So in the middle of November, on a particularly foul Friday when the rain was slashing at the windows of her office and nothing had gone right, she viewed the apparition in her office doorway as a figment of her fevered imagination and nothing else. Until it spoke, that was.
'Busy?'
Busy? She stared at Hawk as her brain struggled to respond. He was lounging against the open door, big and dark in a heavy leather jacket and black jeans, which were as different from the designer business suits he normally wore as chalk from cheese. The sight of him stopped her breath.
She forced herself to talk, to say something. 'I didn't know you were coming.'
'Neither did I until this morning.' He didn't move or smile.
She waited for him to elaborate, and, when he didn't, rose quietly from behind her desk, setting her face in a polite smile of welcome befitting a humble employee greeting the illustrious head of the Mallen Corporation. 'It's nice to see you again; is there anything specific you want to see me about?' she asked quietly.
'Don't tempt me, Joanne.' The look in his eyes was so blatant, and so sexual, that she blushed hotly as she held out one small hand for him to shake, and when he simply took her fingers in his and drew her close for a moment, his eyes roaming over her face before he kissed her lips in a light stroking movement that was over as soon as it had begun, she was still too stunned at his sudden appearance to offer any resistance.
'So…' He stepped back a pace, watching her with glittering eyes. 'Have you missed me?' he asked with the Mallen arrogance.
'Missed you?' How could he get so instantly under her skin? she asked herself angrily. 'Of course not.'
'Liar.' It was said matter-of-factly but still grated unbearably, tightening her mouth and narrowing her eyes.
'Hawk, I'm here to work and work I have,' she declared firmly. 'What on earth makes you think I've missed you?'
'Because it's impossible for me to have been feeling the way I have without you feeling something similar.' It was so surprising, and so unexpected, revealing as it did the man beneath the cool, arrogant exterior, that she just stared at him without saying anything. 'I've been sleeping you, eating you, tasting you,' he said softly. 'It's driving me nuts, Joanne. Every time I shut my eyes at night there's a slender titian beauty there, with honeygold eyes and the sort of figure that makes a man ache.'
'Hawk-'
'It makes me ache-hell, how it makes me ache,' he murmured huskily. 'I'm in and out of that damn shower all night.'
'You're talking about sexual attraction-'
'I know; believe me, I know,' he agreed with a sardonic lift of his eyebrows.
'And I'm sure a man of your considerable experience could easily find a number from his little black book to take care of things,' she continued firmly, as though he hadn't interrupted. She was not going to be swept back into his orbit and then discarded so abruptly again; she just wasn't.
'Perhaps I haven't got a little black book?' he suggested softly.
'And perhaps pigs fly?' Joanne said sweetly, desperately glad the trembling in her stomach hadn't communicated itself to her voice.
'You think I'm the worst sort of philanderer, don't you?' It was a statement, not a question. 'And after I've been so restrained too,' he added sadly.
'Huh.' She had seen the wickedly amused glitter in the sapphire eyes and she wasn't fooled.
'Enough of this sparkling repartee.' He grabbed her suddenly, lifting her up and swinging her round as he kicked the door shut. 'You're going to spend the weekend with me.' It was another statement rather than an invitation.
'I am not.' It was hard to think while held close to his big masculine body, but the answer was instinctive anyway. He looked so good, he smelt so good, she wouldn't dare spend time with him.
'Reconsider.' He kissed her again, but this time it was no brief salutation but a long, deep, hard invasion that sent every nerve and sinew into overdrive. She found her arms snaking up to his broad shoulders and had to clench her fingers to restrain them, determined not to give in to the quivering hot excitement. 'Please?' he added softly as he lifted his head.
'No, I'm here to work-'
'Not at the weekends; even the wicked slave-driver Hawk Mallen doesn't expect that. Besides, you've been working too hard,' he said with sudden seriousness. 'You've lost weight, you look drawn.'
'Oh, thank you so much,' she muttered sarcastically, trying to pull away but knowing she wouldn't have any effect on the steel-hard arms. So he didn't like the way she looked now?
'But even more beautiful,' he added gently, his mouth twisting with amusement at her reaction. 'You have an ethereal quality now, as though a br
eath of wind would blow you away.'
'Hawk, let go of me.' She turned her head towards the door, worried Antoinette and the rest of the office staff would wonder why the door was shut, or, worse still, knock and walk straight in. Antoinette would make a meal of such a tasty titbit.