The CEO Buys in (Wager of Hearts #1) (13 page)

He picked up the pace, hurrying her through the door of his bedroom and locking it behind them. Anticipation burned through his veins. He wanted to bury himself deep inside her gloriously responsive body and let loose all the pent-up tension inside him.

She stopped just inside the door. Giving her no chance to change her mind, he stepped behind her so he could wrap his arms around to palm her breasts and pull her back against him. He bent to find the sensitive skin just behind her ear and felt her body soften against his. His erection was nestled against the sweet curve of her behind, and he flexed his hips to make sure she could feel it.

Her sharp inhale told him she had.

He massaged her breasts, savoring the weight of them filling his hands and the way she shuddered when he pressed against her hard nipples. He drew in the scent of her, a mingling of a lemony shampoo, warm feminine skin, and the tangy edge of her orgasm still lingering on his hand. The memory of having his fingers inside her made him slide one hand down to press the fabric of her skirt between her legs.

She hummed out a breath.

Now that he was sure she was in the right frame of mind, he slipped his arm around her waist and led her across what seemed a vast expanse to his bed. The medical equipment had been cleared out so it no longer looked like an ER.

He held her against him as he jerked open the drawer of his bedside table and grabbed a handful of condoms. Never again was he going to be caught without them when Chloe was around.

She turned and sat on the bed before holding out her hand. “Allow me.”

All his good intentions about taking it slowly went up in a flash of smoke. As she ripped open the foil packet, he unbuckled his belt and wrenched down the zipper of his trousers. The relief of letting his erection spring loose was exquisite. Even more exquisite was the soft touch of her fingers as she tugged down his boxers and stroked her palm along his cock.

“The condom,” he ground out, feeling his control slip.

“Right.” She smoothed it on him and then he snapped, pushing her backward onto the bed so he could shove her skirt up her thighs and yank her panties down and off over her hot high heels. He took a split second to appreciate the sight of her sprawled back on his bed before he stepped between the thighs she opened for him, grasped her hips, and drove fully into the warm grasp of her liquid heat. She cried out as he seated himself inside her—a wild, inflaming sound.

But he didn’t move. He was memorizing the soft flesh of her buttocks in his hands, the delicious pressure of her enclosing him, and the strange certainty that this was right in some way.

Then she kicked off her shoes and pulled up her knees, bracing her feet on the edge of the bed so she could lever her hips upward to give him better access. Her movement incited him to action. He withdrew almost completely and then drove into her again, watching the pleasure wash across her face.

“Say my name,” he said, wanting to hear her voice.

“Trainor,” she murmured.

He pulled back and thrust in as he spoke. “Nathan.”

“Nathan.” It came out low and breathy, as though it was hard for her to pronounce.

He lost any coherent thought as she rolled her hips up into him, her muscles squeezing around him as she called his name again. The world blew apart around him, turned him inside out, and he bowed back, sending her name echoing off the ceiling.

He had just enough sanity left not to collapse directly on top of her. Dropping onto the bed, he hooked an arm around her waist and snugged her up against his side. He could feel tremors running through her as she came down from her second climax. “I envy you,” he said, his eyes closed.

“Because I had two orgasms and you only had one?” Her voice was drowsy with pleasure.

He huffed out a laugh. “Because you’re still feeling yours.”

“The gift that keeps on giving.” She snuggled closer to him, draping her thigh over his. “I guess women are luckier that way. We get an afterglow.”

“I feel entirely lucky right now,” he said, shaking the pins out of her bun again so he could comb his fingers through the golden-brown fall of her hair.

“Right now, I do too.”

He didn’t like the emphasis she put on
right now
.

Chloe wanted to lie there for the rest of her life, mostly so she wouldn’t have to face the fact that she’d just had sex with a man she wouldn’t ordinarily even be on the same floor with. As his fingers toyed with her hair and satisfaction shimmered through her, she could pretend that the big male body she was plastered against was just a lover, although not an average one. He’d played her the way he played his computer—with a deft, sure touch that got him the results he wanted.

She splayed her hand on his chest and tried to memorize the texture of his warm, smooth skin and the rhythm of his heartbeat as it slowed to normal. She moved her nose closer to his shoulder to breathe in his entirely male fragrance, with its undertones of starch and expensive soap. Opening her eyes, she studied the fine lines at the corners of his closed eyes and the way his thick, straight lashes lay on his cheekbones. This close she saw that his nose had a slight downward curve to it, like an eagle’s beak.

