With a knowing look, I replied, "Was it?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm just saying, you must've hadsomereason for telling me that."
She gave a bark of laughter. "What, like I want you or something?"
The answer to this was obvious.I leaned forward and said in a low voice, "Don't you?"
Again, her lips parted. Again, she made that sound. Again, it went straight to my groin.
Hell, by now I was half-surprised the desk wasn't lifting up between us.
Without realizing it, I'd set down my pen. But now I picked it up again and twirled it between my fingers. With my gaze locked on hers, I asked, "You know what you should do?"
She visibly swallowed. "What?"
"You should crawl over this desk and sit on my lap."
Her breath hitched. "Why?"
I glanced from her face to my fingers and back again. "Because you want to." I settled myself more comfortably into my chair. "And you damn well know it."
Chapter 34
Lexie
Oh, boy.He was right. Ididwant to.How humiliating was that?
Humiliatingandintriguing.
The mere thought of crawling onto his lap sent a bolt of heat straight to my core, and I shivered yet again.Thisshiver wasn't merely warm. It was scorching hot, like the tomato bisque I'd swallowed on our first lunch date, except in this case, I relished the heat.
Even worse, it made me hungry for more.
Still, I forced a laugh. "Why would I crawloveryour desk when I could just walk around it?" Even as I posed the question, it wasn't lost on me that either way, I'd just conceded the main point – that one way or another, I would be ending up on his lap.
Across from me, Cole gave my sweater a long leisurely glance. "I'll tell you why," he said. "Because first, you're gonna unbutton those top three buttons and give me a nice look as you come over."
Oh, wow.I glanced down. Under my sweater, I was wearing a thin white blouse and an even thinner bra. As far as the blouse, I never wore it on its own because the thing was practically transparent – something I'd purchased on-line, only to regret it the moment I'd tried it on in front of a mirror.
As far as my sweater, it was buttoned nearly to my neck. With mounting excitement, I considered his request.Three buttons?That was nothing.
I could do this.
With a challenging look, I reached up and unfastened the sweater's top button and then the one just below that. From his big leather chair, Cole gave me a slow, approving nod before saying, "You know what?"
I was still fumbling with button number-three. "What?"
"Make it five buttons," he said. "And that goes for the blouse, too."
My breath caught, and I felt my body go slick with yearning. Given the reason for my visit, this made no sense. If I had any dignity at all, I'd tell him to shove it, and then I'd storm out of his office like I had all those months ago.
Oh sure, and what had that gotten me?I'd spent months obsessing over him, anyway, even as I called him a monster behind his back.
Nowthatwas cowardly.
But I wasn't feeling cowardly now. I was feeling reckless and just a little bit crazy. I gave him a quick once-over. "And what about you?"
