A second after she thought it, he pushed her up against his closed office door and his lips were suddenly on hers.
She could have pulled away. She could have at least tried.
She didn’t.
Instead, wanting only to forget her worries over that video and the humiliation she’d felt at Greg’s jeering voice and expression, she molded herself into his body and deepened the kiss, shuddering as she felt his hot tongue slip between her lips.
Her mind told her to stop. After all, this is what had gotten them into trouble in the first place. But his lips on hers felt too good, too right to stop.
As they kissed, he ran his hands along her curves and she couldn’t help but moan against his mouth. His touch was electric, and the fact that they were leaning up against the door of his office with his assistant sitting only feet away outside made it more dangerous somehow and therefore more exciting.
He pulled his lips from hers only to slide them down her face and to her neck. When he reached the collar of her shirt, he tugged it aside, exposing a tender patch of flesh to kiss and nibble. The part of her brain telling her to stop began to scream.
She tried to ignore it. Tried to listen to her body, which was commanding just the opposite.
She was rooting for her body. She wanted it to win.
But before she realized it, her brain took control and she said, “No, wait. Stop…”
He did. Immediately. Her body was thrown into instant grief and regret.
“Cara,” he breathed.
The sound of her name on his lips was like a drug. She had to force herself to be strong.
“We can’t do this.”
“Why not?” he said in his deep, sexy voice. “I tried to fight this. Tried to do what was appropriate. But Greg saw the video, and it’s certain others will have, too, either because Greg told them about or they found it on their own. All they had to do was Google my name, or D&M, and given I just took over the company, that isn’t farfetched. People will already think we’re sleeping together. I’m sorry for that. Sorry for the trouble it will cause you. But you already know your job is safe. There’s nothing standing in our way from dating. We can sign a dating waiver with HR. Besides helping you through any backlash with the video, I’d like to get to know you better, Cara. Dinner. Drinks. Conversation.”
Her gaze locked onto his. That was no “I’d like to talk politics over dinner” look he was giving her. That was one of those smoldering “Let’s shove the meal off the table and have at each other” kind of looks. Everything inside her began to shiver and quake. “Please…” she began, not positive what she was asking for.
“Please what, Cara?”
“Please stop looking at me like that.” It wasn’t what she really wanted to say. What she really wanted to say was, please throw me down on the desk and fuck me senseless.
He slowly pulled away. Shivering, as if the loss of his touch had chilled her all the way to her bones, she fixed her blouse with trembling fingers. Then she turned to open the door.
“Wait,” he said.
She froze. Looked over her shoulder.
He strode to his desk and bent over it.
She imagined that she was lying on top of it, legs spread…
Branden wrote something down. When he came back he had a business card in his hand. “I meant what I said when I told you I wanted to get to know you. To have dinner with you. I’m dining at home tonight. At seven. Give this to my doorman. Tell him your name and he’ll send you up.”
She looked at the card. He’d written P on it and signed it. At the bottom it said Manhattan Sky Towers.
“I didn’t agree to dinner,” she said.
He closed her hand around the card with his own. His touch caused her to convulse once more.
“In case you change your mind,” he said, “I’ll be there by seven. If dinner’s too much, just join me for a cocktail or two. In the meantime, I won’t talk to Greg, but I am going to keep an eye on him. If he bothers you again, let me know.”
She nodded, unable to formulate any words.
He reached out and smoothed down a piece of her hair. That simple act was so sweet and intimate that Cara felt the sting of tears in the corners of