His Challenging Lover (3 page)

And then he pulled back!

Her eyes looked up at him, surprised and confused. Her lips were aching for more, to feel Xander’s firm lips against hers, taking and tasting and giving.

Why did he stop? Why was he doing this to her? Didn’t he realize what he’d stirred inside of her?

When the wonderful, tantalizing heat of him pulled slightly away and her mind wasn’t occupied by his mind-blowing kiss, her ribs suddenly started hurting. She tried not to cringe, but she must have failed because his eyes narrowed and he pulled away so he could look down at her.

“You’re hurt!” he snapped, his breath hissing through his teeth as he bent lower, examining her cheek and jawline which were just starting to show signs of the blow she took.

“I’m fine,” she whispered but his hands shifted slightly and she let out a small cry of pain.

His lips compressed as he looked down at her, that same fury breaking through the thick haze of lust. “You aren’t fine,” he contradicted, his fingers deftly feeling her ribs. When she cringed again, he shook his head. “I’m taking you to the hospital,” he told her.

She shook her head. “No! No hospital!” she told him firmly. Her mother had died in a hospital and, in her mind, they were intricately, irrationally, woven into her psyche as buildings of death.

“You need to see a doctor,” he told her firmly. “And probably an x-ray for your ribs.”

“My ribs are fine,” she stated emphatically, her fingers grabbing onto his forearm to keep him from doing something cruel, like taking his warm hand away from her skin that suddenly knew what his touch was like. “Just bruised. I’ll be fine.” To prove it, she held her breath, wondering if his fingers would move that small, fraction of an inch higher. Her breasts wanted that movement so badly, her mind shattering at the idea of his thumb, which was resting just below her breast, to move higher. Her nipple was already pebbled in anticipation but she couldn’t say anything, couldn’t beg him to finish what he’d just started.

They stared at each other for a long moment, the air crackling between them with the electricity sparking between their bodies. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t move. Nothing in the world made sense except for this man’s hand to slide higher, to cover her breast and show her what his heat would feel like.

When he shifted his hand just slightly, she couldn’t hide the pain that shot through her.

Xander said something under his breath that was unrepeatable then stepped back. “You’re going to the hospital.”

He started to take her hand and pull her towards his car, but she pulled right back. “Please,” she begged, her eyes revealing the fear she felt towards hospitals. “I’ll soak in a hot bath and everything will be fine,” she promised. “Just no hospital.”

“You need to see a doctor,” he argued right back.

A doctor was better, but she’d rather just stay away from all of it. Her philosophy about sickness in the past had been to ignore everything. So far, it had worked out well enough. “If I don’t feel better tomorrow, I promise to see my doctor.”

Xander knew she’d be better off if she saw a doctor now, but he couldn’t ignore the pleading look in those lustrous, brown eyes. He’d seen that stubbornness before and knew she wouldn’t budge on the subject. Leaning down, his arms braced on the building behind her on either side of her head, he said, “Fine, you’ll soak in a hot tub and relax for the rest of the afternoon. Otherwise, I’m taking you to the hospital and I’ll tie you down to the x-ray machine if I have to. And I’ll do that anyway if the hot bath doesn’t help.” He relented slightly, his hand reaching out and gently touching her cheek, cradling her head in his large, strong hand. “I promise I won’t let anything happen to you at the hospital if it comes to that,” he said with a deep, husky voice.

When he turned all sweet and gentle on her, Autumn’s heart swelled with something she refused to identify. She didn’t know how to deal with a kind Xander. She was so used to going head to head with him on every issue that this new Xander was a mystery. And so were the feelings that threatened tears to well up in her eyes. She blinked rapidly, trying to hide her vulnerability from him. She didn’t understand what she was feeling and it scared her.

“Come along,” he said, still with that soft, gentle voice. He took her hand and led her through the back of the building to the parking garage. With a click, he unarmed his black, sleek sedan and opened the passenger side door for her.

“I can drive…”

“Get in, Autumn,” he interrupted. It was firm, but still with that gentle, coaxing, you’re-not-getting-out-of-this tone.

