Carol stood mesmerized by the alien sight of snow falling in Atlanta until she realized that there would be no going home to snuggle up with a good, erotic book. She was stranded at the Mystic Touch office. And she had two choices: return to her office and massage more paperwork…or go to the Valentine’s Day company party.
The low throbbing in her temples from the bump on the head she’d received this morning made the thought of scrutinizing spreadsheets unbearable.
The party seemed to be the lesser of the two evils.
So she trudged back to the elevator and rode down to the basement, unwinding her scarf from her neck. She could hear the noise of the party even before the elevator stopped. When the doors opened, the full force of music, laughter and voices blasted her. Her stomach churned—she didn’t want to be here, and she couldn’t think of a single person who wanted her here.
She stepped off the elevator, feeling self-conscious in her winter coat, thinking she should’ve returned to her office and dropped her things there. Instead she stood there holding her briefcase awkwardly while everyone else held a glass of pink punch.
A few heads turned in her direction, but after a quick downturn of their mouths, they turned away. The blatant snub sliced through her, but she kept scanning, looking for a friendly face.
She landed on Luke. He caught sight of her and his expression turned from surprise to something else that accompanied a smile. He said something to the person he was talking to, then turned and walked in her direction.
It seemed silly now that she’d dug in her heels about not attending the party. Heat rose in her cheeks as he stopped in front of her.
“Snow,” he said with a grin. “What brings you back?”
“Snow,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Huh?”
“It’s snowing.” She pointed to the ceiling. Since the basement had no windows, everyone else was oblivious to the outside conditions. “A blizzard, actually.”
“So you’re stranded.” Then he made a rueful noise. “I’m sorry—you probably don’t feel like being here. Tracy told me about the bump on the head. You should’ve told me that’s why you didn’t want to come to the party. I would’ve left you alone.”
His concern left her flustered and her tongue suddenly didn’t work.
“Let me take your coat,” he offered, reaching to help her out of the heavy garment. “In fact, let’s put your coat and briefcase in the storage room.”
She followed him slowly, wondering if people were watching them as they disappeared down the hallway. Sadly, though, everyone seemed keen on ignoring her. He unlocked the door of the storage room, then he grabbed her hand and pulled her inside, allowing the door to close behind them.
Her pulse rocketed. “Luke, what are you doing?”
He flipped on the lights, then smiled at her. “Sorry. Overkill, I know, just to give you a Valentine’s gift.” He hung her coat on a hook, then reached high on a shelf and removed a heart-shaped box of chocolates. When he turned back to her, he looked sheepish.
“It’s silly, I guess. I saw this and it reminded me of you.”
Carol felt flush with pleasure—until she looked at the box. A large snowflake adorned the top. That was her—cold as ice…like an icicle. The card he’d slipped in her tote bag taunted her. “Very funny,” she said, handing it back to him.
His eyebrows drew together. “What do you mean?”
Hurt barbed through her chest. “I get the whole frosty, cold-as-ice thing. I know what people say about me, that they call me Ice Princess.” She turned and reached for her coat. “This was a bad idea—I think I’ll wait out the storm in my office.”
His fingers encircled her wrist. “Hey.”
She turned back and looked up at him.
“That’s not how I think of you,” he said, his brown eyes pensive. “I bought the candy because of the snowflake—get it…? Snow…flake?”
Carol wet her lips. She wanted to believe him…but why would Luke Chancellor buy her candy?
“Sorry if I overreacted,” she said. “I’m sure you bought candy for other coworkers.”
“No,” he said, then pulled her closer. “Just you, Snow.”
His mouth lowered toward hers. She expected him to pull back at the last second, but instead, suddenly, his warm lips were on hers. It was jolting, the sense of connection, like she was being plugged into a socket. His tongue swept against hers, sending shock waves of desire coursing through her limbs. It had been so long since she’d felt these sensations that everything seemed new…fresh. Her mind and body reeled from the raw power in Luke’s probing kiss.
He lifted his head and looked into her eyes. “I’ve been wanting to do that for so long.”
Her chest rose and fell as she struggled to fill her lungs. She couldn’t form words. How could she tell him that he’d just tapped into a deep, still well…unleashed a cataclysmic reaction in her body…awakened a sleeping giant? He couldn’t know the depths to which she’d buried her sexual soul…and how amazing it felt to have it resurrected.
He wiped his hand over his mouth. “If you’re going to slap me, get it over with.”
She lifted her hand, then curled it around his neck and pulled his lips down on hers, hard.
Luke moaned into her mouth and the vibration echoed through her body. He pulled her against him and their hands were frenzied, roaming over each other’s bodies. He smoothed his palms down her back and pulled her sex against the hardened ridge of his erection. The physical proof of what they were about to do made Carol dizzy with lust. He picked her up by the waist and set her on a table, then slid up her skirt so she could spread her knees.
“Wait,” she said, then nodded to the door. “What if someone knows how to get in?”
He left her long enough to wedge a straight-back chair under the doorknob, then returned to her with a vengeance, wedging himself between her thighs.
Carol’s pumps fell off with succeeding thuds. She leaned back on her hands to brace herself, then squeezed his hips with her knees. Her breasts, her sex, her entire body throbbed with anticipation.
“Oh, no,” he murmured suddenly, then put a hand to his head. “I don’t have a condom. I’m sorry.”
