Awaken to Pleasure - By Nalini Singh Page 0,8

dressed in a knee-length skirt and fitted jacket, both in solid navy, looking every inch the executive assistant.

He'd wanted to groan in despair. It would've taken a blind man not to notice that she was stunning. He'd known from experience that if he gave her the slightest encouragement, she'd pull out some undoubtedly beautiful hair from that bun, undo the buttons on her jacket and sashay over.

"I need this dictation typed yesterday," he'd growled, throwing her a tape.

She'd caught it and left, without commenting on his brusqueness. Dismissing her from his mind, he'd started to race through another piece of work, aware that without a competent secretary, his day was likely to end sometime in the wee hours of the morning.

Less than half an hour later, she'd walked back in. Handing him several typed sheets, she'd picked up his handwritten edits to the contract and returned to her workstation. Wondering at her confidence, he'd turned his eyes to what she'd given him and just about died of shock.

Stalking out, he'd stood over her desk. "Name?"

"Taylor Reid." Her response had been cool.

"Do you want to be a movie star?"

Blue, blue eyes had widened. "Good God, no."

He'd grinned at that disgusted statement. It had been the first time that she'd made him smile. "Fine.

Good work. Do I have you for the next three months?"

"Yes."

His delight in having found an extremely efficient secretary hidden beneath the form of a beautiful woman had been borne out. By the end of her first week, she'd organized his office, caught up on the backlog of filing and yelled at him when he'd raised his voice to her.

And somewhere along the way, he'd found himself corning to work just to hear her tart responses to his questions, and bask in her sunny smile. They'd never crossed any line, never even touched, but in his heart he'd known that he wanted to claim her as his woman. Only his promise to himself that he'd be faithful, unlike his philandering father and womanizing half brothers, had kept him from taking her. Or perhaps it had been the fact thatTaylorhad seen him as honorable and he'd wanted to live up to her expectations.

Now, there were no barriers to what he wanted to do with sweet, sexy Taylor, and his body was demanding he make up for almost three years of abstinence, broken only by that one, bittersweet afternoon with Bonnie. After her death, he'd had plenty of offers and no trouble refusing them all. He'd thought his emotional centre had died with his child, taking with it his need for a woman's soft touch. But his reaction toTaylortold him that his body hadn't shut down, it had merely gone into hibernation, waiting for the one woman who could bring him back to life.

Taylor.

The shower shut off. Shaking his head, he pushed off the wall and headed down the stairs to the kitchen.

After her assault tonight,Taylorwould hardly be reassured if she found him waiting for her outside the bathroom, blatantly aroused and more than ready to peel off her single layer of clothing. He didn't know if he could control himself around skin pink from heat, body naked and touchable under the robe. His robe.

Then, minutes later, she walked into the kitchen, wrapped in that damn robe. "Is that coffee I smell?"

He'd kicked off his shoes in the living room and saw that she was barefoot, too. "You'll get cold on the tiles. I'll find you some socks." He didn't even to try to fight his protective instincts toward her.

She came to stand next to him, holding out a hand for the cup of coffee he held. "Coffee first."

"This is ... mine," he finished, as she stole the cup and took a big gulp. He watched her swallow, heard her sigh in appreciation and felt all sorts of things harden in his body. Her fresh, womanly scent made him want to strip her down to her glowing skin and crush her body under his, while his hands stroked and kneaded. Frowning, he backed off a couple of steps. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." She turned, cradling the cup in her palms. "Donald didn't really scare me - I guess I just felt betrayed." Disappointment edged her tone.

He understood. "You're safe here."

Her smile was glorious. "I know. I trust you."

Dio!hethought. No way in hell could he seduce hernow. "I'll get you those socks."

"Don't worry about it. Let's go in the living room instead." She put down the now empty cup. "Are