The Best Of The Year - Medical Romance. Carol Marinelli
have me on your desk.’
I really should think before I speak. It’s a bad habit of mine. The erotic premise of my words filled the air with a crackling tension that made the hairs on the back of my neck lift. The heat of his gaze seared its way through my body to gather in a molten pool between my legs. I even felt the skin on my body tingle and tickle all over, like the rapid spread of goose bumps.
In fact, I don’t think I’d ever been more aware of my body before that moment. All my erogenous zones—including some I hadn’t known I had—were flashing red hot, like a computer motherboard malfunctioning. My breasts tightened behind the lace shield of my bra. They felt twice their size—which would have been fabulous if it were physically possible—and overly sensitive. My mouth ached to feel his against it, in it, conquering it, devouring it. I ran the tip of my tongue over my lips and watched as he tracked its moist passage. My body silently screamed for him to close the distance, to crush his mouth to mine and do exactly as I’d so crudely said.
He moved away from the desk and came a step closer. I should have stepped back but, just like the time before, my feet felt clamped to the floor. He lifted my chin with the tip of his finger, just like those romantic heroes do in the movies. No one had ever done that to me before, which was kind of why I was acting so bunny-in-the-headlights. His fingertip felt warm and strong and yet gentle at the same time. I felt the tingle of his touch all the way to my toes. His gaze locked on mine, his pupils flared to deep pools of black ink. ‘What are you doing for dinner this evening?’ he asked.
I glared at him even harder, which was quite hard to do with him that close and smelling so lemony and citrusy. ‘Did you even hear what I just said?’
‘I’m free if you are.’
I tried for my best haughty tone. ‘It’s none of your business what I’m doing.’
‘You made it my business by kissing me.’
‘I did not kiss you!’ I stamped my foot for emphasis. ‘You kissed me. I just responded, which is perfectly understandable given I’d had a full glass of champagne.’
His eyes smouldered darkly as they held mine. ‘How about we try it without the champagne this time? See if we get the same response. That would be more scientific, wouldn’t you agree?’
I should have got away while I could but before I knew it his hands were on my upper arms and his mouth was on mine. It was a hard kiss, a proving-the-point kiss, but it was no less mind-blowing. My mouth opened under the heated pressure of his, my tongue mating with his in an erotic duel that made my insides shiver with lust.
I was hardly aware of doing so but suddenly my arms were snaking around his neck, my fingers lacing through the silky thickness of his hair as his mouth plundered mine. My breasts were so tightly jammed against him I could feel my nipples poking into his chest. My pelvis was on fire; I moved it against his in an attempt to assuage the grinding, empty ache of my body. His erection surged against me, potent and hard, powerful and dangerously tempting. I imagined him entering me, dividing my moist, hungry flesh and driving hard and repeatedly into me. I was so turned on I could feel the tingle of arousal tightening my core, the sensitive nerves pulsing in anticipation.
His hands cradled my head, his fingers strong and firm against my scalp. His teeth nipped and pulled at my lower lip, cajoling me into a payback game that made the base of my spine splinter into a million pieces like party glitter. I could barely stand upright. The sensations were earth-shattering as they coursed through me like the shot of a powerful drug. I was so pliable in his arms I was like a rag doll. I was melting into his hard frame as if I never wanted to be separate from him. I wanted to be fused to his body, to have him possess me and make me feel alive in a way I had never quite managed before.
‘God, this is crazy,’ he said against my mouth. I loved the tickling and tingling sensation his words created against my lips. It had an incendiary effect on me, making me kiss him with all the more shameful, wanton enthusiasm. I went back in search of his tongue, warring with it, teasing it to come and play with me.
His hands slid down my body to grasp me by the hips, his fingers digging into my flesh as if he never wanted to let me go. I could feel the throb of his arousal against me. It excited me to think I’d had that effect on him. But his hands didn’t stay for long on my hips. One went to the base of my spine to bring me hard against him while the other cupped my breast through my clothes. It wasn’t enough for me. I wanted his mouth on my breast. I tugged my shirt out of my jeans and guided his hand to my lace-covered breast.
He stroked his thumb over my budded nipple, creating a maelstrom of sensation that travelled through my body. He pushed my padded bra out of the way and lowered his head and took my breast in his mouth. Yes, it’s actually small enough to do that. Well, maybe not quite all the way into his mouth, but you get the idea. But it didn’t seem to matter to him that my breast was a little on the small side. He treated it like it was the most gorgeously ripe breast in the world. Seriously, you would’ve thought it was a Playboy Bunny’s breast. His tongue played with my nipple, circling it and teasing it into a tight pucker. I tilted back my head as he moved his mouth over the upper curve of my breast.
He did the same to the under-curve, which was even more tantalising. I hadn’t realised how sensitive my skin was there until his warm mouth and the sexily raspy skin of his chin and jaw moved against it.
He left my breast to come back to my mouth, subjecting it to a passionate onslaught that had me breathless and throbbing from head to toe with longing. I was aching with the need to have him inside me. I hadn’t even felt this turned on as a teenager. It was like discovering my female hormones for the first time. They were surging through my system like an unstoppable force. I wanted him and I wanted him now.
One of my hands went for the waistband of his trousers but he stilled my hand, pressing it against the turgid length of him. ‘Not here,’ he said.
The words brought me back to my senses like a slap across the cheek. What was I doing, undressing my boss in his office? What was wrong with me? Besides the fact he thought I was married, I wasn’t the type of girl to act so unprofessionally. I was annoyed that he was the one to bring things to a halt. In my mind it gave him the moral edge, making him far more principled than me. It made me feel as if I was the one who had no self-control, which was a whole lot nearer to the truth than I wanted it to be.
I relied on my usual cover-up tactic and gave him a disparaging look. ‘Do you really think I was going to let this go further than a kiss and a quick grope?’
His eyes were a dark blue-grey as they held mine, the pupils still widened in arousal. ‘If you change your mind you know where to find me. I’ll be home all evening.’ I drew in a scalding breath. ‘You’ll be waiting a long time before I make a house call.’
A hint of a smile lifted the edges of his mouth. ‘We’ll see.’ He went back around his desk and rolled out his chair. His eyes glinted as he added, ‘Close the door on your way out, will you?’
I huffed and puffed for a moment before I whipped round and stomped out of his office, but I didn’t close the door.
I slammed it.
‘GOOD GRACIOUS, BERTIE.’ Stuart McTaggart jumped about a foot in the air as the framed prints rattled on the wall as he came towards me. ‘What on earth’s the matter?’
I pressed my lips together so tightly they hurt. ‘Nothing,’ I muttered.
‘Is it about your project?’ He gave a chuckle not unlike Professor Cleary’s. It was the first time I’d heard him laugh, so at least I’d achieved something, I thought wryly. ‘I thought it was brilliant, actually. Very witty.’
‘I can assure you it wasn’t meant to be,’ I said, as I walked down the corridor with him.
‘I’ve just been in to see Jason Ryder,’ Stuart said. ‘His parents mentioned