Melting Ms Frost (8 page)

Aidan gave three quick raps on the office door then pushed it open without waiting for a response.

Across the room, Annabel stiffened where she sat at her desk, talking into the phone.

‘… calling to confirm that Chef and I will have everything ready for the Christmas Day menu tasting tomorrow afternoon at three.’ That green glare flashed at him as she emphasised her next words. ‘I very much look forward to seeing you again then, Mr Landon, and having the opportunity to discuss a number of matters with you.’

Disconnecting the call, she dropped the handset back into its cradle. ‘I told you I didn’t want you coming near me,’ she said to Aidan by way of welcome. ‘Are you deaf or just stupid?’

He paused and used the excuse of narrowing a disapproving gaze on her to check her over. Oh, yeah – as he’d predicted, her night had been every bit as rough as his. Annabel Frost was tired and grouchy and just the tiniest bit dishevelled, with wisps of hair escaping from a slightly skew-whiff bun and curling down to her collar. She’d removed her jacket and he wondered what would happen if he were to peel her white shirt aside and blow those soft red tendrils against the sensitive curve between neck and shoulder. Could he transform her barely contained tremors of tension into trembles of pleasure? Make her shiver and moan for him right there in her chair? From the way she’d reacted to him every time he’d got near – so responsive to even the slightest verbal stimulation – he’d not only put money on the shivers, he’d double the odds for a scattering of goose bumps as well.

Aidan didn’t know whether it was his look or the lowered tone of his voice as he said, ‘I’m neither, Annabel, as you well know,’ that had her shifting uncomfortably.

‘Then why are you here?’ she snapped. ‘If you think I’m going to put up with—’

‘Reorder form for the bar,’ he interrupted, holding up the piece of paper in his hand.

That stopped her dead. She obviously hadn’t expected anything quite so mundane, because for a moment she stared at it in surprise. When he started across the room, she blinked and seemed to pull herself together.

‘Fine, just leave it there.’ She nodded towards the furthest corner of the desk from where she sat and ignored his outstretched hand.

Rather than put the form down he kept hold of it and settled one buttock cheek on the corner of the wooden surface closest to her instead.

‘No!’ Annabel gaped at him, eyes popping with horror. ‘What are you doing? Don’t you dare sit there.’

Surely she was beginning to understand that he’d dare a lot in his efforts to get close to her, to force her to engage with him rather than retreat. Resting his forearm across his thigh, he clasped his wrist with his free hand, bent towards her and fired his opening shot. ‘Tell me now, Ms Frost, what’s got you in such a snit?’

‘Snit?’ She glared at him. ‘
Snit?
’ she repeated and he saw her swallow in an obvious effort to get control of her voice which was rapidly escalating to an out-and-out shout. ‘I’ll tell you what’s got me in a fucking snit, you arrogant arsehole. You!’

He felt a tug at the corner of his lips as he fought to deny a smile. Ms Frost was about to blow her ice-cool top. Good. He’d take her hot and bothered over frigid and aloof any day – a thought which ignited a spark of excitement in the pit of his belly. ‘I gathered that much. But why?’

‘
Why?
Are you kidding me! Where should I start? Oh, I know, how about with you
assaulting
me!’

‘Assault is it now?’ He nodded slowly as he absorbed that, all too aware of the knife edge he was on with his behaviour, of the risk of taking things too far. But he’d decided that if shock tactics were the only way to put a crack in Ms Frost’s defences – the only way to draw her out – then it was a chance he had to take. ‘Then why is it that I’m here and not being fingerprinted down at the nearest police station?’ He watched her carefully as he waited for her reply – watched her struggle and fail to come up with a satisfactory answer. He had one, but he didn’t think she’d care to hear it just yet. ‘As far as I understand, it’s only assault if either party doesn’t consent.’

‘I
don’t
consent!’ A heated blast of temper blazed through the thin cold shell of Annabel’s control. She slapped her palms against the desk top hard enough that he felt the angry blow reverberate through his backside to his spine. ‘I’ve never consented. I’ve done nothing but tell you that I don’t want your attentions, that I’m not interested.’

