As Melanie walked down the hall toward her office, anxiety took hold of her. She could handle running a huge case with a thousand scattered leads. And she could handle having a sicko creep Web-stalking her. But the office politics really threw her for a loop. Susan could say what she wanted about fixing this dustup, but with the front office breathing down Melanie’s neck, she was starting to worry about getting fired.
She opened the door to find Dan seated behind her desk, talking on her telephone. Their eyes met, and he smiled. God, that smile, those eyes. Suddenly she was back in one of the most intense moments of her life—the first time she’d ever seen him, when she’d returned to her office just like now and discovered a gorgeous stranger sitting in her chair. Her marriage had been on the verge of collapse, and she’d seen the echo of her own need in Dan’s eyes. In that very instant, Melanie fell hard, even though she had every reason not to.
She watched him for a moment. Then, seemingly of its own accord, her hand reached out, closed the door, and turned the lock.
“Yeah, she just walked in,” Dan said, holding her gaze as he spoke.
He’d noticed that Melanie had locked the door. He raised an eyebrow at her and she raised one right back, provocatively. She had no idea what had come over her, but whatever it was seemed to have a will of its own, and she was in no mood to argue with it.
Dan was staring at her. “Uh, Julian, can you hold off on giving me that report on Ortiz? I have to take care of something over here first…Okay, okay, if it’s that important. Go ahead.”
Dan pointed at the phone and shrugged helplessly. Melanie walked around behind the desk and sank her fingers into his thick dark hair, pulling his head back. He shook his head no, but she leaned down and kissed him anyway, slowly and lingeringly, in careful silence, until she got a reaction. Within seconds, they were licking and biting and breathing hard. She straddled him on the chair, and he tucked the phone against his neck and ran his hands up under her skirt, making her shiver. She loved the way he tasted, the clean way his skin smelled. So many things in her life were insane right now, but Dan made her feel good.
She pulled away. She was wearing a tailored wrap dress and high-heeled pumps. With the telephone receiver on his shoulder, Dan eased her back against the desk and carefully undid the cord that held her dress closed. She shrugged the dress from her shoulders and let it fall into a heap on the floor. His eyes glittered as they raked over her body. Melanie could hear Detective Hay’s voice squawking on the other end of the line.
“I didn’t catch that,” Dan said sideways into the telephone, his voice hoarse.
Melanie grasped Dan’s hands and drew him to his feet. He was tall and massive as a brick house. She reached for his belt buckle.
“You’re crazy,” he whispered, but he didn’t tell her to stop. Quite the contrary. He fumbled at his waistband for his gun, almost dropping it, catching it again, and setting it down on top of her desk with a thud. He helped her get his pants down, using his feet to get out of his shoes and yank the pants off, but keeping his Jockeys on. He was hard as a rock.
“I’m still here. Must be a bad connection,” Dan said into the phone.
He was getting impatient now. As he spoke he unhooked Melanie’s bra, yanked it from her shoulders, and tossed it aside. She leaned back against the desk, arched her back, and gave herself up to his hands, which were kneading her breasts and exploring her flesh all the way from her throat down to her underpants, which he was beginning to work off her hips. He bent forward and kissed her neck and started sucking her nipples, and she shuddered.
“Hang up,” she whispered, her legs so weak she could barely stand.
But he shook his head, and she could tell he was getting off on the situation, the idea that this was all happening in her office, in the middle of a phone call.
“You’re twisted, O’Reilly,” she whispered.
Dan leaned sideways, looking at her complicated telephone. “Me? Where’s the goddamn mute button?” he said under his breath.
She muted the telephone. Dan held the receiver in one hand, and he placed the other lightly over her mouth.
“People in the hall can still hear,” he warned.
“You gonna let that stop you?” She raked her teeth up and down his fingers, staring at him with challenge in her eyes.
“Agh, Jesus, what are you doing to me? I’m climbing the walls here.”
He slammed the phone down and spun her around, grasping the back of her neck and bending her over the desk, so her back was to him. He yanked her panties down to her ankles, pulled his own underwear off, and put his hot mouth against her ear.
“Is this what you want?” he demanded.
“Yes.”
“Tell me. I need to hear you say it.”
“C’mon, fuck me.”
He entered her from behind with one hard push, thrusting in and out until she was breathless and panting. She gripped the edge of the desk till her knuckles went white, squeezing her eyes shut, every nerve in her body alive and vibrating.
“Yes. Keep going,” she said, gasping.
She must’ve been too loud because he put his hand over her mouth again and shushed her tenderly. But she could tell Dan was having as much trouble as she was staying quiet. He had great stamina, almost too great. After a while, she started worrying that someone was sure to knock on the door, they’d been at it so long. Then, suddenly, he clutched her by the shoulders, bucking and twisting, gave a stifled gasp, and collapsed against her.
They stayed that way for a minute, not moving. Then Melanie’s phone rang. Dan laughed and pulled out of her, grabbing his underwear from the floor. She was naked except for her high heels when she picked up the phone.
“Melanie Vargas,” she said, and cleared her throat.
“Melanie, it’s Julian. Is Dan there? We got cut off.”
“Sure. Just a second.”
As Dan resumed his phone call, they both found their clothes and hurriedly got dressed. His hair was damp with sweat; he ran his fingers through it. Melanie took her handbag from the bottom drawer of her desk and fixed her makeup. She went to the ladies’ room, came back, and Dan was still on the phone. Finally, he hung up.
They looked at each other.
“What the hell was that?” he said. Melanie couldn’t tell whether he was amazed or upset, so she just shrugged.
“That was the best sex I ever had. In my life,” he said.
“I can’t believe we did it here,” she said.
Coming down from the high of the sex, Melanie was beginning to feel deflated and upset with herself. How could she have gone and instigated something so risky, so foolish, so plain unprofessional, and at a moment when the front office was mad at her, no less?
But Dan felt otherwise.
“Believe it, sweetheart,” he said, laughing joyously. “You’re incredible. No wonder I’m out of my mind over you.”