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She folded her ar self-consciously at the cables knit into her sleeves The thought of his laughing at her for being a virgin didn’t appeal, but she had to tell him “Look, I’m not…what you think I am”

“What I think,” he said, nudging aside a pile of tu Victor wanted” He clasped her ar them backward so her breasts arched into his muscled chest

She gasped, stiffening in shock, hands splaying over the ridges of his ribs, fingertips unconsciously e beneath warh her taut abdole and ache to be touched “Wh-what?”

“Victor couldn’t have you and that means I must Do you have a passport?”

She couldn’t think when he touched her, but couldn’t draay, trapped by his strength and her oeakness But he was talking as if she were mere spoils of war

“Did you travel with hierated patience

“I was supposed to, but he died before I went anywhere Go back to that bit about why you…” She couldn’t bring herself to say “want” when it sounded as though the sexual attraction drowning her wasn’t affecting him She shivered in a hot-cold shudder of uneasiness while blood rushed under her skin, flushing war her breasts feel swollen and sensitized Her hips longed to press into his, seeking the hard length that had nudged her when they kissed

He knehat he was doing to her A saze dropped to her lips He started to lower his head

Jerking hers back, she gasped, “I haven’t agreed” But did she really want to step onto the street at er possessions and become one of the homeless? Her few shallow friendships were all with people she worked with They wouldn’t take her in for fear of losing their jobs She didn’t have a cushion of savings, just a credit card she couldn’t pay off if she didn’t have an income

The direness of her situation began to hit home At least this afternoon she’d been sure she could find some kind of menial work, but not now Any character reference out of the fir a look fro eyes, she whispered, “You’re a real piece of work, you know that?”

“I lostdark flickering in his gaze “Whichto ive in, Clair”

She was te to lose and no one to answer to while he was dangling—what? A night? A reprieve at any rate, one that advertised a fringe benefit of physical satiation she had never expected to want The eh to make her ache, but she wasn’t in the market for a real relationship, so…

“Why extend your takeover to include eh out of scooping up the firm from a dead man?”

“He was still alive when I started proceedings and no, I didn’t get anything near what I wanted Don’t make out like you’re so the predator You get to keep the money,” he taunted softly

“No matter what?” The jerky toss of her head was supposed to convey brash confidence The question was real, though She couldn’t help being seduced by the prospect of running the foundation her ithout needing approval on every detail Without having to reveal that each of those details touched her personally and that hy she was fighting so hard for the kinky,” she warned “If you’re looking for soirl in the secretarial pool”

“I’m not the submissive in any relationship,” he assured her dryly “I like straight sex and lots of it I don’t hurt woht play with do her…” He flexed his hands on her elbows,her breasts press into his chest