She winced, but pulled his mouth back to hers. “Then we’ll have to be creative.” She was taking a huge risk—she wasn’t sexually experienced and James hadn’t been particularly adventurous. She’d have to draw on what she’d learned between the pages of the erotic novels she’d read and hope that her enthusiasm would make up for her lack of expertise.
Luke’s response was fierce, his tongue stabbing into her mouth, a silent promise to be creative for as long as necessary. He kissed his way down her neck, then plucked at the buttons on her white blouse until it lay open, exposing her lacy bra. Sighing into her skin, he laved the flesh above her bra, until she couldn’t bear the suspense anymore and unhooked the front closure.
One breast fell into his hand, the other into his mouth. He licked her nipple, then pulled it into his mouth, leaving her shuddering with pleasure. But they were both too frantic to linger. Luke pushed her skirt to her waist, then rolled down her panty hose and underwear to open her sex to him. When he knelt and flicked his tongue against her folds, Carol dug her fingers into his shoulders. She couldn’t think…couldn’t speak…could only feel the amazing wonderfulness of having his mouth against her most intimate places. It was a first for her and the sensations pummeling her were almost overwhelming, leaving her languid and elastic.
He suckled the tiny sensitive nub that housed her orgasms, immediately coaxing one out of its hiding place to roam languorously as it made its way to the surface. Carol urged him on with moans and squeezes, riding on pure physical pleasure until the sensations in her womb began to swing with centrifugal force. The circles of liquid bliss grew tighter and heavier, swirling with growing intensity until her body bucked with a deep, intense climax.
Carol bit down on her own hand to muffle the sounds of her release, although the throbbing bass of the party music all but guaranteed that no one could hear them. Luke nuzzled her sex until she quieted, but she was eager to pleasure him, too. She pulled him to his feet, then loosened his belt and unzipped his pants to free his imposing erection.
When she clasped the rigid length of him, he gasped, his eyes hooded with desire. Carol slid from the table to kneel in front of him. She’d never done this before, but from what she’d read, it was hard to go wrong while performing oral sex on a man. She gingerly took his erection into her mouth, surprised by his silky hardness. He groaned with pleasure, his thighs tensing. She could sense his restraint as he allowed her to set the pace, using her tongue and taking cues from his sounds of gratification. She loved pleasing him orally, experimenting, making him feel the way he’d made her feel.
And she reasoned she must be doing it right when he whispered that he was about to come. He withdrew from her mouth and pulled her to her feet, holding her body against his while he stroked his erection. He kissed her neck and shoulder, then tensed and shuddered. She felt his contractions, then the wetness of his release on her stomach. He held her as his breathing slowed, then sighed into her ear.
“Wow,” he murmured. “What just happened?”
Carol stiffened. Maybe it was the sound of his voice breaking the spell. Maybe it was the sensation of his seed cooling on her stomach. Maybe it was the realization that they were in a dusty storage room, with all their co workers mere steps away, probably wondering what they were doing. The weight of remorse staggered her. What had she done?
Luke pulled back, then removed a handkerchief from his back pocket to mop up her stomach. “Go to dinner with me tomorrow night,” he urged.
Her mind raced as she straightened her clothes. “Tomorrow…you mean Valentine’s Day?” “Yes.”
She turned her back to retrieve her underwear and panty hose, stepping into them as quickly and modestly as she could manage in such a confining space. So Luke didn’t mind dumping the “special lady” he already had plans with. So like a man. But she knew what it felt like to be on the other end of that equation…and since Luke had left a string of broken hearts in his wake, she’d be just another conquest. Good grief, for all she knew, this storage room might be his own private place to fool around.
Panic licked at her neck until she realized the situation played perfectly into her original plan to seduce him, then dump him. She turned back and forced a note of casual nonchalance into her voice. “I don’t think so. Look, this was just a one-time thing to satisfy curiosity. I’m not curious anymore.” She adopted a blasé expression.
Luke pursed his mouth. “Uh…okay.”
She slipped her feet into her pumps. “Why don’t you go out first so it’ll seem less suspicious if anyone is watching.”
“Okay.” He hesitated, then rechecked his clothing and made his way to the door.
She turned away and closed her eyes. That was close. Having sex with Luke Chancellor might not have been the smartest move, but thinking it meant something would be the biggest mistake. “Carol.”
She schooled her expression, then turned around. “Yes?”
“Whatever he did to you, I’m sorry.”
She swallowed. “Who are you talking about?”
Luke shrugged. “I don’t know. Whoever it was who hurt you so badly.”
Her jaw loosened, but he didn’t wait for a reply. He slipped out the door and it closed behind him.
She fisted her hands, shaken by his words…and angered. If she wasn’t interested in being swept into Luke’s emotional riptide, then she must be damaged. His reaction only reinforced her decision not to have dinner with him, not to foster false hope that a sexual encounter, no matter how explosive, would lead to something more serious.
Carol patted her hair, then realized with some small measure of relief that her headache was gone. She lifted her hand to her forehead to find that the goose egg she’d been nursing was also gone. It was something to be grateful for on an otherwise lousy day.
From the floor, a glint of metal caught her eye—her silver-and-emerald earring. In all the commotion this morning, she’d neglected to take it with her. She knelt to retrieve it from under the shelf, but lost her balance and bumped the shelving unit accidentally. Above her, she heard a scraping noise, and when she looked up, something large was bearing down on her.
Despite the sense of déjà vu, Carol didn’t have time to put up her hand. Pain exploded in her head, then everything went black again.