Blind Attraction (16 page)

Victoria
ran her hands along the hot, smooth skin of James’s flat stomach, letting her fingers play with the sparse, silky hair between his navel and the top of his pants; letting her hands learn the contours of his body. She pressed her palm to the front of his pants, the length of his erection. The feel of James’s fingers digging into her skin, the sound of his harsh breaths, thrilled her.

“You’re killing me,” he groaned before he went back to kissing her, his hips rocking back and forth. It was a colossal effort to keep his hands on her waist when every cell in his body wanted to strip her and touch her all over.

For several minutes the only sounds were the soft sucking sounds of kisses, the progressively more ragged timbre of James’s breathing. James’s tongue swept into her mouth and she could taste his very essence. As his grip tightened almost painfully, she knew that she wanted to stay with this man forever; her heart was irrevocably his. Pouring every ounce of love into her kisses, she let him know without words that she loved him, that his pleasure was her pleasure.

“You have to stop,” he groaned, jerking his hips once, twice, before pulling back so he wouldn’t stain his pants. The thought of being in her, of making love to her, crashed into him and shot a
powerful burst of yearning through him. He had to get a hold of himself. Resting his forehead against hers, he took slow, steady breaths to regain control.

James’s body slowly returned to normal, not that he would ever be normal again since he met
Victoria. Resting his forehead against hers, he smiled shakily, “I don’t know if it’s being blind or if it’s you, but kissing you is intoxicating.”

“Kissing you
is
intoxicating,” she whispered, her legs feeling a bit not there. “I could spend hours just kissing you.”

“I would hope we’d do more than kiss; I love….” he froze as he realized what he almost said. He took a step back, both physically and emotionally. What did he almost say? “I love the feel of your hands
on my body.”

“James,” she hesitated. Watching the mask blanket his expression, she was concerned. “Does it bother you that you can’t see me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he murmured, tucking his shirt back into his pants. This thing between them was so much more than he had originally thought and it was starting to scare him. When he had been kissing her, it was heaven; but now that he had a moment to reflect, it was terrifying. If she ever discovered exactly how much power she wielded over him….

Needing a moment herself, she asked, “Where’s the bathroom?”

He took another step away from her, whirling with the fact that he was completely under her spell. It was powerful and intense. With his head, he motioned to his left, “There’s a bathroom through that door; when you’re done we’ll have lunch.”

“Thanks,” she said, unsure what else there was to say as he continued to
slowly distance himself. On unsteady legs, she made her way over to the door he indicated, keeping an eye on him as she did so. He continued to stand there, his jaw set, his hands clenched at his sides. Doubts curled inside her stomach; what was wrong?

*****

It had taken all of James’s effort to stand there while Victoria made her way to the bathroom. His heart was still dancing madly in his chest and it was difficult to catch his breath but he couldn’t let her see his weakness when he couldn’t gauge her reaction with his eyes. How he wished he could see! He wanted to twist his fingers in her pale, silken hair, tilt her head back and lave her throat with his tongue. He wanted to take her clothes off and see the colors of her nipples before taking the taut buds into his mouth and sucking them until she screamed. He wanted to know if the curls between her legs were the same pale color as her hair.

He wanted to see her face when she agreed to marry him, when she said the vows t
hat would bind herself to him. Damn it! He hated this darkness!

Making a fist, he squeezed his eyes shut, not that it made any difference. He was still blind, he still
couldn’t see Victoria. It didn’t matter anymore if she was as gorgeous as he remembered. Of course, knowing her as he did, his memory of her had only improved. But it wasn’t her magnificent looks, it was her; it was Victoria. He would lay down his life for her; he would make a fool of himself to get her to smile. If she wished it, he would give her the moon and the stars, and that thought thrilled him as much as it terrified him.

With a wry smile, he accepted his fate as
Victoria’s eternal slave.

*****

Drying her hands on a towel in James’s lavishly appointed bathroom, Victoria wondered what the heck happened. He did seem a bit overwhelmed, but that made no sense; how could a man like James ever be overwhelmed by a kiss? Well, the best thing to do – the only thing short of trying to sneak out of there – was to go out there and face him.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and walked back into his office. She was a little surprised to see him leaning back in his chair, his feet on his desk and a large, warm smile on his face. No, not warm; hot. His head turned in her direction when he heard the door opened and his smile widened, “
Victoria.”

She smiled; she couldn’t help herself. There was just something about him that made her bubble inside and when he smiled at her all of her doubts simply vanished. Maybe he was a little overwhelmed; it had to be difficult not being able to see the person you’re kissing. Walking over to his desk, she started pulling food from her basket, “I hope you’re hungry; I packed enough to feed your entire office.”

“I don’t plan on sharing you with anyone,” he murmured, reaching out and blindly grabbing her hand with his. His words sent a little shiver of joy through her system; to be so desired by such a fascinating man was exhilarating.

Holding her hand wasn’t enough, he wanted to hold her. He wanted to take her away with him and hide away from the rest of the world for a year just to learn her body. Then he would spend the next seventy years making her body sing, the way she made his sing. And he knew that when it wasn’t possible to make love, they would still enjoy being with one another. Of course, the only time he could conceivably think of when they couldn’t make love was just after the birth of their children, and that was only five, six weeks, tops. They had time to worry about children later; he still had to propose and introduce her to his family.

With a gentle tug, he pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist, her back against his chest, her bottom pressed against his groin. Resting his chin on her shoulder, he hugged her, comfortable in shared silence.

Resting her head against his, putting her hands over his, she smiled; it wasn’t necessary to speak at all. And as he held onto her, she laid out a
few sandwiches, two pudding cups and a couple of juice boxes. Carefully, she placed a juice box in his hands and was rewarded with his rich laughter as he asked, “Are we pretending to be five?”

