Not Second Best by Christa Maurice Read Free Book Online Page B

lips again. “Did you just come here to pick at me?”
    “No. I came to apologize for being a jackass. I tried Sunday, but you weren’t home.” Brett set her pen down. He hated having this desk between them. It kept her just far enough away that he couldn’t touch her. He could smell her, though. That light flowery whatever-it-was that she wore all the time.
    “Apologize?”
    “I was stupid and I messed up.” He shrugged.
    “That so?”
    “Come on. You’re not going to make me grovel, are you?”
    “I kinda like you on your knees.” She walked around the desk and leaned on it.
    So much for the desk keeping them apart. And she was wearing a peach skirt without pantyhose. Had she planned for him to come in? “I thought you didn’t want to do that in your office.” He shifted to face her.
    “I don’t.” She slipped her finger inside his shirt between the buttons and brushed her fingernail along his skin. “But you are here.”
    “I’m here.” Should he reach for her? His hands ached to touch her, but he wasn’t sure what the reception would be. Uncertainty was hot. She might let him move on her, and she might kick his ass out. Either way, he couldn’t stand not to try. He reached for her.
    She backed away, and her finger slipped out of his shirt. “No, not in the office.”
    “Then let’s go have lunch.”
    “It’s two o’clock in the afternoon.”
    “We’ll have a late lunch. You can skip out early. You work for your brother.” Brett licked his lips. He wanted to lean over, press his lips to her neck, and taste her skin. She would taste like summer. Warm and rich and lush.
    “No. I don’t want to.”
    “Yes, you do.”
    She raised an eyebrow.
    Where had this woman come from? He didn’t remember her being this hard, this demanding. But he liked it. “Come on. I can make it worth your while.” He leaned closer to see if she would move away again.
    She didn’t. “I’m sure you can, but no.” She cocked her head, her nose millimeters away from his. “You can come to my house tonight at seven. If you stand me up again, it’ll be the last time.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Don’t get smart.”
    “No danger of that.” When he brushed his lips across her cheek, she still didn’t move away so he pressed the advantage by trailing the tip of his tongue to her earlobe. She did taste lush. A fine, complex flavor he didn’t need to identify to appreciate.
    “You aren’t dumb.”
    “But I’m not smart enough to stay out of trouble with you.” He eased closer until his body had light contact with hers. Nope, not smart enough at all. Hadn’t she just said not in the office ? And yet here he was, caressing her bare forearm.
    “You were smart enough to get out of trouble, though.”
    “Am I out of trouble?” He let his fingers slide inside her elbow. So far she hadn’t smacked him down. Would she? When? His cock felt like iron, and he wasn’t sure she’d give him any relief.
    “You’re on probation.”
    “For how long? Thirty days? Sixty days? Ninety days in the hole?” As he grazed his teeth across her jugular, she tipped her head to give him better access.
    “Until I decide to end it.”
    He didn’t stop his assault on her flesh, but her words ran down his back like ice and settled in his stomach. End it. She could leave him high and dry any time she wanted. Wrapping his hand around her waist, he pulled her closer and kissed her so she’d stop saying shit like that. For a woman who didn’t want to fool around in her office, she was awful responsive. Her fingers tangled through his hair, melting the ice down his back. “I thought you didn’t want to have sex in your office.”
    “I don’t.” She nipped his bottom lip and put her hand in the middle of his chest to push him back. “You should go. Be at my house at seven. Bring dinner. Surprise me.”
    “I’ll be there.” Brett forced himself back. He needed to get her to realize this could be more than two bodies bumping