The Office Summer Picnic (Force Me) (3 page)

Then his lips were at her neck, his hand in her hair pulling her head back to more fully expose the long line of her throat. She thought he’d kiss or lick her again. Or maybe even bite her skin. But he didn’t. He held her gaze, his intense, light blue eyes staring at her in an unbreakable hold.

“You have today and tomorrow to make up your mind to stay. After that, I’ll have to take matters into my own hands. Since you’re in charge of the catering at the picnic Saturday, I know you’ll be there.” He raised an eyebrow, obviously wanting her to confirm his statement. Shenice couldn’t help the barely perceptible nod of her head. “If you haven’t withdrawn your resignation before that and come home, you will after that picnic.” He paused three heartbeats before adding. “One way or another.”

They stared one another down for several moments before he saw whatever he was looking for in her face. With a half smile that could only be described as wicked, he stepped back, pulling her from her desk and straightening her clothing with fingers that were far too steady for Shenice’s liking. Hell, she was shaking like a leaf! He seemed to be completely unaffected. Which just proved to Shenice she was nothing more than a possession to him. Like his car or his house. He didn’t love her. If she left, it would only be a hit to his massive ego, not a heart-rending experience like it would be for her.

She definitely had to find a way out of the picnic. Now.

Leaving Shenice’s office without confessing his love for her had been the hardest thing Alistair had ever done in his life, not to mention a huge gamble. The hurt she felt was palpable, and yes, she needed for him to confess how he really felt about her. However, she should have come to him with her concerns. She should have felt free enough to talk to him about what she was feeling. It stung that she hadn’t. It wasn’t that he wanted her to crawl to him, but if she needed the reassurance, if she was worried or concerned, all she had to do was say so. By now he would’ve hoped she’d realized if she needed something from him he would provide it without hesitation. Shenice need to learn to trust him, to talk to him, because he was not letting her slip through his fingers.

The seduction began that same day, though it wasn’t of the conventional type. From the moment he’d left her office, he hadn’t let up on the pressure. He found ways of getting her off to herself so he could press his hips against her sweet ass, showing her how much he wanted her. Hands lingered against her curves, especially her hips. She loved it when he gripped her hips as he powered inside her. Subtlety went out the window. Several times they narrowly avoided getting caught; more than once he had to pull some obnoxious assholes aside to put a bug in their ear about looking at Shenice sideways. He had even threatened to show one person in particular his woman was
not
to be a subject of malicious gossip. Oh, he knew they would talk, but God help the person who allowed their words to reach his ears. Once or twice, he deliberately gripped her hips, holding her to him, when his two of the men who had become good friends since relocating from the home office had a clear view. The only two people in the office that he knew would never say a word.

“Look at Craig,” he’d whispered in her ear. “He sees me wanting you. Would you let me take you while he stood there and watched? He’d know you were mine. Off limits. But he’d watch you with hungry eyes and wish he could join us.”

The dirty talk not only had Shenice trembling in his arms, it fueled his desire painfully. It was risky; they had never done anything this blatant in the office. Alistair wasn’t really sure how she would take it, but she didn’t pull away. Then again, neither did she admit it turned her on. She clutched his thigh even harder than he gripped her hips, though. Surely a good sign. Unable to resist the temptation, he nipped her neck, another thing that drove her crazy. God, he wanted this woman! Cock pulsating, it was damned hard to pull away finally, but he managed to do it.

A few times, Alistair managed to get himself into position to graze his fingers ever so slightly across her breasts. Walking a very fine line between seduction and sexual harassment, once he had even allowed his fingers to circle her nipple over her clothing. Remembering how responsive she was to touch, and how very sensitive her breasts were, Alistair decided to use these to torment her a little now. His tongue swept his lower lip as he stared into her wide brown eyes. Fuck, he needed her!

“Miss me yet, baby?”

There was no answer forthcoming from her, but he noted the way her breathing became labored as her eyes traveled down to gape at the crotch of his pants. Of course his dick twitched right in front of her avid gaze as her eyes devoured him. Apparently his cock missed her every bit as much as his heart did.

By Friday afternoon, Shenice looked a tad haggard. Her hair, normally immaculate, had little loose curls springing around her face where it had come loose from the twist at the back of her head. The normally flawless, creamy mocha skin seemed to sport a permanent flush. Not to mention the rock-hard nipples that stood at attention whenever he got near. He just knew those panties were wet. Oh, how his fingers itched to find out for sure. And every time she saw him coming toward her, she shamelessly turned and fled in the opposite direction, even going so far as to enlist a friend to run interference for her. Not that it did any good. One look at the single-minded determination on his face, and the other woman had raised her hands in defeat.

“Might clue her in to the fact that you feel more than simple lust for her,” she’d murmured as she’d passed, anxious to extricate herself from the situation.

“Oh, I plan to.” Alistair wasn’t certain why he’d bothered to respond to the woman, but saying the words aloud to someone in the office other than Craig or Roth emboldened him. He was staking a claim on her for all to witness. And he didn’t give a damn if the rumors spread like wildfire. In fact, he hoped they would.

By the end of the day Friday, Shenice was no closer to finding someone to take over her part of the picnic than she had been before she’d asked to begin with. It wasn’t like there was anything to do other than fucking show up. All the work was done already. But everyone she asked simply smiled or smirked and gave her an unqualified “no.” This was all
his
fault! He’d intimidated every single person in the office, knowing no one would help her out. She would love to kick his ass, or at least cuss him out one good time, but her body was a dirty traitor that always seemed to get aroused whenever he was in the same room--which, by the way, was happening way more often than necessary. It seemed Alistair was on a personal mission to break her down, make her beg, force her to fall back into his bed.

