hate you,â she told him, her voice shaking with anger. âI hate what you did to me.â
And now he felt another kind of punchâof regret. But heâd only been doing his jobâgetting the best deal for his client. âI didnât do anything...â
...That she hadnât had coming. Sheâd put her husband through hell. He hadnât seen a man that broken since his father. He flinched as he felt that jolt of panic again. But he didnât have to worry. He wasnât like her ex or his father; he was too smart to fall for a pretty face. Hell, he was too smart to fall for any face. Ever...
Her breath hissed out between her teeth. And she leaned down to grab her bra up from the floor of the elevator. âHow can you say you didnât do anything? You hired a PR firm to smear me!â
âItâs not like your career suffered for it,â he pointed out. âIn fact, I think the whole trial helped your career.â Now everyone knew her name and her face, whereas before they might have only known her body. While she had been modeling lingerie and swimsuits for years, she hadnât become famous until her divorce drama.
She shook her head, and her titian hair swirled around her bare shoulders. She had yet to put on the bra. She still held her arms across her breasts.
He wanted to see them again. He wanted to touch them. Taste them...
âYou should be thanking me,â he said, grinning as he goaded her.
She lifted one hand away from her breasts to swing it toward his face. But before her palm could connect, he caught her wrist and jerked her body against his.
âThatâs not how you thank someone,â he admonished her. And he lowered his face to hers. âThis is how you thank someone...â The minute he touched his lips to hers, he forgot all about teasing her. Or the panic heâd felt.
He forgot everything but how much he wanted her. Her soft breasts pushed against his chest, and he could feel the tightness of her nipples through the thin silk of his dress shirt. He swallowed a groan as his body tensed and throbbed with desire. Then he swallowed her moan when a soft one slipped through her parted lips. He deepened the kiss.
He slid his tongue inside her mouth, and she stroked hers over his. They mated and tangled around each other, teasing, tasting...
It was the hottest kiss heâd ever hadâall panting breath and moans. It was wet and wild. And he wanted her the same way. He wanted her wet and wild for him. So he eased her body back from his, and he touched her.
He moved his hands over her beautiful breasts, skimming his fingertips over her silky soft skin before stroking them over her tightened nipples.
She moaned again.
Then he lowered his head to her breasts and he replaced his fingers with his lips, closing them over one of those taut nipples. He gently tugged, teasing her.
Her hands slid into his hair, grasping his head. But she didnât pull him away. She clutched him closer. Her fingers moved from his head to his neck, and she jerked his tie loose before tackling his buttons. Once she parted his shirt, she raked her nails down his chest.
His stomach clenched as desire punched him hard in the gut. He pulled back, but she followed him, pressing her breasts to his bare chest. She felt so good against him, so damn good in his arms.
He tightened his arms around her and just held her for a moment. But his body heated and the tension built. And just holding her would not be enough.
He had to have herâhad to taste herâhad to be inside her. He moved his hands to her waist and undid the button of her jeans. The zipper rasped as he lowered it. And his pulse pounded harder from the noise. Sheâd let him do that, just as sheâd let him take off her sweater and bra. But would she let him push down the jeans?
She stepped back before he could reach for them. And his breath caught and trapped in his lungs. She was going to stop him.
He could understand why...
She blamed him for her coming out on the losing end of her divorce and in the media. But, as heâd pointed out, it hadnât hurt her career any, not like she was trying to hurt his by turning in those forged memos to the bar association. Since sheâd done that, he should be so damn mad that he shouldnât be attracted to her at all.
And he was damn mad, more pissed off than he could remember being in a long time. But even then he couldnât find her repulsive. She was too damn beautiful and sexy to resist. Not that he wanted to resist.
He wanted her too much for that and, more important, he wanted her to want him too much.
But he wouldnât be able to do that if she kept stopping him.
She just stared at him now, her gaze on his bare chest like a caress. He could feel her touch, feel her skin even though a couple of feet separated them now.
Then she took another step back and turned away from him toward the control panel. He held his breath, waiting for her touch a button and get the elevator moving again.
But if she were going to do that, wouldnât she first put her bra back on and her sweater? Instead of reaching for her discarded clothes, though, she pushed down her jeans and revealed a tiny bow on a G-string at the top of her perfect ass.
Ronan fisted his hands at his sides so he wouldnât reach for her. Just because sheâd undressed didnât mean she intended to have sex with him. Maybe she only intended to torture him. Maybeâlike turning those documents over to the barâit was her way of getting revenge on him.
Seeing her like thisâso bare and beautifulâand not being able to have her, might be worse than losing his law license...
* * *
What the hell was she doing? Muriel asked herself the question again, but like before, she couldnât come up with an answer. Sure, she knew what sheâd thought she was doing: carrying out the plan sheâd concocted to bring Ronan Hall to his knees and get him to tell her the truth.
But nobody brought men like Ronan Hall to their knees. Not women. Not men...
They were too tough. Too powerful.
In their lives and most especially in the bedroom. Sheâd heard all the stories about himânot just how ruthless he was in court but how ruthless he was in relationships. Sheâd worked with some of his ex-girlfriends. He was always the one whoâd ended things and always too soon for the women concerned.
No matter how ruthless heâd been, the women had wanted more. Some had even admitted begging.
So Muriel was the one who needed to worry about being brought to her knees. Again.
Heâd already done it onceâin the courtroom. Now she had to worry about him doing it here. Because when he touched her...
When he kissed her...
He made her want him more than sheâd ever wanted anyone before. Just like all those other women had told her.
He
