It wasn’t right to push Tess.
Adam knew what it was like to have a secret you needed to keep close, parts of yourself that you didn’t want to share. He’d spent his entire life after his adoption guarding his real self from the world he’d been dropped into. Adam had never fit in, he’d always been on the outside. At school. In his new home. Nobody made any effort to ask him about his past, his family, his community. He’d given up after a while; it was easier just to bury himself in the books or sports. Easier to forget the memories that crept back in at night. Easier to forget the family he’d lost.
Justin had been the first person he let in. But he’d also been the first to give Adam the space to keep the secrets he needed to keep in order to survive.
So, he also knew how important it was to have people who respected the distance you needed to function under the weight of the secrets and the pain that went with them. But it didn’t stop him from wanting to know more about this woman who occupied his thoughts and made his body hard with need with just a glance.
But he wanted to know all of her secrets, all the things she hid behind her sexy smiles and bravado. Unlike Tess’s deep dive into his past, he hadn’t done a full background check on her when he’d hired her. Yes, he’d asked his security to check on her and they’d run a criminal scan, verified that her business and license were in order and legitimate, and that her references checked out. He had not had them give him a full dossier on her life, her background. It had felt sordid and unnecessary and overly intrusive. But now when every part of him screamed to get closer to this woman, he wished he’d received that file.
No, that was not the way he wanted to learn all the unique and special things that made Tess Lynch a woman who kept him awake at night.
He wanted her to tell him. Willingly. Because she wanted to make this connection with him too. It wasn’t keeping within their rules, just like the dinner out that he’d suggested earlier before he’d had a minute to think about it. The question had popped out, something that never happened. He wasn’t someone who made a habit of speaking without thinking long and hard about it. It was his strength or his weakness, depending on who you were. His business partners loved it. The women in his life, not so much.
But as soon as he’d said it, he wanted it. More time with Tess, no matter how he could get it.
But not this way.
“You know what? Don’t answer that.” He tucked a curl of hair behind her ear. “You don’t owe me that. Not just for listening to my story.”
Tess considered him, her green eyes taking him apart inch by inch. He didn’t shy away from it, he was man enough to take it. Her armor didn’t scare him.
“I have a sister too,” Tess began, her smile chagrined as she shook her head in an I-can’t-believe-I’m-doing-this way. “Her name is Mia and she’s making me prematurely gray.”
“Your parents? Is it just the two of you?”
Tess nodded, breaking eye contact to pull fluff he could not see off her skirt. “My mother was gone when Mia was a year old, I was five. My father passed when I was twenty. I raised Mia.”
“You got the teenage years,” he noted, relieved to see a smile twist up her full lips. “Not the best luck.”
“And she gave me fits. Sneaking out of the house, terrible boyfriends, even worse clothing and hairstyle choices. It’s a miracle we both survived.”
“And now?”
“She’s at college. Whip smart but still has horrible taste in men and clothes.” Tess shrugged, her grin more genuine this time, and his stomach flipped with the impact of it. “We didn’t have an easy time of it. My father was ill, mentally ill, and it made life hard at times. Mia’s success is a happy ending to all of that.”
“I’m so sorry. What did he do? Is Mia following in his footsteps? Did you?”
“What? No.” She waved him off, weaving her fingers with his as she avoided his eyes. This was where she buried the worst of it and he’d let her keep her skeletons where they were. “He was a scientist. An inventor.”
“All scientists are the kissing cousins of poets.”
Tess considered that, nodding her agreement in the end. “That must be true. He was as tortured as a poet. Broken dreams haunted him, things that had been taken from him chased him to the end.”
The pain in her voice was palpable, the words weaving a scent of bitterness in the air that he could almost smell and taste. There were also traces of anger in her tone. Understandable under the circumstances. Anger was something he understood very well.
“So, you see, I know firsthand that family can be hell.”
Tess rose from the chair and Adam took her hand, turning it over to kiss her palm, nipping the most tender part and making her squirm. Tess giggled and he wanted more of it, standing and leaning over to press kisses along her neck, her shoulder.
He pulled back and looked down at her, pleased to see the flush in her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes. No more heavy talk tonight. They’d lived it once, they didn’t need to go through it again.
