Page 38 of Between the Lines

She had no idea what the hell she thought she was doing, but when he grinned, her stomach flipped with a potent combination of nerves and excitement. The sensation only intensified as she watched him remove his suit jacket with excruciating slowness, folding it before placing it on the seat of her chair.

“What the hell are you doing?” Her pulse quickened when he loosened his tie. All the time he watched her with laser focus, and she suddenly understood what a gazelle was faced with when cornered by a lion.

“Seems to me like you want to be chased.” He grinned, but there was no humor in the expression, just wicked intent. “Who am I to say no to that?”

“What?” She darted a panicked glance between him and the door, even as wetness surged between her thighs, a fresh ache blooming where she was already sore. “It’s nine o’clock in the morning. Your whole staff is out there. John is out there!”

“If you’re so concerned about where John is, maybe I should invite him in to watch,” Theo commented mildly, taking a step closer. “Then you won’t have to wonder.”

“Oh God.” He wouldn’t. Would he? The dangerous look he was casting her way told her that she really had no idea what he was capable of in that moment. “The door isn’t locked!”

“Guess you better hope no one comes in, then.” Without warning, he leaped forward. She squealed and scuttled down the wall away from him, still clasping the laptop to her chest, though she understood it wasn’t about the article anymore.

“I don’t know why you think you can run.” He started toward her again, but this time his steps were slow and deliberate. “Where are you going to go?”

Having lulled her with the steady moments, he sprang, catching her by the front of the silky T-shirt that she’d stolen from Meg’s closet that morning. She made a wordless, choking cry when he yanked and it tore right down the front, gaping open to expose the lacy bralette that she’d liberated as well.

“If you run out of the office right now, everyone will know what we’re doing.” He grinned, running a steady palm down her torso, between her breasts. She was quivering with suppressed sensation. “The new girl fucking the boss. Whatever will they think?”

“No!” The laptop slipped from her hands onto the plush carpet, and she barely noticed as it bounced away. Backing up rapidly, she wasn’t aware that Theo had stopped in his tracks until her ass hit the edge of her desk.

“No?” He searched her face intently, and she realized what she’d said. “Do you want to stop?”

Something delicate inside her snapped. He’d stopped. His cock was so hard that she could see its full outline, straining against the fabric of his pants, and his face was flushed with arousal, just like hers was. They were in the middle of some hot, kinky game that she didn’t fully understand, and he’d just stopped because she’d said no, even when she hadn’t really meant it.

How could she not trust this man with her heart?

“No. I mean... I don’t mean no. I mean, I meant it, but not like that.” Sighing with frustration, she scrubbed both hands over her face. “Is this where a safe word comes in?”

“No will always work with me. I’ll always check in with you if you say that, okay?” The intensity he spoke with told her that he needed her to understand this. “But if you want to choose a safe word, choose it now. Make sure it’s something you wouldn’t normally say in conversation.”

“Shower,” she blurted immediately, feeling herself flush when he grinned. “That’s my safe word.”

“Shower. Got it.” He nodded to emphasize the point, and then he unbuttoned the collar of his shirt. Her eyes fixed on the inch of golden skin it revealed, desperate to press her lips there, to gauge his pulse.

“Run.”

She blinked, not sure she’d heard him correctly, but when he moved, a surge of adrenaline had her scrambling back. The corner of the desk bit into her hip as she pushed past her chair, but she didn’t feel a thing besides the need to get away.

She knew she wouldn’t, not in the end. It didn’t stop the urge to move, move, move, move, because once he caught her, she was at his mercy.

“Might as well give up,” he taunted, continuing after her with that slow, relentless pace. “You know I’m going to win.”

“Not if I can help it.” Bracing herself to leap back the way she’d come as soon as he got a little closer, she wasn’t prepared for him to anticipate the move. He caught her around the waist, hauling her off her feet as she cried out.

“I don’t care if anyone hears you,” he informed her as he dragged her back to her desk, splaying her out on its surface, “but you might not like it when someone comes to investigate just why you’re being so damn noisy.”

“Theo,” she begged, and she wasn’t sure if she was asking for him to let her go, or to touch her. Still caught up in the game, she writhed against him, forcing him to pin her arms above her head with one of his hands, to catch her lower body with a thrust of his hips. With the other, he tore at the front of her bralette, treating it to the same fate as her top.

“I told you not to buy anything fancy just for me.” Cupping one of her breasts, he squeezed the mound lightly. “I told you I liked what you wore.”

“That was Meg’s,” she spat out, still struggling. The dressy jeans that completed her outfit—also her sister’s—caused delicious friction against her clit as she wriggled against where the firm pressure of his hips pinned her down, her legs dangling on either side of his hips.

“Guess I owe Meg some clothes then.” He grinned, not sorry at all, as he continued to massage her breast. Her world narrowed to the point of his touch, the pleasure he was pulling out of the swollen tip of her breast. “Gonna tell her what happened to the things you borrowed?”

“Something tells me she’ll know.” She yelped quietly when he swatted the side of her hip.

“You’re awfully mouthy for a captive.” Dragging his hand roughly down her torso, he tugged at the waistband of her jeans. “I’d like to give your mouth something else to do, but I don’t have enough time for that today. Guess I’ll have to hope that a quick fuck will knock that sass out of you for a while.”

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