Page 33 of Storm's Embrace

Her slight gasp gave him the opening he needed to trace his tongue over her teeth and then into her mouth. God, the taste of her. He relished the tentative touch of her tongue, and then nearly came unglued when she tangled hers with his.

He needed more—not just the meeting of their lips. So he turned and lifted her high while walking with her held snuggly against his chest over to his couch where he sat and settled her in his lap. Then he gave in to the desire to touch her—the desire that had been haunting him for what seemed like forever—as he let his hands roam over her back. Her soft sighs against his mouth emboldened him to explore more of the trembling woman in his embrace—first to her waist where he squeezed her giving flesh, then up toward the undersides of her breasts.

Miriam was busy too, as her hands ran through his hair and gripped the strands until his scalp stung. He liked it.

But he needed still more, and lifted his mouth and pressed his forehead to hers, while their panting breaths filled the space between them. “Miriam I…” His thumbs brushed over the fabric of her blouse.

“Yes. Touch me, Eli,” she whispered. “I need you to.”

He held her heated gaze as his left hand moved up just enough to palm her. The hard tip of her breast pressing through her bra and blouse seared his hand where he gently squeezed, while her moan spurred him on as his other hand went to the row of pearl buttons. This wasn’t what he’d intended happening this morning, but he found his fingers undoing each button one by one regardless until he got to the band of her skirt. He tugged the ends of her blouse free and brushed one sleeve over her shoulder before finally letting his gaze lower to her lace-covered breast, groaning low when Miriam wriggled in his lap.

There was no way she would mistake the evidence of his arousal pushing up against her thighs begging to be released from his pants.

“Just a taste?” He glanced up at her before moving his shaking hand to her shoulder and lowering the strap down over her creamy skin. He couldn’t believe she was here with him like this. She—

The door dashing open behind Miriam had him snapping his head up and quickly pulling her shirt back together. None of his staff ever walked in his office without knocking first. “Wait a—”

“Well, isn’t this a surprise.”

Deidre.

Miriam’s panic-filled eyes met his, while a shaky, “Oh, my God,” fell from her lips. She brushed his hands away from where he still touched her before her shaking fingers worked with the edges of her blouse and whispered a litany of, “No, no, no…” as she scrambled off his lap. She kept her back to Deidre while he stood and shielded her from the other woman’s icy glare.

“What are you doing here?” He should have expected she’d make an appearance, but not so early in the morning.

“You’ve refused to answer my calls the last few days. So I thought I’d corner you where I knew I could find you.” Her brow raised as she attempted to look past him. “Now I see why you’ve been avoiding me.”

“I have to go.” Miriam skirted around him with her head down while tying the ends of her shirt together and rushing past Deidre who was standing just inside his door, and then out of his office.

“Miriam. Wait.” He started after her only to stop short when Deidre slammed the door shut and leaned against it. His jaw tightened. “Get out of my way.”

“You’re too much of a gentleman to make me, aren’t you.” She arched one brow as he reached for the handle. “And to think I believed you when you said it wasn’t your secretary who’d taken your interest away from me. I didn’t take you for the typical man. And you certainly are a good liar. I think you’ve missed your calling. You should have been a lawyer.” She peered past his shoulder. “Huh. She’s a quick thing. I’ll grant her that. In fact…” She gave him a slow grin. “She’s already at her car.”

Eli whirled toward the window in time to see Miriam’s coming to a quick stop at her car with her keys out before getting in. There was no way he would make it outside in time to stop her from leaving.

Enough was enough.

He rounded on Deidre and slammed both hands against the door on either side of her head, and then leaned into her. If anything, her eyes gleamed with excitement instead of intimidation.

“I like this side of you,” she said, licking her lips. “Not puritanical at all.” She ran her fingers over his chest and down to his belt. “You’ve been holding out on me.”

“Cut it out.” He grabbed her hand and pulled it from his body. “You have no leverage to play this stupid game anymore.” He pushed himself away from her, then glared into her green gaze. “So, why are you here?”

“I’m hoping you’ll come to your senses.”

“The only one not showing any sense in this scenario is you.”

Deidre laughed, but it wasn’t something he’d consider humorous. “What makes more sense,” she hissed with her back still against the door. “Someone like you with someone like me—a woman who has connections and the means to take you from this, this…” She waved her hands to encompass the room. “This hovel of a practice to something much grander? Or you with some frumpy—“

“Frumpy?” Eli laughed as shook his head.

“Yes. A frumpy little nobody who can donothingfor you.”

“First of all, Miriam is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever known—both inside and out. And second, what you’ve just said about my practice goes to show you know nothing about me at all.” He glanced behind him at the window again before turning his anger on the woman who had managed to run Miriam off, his voice lowering to a growl. “And third, while you don’t deserve any kind of explanation, you need to understand Miriam does more for me daily just by being herself than anything anyone could ever give me.”

Deidre smirked and stepped away from the door toward him. “Are you seriously telling me you have feelings for thatgirl?”

“She’s not a girl,” he said, finally able to get around her to reach for the door. “She’s a woman and I…”

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