JACK

Jack grinned to himself the next day as he watched Mia shift in her seat and run her fingers swiftly over her keyboard like they hadn’t just been looking at each other. He couldn’t be subtle when she came back from her break, knowing she’d find one of his notes on her desk. He’d been getting more and more obvious, hoping she’d get interested enough to openly confront him about them. Now he knew she knew it was him.

Since their company had a super-strict no-dating policy, he couldn’t ask Mia out in the conventional way. He had thought Mia would say no if he asked, but he wasn’t sure anymore. Yesterday, in her office, he’d been half-joking, trying to get her attention back as her eyes had glazed over from the report. He’d often wondered if her sea-green eyes would widen, or maybe even darken, and it pleasantly surprised him to find out it was both.

He’d been working there for three months, and Mia had captivated him from the get-go. He saw how kind and patient she was, how clueless she was to the fact that she was - there was no other way to put it - sexy as fuck. She wore her clothes to perfectly fit her body shape, her hips swaying in those pencil skirts and her round bottom perfectly showcased.

Honestly, she was hot, and Jack was hot for her. There was no denying it. Not that he’d even tried denying it. There was just something about her, apart from her pencil-skirted ass, that pulled at him. He’d watched her enough to know that a room lit up when she entered it, but also that she led with a competence that left no room for bullshit. It was a fascinating mix.

She’d dominate you if you showed her how. It was Jack’s turn to squirm in his seat at the thought. It wasn’t the first time something like that had crossed his mind. Hell, it wasn’t even the first time that day. He wanted her. It was as plain and simple as that. Wanted her and couldn’t have her, but he was working on it. First things first. He had the perfect excuse to speak to her.

“Ah, Mia?” He knocked on her open door and waited as she lifted a finger, gesturing towards her ear.

“No, Rebecca, that’s not acceptable. Our profit margins are on track and our productivity in this department is at an all-time high.”

He watched as her brow creased in concentration. Obviously, Rebecca from accounting was trying to cut costs again and was coming for Mia’s department. Mia was having none of it. God, Jack thought, he could watch her all day.

“Ah huh. Yes,” she nodded as if Rebecca was standing in the room, which Jack found adorable. He was hopeless. “Yes, but my answer’s still no, Rebecca. We’ll have to take it up the chain if you insist.” She laughed quite suddenly. “Well, that’s how I got here. You have a good day. Bye.”

She let out a deep breath as she took the ear buds from her ears and looked at him with a slight smile. There was no blush, no widened eyes. Absolutely nothing to indicate that anything had happened between them, in this very room or in the car park, just the day before.

“Yes, Jack?”

“Is now a good time to go through the security system in the plant room? You’ll need to know what to do in case of an emergency.”

“Oh, sure. Let’s go.” She smiled as she walked by him, making Jack’s breath catch in his throat.

It cost him a superhuman effort not to stare at her gorgeous ass as she led the way across the office to the plant room. Closing the door behind her, he tried not to notice how tiny the room was with two people in it. “It’s temperature regulated, so the equipment doesn’t get overheated.” He felt he had to explain why he was closing the door. “Right, so in case of an emergency, you’ll need to use this security tag.” Handing her the tag, he felt the tingle right up his arm when their fingers brushed. “You’ll need to press this button, then this button to make sure these emergency doors, here and here, stay open. Okay?”

He gestured for her to come and try it, but didn’t budge an inch when she approached. Their bodies were close, and he enjoyed the scent of her. She smelled of cinnamon and something else he couldn’t place, something overwhelmingly alluring to him.

“Okay, so like this, then this, right?” Repeating his actions, she turned to look at him, a question in her eyes.

“Yeah, that’s it. Only you and Simone in HR will have these tags, and in the case of, uh…” Completely losing his train of thought, Jack stood in the tiny room, staring at Mia.

Mia was looking up at him, her green eyes wide and her lips slightly parted. Without giving himself time to think about it, Jack raised his hands ever so slowly, her skin silky smooth when he cupped her face and lowered his head to hers, giving her every opportunity to pull back. But she didn’t. Closing the whisper of space that remained between them, he took her lips in a gentle kiss. She opened her lips, tangled her tongue with his, gave a soft sigh. Something inside him came undone. There was no plant room, no office, no company policy. Just him and Mia and a kiss that he felt down to his bones.

God, she was divine. He couldn’t get enough of her. He deepened the kiss, slanting his mouth across hers and tasting her like a man who’d spent weeks in the desert. Her arms came up around his neck, her body pressed against him, her rounded breasts pushing on his chest. He moaned, his hands roaming her body like they’d been longing to do for months. His head was spinning when he broke away to trail small kisses down her throat, and he knew she was as lost as he was when she tilted her head back to give him better access.

“Stop.” Her voice rushing over him was as effective as a bucket of ice-cold water. Both of them were breathing heavily when he stepped back. At some point, the two top buttons of her blouse had come undone, giving him a peek at the white lace of her bra.

He ran a hand through his hair. “Mia, I’m sorry.”

Looking at him, her eyes still glazed, she cleared her throat. “Um, yeah, me too.”

“I mean, I’m not sorry I kissed you —”

“Aren’t you?” The edge of surprise in her tone caught at him.

“Are you kidding? I’ve been thinking about nothing else but kissing you for weeks.”

“Oh.”

“You sound surprised.”

She said nothing, just stood there staring at him. Then she pulled herself together. “We can’t do this.”

“But—”

“We can’t, Jack. If we get caught, we lose our jobs. Is it worth the risk?”

“Yes.”

She blew out a breath. “I can’t do this right now. I need you to go so that I can sort myself out and so that no one sees us leaving here together.”

“They saw us come in together.”

“I mean leave together all… rumpled… like this. Please, leave.”

He didn’t know what else to do. She was looking at him, her mouth still swollen from their kiss, her hair mussed up in its neat bun, but she looked helpless. Her eyes were pleading with him. Unable to help himself, he put a hand on her shoulder, gently ran it down her arm. He took her hand, pressing a soft kiss to it before turning on his heel and leaving the plant room. As he walked back to his desk, he smiled to himself. If he wasn’t mistaken, Mia had enjoyed that kiss every bit as much as he had. And there was no way he was prepared to let it be a one off. Company policy or no company policy.

Tags: Mary Waterford Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net