And if every one of her physical reactions to him didn’t contradict those words, he’d have left her alone from the start. He leant in closer, just to drink in those reactions, liking the way her eyes flashed at him, the way the paleness of her skin had warmed to a rosy flush, the way her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. She looked vibrant, volatile … beautiful. ‘But I don’t recall you saying no when it mattered, Annabel.’ He broke the news to her in a calm tone, knowing she wasn’t going to like the truth behind his next words. ‘I gave you the opportunity to put a stop to this last night and you didn’t take it. If you’re uncomfortable with your decisions or the discoveries you’re making about yourself, don’t think you can make yourself feel better by throwing accusations of assault and non-consent at me. If you want to pick a fight, fine, but you’ll have to come up with a genuine argument.’

He’d been right, she didn’t like it. She looked as though she wanted to kill him. Right there and then with her bare hands. Slowly. God, the woman excited him.

‘Fine,’ she spat. ‘There are plenty to choose from. Where should I start? With you undermining my authority? Or sexually harassing and humiliating me? What about ruining my clothing and … and exposing my underwear?’ She glared at him.

‘OK,’ he said after a moment. ‘First off, undermining your authority? If you’re talking about your position here, can you tell me of a single instance where I’ve done anything in front of any other members of staff or customers that would call your authority into question?’

He knew full well he hadn’t, but he let her have the time to think about it for herself. No matter how disrespectful and depraved she might consider his behaviour in private to be, she’d never find him doing anything to publicly demean her.

‘I didn’t think so,’ he eventually said into the telling silence. ‘And for the record, that’s not just coincidence. I’ve been careful, Annabel, and I always will be. You have my assurance on that. What’s going on between us has nothing to do with your professional standing. This is strictly personal and private and I intend keeping it that way.’

‘There is
nothing
going on between us,’ she insisted through gritted teeth, but he didn’t feel the need to correct her. Not when the chemistry between them was off the charts enough to prove otherwise. ‘Secondly, we’ve already covered the sexual harassment thing and nothing has changed.’ She looked as though she had plenty she wanted to say about that but he carried on without giving her the chance. ‘As for ruining your clothing …’ He gave a shrug of acceptance. ‘You’re right, I’m going to have to cop that one fair and square. But come on, we’re talking
tights
here – those things were beyond hideous and deserved to be destroyed. I’ll take you shopping and replace them with a pair of silk stockings.’

Annabel curled her lip at him. ‘Don’t bother. I’m not some doll for you to dress up.’

It wasn’t dressing her
up
he was interested in. ‘And as for exposing your pretty underwear.’ Leaning forward, he lowered his voice. ‘Oh, Ms Frost. That little pair of panties. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them. Do you want to hear about the torment they’ve been putting me through?’

‘
No!
’ Looking like she’d touched a live electric cable, Annabel shot away from him with such force she sent her chair rolling backwards from the desk. ‘I don’t want to hear another word.’ She snapped with more than a hint of desperation before she ordered, ‘Get out.’

The curt dismissal she’d issued to Aidan rung in Annabel’s ears, but like that sense of morbid fascination which made it impossible for people to look away from the scene of a crash, she found that part of her
did
want to hear about it. Not that she’d be foolish enough to ever admit such a thing.

It appeared, though, that regardless of her clear statement to the contrary, Aidan Flynn was determined to share the details anyway.

‘You don’t want to hear how I’ve been unable to forget that teasing glimpse they offered of you through that delicate barrier of lace?’

Annabel gasped, as in front of her, Aidan unfurled his spine and rose from his spot on the edge of her desk, placing the piece of paper there in his stead. ‘Don’t want me to tell you how tantalising a picture you made?’

‘No.’ Gripping the arms of her chair, Annabel pushed her soles against the carpet, backing the chair further away from him until she hit the wall.

‘You don’t want to know how hard for you I was down in that cellar?’ In three slow, sauntering strides he was in front of her, so close that the fabric of his trousers brushed against the outside of her knees as he placed his feet to either side of hers. Further up nearer her eye level, the crotch area of those same trousers strained across a large bulge she couldn’t help but notice.

Oh, for the love of … was that
all
him?

‘How hard I’ve grown every time I’ve thought of that scene since?’

‘No!’ Annabel dragged her own eyes away from the bountiful sight and dug her heels into the ground to put more space between them. But there was nowhere left to go. Mindlessly, she grabbed at the hem of her skirt instead and held it tight to her knees with both hands.

