Express Male (23 page)

Or maybe they were just startled blue eyes, Ellie quickly amended. After all, how often did you come to work after hours and find two people having sex on your desk?

“How many times have I told you not to use my office for your sexual liaisons with the new hires?”

Oh. Okay. So evidently this sort of thing happened to Sebastian Baird a lot.

“I’m sorry, Sebastian,” she heard Daniel say from above her. “But I don’t have an office of my own.”

And only then did it truly gel, what had happened. In an effort to hide the fact that Ellie had broken into Baird’s office, Daniel had manufactured a scene with which the scientist was clearly familiar: the young man he was mentoring had brought a girl to his office to experiment with a different kind of chemistry than what one usually found at ChemiTech. Obviously, this was the sort of thing Daniel did a lot, having sex with other employees after hours in Baird’s office. Ellie didn’t know whether to be relieved or reviled. Daniel had prevented her from being caught red-handed—again. But he was an even bigger hound dog about casual sex than she’d realized.

Sebastian blew out a sound that was a mixture of disgust and resignation. “Well, until you have your own office, Beck, maybe you should try keeping it in your pants. At least while you’re at work.” He looked at Ellie, shaking his head in disapproval. “Sweetheart, if you want to sleep your way to the top in this company, you might want to think about starting a little higher on the ladder than this guy. He won’t even clear off the sofa, which any moron knows is the more comfortable piece of furniture for this sort of thing.”

Ellie bristled at that. Not that it was the first time she’d been talked down to by a man in a professional situation. Her irritation stemmed from the fact that Baird had so easily bought into a fictional scenario Daniel had created. Had she been alone in Baird’s office when he returned just now, she wouldn’t have had any way to explain her presence there. It was the second time she’d potentially botched the assignment, only to be bailed out by Daniel.

Worse than her irritation, however, was her disappointment. Not with herself—at least, not for failing to do her job as well as she should. Though certainly she was disappointed with herself about that. But she was even more so at the knowledge that Daniel had only kissed and groped her because he’d needed to create a cover, and not because he’d actually wanted to kiss and grope her. Unlike, evidently, dozens of women he worked with, who he seemed to bring to Baird’s office for kissing and groping on a regular basis. Likewise disappointing was her realization that the kissing and groping would never happen again. Well, not with her. It would probably happen lots of times with other women working at ChemiTech.

And for God’s sake, Ellie,
she told herself,
why is
that
the thing that’s bothering you the most right now?
She should have been infinitely more worried about jeopardizing the assignment. Instead, she was mooning over lost time with Daniel.

Baird shook his head at both of them, but instead of looking angry, he grinned in a way that made him look almost wistful. Like maybe he was recalling a similar event from his own past, when he’d been the one on his own mentor’s desk with a co-worker after hours. “Look, I’ll come back in thirty minutes, all right?” he said. “Will that give you two enough time to finish and straighten up and leave?”

God help her, Ellie’s first reaction was to ask if they could have an hour instead. Or, better still, an entire weekend. Thankfully, Daniel answered before she had a chance.

“Make it an hour,” he said.

The other man nodded. “I’ll be in the lab.”

And with that, he turned and exited his office, obviously unbothered by the fact that two people would be copulating on his desk for the next sixty minutes. He was even kind enough to turn off the lights before closing the door behind himself.

“Unbelieva—”

As had happened only moments ago, Ellie’s comment was cut off by the insertion of Daniel’s tongue into her mouth. And just like that, she was once more lost to the frantic demand of her body, tangling her fingers in his hair, tasting him as deeply as he tasted her, wrapping one leg around his waist to propel her hips harder against his. The hand on her breast effortlessly flicked open the front closure of her bra, and then his hand was on her again, flesh to flesh this time, his heat seeping into her, inflaming her.

For long moments, they warred for possession of the embrace, each ceding only long enough to regroup before storming the gates again. By the time Ellie finally came to her senses—well, sort of—they were half-undressed and completely aroused. In spite of that, she managed to tear her mouth from his and flatten both hands on his chest, pushing him far enough away that she could say what needed to be said.

“Daniel, we can’t do this. Not now. Not here.”

For a minute, she didn’t think he heard her, because his only reply was a few ragged breaths as he skimmed his hands along her rib cage. “Why not?” he finally panted.

“Sebastian gave us his blessing.”

“Because I’m working,” she reminded him—and herself. “Or, at least, I’m supposed to be.”

Through the darkness, she saw the flash of his grin. He raked his thumb slowly back and forth over her nipple until Ellie wanted to melt. “Consider this one of those killer government benefits you’re always talking about,” he told her.

Oh, he was much better than a government benefit. But this really wasn’t the time or place for this. No matter how good it felt to be right here with him right now.

“Come on, Ellie,” he said, his voice a coaxing purr.

“You know you want to.”

Truer words were never spoken. But, really…

He dipped his head to her breast, opening his mouth over her nipple now, sucking her deep inside. At the same time, he moved his other hand between her legs and stroked her through the damp fabric of her trousers, again and again and again. Ellie’s eyes fluttered closed, and she groaned softly.

She shouldn’t do this. She shouldn’t. It was unprofessional. It was stupid. It was asking for trouble.

He stroked her again, harder.

Oh, it was
so good.
Maybe just a few minutes more…

Without even realizing she was doing it, she spread her legs, and Daniel cupped her completely in his palm. This time Ellie was the one to do the rubbing, lifting her hips from the desk and pushing herself against his hand. It was she, not Daniel, who unfastened the button at the waistband of her trousers and slid the zipper down. And it was she, not Daniel, who thrust her hand inside to touch. But Daniel helped, covering her hand with his from the outside to push it more insistently against her. He dictated the rhythm as he guided her fingers over herself, slow, then fast, then slow again. He was the one who, just when Ellie was about to come, halted the movement of their hands and pulled her to her feet. He was the one who jerked her trousers down over her hips and thighs. And he was the one who turned her around so that her back was facing him.

