Chapter Eight
His breath caught in his throat when he heard someone enter the outer office. He stood, then sat, then stood again and crossed the room decisively. Their eyes met and held with a heat he no longer tried to deny. “You left your purse,” he said in a harsher tone than he’d intended.
She looked flustered, windblown, and utterly irresistible. “I realized that about fifteen blocks from here.”
He took a step toward her, then stopped. The desire to continue toward her and pull her into his arms was strong, but he didn’t want her to bolt again. “You could have called me. I would have sent a driver to pick you up.”
She gave him a small, pained smile. “It’s okay, it gave me time to think. Plus, I don’t know your number. I don’t know you at all.”
He moved closer but stopped when she stepped back. “I intend to change that.”
She shook her head. “No.” She looked around the room until she saw her purse, then crossed the room to pick it up. When she met his eyes again, a new emotion darkened her expression.
He walked over and stood near her, so close their breath mingled and he could feel the heat rising from her skin. “Because if you sleep with me once, you’ll sleep with me twice?”
Her cheeks turned a delicious shade of pink. “I can’t believe I said that. Sometimes I speak before I think.”
“I appreciated your directness.” He reached out and tucked a loose tendril behind her ear. “What do you want, Julia? What did you come to New York for? I can get it for you.”
She pulled her head away from his touch. “I don’t want anything from you.”
“Everyone wants something.” I want to fuck you, Julia. Again and again until I get you out of my head. He pulled her to him and closed his mouth over hers. She met his mouth hungrily. He claimed her tongue with his own and reveled in her responsiveness. Where he led, she eagerly followed. Picking her up, he carried her over to his desk, pushing everything impatiently aside before sitting her on it so he could free his hands for more important things.
He told himself to go slowly, but the desire that burned in her blue eyes was his undoing. He needed to see her. To taste her. Without taking his eyes from hers, he tore the front of her shirt open, sending buttons flying. Her mouth dropped opened in an audible sigh and he was lost.
He pushed her knees farther apart and stepped between them. He leaned forward, ran his hand up her back beneath her now-open shirt, and arched her toward him. Her nipples were hard little nubs beneath her satin bra. Nubs he couldn’t resist. He took one hungrily into his mouth, even through the material. Warming it with his tongue. Teasing it with his teeth.
She moaned and pressed herself upward and deeper into his mouth, and that was all the encouragement he needed. He ran a hand along the back of her bra and smiled against her skin when he found no clasp.
Whoever created front-release bras was a genius.
Gio eagerly unclasped the front of the bra and paused to appreciate the perfection that was Julia. She raised her head, her eyes glazed with passion, and he understood her need. His hand rubbed and lightly pinched one of her nipples while his mouth adored and feasted upon the other. Then he moved his mouth and paid her other breast equal attention.
She clung to his shoulders, then buried one hand in his hair. He ground his hard cock against her through their clothes. Desire surged within him. He couldn’t get enough of her. Every taste of her pushed whatever control he had further and further away. He impatiently reached for the fastening of her pants.
“Knock, knock,” a jovial male voice said from the doorway. “Well, will wonders never cease? I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”
Raising his head reluctantly from Julia’s neck, Gio turned, shielding her from his brother Luke’s view. “What are you doing here?”
Smiling unabashedly, Luke leaned against the doorjamb. “Rena called me and said you were having a rough day, and I was ending a shift at the hospital anyway. She thought you might want to talk. It appears she was wrong.”
“Get the hell out of here.”
Still smiling, Luke wiggled his eyebrows and asked, “You’re not going to introduce me?” Normally Luke was the most reasonable of his brothers, but presently his curiosity was outweighing his survival instincts.
“No,” Gio said with finality.
“I heard you’re coming to the wedding and bringing someone with you. Is this her?” His smile widened and his eyes twinkled with humor.
Gio aggressively rose to his full height. “You won’t live to find out if you don’t leave now,” he said. Luke put up both hands in playful resignation and left, still smiling as he turned away.
Releasing a calming breath, Gio turned around and instantly felt like an ass. Julia was clutching her now buttonless top closed and sliding off his desk. The mood was broken. “Sorry about that,” he said gruffly.
Her half smile set his heart thudding in his chest again. “It’s okay.”
“I should have locked the door. I don’t normally . . .”
With an adorable blush, Julia said, “I don’t do this either.” She picked up her purse and started edging away from him. “I’m going home now.”
