An Irresistible Bachelor(25)

"Really?" She went inside and lifted the lid off the top one. "Have they been cataloged?"

"Not that I know of."

"They should be."

"Do you want to do it?"

She glanced over her shoulder. "Are you serious?"

"Of course. And I'd pay you for the work."



She shook her head. "Absolutely not. I happen to like making order out of chaos, so this would be a nice diversion for me. Besides, I don't have a background in document preservation. All I could do is sift through the papers, put them in piles, and get them ready so someone who knew what they were doing could go through them."

She got up on her tiptoes and leaned forward, putting her arms inside the box. He heard papers sliding against one another with a graceful sound and then a harsh noise when the container slipped. She started to fall forward.


Moving on instinct, Jack grabbed her around the waist from behind, pulling her back. His first thought was merely to keep her upright.

But as her body came up against him, his brain pretty much shut down.

As they made contact, he heard her gasp and felt like doing a little heavy breathing of his own. The fit of her against the cradle of his hips was seamless and she must have been as struck by the sensation as he was because she didn't struggle as much as he didn't move.

He couldn't have counted the number of heartbeats that passed while they stood together.

Now would be a good time to let go of her, he told himself. All he needed to do was drop his hands and step back. Make some smooth comment about her throwing herself into her work.

Instead his fingers splayed over her waist, measuring the subtle undulations of her rib cage as well as the softness of her sides. He felt her body expand with breath. When she still didn't pull away, he leaned into her until his chest was against her back.

Don't do this, he thought. For Christ's sake, don't you dare do this.

But his body was taking over, drowning out sane thoughts and moral reasoning, replacing them with an insane need to take her. He couldn't think about the implications of what he was doing. He wanted her and that was all he knew.

Moving slowly, Jack brought his hand to the weight of her hair and he swept it aside to expose the skin of her neck. He bent down, bringing his lips close to her ear.

"Callie."

"Let me go," she whispered.

"Callie." His voice was low, vibrating with what was happening between them while he apologized for what he was about to do. "I’m sorry."

He pressed his lips against her skin.

Her breath left in a rush and he kissed her neck again, stroking her with his tongue. When her head fell back, he put his arms around her, his hands wide across her flat stomach.

As his lips came down once more, her head started moving back and forth as if she were struggling to argue. Seizing the moment, he turned her around. Her eyes were luminous with heat even as he got the sense that she was a hairsbreadth away from bolting.

Keeping his eyes locked on hers, he lowered his head and lightly put his lips against her cheek. Small kisses, designed to calm as well as arouse, brought him to her mouth. He hesitated.



At the core of him, he knew what he was about to do was very wrong.

You bastard, he thought, as he lowered his lips to hers.

Callie's mouth trembled under his as he softly kissed her, and the sigh that came out of her was all the permission he needed. He kissed her again. Stroking, cajoling, gently.

He knew damn well the restraint wasn't going to last. With every little kiss, his self-control was slipping away, transforming him from a rational human being into a fully aroused male with exactly what he wanted in his arms.

Her lips parted without warning and his tongue slipped between them. He groaned as he felt the warm, slick glide of hers and all he could think of was getting her skin next to his. Riding a surge of lust, he tightened his hold until her breasts pressed against his chest.

Holy Christ, he thought. Nothing in the dream had prepared him for what she actually felt like and he thought of the sofa across the room. Had he closed the door downstairs before they'd gone up? The last thing he wanted was to be interrupted.

But then she pushed him away with a moan and stumbled out of the closet.

Jack cursed as cool air took the place of her warm body and reality came back with horrible clarity.

Before turning around, he took a deep breath and rearranged himself. He didn't think facing her with a rigid erection was going to make things easier for either one of them.