To her surprise, Jake just chuckled at her, his sly smile widening to show his perfect white teeth. God, he was even more breathtaking when he smiled like that. He was in front of her now, in her personal space. He bent his head forward until his lips were nearly touching hers. She couldn’t move away; she felt frozen in place, captivated by him.
“Well aren’t you just full of fire?” His voice was low and soft, his breath tickling her mouth, teasing her. He was so close that she could smell him: wood and musk and champagne. It was intoxicating; he was intoxicating. All thoughts of her anger left her, pushed aside by the intense need that suddenly filled her, making her ni**les harden against her bra and her pu**y clench. Unable to help herself, she tilted her head back slightly and closed her eyes, offering her lips to him.
His mouth descended on hers slowly, his lips gently caressing hers. Then his tongue was at her lips, demanding entrance. With a small sigh, she opened for him, and his tongue delved into her mouth, taking her thoroughly. Suddenly, he tore his lips from hers and shoved her shoulders hard. Her body hit the wall of books behind her, knocking some of them to the floor from the impact. And then Jake was on her, his strong body trapping hers. Heat rushed to her sex, and Mallory moaned wantonly as he roughly took her mouth once again.
No man had ever done this to her; her whole body was on fire for Jake, enflamed by his rough, passionate treatment. His large hand snaked into her shirt, reaching into her bra and cupping her breast. Mallory gasped at the intimate contact, her ni**les pebbling to hard buds. More. She needed more. Jake obliged her, his fingers closing around her nipple, pinching hard. Mallory let out a sharp cry as the pain turned to sweetest pleasure, making her sex throb.
Jake pulled away from the kiss as he continued to massage her breast. He regarded her, a slightly cold smile on his face, his eyes triumphant, pleased by her reactions to his skillful manipulation of her body.
“Man, am I glad I bumped into you,” he said with a smirk.
Mallory’s cheeks flushed, remembering her earlier embarrassment. “Sorry about that,” she said, a bit breathily from their passionate kiss.
“Don’t be.” His expression was amused now. “It’s not like it was an accident.”
Wait, what? Was he saying what she thought he was saying?
“You mean…” She began hesitantly, not wanting to accuse him of anything. “You knocked into me on purpose?”
Jake grinned. “Of course,” he said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Mallory felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over her head, dousing the heat that she felt for Jake. She shoved him off of her as her anger boiled back to the fore, strong and unrelenting. Well, she shoved at his chest, but he didn’t move an inch. When she spoke, her voice was tight with the effort of keeping herself from shouting. “Why? Why on earth would you do that?” Because he’s a rich, sadistic ass**le who gets off on watching the underlings squirm, the more cynical side of her answered.
“Because I wanted you,” he said simply, as though he thought it a perfectly rational explanation for his behavior. Almost as if he thought it was a compliment.
Mallory was seething, her hands clenching into fists. “So you got me fired just so that you could bring me here after your soirée and have sex with me?!” Her voice was shrill, incredulity coloring her tone.
Jake frowned and stepped back from her, releasing her. “I didn’t mean to get you fired,” he said.
“Oh, well that makes it all better,” she snapped. “God, do you ever think of anything but yourself? Some of us have these things called ‘jobs,’ you know. We kind of need them to earn a living.” She sidestepped away from him, anxious to put as much distance between herself and the sexy snake as possible.
Jake looked troubled. “Mallory, wait,” he began, reaching out for her. She ripped her arm away from his grasp.
She eyed him levelly. “I’m leaving now,” she said coldly. “And if you don’t open your fancy gate for me, I will drive my car right through it.” Without waiting for him to answer, she turned on her heel and stormed out of his gorgeous mansion.
Chapter 3
Mallory didn’t wake up until noon the next day to make up for her late night. It had been almost three A.M. when she left Jake’s, and she hadn’t been able to fall asleep until the beginnings of dawn’s rays were peeking through her curtains; she had been too incensed to sleep. She simply could not believe what Jake had done to her. Not only had he gotten her fired, but he had tried to seduce her with only a few words, like she was some floozy who was just going to flop down on his desk and let him take her.
And that was nearly what had happened, which just made her even angrier with herself. She had never felt that sort of passionate heat with any man, and she most certainly had never had a one-night stand. Mallory enjoyed sex, but she was far from a nymphomaniac. There had been a couple of boyfriends in college, but none of her couplings with them even began to measure up to her few steamy minutes in Jake’s study.
She couldn’t blame herself entirely; the man was so hot it was practically sinful. And although she resented him for his high-handed treatment of her, she couldn’t deny that his confidence was a major turn-on.
But now she was padding around her modest apartment glumly, automatically showering and getting ready for the day, despite having nothing on her agenda. With no job to go to and no more teaching positions to apply for, there were few activities to fill her day. She felt like she was stagnating, being lazy. And she despised laziness. She supposed she could go to the mall today and see if any of the shops were hiring. Retail might be better than serving.
Suddenly, there was an unexpected knock at her door. Maybe it was Sally, here to collect her uniform to return to the caterers. With a sigh, Mallory opened the door. And then she closed it again immediately when she saw who was on the other side. Only it wouldn’t close; the toe of an expensive leather shoe was blocking it. She wrenched the door back open with a frustrated growl.
“What do you want?” She snapped at Jake. “And how did you know where to find me?”