He pressed his naked chest to her naked back, aligning both of his arms against hers. She could feel the bumps and cords of muscle and sinew rising beneath his flesh from his shoulders to his wrists, so much more pronounced than her own. A ripple of something faintly like intimidation fluttered through her, and she realized she was aroused by the knowledge that he was so much stronger than she and could overpower her if he wanted to. He wove his fingers with hers and moved both their hands to the desk, then released her and flattened her palms against the cool, hard surface. Gripping her waist in both of his hands, he pulled the rest of her body toward himself, driving his hard shaft into her to the hilt.

Ellie sighed at the immediacy and totality of his possession. Never had she felt so full, so complete as she did in that moment. Again and again Daniel entered her that way, moving his hands forward, over her flat torso and along her rib cage, then down again. Eventually one hand moved up as the other moved down, the first cupping one breast while the other furrowed into the damp, sensitive folds of flesh between her legs. He nuzzled the soft skin where her neck joined her shoulder, rubbing his lips lightly over her sensitive skin before nipping her lightly with his teeth. She cried out at the sweet pleasure-pain that jolted her insides, then tilted her head to the side in a silent invitation for him to do it again.

For long moments, they coupled that way, Daniel’s penetration slow and deep and thorough. Gradually, his movements became more demanding and less directed, until he was moving his hands to her waist again to take control. He opened one hand between her shoulder blades and urged her upper body downward, until she was bent at the waist over the desk. Then he gripped her hips in both hands and drove himself into her, deeper even, harder even, than he had been before.

Ellie’s own orgasm began to swell inside her, a tight little ball of pleasure that slowly expanded. Larger and larger it grew, seeping into every inch of her, generating heat, demanding release. And then it was exploding, and Daniel was crying out behind her, spilling himself hotly inside her.

And then it was dark again. In the office, in Ellie. And she had no idea where to look for a light.

D
ANIEL WASN’T SURE
how much time had passed since Sebastian had left him and Ellie alone, but he felt as though he’d been swimming in the Sea of HappyHappyJoyJoy for months before he finally beached himself in Port Climax. By the time he made his way to the Afterglow Beach Bar for a drink, however, he was alone, because Ellie had scrambled off the desk and was rooting around Sebastian’s office, looking for something.

“I can’t find my shirt,” she said. “Where did you throw it?”

Daniel fumbled around blindly until he found the lamp at the corner of the desk, which had escaped his earlier clearing. Hey, if there was one thing he knew how to do, it was clear off Sebastian’s desk in a way that allowed for maximum coitus and minimal loss of equipment. Hell, he’d done it often enough since coming to work here. With pale yellow light filling the room, he pulled his pants back up and threaded his belt through its loop. When he glanced up, he found himself staring at Ellie’s half-naked ass, because her pants had dipped low as she bent over to scoop up her shirt. And all he could think was,
What the hell…?

Of course, there were
way
too many ways to finish that question. Approximately eighty billion, in fact, since that was how many thoughts were ricocheting around in his head at the moment. And every last one of them was wrapped around what had just happened between him and Ellie. So Daniel picked the most concrete of the most immediate ones to speak aloud.

“What the hell is that on your ass?”

Ellie glanced over her shoulder as she jerked her pants over the body part in question. “What are you talking about?”

“Is that a tattoo?” he asked incredulously.

Ellie Chandler had a tattoo on her ass? The question was followed by a dozen more of a similar nature, the biggest of which was, it went without saying,
Ellie Chandler puts out?
That was followed closely by
Ellie Chandler will do it on a desk?
and
Ellie Chandler likes it from behind?
and
Ellie Chandler doesn’t wear underwear?
and
Ellie Chandler pets her beaver?

But of course, all of those questions paled in light of the big one Daniel was asking himself at the moment:
I just had sex with Ellie Chandler?
Rivaled only by:
And it was the smokin’est sex I’ve ever had?
Which was saying something, since Daniel Beck had had some pretty smokin’ sex in his life. Hell, why bother if it wasn’t smokin’, you know?

“Yeah, it’s a tattoo,” she said as she thrust her arms through her shirt and pulled it over her head.

“Of what?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she told him, her voice clipped.

“No, come on. I want to see it.”

“No.”

“Come on, Ellie. I saw a lot more than that a few minutes ago.”

“No, you didn’t. The lights were off.” She punctuated the statement by switching off the desk lamp, so that they were once again thrown into darkness.

Okay, maybe Daniel wasn’t the most clued-in guy in the world, but he was starting to sense some hostility. “Ellie?” he said softly. “What’s wrong?”

Aside from the fact that he’d just had the smokin’est sex he’d ever had with a woman he’d never considered remotely smokin’ or sexy.

“Nothing,” she said in a voice that was even cooler than before.

“You don’t sound like nothing’s wrong.”

Her response to that was silence.

Not once in the year Daniel had known her had Ellie ever seemed clipped and cool, the way she was now. On the contrary, she was about the nicest, warmest woman he’d ever met. Usually, he kept his distance from women like that because they were a waste of time. Nice, warm women were never interested in smokin’—and temporary—sex. Nice, warm women tended to want relationships. They wanted to get serious. They wanted to talk and share and, you know, relate about stuff. They wanted a lot more than Daniel was willing to give. So even though he’d thought Ellie was cute when he first met her, he’d realized within moments that he should steer clear of her. Because he’d realized within moments how nice and warm she was.