Oh, hell, yes!

No! No, she could not be weak. All she had to do was make it through this godforsaken picnic and she was home free. From the torture, anyway.

When Saturday morning came, Shenice woke with a sense of dread tinged with...excitement? Sure, why not? Excitement. What would he do? Given the way Alistair had been acting, there was no way he would leave her alone today. Hell, she didn’t
want
him to leave her alone. What she wanted--no, what she needed--was a solid commitment from him. A declaration of love.
Anything
that said he wanted a more permanent relationship from her. Because that was exactly what she wanted from him, damn it! Didn’t she deserve to be happy? Who the hell wanted to be a pushing thirty-something “kept woman”? The bullheaded English asshole had an entire freaking week, and all he had done was torment her with all that sexy manliness. God, how she missed that manliness.

Still, she was not a toy. Okay, yeah, sometimes she did like being his personal toy, just like he was hers. But still, she was a red-blooded woman with real emotional needs. Just because a man could grab her hair with the perfect amount of pressure, or kiss her so deeply, with such authority she felt it to her soul, and just because he knew how to make her beg and not care about the fact she was begging did not mean he could just take her whenever he wished and offer her nothing in return.

Bullshit,
that annoying inner voice whispered.
You’re running because you’re scared.

The truth hurt. There was no doubt she was scared. How could she not be when she knew she was head over heels, completely, utterly entranced by a man who made her feel like she could melt into a little puddle just by looking at her like she was some kind of tasty treat, yet offered her no expectation he had feelings for her as well? It was a lie to say she didn’t suspect Alistair cared about her. So why wouldn’t he say it? What did she have to do to get him to see she really needed a verbal affirmation from him?

You could ask
...

Nope. No way was she begging any man for his love. Either he gave it freely or he didn’t really love her the way she loved him. That was the way all the magazines and advice columns said it should be. If a guy was into you, he told you.

“So, deep in thought, Little Red wandered off from the relative safety of the group right into the arms of the Big Bad Wolf.”

Shenice glanced up, startled that not only had she wandered away from the big tents and elaborate picnic set-up, but that Alistair had followed her. Because she had chosen to walk down a narrow path into a copse dense with shrubbery and trees, no one could see her, though strains of the party could be easily heard. There was no way to make a run for it; the large man was blocking her path. And he had a blanket draped casually over his arm. And two flutes and a bottle champagne in his hands.

Oh, no. No, no, no. Blatant sexuality was hard enough to resist, but romance on top of it? This was just wrong. Especially given the way his shirt was unbuttoned just enough to give her a tantalizing peek at a chest she knew to be rock hard, yet oh so comfy to lay her head against. Instead of wearing shorts like most of the partygoers, he wore light linen slacks that did nothing to hide that bulge in his crotch area.

“I was-- I mean, I didn’t...” Fuck, she couldn’t think straight. Not with the way his eyes were devouring the bright red sundress she wore. Sure, the thought had crossed her mind as she pulled it on this morning that Alistair loved her in red. He always said it complemented her skin. “I’d better get back. I
am
running the shebang.”

The man didn’t move a single, heavenly, strong muscle. Truthfully she hadn’t expected him to. Instead he advanced, forcing Shenice off the path she was on into the little clearing. Because she had failed to take in her surroundings, she quickly found herself up against a very large tree, with an equally ginormous male closing in from the front. Heart pounding, she refused to admit her current predicament made his own desire burn twice as hot. Lord, the way those blue-gray eyes practically glowed with hunger had her pussy tingling like crazy. She knew her nipples were rigid the gentle scrape of her lightweight strapless bra against them downright painful. Looking at his lips only made the pain worse. Lord, what those lips could do to a breast...

“Surely you weren’t going to let this, your final company gathering, go by without a little toast, hmmm?” Alistair’s voice had taken on a deep, deadly purrr, the kind that were they in the animal kingdom would announce she was what was for dinner. There went the floodgates deep inside her womb. “Have a drink with me?”

Of course he didn’t wait for a reply, which was good, because she couldn’t have given him one. The cat didn’t have her tongue; the little bastard seemed to have metaphorically cut it out of her mouth and run with it. As she stood there like a terrified deaf/mute, Alistair popped the cork and poured a bit of bubbly into both glasses. Shenice eyed the blanket still slung over his arms warily, but took the flute offered to her.

“I…um...”
Pull up those big girl panties, damn it!
she silently admonished herself. “Look, you had a week to say goodbye. I hardly think we need to say goodbye now.”

Surely that sounded convincing. Maybe her voice shook a little but she had meant that. Really. Truly she had.

So why was her tormentor moving in even closer? Deftly placing the bottle of champagne on the ground off to the side, he rose slowly, his face so tantalizingly close to her dress. So close she could feel his heated breath through the light material. And damn her traitorous legs for opening just a little where she stood. And double damn him for pausing right where the red material hid the apex of her thighs. It had been the devil on her shoulder that made her wear a deep red matching thong, one that was now soaking as Alistair played with her all too fragile reserve. There was point repeating to herself she wasn’t going to give in; she knew she would. Especially when he leaned forward, his nose pressing her dress against the front of her mons, and inhaled.