Tessa fidgeted, clearly ill at ease with this topic. “It was just – kind of a strange dream I had once. A few months ago, actually. I don’t even remember most of it.”
“Liar,” he taunted. “You know you need to tell me about it now. My curiosity won’t be appeased until you do.”
She was completely flustered now, refusing to look at him as she reluctantly replied, “I was – God, this is really embarrassing.”
He leaned back against the table, crossing his arms and raising a brow. “I don’t have all day, Tessa. Out with it now.”
She began to twirl a lock of hair around her fingers. “I was laying on the table. On my back. With – ah, with my arms and legs spread out.”
Ian was instantly intrigued. “Nude?” At her nod, his voice deepened. “Bound?”
Her eyes flew up to his. “Not exactly. I mean, it felt that way but the bonds were – well, invisible, I guess.”
“And were you alone in the room during this dream?”
“No.” She shifted from one foot to the other in agitation. “Er, you were here, too.”
His smile deepened. “Was I naked?”
“God.” She closed her eyes. “No, you – you were dressed. Except for your jacket and tie.”
He stepped in close to her, trailing his fingers up and down her arms. “And what was I doing to you? Was I touching you? “ She nodded and he pressed on. “Kissing you?”
“Yes.”
“Where? Here, perhaps?” He touched her full, lush mouth. “And I think of course here.”
His hands cupped her breasts, squeezing them lightly. Tessa gasped, even as he slid one hand down to gently cup the juncture of her thighs.
“And here. Was I kissing you here?”
Her cheeks were a deep, rosy pink as she uttered a small moan. “You were – just about to. Then I woke up.”
“Well, that’s a pity, isn’t it?” he murmured in her ear. “Perhaps we can re-enact your dream sometime, only this time it won’t end nearly so abruptly.”
Tessa looked around the room wildly. “You’re not serious, are you? I mean, I’m not sure I could really do – that here.”
He slowly removed his hands from her body and stepped back to put some much needed distance between them, unable to walk back to his office with his fully engorged cock tenting his trousers. “I was thinking of this weekend actually. The bed we’ll be using at the resort is a four poster – one post for each of your limbs. Does that idea excite you, Tessa – being bound that way? Would you allow me to do that?”
Her eyes grew even bigger and rounder, her lips slightly parted. His gaze dropped briefly to her breasts, and he swore softly beneath his breath as he noticed how her nipples were poking against the fabric of her blouse.
“Yes,” she told him breathlessly. “I think – yes, I’d like that. You can do – whatever you like.”
“Jesus.” His pulse rate ratcheted up by several beats as she gazed at him with an expression of unabashed, naked desire on her face. “You make me want to spread you out on that table right now, just like in your dream, and fuck you until neither one of us can summon a single coherent thought.” He forced himself to walk over to the door. “And if I don’t leave now to take that phone call I might just act on that impulse.”
Ian was thankful to notice that no one was loitering in the hallway outside the conference room – not that any of his employees would have dared to inquire why the door might have been shut. No one questioned his authority here or at any of the hotels under his direction. He was the unequivocal leader, the “boss man” as he’d heard himself referred to on occasion, and the amount of power he could wield over his share of the family empire – if he so desired – was staggering. But Ian had learned a long time ago to never, ever abuse that power, to treat every employee with respect, and not act like some feudal lord of the manor. There was a very fine line that had to be walked in his position, and he prided himself on never crossing over it.
Though if anyone in this office began to suspect that he was carrying on a very personal and very passionate relationship with one of his employees, there would certainly be hell to pay. As he listened with barely controlled patience to the employee from the London headquarters drone on about the series of board meetings he’d be attending, Ian was rather appalled at the complete lack of control he’d just displayed. He was damned lucky no one had come looking for him, or tried to enter the conference room when he’d been locked inside there with Tessa. But then, ever since he’d revealed his attraction to her and they’d become lovers, he seemed to be losing a bit more of his ironclad control every day. That was what she did to him – a girl fifteen years his junior; a sexual innocent despite her marriage of several years; and the only woman who’d ever come close to making him go crazy with lust, enough so that he’d just taken a very unwise risk, not particularly giving a damn if they were discovered.