as his competitors’. But then she’d expected nothing less of him. What did come as a surprise was the fact that he was great with his staff. He knew everyone by their first name, their job title and specifically the shift they worked. And when he spoke to them he seemed genuine. In her experience rich bossesdidn’t treat their staff like they were personal friends.
Now he moved comfortably through the room. He’d slipped out of his suit jacket and tossed it on the back of an armchair. Under the pretense of resting her eyes she watched him through slit lids. A white dress shirt had never looked so good, but then she’d yet to see him in anything that looked bad. The way the material draped over his broad shoulders and muscled arms had her heart thumping in her chest. Her gaze traveled down to the gold cuff links at his wrists, then toward the gold belt buckle at his waist. And rested there.
Lincoln Donovan was a well-built man. She could not only see that but had the memory of it permanently emblazed on her brain. The thought of him inside her again made her mouth water. Their one night together had been beyond anything she’d ever experienced since then. As far as initiations go she was sure Linc had been the best. He’d been slow and gentle with her as if he’d already known her inexperienced status. There wasn’t a part of her body his hands hadn’t explored. And it had happened more than once. After the first time he’d continued to lavish her body with attention throughout the night. She thought she’d died and gone to heaven. Until she woke the next morning, alone.
That single thought had her sitting upright on the couch, which was difficult because the cushions were so deep and so soft that keeping her balance was almost impossible.
Maybe if she hadn’t been nursing a crush on him since the first time seeing him one year prior to the night they’d spent together, she wouldn’t have been devastated when he left. And maybe if she hadn’t been filled with silly romantic notions that she would defy her bad luck and fall madly in love with a man who loved her back, she wouldn’t have cried for the duration of that next day.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked, startling her from her thoughts.
“No.” She wanted to stand up, to go to whatever room she’d be sleeping in, and break this connection they still seemed to have. She wanted to get away from him, plain and simple. But she couldn’t get out of the damned chair. She struggled to stand, bracing her hands on the cushions at her sides and attempting to lift herself up.
In seconds he was there, his hands going beneath her arms, pulling her to a standing position, parallel with his tall, rigid form. She sucked in a breath, looked up at him, then to the side. Staring into his eyes was deadly. It made her feel vulnerable, too open for his assault. “I’m ready for bed.”
His hands remained on her, his thumbs grazing the side curve of her breasts. Heat spread through her rapidly with waves of desire building steadily. Her knees wobbled and her nipples hardened—damned traitorous body of hers. He was the enemy. He’d hurt her once, no way was he going to do it again.
She tried to move out of his grasp but he held firm. “There’s a big bed in the master suite,” he said seductively.
He pulled her closer to him until his burgeoning erection was positioned between her thighs. His message was very clear. “I’m ready to go to sleep,” she corrected her earlier declaration.
“I know just how to put you to sleep.”
Jade’s breath caught in her throat. How could one man’s touch erase all intelligent thought from her mind? It hadn’t been this way with Charles. Then again, she and Charles never shared an active sex life. Come to think of it sex had never been the same for her since that first time with Linc, hence the reason she didn’t indulge as much as the average twenty-eight-year-old. Still, she was determined not to indulge with