Defiant Mistress, Ruthless Millionaire(16)

She'd let Irene know that she would be spending the weekend with Josh and her mentor had expressed her approval.

"Make sure you find out whatever you can," she'd insisted. "Leave no stone unturned."

Finally, it was five o'clock on Friday afternoon and Callie was  finalising her backup process when the hairs on the back of her neck  prickled and a deep sense of awareness permeated her body.

"I thought this week would never end."

Josh's lips were close to her ear and she shivered as he bent his head  to kiss her softly against the pulse that now fluttered erratically in  her neck. He swivelled her chair around and drew her to her feet,  pulling her against him and slanting his lips across hers like a man  who'd been denied human contact for far too long.

Callie gave herself over to his embrace. She knew all too well how he felt.

"Let's go," he murmured against her lips. "Or I might not make it home."

Every muscle in her body clenched on the surge of arousal that swept  through her. If he asked, she'd let him have her on her desk, the floor,  anywhere as long as he'd assuage the clamouring need inside. It was  probably just as well that he'd kept his distance these past two days or  she'd have been a quivering wreck and rendered incapable of doing her  job.

"My things are in the back of my car," she replied.

They travelled together in the elevator to the underground car park,  stopping only for a few minutes for her to retrieve her bag before they  were in the Maserati and driving along Tamaki Drive toward St Heliers.

Traffic along the waterfront was heavy and by the time Josh hit the  automatic gate and garage door openers he was in a fever pitch to get  Callie upstairs and into the master suite. If it hadn't been for the  matter of protection, he would have eschewed the master suite in favour  of any flat surface. He made a mental note to ensure that didn't become a  problem in the near future.

He grabbed up her bag and took her hand and, after disarming the  internal alarm system, led her up the main staircase and straight to his  bedroom.

He almost hated the insatiable hunger that infused him when she was  around. Hated it yet welcomed it with every breath in his body. Their  physical union       was an unexpected, yet very welcome, addition to  their working relationship and Josh had no doubt it would take some  considerable time to burn out.

Callie reached for him the second he slammed the bedroom door behind  them-shoving his jacket off his shoulders and wrenching his shirttails  from the waistband of his trousers. He loosened his tie and ripped it  from beneath his collar even as she undid the buttons that ran down the  front of his shirt. Then her hands were on his chest. He let out a groan  as she scratched her nails lightly across the flat disks of his  nipples.

She quickly replaced her nails with her lips, her teeth gently rasping  over his tender skin while her hands slid down his abdomen and to his  waistband. He felt his trousers slip down his legs, felt her hand reach  deftly inside his briefs and then, gloriously, felt her free his  erection-her fingers wrapping instinctively around him with just the  right pressure.

Josh reached beneath her dress. Rucking the fabric up over her thighs,  her hips, until he could tug at the scrap of nonsense she called  underwear. His fingers slipped between her legs and he groaned again as  he felt her wetness. He rubbed her sensitive flesh and caught her  answering plea with his lips as she pressed herself harder against his  fingers.

He walked her backwards until he felt her knees buckle against the side  of the king-sized sleigh bed that dominated his room. She fell gently  backwards onto the bed and Josh reached for the top drawer of his  bedside cabinet, grabbing the box of condoms and scattering its contents  onto the bed bedside them.

Callie's throaty laugh as she saw what he was doing caused him to smile  in response, but then he was all seriousness as, sheathed, he positioned  himself at her entrance. Dammit, but he'd planned to take it slow with  her this weekend. Make every second, every stroke, count. But the fever  that raged through his veins demanded to be assuaged right here, right  now.

He plunged inside her welcoming heat and felt her inner muscles contract  around him in a velvet fist. He nearly lost it right there, but somehow  he found the strength to withdraw and drive home again, and again,  until her scream of completion rent the air between them and he could  finally let go with everything he had.                       
       
           



       

Wave after wave swamped him and he collapsed against Callie, his chest  heaving, his heart thumping as if he'd completed a marathon. She sucked  everything out of him in a way no woman had ever done before. When he  was capable, he rolled onto his side and lay there next to her on the  bed. Eventually, he propped himself up on an elbow.

"Are you okay?" he asked, smoothing a lock of hair from her face as she  lay staring up at the ceiling, her legs still splayed, her dress still  around her waist.

"I don't think I've ever been more okay in my life," she answered,  turning her head to look at him. "How can it keep getting better?"

Josh smiled, a swell of pride rolling through him. "We have this weekend  to find out. C'mon, we'll grab a quick shower then let's see about  dinner."

He sat up and removed his shoes and socks, grinning ruefully at his  total disarray as the incongruity of their appearance struck home. He  kicked away his trousers and shrugged off his shirt before reaching for  Callie and helping her to remove her dress and bra. He led her through  to the cream-and-gold marble master bathroom and turned on the faucets  in the massive double shower.

Slowly and tenderly he bathed her, taking extra care between her legs,  trailing his soapy hands over her breasts and relishing their fullness  before he rinsed her and pushed her gently from the shower stall.

"If you don't go now I won't be responsible for my actions," he explained.

Through the steamy enclosure he watched as she leisurely dried herself  and walked naked back into the bedroom. Josh turned the faucets to full  cold, standing beneath the needle-sharp spray until he knew he'd be able  to follow her without throwing her back on the bed for round two.

Restraint, control. They'd been his touchstones for as long as he could  remember, yet Callie Rose Lee had effectively rendered him useless in  that regard. Somehow that didn't bother him as much as it should. He'd  always sworn he'd never settle down until he'd avenged his mother's  sorrow and made his father pay for his abandonment, but with Callie he  almost began to wonder if his plan didn't need some revision. Whether  there wasn't room for both in his life. It was certainly something worth  exploring, he decided.

Saturday morning the weather turned to rain and as Josh had excused  himself after breakfast to attend to an urgent call from one of his  business contacts in Europe, Callie found herself with time on her hands  and very little to do.

She wandered through the downstairs living room that led out to the pool  area where they'd dined together only a week ago. She shook her head  slightly. A week. It felt like so much longer.

Her body appeared to be in total agreement. Already she missed Josh's  proximity with a physical ache-or maybe that ache had more to do with  the way her body had been thoroughly, deliciously, used through the dark  hours. A smile pulled at her lips.

She'd loved every second of last night. After they'd both dressed,  they'd gone to the kitchen where they'd cooked a meal together, taking  their plates out onto the tiled terrace where they sat on the descending  stairs overlooking the pool. With their dinner balanced on their laps  and a glass of red wine each, they'd eaten in companionable silence  before heading back indoors.

They'd started to watch a movie in Josh's home theatre but it hadn't  taken long before the gentle stroke of his fingers across the back of  her hand had ignited desire once more. They hadn't even made it out of  the room before their clothing had hit the carpet. Callie had to admit  to a distinct soft spot for the wide and comfortable armchairs that had  allowed for some inventive foreplay before Josh had pulled her to the  floor where she'd straddled his body, taking him deep inside, and riding  him to an incendiary climax.

Even now, the memory pulled at something deep inside her. Something  she'd never allowed herself to feel before. Something that felt scarily  like the beginnings of love.

Don't be crazy, she told herself sternly. You're not supposed to fall  for the guy. You're supposed to be gathering information-and what had  she discovered? Nothing other than the fact that he worked hard and  expected the same in return from his people. That and the fact that the  man made love like a dream. His hands, his mouth, he used everything in  his arsenal to bring her pleasure such as she'd never known-and it was  addictive. He was addictive.