“No,” he said much more forcibly than he meant to.
She tucked her shirt into her pants, overlapping the front in a way that covered her. “Yes.” She waved a shaking hand in the direction of his desk. “I’m not this person. I don’t know what to do with how you make me feel. But I do know that I need time to think about this.”
He reached for her, but she made it to the door before he could grab her.
When she opened her mouth to say something, he picked up his cell phone and said, “Todd, have a car brought around.”
“I don’t—” she started to say, but he cut her off.
“I’m taking you home.”
As they walked down the hallway together, she sighed and said, “I’m not judging, but your whole family is a little pushy. You might want to try asking instead of issuing orders.”
Her comment brought a smile back to his face. He placed his hand on her lower back and felt her tense when he replied, “Why ask when the outcome isn’t in question?”
“Are you always this much of an arrogant ass?” she asked crossly.
With an ironic smile, he said, “No, normally, I’m much, much worse.”
* * *
Julia didn’t know if he was joking or not, but she chuckled. “Don’t make me laugh. It makes it harder to say no.” She looked up at him and frowned. “And it is no. Just to be clear.”
They rode down in the elevator and walked out of the building together in silence. The chauffer opened the door to a Bentley town car and she and Gio slid in. She told the driver her address and he pulled into traffic.
She snuck a peek at Gio. When he thought she wasn’t looking there was an expression in his eyes that seemed almost sad. Was that the pain Maddy had mentioned? What had this man been through that kept him away from family who obviously loved him? She shouldn’t ask. Shouldn’t get involved. It would be easier to walk away if she didn’t know.
And walk away is what she intended to do.
He wasn’t looking for love; he was looking for a way into her pants. The problem was, every time she was near him she forgot why that was a bad idea. It didn’t matter that they were both fully dressed and separated by a few inches. Her body tightened and warmed for his touch. If he took her into his arms right then, she doubted anything would stop them from finishing what they had started earlier. Not the fact that they were in public or that the driver would see them.
Why does this feel different than anything I’ve ever done?
I’ve dated a couple of men.
Men who made me laugh.
And sex with them was nice. It was a sweet expression of our feelings for each other.
But nothing like this. This is dangerous. I could lose myself if I’m not careful. She peered at him out of the corner of one eye and studied his strong profile. But what a way to go.
“I didn’t realize you knew my cousin,” he said, still looking straight ahead.
“I didn’t, but she thinks I’m the reason you said yes to the wedding.”
“You are,” he said simply, and she swung around to search his face.
Julia swallowed hard. “I haven’t changed my mind about not going.”
He didn’t answer. As they pulled up to her apartment building, he demanded, “You live here?”
Offended, Julia sat straight up. “It’s clean. Relatively safe. And only one block from the subway.”
He nodded toward what looked like a drug deal going down on the corner of the street.
She shrugged. “They’re just kids. They’ve never bothered me.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You can’t stay here.”
She put her hands on her hips and turned in her seat. “Where I live is none of your business. This is what I can afford, and I don’t appreciate you trying to make me feel badly about it.”
“You’re not staying here.”
“Yes, I am.”
He glared at her.
She glared back.
With a shake of his head, he said, “Gather your stuff. I’m checking you into a hotel.”
The words sent unwanted shivers of pleasure down her back. No. No. No. Down, libido. She put her hand on the door handle. “Thank you for the ride home.” She quickly opened the door and stepped out before he could stop her.
He was beside her in a heartbeat, blocking her escape. “Get back in the car.”
“No.”
He grabbed her arm. One of the youths across the street called out, “Hey, is he bothering you?”
She called back. “No, he’s going.” She met Gio’s eyes angrily and said, “You are—going. Just because I work for you doesn’t mean you have any right to tell me what I can do or where I can live. Let go of my arm.”
Gio dropped her arm. “I don’t understand you.”
I don’t understand me either, so we’re even. “Goodnight, Mr. Andrade.”
Julia turned and walked away, leaving him on the street watching her. Once she got inside, she didn’t go to the window of her apartment. She didn’t want to know if he was still there.
She wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop herself from running back down and throwing herself in his arms.
This is for the best.
Whatever animal attraction we have for each other is the kind of chemistry that always leads to trouble.
Remember why you came to New York.
Stay focused.
She changed into her nightgown and made herself a microwave dinner.
Who wanted a date with a hot billionaire anyway?