Management Skills Read Free Page B

qualities in a woman.
    Leaning against the doorframe, he asked her questions about the trade show. Her delicious anxiety was tempered by an eagerness to tell him about the new technology. He felt the slow pound of his blood.
    There were no anti-fraternization rules at Synthos Systems Group. This spectacular woman wasn’t working for Sterling anymore. Allie was working for him. Flicking a glance at the abandoned executive chair, he strode into her office.
    “You’re not using the chair?” He pulled the black metal monstrosity away from the wall. “It might be ugly, but it’s really comfortable. You should try it.” He made a show of slowly lowering his body into the chair. “Mmm. Wonderful.”
    She studied his face and then the futuristic metal chair and grimaced. “It looks like a creepy black metal skeleton.”
    “I have a chair just like it. I love it.” Grunting happily, he stood and patted the mesh seat. “Let me show you some of this chair’s secrets.”
    Her face relaxed into a grin. She walked over to the chair and, grasping the suspended armrests, she dropped into the seat.
    “Huh. It really is comfortable. Like sitting on air.” She leaned her head back and sighed. Loudly.
    Resting his hands on the armrests, he took in her subtle scent of spring flowers. He rotated the chair to the left and to the right and then back to the middle. “See, it moves back and forth. The chair also adjusts up and down, by these levers at the base.”
    He raised the chair higher, bringing her body even closer to him.
    “Got it.” Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. Her soft gray eyes were wide. “Thanks for showing me.”
    Her tone of voice, her expression, was a cry for mercy.
    He had no intention of being merciful.
    He raised the chair even higher. “Do you have any idea what you did to me at the Vault, Silver? Seeing that brute strip away your resistance? Your eyes the color of wild storm clouds, outlined with black, promising so much heat and drama? And how you delivered. Piece by piece, that savage peeled off your armor, leaving you vulnerable, writhing, desperate to submit to his force. Are you that same wondrous woman?”
    She moaned, pressing herself into the chair. “No. I’m not. It was an act. Okay? A dance. Everybody and his brother had fantasies about Silver. But I’m not Silver. I’m Allie. I’m not a slut. I don’t respond to force. I don’t writhe. I don’t. I’m an ordinary woman, okay? Really, really ordinary.”
    “There is absolutely nothing ordinary about you.” He leaned in closer, holding her captive on the mesh chair. The air seethed with tension.
    “I remember you from the Vault, okay? I do,” she said, gasping for air. “But this is wrong. You’re my boss.”
    “Do you want me to go? No harm, no foul.”
    With a cry, her arms shot up to embrace his neck.
    “Good choice.” Grasping her waist, he jerked her out of the chair with both hands. He nudged her up against the wall, shutting the office door with his foot.
    Her mouth was slack with lust, her charcoal eyes bright with desire. At her look, at her willing surrender, his cock ached and throbbed. That part of him wanted to pound into her, use her, but he had bigger plans for this spectacular creature than a quick, onetime release.
    He unbuttoned the first button of her jacket. “I remember your silky, pale skin bound by those few slices of metal. Your act fueled my sexual imagination for years. What have you got hidden under here for me now?”
    Her hands dropped to her sides and she shut her eyes, moaning softly.
    He continued to undo the jacket buttons. She wasn’t wearing a blouse. She wore only a pale blue lace bra. He gently pulled off her jacket, leaving her lush, large breasts open to his delectation. The bra was some sort of sheer half bra, barely covering her dainty pink nipples. His blood boiled. Restraint was going to be way harder than he thought.
    Growling low in his throat, he pressed her shoulders