His Indecent Proposal (2 page)

"Maybe. I don't know, but I want to know more
about her."

"Did you see her, man? What more do you need
to know?"

David's features hardened and he gave the
other man a menacing stare. "Just get me the damn file."

At four o'clock, David sat alone in his
office and couldn't believe he was contemplating this. Jenna Marie
Hardin's file sat closed in front of him. He had studied it long
enough to get the picture. Twenty-five years old, single and a high
school graduate, she had flitted from one job to the next until she
had landed here six months ago. The job she currently held in
accounts receivables was obviously a big score for her, and she
probably didn't want anything to threaten that security.

What could he offer to get her to agree?
Money, no doubt, was the answer. Money and a short-term
marriage.

His hand reached out and he flipped the
folder open again. Her pleasant face and hesitant smile popped up
from the picture that was snapped the day she had been hired. It
was a quietly pretty face, and it had been fucking with his libido
and equilibrium for months. Even though he had intimated to Craig
that he didn't know who she was, that was pure bullshit. He had
noticed her months ago, and if she hadn't been an employee, he'd
have been all over her shit.

She was that fucking hot.

Once again his cock swelled from the sight of
her as he studied the picture.

She wasn't overtly beautiful. Or beautiful at
all, for that matter. She had a gentle appearance, a calming
countenance with bright eyes and sweet, dimpled cheeks.
Until
you noticed her lips
. Her lips were soft and full and they
licked a trace of fire through his insides. Those lips gave her an
earthy sexiness that was far more dangerous to his state of mind
than mere beauty would have been. Her hair was thick and a light,
golden brown and fell softly around her shoulders. It was that hair
he had noticed the first time he saw her. It was silky and smooth
and he imagined his hands sinking into it as those lips enclosed
him. It was the number one fantasy that dominated his brain
recently. It fucked with him incessantly.

He had never hit on an employee before, knew
he couldn't hit on her and the temptation had been quietly driving
him insane for the last six months. Every time she caught him
looking at her, panic clouded her features. And that made his
situation worse. It underlined the fact that he couldn't make a
single move on her. He had watched her for six months and waited.
He had bided his time because he had no choice, and waited for an
opening, any opening, and he'd be damned if he let this slip by him
now. The teasing quip she had thrown out in the break room was the
crack he needed.

He tried to justify his actions for the
extreme maneuver he was prepared to take. What Craig said made
sense, and his first responsibility lay with this company. He would
do whatever he had to do to make sure it succeeded. If that meant
letting someone else have the presidency, he would do it. Or, as in
this case, if it meant forming a business partnership he never
anticipated with a woman he didn't know, to make sure he acceded to
the presidency, he would do that, too. After all, it wouldn't be
forever. A short term marriage was what he needed both for the job
and for the relationship with her to run its course.

He vaguely thought about considering other
women, but quickly shot the idea down. An uneasy feeling traced
down his spine. He knew that if it wasn't for her, he wouldn't even
be considering the ludicrous idea of marriage. His intelligence was
above average. He could undoubtedly figure out a different way to
solve the problem. No, considering another woman wasn't even an
option.

At thirty-five, he'd never come remotely
close to meeting a woman that threatened his single status. While
he didn't have anything against marriage per se, he had never
before met a woman that he couldn't do without.

His uncle was set to retire and step down in
three months. David had to have all his cards in a row by then. If
he was going to go through with this, he needed to get the ball
rolling. The sooner the marriage, the better.

He studied the picture in front of him and
waited for his common sense to rebel. All he felt was a slow sizzle
deep in his gut and an intense satisfaction at the thought of
finally parting her thighs and sliding inside.

****

Jenna was at her desk the next morning fully
engrossed with her work when she felt an ever familiar heat in her
veins. She slowly glanced up from her computer screen and looked
toward the bank of elevators, expecting to see him making his way
toward them. He wasn't there. Confused that her heightened senses
had let her down, her eyes scanned the room.