With a sigh, she slipped into the soft leather seat, amazed at how luxurious the car felt as it hugged her body. She didn’t have time to think more about that though because a second later, Xander was getting in next to her, his long legs coming precariously close to her thighs. The car might be a luxury sedan, but Xander was an extremely large man and there rarely was a space big enough to contain him. Whatever room he was in, it always felt small to her. His shoulders were huge, his muscles bulged everywhere on his body and his legs were so long they ate up the distance between point A and point B. It was awesome when point A was her office door and point B was her desk. Every time he entered her office, her eyes were drawn to his legs, her mouth going dry as she watched those muscles bulge underneath his hand-tailored slacks.

“Where are we going?” she asked, swallowing the nervousness that suddenly sprang up with his nearness.

“I’m taking you home,” he told her, his long, lean fingers deftly handling the steering wheel and Autumn was mesmerized by those fingers, her mind imagining what they looked like when they were examining her ribs, wondering what they would look like against her pale skin.

She took a deep breath and tore her eyes away, looking out the window instead. “Thank you for your help,” she said.

Xander heard the wobble in her voice and realized that reaction was slowly setting in. The adrenaline was ebbing away and she would start to become exhausted pretty quickly.

“You’re welcome,” he said, then had to shake his head at the memory of her standing in front of that little lady, protecting her while confronting the furious man. “Why did you do it?” he asked, turning left and then right.

She might be looking out the window but she wasn’t watching the landscape. She was thinking back to the point in the deli when the man had become belligerent, her mind starting to go over everything that happened. “I don’t know. No one else was going to help those two. Someone had to do it.”

He glanced down at her slender legs, demurely crossed at the ankles and her hands clenched in her lap. “So you stepped up and showed him who was boss.” He chuckled at the way she’d stood, those sexy, three inch heels braced shoulder width apart in perfect fighting stance and her arms held out from her body, fists raised as if her hundred and twenty pound figure could stop a two hundred and fifty pound raging bull.

Autumn blushed at the memory. “Okay, so you were the one who showed him who the boss was. It was pretty amazing of you, how you stepped in and stopped him cold.”

“My brothers and I spar in the ring.” He looked down at her briefly, but she got the message. He was clearly stating that he was trained to step in and do something like that. She wasn’t.

She bit her lip and looked out the window, feeling teary eyed and embarrassed by it. “I wasn’t going to let that woman be hurt by that man.”

“Admirable. Brave,” he said with a nod, “but also stupid. You could have been seriously hurt.”

“But I wasn’t,” she said simply, ignoring the pain that was starting to throb in her jaw and her ribs. She’d never admit to him how hard the man had punched her. She could deal with this, she told herself silently.

He took a deep breath as the anger started to well up inside him again. “This time. Promise me that you won’t ever do something like that again.”

She bit her lip and looked to the right, out the window. “I promise I won’t do anything that I think is stupid.”

He cursed under his breath, fighting to control his anger again. “Which leaves open a great deal of what I think might be stupid,” he said, completely understanding what she was telling him.

He pulled into a parking garage and swung immediately into a space. “Come on,” he said and turned off the engine.

Autumn was already out of the car before she realized that this wasn’t her house. This wasn’t even her neighborhood. Even if she’d saved her entire salary for the rest of her life, she’d never be able to afford just the smallest apartment in this neighborhood. “Where are we?” she asked.

“My place. I’m going to make sure you take care of yourself,” he said and put a hand to the small of her back to guide her over to the elevators.

Autumn’s heartbeat picked up, going triple time at the idea of entering Xander’s space. She didn’t even enter his office, standing in the doorway when she needed to talk to him about any subject. There was no way she was going into his private dwelling space. If his office was too personal, she couldn’t even imagine what she would feel entering his apartment.

“I should just go home,” she said quickly, starting to turn around. She intended to get a cab that would take her to her house so she could hide away, fearful about being alone in Xander’s home. The alone part was the main worry, but there was also the idea of being surrounded by things that were all “Xander”. It was hard enough being around him.

