The Secrets of Seduction - Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,17

matching up panties to the bras he’d already selected.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, glancing at the salesperson who was standing uncertainly off to the side, not sure if she should approach.

“I’m picking out bras and panties for you. Not the type of stuff you are probably wearing right now, but things that are sexier. Pieces I’d like to see you in.”

She shook her head again. “I can’t afford all of this!” she hissed, glancing towards the salesperson again.

“I’m buying it all for you,” he told her, not bothering to look up as he added more pieces to the embarrassingly large pile.

“I am not going to wear those for you, Malcolm!” she told him firmly.

“Ella, there is something burning between us and we need to do something about it. Otherwise, whatever building we are in is going to catch fire. Now I think we should simply take care of this lust and get it out of the way. It’s hot enough that it will eventually burn out. Then we can get back to our lives.” He paused, looking almost angry with her for the situation they found themselves in. “Are you on board or are you going to keep trying to pretend this isn’t happening?”

Ella opened her mouth, then closed it. What he said made sense. What she couldn’t reconcile about the whole scenario was her mother and this hatred she’d had for Malcolm and his father for the past several years. Her mother had been so….desperate the afternoon she’d been fired. So humiliated! Not that she’d loved her job, but it had brought in an income and she was proud of the work she’d done for the estate. She’d cooked marvelous meals, cleaned up after the older man who was generally not very nice. Then to be summarily fired…and sick…well, Ella’s mother hadn’t been able to figure out how to move forward.

Maybe he was right. Perhaps she should use him just like his father used her mother all of those years ago. Could she do it? Could she use a man sexually and just walk away when their attraction burned out?

What was the alternative though? To continue to pretend as if there wasn’t a crazy lust that consumed her every time they were within eyeshot of each other? That didn’t make sense either.

And yet, Ella wasn’t the kind of person who could use another. It was the whole point of her career. Ella loved exposing unfair circumstances so that public pressure, or law enforcement, forced the perpetrators to face their crimes. It was what she did, who she was.

“You’re over analyzing this, Ella. It’s just basic human nature.”

She stared up at him, trying to reconcile everything. Unfortunately, there were too many issues coming at her. She couldn’t keep up. “Is it though?” she asked him. “Are we really that animalistic that we should simply follow our urges?”

He smiled slightly at that. “Is that what you think is going on between us? Simple animalistic urges?” he mocked. Moving closer, he shook his head. “No, Ella. That’s not what is happening. I agree that there is something primal about our need for each other. And yes, I feel a strong urge to pull you into that dressing room and do some pretty raunchy things to your delectable body.” He paused, pulling her closer. “But that’s not all that’s happening, is it?”

Ella looked up into his eyes and silently acknowledged that her opinion of him had changed. From the night he’d saved her in the warehouse, she’d struggled to keep thinking of him as the bad guy. But if he wasn’t the bad guy, then who was? And what was happening between them? Even now, as he pulled her closer to him, she wondered what he wanted from her. More importantly, she wondered if she could give that to him.

“You’re moving too fast, Malcolm,” she whispered. “I need time.”

“How much time?” he asked as his fingers tightened on her waist.

She had to laugh at his impatience, although it also felt really nice. No man had ever wanted her like this. Yes, she’d had men find her attractive. But that was different.

“I don’t know. Can we just…?”

“Yes. We can slow down,” he said, finishing her sentence. He laughed slightly. “At least, we can try. Is that better? Does that give you the reassurance that you need?”

She smiled and, for the first time since she’d met him again, Ella moved closer to him. “Yes. Thank you.”

He stared at her for a long moment, then