She wanted to store all these tiny details about him in a treasured place in her memory so she could cherish them when he was gone. Because this couldn’t last.

In fact, she should make sure it didn’t last any longer than today. Or she would feel like something discarded.

She had a healthy sense of self-worth, but all she had to do was glance across the room to see the Van Gogh and the Gauguin on the wall. That kind of wealth changed your expectations of the people around you.

Not to mention his genius. Maybe her inventor father could have kept up with that incredible mind, but she’d graduated from community college. She loved to learn and she read constantly, but Trainor was light-years beyond her.

She must have unconsciously shifted because Trainor—no, Nathan—said, “I can feel you thinking, Chloe, and I want you to stop.”

She sighed. “I wish I could.”

He opened his eyes and turned his head toward her. “I guess I’ll just have to distract you.”

With that he brought his free hand to the thigh she’d rested on top of him and skimmed his fingers upward until he touched the spot that made her dig her fingers into his shoulder muscle.

Thought fled in the face of overwhelming sensation.

Eventually Chloe lay naked with an equally naked Nathan facedown beside her, his arm a heavy but delicious weight over her waist, in the aftermath of his distraction. Of course, the first thing that met her eyes was the pair of paintings. She went tense and shifted away.

His arm tightened around her. “You promised to make sure I get enough bed rest.”

Guilt jabbed at her. She’d completely forgotten he was recuperating from a serious bout of the flu. He certainly didn’t show any signs of it. “I’ve failed miserably because there has been no rest going on in this bed. Are you feeling all right?”

He pivoted both of them sideways so her back was spooned against his chest. Then he hauled the covers up over them. “Never better. Your powers of healing are miraculous. However, I could sleep for a while.”

“I should get back to work.” She regretted the words almost as soon as she spoke them. Having the bare length of him against her was heaven.

He hooked his leg around both of hers. “Sleep. Doctor’s orders.”

“
Your
doctor.”

She could hear his jaw creak in a yawn. “I’ll sleep better with you here.”

What could she say to that? She let him pull her in closer, although she had little hope that she would be able to join him in his nap. But her body was so sated that she felt her eyelids drift downward as his breath grew deep and even, whiffling through her hair.

Chloe jerked awake to find Nathan still wound around her. Tilting her head, she checked the digital clock on his bedside table. She’d only been asleep for about forty minutes. She felt like she’d been out for hours.

Now she had to figure out how to disentangle herself without interrupting his much-needed slumber.

It turned out to be impossible. He was strong and he was heavy. When she tried to slip her legs out from under his, he simply settled closer against her so his weight pinned her to the bed. An attempt to lift his arm from around her waist triggered an almost breath-stopping grip.

She was going to have to wake him up.

“Nathan,” she murmured, giving his arm a gentle shake.

“Yes,” came the immediate, clear response.

“You weren’t asleep.”

“I was until you started squirming around.”

“Sorry.”

“I’m not.” He released her waist and moved his hand up to her breast. His erection pressed against her bare bottom.

She grabbed his wrist and tried to pull it away. “You need your sleep, and I need to get dressed and go back to work.”

His hand didn’t budge an inch. “You like deals, so here’s one. I’ll let you up if you promise not to put your clothes on.”

“How am I supposed to work?”

“The same way you always do. You sit in the desk chair and you type. Clothes have nothing to do with productivity.”

She snorted. “We haven’t gotten a darned thing accomplished since you unbuttoned my blouse.”

“On the contrary, I’m feeling very accomplished.”

She could hear the smile in his voice, and it undermined her already tenuous self-discipline. “Smug is what you’re feeling.” But she was smiling too.

All of a sudden he rotated onto his back and flipped her so she was lying on top of him, looking down into his glinting eyes. “Stay here with me,” he said.

She levered herself up and braced her forearms on his chest. “I can’t afford to.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t put in for the hours we’re in bed together. I need to work.”

His eyebrows drew down into a scowl. “You will put in for any hours you spend here in my home.”

“Really?” She wasn’t going to back down on this. Her self-respect hadn’t vanished entirely. “You’re going to pay me for sex? That makes me a—”

“Stop!” he snapped. “I’m not paying you for sex. I’m paying you for your time.”

She could see the frustration in his face as he realized he wasn’t improving the situation. Instead of making her angrier, that made her want to kiss him. “I rest my case.”

