He's Captured My Trust (Captured Series Book 2) (21 page)

Katherine notices his attention is diverted away from her and turns to see. Her face falls. She looks furious as she tries to turn his attention back to her to no avail.

“See? The minute you’re around, he sees no one but you,” Sophie says. “My brother has it bad. Now, come on. Let’s move Miss Hunter from his side, although I get the feeling we might have to pry her away.” She laughs.

The closer we get to the table, the more clearly I see the smile on his face grow all the way to his eyes, which seem to sparkle in the light. He stands when I am only a few feet away and holds out his hand. I take it automatically and he pulls me into a warm embrace. My body tingles with his touch, all the way through to my core.

“What took you so long, Miss Stewart?”

“We got chatting,” I answer, looking at Sophie, who has taken her seat. Katherine has moved back around the table and is sitting beside James once again. Thank heavens for that!

“Chatting?”

“Yes, chatting. That’s what I said.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“No. Not really. Now, I think we should sit down,” I whisper, and add, “because if we don’t soon, I think we should head to your office.” I pull slowly away from him, watching the expression on his face change to one of shock. Wide-eyed. He shakes his head and sighs heavily.

I take my seat, leaving him standing, staring. I smile, thinking about the thoughts that must be running through his mind. Michael catches my eye and raises his eyebrows as his eyes shift from me to Alex. I shrug.

“Seriously, man, will you sit down?” Michael calls to him, distracting him from his thoughts. Both Sophie and I laugh. She has obviously been watching with amusement as well.

Alex sits back down beside me, places his hand on my back, and starts stroking my bare skin with small movements. Soft, delicate strokes that are unnoticeable to anyone else. But they start a chain reaction deep within me, an ache that needs to be taken care of. I’m sure my face will give me away. I steal a glance at Alex, but he is talking with Michael. He doesn’t look my way, but he knows, alright. He knows exactly what he’s playing at. I know I won’t win this game because my body is hungry with desire, and there is only one way to take the sting out.

I close my eyes for a second to try to bring myself back under control because this is neither the time nor the place for this.

“I think we should go and take care of dessert elsewhere,” he whispers seductively in my ear.

My eyes fly open, and I feel my face redden at his words.

His beautiful face has a mischievous grin on it. “Well?”

“If we leave this table, everyone will know exactly what’s going on.”

“No, they won’t. Come,” he says, standing up. “If you would excuse us,” he announces to the table.

“Alex, where are you going? They’re about to serve dessert,” his mother says.

“I have a surprise for Libby. We won’t be long, and I want to introduce her to a few other family members.”

Sarah smiles lovingly at him, giving him the permission he was wanting. I get the feeling that his mother’s opinion is the only one that matters to him in all aspects of his life.

We leave the chatter of the table and stop a few tables away, where he introduces me quickly to a few relatives. I smile and say polite hellos to them all, but Alex is in no mood for deep conversation, so we head quickly from the ballroom. As everyone starts to eat dessert, we get out of the room without being stopped. He keeps a grip on my hand, although God knows why. The only place I want to be is with him. We are walking at a pace that is trying in these heels and dress.

“Alex, slow down before I fall and break something.”

“You know, baby, that’s never going to happen when you’re with me. Now, you wanted to go to my office?”

“Uh, uh, shit. I didn’t mean it,” I stutter. “Alex—”

“What? I do have a surprise in my office for you, but now we have another reason to go there.”

We don’t speak another word as we travel through the hotel and staff areas, still at an unbearably fast pace. He has a polite nod for staff members we pass. He could have warned me about the trip to his office; if I’d known it was so long, I would’ve taken off my shoes.

The atmosphere between us is highly charged, but that comes as no surprise to me; it always seems to be. We approach a door and his grip gets tighter.

He opens the door and lets me enter first. I have come to expect clean and contemporary from him, but not the smell of fresh flowers
.
On his desk is a beautiful flower arrangement of reds, oranges, and yellows, and suddenly I think of home and the colours of autumn. I walk toward the desk.

“These are for you,” he says, kissing my neck.

“They are beautiful,” I reply with a touch of sadness in my voice. My thoughts go to home and of Alex wanting me to stay here.

“What?”

“Nothing, they remind me of home with the colours.”

“Shit!” He shakes his head and blinks a few times. “Not what I was hoping for.”

“So why are we here?” I ask. My voice is low and my breath is quickening. I turn to face him and run my fingers down his face to the light stubble along his jawline. His eyes close and his breathing changes. I continue caressing his face. He moans softly.

He gently pulls me toward him so that I am flush against him. I tug, pulling his face toward mine. I want to taste those lips, feel his tongue against mine. But he pulls back.

“Baby, we don’t have long. There will be plenty of time later. Right now I need you.”

“Okay,” is all I can muster as my desire runs through my body at an alarming pace. My breathing is loud and fast, and my heart pounds.

He turns me around so that I have my back to him. He moves quickly, lifting my dress so that it sits around my waist. Then he pulls my panties down, and I step out of them.

“Very nice, Miss Stewart.” He reaches one hand down and his fingers slide over me softly. “You always surprise me—more than ready. Lean over and grip the desk for support. Trust me. I won’t let you fall.”

I do as I’m told. He places one hand around my waist, holding me firmly in place. With the other hand, he unzips the fly on his trousers. He pulls me tighter. He taps his foot against mine, forcing me to spread my legs wider. I want to feel him inside me. I am so turned on. This is going to be quick and hard, and I am
so
ready.

In one swift movement, he thrusts inside me. He places his free hand on my shoulder, holding me in place. I moan loudly at the fullness of him. I am stuck with nowhere to go. But truthfully, would I want to be anywhere else? He moves at a furious pace. I respond, meeting him thrust for thrust. His breathing is harsh and loud as he quickens. His weight feels heavy against me.

