Surrender (7 page)

Again, nothing was out of place. His personal things were all stored out of sight. Worried he might catch me snooping, I abandoned my search for his cologne bottle, went back to the living space, and flopped down on the couch.

This trip had turned out so differently from what I’d expected.

Here I was, in New York City, a place I’d never been, a placed I’d dreamed of visiting, and I was alone, bored, and locked in a condo. I wasn’t feeling sick anymore. Outside of the fact that I had been brought here by my employer and thus should remain where he could find me in case he needed me, there wasn’t anything keeping me from doing a little exploring. From the look of it, the condo was in a safe part of town.

Then again, I didn’t have a key.

I tried calling him.

No answer.

Surely he had an extra key somewhere....

I started my search in all the usual spots, the drawers and shelves. I located some pictures in a drawer that captured my interest. Old photographs of Kameron with some other men. They all looked similar. The angle of their jaw. The shape of their eyes. The wavy texture of their hair. Brothers? No, he’d said he had no brothers. Cousins, maybe. Another photo showed an older couple. The man looked very much like Kameron. And the woman was very beautiful, with long hair and a body I envied at my age. The man was smiling playfully. His expression reminded me of Kameron.

Like father, like son.

I flipped through some of the other photos, smiling as I glimpsed a tiny slice of Kameron Maldonado’s family life.

The front door clicked, and I jumped.

He walked in, stopped, frowned. “What are you doing?” Feeling as if I’d been caught snooping in his underwear drawer, I dropped the photos and slammed the drawer shut. “I was looking for a spare key.”

“Why?”

“I thought I’d go out for a little bit.”

“Where?” He set his briefcase on the floor, next to the door. “Did you tell me you’d never been in New York before?”

“That’s right, I haven’t.”

“You shouldn’t leave the condo alone, then. It isn’t safe.”

“This area looks pretty—”

“It isn’t safe,” he repeated as he flipped up his collar and pulled his tie out. I watched as the silk slid along his neck, remembering how it felt gliding over my wrists. My insides warmed, and I swallowed. “I’m finished with my appointments today. I’ll take you out.”

“Thank you.”

He unbuttoned his shirt while walking toward his room. “Give me a couple of minutes.”

“Sure.”

He closed himself in his room, presumably to change his clothes. I waited, excited to be finally seeing the city while being healthy enough to actually enjoy it. He emerged a few minutes later, dressed in jeans, a snug black pullover shirt, and a really sharp black leather jacket. “Ready to go shopping?”

“I . . . we’re going shopping?”

“Didn’t I promise you a shopping trip before we left?”

“Yes, but that was before—”

“Let’s go.” He motioned for me to take the lead. I went out into the hallway and, while he locked the condo, I poked the elevator button.

His phone rang just as he stepped up next to me. “Hello? Great. Okay. Thanks. Call me later when you get the report back.” He smiled at me. “I have a car waiting downstairs. Where do you want to go first? Barneys? Bergdorf Goodman? SoHo?”

“I don’t know.” Really, how could I choose? I had heard of all of them but had never been to any.

“I think SoHo first,” he said.

The door chimed, and in we stepped. The car was empty. Out of habit, I stood in the back. Kameron took a spot next to me. The door rolled closed, shutting us in the elevator together.

He glanced at me, and I felt my cheeks burning a little.

He was such a handsome man. Insanely handsome. And I knew what his kisses tasted like—decadent. I knew what his caress felt like—intoxicating. I knew what his possession felt like—thorough perfection.

Never would I taste his kiss again, or shudder under his caress, or quiver as his body possessed mine.

Dammit.

I knew I shouldn’t feel so disappointed, but I did.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, sensing my wilting mood.

“Nothing. I’m just . . . a little worn out still.”

“If you’re not up to our excursion, we can go—”

“No, I’ll be fine.”

He looked askance at me as the elevator bounced to a stop. His eyes were dark with concern. Genuine worry. How could I have ever mistaken that worry for guilt?

He couldn’t be that good of an actor.

Now, I felt guilty. For accusing him of doping me. For screaming at him. “Really. I’ll be okay,” I said.

“If you get too tired, tell me right away and I’ll bring you back.”

“Will do.”

