do you want that, sugar? Is it what you were imagining when your nipples peaked?”

She dragged her gaze up to his eyes and then back down to his throbbing shaft. “I was imagining…how you would taste.”

His heavy sac tightened before her eyes. His crown engorged, becoming a deep pink, almost purple.

“Come and find out.”

She sank to her knees in front of him, her mouth watering in anticipation.

“Suck me, sugar.”

She took him in her hand and dusted the swollen head with her breath, marveling at the contrast of silky skin over rock hard flesh. His hips bucked and her touch grew bolder, following the veins from tip to base, hefting his balls in her palm. She breathed in his scent—musk and soap and the essence of male.

“I’m not going to last if you keep playing.” He clasped his hand around the base of his heavy shaft, and brushed the swollen tip over her lips. “Open for me.”

She parted her lips and his cock slid into her mouth. As she closed her mouth around him, her fingers curled into his buttocks, drawing him closer so she could take him deeper.

Too deep.

She choked. Gagging and coughing, she pulled back and then dipped her head, letting her hair sheet over her flaming cheeks.

Mark threaded his fingers through her hair, tugging her head back until she was looking up at him.

Katy’s eyes watered. “Sorry. I’m not…very experienced.”

“There’s not much you can do wrong. Relax, sugar. Slow down. I like everything about your hot, wet little mouth.”

He reached for her hand and placed it around the base of his shaft. Palming her head, he drew her forward. This time she couldn’t resist circling all around the pearly tip with her tongue. He tasted salty and sweet, decadent. Her belly clenched and her own need rose. She moaned, her lips vibrating against his head.

“God, Katy, you’re killing me.” He tightened his grip on her hair. “Open wider.”

His guttural demand sent shivers down her spine. Fingers splayed around the base of his shaft, she relaxed her throat and tried to take him deeper than she had before.

His groan of pleasure delighted her. Steven had rarely been interested in oral sex. She had always thought the problem had been her lack of skill, but maybe the problem lay with him.

She ran her tongue across the underside of his shaft and then set up a steady rhythm with her mouth. He grunted and stiffened. The muscles of his thighs grew rigid and his back arched.

The taste of him made her hot, wet and hungry. She snaked her free hand down between her legs, spreading her moisture around the swollen tissue. Her juices flowed between her thighs and she struggled to hold on. She wanted to give him the pleasure he had given her. But she knew she couldn’t take much more.

“Condom,” she rasped, pulling away.

Mark froze. “I’m all out.”

“Lucky for you, Trixie stuffed a handful of samples in my purse. She said Carpe Noctem had a storeroom full of freebies.” She retrieved a condom and rolled it gently over Mark’s hardened length.

This time she didn’t tease. She took him in as far as she could in one long, hard slide while her hand drifted down between her legs to deal with her own need for release.

“Christ,” he muttered, as he watched her fingers glide through her folds. “That’s it, sugar. Touch yourself. Come with me.”

His fist closed on her hair and he pumped into her mouth with rapid, deep strokes. She moaned in delight and dragged her fingers over her swollen clit.

He pulled back and then thrust forward, tightening his fingers in her hair. “Fuck.” The word came out in a roar as his cock became impossibly firm. He came fast and hard with a sharp jerk of his hips and a deep, low groan of pleasure.

Pleasure she had given him. Satisfaction and a last flick over her clit sent her over the edge. A shower of stars tingled through her veins and she moaned her release around his shaft.

He slowly withdrew and looked down at her, his eyes warm with a hint of humor. “That was damned amazing, but you’re a very naughty girl.”

“Did I do something wrong?” The question trembled from her lips.

He cupped her cheek and his face softened. “The pleasure of touching you is mine, sugar, and I’ll be wanting that pleasure again before the night is out.”

“Is that Tony sleeping in there?” Katy buttoned up her suit jacket to hide her torn shirt.