“So, dinner... Are you still thinking about? Can we be seen together in public now that I know you have a sister?” he teased, feeling the mood in the room lighten as her eyes lit up with shrewd humor.
“We just ate. How can you be hungry enough to talk about our next meal?”
“That’s not what I’m hungry for right now,” he said, the truth slipping out easily as the mood shifted again, sliding deeply and completely into something darker and needier.
Tess moved in closer to him, her hands sliding up his chest and around his neck, ensuring that every part of her body was flush against his.
“I love your body,” he growled, running his hands up and down every part of her he could reach. Her fine, full ass. Heavy, soft breasts. The curve of her hip. The soft velvet of her skin. “It should be illegal for anyone to look like you, Tess.”
“I could say the same about you, Adam Redhawk. You’re tempting enough to make me break all of my rules.”
“Really? You always seem to be in perfect control around me.”
“Then you’re not paying attention.” She considered Adam, a wicked gleam darkening her eyes to the deepest emerald as she stepped in even closer. If that was possible. As it was, he wasn’t sure where he began and she ended. “I think you’re hot.”
“Good to know, but I don’t think my looks rock your control.”
Tess let loose with the tiniest hint of a smile, transforming her expression into the epitome of pure sin. “Your taste. I can’t get it off my tongue. I’m always craving more.”
He groaned as she leaned in closer, her lips just a breath away from his own. Adam leaned in to close the distance but Tess inched back. He moved in again and she shifted back a hair’s breadth, dragging another groan out of him, this one of frustration. He lifted his hands to her face, anchoring her in place as he took his turn to play the game, coming close but not sealing their mouths together.
Now it was Tess’s turn to moan, her breath coming fast on a pant that heaved her breasts into his chest with every inhale. Her pulse was visibly hammering under the delicate, pale skin of her throat. Adam dipped his head, unable to resist licking that spot, savoring her salty-sweet flavor.
“I want you to fuck me, Adam.”
Damn, that was exactly what he wanted too. The only thing that would satisfy this ache building deep inside him.
“Hell, yes. I want that too. Your legs wrapped around me, your nails digging into my back. Your screams passing over these lips.” Adam reached out with his tongue, tracing the full plumpness of her lips, capturing her own moan on the tip and savoring the taste of her surrender.
He glanced up at the glass walls of his office and was reminded of the reason he’d never had sex with her here. Security wouldn’t be making rounds at this time of night but anybody who decided to walk by would see them.
“I should take you down to your office,” he said.
“Too far. I don’t care about anyone seeing us. I just want you, Adam.” Tess reached down between them and ran a hand up and down the length of his erection. “I’ve always wanted to have you fuck me in your office.”
“Damn it, Tess,” he whispered, the only warning she was going to get about how this was going to go down. Hot. Intense. Passionate. The way it always was between them, but every time they touched it burned hotter the next time. Her breath caught just before he angled his head and took her mouth.
The kiss was hard and hungry, lips bruising and teeth clashing as they devoured each other. After weeks of total access to each other’s bodies and mouths nothing between them had cooled down. Tess moaned into the kiss, wrapping her hands around his neck and pulling him in closer, as if her next breath depended on his being as close to her as possible. Adam echoed her movement, hands cupping her ass to drag her closer as he sought to dominate her, possess her.
With them it would never be easy, only complete and total surrender would satisfy this craving and neither of them would give in to that. They’d both been burned too much and too often.
But they’d get as close as they could, feeding off each other’s need until this fire between them died.
Tess broke off the kiss first, her breasts rising and falling as she struggled to catch her breath. She licked her lips, pink and kiss swollen, and he wanted nothing more than to see them wrapped around his cock.
“I want that too. So much,” Tess answered and he realized that he had spoken the words aloud.
He groaned again as her hands traveled over his body, stopping to wrap around his neck and pull him down to her. This time Tess took over the kiss, slanting her lips over his and sliding her tongue into his mouth. This time it was slower, softer, Tess exerting her power in this thing between them, controlling the gradual buildup of passion and possession. It turned him on, compelling him to slide his hands over her ass, angling their hips forward, finding the perfect position to grind his erection into her body.
