“You’re not going anywhere until I find out why you didn’t tell me you were a virgin.”
“Why does it matter?” she asked, still averting her gaze.
“Because I wouldn’t have taken you on a damn couch, that’s why.”
She glared at him. “Well, then, that’s why I didn’t tell you.”
He frowned as he brushed a strand of hair back from her face. “But I could’ve gone slowly and not hurt you so much.”
“You didn’t hurt me,” she insisted softly, shaking her head as she said it. Her eyelids fluttered and she finally smiled at him. “Well, not too much anyway. And after a few seconds, it was perfect.”
“Not yet,” he said with determination. “But it will be.”
Trish sat at her desk early the next morning, torn between preening like a satisfied cat and crawling under her desk to hide in shame.
She’d had sex with the enemy.
If it had only happened once, she might’ve chalked it up to temporary insanity. But it hadn’t happened just once. Not even twice. Three times! In three different ways. She shivered at the memory of everything he’d done to her. One thing was certain: she’d never look at his conference table the same way again. And she was considering erecting a small shrine in front of that awe-inspiring couch of his.
She knew it was wrong, knew what a mistake she’d made, but it had been amazing, wonderful, thrilling. She’d reveled in Adam’s kisses, each caress and every whispered word. He’d made her feel like she’d never felt before.
Well, of course she’d never felt those things before. Up until last night, she’d been a virgin.
She couldn’t have told Adam why she was still a virgin at the ripe old age of almost twenty-six, so it was a good thing he never asked. She’d grown up sheltered, surrounded and protected by her grandmother and her neighbors at the Victorian Village. Once she went off to college, she was working too hard to mix in much with the party crowd.
She graduated a year early, then came home and enrolled in the MBA program at the local university. Grandma Anna was starting to slow down, so Trish tried to help out in the store every day. She took over the purchasing and handled all the shipments. She rotated the displays and dealt with advertising and promotions.
Grandma was always teasing her, telling her to go out and meet people, have fun, fall in love. And Trish always figured there would be plenty time to do just that.
But that was around the same time her grandmother and their neighbors applied for historic landmark designation for the Victorian building. And that’s when their world came crashing down, thanks to Adam Duke’s company.
That’s why she was here. Because Adam Duke had destroyed their lives and now she was out to ruin him. If only she could remember that.
Trish sighed heavily and powered up her computer. It was still early enough that she could do some personal work without feeling too guilty.
“This is for you, Grandma,” she murmured, then logged onto the company’s Web site and did a search of their mergers and acquisitions over the past two years. She made a list of the companies Duke had acquired, and planned to search the Internet to see if any unsavory dealings had gone on during the transactions. She might even try to set up some interviews of the former employees of those companies to see how badly they were treated by the Dukes.
She sat back in her chair, feeling better now that she’d taken some small action toward avenging her grandmother. After the way she’d spent the previous evening, she wasn’t sure she’d ever lose these feelings of guilt, but at least she could tell herself that her mission was still on track. She owed that much to her Village friends.
So why did her thoughts keep drifting back to Adam?
This morning it seemed that all she could remember was Adam’s skillful moves, his talented mouth and the scent of his skin. Suddenly her loins tightened and fresh waves of excitement surged through her. She could barely suppress a moan.
“Oh, good grief,” she muttered as she stood up. She had to get busy. What if someone caught her daydreaming at her desk? What if Adam caught her? It was still early and he wasn’t in yet, but he’d be walking down the hall any minute. She swept up a handful of correspondence and rushed off to the copy room to work.
Standing in front of the copy machine, Trish realized she had some serious decisions to make. Where would she go from here? What would she do? She leaned against the machine, closed her eyes and exhaled wearily. It was time to admit that she was in deep trouble.
After all, it wasn’t bad enough that she’d slept with the man she’d once considered her worst enemy, the man she’d held responsible for destroying her happiness and the life of her beloved grandmother. And it wasn’t bad enough that the man she’d slept with was her boss, the person whose company she’d infiltrated in order to destroy him. And it wasn’t even bad enough that she’d made a promise to her grandmother on her deathbed that she would avenge the wrongs done to Grandma Anna and her neighbors, that she would find a way to make Adam Duke experience the same level of pain that she and Grandma Anna had known.
No, what was really, really bad was that she couldn’t wait to be in his arms all over again.
But it couldn’t happen again.
The copy machine stopped and Trish jolted at the abrupt silence. In that moment it became crystal clear exactly what she would have to do. A switch had been thrown inside her conscience. Even though she hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep last night and now felt as though she were walking through a heavy fog, she knew at last the direction she must take. Deathbed promises were not to be treated lightly. She’d betrayed not only her grandmother but all her old neighbors by becoming involved with Adam Duke.
How could she ever face her old friends again?
There was only one thing to do.
She had to tell him she could never have sex with him again. If she didn’t put a stop to it now, her goal of righting the wrong she’d set out to do would have to be written off as a total failure. Which meant that it wouldn’t be Adam who was destroyed. It would be Trish.
As she walked back to her desk with the stack of copies, she concluded that she would talk to Adam as soon as possible. It shouldn’t be difficult. After all, why would he care that she was refusing to sleep with him again? He had a million women waiting in line for the same opportunity.
She wrinkled her nose at the thought. Even if that was true, she didn’t like to think about all the women in the world who were chomping at the bit for a chance to have wild jungle sex with Adam Duke. It was downright depressing.
As she sat down at her desk and began to check her e-mails, she shook her head in dismay. All those women. Just waiting in line. Why in the world would he even give a hoot that plain old Trish James would never make love with him again?
“No, absolutely not.” Adam had heard enough. He stormed across the office and halted within a foot of her. “I refuse to accept your resignation. You’re still my assistant, Trish. There’s work to do. So, go back to your desk and do…something.”
“Do something?” she repeated, then had the nerve to smile at him.
“You heard me,” he grumbled. “Go.” He waved his hands as if to shoo her away. Dammit, he couldn’t be this close to her without inhaling her luscious scent. He wanted to strip her naked and nail her against the wall. Probably not a good idea to bring that up, given her present mood.
“Adam, please,” she said patiently, as if she were a wise parent and he a recalcitrant child. “I didn’t say I was resigning. I said I’d been rethinking my job here at DDI.”
“Yeah, I heard you,” Adam said, crossing his arms tightly across his chest. “I just don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Rethinking. I’ll probably be sorry I asked, but what the hell’s that supposed to mean?”