Michelle Celmer—Playing by the Baby Rules; Exerpt


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ROYAL SEDUCER

Silhouette Desire
July 2009
ISBN 978-0-373-76951-3

CHAPTER ONE

Never mix work with pleasure...
Zoë Simmons let out a shriek and swung around, blinking against the harsh light, clutching her crumpled dress to her bare breasts. This was like the dream where she was walking through the grocery store naked, only worse, because she was awake.
And honestly, right now, she would rather be caught naked in a room full of strangers than with Nick.
“ You scared me,” she admonished. So much for sneaking out of the hotel before he woke up. Call her a chicken, but she hadn’t been ready to face what they’d done. How many times they had done it.
How many different positions they had done it in...
The bed was in shambles and there were discarded condom wrappers on the bedside table and floor. She winced when she thought of the way they’d touched each other, the places they had touched. How incredibly, shockingly, mind-meltingly fantastic it had been.
And how it could never, ever happen again.
“ Going somewhere?” he asked.
“’ Fraid so.”
He looked over at the digital clock beside the bed. “It’s the middle of the night.”
Exactly.
“ I thought it would be best if I leave.” But God help her, he wasn’t it making it easy. He sat there naked from the waist up, looking like a Greek God, a picture of bulging muscle and golden skin, and all she wanted to do was climb back into bed with him.
No, bad Zoë.
This had to end, and it had to end now.
She edged toward the bathroom, snagging her purse from the floor. “I’m going to go get dressed, then we’ll...talk.”
She backed into the bathroom, his eyes never leaving her face, then shut and locked the door. She switched on the light, saw her reflection, and let out a sound that ranked somewhere between a horrified gasp and a gurgle of surprise.
Just when she thought this night couldn’t get any worse.
Her hair was smashed flat on one side of her head and sticking up on the other, last night’s eyeliner was smeared under her red, puffy eyes, and she had pillow indentations all over her left cheek. Unlike Nick who woke up looking like a Playgirl centerfold. It’s a miracle he hadn’t run screaming from the room when he saw her.
Had there been a window in the bathroom, she would have climbed through it.
She splashed water on her face, used a tissue to wipe away the mocha smudges under her eyes, then dug through her purse for a hair band. Finger combing her hair with damp hands, she pulled it taut and fastened it into a ponytail. She had no clue where her bra and panties had disappeared to, and there was no way in hell she was going to go hunting for them. She would just have to go commando until she got home.
She tugged on her battered dress, smoothing out the wrinkles as best she could. In his haste to undress her, Nick had torn one of the spaghetti straps loose. The form-fitting silk skirt was still a little damp and stained from the glass of champagne she’d spilled on herself.
It was the dress she’d worn to both of Nick’s weddings. It looked as if maybe it was time to retire it.
Or incinerate it.
Zoë studied her reflection. Not great, but passable. Maybe everyone wouldn’t look at her and automatically think, tramp, as she traipsed through the five star hotel lobby. Not that she would run into too many people at three-thirty in the morning.
She heard movement from the other room, and fearing she would catch him as naked and exposed as he had her--she cringed at the thought of her big rear end in his face when he turned the light on--she called, “I’m coming out now!”
When he didn’t respond, she unlocked the door and edged it open, peeking out. He sat on the bed wearing only the slacks from last night, his chest bare.
And boy what a chest it was. It’s not as if she’d never seen it before. But after touching it...and oh my, was that a bite mark on his left shoulder? She also seemed to recall giving him a hickey somewhere south of his belt, not to mention the other things she’d done with her mouth...
Shame seared her inside and out. What had they done?
As she stepped toward him, she noticed the gaping hole in the front of his pants. She was about to point out that the barn door was open, then remembered that in her haste to get his slacks off last night, she’d broken the zipper. They’d torn at each others clothes, unable to get naked fast enough, as if they’d been working up to that moment for ten long years and couldn’t bear to wait a second longer. She would never forget the way he’d plunged inside of her, hard and fast and deep. The way she’d wrapped her legs around his hips and ground herself against him, how she’d moaned and begged for more...
Oh God, what had they done?
She clutched her purse to her chest, searching the floor for her shoes. She needed to get out of there pronto, before she did something even stupider, like whip her dress off and jump him.
“ I think these belong to you.” Nick was holding up her black lace bra and matching thong. “I found them under the covers.”
Swell.
“ Thanks.” She snatched them from him and stuffed them both in her tiny purse.
“ Should we talk about this?” he asked.
“ If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather leave and pretend it never happened.”
He raked a hand through his short, blue-black hair. Thick, dark stubble shadowed his jaw, which explained the chafing on her inner thighs.
“ That is one way to handle it,” he said, sounding almost disappointed.
He had to know as well as she did that this was a fluke. It never should have happened. And it sure as hell would never ever happen again.
