Splendor(45)

Quickly, she unbuttoned the blouse and stripped it off, shivering a little as she stood there in a pale gray lace bra and her navy skirt. She pumped some liquid hand soap directly onto the offending stain and dampened it before scrubbing the fabric almost desperately.

“Darn it!” she cursed, as the ink stain seemed to be spreading rather than disappearing. Not willing to give up hope just yet, she applied more soap and continued trying to wash the stubborn blotch away. But after a third application of soap, Tessa had to regretfully admit defeat. The stupid ink stain wasn’t budging and she was going to have to throw out the blouse. She could try to have it dry cleaned, of course, but that would likely cost almost as much as the bargain rack blouse was worth.

She was wringing the water out of the garment since she still had to wear it home, stained or not, when she froze in horror at the sound of Ian’s deep voice as he walked inside his office.

“Are you still here, Tessa? It’s well past time for you to have called it a day. What – ”

His voice trailed off abruptly as he caught sight of her framed in the doorway of his washroom. Tessa felt like a deer trapped in a hunter’s scope, knowing she ought to move or look away but too shocked to do so. He stared at her in stunned disbelief, his gaze raking over her nearly nude torso, her full breasts almost spilling out of the fragile lace bra.

Horrified, she clutched the damp blouse to her chest, her cheeks on fire as she glanced away and began to babble almost incoherently. “I’m – I’m so sorry, Mr. Gregson. I – ah, got printer ink on my blouse and I was just trying to rinse it out. I didn’t know you’d be returning and, oh, God, just let me put – ”

“Look at me.”

Startled, she responded immediately to the commanding tone of his voice, one that didn’t allow for disobedience. She raised her gaze to his and gasped when she saw the barely controlled lust on his handsome face – eyes blazing, nostrils flaring, his cheeks darkly flushed. She was petrified and enthralled at the same time, and dimly became aware of how badly her legs were shaking.

“Come here.”

Another of those brief, succinct commands. He was a man of a few words but they were more than enough to make himself understood. Slowly, her gaze remaining transfixed on his, she walked across his office until she was standing a few inches away, still holding her ruined blouse up to cover as much of her breasts as possible.

But Ian apparently had other ideas, for he clasped both of her wrists, forcing her to release the blouse as it fluttered to the carpet. His eyes took in every inch of her bare skin, lingering on the heavy swell of her breasts, and Tessa closed her eyes in embarrassment as she felt her nipples harden in reaction.

“No. Look at me. Open your eyes and look at me, Tessa.” Another command from him that she didn’t dare resist.

She was starting to tremble all over as she forced herself to open her eyes and meet his intense, burning gaze. Without breaking eye contact, he backed her up until she was standing against a wall of the office, effectively trapped between it and Ian’s tall, powerful body.

He drew both of her arms above her head, then pinned her wrists against the wall with just one of his big hands. He used his other hand to caress her cheek, his thumb brushing gently over her lips and causing her mouth to gape open in surprise. His hand continued its downward path, brushing over her collarbone and shoulder, traveling down her arm and the side of her ribcage and then, ever so slowly, back up her abdomen until it stopped just below her breasts.

“Christ, look at you.”

His voice was guttural, barely recognizable, and filled with so much raw need that Tessa was nearly swooning.

“Ah, God.” That was her voice, more like a long, drawn out moan, as his hand cupped one swollen breast. His thumb expertly manipulated the taut bud of her nipple through the lace of her bra, and his touch was like an electric shock that pulsed through her entire body.

With a low growl, Ian leaned into her, shoving her further back against the wall. His mouth descended towards hers, and her head fell back helplessly as his warm, firm lips caressed a sensuous path from her temple to her flushed cheek to the soft spot just below her ear. His hot mouth continued moving across her throat, to her chin, and then finally to claim her mouth in a blistering, domineering kiss.

Tessa felt as though she’d been in a dreamlike sleep state for twenty four years, and was just now awakening into the real world. The few times she’d been kissed in her life had never come close to anything like this – this sensation of drowning, of being devoured – and she realized faintly that this was the first time she had ever truly been kissed. Ian’s mouth was hungry and demanding, his tongue parting her lips with ease and thrusting possessively inside her mouth.