“And you should know, I’m not a man who takes a challenge lightly,” he said, obviously referring to her earlier question. Did he have the nerve to kiss her? “Nor am I the type to defy tradition. No matter how unexpected,” he whispered an instant before he lowered his head and his lips touched hers.
He’d called her bluff, taken the initiative, and now he toyed with her, playfully testing, learning the feel of her mouth and letting her learn him. Then his tongue slid briefly, seductively, over the seam of her lips, electrifying her with his moist touch until their tongues lightly met.
The experiment yielded high-impact results. Colin tasted of pure male desire, a flavor that stirred a hunger long denied, and awakened passions she’d never experienced before. Passions she’d never thought existed before now. She trembled, and in response he squeezed her shoulders, his fingers biting into her skin, providing a carnal awareness of the fact that she affected him, too.
But from deep inside, caution clawed its way to the surface, breaking through the surprising desire that still burned hot inside her. She’d been floored by a simple kiss.
As if anything about this kiss—or Colin—was simple.
She lifted her head, breaking the kiss but not the awareness. He met her gaze. Heat flared bright in his eyes and flushed his cheeks, and the shock that reverberated inside her was evident in his expression. Another emotion shared.
She stepped back and ran trembling fingers over her lips. “That was…”
“Fun.”
Not exactly the word she’d have chosen and Rina blinked, startled.
“Isn’t that what kissing under the mistletoe is supposed to be?” Colin shot her a boyish grin.
She wished it was as easy for her. She exhaled hard and forced a casual smile before meeting his eyes. “Of course it was fun. Emma set us up and we responded like any two adults caught under the mistletoe would.”
She took a step backward, then another. A few more and she made it to her desk so she could regroup, leaving Colin alone under the mistletoe laden with tradition.
“Fun’s meant to be repeated.” His expression still showed shocked surprise, but he couldn’t hide the warm appreciation in his gaze.
She reached for her jacket, caught off guard when he stepped forward and helped her slip on her wool coat. His hands were gentle as he adjusted her collar, and his callused fingers brushed her nape, eliciting a tingling sensation that shot straight to her toes.
She hadn’t known he was a gentleman. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure.”
Without turning, unwilling to look into those blue eyes once more, she barely managed to grab her series folder, call a quick goodbye and beat a hasty retreat to the door.
“Rina, wait.”
She turned, her heart pounding hard in her chest. “What?”
“You forgot something.”
She accepted her glasses and bolted into the cold night.
As the icy whip of wind hit her cheeks, it was easier to think clearly. With that kiss, her experiment had taken on even more exciting, somewhat illicit overtones.
She still planned to experiment for her column. Starting tomorrow, she’d test out men as a group in general. But when it came to Colin, she was fully aware of his impact. With a single kiss, she’d learned he wielded power. Sexual, seductive power, and she found that lure thrilling.
Before tonight she’d merely toyed with the notion of a fling, but now the idea of an affair took on real possibilities. Colin possessed enough sex appeal to light Rina’s fire. He also used jet fuel to propel his frequent departures. Colin wasn’t a stick-around sort of guy. If she were looking for a future, he’d be the last man on her list. But after losing her husband, she was wary of a long-term relationship and was no longer sure she believed in forever. Which made a fling the perfect solution.
And Colin the perfect man.
COLIN KICKED BACK, propped his feet on the desk and watched the door slam closed behind Rina Lowell, the woman he’d just kissed under the mistletoe.
He’d been given an unexpected opportunity, and being human, as well as damned attracted to Rina, he’d kissed her. He shouldn’t have. Through Rina, Colin hoped to understand how to get through to Corinne, but he’d never intended to take advantage. Especially since he held her career in his hands.
Getting involved with Rina would tear at his loyalties, though he had no doubt who would win. Colin had let Joe down once before. He refused to do it again, so Joe and his paper had to come first. Yet the paper had been the last thing on his mind when he’d had Rina in his arms.
And now he was in deep. Because he hadn’t counted on being completely seduced. And from the moment he’d opened the doors to the office and seen Rina shaking her hips and shimmying her body, he had been seduced. Enough to make him watch, like a damn voyeur, as she’d continued her conversation with Emma. She’d called out to him, luring him in, and by the time he’d walked over to the desk, he’d been entranced by her combination of natural beauty and erotic movement.
He couldn’t delude himself into thinking he’d imagined the combustion they’d created together. The heat. The texture. The intensity. The unexpected connection. She’d felt it too or else she wouldn’t have run far and fast.
He rubbed his hands against his jeans and groaned. In the aftermath, she’d stared at him warily, shock in those huge brown eyes. She didn’t know what to make of him.
Unexpectedly, that bothered him.
Guilt nudged at him again, stronger now when he contemplated his need to dethrone Corinne and her new entourage of employees. He liked Emma. And Rina, well, he’d more than enjoyed her. His gut told him not to mix business with pleasure, and everything about Rina screamed pleasure.
But Colin was a man cornered by necessity and all out of options, save one. A gorgeous brunette named Rina Lowell.
THIS WASN’T RINA’S first day of work, but excitement rushed through her veins. She was on a dual mission today, beginning her experiment at work and laying the groundwork for seducing Colin. She tried to swallow but her mouth had grown dry.
The day started like any other. Her first stop was the coffee shop downstairs from the Times’s offices. Because Ashford was a wealthy oceanside community, the café was an upscale place offering a variety of designer drinks. The owner, a good-looking man in his mid-thirties greeted everyone with the same compulsory smile. Rina had made many conversational openings in the past, but he’d never reacted or picked up on any of them. Yet she’d heard through the building grapevine that the more attractive women were offered an extra shot of caramel or mocha in their lattes, free of charge. Plain Rina had always paid for hers.
She’d only worked on some subtle physical changes today, as she was saving the big guns for the Christmas party over the weekend. She didn’t expect any special treatment just yet, but she intended to find out if makeup, even light brushes of color and hue, made a difference in how men treated women. And she planned to impart that wisdom in her next column.
“Next.” The man wiped down the counter and glanced at Rina. “What can I get for you?”
Coffee, tea or me sounded too clichéd, so she opted for a straightforward “Whatever you do best will suit me just fine.” She tipped her head, letting her ponytail hang down over her shoulder. Same head-tip she’d given him when she’d worn her plain old bun. But today, it was no coincidence that her hair dangled just over one breast.
He