Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
Sydney
W hen Monday morning arrives, so does Caden. At nine sharp, he sticks his head inside my office. “Morning.”
His voice sounds lower and rougher, somehow more shiver-worthy than usual. Even before I drag my stare from my computer screen, my pulse leaps. My blood heats. My nipples spring to attention.
Why does he do this to me?
When I glance up, our eyes meet. The connection is instantaneous and has the impact of a body blow. I’m stunned. I’m breathless.
Caden stares back as if he can’t tear his gaze from mine.
The silence between us turns thick and dark and undeniable.
Two minutes ago, all I wanted was coffee and a clean email inbox. Now I’m swamped with a desire so overwhelming, nothing else matters. My head spins.
“Morning,” I whisper.
That should be the end of our conversation. I have to stop mooning over him like an adolescent crushing on the lead singer of a boy band and focus on my mountain of work.
Instead, I can’t quit staring.
Naturally, Caden looks fit and fuckable in charcoal slacks with a crisp white collar and a burgundy jumper that accentuates his outdoorsman’s coloring and makes his blue eyes pop. But that’s where his “usual” ends.
The untamed waves of his hair look as if he’s raked his fingers through it repeatedly. And his wide, savage eyes… I’ve never seen him so agitated, like a wild bull about to charge. Energy pings off him, as if he’s a heartbeat from shedding all hint of civility and unleashing his shockingly feral side on me.
Every cell in my body screams yes!
No. The man is trying to steal from me. No matter how gorgeous he looks, no matter that I feel him on a chemical, visceral level, wanting someone to use me is both stupid and self-destructive. I’m smarter than that.
Right?
“What do you want?” I jerk my gaze to my computer screen, pretending interest in my emails.
“We should talk.”
His words seem like a suggestion. His seething growl tells me it’s a demand. That voice jacks up my libido and does something to my girl parts I really wish it didn’t.
Is he vexed about the weekend? Likely so, but I’m not apologizing. If Caden thought I’d be a pushover, he’s sadly mistaken. And if he’s attracted to doormats… Well, we won’t get on very well.
Besides, I suspect he’s only here this morning to try swindling the magickind story from me. Again. I sigh.
“What is it, MacTavish? Angry that I lost you at the pub?”
He shakes his head. “I want to talk to you. I have since Saturday, but not in the office.”
This again? “We said everything we needed to over the weekend.”
“We didn’t,” he insists through gritted teeth. “I came to see you last night.”
Did he? Like I wrote about in the diary?
My heart stops. The notion of Caden pounding on my door and pushing his way into my flat before he strips me bare, spreads my legs with insistent demand, and thrusts deep inside me floods me with a dizzying, sweltering ache.
“Well, I fell asleep early. But after feeding me a load of shit about having inappropriate feelings for me, I’m shocked you dared to knock on my door again.”
He charges across the room and flattens his hands on my desk, leaning in with a snarl. “That wasn’t a load of shit.”
“So you stopped by to…what? Proposition me after you refused the sex I previously offered?”
“To apologize. If I want your trust, trying to force you to take me to the meeting with your contact isn’t the way to earn it.”
“All right, then. Tell me, why are you pursuing this story so hard?”
“Not to steal it. I know you think that’s my plan. I swear, I’m not working for a rival or hoping to plaster it across the internet with my byline.”
I prop my chin on my hand. “Really? Then why?”
“I’m bloody interested. And according to the online comments I’ve read, so are your readers. Can you blame me?”
“Your interest seems a bit more intense.”
He grimaces. “All right, I’m worried, too. Mathias sounds powerful. If you print this story, will he or his army be able to track down your source? How do you know he won’t come after her again? Who or what will keep her safe? Is she going with Aquarius on holiday or staying at Aquarius’s place? And what about you? If this madman can’t find her, won’t he pursue you to lead him to her?”
“I can’t imagine that anyone magical reads… Wait. Aquarius’s place? I never mentioned that.”
Caden stiffens. “You did. The other day.”
“No. I wrote that down, though. On the notes in my handbag. You snooped.” The lying snake! “Just as I suspected, you came to my flat Saturday, not because you’re interested in me but because you’re trying to scoop me.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I’m not. Why else would you turn down a blatant proposition and repeat things I’ve only written in my personal notes? You apologized merely to get back in my good graces, and it won’t work.”
With a frustrated sigh, Caden rakes his hand through his disheveled hair. But when he meets my stare again, it’s not anger or guilt I see. Not even close. Scorching desire rips across his expression, as if he’s a hair’s breadth from coming across my desk and tearing off my clothes.
My traitorous body vibrates with an answering ping of need.
“Listen up. If I was less of a gentleman, I would have very gladly taken you up on your offer, fucked you until neither of us could breathe, and proven precisely how much I want you. Over and over. Until you screamed your throat raw. Until I wrung your muscles limp. Until your body was too exhausted to move and your pussy was too sore to take me again.”
I suck in a breath. I shouldn’t believe him, but his low-voiced growl… Bloody hell, the man makes me a walking hormone. With him this close, it’s hard to think straight.
Suddenly, I’m uncomfortably aware of my knickers flooding. His hot stare says he’s knows I’m aroused.
Too bad. I’m not about to let him use my desire against me.
“Bollocks. I challenged you to a game of chicken, and you flinched, you story poacher. I won’t fall for your manufactured lust.”
Caden leans closer, towering and seething. He puts off heat like an oven. His scent—musky and tinged with sandalwood—melts me into a puddle of lust. So does his mouth, hovering a scant meter above mine.
“What I feel is very real. If I were on top of you, fucking you deep while you screamed my name, you’d know better.”
I resist the urge to fan myself. “Prove it.”
“I can’t.” Caden curses, something low and ugly. “I want to; you have no idea how badly. Fuck! This is too bloody complicated.”
Ah, the excuses. “I’m a smart woman. Try me. I’m sure I can keep up.”