My feelings overwhelm me. This is rough and fast, but at this moment it’s exactly what we both need. He moves faster and faster. I’m close, and I can sense that he is too. My body’s response is hard to describe. It’s as if we were made for each other. Each thrust comes faster and his hold on me gets tighter and tighter. I lose control, shattering around him as he stills.

We don’t move for a few moments, trying to regain our normal breathing. Our panting slowly fizzles out.

“Baby, let’s get you cleaned up before we head back to the party.”

“COME ON, BEFORE MY MOTHER
sends out a search party for you.” He holds out his hand. “The flowers are coming as well.” I frown. “They’re yours, baby. I picked them myself.”

I take the flowers and his hand. They are beautiful, although I won’t get the full enjoyment out of them when I head home.

“So do you like the office?” he asks as we leave.

“It’s an office. A nice office, but it doesn’t have much of a view.”

“It could be your office.”

“You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?”

“Baby, see, you do know me well after all,” he replies with a sly grin that makes me smile.

“But you should also know me enough to know that I’ll put in a strong argument against you.”

“Of course. That’s where I’m sure we’ll find the fun, trying to find a mutual agreement. I can be persuasive, you know.”

“I’m sure you can. Now, when we get back to the party, can we stay away from your friend? Because she is—how shall I put it?—irritating the life out of me.”

“Sure, baby.”

The band has already started playing and there are a few couples on the dance floor, but considering the number of people here, it isn’t a lot. They’re actually good. Emma and Connor are dancing away in the middle of the room.

A waiter approaches us.

“Will you dance with me?” Alex asks, to my surprise. I smile. “Can you put these on our table?” He takes the flowers from me and hands them to the waiter, who assures us he will. “Miss Stewart.”

He leads the way onto the dance floor. He puts his arm around my waist and holds me tight. “Are you ready, baby? Because the eyes of the room seem to be watching us. Every man in this room wants the woman in my arms.”

“As ready as I’ll ever be, Mr. Mathews.”

I place one hand on his shoulder and he takes the other in his hand. We dance around the floor as if we are the only couple on it. Everyone else is invisible to us. We glide effortlessly together, twirling and turning. The music continues to flow straight into another song, and we continue to dance. This is the one thing I missed out on when he was in Scotland—dancing. I’m sure we covered most other things.

This song I know: John Legend’s
All of Me.

“You’re my end and my beginning. Even when I lose, I’m winning.” Alex sings in such a beautiful voice that my body melts straight into his.

“Alex Mathews, I love you so much that it bloody hurts,” I tell him as I lean into his chest. The rise and fall of his chest has a soothing effect on me.

“I love you more than I thought was humanly possible. I need you and want you more than you could ever imagine.”

As the song finishes, he holds me at arm’s length, lifts my hand, and kisses it. “Thank you for the dance or two.” He smiles with the boyish grin I seem to see on a regular basis.

“The pleasure was all mine.”

He takes my hand and leads us back toward the table. We chat as we walk, smiling and laughing. Sarah watches us with a loving smile on her face. Quite a few people are missing from our table and that pleases me. Katherine and James and Emma and Connor, who are still on the dance floor.

“You two certainly dance well together,” Sarah says as we sit down.

Alex hands me a glass of wine and I take a long drink. I’m thirsty.

“So, Alex, the flowers?”

“Yes, Mom, they were my surprise.”

“They’re beautiful. You’re proving you have excellent taste.”

“Michael, could you pass me the bottled water?” I need something to quench my thirst. Michael hands me the bottle and a fresh glass that’s not been used.

“Libby, everything okay?” Alex asks as I gulp down the full glass of water.

“Yes, just thirsty. Really, I’m fine,” I reply when I see the worried look on his face. “Actually, I’m looking forward to dancing with you again.”

“And I, you.”

“Libby, you owe me a dance or two as well,” Michael says with a warm smile.

“A dance,” Alex says dryly, putting his arm around my shoulder, claiming me. Michael laughs.

We sit at the table, talking through a few songs, Alex with his father and Michael and I with Sarah and Sophie. We chat about Sophie’s shop and the online side of it, her hopes and dreams of it being a success. She seems to have her brother’s business determination, so I have no doubt that it will all work out as she hopes. Given how well Sophie and I are getting on, I’m a bit disappointed that I’m heading home on Tuesday and will miss her opening later in the week. If I didn’t have the awards bash to go to next weekend, I would try to change my flight so I could be here for it. The hotel is up for an award, and it wouldn’t be right for me to not attend. It sounds as if she has everything in order for it, starting with a fashion show here on Wednesday before the grand opening on Thursday.

Sophie tells me that Alex has been a great help to her with everything, even assigning one of his own team members to help manage all the things she didn’t have the time to do herself. She doesn’t want to take on staff in the shop until she knows if it will pay its own way, but she has a couple of girls from the university to help her out over the next few weeks.

We’re so busy with our conversation that the tap on my shoulder startles me. When I turn around, Connor is there.

“Miss Stewart, would you do me the honour?” He holds his hand out and bows his head.

“Certainly.”

“Shit, where’s Emma? Does this mean—” Alex doesn’t get to finish before Connor cuts in.

“No, you’re off the hook. She’s talking to some friends.”

Alex breathes a huge sigh of relief, much to his brother’s amusement.

Connor leads me to the dance floor and we start dancing straight away. He has the same grace as Alex. Connor seems much more relaxed tonight. “You know, Libby, my mom was right about you. You’re a breath of fresh air for Alex. From what I’ve seen, you’re witty, challenging, strong, loving, and fiery—just the type of someone special he needs. Sometimes my brother needs to be brought back down to earth, and I think you’ll keep him grounded.” His words make me flush.