He was completely and totally aware of Melodie, in every way imaginable. Just as she’d intended, no doubt. And with every inviting smile she cast his way, coupled with a few accidental brushes of their bodies as they passed in the hallway, she added fuel to the fiery flame burning deep inside him.
By the end of the workday, he was tied up in knots, and so mentally and physically aroused he was ready to come out of his skin with a mere whisper of a touch.
The now familiar swishing sound that accompanied Mel’s approach down the hall to his office put his unruly hormones back on full alert. With effort, he tamped down his eager response, and by the time she’d entered the spacious room, he’d schooled his features to reflect casual interest.
It had been blessedly quiet for the past hour. At a quarter after six, the front-end phone was silent, and both Noah and Jo were gone for the evening—which left him all alone with Melodie. His muscles tensed at the realization. Normally that wouldn’t be a cause for concern, considering more often than not she worked late with him, but that was before she’d turned herself into an impudent minx.
“Can I run something by you, Cole?” she asked, her tone as serious as her expression.
Ahh, business he could handle. A piece of paper in her hand legitimized her request and made his shoulders relax again. “Sure. What is it?”
“A letter.” Instead of taking one of the chairs in front of his desk, she came around to where he sat and settled herself on a cleared spot of polished mahogany to his left. “One I’d like to read to you, if that’s okay.”
She crossed one slender, stocking-clad leg over the other—in the same prim and proper way she’d done a hundred times before while taking notes for him on a case. Except she’d never sat on his desk in such a brazen manner, and she’d never worn a skirt so short it ought to be deemed illegal for all the wicked, decadent thoughts it inspired.
He leaned back in his leather chair to put much-needed distance between them. “Is this for a case?”
She appeared momentarily nervous, which quickly ebbed into an adorable look of perseverance. “Yes, it is.”
Curiosity edged out the caution nagging at his conscience. “All right. Let’s hear it.”
Her chest rose and fell as she inhaled a deep breath, then her thick lashes lowered and her gaze dropped to read what she’d written on the piece of stationery in her hand. “You’ve been in my thoughts all day long, and now we’re finally together,” she began, her soft voice at first quivering and unsteady. “I’ve caught you watching me when you think I’m not looking and it excites me to know that I’ve captured your attention, and that you might possibly want me as much as I’ve wanted you. Your gaze drifts over me, as soft as a caress and as warm as a sultry summer night, making me heady with breathless anticipation.”
Certain he wasn’t prepared to hear the rest of her letter that was taking on a very provocative slant, he offered up a protest to stop her. “Mel…”
“Shhh, let me finish,” she scolded gently, though there was no mistaking that reading her erotic letter out loud was taking a huge dose of courage on her part. She shifted on his desk and slowly recrossed her legs, the movement echoing the restlessness stringing his nerves and body tight.
“You’ve become my sensual awakening, and now my body hungers for the intimacy of your touch.” Lifting her hand, she feathered her fingers along the pulse fluttering in her throat and gradually skimmed her hand downward to the vee in her blouse as she continued to mesmerize him with her words and actions. “I ache to feel your strong hands stroking my cheek, my breasts and heating the soft skin along my stomach and thighs. My heartbeat quickens at the thought of experiencing such exquisite pleasure, and even now I’m trembling deep inside, waiting, hoping that you’ll be the one to ease the intense longing that grows with every passing second.”
She brushed loose tendrils of silky hair behind her ear, and her tongue darted out to dampen her bottom lip, making her mouth glisten like a ripe, juicy peach. “Wrap me in passion and desire, and I’ll expose my every need. Tease me, please me and make my fantasies come true.” She lifted her smoky gaze to his, her dark irises rimmed in brilliant gold. “I’m waiting for you. Make me yours.”
Cole was so caught up in her sensual monologue that, in his very vivid imagination, she was already his. And his invigorated body echoed the sentiment. There was no doubt in his mind that she was attempting to shake up his composure and shamelessly seduce his mind, his thoughts. And her ploy was working, considering he could only think of one thing: fulfilling hot, illicit fantasies. Hers, and his own. Together.
The temptation to touch her was overwhelming, and it took monumental effort to resist the urge to reach out and place his hand on her silky leg and smooth his palm up her thigh, then beneath the hem of her skirt. To find out if she was just as aroused as she’d made him.
He clenched his hand into a tight fist on the arm-rest of his chair and asked as calmly as he could manage, “Where did you get that letter?” His voice sounded gravelly to his own ears.
She tipped her head, causing her softly layered hair to sway over her shoulder and along her cheek, beckoning him to test the luxurious texture of those strands with his fingers. “I wrote it today, during my lunch break. What do you think?”
“You definitely earn an A for creativity,” he replied without thinking.
A satisfied smile made an appearance on her glossy lips. “It was easier than I thought to write the letter, even kind of fun, but I was more concerned about reading it.” Her gaze held his, pulling him into the guileless pools of deep brown staring intently at him. “Did I do okay?”
Any better and he would have embarrassed himself with how turned on she’d made him. “You did fine, Mel.” Feeling too damned stimulated, he stood up and paced to the window on the other side of his office, then turned to face her again. “Is there a point to why you feel compelled to read me such a personal letter?”
“Of course there’s a point.” She slipped gracefully from the surface of his desk and glided toward him, a mixture of nerves and determination mingling in her gaze. Stopping in front of him, she placed her hand on his chest, right over his rapidly beating heart, then slid her palm upward until her trembling fingers toyed with the collar of his shirt. “I’m trying to prove I can be exactly what you need.”
Oh, he needed all right. With a vengeance. In a way that was quickly zapping his common sense and rigid control. “Care to explain that comment?” he asked, shoving his hands deep into his pants’ pockets.
“I’m applying for the position of your date for the charity auction.” Her fingers grazed the opening of his knit shirt, scorching his flesh with her daring caress. “I know you could probably find someone sexier and more alluring,” she said, a bout of insecurity showing through her bravado. “But you already gave me an A for reading my erotic love letter. Considering that’s what you need a woman for on the Russell case, that skill has to count for something, doesn’t it?”
“So, that’s the reason for your metamorphosis and that letter you just read?” he asked incredulously. “The Russell case?”
“Partly, yes.” Her chin lifted, adding a willful air to her demeanor and a new, intriguing dimension to her personality—a strength and tenacity he couldn’t help but admire. “I’ve been sensible and accommodating all my life, Cole. A quintessential