decided to call it alcoholic enlightenment.
‘So there you are!’ she exclaimed gaily, and launched herself towards his desk, kicking the door shut behind her.
He whirled, then frowned at her. ‘What in hell do you think you’re doing?’ he said when she set the glasses up on his desk and slopped in some champagne, spilling a little on the black lacquered top.
‘Bringing the party to you, boss.’ She threw him a saucy smile as she weaved her way over to him, thankful that the glasses were only half full. ‘This is the one day in the year when we don’t work around here. And that includes you. If you think you’re going to hide yourself away in that infernal laboratory today, then you can think again. Here. Take this!’ Having deposited one glass into his reluctant grip, she clinked her glass to his then lifted it to her lips, her eyes dancing at him over the rim. ‘Merry Christmas, Lewis.’
‘Olivia,’ he said drily, making no attempt to drink. ‘You’re not just merry, you’re sozzled.’
She laughed. ‘I am, aren’t I?’
‘You’re going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning,’ he warned.
‘I’ll worry about that in the morning. Meanwhile, I’m having fun.’
One of his dark eyebrows lifted in a sardonic arch. ‘So I noticed. You haven’t forgotten Phil Baldwin’s reputation with women, have you?’
‘No.’
‘For pity’s sake, Olivia, if you must have revenge on Nicholas then pick yourself someone with a little more discretion. I really don’t want the likes of Phil going round boasting that he had sex with my secretary at the Christmas party, all right?’
‘You think I’d let him do that?’
‘I don’t know what to think.’ His eyes carried a strange confusion as they roved over her, taking in her wild tumble of hair before dropping down to the shadowed cleavage between her breasts. ‘When you let your hair down, Olivia,’ he muttered tautly, ‘you really let your hair down.’
The air was suddenly thick between them. Thick and hot and electric. The storm which had been brewing in Olivia all day gathered intensity. Lightning licked along her veins. Thunder roared in her temples. Her heart began to pound. Her eyes flashed and glittered.
‘At least you noticed I was a woman,’ she said huskily.
‘Hard not to.’
‘Would you like to have sex with me, Lewis?’
He was shocked, she could see. Yet along with the shock lay a decided fascination. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She took advantage of his momentary stillness to close the distance between them and press herself against him, oh, so lightly. His nostrils flared with more shock.
Olivia was beyond shock; beyond everything but having Lewis look at her as he had out on the factory floor. A blistering desire was inflaming her senses while obliterating her conscience. All she could think of was having her boss admit he wanted her, having him powerless to resist her incredible expertise.
Boring, Nicholas had called her. If only he could see her now. Lewis wasn’t looking at her as though she were boring.
Reaching up on tiptoe, Olivia brushed her lips tantalisingly against his.
He froze. But only for a second or two. When she kissed him a second time, more firmly this time, his lips softened against hers, parting as hers parted. When her tongue-tip darted forward to flick over his, he gave a low moan of sexual surrender.
A dark triumph filled her soul. Smiling, she drew back to survey his flushed face and startled mouth with a wicked satisfaction. ‘I’ll just be a moment,’ she murmured.
She sipped her drink all the way to the door, finishing it by the time she reached to snap on the deadlock. Turning, she arched a naughty eyebrow at him. ‘We don’t want to be disturbed, do we?’
Somewhere, in the furthest reaches of her mind, she knew she was being outrageous. But nothing was going to stop her. Any qualms were ruthlessly buried underneath the roller-coaster excitement of the moment.
His eyes never left hers during her slow return across the room. They glittered and flashed, telling her of his own excitement.
She deposited her glass on the desk on the way, but made no attempt to relieve him of his, taking his free hand in hers and drawing him round to the roomy leather chesterfield.
He sat down in the middle where she directed, hot blue eyes burning into her while she kicked off her shoes and curled herself up next to him.
‘Now,’ she breathed, and took the untouched drink from his hand, ‘we’ll finish this up together, shall we?’
When she pressed the glass to his lips, he drank obediently, saying nothing when it was her turn. Determined not to be unnerved by his silence, she drained the glass, then dropped it over the back of the chesterfield onto the plush carpet Cupping his face, she kissed him, at first lightly, then more deeply, making him moan.
With surprisingly nimble fingers, she managed to undo his shirt as she kissed him, pushing back the sides and smoothing her hands seductively over his bared chest.
He felt marvellous. Firm and muscular, with just enough body hair to exude a masculinity which was decidedly arousing. Lewis had a great body, she decided, probably because he balanced his sometimes sedentary lifestyle with rigorous workouts in the gym.
Olivia’s primary goal of seducing him began to blur as her own desires kicked in. Her head spun and she dragged her mouth from his to lick and kiss where her hands had been. When she grazed over a nipple, he sucked in sharply, tellingly. With a teasing wickedness she hadn’t known she possessed, she deliberately avoided his nipples after that till they grew erect on their own, only then doing what he obviously craved.
‘Oh, God,’ he groaned aloud when she tugged on one of the tight little buds with her teeth.
The naked passion of his outburst thrilled her, making her torment him further till his chest was rising and falling with a raw ragged panting. When her kisses travelled down towards his navel and her hands found the zip on his trousers, his hands clamped down shakily over hers.
‘No,’ he protested. But unconvincingly, she thought.
Smiling seductively, she took his hands and stretched them up and out, spreading them wide on the back of the chesterfield. Her own body had to practically lie on top of his to do so, her breasts squashing against the hard expanse of his chest. The feel of his impressive erection pressing into the softness of her stomach was both reassuring and arousing. Somehow, she didn’t think Lewis would object for long to what she had in mind.
And she had a lot of things in mind. All those things Nicholas thought her incapable of. All those things darling little Yvette had been giving her boyfriend in his office.
The need for revenge blended with her own need, bringing a reckless mix which sent fire licking along her veins and a ruthless determination into her heart.
‘Shh,’ she murmured as she licked Lewis’s parched lips. ‘You want me to. You know you do.’
His