Taking advantage of his momentary inattention, she scrambled off of him and the bed.

“Damn it, Chloe.” He raked one hand through his hair as he sat up.

“A very persuasive and articulate argument.” She retrieved her bra and panties from the floor, thanking her lucky stars she’d worn one of her few matched sets.

As she bent over to step into the beige lace, he gave an appreciative whistle. “Could you do that again but with your back to me?”

Knowing he was watching her dress made her self-conscious, so she snagged the rest of her clothes and turned toward the bathroom.

“No more comments,” he said. “Just let me enjoy the view.”

She clutched her clothes against her chest and looked back at him. “I’d like to take a shower.”

“Of course. I’m an inconsiderate idiot.” He threw back the duvet and rose from the bed in all his beautiful, uncovered glory. “You’ll find plenty of clean towels. Use whatever soap and shampoo you like.”

She wanted to stay and drink in the gorgeous lines and planes of his body, but he was already pulling on his trousers. Sighing, she continued into the bathroom.

Maybe she was becoming immune to luxury, but the fact that it was twice the size of her bedroom and had a tub you could fit six people in didn’t even make her blink. The exquisite marble mosaics on the floor and walls demanded a moment’s admiration, and she twisted the tops off several shampoos to sniff their perfumes before she chose a tangy citrus scent that reminded her of Nathan. Then she stepped into the room-sized shower and nearly shrieked when she turned the handle and got blasted from all sides by multiple showerheads.

After a fast scrub, she wrapped herself in an enormous, fluffy white towel and gave her hair a quick blast with the blow-dryer before she braided it. A bun was impossible because all the hairpins were scattered in Nathan’s bed and carpet, and she wasn’t going to go looking for them.

Tucking her blouse into her black skirt, she looked at her bare face and decided she needed to go to the guest room to redo her makeup. Otherwise, only her slightly swollen lips revealed what she’d been doing half the afternoon.

Self-respect was overrated.

Nathan plucked another hairpin from the tangled linens and added it to the collection in his hand. The blow-dryer had gone silent a few minutes ago, so he padded over to the bathroom door and knocked.

A neat and tidy Chloe greeted him, fully clothed, a tight braid falling over her shoulder.

“Ah, I see you don’t need these.” He held out the pins on his palm.

She looked at them as though they were emeralds and diamonds. “Thank you for finding them all.” Her fingertips brushed his palm as she took them, and he felt himself start to get hard again.

“I’m going to use the makeup in the guest room,” she said. “Then I’ll meet you in the office.”

So she was going to avoid him. He leaned forward and kissed her, savoring the softness of her lips. “And here I was looking forward to the elevator ride.”

Her breath hissed in and she threw him a look that was half reproof, half arousal. It made him want to toss her back on the bed.

“We’ll ride together on your way out, then,” he said.

She just shook her head and walked past him.

He turned to watch the sway of her hips. Memories of sinking his fingers into the delightful roundness of her behind while he drove into her had his erection lifting his unzipped khakis. A cold shower was in order.

As the water cascaded over him, he acknowledged he should have waited until Chloe was no longer working for him before he slept with her. However, his brain had not been the functioning body part in this encounter. Furthermore, he might not have succeeded if she was no longer in close proximity to him. One of the reasons he found her so intriguing was that she did her best to resist him, so he needed face time to break down her barriers.

He frowned as he considered whether Chloe had felt pressured in some way because she worked for him. He just didn’t see it. She was a strong woman who didn’t hesitate to speak her mind.

The one chink in her armor was the need for money. He would say it was an inconsistency in her, but she didn’t expect it to be given to her. She simply wanted to be paid well for her work. That showed no lack of integrity.

But what made her negotiate so fiercely for those pay increases? Ben knew something about that. He made a mental note to call the doctor later.

In the meantime, he found himself looking forward to getting back to his office with an eagerness he hadn’t felt in years.

They’d spent two hours within five feet of each other, and Chloe thought she would go up in flames. He was back to his old tricks of finding ways to touch her in the guise of working. Except now she was onto him. And she needed to get home.

“I’m sending you the marketing plan for the Delta Plug,” she said, sweeping it across her screen and onto his cloud drive. “I’ve distributed the financials to your executive VPs, and your e-mail is current. It’s quitting time.”

He swiveled his chair to face her, his eyes blazing with anticipation. “Have dinner with me.”