Kate took extra time getting ready that night. It was the sake of her story that she was doing this, she told herself again and again. But when she searched her closet for that tiny red dress that she couldn’t wear a bra with and made her ass look great, she knew that she wasn’t doing this for a story. The thought of his tongue slipping across her folds made her throb with a flash of desire.
This was just desire and attraction, she reminded herself as her only consolation. Yes, he was hot. Yes, he felt great. Yes, he gave her a deliciously wonderful orgasm with only his mouth. But that’s all it was. It wasn’t as though she were falling for this guy. At the end of the day, she was still going to write a scathing expose aimed to take down his company and earn her a Pulitzer.
And this stuff—the play in his office, the desire, the going to dinner at his place—well, that was all just a little fun in the meantime.
No harm in that, right?
Kate was doing her best to rationalize her actions. What else could she do?
An hour later, Kate pulled up to a very nice, but surprisingly small condo. It wasn’t as though it was tiny and couldn’t fit two people their dog and a guest inside it, but Lucas Blaine was a billionaire. She had been expecting some sort of excessively huge, high maintenance mansion complete with a gate, guard tower, and a moat. Probably with alligators.
Instead, the place looked almost... normal. Well, high-end normal, but no more so than the nicer parts of L.A.
Feeling as though she had the wrong place, Kate hesitantly rang the doorbell. It took a few moments, but Lucas came to the door, a towel slung over his shoulder. A wide smile broke across his face when he saw her. His blue eyes scanned her body—surely noting her nipples peeking out beneath the racy red fabric and the fact that most of her upper thighs were showing.
“Please, come in,” he said, stepping back from the door and letting her walk inside.
She did so with a smile. “Thank you.”
The condo was decorated much like his office, with wood paneling and beautiful paintings covering the walls. The hallway and staircase ahead was wood flooring, but there was soft beige carpet in the living room to the left. To the right, Lucas led her into the kitchen.
Delicious smells filled the room. Kate took a deep breath, telling him, “Something smells good.”
“I hope so,” he told her, taking her hand and once again placing a kiss there. “It’ll be a few more minutes, but there’s some red wine and fruit to start off.”
Kate’s eyes widened as she realized he was cooking. “Don’t you have a personal chef or something to do the cooking for you?” she asked before checking her mouth.
Lucas didn’t seem to take offense to the comment. “I suppose. For large functions, I have someone cater it, but not for here in my own home. I like to be a little more hands on.”
“I noticed.”
Lucas’ eyes sparked with electricity, clearly remembering their hot and heavy session in his office earlier. He handed her a glass of wine, then turned back to his cooking.
Hesitating, not sure she wanted to bring it up, Kate said to him, “I’m a little surprised you asked me here.”
Lucas glanced at her, continuing to expertly sauté delicious smelling mushrooms in a pan. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you said... earlier, that I fascinated you.”
He nodded his head. “You do. It’s been a long time since I’ve been around someone willing to say what they mean, regardless of how they think I’ll react to it.”
“You’re attracted to my bluntness?” Kate asked skeptically, hand on her hip.
He laughed at her. “Yes, among other things.”
“Well, that’s good,” she admitted. “’Cause that’s not likely to change. Three older brothers, a mechanic daddy, and no mother in sight tends to make you a little tougher than the average girl.”
Lucas moved on to chopping lettuce and tomatoes for a large crystal salad bowl—she bet that cost a small fortune. “I’m sorry that your mother wasn’t in the picture,” he said sincerely. “However, I can’t help but be grateful that you had such a strong influence in your life. It seems to have benefitted you tremendously.”
Kate shrugged. She hadn’t really thought of it that way, though maybe she should have. It was what had made her determined and fearless, to shoot for her goals even when they seemed unattainable. To not back down from a fight, no matter how scary the other guy was. Really, they had made her the brilliant reporter she was.
They had also gotten her in trouble, but you got to take the good with the bad, right?
“And what about you?” she finally asked. “What kind of family life leads you to become a cooking, billion dollar corporate CEO?”
Her tone had been light, but his face grew serious as he considered her question. “My father died when I was young. He had been a hardworking man, but spent so much of his time in the mines that he grew sick. When I was fifteen, he passed away, leaving me to take care of my mother who took it pretty hard. She didn’t want me to start working so young, but what choice did we have?”
Kate paused mid-drink, surprised by both his candid answer and the seriousness of it. “I’m so sorry.”
He shrugged, continuing his story. “I worked from the ground up in a shipping yard, eventually getting my shot at a corporate job. I excelled. By the time I was nineteen, I began my own business. It was small, but profitable. And its success gave me the chance to join Blaine Enterprises.”
“Back when it was still James Incorporated?” Kate added.
Lucas gave her a surprised look. “Yes. Done a little research?”
Kate froze. She had slipped up and she was worried that he might get suspicious. “I, uh, might have looked you up when I started working for you.”
“I’m flattered.”
Hiding her relief, Kate finished her glass. Lucas poured her a little more and, having finished cooking, took the food to the table. They ate in silence, sharing heated looks across the table. The food was delicious and Kate added it to the mental list she’d been keeping of his skills.
When they had finished, Kate began to gather the dishes. “Leave them,” Lucas insisted and they went together into the living room to finish their wine.
Lucas motioned for her to have a seat on a plush looking couch, while he sat across from her on a large easy chair.
They talked casually, mostly about the paintings hanging around his house. Kate carefully avoided discussion of both their earlier topics of family and of his office, mostly because she was worried it would remind him of catching her earlier.
Her efforts failed, however, and he brought up the inevitable.
