Breathing deeply, he forced himself to take a step back. Banking the fire that undoubtedly burned in his eyes, he studied Sarah as the haze of passion faded and awareness once again took over. When those beautiful chocolate eyes narrowed, he relaxed in the knowledge that his mask of indifference worked. Inside he was burning for her, but he couldn’t act on impulse. He had to bank the fire. He still wanted her so badly he ached, but he would only have her on his terms.
“Good night, Sarah,” he whispered through the reverence of the moment.
Walking away from her flushed skin and the anger now simmering in her eyes was one of the hardest things he had done in a very long time, which only had him picking up the pace. He had to get a handle on this thing before he took that next step and he needed to do it fast. His body couldn’t take much more of this abuse. At least he had his dreams. Starting his car, he grimaced at the certainty of a cold shower once he reached his hotel.
Chapter Seven
Twelve hours later and she could still feel his kiss. It had been like a phantom haunting her all night and worming its way into her dreams. And what dreams they were. Sarah had woken in the middle of the night covered in sweat with an ache in her core that she was certain only Falon could cure. Dragging herself into work that day had been hell. She was tired, cranky, and more turned on than she ever remembered being, which only added to her frustration.
Having to work side-by-side with the source of her current state wasn’t helping either. As soon as she set foot in the agency, Falon had confined them to her office to go over every account for the past five years. She found some satisfaction in the fact that it seemed she wasn’t the only on feeling a little surly this morning. Falon seemed to be made of stone today, his rigid control making his words clipped and his movements mechanical. Sarah was beginning to seriously dislike this new Falon as he grunted over her paperwork.
He sat across from her with the cold detachment she was growing to hate while she burned from the inside out. Watching him work out of the corner of her eye, she wondered if this was the real Falon and the man she knew briefly nine years ago was the aberration. It would explain his mystifying ability to shut down emotionally at the first threat to his defenses. Shaking her head, she couldn’t bring herself to believe that for some reason. He thought that living in a self-imposed state of disconnect was for the best for some unknown reason. She wanted to prove to him he was much too virile to try and hide behind his wall of ice.
Fidgeting yet again, she looked through the glass wall of her office only to be assaulted by the memory of last night’s kiss. Just looking at the glass she could feel its smooth, cool pressure along her back and bare legs, which only brought the sensation of Falon’s heated body pinning her to it. God, the feel of him pressed firmly, hip to head, the hard planes of his chest rubbing her breast causing her to go into a frenzy for more. A shiver snaked down her spine that had nothing to do with a chill and everything to do with the swelling warmth spreading through her middle.
“Be right back.” She stood quickly, gripped by the sudden urge to get out of there before she did something stupid like leap over the desk and attack him in a brazen act of sexual frustration … or pour her heart out to the man.
“Where are you going in such a god-awful hurry?” Marcy asked as soon as the door to the office closed behind her.
“The kitchen, I need … ” What did she need? “Chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate.”
She had read somewhere that chocolate had the same chemical effect as sex. She was willing to try anything to take the edge off before she embarrassed herself.
“That bad, huh?” Marcy said through a laugh. Linking Sarah’s arm through her own, Sarah was helpless but to follow where the other woman led. “Come with me, I happen to have a secret stash squirreled away for when Frank really gets on my nerves.”
“Oh thank God.” She sighed. “I was going crazy in there.”
“You know what you really need is sitting back in your office pretending he doesn’t notice your every move.”
She stopped in her tracks, causing Marcy to do the same or risk dislocating her shoulder.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Maybe she really was going crazy.
“I said that Falon is back there, in your office, practically panting after you,” Marcy said, giving a tug on her arm to get her moving again.
“I don’t think so, Marcy.” She shook her head. “You don’t know him, how controlled he is.”
“You don’t know him either,” Marcy answered, holding up a hand to ward off her rebuttal. “I know that you knew him, once, a long time ago, but everyone changes. Life has a tendency to do that to people. You may have known what he was like as a young man almost ready to enter the real world. But the Falon Wolfe in your office? Completely different animal from the boy you described from college.”
Sarah thought about what Marcy said. She did have a point. He was just a boy all those years ago. His optimism and conquer-the-world attitude had appealed so much to the lost girl she had been then. He seemed so strong and capable of achieving whatever he set his mind to. Thinking about it now though, she realized that she never really knew who Falon was, just the idea of him she had formed in her mind and was half in love with all those years ago. Now, the idea of those characteristics being tempered by experience and strong resolve was infinitely more appealing. What a man Falon Wolfe had become. If only he could let himself free from the stranglehold he kept on his passions.
“Just show me to the chocolate,” she said, following Marcy into her office.
***
Falon couldn’t understand his body’s rebellious reaction to Sarah. That kiss last night felt the answer to all of his fantasies. Her instantaneous reaction had nearly driven him beyond the brink. Knowing she wanted him as badly as he burned for her was a novelty he found disturbing. Maybe he tightened the leash a little too much over the past year or so. Maybe he needed to blow off some excess … energy, to get things into focus before he did something stupid.
The problem was that kiss didn’t just blow his nearly wet dreams out of the water, it was erotic, sensual, and most unsettling … it felt like coming home.
Marshaling his composure, he decided to give in. Yes, he wanted her. Yes, he was going to have her. His body jumped at the idea of Sarah under him, over him, around him.
“But only if you can control yourself,” he ground out through a clenched jaw. The message aimed in the vicinity of his now uncomfortably tight pants.
“Am I interrupting something?” Sarah’s smoky voice had him nearly jumping out of his chair.
“I’m sorry what?” he said looking straight ahead unwilling to turn toward the door.
“Were you just on the phone? I thought I heard you talking.”
Flooded with relief, he turned to answer her and felt his jaw detach on its journey to the floor. In the span of time it took her to do whatever it was she left to do and for him to have a pep talk with his equipment, she turned herself into yet another fantasy of his come true.
“Uh—no. I just remembered I forgot something.” He tried to swallow past his heart that seemed to have taken up residence in his throat. Did her grandfather know his granddaughter was a sex goddess? Someone should tell the man.