Lucien (3 page)

“She is, Elise. She is,” he murmured and her innards liquefied, pooling down into the center of her body.

His gaze held her captive, his eyes burning with a hunger she felt. Her mouth went dry and she licked her lips. Big mistake. His attention dropped to her mouth and she shivered. “Don’t look at me like that, Lucien. You’re a happily engaged man.”

The fire in his blue-green eyes dimmed and a muscle worked at his jaw. “Just engaged, Elise. There’s nothing happy about it,” he said so softly she barely heard it. But she did and it both thrilled and shamed her to the center of her soul.

Why couldn’t she have met Luc before his engagement to Margot, who was the complete physical opposite of Elise? Where Margot was tall, Elise was short. Well, not short. She preferred to think of herself as petite. Five feet and four inches was lacking when standing next to Margot’s five feet and eleven inches. Margot was tall and willowy, which was the nicest way Elise could describe Margot’s slender body. Margot’s figure could take a month long binge of ice cream and still be cellulite free. Whereas, Elise had a posterior that required Buns of Steel twice a week and a chest that required a new bra every other month—if she was lucky. Not that she was top heavy. Elise liked to think of herself as petite and voluptuous. Or curvy. She was proud of her hour glass figure, but if only she had someone like Luc to impress with it. Instead, she had day dreams and nightly fantasies that made it increasingly difficult to work with the blasted infernal man.

Luc continued to stare at her as if imagining her naked and on the desk. Or so she thought.

Elise tried unsuccessfully not to become flustered and lose her concentration. Her attention flickered to a precarious stack on the corner of the desk and she heard his sharp intake of breath.

“I could clear the desk,” he told her softly.

“Margot would mind.”

“After months of this, I don’t give a damn if Margot does care,” he replied roughly.

Elise considered it. Seriously considered giving herself up to the chemistry that’d begun the day she’d been assigned to help him. His eyes seem to beckon her to him and her fingers wrapped around the laptop, gripping it tightly. “No,” she whispered.

“After my job here is done,” he half asked and stated.

“No.” If what Luc had said earlier was true, he would be her boss for another week at the most. Then he would disappear from whence he came and her life would return to its normal, dull routine of typing memos for boring, unexciting, married for fifty years Roger Dill. No more teasing or electric eye contact or verbal warfare or… it wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair. Why couldn’t she have met him before Margot?

“No,” she repeated more firmly. “You’re engaged. Soon to be married.”

He stared at her like a man who knew exactly what he wanted on the menu for the night.

Elise swallowed hard and sharpened her tongue against her canines. “Forget it, Luc.”

The air conditioner clicked on and a stream of cold air blew down from the vent over the door. Paper rustled in the background and from the corner of her eye she saw the precarious stack on the corner of his desk shift.

Elise watched Luc.

One by one, folders slid for the floor. 

Luc watched her.

The stack plopped onto the floor. Folders opened, papers scattered in the wind, floating to the ground in a graceful rocking motion.

A slow, sinful smile slid across his face. “Do you think Gaia’s trying to tell you something?”

“No. Gaia is a moral goddess. She wants to punish me.”

His laugh was soft and husky and… made her want to crawl out of her skin. “At least I’m not the only one.”

It just wasn’t fair! Why couldn’t she have met him before his engagement? This was unbearable. It had to stop. Now, before she tossed aside her willpower and gave in to the urge to do more than just gnaw his lucky pen to death.

Elise tore her eyes away and drew in a deep breath. This was madness. It had to stop. Right now. She moved the laptop off her thighs and pushed her hair back from her forehead, arching the tired muscles in her back. “You had your chance. You could have sent me home.”

“Not without me.” He held up his hands defensively and rolled his chair backwards when she glared at him. “You know what I meant,” he added when she pointed a warning finger at him. “Elise, stop giving me the Mother Superior look. You know I can’t get through this mess without you.”

Elise ceased glaring at him against her better judgment. The Mother Superior look never failed to make him squirm in his seat. It gave her the rush of confidence she needed to move within arm’s reach of him. “How you ever managed to create a successful company on your own without me to take care of you, I’ll never understand.”

Luc smirked. “Fishing for compliments again?”

“No. Making a point.” She knelt down beside the desk and started the long process of gathering up the papers. “This is probably the worst day of my life.”

“Look on the bright side,” he said as he came down beside her to help. “I was about to ask you where the Jenner notes were.” Luc picked up a folder and tossed it onto his seat. “Now I don’t have to.”

“Isn’t there another innocent soul you’d rather be tormenting? A convention of hell raisers you should be attending?” She crawled underneath the desk to chase a rogue memo. “A baby who needs his candy stolen? A poker game down at the boys’ club which needs moderating?”

“I wouldn’t miss this show for anything,” he said softly from right behind her.

She froze and scowled at him over her shoulder. The wretched man’s attention was fixed on her posterior. Her eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth to deliver a sermon.

He held up his hands and fell back on his haunches. “I can’t help it, Elise. I try, but you got the nicest… pair of eyes I’ve ever seen.”