“What were you really doing in my office that night?” he asked her, amusement in his eyes.
She didn’t want to bring up what had happened in his office—not the heavy petting session, that she no longer had a problem bringing up. But the interrogation? That was going to be difficult to explain, and he just seemed determined to bring her attention back to that evening.
She tried to remain calm and answered as smoothly as she could, “Just what I said. I was dropping off a document for you to—”
“Sign, yes, I remember. But why wait until I was gone?”
Kate tried to come up with a good reason. She decided keeping it simple was her best option. “You had already left and I’d just realized it was sitting on my desk. I thought you’d want it as soon as you got in.”
This only made him smile, slowly, revealing those attractive dimples she liked so much. “And you didn’t want to just drop it off first thing in the morning? No need for you to stay late...”
“Guess I hadn’t thought of that,” she said dismissively.
“I think you had. I think you were also thinking of the day before, when you spilled coffee on me.”
Kate winced. “I am so sorry about that.”
But Lucas ignored her apology and continued as though she hadn’t spoken. “I know you felt it, too. The electricity.”
She had felt electricity. She had felt a spark threatening to ignite between them the first time they met—and every time they met after that.
He leaned forward on his knees, blue eyes staring straight into hers with such focus and intensity that she was swallowed up until she had to look away. “And I think you were scared of what would happen if we were left alone in a room again together.”
“Guess I faced that fear,” she murmured, a glint in her eye.
Lucas laughed. “Yes, you did.” A sly smile lingering on his face, he added, “Speaking of...” He reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out something red and lacy. “You left these behind.”
He let her panties hang off of his middle finger.
Kate felt a jolt of heat rush through her, but she tried to keep herself compose. Leaning forward, she replied, “I think you’ve got a bra, too, if I’m not mistaken.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I do. Did you need it?”
Her grin widened. “As a matter of fact I do. I left mine at home tonight.”
His blue eyes flickered down to her chest, noting her dip of cleavage and the hard peaks of her nipples visible through the thin fabric. He sucked in a harsh breath, “I see.”
She rose up from the couch and walked over to him, feeling brazen thanks to his gaze. She leaned over him, laying her hands on either side of him on the armrests. Her cleavage was slipping out of her tight red dress, she knew, and directly in his line of sight.
“Did you want to give it to me?” she asked, letting him interpret the words as he saw fit.
His gaze flickered up to her face, lingering on her lips. “I would love to.” His hands reached out to graze along the sides of her thighs, her hips, and up along her waist until finally reaching her soft breasts. He gave them a hard squeeze. “But I think we’ll have to take this off first.”
Kate grinned at him, enjoying the feel of his hot hands on her body. She leaned down farther so that her lips were just an inch from his. “Then take it off.”
Heated gaze searing through her, he closed the gap, crushing his lips to hers. His hands squeezed her breasts again, before slipping down lower over her body again. When he reached the hem of her short dress, his hands wandered up beneath it, cupping her rear.
She parted her lips, letting his tongue slip inside her mouth.
His hands made followed their earlier trail upwards again, this time taking her silky dress with them. He revealed her panties, black, lacy and so tiny they barely covered her shaved mound. His hands stopped at the swell of her breasts, before forcing her to straighten up so that he could stand. When he did, there was so little space between their bodies that she could feel the hardness in his pants pressing against her core.
He broke the kiss and she silently lifted her arms so that he could take her dress the rest of the way off of her. Her bare breasts were exposed to the cool air.
He threw her dress to the side, then his hands went to the elastic of her panties. She placed her hands over his before he could take them off.
“Nu-uh,” she whispered. “I think you need to lose something first. It’s only fair.”
His blue eyes flashed and he pulled his hands away. She was bereft, but watched with hungry eyes as his hands went to the black button down he wore. His thick fingers undid the first few, but Kate couldn’t help reaching out and finishing the job with her own hands.
She pulled his shirt open, revealing his smooth, muscled chest. Her hands roamed his heated skin, then dropped down to his belt. She began to undo that, too, but this time his hands stayed hers.
He reached around her and grabbed her ass again, pulling her hips against his, letting her know how much he needed her. Her hands threaded into his hair and she kissed him, their tongues dancing again.
He began to back her up, heading towards the stairs. They continued to kiss, her bare breasts pressing against his hard chest and their hips bumping together as they walked. Her heels clicked on the hardwood floors, the backs of them hitting the first step. She lost her balance and they half fell, Lucas using his hands to brace them before they tumbled too hard.
They laughed. “Maybe we should take those off, too.”
Kate nodded, kicking off one heel. Lucas trailed his hand down her leg to remove the other. Kate took the opportunity to finish undoing his belt, and pulled it off, throwing it down by her heels.
Lucas, staring into her eyes, gathered her up into his arms, and carried her up the rest of the stairs. At the top of them, he pressed her back into the wall using his hands on her butt to keep her up and started kissing down her neck and shoulders.
She hummed with pleasure.
Massaging her backside, he pulled her away from the wall. She crossed her ankles around his back and held onto his shoulders. Together, they stumbled into his bed room. Lucas threw her onto the king sized bed and she landed with her legs spread wide, inviting him to come to her.
Grabbing a small foil from his back pocket, he raised his eyebrow in question. She nodded.
He stood before her and undid the button of his slacks, pulling down the zipper, and letting them fall to the floor. Her eyes hungrily devoured what she had been dying to see for a while now, she realized.
His hard length jutted out and there was no question how much he wanted her.
His breathing labored, he said to her, “Are you ready, Kate?”
Biting her lower lip, she could only nod.