We stepped outside. The air, the sidewalk, the streets were damp, and the air was heavy with the scents of wet concrete and auto exhaust. I inhaled deeply as I was escorted to a waiting car.

As I buckled in, I turned to Kameron and smiled through my guilt. “I’m sorry I blamed you.”

“Don’t worry. I would’ve believed the same thing. Especially after the rough start we had.” He set his hand on my knee and gave it a tiny squeeze. Little warm ripples of pleasure swept through my body at the touch. My gaze jerked to his hand, and in the next second, he snatched it away. “I promise you, I won’t ever touch you inappropriately again. I was wrong to do that in the first place. I’ve never done anything like that before.”

The rumors suggested otherwise.

So did his history with me.

Unsure how I felt about his promise, I smiled and nodded and tried to ignore the waves of need pulsing through me.

It was going to be pure hell working so closely with this man now. Absolute torture.

7

E
leven thousand dollars. Eleven freaking thousand dollars. That’s how much money Kameron had spent today. On me. Not by my choice, either. I’d given up a damn good fight, trying to dissuade him from spending so much. I’d begged, pleaded, demanded, threatened to quit. He ignored my begging, pleading, and demanding. As far as my threat to quit went, he warned me if I quit he’d hunt me down and drag me back to work.

There was absolutely no stopping him.

At the end of our shopping extravaganza, I had a mountain of new clothes and shoes. All of them gorgeous. A few of them terribly expensive. The bags were crammed in the trunk of the car, and exhausted, I flopped into the backseat with Kameron. My eyelids were heavy. My eyes were gritty, as if someone had dumped a bucket of sand in them.

I yawned.

“I shouldn’t have kept you out so late,” he said, lifting an arm to drape it across my seat back.

“I’m okay. Just sleepy.”

He pulled me against him, cupping my head and forcing it to the side so it rested on his shoulder. Immediately, those waves of warmth started pulsing through me again.

Would they ever stop? And how would I ever be just his administrative assistant if he was going to continue to touch me, hold me, pull me closer to him?

Now that he’d promised not to hold me to our agreement, I didn’t have a reason to find a new job . . . or did I?

“Rest,” he ordered.

Fighting to ignore the desire building inside my body, I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing. Slowly. Deep inhalation. Slow exhalation. In. Out.

I felt my body growing heavy.

He pulled me tighter against him, and I could feel the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. His body heat warmed me, and a sleepy contentment spread through me.

This was so nice. I felt protected and safe. More than I’d ever felt in my life.

I’d always been the caregiver in our family. Me. I’d been the shoulder my brother had leaned on. It was so nice having someone for me to lean on for once. Really nice.

A tiny moan of contentment slipped from my lips.

“Are you okay?” he asked. The low rumble of his voice vibrated through my body.

“Yes. I’m fine. I’m good.”

“Excellent.”

The car pulled to a stop. Kameron gave my shoulder a little shake. “See there? It’s the Empire State Building.”

I turned toward him, following his motion as he pointed out his window.

“The architecture—” His head swiveled. He froze.

We were nose to nose.

Mere inches separated our mouths.

My gaze was locked to his.

It felt like someone had sucked all the air out of the car. I pulled in a little gasp. It wasn’t enough.

His head tipped closer, closer.

Ohmygod. I held my breath. My heart started pounding. My eyelids fell over my sleepy eyes.

His lips found mine, lingered, barely touching. The contact was so light it tickled. I quivered.

“Abigail,” he whispered, his breath a soft caress that made tiny, sharp blades of need pierce my body.

“Kameron?” I answered, unsure why he’d said my name.

“Stop me. Stop me now.”

I didn’t want to, dammit. I wasn’t even sure if I could.

“That’s an order,” he said with a little more force.

I lifted a hand to his chest, flattened it. I could feel his heart pounding through his clothes, the swift rise and fall of his breaths. His shirt was soft under my touch, but beneath that lay tight sinew and firm muscle. My fingertip found something small and hard. I explored that sharp little thing, running my fingertip back and forth across it, and Kameron sucked in a gasp.

“That’s not helping.” It was a growl. Low and sexy and full of danger.

I couldn’t help giggling. I felt powerful and powerless at the same time. With the mere flick of a fingertip I could make this large, strong, dangerous man quake. But at the same time, I was falling under the spell of the lust blossoming inside of me. In no time it would overpower me. I could feel it.