It was bewitching. Intoxicating. Addictive. He explored the curves of her body with his hands, cupping her breasts in his palms, thumbs rubbing against the hard nipples straining against the soft fabric of her dress.
Tess released his mouth, her palms pressed firmly against his chest as she eased him backward toward the sofa. When his knees hit the edge of the seat cushion, she gave him a firmer push, forcing him to sprawl on the sofa, legs spread open in blatant invitation.
He wanted Tess. No hiding it.
Tess leaned over him, her lips close enough to his own that they were exchanging sharp, shallow pants of breath. Adam raised his hand, stroking up the side of her bare leg, under her skirt, under the silky material of her panties.
The first touch of his fingers against the wet, slick heat of her body had them both gasping, teeth biting into lower lips in anticipation of what was to come. The second slide of skin upon skin had Tess’s eyes easing shut, her body swaying into his caress, silently begging for more. Adam kept his focus on her face, soaking in every erotic turn of her expression, burning them all into his memory.
“Ohhhhh noooo.” Tess opened her eyes, stepping back and out of his reach, her head shaking back and forth. “Naughty boy. You’re not going to distract me. Hands down. Stay put.”
Adam chuckled at her tone, contemplating whether to let her run this show but realizing that he was never in control of any situation with Tess.
Tess walked back a few paces, staring down at him, her eyes dark emerald with need but assessing, full of all the wicked plans she had on her mind. He clenched his hands at his sides, determined to sit back and see what she would do to him.
“I feel like I’m overdressed for this activity,” Tess murmured, her fingers drifting over the edge of the V-neck of her dress, between her breasts, and down to where her dress tied at the side. A quick movement and her dress opened, sliding to the floor at her feet in a swoosh of fabric and leaving her standing before him in nothing but a gorgeous black bra and panty set, a gold necklace, high heels and a sinful grin. “Much better.”
Adam groaned, digging his heels into the carpet as he resisted every urge to reach out and take.
“Having that dress on would have made it so difficult to do this,” Tess said, dropping to her knees in front of him, shifting onto all fours as she slowly crawled across the floor toward him.
Adam moaned, ending on what suspiciously sounded like a whimper, the dirty twist of her lips making his heart thunder in his chest and his ears. He stared at her as she covered the short distance between them, back arched like a cat and eyes locked on his own. He held his breath when she was right in front of him, releasing it on a shudder when her hands slowly slid up both of his calves to his thighs, finally ending on the swollen bulge making his pants very tight.
“Remember. My rules,” Tess warned him again, her fingers hovering over his zipper until he gave a terse nod of agreement.
She undid his belt, then the button, sliding down the zipper with a metallic sound that was as loud as thunder rumbling in this office, the whole world vectored down to just the two of them. Tess’s hand wrapped around him and his eyes shut hard, his groan of pleasure reverberating behind his clenched teeth, his hands tightening into fists at his sides. He willed himself to not break the rules and risk Tess stopping.
Up and down her hand glided along his length, her voice a deeper, huskier version of her typical tone. “Adam, I want this in my mouth. Can I?”
“Oh my God, yes. Please.”
Adam stared down as she leaned back in and took his erection deep into her mouth. Lips clamped tight around his flesh, Tess bobbed her head up and down, the rhythm leading to a slow burn in his groin, his belly. Unable to resist the urge to touch, to thrust into her wet heat, his fingers slid into the auburn silk of her hair, his body throbbing at the sound of her whimper.
“Damn, Tess, you’re so beautiful.” His words cut off but the lust in her eyes, the electricity of their attraction, snapped across the distance between their bodies. And like the images burned on the back of his eyelids after a lightning strike, he knew this sight would be branded on his brain. The burn of her touch intensified until he was almost there, way too soon for how he needed this to end. “Stop. Stop, baby, I need to be inside you.”
Tess moved up and over his body, kissing him hard and fierce. “All you had to do was ask.”
There was nothing better than Adam Redhawk wanting her.
Tess had known enough men in her life, spent enough time in their beds to know who would forget her the minute the sheets cooled, but Adam was different. The rules were that this was going to be temporary, and she wouldn’t contemplate a change to that, but she knew that he would remember this time together long after they were over. And that...that was really sexy.