Not that he was a bad guy. Nick was rich, gorgeous and genuinely nice--and okay, a touch stubborn and overbearing at times. And there were occasional moments when she wanted to smack him upside the head. But he was sweet when he wanted to be and generous to a fault.
How he hadn’t found the right woman yet, she would never understand. Maybe he was just trying too hard. Or he had really bad luck.
When it came to finding the wrong woman he was like a magnet.
“ We’ve obviously made a big mistake,” she said. She spotted her brand new Jimmy Choo pumps peeking out from under the bed. She used her big toe to drag them out and shoved her feet in. “We’ve known each other a long time. I’d hate to see our friendship, our working relationship, screwed up because of this.”
“ That would suck." He sure was taking this well. Not that she’d expected him to be upset. But he didn’t have to be so...agreeable. He could at least pretend he was sorry it wouldn’t happen again.
She hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “I’m going to go now.”
He pulled himself to his feet. She was wearing three inch heels and he was still a head taller. “I’ll drive you home.”
She held up a hand to stop him. “No, no. That’s not necessary. I’ll call a cab.”
He looked down at the clock. “It’s after three.”
All the more reason not to let him drive her home. In the middle of the night she felt less...accountable. What if, when they got there, she invited him in? She didn’t want him getting the wrong idea, and she wasn’t sure if she could trust herself.
Astonishing what a night of incredible sex could do to cloud a girl’s judgment. “I’d really rather you didn’t. I’ll be fine, honest.”
“ Then take my truck,” he said, taking her hand and pressing his keys into it. “I’ll catch a cab in the morning.”
“ You’re sure?”
“ I’m sure.”
He gestured toward the bedroom door and followed her into the dark sitting room. When they got to the door she turned to face him. The light from the bedroom illuminated the right side of his face. The side with the dimple.
But he wasn’t smiling. He looked almost sad.
Well duh, he’d just split up with his fiancé. Of course he was sad.
“ I’m really sorry about what happened with Lynn. You’ll meet someone else, I promise.” Someone unlike fiance number one, who informed him the day of their nuptials that she’d decided to put off having kids for ten years so she could focus on her career. And this last one, she’d been a real prize. She had obviously been after Nick’s money, but he’d been so desperate to satisfy this driving need to procreate, he’d been blind to what he was getting himself into. Thank goodness he’d come to his senses.
“ I know I will,” he said.
“ This probably goes without saying, but it would be best if we kept what happened to ourselves. Things could get weird around the office if anyone found out.”
“ Okay,” he agreed. “Not a word.”
Huh. That was easy.
Almost too easy.
“ Well, I should go.” She hooked her purse over her shoulder and reached for the door knob. “I guess I’ll see you at work Monday.”
He leaned forward and propped a hand above her head on the door, so she couldn’t pull it open. “Since this isn’t going to happen again, how about one last kiss?”
Oh no, bad idea. Nick’s kiss is what had gotten them into this mess in the first place. The man could work miracles with his mouth. Had he been a lousy kisser, she never would have slept with him. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
He was giving her that look again, that heavy-lidded hungry look he’d had just before they attacked each other the first time. And suddenly he seemed to be standing a lot closer. And he smelled so good, looked so good in the pale light that her head felt a little swimmy.
“ Come, on,” he coaxed, “one little kiss.”
Like a magnet she felt drawn to him. She could feel herself leaning forward even as she told him, “That would be a bad idea.”
“ Probably,” he agreed, easing in to meet her halfway. He caressed her cheek with the tips of his fingers, combed them gently through her hair. The tie pulled loose and a riot of blond curls sprang free, hanging in damp ringlets around her face.
“ Nick don’t,” she said, but didn’t do anything to stop him. “We agreed this wouldn’t happen again.”
“ Did we?” His hand slipped down to her shoulder. She felt a tug, and heard the snap of her other spaghetti strap being torn. Her dress was now officially strapless. And in another second it would be lying on the floor.
Oh God, here we go again.
Nick pushed the strap of her purse off the opposite shoulder and it landed with a soft thump on the floor at their feet and his car keys landed beside it. “We’re already here, the damage has been done. Is one more time really going to make that much of a difference?”
Hard to argue with logic like that, especially when he was nibbling her ear. But he was right. The damage had already been done.
What difference could one more time possibly make?
“ Just a quick one,” she said, reaching for the fastener on his slacks. She tugged it free and shoved them down his hips. “As long as we agree that what goes on in this room stays in this room.”
His lips brushed her shoulder and her knees went weak. “Agreed.”
Then he kissed her and she melted.
One more time, she promised herself as he bunched the skirt of her dress up around her waist and lifted her off the floor.
“ One more time,” she murmured as she locked her legs around his hips and he pinned her body to the wall.
One more time and they would forget this ever happened...

From the book: The Secretary's Secret

By: Michelle Celmer