Page 27 of Business Temptations

Bailey groaned, carefully setting her plate next to his as he pressed his fingers into the arch of her foot. “You do that so well! Have you ever thought about becoming a masseuse?”

“I doubt that you’d like it if I had my hands on other women all day, would you?”

“Hell no!” she snapped before she realized what she was admitting. When her words replayed in her mind, she froze. As did his hands.

“Relax, Bailey,” he teased as his fingers pressed more deeply into her foot. “Close your eyes. It’s been a stressful week, so try to relax.”

Chapter 6

Bailey woke up feeling unusually warm. Lifting her head from the unexpectedly firm pillow, she looked around. But the darkness around her wasn’t familiar. It was as if…had she fallen asleep on her sofa? Looking around, she started to move, only to have strong hands stop her from shifting off of…the sofa? Nope. She wasn’t on the soft cushions of the sofa. She was lying on top of…Matteo!

“You okay?” his deep, husky voice came through the darkness.

Bailey wasn’t sure. She was lying on top of him and he felt so incredibly good!

“Yeah,” she replied. “I should–”

She stopped when his strong, warm hand slid up the bare skin of her back.

“You feel good,” he told her, his legs shifting.

Bailey gasped as his hands moved again. The electric shock of his hands on her bare skin was…amazingly good! So good, she couldn’t control the gasp, or the moan as his hands roamed higher.

“You don’t like that?” he asked.

She closed her eyes, trying very hard not to let him know how much she enjoyed him touching her like that.

“It’s…different,” she whispered into the darkness.

“I want you, Bailey,” he told her. “Can you tell?”

He didn’t shift his hips, but she felt the throb of his erection against her stomach.

“But we’re friends,” she argued, then moaned when he moved his legs, her hips now cradling his erection against her core.

“I think we could be friends,” he sat up just enough to kiss her gently, pulling away after too short of a taste, “and lovers.”

She licked her lips, staring down at him. Goodness, she wanted that! The thought of becoming his lover was so tempting. “Can we really do that?”

“Yes,” he promised. “We can do anything we set our minds to.”

“But…what if we can’t make it work as friends and lovers?”

“We can,” he assured her softly, his hands still trailing along her skin. “But if you don’t want to risk it, just say the word, and I’ll get up and leave. You can sleep alone and we’ll never speak of it ever again.” He moved, then kissed her again. “But if you’ve ever been curious to find out what it would be like between us, then why not explore this?”

She moaned and kissed him back. It was just a brief kiss. A barely-there kiss. When he pulled back Bailey stared down at him, shocked at how good it felt to be held like this. “Because I’m scared of losing you as a friend,” she admitted honestly.

“I know,” he said, not agreeing with her, but not disagreeing either. “But if we’re careful, I think we can make this work.”

There was a long silence following his suggestion. Matteo stared into her eyes, waiting for her to agree with him, or push him away. Outwardly patient, Matteo waited, trying to read her thoughts through the slight changes in her facial expression. Normally, her beautiful eyes were an easy way to read her mind, to know exactly what she was thinking. When she was in a meeting, Bailey’s thoughts and emotions were carefully hidden. It was only when they were alone together that Bailey relaxed enough to let down her guard.

But the combination of dim lights and her blank features meant that Matteo couldn’t see what she was thinking. At the most important moment of their relationship, he couldn’t tell what she wanted.

So it was a huge relief when she lifted her hands to his throat, her soft, delicate fingers touching the bare skin above the neckline of his shirt and she leaned in, kissing him gently. Tentatively!

Taking over, he deepened the caress. This was their first real kiss and he wanted to show her exactly what he was feeling. He wanted to be gentle, to ease them into this.

But at the first taste of each other, a raging inferno exploded between them. Their kiss was nothing like the sweet, coaxing kiss he’d intended. Instead, it was hot and heavy, demanding everything from both of them. A dam had burst and there was no holding back the raging flood of lust.

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