Page 13 of Legal Seduction
Chapter Four
FORTHEPASTtwo years Simon had surreptitiously ogled his assistant, but he’d had no idea that she might wear lingerie beneath those tight skirts and buttoned-up cardigans of hers even though he had seen lace peek out between those buttons. Friday night he’d seen that lace when he’d undone a few of those buttons and discovered that sexy bustier. He wanted to undo all the buttons tonight, and he wanted to unzip that skirt and peel it off her luscious ass.
He wanted Bette Monroe.
His hand shaking a little, he set his wineglass back on the table. He hadn’t had much to drink but he made a point to never overindulge. At least not on alcohol...
He wanted nothing affecting his mind or his control. But Bette, sitting close to him, was affecting the hell out of him. What was wrong with him? When he was focused on something—like he was now on finding the office mole—he was never distracted from his task.
But she distracted him. He watched her lips part as she forked in a bite of steamed broccoli, and he wished her lips were parting for his tongue. While Bruno’s food was as incredible as it always was, Simon wanted to taste her more than the meal.
And not just her lips or her mouth.
“What?” she asked as she lifted her hand to her face. “Do I have broccoli in my teeth?”
He shook his head.
“Why are you staring at me?” she asked.
She really didn’t seem to know. He wasn’t used to that, not when he usually dated models and actresses whose egos rivaled his.
“Are you completely unaware of how beautiful you are?” he asked.
Her lips curved into a smile but it was a little mocking and she murmured, “For the past two years, you werecompletelyunaware of me.”
He grinned. “That’s what you thought?”
“It’s what I know,” she said. “I might as well have been a copy machine for all the attention you paid me the past two years.”
He narrowed his eyes and studied her face. Was that why she’d done it, why she’d given information to the opposition? Because she’d been resentful that he had never seemed to notice her?
“Did you want my attention?” he asked.
Her gaze slipped away from his, and her teeth nipped into her bottom lip. Maybe she was too embarrassed to admit that she’d wanted him to notice her, so he assured her, “You had my attention.”
Her teeth still nibbling on that full, sexy lower lip, she shook her head. “I find that very hard to believe.”
His seduction wouldn’t work if she didn’t believe that he found her attractive. So he leaned closer, pressing his thigh against hers, and he murmured, “I have spent countless hours admiring your ass...ets.”
Her lips curved into a smile. “If only that were true.” She gave a wistful sigh then.
“You really did want me to notice you?” he asked as a warning bell began to sound inside his head. She was acting very differently than she had Friday night when she’d left her resignation on his desk.
Her brown eyes widened behind the lenses of her glasses, and her lashes fluttered. “Yes...” Then she leaned against him, and her fingertips skimmed over his thigh.
His body tensed, with her touch and with the thought that just dawned on him. Maybe he wasn’t the only one turning on the charm. He had a feeling he was definitely getting played.
For what? More case file secrets?
But he was curious as to how far she would carry her charade. So he covered her hand with his and guided her fingers to stroke up and down his thigh.
She glanced sideways at him, and her lips curved into a smile while her already-dark eyes darkened more with desire. Or was that wishful thinking on his part? Then she moved her hand farther up his leg, toward his groin.
And he sucked in a sharp breath. “Bette...”
She tugged her hand from beneath his and brought it back to the stem of her wineglass. Then she stroked her fingers up and down it, like he wanted them stroking up and down his cock. Mischief sparkled in her dark eyes; she was completely aware of what he wanted, what he needed.
The need startled him. Sure, he’d felt desire before. Often. As a teen runaway, he’d wanted so much stuff—stuff he hadn’t had. Like a safe place to sleep, food, clothes.