And Adam was letting her push his buttons. He was known to be a control freak in the bedroom but this game of give and take between them was hot, intriguing—it kept her running hot all the time.
Adam dragged her down to part her lips with a brutal kiss before pulling her onto his lap, her legs straddling each side of his thighs. Tess gave as good as she got, digging her nails into his shoulders as he broke off the kiss, his lips wet and red and pulled back in a grin.
“I want to taste you now, Tess. My turn.” He growled as he tugged down the straps of her bra, exposing her breasts to his gaze and his touch. He wasted no time, cupping them both in his palms, dragging his thumbs across the tips.
Tess let her head fall back, body thrusting forward to offer them up to him, wordlessly begging Adam to taste them. He was taking too long, teasing her nipples into hard, tight points that ached under his attention. She wasn’t above begging. Not when she knew how good he could make her feel.
“Adam, please. Put them in your mouth.”
He rubbed his lips against her skin, just above where she really wanted him to be. He skimmed the curve of her breast, leaving a trail of hot, moist breath as he made his way to her neck. She felt a long lick along the column of her neck, tantalizing nibbles over the places that made her jump in his arms, writhe against his body in a desperate search for more of him, more pleasure.
But even Tess had her breaking point. She growled, weaving her fingers in his hair and leading his face down to her breasts. It should have been relief, getting what she wanted, but Adam was overwhelming, licking, teasing, sucking the hard nubs of flesh into his mouth. Lightning. Fire. An ache threaded its way under her skin, running along every nerve ending in her body and setting her mind on a whirling spiral of pleasure that rose higher and higher.
Adam ran his hands down her body as the cool air of the office washed across her thighs and goose bumps added that tingle of sensation to everything else she was feeling. It was almost too much and it wasn’t enough. She needed him. Needed him inside her; the lazy circles his fingertips were tracing over the sex-slick core of her body were not enough. Tess ground her body down on his touch, legs shaking, muscles flexing, seeking the orgasm she knew he could give her.
She keened, leaning heavily on him as the pleasure made her weak. “Adam, I’m going to come.”
As if those weren’t the magic words that would open the door to all of her desires, Adam pulled away, releasing her flesh and removing his hands from between her legs. Tess gasped, thumping against his chest with her palms in protest.
“Damn you. I was so close.”
“I want you to be all around me when you come, Tess,” Adams growled against her lips, his kisses soft and tender, designed to soothe and tempt. “Don’t you dare come right now. It’s mine and that’s how I want it.”
She wouldn’t deny that it was his. Hell, when they were together like this, she was his. Body and soul. But not her heart. She wouldn’t go that far.
Tess was ready to risk the great sex and the fun they had together, the connection that always kept them tethered to each other. But she couldn’t risk her heart. Her father had broken her heart. Life had shattered it over and over. She never wanted to feel that kind of helplessness ever again. Her heart was hers and it would never belong to another ever again.
But she could give Adam her pleasure.
“Then take it. Don’t make me wait.”
Adam shifted under her, maneuvering their bodies until she was facing the back of the sofa, legs spread with her body open to him. Tess leaned forward, resting the weight of her body on the sofa back, her ass up in invitation.
Adam leaned over body, his fingers snagging in the sides of her panties and sliding them down her legs, tossing them to the floor behind them. He trailed kisses over her skin, sweet presses of his mouth raising goose bumps all along her spine.
“You’re beautiful, Tess. Can I have you? Anything I want?”
“Anything you want,” Tess said, spreading her legs wider, smiling at the groan that erupted from Adam behind her.
She looked over her shoulder, taking in Adam leaning in behind her, his large hands spreading her wider. And then his tongue was on her, stroking over her core. She jumped, the first lick electric and the second causing her to push back against him, begging him for more. She closed her eyes, knowing that if she kept watching, she would come apart. Too soon. Much too soon.
Adam found her clit, his tongue executing a rhythm that was calculated to bring her to the edge. And just when she was almost there, hips mimicking his movements, he pulled back and brought her down again. Only to do it all over a few seconds later. He had her on the edge so many times that she was only need and desire and incapable of thinking of anything beyond what he was doing to her.
