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Without waiting her consent, he swept his ue the asp, and he took full advantage, delving deep into her moist heat

She made the sweetest sounds He sed them up as he devoured every inch of her htly at it, teasing it to fullness and then he sucked it between his teeth

Her tongue stroked tentatively over his, just light brushes with the tip and then she grew bolder, taking a more active part in the kiss

His hands delved into her hair He loved her hair Long and glorious, the color like a russet sunset over the desert The te

He fumbled with the clip and released its hold on her hair It tuathered the strands between his fingers, mesmerized by their silky smoothness

He drank deeply, not wanting theher, but he wanted more He wanted to work his mouth down the curve of her jaw to her neck He wanted to peel every layer of clothing froue over her soft skin

He wondered what her breasts would feel like in his hands and what her nipples would taste like, how they’d feel as he sucked them into his mouth

Oh, yes, he’d spent a lot of ti that could be

deemed too provocative She was fashionable, yes, but he secretly wished she’d wear soet a hint of her full, ripe breasts

Soon Soon, he’d unwrap all of her He’d possess her She’d be his

He needed air and he broke away only long enough to pull oxygen into his starving lungs She gasped along with him, and then he started at the corner of her mouth and licked and kissed his way across to the other corner

Her s ele trail of fierce need in her wake His entire body came alive, and all she’d done was touch him Innocently

They wound up around his neck and then her fingertips just delved into the hair at his nape He shuddered, and it was all he could do to retain his tight hold on his control

His body screa her caveman-style to the bedroom

He’d rip off her clothes and spend the night taking her over and over until they both succumbed to exhaustion

His mind yelled at him to be careful To take it slow Not to push her so far away that she never returned

It was that fear of driving her away permanently that finally pulled him back from the brink of insanity

With great reluctance, he pulled back His hands were still tangled up in her hair, and he carefully extricated them from the heavy coil that lay over her shoulders

Her eyes were cloudy, a gorgeousto throw caution to the wind and continue his seduction

“That,” he whispered, “is what I’ve been wanting to do ever since I saw you across a crowded roo to do with Maddox Communications and Reese Enterprises”

Her hand fluttered to her mouth and she stared at him with shocked awareness

“Oh, God, Evan What are we going to do?”

He sently and slowly pulled her hand away from her swollen lips

“What we’re going to do is get your pitch out of the way to Whatever happens afterward, we take it as it comes”

Eight

There was no need for Celia to set her alar at the ceiling, her senses co as simple as a kiss

No That kiss could never ever be called simple

She’d thought to go over her pitch Mentally replay everything she wanted to say until it flowed seah her mind But all she’d been able to do was lay there and wonder how she was going to s with Evan on a strictly professional level

He kissed like a dream

He’d make love like a dream

And the sick thing was she’d never find out

She rolled over and buried her face in her pillow

Celia, Celia

The ad a very tight, very dangerous line It was bad enough that she was here with Evan Sharing a suite with Evan Her groan ed up by the pillow

The least she could have done was insisted on a separate roo his faed

Friendship Okay, she could handle a friendship with Evan She liked him He asked her to consider this a personal favor As a friend And she’d forget the kiss Forget that he had made his intention to make love to her abundantly clear

All she had to do was get through her presentation, go to a rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception with Evan—as his fiancée—and then she could go home and put him firmly back in his neat, tidy little corner

She struggled out of bed, knowing it would take her the better part of an hour to erase the look of someone who hadn’t slept Evan had ordered rooht, and she wanted plenty of tiain

She purposely toned down her looks, choosing subtle ht her eyes, which were her best feature And she pulled her hair back into a tight knot and used hairspray to keep the wispy tendrils fro looks No te utterly stupid

To her immense relief, when she walked out of her bedroom, Evan was in total business mode He didn’t stare at her like he was set to devour her He gave her a cursory glance andtable where breakfast had already been served

“We can eat and talk, or we can eat and then talk Strictly up to you,” he said when she took her seat

“We can eat and talk,” she said “I’, and I planned it to be more conversational than a formal presentation”

He nodded approvingly “Great Let’s dig in and get started then”

There was a moment of transition where they ate in silence before Celia shut off everything but the task

at hand This was her career and she knew she was daotten to where she was and survived the pitfalls without the ability to put her game face on in the face of adversity

“I studied your last ad caet audience”