Beyond The Boardroom(15)

"No waiting," she agreed, wrapping her bare legs around his waist and hanging on.

He turned quickly, braced her back against the wall and when she rose up  slightly in his arms, Shane pushed his body hard into hers. Rachel  groaned as he filled her. Her body stretched to its limits to  accommodate him, she bore down hard, taking him even deeper inside.

Bracing one hand on the wall to her side and one hand on his shoulder,  Rachel helped all she could, but Shane didn't need assistance. He took  her weight and held her easily, lifting her up and down on his length  until they were both tortured with a burning, fiery need that sizzled  between them.

Again and again, he withdrew only to plunge into her depths one more  time. His breathing was ragged, his eyes glazed. Rachel's heart pounded  until it was nothing but a deafening roar in her own ears.

Shane couldn't think. Could hardly see. All he could do was feel. And  what he was feeling was even more intense than anything he'd experienced  the night before.

Most of the day, he'd tried to convince himself that the night with  Rachel hadn't been as amazing as he remembered it. Now he knew that for  the sad lie it was.

Rachel took him to places he'd never imagined. Made him feel things he'd thought himself incapable of. Made him want more.

Her body surrounded him, her mouth opened on a sigh and her eyes closed  as the first wild, frantic pumping release jolted through her. He  watched pleasure claim her for as long as he could and then finally, he  allowed himself to follow after her.

She hung limp in his arms and Shane was grateful for the wall at her back.

Otherwise, they'd both be lying in a puddle on the floor.

"You okay?" he whispered.

She chuckled. "I'll let you know when I get feeling back in my legs."

He smiled. "I hear that."

"Shane-"

He dropped his head to her shoulder. "Let's not start the ‘mistake' talk again."

"Why not?" she asked quietly. "Seems appropriate."

He lifted his head and looked down into her eyes again. Strange, he'd  never really noticed what a beautiful shade of green her eyes were  before last night.                       
       
           



       

And now he couldn't seem to tear his gaze away.

"I didn't come over here tonight to do this."

"I know that," she said and shifted position slightly.

That small movement was enough to wake his body up and stir fresh  desire. He hissed in a breath and tightened his hold on her. "But I'm  not sorry we did it."

She leaned her head back against the wall and inhaled sharply as he  pushed his hardening body into her again, setting off a fireworks  display of sensation.

"No," she admitted, "I guess I'm not, either."

"Glad to hear that," he said tightly, pushing them away from the wall  and starting for the bedroom again. "Because I don't think we're  finished."

She shivered and lowered herself onto his length as hard as she could. "I think you're right."

He walked right up to the bed, reached down and dragged the quilt back,  then fell onto the mattress, still fully clothed and deep within her  body.

Rachel laughed and he noticed a tiny dimple in her right cheek. He'd never noticed that before, either.

"Maybe you should get undressed first," she said, then gasped when he rocked his hips against hers.

"After," he muttered and rolled to his back, taking her atop him where he could watch her. "I'm not stopping now."

"Good idea." Smiling, she reached for the hem of her little T-shirt and  whipped it up and off, tossing it into the shadows of the small room.  Then, watching him, she covered her breasts with his hands and twisted  her hips on him, creating an unbelievable friction that stole his  breath.

Riding him, she took him places he'd never thought to go and couldn't  wait to visit again. The bed beneath him was soft and smelled of  lavender. The woman above him was amazing and her scent was soap,  shampoo and woman.

Like a man possessed he guided her hips, steering her into a  mind-numbing rhythm. She was the only thing in the world he could see.  Feel. And all too soon, an explosion burst up between them, leaving his  body shattered, his bones shaken and his heart quivering.

Two hours later, they were naked, lying in a pool of white, thrown  through the windows from the streetlights outside. Rachel stared at the  ceiling and listened to Shane's ragged breathing.

Her own heartbeat was racing and her body was still sizzling when she  acknowledged that once again, she'd been an idiot. But how could she  possibly have turned him down, when all she'd been able to think about  since the night before was being with him again?

Despite how wonderful her body felt, her heart was aching. By giving in  to the urge to be with him, she was only setting herself up for more  pain.

This had to stop.

"You're thinking," he murmured.

"Aren't you?" she countered.

"No." He turned his head on the pillow to look at her. Reaching out, he  skimmed one hand across her bare belly and Rachel shivered. "When I'm  with you I don't want to think. Don't want you to, either."

She sighed now. "Not thinking is what got us here in the first place."

"Exactly."

Eyes closed, she savored his touch for a second or two, indulging  herself. Oh, she wanted him to take her again. Wanted to take him again.  And because she wanted it so badly, she rolled out from under his touch  and slid off the bed.

Now that her blood wasn't on fire, she could think more clearly. And  though it broke her heart to admit it even to herself, she knew that  being wanted would never be enough for her.

She wanted love.

She wanted family.

And she would never get that from Shane.

He blew out a frustrated breath and pushed himself up onto one elbow. "Rachel-"

"Shane, this just can't keep happening," she said, turning to find her  clothes, then snatch them up off the floor. In the pale wash of light,  she pulled her T-shirt on, then struggled into her sweats, hopping first  on one foot, then the other. When she was finished, she picked up  Shane's clothes, too, and tossed them at him.

He grabbed at them then dropped the pile onto the bed beside him. "You know, maybe there's a reason we keep ending up here."

Impatient with both herself and him, she huffed out a breath and shook  her hair back from her face. "Oh, there's a reason all right. Neither  one of us can be trusted."

He gave her a weary laugh. "You may have a point."

A stab of something cold and lonely poked at her insides but Rachel  fought to ignore it. She wouldn't let him see what his simple statement  had done to her.

Instead she said, "This is why I had to quit, Shane. Why I still have to."                       
       
           



       

Muttering darkly, he rolled off the bed and stood up to get dressed. As  he stepped into his clothes, he argued with her. "What we've had with  each other has nothing to do with work."

"Of course it does." She planted her hands on her hips, lifted her chin  and continued. "You know how it was today. We could hardly talk to each  other."

"Didn't seem to have any trouble tonight."

"That-" she waved her hand at the bed "-is not talking."

He tossed his suit coat onto the rumpled mattress. "Rachel, you're making too big a deal out of this."

"And maybe you're taking it too lightly."

Shane pushed one hand through his hair and yanked while he went at it.  The pain shooting through his skull was a small, but welcome distraction  from the woman making him nuts. "What do you want me to say?"

So much, she thought, but didn't say. Oh, she wanted it all. She wanted  him making love with her and being in love with her. But since she  couldn't have one, she wouldn't have the other.

In the moonlight, his green eyes flashed with annoyance and something  else she couldn't quite identify. Maybe it was just as well.

If nothing else, she at least knew that her decision to quit her job and  move on had been a good one. Now all she needed was the courage to go  ahead with the plan. Somehow, somewhere, she found the strength to  straighten her spine.

"I want you to say you accept my resignation," she whispered.

He grabbed his jacket and shrugged into it. Tugging at the lapels until  it hung right, he just stared at her for a long moment. Rachel held her  breath and counted the seconds as they ticked past as steadily as a  heartbeat.

Finally, though, Shane nodded. "If it's what you want."

Want? No.

Need? Yes.

"It is. Thanks."

"Right." He nodded, looked uneasily around the room, then focused his  gaze on her again. "I'd better go. I'll see you at the office tomorrow?"