But Xander wasn’t having that at all. “Come along,” he countered and wrapped his arm around her waist, careful not to touch the bruise on her ribs. “You’ll be fine. I won’t let anything harm you.”

She went, but only because her knees were shaking so badly that she couldn’t stop their momentum towards the elevators. She stepped into the elevator and moved away from Xander, but he was still too close and too big. Just like in a conference room or back in his car, the man took up the space, filling every air particle with his maleness.

When the doors opened, he put that strong arm around her waist again, leading her into the apartment. She didn’t even get a chance to look around, he nudged her right into a fabulous bedroom and then into a large, marble bathroom with steel and chrome everywhere. And a giant, soaking tub complete with jets. Her eyes bulged at such luxury and she couldn’t stop the enormous sigh at the idea of soaking in that giant marble tub.

He heard her sigh and chuckled softly. “I’m glad there’s finally something about me that you approve of.”

She kept her mouth shut while he bent over and turned on the water, thinking that she definitely approved of his butt. It was a very nice butt, outlined by the stretched fabric of those slacks and her mouth went dry once again. Her eyes couldn’t pull away and she wasn’t aware that he added something to the water, causing bubbles to rise up as the water quickly filled the tub.

He turned around and caught her blushing, but didn’t understand it. “I’ll get you something for the pain. Get in the tub and relax.”

She thought she might have nodded, but she wasn’t completely sure. She was too stunned, frightened and her mind was frozen. She couldn’t react, unable to believe that she was actually standing in Xander’s luxurious bathroom.

The door clicked closed behind her but she still stared at the tub that was quickly filling up with bubbles and water. The lure was too much for her aching body to resist. With shaking fingers and quick looks behind her, she slipped her clothes off, folding them quickly and hiding her lacy underwear. Her eyes watched the inviting water, her body now desperate for the relief that hot water might offer.

There were steps getting up to the raised tub and even steps descending down the other side. It was huge! And amazing! It was set in the corner of the bathroom and the windows overlooked the city, revealing the Chicago River and all the skyscrapers and highways as people moved about the city.

She slid into the hot, scented water, closing her eyes as the heat spread through her whole body, making the aches quickly disappear, at least for the moment. Leaning back, she was amazed at how wonderful the marble contoured to her body, relaxing her back and her legs. It was possibly the most comfortable tub she’d ever lain in, but that wasn’t really saying much since the only types of tubs she’d had the privilege to luxuriate in were the regular hardware store tubs that were more suitable to washing little kids than soaking an adult body. Her own townhouse was nice, perfect for her needs, except for the utilitarian bathrooms.

With a sigh, she allowed her body to relax, her eyes closed and her mind drifted back to that kiss on the side of the building. For the moment, she didn’t try and figure out why she’d allowed Xander to kiss her, or why she’d even reacted to his kiss. She’d seen the women who paraded into the office to meet him. The man escorted a different woman every month around town to the fabulous, glamorous parties and social functions. The lucky ones lasted maybe five weeks, the boring ones perhaps only three. One lucky woman had been able to hang onto his interest for a record six weeks.

Not that she noticed how long each of them was able to last in Xander’s arms. It wasn’t that she was trying to measure how long each of them lasted, but it was hard not to when they were so frequent.

Besides, the other people in the office had bets going on how long each would last so it was hard to miss the office talk or the office pool that was taped to the freezer door in the office kitchen.

She shivered involuntarily at the thought of her co-workers betting on how long she could keep his interest. Not that she would even try. The man was an absolute jerk!

She couldn’t blame him though. He saw the worst in relationships. In a very basic sense, his job was to tear up a marriage, dissect it to pieces and get the most from the relationship for one or the other person. He saw not only the worst part of a marriage; he saw the evilness and maliciousness of each person. Not only his client, either the wife or the husband, but sitting across the table, he also witnessed the worst in the opposite party. The fights that erupted occasionally were vicious as the hurt feelings poured out in every way possible.