She saw him immediately.

He was standing at the end of mahogany row,
arms crossed and surveying the accounting department with a
shuttered look on his face.

The accounting department or
just her?
No doubt about it, his dark gaze was riveted on her. She sucked in
a breath as his eyes tangled with hers. Alarm jolted through her
system, and she quickly looked away and tried to concentrate on the
screen in front of her.

This was new. He'd never just stopped what he
was doing to come stare at her this way. And there was no doubt
about it, he was staring at her. Her fingers quivered as they moved
over the keyboard, the image of him standing and observing her in
silence fixed in her head.

The trembling in her fingers intensified
until she couldn't stand it anymore and looked up again.

She let out a pent-up breath. He was
gone.

****

At two o'clock her phone rang. She picked it
up, and was shocked to realize it was a bill collector calling her
at work. Mortification spread through her, and she lowered her
voice and tried to sound stern. "You can't call me at w-work. I
know my rights. Don't call back here, Mister."

She gently hung up the phone as apprehension
spread through her. Her situation was getting worse.

****

At eleven o'clock the next morning, Jenna's
extension rang. That phone rarely rang, as all her work
correspondence was done through email. And now it had rung two days
in a row. She had no protocol for answering it and worried it was
the bill collector again. She looked around and hoped no one could
overhear her.

She picked it up and stated her name. "Jenna
Hardin."

"Miss Hardin?" a smooth, female voice
questioned.

"This is she." Jenna could be smooth also.
Maybe the collectors were trying something different, having a
woman call her this time instead of a man. She stiffened her
shoulders and prepared for the verbal attack she was going to give
back.

"This is Pam in Mr. Bennett's office. Mr.
David Bennett. He'd like to see you for a minute if you can spare
the time."

Fear and confusion hit Jenna. That name.
David Bennett
. It was starting to scare the crap out of her.
It never had before. It had made her uneasy, sure. How could it
not, when his dark, intent stare somehow always managed to find
her? But his name had never scared the crap out of her before. But
then again, she never had bill collectors calling her at work.
And she had never
thrown out a flirty little smile and
teased that she wanted to be his wife.
Her insides clenched at
the thought. No doubt about it, she needed to learn how to rein in
her freaking mouth before it got her in serious trouble.

An arrow of fear slid down her spine when she
thought about them finding out she had bill collectors on her butt.
The worst place an employee with financial problems could work was
in accounting. It just wasn't conducive to good business. She knew
that. That was basic business procedure.

But it really didn't make sense that this
would be about her collection troubles. David Bennett was too high
up and important to handle a matter as small as this would be in
the scheme of things. No doubt about it, he was the man in charge,
even though her checks were stamped with the name Charles Bennett.
Someone else from human resources should be doing the dirty
work.

But what else could he possibly want with
her? Realistically, she knew her teasing comment couldn't be it.
Could it?

She swallowed hard and answered the woman on
the other line. "Yes, ma'am. When would be convenient?"

"Would now be too much trouble?"

"
Now?
"

"If you can't get away, I'll relay the
message to Mr. Bennett, and we can set up a better time."

Jenna thought frantically. She could go now,
she just didn't want to. She was scared to go. Whatever he wanted,
it couldn't be good.

Apprehension tightened her stomach in knots
of stress. One thing she knew for sure, she didn't want to wait.
Today was Friday. There was no way she wanted to wait until Monday
to find out what this was all about. The waiting would kill her.
She would stress out so much it would make her ill.

"I can come now. Wh-where?"

"Executive corridor, fifth door on your
right. See you in a minute."

Jenna was left holding the receiver when the
other woman hung up.

Nerves were eating her alive, and she quickly
stood to her feet, moving toward mahogany row. She attempted to
give herself a pep talk. It was best to get this over with. It was
probably nothing, just some minor little glitch.

