“Wh-what?” She had no idea what he was talking about.
“Don’t deny it. I saw your picture in a magazine. Even the journalist could tell a fortune hunter when he saw one. In fact, he remarked on how you’d hooked one of the Australia’s richest bachelors.”
Was she really hearing this? “That journalist—and I use the word loosely—has got it in for me because I refused to go out with him. He’s just trying to make me look bad.” She’d felt ill when she’d seen the photograph and the comment he’d made.
“Really?” Brant’s eyes said he didn’t believe her. “Even if that’s the case, I heard you on the telephone.
My ears don’t deceive me.”
She frowned. “Telephone?”
“That’s right. When I came back from Paris I heard you bragging to someone on the phone about it being as easy to fall in love with a rich man than a poor one.” His top lip curled. “The next thing, you were Phillip’s shadow and engaged to him.”
She tried to think. Then it hit her. “I was talking to Gerald…my stepfather. It’s a joke between us. Good Lord. So this is why you’ve been a pig to me since I first met you? You thought I was marrying Phillip for his money?”
He made a harsh sound. “You were quick to take the diamond necklace from him.”
“He asked me to wear it to the Christmas party. I gave it back the next day. Ask him if you don’t believe me.”
Something flickered in his eyes. “The Porsche?”
“My father gave it to me. He deals in cars, remember?” Her heart twinged. “He likes his ‘Barbie’ to come with accessories.”
For a moment there was a flash of sympathy, then his face hardened. “If you dislike your father so much, why take the car?”
“He offered and I thought why not? I figure the man owes me for all he’s put me through. If he wants to give me a Porsche, I’m taking the Porsche. There’s nothing wrong with that.” She paused. “Anyway, if I wanted money, I only have to ask him for some…not that I would. He’s got enough money to keep me in luxury for the rest of my life. Unfortunately it comes with a price.”
A tic beat in his jaw. “Even if all that’s true, you’re obviously very good at conning people. You’ve been living a lie.”
She winced. “For Phillip’s sake.”
“And for your own. You used him just as much as he used you.”
Her chin lifted. He was so conceited. “Now why would I do that?” she said, then realized it was a challenge.
Suddenly he turned and closed the connecting door behind him. “To keep us apart.”
Her eyes darted to the doorknob where his hand still rested. “Us? There’s nothing between us.”
He strode across the room to the main office door. “Lying again, Kia?” He shut that door too. Then he turned back toward her in the middle of the room.
Her knees began to shake. “Er…what are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m doing?” His voice flowed over her like liquid silk.
Her throat went dry. “You’re playing games with me.”
“No game, Kia. Far from it.”
She straightened her shoulders. “Brant, stop it. This is ridiculous. You’re my boss. I’m—”
“About to be kissed,” he murmured, stopping right in front of her. He didn’t touch her. Didn’t reach out.
He just stood there, looking at her. And what she saw melted every bone in her body. He was still angry, but oh, God, he wanted her.
She licked her lips. “Brant, I—”
“I’m so angry with you right now I’m either going to swear or kiss you.”
She tried to step back.
He grabbed her arm to prevent her from moving, his touch shooting desire to every region of her body.
“And then I’m going to take the clothes off that delicious body of yours and taste all of you.”
She felt the room twirl around her. “I don’t know if this is a good idea.”
He pulled her closer, his pupils darkening. “I’ve waited too long already.”
A ripple of anticipation ran through her as she watched his head lower…watched those lips come closer…and when he touched her, she could no longer deny him or herself. Every moment from the minute she’d met him had been rushing headlong toward this kiss. Ever since her first look at him in this very office, nothing else had mattered, nothing but wanting to feel the consuming pressure of his lips on hers, as they were doing now.
At last.
The kiss still took her by surprise. She expected him to plunder and ravish her on the carpet, but he didn’t, and she soon forgot all about his anger as the velvet warmth of his mouth stirred every nerve ending on her lips, before he used his tongue to slide inside her.
And there he stayed, exploring the soft, sensitized recesses of her mouth until she thought she might fuse with him. But she wanted him closer. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cupped the back of his head to hold him to her. It felt so good to be like this with him. This was where she belonged. If only for a short while.
Raising his mouth from hers, he gazed deeply into her eyes, so deep that she suddenly worried he might see the real her. Not the outside person but the inside person. The person who didn’t know how she was going to handle this man.
“What’s the matter?” he said, watching her.
“Um…nothing.” Her gaze darted down to his chest, lowering her eyelids, briefly covering her face from him. She wanted to remain like this and not let him see her thoughts. She needed to keep something of herself to herself.
And then he took her arms from around his neck and put them at her sides. He lifted her chin, holding her gaze. “I won’t let you hold back from me,” he warned softly.
She took a shaky breath. “You won’t let me?”
“No.” He reached out and undid the top button of her dress, and suddenly she didn’t have the strength to argue with him. She stood there and let him undress her. She wanted him to do it. Wanted him to undo all the buttons and feel his touch on her skin. Wanted to give all of herself to him.
His hands were sure and never missed a beat as they slid down from one button to the next, opening the material wider, more fully. For him.
She could see the pulse in his neck thumping wildly and she wanted to reach out and run her finger over it. Touching him would be like throwing a match onto kerosene.
He pushed the material off her shoulders and let it slide down her arms, down her body, to the carpet.
She heard him groan as she stood there in a lacy bra, bikini panties, no stockings, and high-heeled sandals. For a moment she wished she’d worn them. It may have put up a barrier.
But who was she kidding? Nothing was going to stop this. She didn’t want it to stop, God help her.
“I like the color peach on you,” he murmured, his eyes flaring with hot desire. “It flatters you.”
