dove back in. His lips met hers over and over again in a kiss that had her winding her arms around his neck and pulling him close.
Him. Her. Touching. Nothing else mattered. Pleasure crashed over her, drowning out everything around them. Fingers searched and sculpted. Her hands swept into his hair while his pushed against her lower back, easing her closer to the juncture between his thighs. She heard the grumbling moan in his chest and the deep breaths from her own.
She lifted her head in an attempt to get some air. “Ben…that…”
“You taste so good.”
His mouth found that sensitive spot right at the slope of her chin. Her kryptonite. A few nibbling kisses and she wanted to strip that conservative shirt and tie right off him.
She dropped her head back to give him greater access. “Right there.”
When his mouth found hers again, lights exploded in her brain. He kissed like he worked, with an intensity that sent her common sense screaming in wild defeat. The touch of his lips was all she dreamed about and everything she feared.
But her mind shouted out a red-light warning through the sensual haze. She had a job and he had a girlfriend.
Callie pulled her mouth away, letting her forehead rest against his cheek as she struggled to breathe without wheezing. “We have to stop.”
“God, why?” He mumbled the question into her hair.
“Emma.” Callie now hated that name.
With the gentle touch of his palms, he lifted her head and stared down at her. The gaze from deep brown eyes searched her face. The rapid beating in his chest thumped against her as his eyes grew soft.
“I don’t cheat,” he said in a husky whisper. “If I were with Emma I wouldn’t be kissing you.”
Callie knew she should pull back, but she rubbed her hands up his back instead. “But, I saw—”
“Evidence of a lifelong friendship.” He traced her cheekbones with his thumbs. “That’s it.”
“You’re not—”
“No.”
“Does Emma know that?”
His chuckle vibrated against her from everywhere their bodies touched. “Definitely.”
Relief washed through Callie. She balanced her head on his chin as she tried to figure out what it all meant. “Now what?”
“You invite me to your house.”
“That crosses a line.” She could recognize that over her misfiring brain waves and damp panties.
“I’d carry you to mine right this second, but Mark will be there eventually to screw everything up.” Ben dropped a quick kiss on her mouth.
“Oh, yeah. Your brother.” And her boss.
“And we’re going to need hours of privacy.”
She debated the pros and cons for all of two seconds. The temptation proved too great. “Well, as you keep telling me, you’re the one in charge.”
Ben’s smile lit up his face. “About time you admitted that.”
Chapter Six
Emma finished her afternoon docket and left the bench in time to see Mark storm into the back room of her suite and grab her clerk by the arm. He dragged Scott MacAllister behind him down the hall to her private office, and was not too subtle about it. Scott’s high-octave screaming didn’t help, either.
Everyone came running. Emma waved off her bodyguard and reassured her assistant as she followed in Mark’s footsteps. “What the hell are you doing?” she asked in a harsh whisper as she shut her door.
Mark barely spared her a glance. “Get out of here, Emma.”
“Absolutely not.” She used her best judge tone to convey her anger over his disrespect.
If Mark picked up on her mood he didn’t let on.
“This is between me and young Scott here.” Mark’s face flushed with fury as he dropped Scott into the nearest chair and held him there.
She feared he’d kill Scott if she moved away. “This is my office,” she said, trying to break through the irrational mood that gripped Mark.
“This is my case.”
Dread settled in her stomach. “What has happened?”
“Your clerk has the starring role on the security tapes of Ben’s office.”
“No, Judge Blanton. I didn’t. I wouldn’t.” Scott shook with fear as he tried to get up.
Mark grabbed Scott by the collar and shoved him down again. “Shut up.”
“But you’ve got this all wrong.” Scott’s voice grew louder as he tried to reassure Mark of his innocence.
“I have eyes, Scott.”
And the strength of the devil. Emma stepped up, hoping to calm both men with her presence. “Tell me what’s going on,” she said as she unwrapped Mark’s fingers from Scott’s shirt.
Scott rubbed his arm from the spot of Mark’s earlier viselike hold. “Someone gave me the note.”
Mark scoffed. “Nice story.”
Mark’s anger and Scott’s fear still didn’t rise to the level of an explanation for her. “I don’t understand why you’re all over my clerk.”
“He’s there on the security tapes. I watched it myself. He came down the hall and slid the threatening letter under Ben’s door.” Mark turned his wrath back on Scott. “I want to know why.”
“I just delivered a message. I do that all the time.”
“It’s true, he does,” she said.
Mark wasn’t ready to calm down. “If that’s true, why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”
Emma shifted through the information in her mind. “He was probably afraid you’d kill him.”
“I might yet.”
They barely made it inside the front door of her apartment before Ben pinned Callie against the wall. In their rush of entwined legs and arms, they knocked over a small table in the entry, sending something glass crashing to the floor. He heard the shattering fall as he shoved the front door shut with his foot.
He hoped whatever had broken didn’t matter much to her, because he couldn’t stop to investigate even if he wanted to. And he didn’t. The sole purpose of his wanting stood locked in his arms with her hand on his ass.
Everything moved in a haze
