‘I also wanted to say that I’ve had time to reflect on the points you mentioned and have come to the conclusion you might be right.’
‘About what?’ He cleared his throat.
‘A number of things, but mainly the futility of guilt.’
‘I see,’ he said hoarsely, thinking that that was utter rubbish. All he could see was Phoebe.
‘Did you really feel that guilty about what happened to Jo?’
Alex blinked. ‘It consumed me day and night.’
‘Past tense?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Good, because she doesn’t blame you, you know.’
‘I know.’
‘So blaming yourself is pointless.’
‘I know.’
‘Based on that reasoning I now see I may have been a bit hasty in rejecting your proposal.’
The pencil snapped.
Her smile deepened and she walked round the desk. ‘If you’re still open to the idea, I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t have an affair.’
His chair swivelled as he followed her every move. Hunger and desire roared along his veins and his erection strained and ached. ‘I’m still open to the idea.’
Then she was standing in front of him, her coat hanging open, baring soft skin and black lace and those shoes, and Alex’s vision blurred. ‘Earlier this afternoon you mentioned something about peeling my clothes off, spreading me out over a table and trailing your mouth over every inch of my body.’
Had he? That sounded like the best idea he’d had in a long time.
Phoebe sat on his lap and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. ‘I’ve done the first bit. How about you helping me with the rest?’
Her scent spun through his head and the last vestige of control snapped. He clamped one arm around her waist to keep her where she was and reached for the phone with the other. He pressed the button that connected to his secretary’s desk. ‘Cancel my appointments for the rest of the day and take the afternoon off,’ he said when she answered. ‘Something’s come up.’
Alex hung up and Phoebe let out a soft laugh. ‘Thank goodness for that. I thought you were going to call Security.’
He raised an eyebrow and smiled. ‘Why would I want to do a thing like that when you’re apologising so nicely?’
Phoebe gripped the back of his chair, lowered her mouth to his and kissed him so slowly and thoroughly that Alex’s head swam. As her tongue slid along his, his hands delved beneath the lapels of her coat and gently pushed it down her arms. She shrugged it off and then wound her arms around his neck and pressed her pelvis against his. She moaned into his mouth and Alex lost it.
With one quick move he wiped the papers and pens and things off his desk and lifted her onto it. Her coat fell to the floor. Phoebe untangled her hands from his hair and eased herself back onto the leather.
Alex stared down at her and thought he’d never seen anything so beautiful. The bra she was wearing was a strapless concoction of lace and silk that pushed her breasts up and out. Further down, she wore a matching suspender belt and the tiniest excuse for knickers he’d ever come across.
The blood roared in his ears and then he found he could barely think. Only act. He unclipped her bra and slipped it off her and her breasts spilled free. He ran his hands over the rounded flesh and rubbed his thumbs over her nipples. Phoebe gasped sharply and arched her back as if begging him to take them in his mouth. Alex leaned down and trailed a string of feather light kisses over the sensitive skin of her chest before flicking his tongue over the straining nub.
‘Oh, God, don’t stop,’ she whispered raggedly. ‘Don’t ever stop.’
Alex didn’t plan on stopping. He lifted his head for a second to gaze down into her face. Her cheeks were flushed and she was biting into her lip as if trying to stop herself from crying out.
He kissed his way down the soft skin of her stomach and pressed his mouth to the hot wet heat of her. Phoebe jerked as if he’d branded her.
Alex’s fingers shook as he hooked them under the thin lace at her hips and pulled her panties down her legs. His hands circled her ankles, slid up her shins, swept up her inner thighs and her legs fell apart.