Her racing heart skipped a beat as Aidan Flynn leant over her, hands reaching out … But rather than put them on her, he gripped the arms of the chair, boxing her in with those forearms he hadn’t bothered to cover, the long, lean muscles cording to hold his weight. A wave of his body heat crashed over her and what little space there was between them fairly crackled with static.

‘You don’t want to hear how I’ve wished I’d gone that extra step and cut that little scrap of lace from you as I’d wanted?’ he rasped, his desire-clouded gaze locked on her. ‘Taken them for my own?’

Trapped, Annabel shook her head, trying to ignore the dizzying rush of her pulse, fighting to override the unwanted, yet unmistakable, response of her body as every nerve ending quivered. He was toying with her, she knew – toying with her like a cat did a mouse. She could see it in the mischievous glint in his eye.

‘No,’ she said, her voice sounding smaller and less steady than she’d like. ‘I don’t want to hear it.’

He was close, looming over her, studying her intently, ready to pounce. ‘Why not?’

‘Because it’s crude and disgusting.’

‘Is it?’ he asked. ‘Or is it just natural and honest?’

‘I …’ she began and had to stop to clear her dry throat. ‘It doesn’t matter. Either way I don’t like it.’

‘And I don’t think that’s true. I’m picking up all sorts of signals that tell me you
do
want to hear it, that you
do
like it. Why pretend otherwise?’

Because she didn’t want to have to contemplate the truth. ‘The only thing you’re picking up from me is revulsion. That, and the determination to see you gone from here as soon as possible. Now get away from me.’

The chair creaked under his weight as he tightened his grip on the arms and leaned even closer. ‘Tell me. Did you enjoy the feeling of being exposed last night? It was obvious you were thinking of nothing else all service.’

Oh, she’d been thinking of other things, but nothing she was prepared to own up to. ‘I felt violated. You tricked me into holding that tray, took unfair advantage.’

‘Is that so? From what I know of your character so far, Ms Frost, there’s no way you’d have let me do what I did if some part of you didn’t want it. You’d have hurled that tray right back in my face then used the broken bottles to gut me on the spot.’

She gaped at him. ‘And smashed thousands of pounds’ worth of alcohol?’

He looked at her for a long moment, that clear gaze probing deep. ‘Do you think the cost of the booze would have really been a factor if you’d felt genuinely threatened or violated?’ he asked, his gentle reasoning pricking right through her protective outer layer of resentment. ‘The tray was just a prop, Annabel. Think about it and you’ll see it was nothing more than an excuse to make it easier for you to give up control.’ He blinked and a spark of something mischievous lightened his eyes. ‘And I have to say I was surprised by how quickly you gave it up. For someone so determined to come out on top, you caved with barely a fight. What do you think that says about you?’

She really couldn’t bear to think. Couldn’t bear to bring herself to listen to the inescapable ring of truth his words carried. Attack was her best form of defence. Always. ‘Perhaps you should be more concerned with what you think it says about you, that you consider it acceptable to use cheap tricks to try and get women?’

He smiled, undeterred. ‘I’m not trying to get women. Just you. And I think it says I’m a man determined to get what I want, by any means necessary. That makes me dedicated and resourceful at the very least.’

‘It’s nothing to gloat over!’ she shouted at him, exasperated. ‘What you did was unscrupulous and sordid.’

‘Extremely. And so enjoyable I’d do it again in a flash.’

‘Not to me you won’t,’ she assured him.

‘Be honest now, Ms Frost. You liked it, didn’t you? Were you driven to distraction, kept awake half the night, like I was?’

Her distraction was none of his business. She shot him a withering look. ‘I know you think you’re being sexy right now, Mr Flynn, but again, I have to say that what I mostly feel is disgust. I’ll never think about you that way.’

‘Soon, every time the merest thought of pleasure crosses your mind, you’ll think of me, Annabel, I promise you. In fact, I’ll wager it’s started already. Have you learnt your lesson? Did you come into work ready for me today? Is that why you’ve got that death grip on your skirt – because you’re bare for me under there?’ he asked before dropping his voice to a whisper that had her clenching every muscle in her body to keep from squirming in the chair. ‘Why don’t you open your legs and show me? I can’t stop remembering how pretty you looked through that lace; I’ve been driving myself mad wondering when I’ll get to see all your secrets.’