Rock Hard (Rock Kiss #2)(69)

Charlotte managed to open the drawer after Gabriel leaned forward a fraction. The unopened bottle was sitting up front. Taking it out, she pushed the drawer shut and Gabriel braced his back against the desk again.

“My box of tissues is outside,” she said, embarrassed about her face now. She’d put on mascara today in her continued quest to master makeup, and it had to be running.

Gabriel picked her up and put her in his executive chair. “Wait here.” Exiting the office, he returned a few seconds later with the tissue box and her handbag and once more shut the door. “Weightlifting,” he said as he passed the items over. “That’s clearly your secret hobby.”

“Very funny.” Grabbing several tissues from the box, Charlotte dampened them using the water from the bottle. For now, she just wiped her cheeks clean blind. The tissues became smudged with the dark brown mascara she’d used to make her lashes stand out a little more. “My handbag isn’t that heavy.”

“Only half your body weight,” he said dryly. “There were three notes on your desk from people who want to see me.”

“Did they knock on the door?” she asked, relieved they wouldn’t have heard her sobs regardless. Gabriel’s office had excellent soundproofing—she never overheard any of his conversations when he had the door shut, no matter how heated.

Now he snorted. “They’re scared of me, Charlotte. You’re the T-Rex tamer.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m sure they thought you were busy.”

“Yeah.” He pulled a sticky note out of his pocket. “Then why does this one say, ‘Hi Charlotte—wanted to see Bishop. Can you give me a call when it’s okay? I didn’t want to make him mad by interrupting.’”

Dropping that one on the desk, he took out another. “‘Charlotte, can you call me when the Beast is in a good mood?’” Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “That’s a new one.”

Charlotte scowled. “Those notes weren’t for you.”

“Don’t worry, Ms. Baird. I won’t fire the chickens. They happen to be good at their jobs.” He put the final note atop the others without reading it aloud.

Feeling a little more human, Charlotte found her compact and checked her face. Her eyes weren’t as badly swollen as she’d feared, and the damage wouldn’t be obvious behind her glasses if she put on some makeup to replace what she’d cried off. She was no expert even after the past months of cautious experimentation, but she could swipe on a lick of mascara and powder her face, dab on a touch of lip color.

It felt incredibly intimate to do it in front of Gabriel, especially when he sat down in the guest chair on the other side of the desk and placed his feet on the scarred wood of the desk, legs crossed at the ankles and hands laced behind his head as he leaned back. “I want to watch you do that while you’re naked.”

Her cheeks went hot.

“On one of those pretty little benches women have in front of their vanities. Do you have one?”

“No.” She’d always wanted a Victorian-style vanity, but the antiques were too expensive and the reproductions she’d found not quite right.

“Maybe I’ll buy you one for your birthday. You can thank me by doing that thing with your mascara while bare to the skin.”

He was flustering her, but Charlotte was used to fencing with him on this level. It made her happy that her meltdown hadn’t stopped him. Not only that, she found she, too, was back on stable ground, perhaps even more so than before the tears. As if a valve that had been twisted and twisted and twisted had suddenly given way and in so doing, washed everything clean.

“You’re not buying me anything for another twenty years.” Raising her hand on that stern statement, she pointed to the bracelet that glittered on one wrist.

Gabriel’s response was a deeply possessive smile. “Looks perfect on you, Ms. Baird.”

Making a face at him for totally avoiding the point, she finished powdering her face. It was what she should’ve done first, but she’d felt so naked and ravaged that she’d started with mascara. She’d have to repeat the mascara now, after getting powder on her lashes.

Slicking on some lipstick, she redid the mascara and put her glasses back on. Gabriel came into crisp focus. “Will I do?” she asked the man who looked at her as if he wanted to take a greedy bite.

“Come sit on my lap.”

“Gabriel.”

Putting his feet on the floor, he crooked a finger.





27


GABRIEL LEADS CHARLOTTE INTO WICKEDNESS AND SIN





“WE’RE IN THE OFFICE,” she said, even as she came around the desk to take a seat on those strong thighs. “We’re supposed to be professional at work.”

Arms loosely around her, Gabriel leaned forward to press his lips to her shoulder. “We’re having a coffee break.”

“We already had that this morning.”

Another kiss over the linen of her shift. “I’m the boss. I say we deserve a second coffee break after all those late nights and weekends.” The third kiss brushed over her skin.

Toes curling, she felt her bones start to dissolve.

Then he pressed a kiss to her throat and she turned boneless. No one had ever kissed her throat, and it was so incredibly arousing that she leaned into him in a silent request for more. He chuckled, his breath hot, and gave her what she wanted; his kiss was wet and suckling, made her whimper. “So my Ms. Baird has a hot button on this sweet neck.”