He remained standing. “Do we?”
“I know you’re upset about what happened on Saturday, but Charlie didn’t mean to hurt me, and I’m fine.”
That wasn’t one hundred percent true. It still required a little makeup to hide the bruise, but Alex didn’t need to know that.
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“So…are we all right?”
He raised an eyebrow. “All right?”
She nodded. There was something awful in his eyes, but she couldn’t tell what it was. She wanted him to look at her with warmth and heat, the way he had before. Natalie wished she could erase Saturday from his memory.
The silence stretched. Two heartbeats turned to three…then four…
“Is that all you had to say?” Alex’s voice held no inflecti
on.
She bit her lower lip. What more did he want? A promise never to see the Rodales again?
He glanced at his watch. “I’m sorry, but I have another meeting. Excuse me.”
* * *
So…are we all right?
No, Alex thought savagely. He wasn’t all right. Not since Saturday. Not since Ethan had reported her meeting with Emily.
He’d told himself he wasn’t like his father, that he was too smart, too careful, to be conned by a beautiful woman. But when Natalie walked in, his mind just…stopped somehow, and all that existed was an image of how good she looked, a feeling of how much he wanted her, and a wish that she wasn’t who she was.
He paused in the hallway and gazed sightlessly through the hazy glass panes. Why couldn’t he purge her from his mind?
His father had told him something once, on his way down. It had been as much an apology for the failure that ruined him as passing advice from one generation to the next. The truly important decisions are made somewhere beyond logic and reason.
Alex, whose favorite game was chess, hadn’t believed it when he was younger. But now… Thinking things through didn’t seem to help. It was as if there was a huge elastic band around his chest, and the other end was attached to Natalie. The farther he got from her, the greater the pressure, and the more difficult it was to breathe.
The more it hurt.
The truly important decisions…
His legs carried him back to the conference room of their own volition. Natalie was just gathering her documents. Her eyes widened when she saw him, but he didn’t give a damn as he kicked the door shut. A primal instinct to mark her as his overwhelmed him, stripping away all restraint. He grabbed her and covered her mouth with his before she could protest. He didn’t want to talk. He wanted her unconditional surrender.
Total acceptance.
She tensed, her lips refusing to part and let him in. That only made him more determined. She finally yielded, shuddering as his hands caressed every inch of her body, bringing out the sensuality buried deep inside her core. He tunneled into her chignon with his fingers until her hair came loose and swept around her head. He pushed her skirt up and almost lost control when he saw the racy garter belt holding her thigh-highs. He ripped her panties off and went down on her, drinking in the heady scent of her desire.
He couldn’t get enough of her. Her every moan, the slightest twitch of her muscles as she inched closer to climax, whipped his desire to the brink of madness. When she came against his mouth, he didn’t stop. He wanted her to remember this. Remember she was his.
When he could no longer wait, he entered her slick depths. Her breath hissed, and her back arched. She held on to him as if she couldn’t bear to let him go. If she screamed, the entire would office would hear her. And he didn’t care.
He pounded into her, drove her to another climax and exulted in the expression of tortured ecstasy on her face. As he emptied into her, the only thing his brain could register was how much he still wanted her.
As they lay recovering on the beige carpet, it suddenly hit him.
You love her.
He inhaled sharply. Where had that come from?