“After that kiss, I hope not,”
Victoria grinned, putting the straws into the box and guiding it to his mouth. Unfortunately, she lacked cooking skills and the time to truly impress him. So, unlike the gourmet lunch he packed, she packed something easily made and readily accessible. “Now, drink.”

With another chuckle, James did as she instructed. Maybe it was because
Victoria was on his lap or maybe his senses were otherwise engaged, but the childish juice box was pretty good. Granted, it wasn’t something he would have on a regular basis, but once in a while, with Victoria in his lap, he could handle it. Of course, with Victoria in his lap, he could handle just about anything. He tightened his arm, giving her another hug, just to let her know how much he appreciated her.

“James?” she asked, almost hesitantly, as she tore a piece of sandwich off and popped it into her mouth. After a moment’s deliberation, she asked, “
Are you… all right?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, wondering how she could think their kiss was anything short of phenomenal.

“Well, you seemed a little,” she screwed up her face slightly, trying to think of the nicest way to put it. “Troubled.”

It took a moment for her words to sink in but when they did, a bark of laughter escaped. Setting the juice box down, he wrapped both of his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. With his lips next to her ear, he
rumbled, “Sweetheart, it suddenly struck me how much I adore you.”

“Really?” she asked with a wide grin. Turning her face slightly until her lips were next to his cheek, she asked, “You adore me?”

“More than you could possibly imagine,” he breathed, hugging her tighter.

Brushing her lips against his in a light kiss, she teased, “And this isn’t just some ploy to sleep with me?”

“Oh, honey, I want to sleep with you so badly my brain hurts,” he told her honestly, though his tone was warm. “But it’s more than that; it’s….”

“Everything,” she finished, kissing the corner of his mouth. Twisting her body so her legs were hanging over the side and her torso was flush with his, she cupped his cheek and murmured, “I know.”

Not surprisingly, James’s body responded. As her soft curves moved against his chest, as her tight ass moved over his growing erection, he growled. He literally growled. She was his, damn it; no other man was ever going to touch her again. And soon – very, very soon – he was going to claim her body, to brand her as his, as many times as it took. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to be right at that moment because the door opened and the familiar click-clack of Cate’s heels walked across the hardwood floors.

“I see I’m interrupting the love birds again,” her voice laughed at them. “Can’t you keep your hands off of each other for like five minutes?”

“Perhaps you’ll take pity on us and leave us the hell alone?” James suggested, refusing to release Victoria no matter how much she struggled.

“Sorry, I’m not allowed
to do that, Jimmy,” Catherine beamed, setting a folder filled with papers on his desk. “I’m just here to go over the latest inquiries you requested; Phil said he’d be up in, oh about…” she checked her watch and as she said, “Now.” Philip walked through the door. “Ah, speak of the devil.”

Victoria
’s face had to be the color of a fire engine for it certainly felt as if she was burning up. And James, the letch, was refusing to let her go so she could face his assistant and business partner with a modicum of decorum. Instead she had to look at them over her shoulder while her body was draped across James’s lap.

Philip’s face
reddened a bit, too, as he saw the precarious position of Victoria on James’s lap and his blue eyes sparkled as he muttered, “I hope I’m not interrupting,”

“Of course you are,” Catherine chided, tapping Philip on the chest with a secondary folder she had with her; presumably a duplicate of the one she gave James. Sitting down in one of the chairs, she picked up one of the sandwiches. “Unfortunately, there’s no rest for the wicked and James here is very, very wicked. Now, sit.”

Philip did as he was told, surprised when Catherine handed him a sandwich before taking another one for herself. With a wry smile, she said, “As you can see, Victoria provided lunch for us so we don’t have to worry about ordering something.”

“I
don’t think here’s enough there for everybody,” James said through clenched teeth. He only had a few minutes of lunch left and he wanted to spend them with Victoria. “Perhaps you and Phil could run down to the deli and pick something up?”

“There’s plenty
here,” Victoria whispered in his ear, her blush not subsiding. “And I really need to get back to the shop before Marnie starts to believe I’ve gone MIA and decides to file a missing person’s report.”

“Then it’s only under duress that I let you go,” James complied, loosening his grip enough for
Victoria to slide off his lap. He immediately felt her loss, wishing to haul her back onto his legs and never let her go.

Trembling slightly,
Victoria ran her hands over the front of her clothes, hoping there weren’t any noticeable wrinkles. Bending slightly, she lightly kissed James on the cheek, “I’ll call you tonight.”

He caught her by her elbow, holding her in place. Turning his head, his lips met hers and within moments, the world around them disappeared. Vaguely aware of his surroundings, James pulled back and rested his forehead against hers, trying to find his bearings in a world flipped upside down. It took a second to remember how to breathe
on his own but when he did, he murmured, “Thanks for lunch.”

“
Mmm,” Victoria murmured, her eyes drifting open. As reality intruded once again on her sensual haze, she abruptly straightened, shooting a self-conscious glance towards Catherine and Philip. Catherine wore a half-smile, more amused than not, and Philip looked like he would rather be anywhere else then there. Swallowing against her embarrassment, Victoria smiled, “Well, I hope you enjoy the sandwiches and dessert.”

“Will do, Vi,” Catherine grinned,
halfway done with her sandwich.

“Well,”
Victoria said, realizing that she was still holding James’s hand – tightly. Her instinct was to give him another kiss good-bye but she knew that if she did that, she would lose herself again and it was neither the time nor the place to be doing that sort of thing. Dropping his hand, she stepped away from his desk and started to walk out of the office, slightly less than absolutely mortified. It was hard to be completely mortified because she was so in love with James and kissing him was bliss.