“Lucien Masters, if you don’t—”

“Luc, have you been here all night?” Footsteps pounded on the ground.

Elise jumped as Margot’s whiny voice grated on her last nerve, causing her to bang her head on the desk drawer. “Shhi-ugar,” she muttered with feeling, reaching for the top of her head.

But Luc beat her to it. His touch was gentle as it probed-slash-massaged her scalp. “You okay, darlin’?”

“I’ll live. I think.” Elise started to back out from underneath the desk and Luc kept a hand on her head, keeping her from banging her head a second time.

“Luc,” Margot demanded, marching through into the office and up to the desk. Elise was momentarily distracted by the sparkles in Margot’s Day-Glo purple platform heels. Where on Earth did she find that color? “I’ve been trying to— Oh-my-God!”

Luc cursed as Elise banged her head again then scampered backwards on her hands and knees, slamming her bottom right into his rock hard thighs. Long fingers wrapped around her hips and held her still. “Uh. Evening, Margot.” He gave tortured groan as Elise wriggled against him. “Darlin’, don’t move,” he rasped.

Margot gasped. “Darling?
Darling
?”

“Margot, this isn’t—” Luc stopped.

Elise nodded emphatically for him to continue and explain. She couldn’t do it. Her tongue was frozen and she knew if she managed to thaw it, she’d scream. Scream at him. At Margot. Scream because her head really, really hurt.

His fingers flexed around her, locking her against him, and his jaw worked, but no sound came out.

Elise closed her eyes and groaned. She did not need this. What a fine way to end the day. Caught in a compromising position with her boss by her boss’ fiancée. Just great. Absolutely wonderful. Thanks, Gaia. Life wouldn’t be complete without this little scenario. Elise dropped her aching head in to her hands and felt tears burn behind her eyes.

“Isn’t what,” Margot shouted. “Isn’t what it looks like? Isn’t what it is? If you’d asked me to play kinky sex games in the office, I wouldn’t have minded, but this…? I can’t believe this! She’s short and fat. How could you choose a short, fat slut over me?”

Elise’s head snapped up and anger pushed back the tears and pain. Fat? Slut? She renewed the struggle to be free. “How dare she call me fat. Let go, Luc. I’m going to snap her—”

“Elise,” he begged.

“I can’t believe this,” Margot cried. “All this time you and your precious Elise have been—”

“Margot,” Luc interrupted in a cold voice.

Margot ignored him and gave a watery snort. “Daddy told me marrying you would be a mistake. He said I’d never be able to trust you and… that you were only marrying me because of…,” Margot trailed off in a whimper.

“Tell her this isn’t what it looks like, Luc. Tell her.
Now
.”

Luc said nothing, but stared up at Margot.

“I hope she’s worth it, Luc.” Margot slammed her hand against the top of the recently cleared desk. “You can take this piece of junk back. I wouldn’t take your precious Elise’s seconds for all the money in the world.” A sparkly purple platform heel pivoted on the carpet and stormed out the way it came, taking Margot with it.

“Why that overbearing, obnoxious weed,” Elise fumed. “Lucien, let go of me. I don’t care if she is your fiancée, I’m gonna use that move Raven showed me and… Lucien, let go.
Now
.”

Luc blinked and finally came up with a name for the emotion he was experiencing. Relief. Overwhelming, gut cleansing relief. His gaze dropped to the ring Margot had slammed onto the desk. It’d never looked right on her hand. It was an antique setting which had been in his family for over a hundred years. The engagement ring was meant to be worn by a dainty female like Elise, not Margot.

“…Lucien, let go.
Now
.”

He looked straight down at Elise’s bottom snuggled up to his front. She sounded angry, but she felt good. Damn good. Firm and round. She had a nice—

“
Lucien
,” Elise growled.

He loved it when she called him by his full name. The way it rolled off her tongue with a touch of high school French in her enunciation. Too bad she only said it when she was miffed with him. Like she was now. Luc sighed and reluctantly released her soft, luscious body, then backed away.

He watched her bottom wriggle out from underneath the desk and caught himself before he could grin. The short skirt hugged her assets well. One slip of his hand and he could ease his fingers up, underneath the silky fabric and—

Elise spun around on her knees and smacked him on the arm. It didn’t hurt. In fact, it felt good. “If you ever grab me like that again, I’ll… well, what are you looking at me like that for? Get up and chase after her,” she ordered.

Her brows drew together and two lines marred the smooth skin above the bridge of her nose. He wondered if anyone had ever told her that her blue eyes sparkled when she was angry. Probably not. Elise Hamilton had been assigned to work with Luc because she never lost her temper. She was—according to Roger Dill—the most amenable executive assistant in the building. Elise was competent and mild mannered. Or at least, she had been until Luc got his hands on her.
Figuratively speaking
, he amended silently. Since their first week together of his consultation job at Andersen Corporation, Luc had gone out of his way to irk the quiet angel he’d acquired for the paperwork intensive project. Watching Elise lose her temper and attempt to mince words with him made the hellish job at Andersen worth it.

She swatted at him again. “I said get up and go chase her before I get her for calling me those names.”