Star Crossed (Stargazer) (27 page)

“Yeah,” Wendy said regretfully, “Sarah does that.”

“I, um . . . ” He was
never
tongue-tied, but Wendy had this effect on him. She watched him with concern in her blue eyes as his speech ground to a halt. He doubted he would have gotten himself in this fix with her if she’d only been kind. Or only brilliant at her job. Or only hilarious, making him laugh like he hadn’t laughed since high school.

Or only sexy. He found his gaze drifting from her eyes down to her perfectly polished lips, and farther
down to her breasts again. Two nights alone with her in this hotel room and he hadn’t seen her bare breasts, hadn’t even touched them. That was how smooth he was around her.

He couldn’t be tongue-tied now, though. He had to tell her. Reaching across the space between them and taking her hands in his, he said, “I haven’t made any secret of how I feel about you. I think some of it has been welcome and some of it hasn’t, which I really regret. But I never, ever intended to get you in trouble at work. If that’s going to happen, but we’re still uneasy about this guy who likes your hair so much, maybe you could stay in Sarah’s room instead of mine.”

“Oh,” Wendy said to their clasped hands.

“I want to be honest about this,” Daniel said. “I’ve enjoyed living with you. I hope you’ll stay.” Of course, if he’d really been honest, he would have said a whole lot more.

Wendy nodded. “Then I’ll be honest with you. We can’t have any kind of long-term relationship. Not while you’re with the Blackstone Firm and I’m with Stargazer.”

His heart sank. He’d wanted to clear the air with her—to a point. But now that she’d stated her true feelings, ambiguity didn’t sound so bad.

“Sarah and Tom won’t rat me out,” Wendy went on. “Stargazer has no way of knowing you and I are together out here. So as long as we’re in Vegas, as far as I’m concerned, we can do anything we want.”

They shared a long, serious look. Daniel’s heart pulsed painfully in his chest. Sometimes clarity was very, very good.

Wendy sat back in her chair and smiled craftily at him. “Guess what? While we’ve been chatting, I’ve come up with that over-the-top idea you wanted, the one that will rescue Lorelei and Colton once and for all.” Her words were businesslike, but her come-hither smile told him they were done with work for now.

He whispered, “Do tell.”

I
t’s going to sound crazy,” Wendy said, “but hear me out.”

“Mmmmm-kay,” Daniel said in such a knowing tone that she nearly jumped out of her skin in anticipation. Though he gave her the impression of consciousness of his own body and looks, he was un-self-consciously sexy, legs crossed casually on the edge of the bed in his dark suit pants, crisp white shirt open at the throat, dark hair perfect, dark eyes on her.

“Lorelei is great at taking scandalous photos,” Wendy said. “She’s known for it. It’s never brought her anything but trouble, but if we brainstormed, maybe we could turn that around. The thing about Lorelei and her exhibitionism is . . . she’s got a killer body.”

Daniel nodded. “If you have a thing for bony twenty-one-year-olds.”

Wendy laughed. “Most people do. And if she were
to post the right pictures of her elbow or her carefully pedicured big toe or worse, that might actually make for good PR. But that’s not what she does. She takes the grossest, most unflattering shot possible and posts that, making herself look like a drunken slob.”

“Which she is,” Daniel pointed out. “It’s just that she’s a beautiful drunken slob, and her photos don’t do her justice.”

“Exactly,” Wendy said. “See, you’re so difficult to work with—”

“Me!” he exclaimed.

“—but we really are on the same page. Because here’s what I was thinking. Maybe we could take some test shots to see what looks best on camera.”

A smile crept across Daniel’s face as he caught her meaning. “And we don’t want to disturb her,” he said. “She’s probably doing something really important, like staring into space, or embroiling herself in an online battle with her high school choir director. We can take care of this ourselves.”

He put his hands on Wendy’s knees and rolled her office chair to the edge of the bed, right in front of him.

The sudden manhandling was so out of character for him, and so titillating for her, that she sat there dazed for a moment, staring at him without speaking, enjoying the tingles that still raced through her blood.

He handed her his phone. “Try your cleavage first, and we’ll go from there.”

Heart beating wildly, she examined his phone to
figure out where the camera buttons were, then aimed the lens down her blouse and clicked.

He took the phone back from her before she could even view the picture herself. Suddenly embarrassed, she tried to snatch it away from him. He held it above his head and gently slapped at her hands until she withdrew them. He peered at the screen, then at her. He tilted his head, considering her. She felt herself blushing, thinking of him examining her cleavage, waiting for his verdict.

“A little higher, I think, and centered better. And we need to show a little more.” He placed the phone on the bed and reached both hands toward her neckline. She watched him coming, instinctively throwing her shoulders back to give him better access to her breasts.

His hands stopped inches from her blouse. He was watching her. He asked softly, “May I?”

“Of course,” she said casually. “Anything for Lorelei’s PR.”

He bit his lip to keep from laughing. She suppressed a shudder as his fingers slipped past the neckline of her blouse to explore the lace edge of her bra. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “We’re probably going to have to adjust all this.” His fingers trailed down to unfasten the first button of her shirt.

She tried to enjoy the warm waves of excitement that washed over her as his hands moved in slow motion. But relaxing was impossible with this tight thread of anticipation running through her and making her skin burn. He gently tugged the sides of her shirt apart
and smoothed them back, deliberately pressing her breasts and stroking her nipples beneath the silk. He cupped her breasts in his palms as he tugged her bra lower to expose more of her cleavage. It was all she could do to hold in a groan of pleasure as he touched her through the lace.

