She stiffened for the briefest of seconds before relaxing into him. Sophie heard herself gasp at the unexpected rightness of it. She’d thought about this moment. Dreamt about it. She’d expected it to feel wrong.
But there was nothing wrong about the mouth moving slowly over hers, his lips taking hers in quiet demand. She tentatively kissed him back, and when his hands slid up her arms to cup her face, she slid hers around his waist, pulling him even closer. Their bodies fit together like the last pieces of an impossible puzzle.
Gray groaned, using his lips to coax open her mouth and slide his tongue against hers in silky rhythm. There was nothing slow and gentle about the kiss now, and she clawed at his back and kissed him like he was the last man alive.
Her hands moved to the buttons of her shirt, but she only had half of them undone before she realized that he was one step ahead of her. Her blouse was fully unbuttoned, and he was roughly tugging it down her shoulder. His mouth moved to the crook of her neck as his hand found her breast over her lace bra and they both moaned.
“God, Sophie,” he said against her neck. She wanted to tease him that there was supposed to be no talking, but she didn’t feel like teasing. At least not that kind.
Her uncoordinated hands had finally undone the last of his shirt buttons when they heard the unmistakable sound of keys jingling in the hallway.
Please keep going, she silently begged the owner of the keys.
But the jangling stopped right outside the office doors.
“The janitor,” Gray whispered, pulling back abruptly. Sophie was unprepared at the sudden loss of his support, and stumbled off-balance, catching herself on the side of her desk.
Her desk. Horrible reality flooded over her. She had nearly just had sex with her boss in the office.
Who does that? she screamed at herself.
She heard a key turn in the lock, and she’d barely pushed her arms through the shirt Gray tossed at her when the door opened.
The fluorescent light spilled in from the hallway, and Sophie squinted against its harshness.
A very startled-looking janitor blinked at them as Sophie held her purse in front of her half-buttoned shirt and tried to look natural.
“Mr. Wyatt?” he said, clearly confused.
“Hello, Walter,” Gray said in his usual calm voice. “Come on it. We were just finishing up a couple of sales reports.”
If Walter suspected anything, he was too kind to show it, because he merely nodded and gave her a shy smile before wheeling in his cleaning cart.
“I’ll drive you home,” Gray said quietly in her ear. But she knew that tone. This wasn’t the Gray who had cooked dinner for her, and it certainly wasn’t the Gray who had kissed her senseless.
This was the cold Gray. The one from the elevator.
She should have known that any kind of intimacy would only blow up in their faces. This was the type of man that pushed away anyone who got beneath his defenses. Gray was already fully dressed, looking for all the world like he’d just come from a nice business lunch instead of fondling his secretary on her desk.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, her voice crackling as she finished buttoning her shirt.
“Sophie—”
“This was the worst kind of mistake. Don’t even try to deny it.”
And he didn’t. Just stared at her with cool gray eyes. “Yes, it was a mistake. It won’t happen again.”
Sophie gave a curt nod and grabbed her shoes to keep from having to make eye contact. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said brightly, before heading toward the door without looking back.
He said nothing.
By the time she exited the elevator, she was a sobbing mess.
This job at Brayburn was supposed to be her path toward respectability, and she was messing everything up.
Nobody would respect the girl who fell in love with the boss.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sophie Claire, are you listening to me?”
Sophie switched her cell phone to her other ear as she threw yet another rejected shirt on the bed. Her entire wardrobe was office-ready, but not even remotely first-date-ready. When had that happened?
“Sorry, Mom, what?”
Phone conversations with her mother were trying on the best of days, and painful when her mother was attempting to coax Sophie into yet another “self-improvement plan.”
Marnie let out the smallest of dignified sighs. “I was saying that Blair has an opening this weekend and is willing to take you on as a client. Don’t you think a little change to your look would be nice? I’m thinking darkening the blonde to something more natural. Maybe getting rid of the length? You’re not sixteen anymore, you know…”
“Brynn’s hair is the same length as mine,” Sophie said as she held up a green dress in the mirror. She made a face and tossed that in the reject pile. Mint green only looked good when she had a bit of a tan. Not something she could claim at the moment.
“Hmm, is it?” her mother was musing. “I suppose so, but Brynn wears hers straight, so it’s more age-appropriate.”
“Well, Brynn is older than me,” Sophie said with sham cheerfulness, “so when I’m her age, then we can have this chat, okay?”