Mark snorted at the sight of his friend asleep on the couch in the hallway. “I can’t believe we put him to sleep.”

“He was here? Listening? The entire time?” Katy grabbed his sleeve and worry creased her forehead.

Mark put his arm around her. “He was worried about you. He thought I’d lost control.”

“Did you?”

He didn’t answer right away. He didn’t want her to know the lawyer famous for his control had lost it in his own boardroom. And he didn’t want her to know he regretted the loss.

What the fuck had he done? How had he let it go so far, so fast? Why hadn’t he stopped after the first time? He should have moved slowly, taken the time to get to know her, decide if he could risk exposing himself to the pleasure and pain of loving and losing all over again.

Instead, he had succumbed to raw need and the overpowering desire to possess his beautiful, fiery opponent, body and soul.

Now in the dim light of the empty hallway, he knew he’d made a terrible mistake. He was back on the road he had resolved never to go down again. He wasn’t ready. Not by a long shot. He couldn’t take what he couldn’t give.

What a fucking disaster.

Katy followed him into the elevator. The doors slammed closed and they hurtled down to the main floor.

“Mark?”

His heart stuttered when he looked down at her worried face. Lips, swollen from his kisses. Hair, a sexy tumbled disarray. He could drown in the depths of her azure blue eyes and die a happy man. But what about her? She deserved more than he had to offer. She deserved better than him. She deserved to find someone who knew how to love.

He pulled her into his arms and brushed his lips softly over the lines creasing her forehead.
Now is not the time for admissions
. “Shhh,” he whispered.

Katy drew in a ragged breath but mercifully didn’t press him for an explanation for his silence.

He walked her out to the street and they waited for the cab he had called before they left. At this late hour, few people were around, but he didn’t want to take the risk of pulling her close, although he ached to feel her body snuggled against him. Not now.

“Since you’re off the case, the next time I visit your office, I’ll come prepared and forgo the panties.” She gave him a half smile, but she couldn’t hide her anxiety. She knew something was wrong.

He sucked in a breath, knowing he had to tread carefully. “There won’t be a next time.”

Confusion flashed in her eyes and she brushed imaginary fluff from her jacket. “You’re right,” she said cautiously. “It was inappropriate. Maybe somewhere less risky?”

His pulse raced as if he were trying to pick his way through a mine field…blindfolded. Images of Claire flitted through his mind. Claire laughing in her kitchen. Claire crying as she walked away. Claire dead in an alley. Because of him. Because he hadn’t loved her enough.

“Katy. I—” He choked on the words he knew he should say.

“I don’t understand.” She bit her bottom lip and her face grew taut and still.

Tension grew thick between them. He still had a chance to diffuse the situation. But maybe this was better. End it before she got hurt. Before he led her down the same path that had led Claire to her own destruction.

The cab approached, and Katy whirled around to flag it down. She opened the door and turned back to face him. The devastation in her eyes sliced through him, piercing his heart more surely than any words could have done.

And then she was gone.

Chapter Fourteen

“Surprise!”

Katy dropped her briefcase on the floor with a thud and stared in horror at the balloons and streamers decorating her kitchen. Steven and the kids sat around the table, wearing purple party hats decorated with sparkly pompoms. On a Friday morning. At seven-thirty.

She clenched her fists. “What is this, Steven? The kids are going to be late for school.”

“It’s our anniversary today. You didn’t forget, did you?”

Melissa pointed to a giant, pink monstrosity of a cake in the center of the table. “Dad took us after school yesterday to buy a cake. Justin wanted lemon but Dad let me choose and I picked chocolate because that’s your favorite and pink icing because that’s Dad’s favorite. They even wrote
Happy Anniversary
in purple icing.” Melissa twirled around the kitchen in a pink party dress two sizes too small and totally inappropriate for school.

Katy’s anger over Mark’s rejection last night was nothing compared with the rage that now coursed through her veins. “Steven, may I speak to you alone, please?”