Her shoes were new, too. Turquoise, in the currently fashionable slip-on style, which showed off her pretty ankles and scarlet-painted toenails. This time she’d been able to afford fake tan, so her bare legs and arms glowed a nice honey colour. Her hair was down for once, and not too bushy, courtesy of the more expensive hair products she could also now buy and which tamed the frizz somewhat. She was wearing more make-up than she would usually wear in the office as well, and considerably less underwear. No bra for starters and just the briefest thong underneath.
‘Wow!’ Margaret said when she saw her.
‘Yes, wow!’ Karen agreed.
Michele just raised her eyebrows in a knowing fashion.
Kane’s reaction when he saw her was not quite as enthusiastic. He wasn’t too pleased, either, when Jessie was subjected to instant male attention. The men flocked around her, getting her drinks, constantly asking her to dance and pretending to be devastated when she refused.
Jessie suspected Kane was jealous, but if so, why did he keep his distance? Why didn’t he come and ask her to dance? She wouldn’t have said no to him.
Finally, after the party had been raging for over two hours, he walked over to her, his expression tight.
‘Could I have a private word, Jessie?’
‘Of course,’ she replied, and threw her circle of admirers a bright smile. ‘Won’t be long.’
Kane’s grip on her elbow was firm as he steered her away from the party and along the corridor towards his office. Jessie quivered inside at his forcefulness, but it was a quiver of excitement, not nerves. A few glasses of champagne had dispensed with her earlier worries, replacing them with a deliciously carefree attitude.
‘I said I wasn’t going to do this, remember?’ she remarked blithely, all the while quite happy with the prospect of being ravished on Kane’s desk.
‘I haven’t brought you here for sex,’ Kane snapped as he banged the door shut behind them.
‘Oh…’
‘Look, I know you’re worried about the rest of the staff thinking you weren’t hired on your merits. And I’ve tried damned hard tonight not to embarrass you by staking my claim on you publicly. But you are my woman, Jessie,’ he pronounced firmly. ‘Mine. And it’s time everyone out there knew that.’
‘Oh…’
‘I’ve asked you to marry me and you’ve said yes. You should be wearing my ring.’
‘But…’
‘No buts. I’m tired of your buts.’ With that he drew a blue velvet box out of his jacket pocket and flipped it open. ‘I hope you like it.’
Jessie stared down at the solitaire diamond engagement ring, then swallowed. Oh, God, she was going to cry. ‘It…it’s beautiful,’ she stammered.
‘You’re beautiful,’ he said thickly, and taking the ring out of the box, he put the box back in his pocket, then came forward and picked up her left hand.
‘I love you, Jessie Denton,’ he said as he slipped it on her trembling ring finger.
Her eyes flooded, then tears spilled over, running down her cheeks. ‘And I love you,’ she choked out.
He wiped the tears away with his spare hand, then bent to kiss each wet cheek. ‘That’s nothing to cry about,’ he said with a soft smile in his voice. ‘At least, I hope not.’
‘Oh, no,’ she denied hotly. ‘Never!’
With a rush of sweet emotion, Jessie wound her arms up around his neck and pulled him close. ‘You mean the world to me!’ she proclaimed.
His hesitation was only slight before he kissed her. Soon, there was no hesitation, only passion. His kisses were fierce, his clasp so tight around her back that her breasts were totally flattened against his chest.
His sudden wrenching away came as a shock.
‘Sorry,’ he ground out. ‘I promised I wouldn’t do that.’
She loved it that he cared enough about her to stop. But the time for testing him further was long over.
‘It’s all right, Kane. I want you to make love to me.’
‘What? You mean…here?’
‘Yes, here. Now.’
He watched, gaze smouldering as she kicked off her shoes then reached up under her skirt to peel her panties off. That done, she untied the bow at the back of her neck, letting the straps fall so that her bare breasts were exposed.
When Kane sucked in sharply, her stomach quivered and her already erect nipples tightened further.
‘I’d better lock the door,’ he rasped.
He did so, then took her hand and led her over to the nearby Chesterfield. There, he drew her down onto his lap, kissing her and playing with her breasts till she was breathless and shaking. Only then did he slide one hand up under her skirt.
‘No,’ she protested. ‘No, I don’t want that, Kane. I want you. With nothing between us.’
‘But…’
‘No buts. It’s all right. It’s a safe time in my cycle. And if I’m wrong, what does it matter? I love you. You love me. We’re getting married. A baby would be just fine.’
Kane could not believe the impact of her words. She must really love him and trust him, if she didn’t mind conceiving his baby before they were married. He could not ask for more.
How he wanted her! His lovely Jessie. His woman.
He groaned at the first contact of their naked bodies, then moaned when his flesh began to enter hers. The look on her face as she sank all the way downwards told him she felt very much what he was feeling. When her hands cradled his face and she looked deep into his eyes, it took all of his will-power not to weep.
‘I love you,’ she whispered, and began to rise and fall upon him in a voluptuously sensual rhythm. ‘I love you,’ she repeated, pressing tiny kisses all over his face at the same time.
Kane closed his eyes in defence of the emotion that ripped through him. Never in his life had he felt anything like what this woman could make him feel. He could not wait to marry her, to promise to love and cherish her till death did them part. Because nothing short of death would destroy their union. They were as one, not just in their bodies but also in their minds. She was going to be his soul mate. His best friend. The mother of his children.
When he took her hands from around his face and held them to his lips, she stopped moving to stare at him with glazed eyes.
‘I…I never thought it could be like this,’ she said in a voice that betrayed some lingering bewilderment over their relationship.
‘I don’t think it is very often,’ he returned. ‘We’re very lucky.’
‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘Very.’
‘We’re going to go back to the party afterwards and announce our engagement,’ he commanded, taking full advantage of the moment.
Jessie nodded. ‘Yes. All right. But Kane…about tomorrow night…’
Kane frowned. ‘What about tomorrow night?’ She and Emily were supposed to be coming to sleep over at his house. It was Christmas Eve. He’d already bought a Christmas tree. A real one. And loads of decorations, which he planned on putting up with Emily. Not to mention more presents than was wise.
But how often did a man fall in love and get