“Miss Barnes,” he repeated. He hadn’t moved. Neither had I. We were both frozen in place. I was warring with myself, trying to will my arm to move, trying to convince my muscles to contract so I could push him back. It wasn’t working. “Abigail.”

“Yes, sir?” Even to my own ears, my voice sounded heavy and laced with need.

His words echoed in my head.
There was something about you. I . . . wanted you
.

He groaned, jerked me toward him, and kissed me.

Instantly, my body flamed with need.

I whimpered, my lips parting, and his tongue slipped inside, filling my mouth with his sweet, intoxicating flavor. It caressed mine. His lips gliding smoothly. His hands exploring my back, fingers curling around the back of my jacket.

“Dammit,” he whispered between thrusts of his tongue. The kiss was becoming more intense, as the ripples of heat spreading through me grew in strength. There was no way I could stop it now. Absolutely none. I surrendered to my weakness and grabbed two fists full of his hair, making sure he wouldn’t stop either.

My tongue tangled with his. And his hands reached down, cupped my ass. In a single heartbeat, he unbuckled my belt, lifted me off the seat, and plunked me down on his lap, legs straddling his hips. I ground my throbbing center against the bulge in his pants, wishing there were no clothes between us. I ached for him to fill me, to stroke away the burning need deep inside.

Releasing his hair, I reached down and tried to pull his shirt off, but I couldn’t. He wasn’t letting me. His hands were busy too. Moving up my sides, fingertips grazing the outsides of my covered breasts before cupping my face, holding me in place so he could deepen the kiss.

Oh, how I loved the way he took control. I shuddered. I whimpered. I would have pleaded if I could speak. Responding to his kiss, my tissues swelled, clenching and unclenching. The scent of my desperation filled the air. I sucked in a deep breath, then let it out in a little huff when he fisted my hair and jerked my head back.

“Must stop,” he grumbled against the base of my throat. His tongue flicked over my skin, and my right side was instantly coated in goose bumps.

“No, please.” I rocked my hips back and forth to the pounding of my blood through my body. My fingers curled around leather, grasping it, holding on. “Please don’t stop. I want this. I want you.”

One second I was on his lap, writhing, breathless, dizzy. And the next I was falling against the door. I was still breathless and dizzy, but he wasn’t touching me anymore.

Angled over me, he said, “I meant what I said. You don’t have to—”

“I want to.”

“No.” His lips were gleaming, his face flushed. “I won’t do this to you. I won’t.” His voice softened as he added, “You deserve so much more, Abigail. A hell of a lot better than me.” He helped me return to a seminormal sitting position. “Whether you realize it now or not, believe me, I’m doing you a favor by stopping this before it gets out of hand.”

“O-okay.” I blinked at him a few times, then turned away. He was probably right about that. He probably was doing me a huge favor by putting an end to all of this.

But at the moment, 99 percent of me didn’t want to believe it.

He cleared his throat. “I think we need to put a little distance between us. Tomorrow I’ll put you on a flight back home.”

My heart sank to my toes. “Yes, sir.”

“Dammit, I’m sorry.” He sighed. “I’m really fucking with your head. I can’t keep doing that. I won’t keep doing it.”

Staring out the window, so he couldn’t see my face, I said, “Like you said, I’m hardly helping—”

“If I hadn’t started it in the first place, it wouldn’t be a problem now. Besides, it isn’t fair to ask you to make up for my weakness. I’m the one who needs to get his shit together. I will. I’ll do it for you.”

Not sure what to say, I nodded and tried to concentrate on the lights and bustle of New York at night.

 

Roughly thirty-six hours later, I went to work, back at the office, to find an e-mail in my in-box. It was from Kameron. My heart started galloping in my chest as I clicked it.

I hadn’t spoken with him since that night in the cab. He’d said good night when we had returned to the condo, and the next morning there was a driver and an airline ticket waiting for me. I was taken to the airport and flew home alone.

I missed him.

I missed him a lot.

And for several reasons, including how much I missed him, I decided to put my job hunt on hold.

Kam.

