PlaybyPlay Read Free Page B

he said, taking the bowl from her,
“you sit down and eat.”
    She nodded, still ruffled from the tense moment just minutes
ago. What had all that been about? He’d simply been ribbing her, but then it
had quickly changed into something more. The way he stared at her, as if he
knew his words had hit their mark. And he was right—they had. He did unnerve
her. Every time she looked at him she had to suppress a shudder, all the while
fighting to ignore the sexual heat that clawed at her. Her intense awareness of
him had begun the night she’d spied on him at the Red Velvet Rope and it was
getting worse by the day.
    “You look tense. Have some more wine,” Seth insisted as he
topped off her glass. She reached for it desperately, nearly downing the entire
contents in a single gulp. The wine would help her relax, take the edge off the
lust that now burned through her veins, or so she thought.
    * * * * *
    One and a half bottles later, Seth was starting to seriously
regret offering Katherine any wine. He’d had a few glasses, while she’d had so
many that he’d grown tired of counting. In the two years he’d known her, he’d
never seen her drink so much, but maybe this whole business with the menacing
notes was finally starting to get to her. Whatever it was, who knew his
buttoned-up, uptight boss was such a lush—or a flirt—and possibly a tease.
    After dinner, they’d moved into the living room to watch the
evening news and she lay stretched out on the couch across from him. Her hair,
which had been in a tight and prim knot before dinner, now hung in soft waves
over her shoulder. She propped her head up with one hand while she let the
other one roam absently along the bare skin of her long, shapely legs revealed
by terry cloth shorts. Shorts which, since she was now feeling the effects of
the alcohol, were riding higher and higher up her thighs by the second. She was
killing him, and if he didn’t know better, he’d think she was doing it on
purpose.
    She reached for the glass of wine on the coffee table
between them and the swells of her breasts pushed dangerously against the scoop
of her tank top until he swore they would tumble out at any moment.
    A spike of molten desire caught him low in the gut and he
shot to his feet, struggling to hide the obvious bulge in his pants with one
hand.
    He couldn’t take this anymore. He wanted to drag her into
his arms, strip her out of her clothes and ride her lush, sweet body until
neither of them could walk in the morning. Since that wasn’t going to happen,
the longer he spent in her presence, the more he just tortured himself.
    “Oh no you don’t.” He swiped the glass off the table before
she could pick it up, ignoring her cry of protest. “You’re drunk and with your
long day tomorrow you need to be at full speed.” He walked into the kitchen and
dumped the contents down the sink. When he returned to the living room she was
on her feet with her hands folded across her chest and a sexy pout on her lips.
    “You didn’t have to throw it away,” she said with a slow
smile, “I could have drunk it later.”
    He shook his head, the corner of his lips curled into a
small grin. “I bet you would have. Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
    Katherine turned toward the hallway, but after two wobbly
steps he didn’t trust her to make it much farther without hurting herself. In a
single motion he lifted her into his arms.
    “Put me down, Seth,” she protested. “I can walk.”
    He quirked a single brow. “Sure you can.”
    With an exaggerated sigh, she flopped her head against his
shoulder, as if the notion of arguing with him further exhausted her. She
burrowed into his warmth, her arms lazily draping around his neck.
    Her soft breasts pillowed against his chest and her subtle
feminine scent combined with her rose petal perfume made him suddenly
lightheaded as arousal coiled dangerously in his belly. He didn’t need to be a
genius to figure out where all the blood