Stung, she faced him. Her chin lifted a notch. She would never let on how much that hurt. “Well, thank you very much for your assessment of my boring personality. I’m thankful that I have you to point out my flaws.”
She walked past him. The scent of his body reached out and tugged at her, but she ignored it. She ignored the tingling in her nerve endings, ignored the fact that Jericho seemed to be able to reach right down into her psyche and pinpoint her personality as if he was some kind of shrink. She should know better than to try to pull one over on him.
She could do it to other men, but Jericho saw right through her as if she were transparent.
She would have to admit that they had some kind of bond. All the years she’d worked for him had he been watching her, studying her to get an idea of what kind of woman she was? It seemed that he was as intrigued by her mind as he was by her body.
Her arousal hit her like a ton of bricks. The thought that he wanted to explore not only her body but also her mind made her shake inside.
It shook the foundations of her belief of him as a lone wolf prosecutor who cared nothing at all about people. He only wanted to win. But had she been blinded by her own stereotypes of rich men? Men of power who used it to further their own gains?
“Everyone has flaws, Katie. That’s what makes them unique. I can be a self-righteous, relentless, and merciless bastard when I’m in the courtroom. No one.No oneis going to escape justice if I have anything to say about it. I’m fanatical about it.”
“What do you want from me?”
“I just want to know the woman who put on that red dress and came strutting into the courtroom. I see a side of you that you don’t. I know there’s heat in you, passion. Wake up, Kate. Let me see you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do. You don’t want to admit it to me or to yourself. But I want her, that woman you keep repressed. Oh, yes, I want her.”
Something inside her snapped. His seductive tone, his hard, accessible body, and the way he goaded her made her want to shock him, to give him something to remember. Show him that she wasn’t afraid of her own sexuality.
“You want to see her, Jericho?” she asked as she turned toward him. The material of her skirt brushed against her thighs, sending sensual tremors all over her body.
A small, rational corner of her brain told her she was taunting a tiger, but she didn’t listen. Something inside her was pushing her to be reckless. She didn’t understand it, wasn’t sure shewantedto understand it, but she couldn’t seem to stop.
She set her keys on the small table by the door to the hallway and leaned her back into the wall. And the woman she wanted to be was finally set free from her restraints.
She sent the palms of her hands over the silky material covering her hips and down her thighs until she reached the hem of the skirt.
His eyes trailed fire down her body as he followed her hands.
She lifted the hem, rotating her hips against the wall, pulling the material up until she could reach her sex with her hand. Pushing the skimpy bit of thong aside, she slid her fingers into the wet, welcome heat of her body.
“Do you want to know what I fantasize about, Jericho?”
His nostrils flared. “Tell me, Katie. I’m dying to know,” he said with an edge to his voice. His eyes watched her hand, every pleasurable nuance on her face as if he could absorb every sensation she felt.
He had eyes that were like a deep, tempting whirlpool, captivating enough to suck her across the threshold into another dimension, a dark, dangerous dimension.
His thoughts were there in his eyes, exposed, jagged and distinct. His excitement so heavy and thrilling, it left her skin tingling.
“I think about how it would be with you.” She slid up her shirt until her lacy bra was exposed. She cupped her breasts until her cleavage showed. Then she released the clasp of her bra by slowly unsnapping the front and peeling the material away from her breasts.
As he stared at her, his eyes darkened; his gaze on her flesh burned her skin.
Her voice came out hushed and breathless. “I imagine you behind me, your hands sliding over my belly, then cradling my breasts in your hard, hot hands, caressing their softness. I imagine your lips against my throat, your breath warm against my skin, the rasp of your stubble as you kiss my neck and shoulder. I want you to use your tongue and lick the tangy sweetness between my breasts.”
Jericho made a growl of appreciative pleasure low in his throat. He made no move toward her, as if he knew she needed to do this, craved it as much as she did. Her awakening.
“I can almost feel the heat and sucking wetness of your mouth as you kiss and lick me, your tongue swirling and tasting. Your hot mouth fastens over my nipple, making me gasp, hardening the tips, and making them throb with the rhythm of my heart. I wonder how you’ll take me, finally when we join. Calm and dreamy, or hard and fast. I wonder what kinds of things you could do with that beautiful, clever mouth.”
Her hand slid between her thighs, her words getting bolder the more she aroused herself. “I see you sink to your knees in supplication, kissing my stomach, pressing your face to my soft curls. Your hot breath causes my hips to surge forward in need, wanting the press of your mouth against that delicious ache between my legs.”
She touched herself, following the path that Jericho’s hands would travel if they were on her body. His hands clasped into fists as he fought his own overwhelming desire. “You would use those big hands to part my slick folds,” she gasped, moaning, “while you tease my stiff, engorged clitoris with your tongue.”
The words coming out of her mouth shocked her as much as she was shocking Jericho. They were urgent and hungry and explicitly detailed. Her mind was racing now, and she strove to keep up with each graphic thought.