He’d called himself Kam. To me, that was a sign of intimacy. That right there lifted my mood. So did the rest of the e-mail. The truth had been confirmed. It hadn’t been Kam. I’d been wrong. Was I ever glad of that!

Feeling a little lighter, I went about my day. Time dragged a bit, since Kam hadn’t left me with much to do. I answered his phone and took messages, e-mailing them to him as they came in. Otherwise, I watched the hours tick by until lunchtime. For the first time since I’d taken the job as Kam’s assistant, I went down to the employee cafeteria-slash-diner for lunch. The company had a pretty nice setup down there. There was a cook and a limited selection of entrées and side dishes along with a salad bar and made-to-order hot and cold sandwiches. Before my promotion, I’d go down and eat with Julie Pfeifer. A tiny blonde with big blue eyes and bigger black-framed glasses, and a cool, somewhat quirky personal style, Julie worked in the cubicle kitty-corner to mine. I hadn’t spoken to her since I’d been promoted.

As I stepped into the room, the scent of the food made my stomach rumble. I glanced around and found Julie standing in line, waiting to place her order. Today she was wearing a funky jacket, high-waisted pencil skirt, and platform shoes. I went up to her and smiled. “Hi.”

“Oh. Hi,” she said, looking surprised. “I thought you’d left.”

“Left?”

“Fired,” she said, leaning closer. “That was the rumor.”

“No. My brother was fired. Not me.”

“Oh?” Her brows lifted.

“I changed departments,” I added, avoiding what I knew she wanted to hear about—the reason for my brother’s departure.

“Ah. Cool. Where are you at now?”

The cook placed her hands on the metal counter and looked askance at Julie.

To the cook, Julie said, “I’ll take a Reuben please. Toasted.” The cook nodded, then turned to me.

“Nothing for me, thanks.”

The cook started preparing Julie’s sandwich, and we stepped aside to wait.

“Where are you working now?” she asked.

“Up on the tenth floor.”

“Really? Tenth?” Her smile was a little strained. I sensed she wasn’t just surprised by my news. She was surprised and a little irritated, or perhaps jealous. I decided not to disclose any more.

“How are things going in Purchasing?”

“You know, same old same old. I wish they’d fire Clarence. He’s such a micromanager. Drives me insane.”

“I feel for you.” That was no lie. Clarence, a retired U.S. Air Force officer, nitpicked every minute detail of a job, even the most mundane. It was enough to drive anyone crazy.

Julie leaned closer to me and whispered, “Any way you could hook me up with a department change?”

“I don’t know. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks.”

The cook slid a plate onto the steel counter, and Julie grabbed it, setting it on her tray. We moved down to the next section for the fries and preplated salads. I set a small chef’s salad on her tray, and down we went to the cashier to pay. I paid for both our lunches, and together we filled our drink cups and took a seat at a table near a window.

“Thanks for buying my lunch,” Julie said as she smoothed her napkin over her lap.

“After all the times you’d paid for mine, I owe you.”

“I bought what, twice? And all you had was a piece of fruit and a drink.”

“I still owe you,” I said as I poked at my salad. “And I’ll see what I can do about the transfer.”

“Thank you.”

We chatted while we ate. It was nice. I hadn’t realized how isolated I was up in my fancy office. When I headed back up, I started to wish I was following Julie back to my old cubby. All it took was a small reminder about the piddly paycheck that went with that tiny workspace that changed my mind. Quickly.

At least I had something to do now. I composed an e-mail, asking Kam if he knew of anyone up on the tenth floor needing an administrative assistant. I wished to recommend someone. He responded within seconds saying he’d take her name and see what he could do.

Feeling like I’d accomplished something worthwhile, I concentrated on booking Kam’s appointments for next week, then called it a day. Outside of lunch with Julie, the e-mail about her move, and the little bit of busy work I’d done, it had been a really boring day. I missed Kam as much when the day was over as I had when it first started. It was strange walking past his empty desk, through his empty office. Strange and lonely.

And he wouldn’t be back until Monday. I hoped the rest of the week would pass faster.

But of course, it didn’t.

Time crawled slower than a sleeping turtle.

The only highlights of those days were the brief and much too infrequent e-mails or texts I received from Kam. By Friday afternoon, I was literally counting down the minutes until the weekend. I was shutting down my computer when I received an e-mail from him.