Be a Doll(47)

It was rather uncanny when someone I had never met in my life knew who I was. “And you are…?’’

“My apologies, ma’am.’’ He released my hand and promptly buttoned his suit jacket. “Jonatan Kerr. I’m Mr. Grimes’ assistant.’’ He gestured toward the far side of the building where a simple desk was sitting close by a closed frosted door with my husband’s name written with block letters. “Mr. Grimes is waiting for you in his office. The food was delivered just before you arrived. Let me accompany you.’’

I stopped Jonatan with a hand before he moved. “No need, Mr. Kerr. I’m sure you’re eager to get something to eat yourself. I’ll let my husband know I told you to go for your lunch break.’’

He nervously glanced at the closed door farther back and nibbled on his lip as his fingers twisted the button on his jacket. The poor man seemed to be quite all over the place. I wondered if it was a particularly bad day at the office with Mathis or if my husband was always a tyrant.

“I’d rather see with Mr. Grimes before I leave if you don’t mind, ma’am.’’

“I understand.’’ I reassured him with a forced smile as he led me to my husband’s office where I had half a mind tearing him apart for summoning me like he did with a quick text. I would have much rather spent the whole day stressing over seeing him after that intense kiss and get ready for his potent presence tonight. Instead, I had to rush to get ready instead of moping around and get here without my shields firmly in place and with the overwhelming memory of that kiss on the forefront of my mind.

Jonatan knocked at the door with a polite smile my way as I took off my trench coat and draped it over my arm after shouldering my purse again.

“Come in,’’ Mathis said from inside. His voice couldn’t be mistaken for a welcoming tone.

Jonatan opened the door cautiously. “ Sir, your wife is here.’’

I glanced over my husband’s assistant’s shoulder and saw Mathis at his desk, his head turned toward us while he stopped reading some kind of file in front of him. He dropped the pen he had been holding and let it roll until it stopped against the keyboard of his computer.

“Good. Come in, Lila,’’ he said, voice flat. But his eyes were a different story.

In them, I saw what I had witnessed on his face right before he kissed me, and right after too. The space separating us made it possible for me to keep on breathing while my heart seized briefly. Desire was mounting inside me as I took a step, and then another to bring me closer and closer to the desk behind which Mathis was sitting, staring at me.

His eyes took in my body, the way the high-waisted black skirt emphasized my hips, the way my light gray v-neck cashmere sweater molded my round breasts, the way my hair freely waved around my face and down my back. Nothing was left aside, not even my black high heels.

Once again, he traced his lower lip slowly, his eyes now back 0n mine. That move had first infuriated me, but it now spoke to me on a carnal level. I felt my breasts turning heavy in my bra, desire pooled low in my belly and my legs lost some of their stability.

“Do you need anything else, sir?’’ Jonatan asked and I startled at the reminder that he was still there.

I tore my eyes away from my husband’s and stared instead at the quite impressive view and fitting to a tee for a business mogul like him. I inhaled deeply as Mathis dismissed his assistant with a curt word.

The door closed after Jonatan and the atmosphere shifted again. Invoking all of my poise from years spent grooming into a woman in perfect control over herself and her emotions, I went to the chairs in front of Mathis’ desk and dropped my purse and my trench coat over the back before sitting in the other one, foregoing the easy way out that would have been to sit on the black couch in the far corner of his huge office.

“Making me come to your office for lunch is unexpected.’’ I crossed my legs and smoothed my skirt when it started riding higher, exposing my knee and the beginning of my thigh.

His eyes burned me there, sizzling my skin until flames licked upward and reached my panty line. I cleared my throat daintily when the need to fidget started at the first signs of my growing arousal.

It was humiliating to have my panties drenched when facing a man I could barely stand, my husband, when all he wanted was to play games with me until he would resume his life while I licked my wounded pride and tried to gather my shattered self-esteem.

Carter Manor hadn’t prepared me for a situation like this one.

“Even after last night?’’ he asked with a suggestive tone as his eyes fell to my cleavage without any shame, while I was ashamed of the way my skin tingled.

“What about last night?’’ I countered, my chin tilted upward as my eyes willed his to leave my cleavage for a more innocent place. I had my wish granted when they went to mine again, but this time the intensity in them knocked me sideways. He had such a powerful stare.

My hands took a hold of the hem of my cashmere sweater, my grip so tight that I would probably stretch the poor garment in no time.

“Now, who’s the one playing games, Lila?’’

“Let me rephrase then.’’ I leaned forward and was surprised when his eyes didn’t fall to my cleavage this time. They kept on fixing mine as if he was looking through my soul to find my most depraved fantasy. “I don’t want to talk about last night because it was inconsequential. I hope this time it’s clear enough for you, Mathis.’’