She moaned and whispered, “Touch me,” and he suddenly swung her in his arms, carrying her over to the large mahogany desk. With one hand he swept the papers aside, then planted her in the middle of it.
Her stomach somersaulted as he stood looking down at her.
“I’ve fantasized you like this for weeks,” he murmured, reaching out to twine his fingers in her hair, loosening the blonde strands at the nape of her neck. “And this,” he said, lifting her hair up in his hands, then leaning forward and burying his face in her locks, inhaling deeply.
She stilled, breathing in the mingled scent of his body heat and aftershave as it soaked into her pores…until the soft peck of his lips moved to her ear, to her jawline and finally her mouth again.
Eventually he broke off the kiss. “Here, let me,” he murmured, his fingers sliding under her bra straps and slowly pushing them off her shoulders.
She trembled when his palms caressed the bare skin there before slipping around to her back to undo the catch. Her bra fell away, and suddenly she was nak*d from the waist up. She wanted to hide, not from him but from herself. She didn’t know if she could let herself go like this.
“Beautiful,” he said in a gravelly voice, teasing her br**sts with his hands until her breathing quickened even more and she had to close her eyes from sheer pleasure.
His head lowered, his mouth closing over one nipple, and she gasped, her br**sts surging at the intimacy of it all.
“Brant!”
He pulled back, his eyes searing a path over her. And then he moved and his lips followed that same path, kissing down the center of her, teasing her belly button with the tip of his tongue before stopping at the top of her thighs.
He inhaled deeply through the thin lace, and she almost dissolved. She’d never done anything like this before. Never let a man do this to her. She’d had one lover in high school and nothing since.
He pushed the material to one side. “I have to taste you,” he said, his fingers seeking her, opening her to him. He placed his mouth against her, and she cried out his name as his tongue darted out to taste her, explore her, tracing the shape of her, teasing the small part of her that suddenly felt as if she were about to explode.
“Oh, Brant,” she moaned again. She closed her eyes as something powerful inched up inside her with every touch of his tongue. It felt so good…so right…so exquisite.
“Ooh!” She exploded with one more stroke, going up in flames like a bushfire sweeping through her, burning everything in sight, leaving nothing of her unmarked. She would never be the same again, never forget what it was like to have this man touch her like this.
And when she opened her eyes, Brant was leaning back in the chair, watching her with such possessive satisfaction that her breath caught in her throat.
Her heart gave a triple beat. She wanted to look away, only she couldn’t. There’d been too much between them all these weeks. Too much longing. Too much wanting each other. They’d earned this moment between them.
Brant spoke first. “Here, let’s get you dressed,” he said brusquely and gently closed her legs.
“Oh, but…” She could feel her cheeks growing red as he passed her bra. “I mean…um…aren’t we going to…?”
“Make love? Not yet.” He stood up and helped her off the desk as intense disappointment swept through her. She went to turn away, but he held her still. “My place. Seven o’clock.”
She blinked. “To-tonight?”
“Yes.” He ran a finger across her lips, his eyes a mixture of need and still-deep anger. “No more waiting.
For either of us. And I can’t do everything I want to do to you in the office.”
She swallowed, suddenly panicked by the magnitude of it all. He overwhelmed her. He made her feel things she didn’t want to feel. Made her do things she wanted to do.
“No, I can’t. I—”
“I’ve put my stamp on you now, Kia. You can’t deny that.”
She sucked in a shaky breath, very much aware he was right. “Brant, this was just a…brief interlude.”
“It was a prelude,” he insisted, putting his hand under her chin. “You were ready for me a minute ago,”he reminded her, and she almost dissolved again.
“Yes, well…” She cleared her throat. “That was then. This is now.”
His eyes darkened dangerously. “Kia, we should have been lovers weeks ago.”
Her shoulders tensed. She could see his anger over Phillip still simmering beneath the surface. “Even if you hadn’t thought I was with Phillip, it doesn’t mean—”
“Yes, it does,” he cut across her. “Have no doubts, Kia. We would have been lovers. You’re only fooling yourself if you think otherwise.”
To prove it, his hands slid around her waist and brought her close. Her body immediately arched against him, her near-naked curves tucking in against his hard contours. Heat rippled under her skin and jolted her mind into the realization that once again he was right. She pushed herself away, and thankfully he let her go, but the smoldering look in his eyes said it all.
Trying to maintain her composure, she hurried around the desk to get the rest of her clothes, feeling exposed in more ways than one. His gaze remained on her, watching her every move, and she silently shuddered as she dressed as fast as she could.
“Kia.”
She did up the last button, then looked up at him. The hunger in his eyes sent a tremor through her.
“You owe this to yourself,” he growled, challenge in his voice.
Kia made her way back to her office on shaky legs and collapsed onto her chair. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. Had she really let herself be taken in such a way? No man had made love to her with his mouth before, though she knew it was an aspect of lovemaking that most couples enjoyed. Dear God, now she could see why.
What she hadn’t expected was to come apart in Brant’s hands quite the way she had. Where was her control? Her self-respect? She’d known she was a challenge to him. That he only wanted her body. So what had she done? She’d handed herself to him on a platter, that’s what.
Or a desk, she corrected, feeling a blush rising up from the tips of her toes. How could she hold her head high now? Suddenly she knew she had to get out of there. She’d earned the right to leave early…in more ways than one.
Jumping to her feet, she grabbed her handbag and headed for the door. If she remained here alone with Brant, he might be tempted to take up where they’d left off and not wait for tonight.
Tonight.
You owe this to yourself, he’d said.
He was right, yet how could she turn up at his place when he thought she was a gold digger? Had thought it from the start. A woman who was mercenary enough to use men for her own advantage. That hurt.
So why did her heart turn over at the thought of not making love with Brant?