The Bedroom Business

“Like that?” she said shakily.

Yes. Like that. Exactly like that...

“No,” Jake said. “Not quite. You have to open your mouth just a little bit more. Good girl. Now, relax. Lean into me...”

He groaned. He couldn’t help it. The taste of her. Oh, the taste.

“How’s that?” he said, his voice low, his body hard, his brain on the brink of combustion. “Better?”

“Better,” Emily said, and sighed. “Much better.”

Jake dipped his head again, settled his mouth over hers, slid the tip of his tongue between her lips and she made a sound, the sound a woman makes as she surrenders herself to a man, and he knew that if this went any further, if he didn’t stop it now, he was going to take her. Strip away her clothes, all that foolish wool, carry her to the couch and take her...

“Jake?” she whispered, and she arched against him, kissed him, bit delicately into his bottom lip...and shattered his control, completely.

He sank down into the chair behind his desk with Emily in his lap. The clip fell from her hair as he tunneled his fingers into it; he felt her shudder and then her arms were tight around his neck, his hands were under her skirt, on her legs, her thighs; she was moaning into his ear and he was lost, he was lost, he was...

The phone rang.

“Jake,” Emily gasped, but he shook his head, cupped her face, took her mouth in deep, hot kisses...

The phone rang, and rang, and finally Jake snarled, reached for it and jammed it against his ear.

“Hello,” he said, “and this better be...”

The look on his face changed. He sat up straight, so sud­denly that Emily almost fell off his lap. One glance at Jake’s face and she scrambled to her feet.

“Glad to hear it,” he said, after a minute. His voice was frigid, his eyes icy as he hit the mute button and held out the telephone. “It’s for you.”

“For...?”

“It’s your boyfriend. Jennett.” Jake’s teeth glittered in a predatory smile. “You forgot to tell me why you can’t make that party. You have another date with him this evening.”

Emily’s heart tumbled. “I didn’t forget. Anyway, you didn’t ask.”

“No. No, I sure as hell didn’t.” He shot her another ter­rible smile. “Why would I? It’s your life, Emily. Who you see is none of my business. Besides, I’m flattered.”

“Flattered?”

“Sure. It’s not every day I’m used as a stand-in for the real performance.”

Emily turned pale. “You can’t believe that!”

“Can’t I?” Jake grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair. “Have fun tonight, babe. Just remember to give credit where credit is due, when you start turning ol’ Thad on.”

“It’s Thad who’ll deserve the credit,” she hissed, “not you!” Angry tears blurred her vision. She turned her back on Jake as she put the phone to her ear. “Hi,” she said brightly. “No, no problem. Uh-huh. Yes, I’d love to. I had fun, too. The Gondola, at six? Great, Thad. I’ll see you then.”

She heard the click as Thad hung up. Then she slammed the phone into its cradle and swung around, ready to do bat­tle, but she was alone in the office.

Jake was gone.

CHAPTER SIX

EMILY looked up from her computer monitor and checked the clock.

It was almost five, time to stop work and get ready for her date with Thad.

She finished what she’d been typing, saved it to a disk, exited the program and shut off her computer.

Jake still hadn’t returned to the office. She’d spoken to him once, in midafternoon, when he’d phoned to issue some crisp commands. The call had been brief and to the point, with no time wasted on pleasantries. He’d simply ticked off a list of things he wanted done, she’d said “Yes, Mr. McBride,” or “No, Mr. McBride,” and that was it.

Well, that was fine. It was the way it should be, the way it would be, from now on.

She’d had lots of time to think, after Jake had stormed off, and she’d reached a decision. Not the obvious one, she thought as she put away a file folder, not the first one that had popped into her head, because what was the point of quitting a perfectly good job when there was a far simpler solution?

All she had to do was turn back the clock.

Everything had been great until that fateful moment Jake had smiled and told her to stop calling him Mr. McBride. Such a simple thing, that easy descent into informality, but it had turned life upside down. Well, it was time to set things straight again.

When she saw Jake—when she saw Mr. McBride—to­morrow morning, she would tell him that they were going back to the old rules. She’d call him by his proper name, and he’d stay out of her personal life.