All the way? While her mind rejected the idea of allowing herself to be used so clinically, her heart and her pulse rate both leaped at the idea.
“I’ll do my best, Irene,” Callie said, laying her other hand over the older woman’s. “I promise.”
Callie was on tenterhooks Wednesday as she waited for Josh’s call to announce his arrival back in the country. She’d worked hard all day, trying to distract her thoughts, and her rampant hormones, from the prospect of seeing him again.
She’d just returned from the central library, where she’d delivered some archive material she’d finished with, when she became aware of a change in the air. A level of energy and intensity the office had been lacking while he’d been gone. Had he returned in the short time she’d been away from her desk?
“Callie? Come through to my office, would you?”
He was back. Callie smoothed the form-fitting sleeveless cream turtleneck dress she wore over her hips and walked through to Josh’s office. Looking at her, no one would guess how her blood thrummed through her veins or how her nerve endings had suddenly become infinitely attuned to his presence.
She’d no sooner stepped through his door than strong arms wrapped around her body and drew her hard against him. She caught a glimpse of sapphire-blue glitter before his eyes closed and his mouth slanted across hers.
Instantly she parted her lips, giving him free access, allowing him to plunder the soft recess with a hungry sweep of his tongue. Callie reached her hands up around his neck and laced her fingers together, relishing the feel of his hardness against her body, savouring the taste of him on her tongue.
It had only been a matter of days since he’d last kissed her, but it felt like an eon.
When Josh gently withdrew his lips from hers she wanted to protest, but she held back the sound of dismay that gathered in her throat. Men like Josh Tremont did the chasing. It was up to her to allow herself to be caught.
“I didn’t imagine it,” he said, his voice deep and his breathing a little unsteady.
“Imagine it?”
“How it felt to hold you in my arms. How you respond to me.”
Josh brushed the knuckles of one hand over the hardened tips of her breasts, now clearly defined through the stretch knit of her dress. Callie made a mental note to wear padded bras in the office in future.
“And was it as good as you remember?” she teased, a smile curving her lips.
“Better,” Josh replied with an answering smile that sent a bolt of electricity sizzling to her core. “You still okay for tonight?”
“Definitely,” Callie answered. On more levels than just the one he anticipated, she reminded herself quietly.
“Good. I’ll pick you up from your place at six. We’ll dine early.”
“And then?” she asked, her eyes locked with his in a silent challenge.
“That’s entirely up to you.”
Six
The balance of the day raced past as Josh worked to get up-to-date on the time he’d missed in the office. He fired commands at Callie like an army general and she earned every cent of her high-priced salary before she finally gathered her things and headed for home.
Heady anticipation saw her race through a shower and, once it was dry, twist her hair up in a loose knot on top of her head. Even as she reapplied her makeup, tendrils glided down to frame her face. She shivered a little at each tiny caress, wondering what it would be like to feel Josh’s lips, or the trace of his fingers, along her neck.
She studied her reflection in the mirror. Already her cheeks carried the soft flush of desire and her eyes gleamed with a need she’d always been able to keep firmly under control before.
A quick glance at her bedside clock reminded her to get her act together and stop daydreaming. She quickly slipped on a pair of black lace panties. The tiny diamantés, sprinkled on the lace, flashed in the overhead light, bringing a smile to her lips. Always a magpie, one way or another, she conceded. After so many years of deprivation Callie unashamedly loved pretty things.
And when it came to pretty, she considered long and hard about the dress she was going to wear tonight. Unsure of where Josh was taking her for their meal, she chose a black halter-neck dress with a chiffon overlayer that floated to just above her knees. The deep V neckline made it impossible to wear a bra and as she gathered the ties into a knot at her nape, she wondered if she should have chosen something a little less obvious.
The summons of her doorbell made that thought redundant. She had no time to change now. She slid her feet into black-and-silver Prada sandals and raced from her room.
Callie’s heart hammered in her chest as she opened the door. Her hungry eyes consumed him as Josh filled the entrance. He was dressed all in black, from the handmade loafers on his feet to the open-necked shirt that clung to his broad shoulders like a lover’s caress.