Then she closed her eyes and nodded so slightly, he almost missed it. With a firm hand on her back, he walked toward the waiting limo, and addressed the driver.
“We’ll go directly to the Ritz, John,” he said as he climbed in the car behind Anna. Although it might be fun to play in the limo while they tooled around London for an hour, he didn’t want her in a car. He wanted to get her back to the suite and directly in his bed.
He would, however, have to keep her warm on the way back.
Settling in next to her, he offered champagne, but she declined. He touched a button and filled the car with the soft strains of Andrea Bocelli’s new-millennium version of classical music and her eyes sparkled.
“I love this music.”
“You love music, I noticed.”
She smiled. “Broadway tunes are my favorite, actually.”
“West Side Story?”
Even in the dim light of the car, he could see her flush. “I’m sorry about that, again.”
“I’m not. Use the shower in there whenever you like. Leave the door open.” He curled an arm around her and feathered her hair with a kiss. “I liked the view.”
“But not the song.”
He laughed and moved his mouth to lightly kiss her cheek. “Your heart was into it, that’s all that matters to me.”
She turned to him, her face suddenly very serious, the laughter gone from her eyes. “My heart’s into everything that I do,” she assured him. “Even my work.”
“Good,” he murmured, inching closer to her mouth, not thinking too hard about the sincerity in her eyes. His mind was not on work at the moment. “I like that in a woman.”
He kissed her again, working to keep it light and easy, but hot and hard was winning the battle. He tunneled his fingers into her hair and found the comb that held it in place. In one twist of his wrist, her hair tumbled.
He finger-combed it, inhaling the sweet fragrance, gliding his tongue over her teeth. She leaned her head back against the seat so he could kiss the tender skin of her throat and nibble his way into the V of her dress.
She tasted sweet and hot and smooth.
Unable to stop himself, he slid one hand from her nape, down the halter strap to the tender, precious curve of her breast, covering her easily. Instantly, her nipple pebbled against his palm, firing a blast of lava-hot blood through him, pulling groans of pleasure from both their throats.
“Parker.” She sighed, lifting herself just enough to let him know she enjoyed the touch.
“Glad we’re back on a first-name basis,” he teased, dragging his hand along the tight fit of her waist, over her hip and finding the slit that had called to him all night.
His hand hit flesh and her whole body shivered. He chuckled softly into another kiss. “Look what I found,” he whispered, tracing the tight thigh with one fingertip, inching higher to torture both of them.
Another moan of delight shuddered through her. He quieted that with a long, wet, hungry kiss, opening his hand to caress the taut muscle of her thigh. His fingers moved higher, over velvety skin, anxious just to touch her once. Just to feel how creamy she was. Expertly, he ran his thumb once over the silky nub of her panties, eliciting a soft gasp in their kiss.
“Maybe we should take the long way back,” he suggested, taking one more featherlight stroke over the damp silk between her legs.
Slowly, easily, she closed her fingers over his wrist and slid his hand away.
“Too fast?” he asked. “Too much? Too soon?”
The fire in her eyes said no to all of the above, but she nodded.
He took a deep breath and gave her a reassuring smile, placing his hand on a far less controversial spot on her waist. “I’ll wait.” He could. His body hummed with need, hard and relentless, but he would wait. “At least until we walk in the door.”
She smiled, then caught her lower lip under her two front teeth with a heartbreakingly unsure expression.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, cupping her jaw and lifting her face to meet his. “You’re not sure? Are you…I mean, you’ve done this before, right?”
“I had a serious boyfriend when I lived in Indiana.” Her whole expression changed with the admission.
He wasn’t at all sure he wanted to hear about this boyfriend, at least not at this particular moment. But she obviously wanted to tell him something.
“What happened?” he asked.
She lowered her head, gnawed on that lip again, thinking. “He hurt me. He…”
A natural male fury whipped through him. “He forced you?”
“No, no,” she said. “Nothing like that. He just…lied to me. He used me and I…” She sighed and turned to the window. “It cost me my job.”
Oh. Suddenly her hesitation was totally understandable. She must have worked for the guy, and this would feel like history repeating itself. And what could he say?
“And you’re worried that could happen again,” he said.
“Can you, in good conscience, promise me that if I sleep with you, it would never affect my job?”
He breathed slowly, studying her. “I can’t promise that, Anna.” As much as his hardened, aroused body wanted him to make all sorts of promises, he couldn’t actually make that one. Because it might change things in the office. That was life.
The limo slowed in front of the Ritz, and he gave her a moment to smooth her hair. When John opened the back door on her side, Parker watched her climb gracefully out of the car, the sexy red dress clinging to every curve he wanted to explore with his hands and mouth.
Nothing was going to happen to his career if they had sex and things didn’t work out. He was smart enough to know that. And so was she.
He cleared his throat and willed his arousal to subside as they made their way to the elevator. When the doors closed he turned to her.
“Anna,” he said, wrapping the hand that still held hers around her back. “You know what I want. But, it’s your call.” He resisted the urge to kiss her, but continued. “If that means we end up in bed together, well—” he smiled and touched her jaw with his other hand “—great. But…”
If it meant kissing her chastely good-night and keeping the best administrative assistant he ever had, that was great, too. Not as great, but Parker knew when to compromise and when to push.
The doors opened and he took her hand, leading her into the hushed hallway. He pulled out the room key and opened the massive double doors to the darkened suite, the only sound the steady thump of his heart while he waited for her decision.
He’d forgotten to leave a light on, and they stood in
