Splendor(13)

And she thought faintly that no one had ever smelled as good as Ian Gregson did. It was an irresistible combination of soap, aftershave, and pure male, and it made Tessa long to burrow her face against that strong, muscular chest and take a long, luxurious sniff. Even without making any sort of physical contact, she could feel the heat pouring off his big body, and her nipples hardened automatically in response against the thin fabric of her dress. Hoping fervently that he didn’t notice, she self-consciously smoothed down the pleated skirt of her pale peach polka-dot dress.

She pointed to the pie chart in question. “This isn’t accurate, Mr. Gregson. But I’ve checked the input data four times and it’s all correct.”

Ian studied the two sheets of paper for a long moment before pointing to the one with the background information. “Except that you were given the wrong report. This is the previous quarter’s report, even though someone put the current quarter’s date on it. Who prepared this report anyway?”

Tessa feigned ignorance, even though she knew that Shelby was usually the one who was in charge of the report in question. Andrew would figure that out soon enough on his own and give Shelby yet another icy admonishment.

“I’m not certain, sir. But it should be a simple matter to fix this. And now that you’ve identified the discrepancy, I can go ahead and adjust the spreadsheet. It will only take a couple of minutes.”

The smile he bestowed on her made her knees go weak and her panties grow damp. “I don’t know what I’d do without you here, Tessa,” he told her earnestly. “You’re the only one I trust to get all of these done correctly. Thank you for all of your diligence.”

She couldn’t resist smiling at him in return and hoped faintly that her cheeks weren’t too red. “It’s – I’m happy to help, sir. I’ll – um, just take these back to my desk and fix the problem. I’m sorry to have bothered you, sir.”

“It was no bother at all, Tessa,” he assured her kindly. “I appreciate your conscientiousness in catching the error.”

Trying in vain to conceal her flustered state, Tessa quickly picked up the papers from Andrew’s desk and spun around to make a hasty exit. Except that Mr. Gregson hadn’t moved an inch and she bumped smack into him. He placed a hand on her arm to steady her, and her cheeks grew even hotter to realize that her breast was crushed up against his iron-hewed arm.

He released his grip on her arm immediately and took two steps back. He didn’t say another word but his hazel eyes had darkened noticeably, and the smile on his face had faded as he gazed at her somberly.

With a hastily mumbled “thank you”, Tessa almost bolted out of the office back towards her own desk. ‘Oh, God,’ she pleaded silently. ‘Please do not let him have noticed my nipples were hard.’

She was both mortified at what had just happened, but also incredulously, ridiculously aroused. It upset her to realize that her own husband failed to arouse those same types of feelings in her, and that she was so unsuitably attracted to her gorgeous, debonair boss.

She made it back to her desk on shaky legs and sunk down gratefully into her chair. She closed her eyes, and the image of Ian Gregson’s ruggedly handsome face filled her thoughts despite her best efforts to dispel it. He was more striking than classically good looking but his strong, masculine features were irresistible – the intelligent, all-knowing hazel eyes; broad cheekbones and square chin; the firm, full mouth that rarely smiled but when it did his whole face softened and became even more compelling. His face was framed by his expertly cut dark hair, the back and sides cut short and close to the head while the top was left longer.

It was the return of Kevin and the others from lunch – all giggling and gossiping together – that jolted Tessa out of her almost trancelike state. She swiftly located the correct report she needed from their file sharing system, and made the required changes to the spreadsheet before emailing it to Andrew.

But as busy as she strived to keep for the rest of the workday, she couldn’t completely forget about the brief but disturbing encounter with her boss earlier in the day. And each time she did her cheeks would flush anew and she’d curse herself for having such a strong and unsuitable reaction to him. She had no reason at all to believe that Mr. Gregson found her attractive, or even gave her a second thought. She was simply one of his many employees, and not a very important one at that.

The unwanted sexual attraction she felt for him was only because of the frustration she was currently experiencing due to Peter’s long and frequent absences, she told herself fiercely. She was young and healthy and craved affection and physical contact, a perfectly normal state for a woman her age. Especially a woman who was alone as much as she was, and whose sexual relationship with her husband was as messed up as hers. It was only natural, Tessa assured herself with a confidence she didn’t really feel, that her body would react to a man as virile and physically appealing as Ian Gregson. From what she’d heard from gossip and such, most every woman he came in contact with had the same sort of reaction to his charm and extreme good looks, so she was far from the only one.