“There,” he said. Holding her gaze, he felt around for the phone. He glanced at it, adjusted the settings, and then reached over to point it down over her chest. The camera flashed, warming her bare skin, and the warmth seemed to remain and pool in the cups of her bra.

This time he offered her the phone. They put their heads close together to look at the photo.

“Wow,” Wendy said. “That’s an improvement.” It was amazing how buxom she looked with her breasts and lacy bra out of context. She could hear Daniel breathing beside her, smell his cologne.

He looked over at her, dark eyes questioning, asking her permission to go on.

She winked at him.

“Let’s try something different,” he said. “Switch places with me.”

She let him have her chair, and she shifted to the edge of the bed.

“Spread your legs a little,” he suggested.

She laughed and felt her cheeks turn flaming red, but she obeyed him, inching her knees farther apart. He slid the phone under her skirt and up her thigh.

“Hold still,” he said.

This time she didn’t laugh, just watched him. He looked back at her, half smiling, eyes black.

She blinked as the phone flashed. She wasn’t sure where the light in her eyes was coming from: out from under her skirt, up her blouse and out her neckline, or all in her own mind.

Slowly he slid the phone out from between her legs. His grin gave away that he might be enjoying himself a little.

“Is it a good picture?” she asked. “Let me see.”

He turned the screen around and showed it to her. There were her panties all right, and the lining of her skirt, and her thighs looking unnaturally white in the bright flash.

“Take a few more,” she suggested. “I’m not smiling in this one.”

He burst into laughter, and she was so surprised that she forgot to laugh herself. “This job,” he grumbled, still chuckling. Without ceremony, he reached forward, grabbed her hips, and dragged her to the very edge of the bed. He put one hand on each of her knees and spread her legs wide.

“Now,” he said, his voice more gentle than she’d ever heard it. He slipped his phone underneath the edge of her skirt. She strained to keep from jumping as she felt his whole hand on the inside of her thigh, very close to her panties. “A little farther apart. We want a good view this time.” Obediently she opened her legs further. She heard the phone click, saw the flash, and felt the heat, whether it was her imagination or not.
“Hold still,” he said. He took several more photos and then drew the phone out to look at it.

“Well?” she asked gamely.

“It seems awfully innocent and tame,” he said. “I think we need something else.”

“Like what?”

“A prop.”

She bit her lip and repeated, “Like what?”

He held up his hand and splayed his fingers.

She widened her eyes at him. He grinned at her.

“Let’s try it and see how it looks,” she said.

He moved his hand up her thigh again. She sucked in a sharp breath as he rested his fingers on her panties. She was sure he could feel how wet she was through the silk. His palm rested possessively on her mound. An electric zap of pleasure moved across her chest and down her arms.

She heard the camera snap.

He peered at the screen. “It’s hard for me to get a good angle with one hand.” Then he stood and turned toward the desk. He must have decided enough was enough, and now it was time to get back to work.

Recess was over.

Supremely disappointed, but determined not to show it, she kept a smile pasted on her face and inched her knees back together.

He turned to face the bed again, holding out her phone, which he’d grabbed from the desk. “Why don’t you take some with
your
phone? That will free me up to touch you.”

She’d never felt such an intense mixture of relief and excitement. Recess wasn’t over after all.

Ever so slowly he came down from his full height and kneeled on the carpet in front of her, watching her all the while. “Now then,” he said, grasping both her wrists. “Put the phone here and wait until I tell you.” He positioned the phone at the opening of her skirt.

She braced for his touch, and then it came. She shivered at the rush of sparks as he reached once more up her thighs to her panties. This time his fingers slipped past the lacy edge.

She held her breath, anticipating what he would do next, uneasy with the knowledge that she’d completely lost control of this situation, yet dizzy with the thrill of it. Her afternoon honed to this point: feeling his fingers where they shouldn’t be and wondering how far they would go.

His fingertips stopped at the edge of her, stroking her clit and making her squirm. “That would probably make a good shot,” he growled. “Give it a try.”

She took the picture, sighing at the sudden warmth of the flash.

“Let’s see,” he said, sliding his hand out of her skirt and reaching for her phone. He examined the picture critically. “The prop is good, but the shot is too dark. See for yourself.” He handed it to her.

She peered at the photo. His big hand disappeared beneath her pale pink panties, all lit brilliantly by the flash and clear as day. She rushed wet again at the sight.

“Let’s try taking your skirt off,” he suggested. “To improve the lighting.”

She stood. There wasn’t much room with him kneeling in front of her, so the fabric of her skirt brushed his chin as he gazed up at her. He didn’t blink.

She reached behind her with both hands and unclasped the waistband of her skirt, then unzipped it down the back and let the material drop. It grazed his nose and fell to the floor. Now his head was level with her panties.

“Do you think you’ll be able to see me better now?” she asked.

“One way to find out. Why don’t you sit back down?”

She sat on the bed and waited for him to hand her the phone, but he slid it onto the desk.

So recess
was
over this time. Now they were getting down to business.

He shoved his fingers past her panties. His hand didn’t pause there. His fingers reached inside her, shallowly at first, testing. He must have felt immediately how wet she was for him, because he pushed deeper. His eyes never left hers. His lips parted. “You know, the bottom of your blouse is in the way of a good picture.”

“Can you help me?”

Nodding, he shifted forward, his fingers moving even farther inside her so that she groaned. With his other hand he reached for the next button of her blouse and unfastened it, then moved down to the next. Still
caressing her inside with one hand, he moved the halves of her blouse aside, revealing her lacy bra. She panted, her breasts rising and falling rapidly.

“Better?” she asked breathlessly.

“I think we need to try a new prop.”

He must feel the way she tightened around his fingers. She was excited and a little frightened. “Like what?” she breathed.