AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Si,Mamá. It’s a solid deal, if we can make it work.”
“You’re a good boy, Adrian. A good son. Always fixing things for everyone else. Who will fix things for you?” She ran her hands down over his hair to rest on his shoulders as she had for as long as he could remember, and he leaned into the comfort.
“I’m fine, Mamá. I don’t need anything fixed.” The reassurance rolled off his tongue even as the image of a stunned Sofia floated through his mind. Nothing to fix except a few scratches to his pride. He would be just fine.
* * *
When Adrian strodethrough the door of the office an hour early Thursday morning with a mocha in hand, he was firmly in fix-it land. He had his contract requests figured out and his apology for what he’d said memorized. He was prepared to say and do what ever he needed to get Sofia to agree. He had a packed day ahead of him so he was hoping to get in, apologize, convince her, and get out.
His plan to wait in her office and surprise her backfired when he opened her door and found her already sitting at her desk, although slouching was a better word for her posture. It wasn’t until she failed to respond to his “Buenos dias” that he realized she was asleep in her chair. Setting the coffee down on her desk, he took a moment to watch her. She was so rarely still. How had he missed that sexy little mole high on her cheek or the way her lashes, much darker than her hair, brushed her cheek when they closed? He fantasized about making those lashes flutter closed with his kiss and sighed. Sleeping beauty, indeed, but he was no prince.
Pushing aside his desire, he ran a hand down her arm to wake her.
“Princesa, wake up…”
Those lashes fluttering open was just as sexy as he’d imagined in reverse, and his pulse leapt in response. He jerked his hand back from her arm and leaned on the backs of his hands against her desk, as if that would keep his desire to touch in check.
“Adrian? What are you doing here?” Her voice cracked with sleepy confusion. Why the hell did he find that sexy?
He pushed the coffee toward her. “I brought a peace offering.”
She took a sip and sighed her pleasure, yet another image that he was sure would haunt him later.
“Were we at war?”
“No, but we do have a difficult conversation to have.”
“So this is a bribe?”
“More like stacking my deck for a good mood before we get started.”
She took another sip and moaned again. “Your strategy is sound. This is definitely improving my mood. I came in early to try and get ahead on the day, but I must have fallen asleep.” She stood and stretched, raising her arms high over her head, her breasts showing him a hint of their fullness above the neckline of her T-shirt. She addled his brain without even trying, which was the reason his next words slipped past his filter.
“You looked like Sleeping Beauty resting in her tower.”
“Sleeping Beauty, huh? So where’s my magical kiss?”
He knew she was being flip and sarcastic, but desire made him stare at her lips and second-guess. Did she mean that? Had Sofia Valenti just asked him for a kiss? The silence between them stretched. The tension pulled between them, like a rubber band being cranked tighter and tighter until it twisted in on itself, drawing him in. He took a step closer so that they were inches apart. The heat coming off her skin, the smell of sinful coffee and chocolate on her less-than-steady exhale, the banked desire in her eyes—all combined to sink the last of his resistance.
“As you wish.” When she didn’t back away, he threaded his greedy fingers through her golden hair, anchoring her where he needed her, and poured all of his desire into the kiss. This was no polite peck, no gentle exploration. This was a dam breaking beneath the weight of years of repressed attraction. This was a flood of greed, rushing to discover the plump texture of her lips, the rich and toasty taste of the mocha on her tongue, the melody of her sighs.
Part of him hoped that the kiss would wake her up to the potential between them. The other part of him worried that he was screwing everything up. That was the part he muzzled when she moaned and sagged against him, her spine going limp. With one hand still in her hair, he wrapped the other around her waist to pull her in close, to give her the support of his body and permission to use it. If she felt how much she turned him on, even better. This kiss was quickly outpacing his imagination, and all he could think wasmore.
When her hands speared into his hair and gripped tightly, he lost his own battle for balance and slid both hands down to her ass as he fell back against her desk, holding on for dear life. He kneaded her ass with his fingers, pulling her hips tight against his and helplessly tilting his pelvis forward.
The pressure of her belly sliding against his cock was divine but short-lived, because she gasped, breaking the kiss. Sanity returned to her eyes as she stepped back from him and stumbled, falling into her chair. She couldn’t get away from him fast enough. Damn. He’d let his cock do the thinking and had fucked it all up. Time for damage control.
“What was that?” She couldn’t even look him in the eye. Her gaze darted from his belt buckle to her desk to the door and back. He could read the panic and regret on her face.
Shit. He needed to recover, and fast. Which tactic did he choose? Humor? Charm? Ignorance? Anything but the truth, which was she’d just ripped a healthy chunk of his heart out with her retreat. “Just your good morning kiss,princesa. Feeling more awake?”
“I’m not the only one whowoke upwith that kiss.”
She glanced at the tent in his jeans. A blush colored her cheeks, before she hid her lips behind the mocha. He’d never been jealous of a piece of plastic before, but watching her lips, still rosy and slick from his kisses, caressing the edge of the cup nearly sent him over the edge. He had to get some space between them so his big head could take over the thinking again.
He backed away from her, despite every fiber of his being protesting, and sat in the chair across from her, putting the big wooden desk between them. He watched the concerns she wasn’t saying out loud cycle through her mind, as she shuffled and stacked papers together on her desk and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. He couldn’t deny that it gave him a little buzz of pleasure to know he’d made her nervous. He could work with that.
“We can’t do that again.” She still wasn’t looking at him.