And just when she thought she would have to kill him for denying her what she needed so desperately, his mouth was back on her clit and she was rising and then falling down and down into a spiral of pleasure that spun out like a car spinning out of control. Tess’s body went rigid, every muscle taut with her orgasm. As the pleasure released her, she went boneless, her heart racing in a body that couldn’t have moved for love nor money.
Adam made it easy on her, turning her over and laying her out on the couch. The chill of the room threatened to make her shiver but he was over her, his body keeping her warm and raising her desire again, along with her temperature.
“So beautiful,” Adam whispered, his words tracing along the damp skin of her neck. His kisses covered her skin, claiming every inch of her and then taking her mouth in a tangle of tongues so sweet that it made her bones ache. “Can I still have you?”
His question was so sincere. Adam was always so intent on making sure that this was what she wanted, she could never deny him. She wanted nothing more than to give him what he asked for because he made it so good for her. Every single time.
“Yes. Adam. Please.”
Adam nodded, leaning back and pulling a condom out of his pocket before pushing his pants down to his thighs. He shivered a little, the office air also raising goose bumps on his skin. Tess reached out, tugging on the hem of his shirt, unbuttoning the shirt buttons she could reach, relieved when he unfastened the rest. She sighed, raking her nails across his chest, trailing them over the hard, taut muscles, the flat brown nipples. Adam sucked in a breath and she smiled, relishing the sight of the usually quiet and collected Adam Redhawk flushed and debauched, half-dressed and fully aroused.
“I need you Adam. Hurry.”
Adam ripped open the packet and slid the condom over his length, leaning in until his tip pressed against her core.
“You ready?” he asked, waiting the moment necessary for her to nod, and then sliding inside her, her slickness making it an easy glide forward.
Tess wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him as deep as he could go, indulging in the feel of him inside her and his weight on top of her. She loved this part, the time when she was surrounded by him, filled by him. It was as if there was no way to know where she ended and he began. Perfection. For one brief second.
And then Adam pulled out of her body, almost all the way, and then slid back inside. Tess clung to his back, her nails digging in, anchoring herself to him with every hard thrust. She lifted her hips, angling her body so that he could be deeper inside her, hitting all the best spots.
And then the tingle forming at the base of her spine, in the space deep inside her belly, grew with each slide of his body inside her own and suddenly she didn’t want to try to control this ride. She wanted to surrender to it. She wanted it to make her come apart with no hope of being put back together.
Tess let go of her grip on Adam, raising her arms over her head and hanging onto the sofa arm behind her. Her position was deliberately submissive, offering up all of her body to Adam. She trusted him to take her where she needed to go and to be there to catch her when she came down from the high. It was in his nature to protect. Tess would be risking nothing to let this happen between them.
“Yes. Adam. Yes.”
“Jesus, Tess,” Adam ground out, leaning down to take her lips in a hard, wet kiss. “You make me want. I can’t get enough of you.”
“Good,” Tess panted out, reaching back now, her fingers digging into his hip. “I can’t get enough of you.”
“Good. Glad I’m not alone...in this.”
Tess couldn’t process the meaning of his words, not now when he was filling her body and scrambling her mind.
“I need to come,” she panted, her words slurred with lust and desire. “I need...”
“I know what you need,” Adam growled as he wedged his hand between them, stroking her clit with every thrust. “Come on, Tess. You know what I need.”
“What?”
“You,” he groaned against her lips. “You.”
His words flipped all her switches and she fell over the edge, her orgasm causing her entire body to shudder and buck beneath him. The pleasure was white-hot, searingly intense, and imprinted on every cell of her body.
Adam cried out above her, his body, all sleek muscle and rigid bone, going taut with his own pleasure. He collapsed against her and Tess wrapped her arms around him, ignoring the cooling of the sweat on their bodies and the knowledge that they really weren’t alone in this building. She just wanted to indulge in this moment, knowing that it would end soon enough.
That was the deal they had agreed to, after all.
But maybe some of the rules could be broken.
“So...” she ventured, trailing her nails lightly up and down his back.
“Yeah?”
“About that dinner out...”
Adam lifted his head, propped himself up on an elbow to gaze down and her, and raised an eyebrow in humor. “What? All it took was a mind-blowing orgasm to get a meal out of you?”
“A girl has got to have her standards.”