Page 42 of Hard Deal
Was it possible to be on both sides at once? Her body was wholly in the oh God, yes, yes, yes! side of things, while her brain was already detailing an exit strategy. Being pulled in two directions at once wasn’t a comfortable situation. But the worst thing of all was that her heart was starting to side with her lady bits. Which was a problem.
That was how her heart got battered and bruised and broken last time.
Caleb sat on the other side of the couch, his arm slung along the back like he was about to be photographed for a magazine. The sleeves of his baby blue shirt were rolled up and his open collar revealed a slim triangle of skin. His suit pants perfectly hugged his thighs, the hems pulled up enough that she could see which socks he’d put on that day. Sky blue with majestic-looking ducks. Business mallards.
She had to stop the manic giggle rising up the back of her throat. What the hell was she even doing here? This was supposed to be the conclusion to a transaction. She’d fulfilled her end of the deal, now it was his turn to hand over the goods.
But the longer he stared at her with those incredible blue eyes—which perfectly matched his shirt, of course—the more pressure built behind her sternum. It was like a growing fireball—the larger it got, the more it consumed her. Despite her efforts, Caleb saw past her defenses. Like the fade-into-the-background monochrome outfits she wore to work, the sensible ponytail and boring shoes... Prim Miss Hargrove. It was no less a mask than the one she’d worn to the Carmina Ball, as much as she denied it out loud.
That way, if anyone rejected her they weren’t rejecting the real her. The Imogen who’d thrown caution to the wind by marrying the guy everyone warned her off, the same girl who’d gate-crashed an important event for the sake of her sister. The woman who let lust sweep her down a road of scorching-hot, semipublic sex.
“We’re supposed to be talking about Daniel,” she said. Her voice came out squeaky and unnatural.
“Getting too real again?” He raked a hand through his hair, his fingers driving rows through the thick strands. “I want to figure this out, Imogen. I want to know where we stand.”
“Where we stand?” She set the glass down for fear that she’d drop it with how her hands trembled. This was not what they were supposed to be discussing. “There is no we, Caleb.”
“Yes, there is. We are colleagues.” His stare burned right through her. “We are friends. We are incredibly attracted to one another.”
“We are?” Her breath hitched.
He knows all the right things to say—he knows your weaknesses and your sore spots. He knows how to press on them until you do what he wants. Don’t fall for it.
But she’d already started to fall—she had done the moment she’d crossed his path on her first day in the Allbrook office. The attraction had hit her like a bolt of lightning, frying her insides and hollowing her out so that she’d never ever be the same again. For the last five years she’d put on her armour, to shield against him. Against herself. Against anyone who might want to see her bleed.
Caleb shifted, closing the gap on the couch until he was next to her. The small distance between them crackled with electricity. The need to press her palms to his chest, to run her fingers along his jaw and trace the curve of his lips was like a lion’s roar in her head.
“We are.” He reached out and rubbed his finger along the strap of her top. “I know you’re fighting it, but your body tells me. Your eyes get dark, your lips get all pouty and kissable, and this bit—” he traced the line of her chest from her collarbone to the valley of her cleavage “—goes up and down, quicker and quicker. It’s exciting to see you come undone, Imogen. It makes me so fucking hard to see you stripped bare like that.”
But bare was bad. Bare meant vulnerable, and vulnerable was a hop, skip and jump away from broken.
“You’re just saying that,” she whispered. “You want something and you know all the right things to say. That’s not real.”
“Do you think I would have persisted after you shut me down if I only wanted a warm body?”
God, she wanted to believe him. She wanted to fall headfirst into this fantasy and stop doubting herself. Caleb slipped the strap off her shoulder. The drag of the fabric over skin caused her to shiver, anticipation building. Pressing. Demanding.
“I only shut you down because I thought you were teasing me,” she admitted. “I don’t seem like your type.”
“And what’s my type, huh?” His lips came to her skin, sucking until blood rushed to the surface, sending goose bumps rippling across her arms and chest. They’d done so much more than this, but the talking combined with the gentle touches was a new level of intimacy.
She shivered. “Fun, sexy women.”
“Why do you think you’re not fun or sexy?”
It was impossible to keep the blood pumping up to her brain while he marked her neck with his lips and teeth. “You told me once I would fit in with the Golden Girls.”
He laughed. “To be fair, that was after you said I had the mental capacity of a drunk Teletubby.”
“I stand by it.” Her lip twitched.
“I don’t know how to appease you other than to say you’ve ruined me. I’ve wanted to find out what was under the suit and pearls from the second you set foot in the office and the deeper I dig, the more I want you.” He kissed along the top of her shoulder, his face burying into the crook of her neck. “I’m addicted. So don’t sell yourself short, because it’s bullshit and I’m not buying it.”
Her eyes fluttered shut and she concentrated on the feel of his lips against her hairline, on the hot whisper of breath along her skin, on the sneaky crawl of his fingertips along her thigh. Her boiling point was close and restraint fell through her fingers like water.
“It’s bordering on disgusting how you know exactly what to say.” Imogen shook her head. “You’re dangerous, Caleb Allbrook. And it scares me.”
“Don’t be scared.” His hand was higher now, sliding up the inside of her thigh. “I’m doing this because I want you in whatever form I can get. You want to toss a smile in my direction, I’ll take it. You want a verbal throw-down? I’m in.”