She walked quickly down the corridor until
she came to the fifth door on the right. It stood open, and she
peeked in and saw a slender woman of about fifty manning the desk
outside another office. Jenna tapped lightly, and when the woman
looked up and smiled, she walked inside.

"Miss Hardin, Mr. Bennett is expecting you.
This way please." The older woman stood, and swiftly walked across
the carpeted room and knocked briefly. Jenna heard a harsh bark to
enter from the inside, and the woman opened the door.

"Jenna Hardin to see you, sir." She smiled at
Jenna and stepped back for her to enter.

When Jenna entered the room, two things
happened simultaneously. The secretary closed the door with a firm
click
, and Jenna looked up and saw the man behind the desk.
She heard the door shut her in at the same time she recognized the
blistering scowl directed at her.
Dear God, she
was about
to get fired
. Her face blanched white, and she froze in the act
of moving into the room.

David saw the fear hit the girl full force at
the same time as an uncomfortable arrow of arousal hit him in the
groin.
Damn it!
He needed to keep this professional. He
didn't need a goddamn boner fucking with his brain right now.

His eyes wandered up and down her length as
he focused on what it was about her that kept screwing with his
head.
And his body
. She was only of medium height, and she
wasn't reed thin like so many of the women he dated. This girl was
full of curves. He figured she probably hated the fifteen or so
extra pounds that clung to her frame.
But, Jesus Christ, he
didn't
. She was curvy, no question about it. Her tits were
large and full and bouncy, and his fingers itched to sink into her
hips and hold her as he slid between her thighs. He knew the ride
would be a soft one. He'd fantasized about it more than a few
times. He fought to bring his brain back into order and focused on
the strained look in her eyes. "Sit down." The arousal hardened his
vocal chords and he grimaced when he heard the bark in his voice
and saw her jerk in reaction.

Jenna stumbled to a chair in front of his
desk, and collapsed into it. Her legs had barely held her up they
were shaking so violently. Her hands gripped the arms of the chair
and she couldn't meet his eyes. She focused on the gold pen on the
desk in front of him and tried to slow her breathing.

"I'm David Bennett." His announcement was
unnecessary and blanched any remaining color from her face as she
tried to respond.

"Y-yes, sir." Her voice shook as she lifted
her face to his and tried to hold his eyes with hers. He wasn't
smiling, and his face was harsh and almost satanic, except for
those dark, liquid filled eyes that held a beauty and depth that
swallowed her whole. He was probably mid-thirties, she remembered
how tall he was, and his shoulders filled out his dress shirt in a
way that had her breath catching again
. Really, Jenna? You're
about to get fired and you're thinking about his shoulders?

The jacket of his suit was casually tossed on
the couch a few feet away, and he had loosened his tie already and
rolled up his sleeves to reveal thick wrists and muscled forearms
glistening with dark hair. His face wore what looked to be a
perpetual scowl, and try as she might, Jenna's eyes dropped away
from his.

"You overheard a private conversation, Miss
Hardin." His voice blasted her, and she nodded slightly in
acknowledgment. "I guess I don't need to tell you to keep it to
yourself?"

Jenna knew he was waiting for her to respond,
but she was too relieved by his opening gambit to speak yet. She
had prayed this had nothing to do with her finances, and everything
to do with making sure she didn't repeat what she had inadvertently
heard. "I h-haven't told anyone. I won't."

"Thank you." He picked up the pen and tapped
it on the desk and Jenna sat still without saying a word while he
continued to watch her with those penetrating eyes. Finally, he
spoke again. "What you heard was accurate. I need a wife."

He stopped speaking and Jenna knew she needed
to say something,
anything
. She took a deep breath and
reminded herself if she played this right she could be back at her
desk inside of five minutes. "Why--why do you need a wife?" She
was
curious, but the relief she felt was too new to wonder
much about his reasons and this strange conversation they were
having. She looked back into his dark eyes and felt that damn
impetuosity that always got her in trouble rearing its silly head.
"Tired of doing your own laundry?"