Siren Song (23 page)

“
Yeah,” Lexi seethed. “Murder.”

Without a second thought, she hung up the phone and grabbed the printed e-mail, making her way to Duncan’s office. Marching up to his secretary’s desk, she took a deep breath to calm herself enough to smile, considering she was ready to strangle the man. That wasn’t Miss Reynolds’s fault. “Is Duncan in?”

The older woman looked up from her desk and met Lexi’s eyes, her face brightening as she smiled with affection. Lexi had always liked Miss Reynolds and hoped Mr. Tremain decided to keep the woman, who was fantastically organized and efficient. She kept things running smoothly even when deadlines made it feel like everything was on the verge of falling apart. “Mr. Tremain is not in his office at the moment; if you want to schedule a meeting, I’m sure….”

“
Please,” Lexi smiled beguilingly, knowing the woman was just doing her job; it wasn’t her fault that her boss sucked. “Just tell me where he is?”

“
The, uh, gym,” Miss Reynolds hesitantly answered. “But, Lexi, you can’t….”

Lexi didn’t hear the rest as she turned on her heal and stormed back to the elevator, crossing her arms under her breasts and hoping that her temper managed to do what everything else couldn’t: tone down this fascination with Duncan Tremain. God, if only it was that easy because even in her rage, she still wanted the man. Damn it.

Unconcerned with where she was going, she stormed through the door into the men’s locker room, oblivious to the half-naked men frantically trying to cover themselves. She was seeing red because of Duncan Tremain, and she had to remind herself that he was her boss. He was insufferable. Gorgeous. Infuriating. Delectable. Arrogant.

Nearly naked.

Her knees trembled and she swallowed as she took in the expanse of his hard, masculine chest, the light dusting of dark hair over the brown discs of his nipples. He was ripped, his tightly compacted stomach muscles tensing as her gaze caressed them. Tilting her head back, she took in his damp skin and wet, slicked back hair; it was so black and so glossy. Drops of water glistened on his hardened jaw, across his supple lips…. A dry Duncan Tremain was mouthwatering; a wet Duncan Tremain was irresistible.

“
Miss Darling,” he ground out. When she met his eyes, she swore she was looking at storm clouds, roiling with barely leashed fury and passion. For a moment, her mind went completely blank as images of their bodies entwining filled her head, picturing all of that hard, wet skin moving over hers as his fingers tormented her breasts and his cock slowly eased into her swollen sex.... “What are you doing in here?”

Her fingers curled, crumbling the paper and bringing her back to the present. She quickly regained her righteous indignation and thrust her hand out. Plastering the paper against his damp, sculpted chest, she ignored the feel of his hot skin and glared at him, “You cut my words.”

“
Yes,” he said simply, putting a hand on the knot of his towel, not doing anything to remove her hand. And did he just get closer, or was that just his aura expanding outwards and invading her senses?

Lexi glanced down and realized that he was going to take his towel off; that he was going to be naked in, like, two seconds. Her eyes shot to his and she saw the awareness in them. “I don’t think you should be doing that in here.”

He raised an eyebrow, and though he didn’t move his hand, he didn’t take the towel off, either. “This is the men’s locker room.”

“
Yes,” she agreed, feeling the warmth creep into her cheeks. She thought about taking a step back but somewhere along the way the idea was aborted and her feet remained firmly planted in place. Her fingers relaxed a bit, letting the piece of paper slip to the floor so no barriers were between her hand and his flesh. Her heart pirouetted in her chest and her tummy tingled as she pressed her palm against the slick dampness of his chest and felt his skin. It had been too long since she touched him and it was beyond intoxicating. “Yes, it is.”

“
You may want to consider leaving,” he murmured, his voice pure seduction.

“
Yes,” she agreed. And again, neither one moved. She just continued to stare into his liquid silver eyes, losing herself in them. Yeah, she would give him her soul….

“
Give me a few minutes and I will meet with you in my office; we’ll discuss your word count then,” he said, the storm raging in his eyes reeling her in until electricity moved along her spine, her skin. His eyes… they glowed with desire and possession.

“
I don’t think you’ll do it,” she rasped, her mouth absurdly dry as she continued to stand so close to an almost naked Duncan. As he arched his eyebrow, she swallowed and her heart trembled in her chest, “I don’t think you’ll drop the towel.”

His lips curved upwards in a naughty smile and then the towel was gone, crumbled in a heap around their feet. Her eyes dipped down and then almost rolled back into her head as she took a moment to appreciate the exquisite beauty of his penis. Her hand drifted downwards, over his flat stomach, over the thin line of hair beneath his navel, downwards…. His fingers wrapped around her wrist, halting her downward journey and she looked up at him with dazed eyes, the butterflies dancing for joy and her skin on fire.

Projecting an image of calm and cool collectedness was difficult as she purred, “Very nice.”

With a warm expression in his eyes, he lightly ran the fingers of his other hand over her temple, pushing a non-existent strand of hair behind her ear, “Give me fifteen minutes, Miss Darling.” Leaning forward, he whispered in her ear, “We are not alone.”

Jumping back, she felt foolish. She was standing in the men’s locker room, for God’s sake, practically melting at Duncan’s feet and several men were staring at them and she realized she wasn’t being professional at all. Well, she could do that; and she would. When she talked to him – in his office, with him dressed – she would be completely professional-ish. “Fifteen minutes.”

“
Fifteen minutes,” he repeated, standing naked and proud. As much as she would have liked to stay and stare at him, standing there nude and glorious, she turned on her heel and walked back through the locker room. As comfortable as she was with her body, she wasn’t prepared to engage in acts of public sex, no matter the temptation.

Besides, she was still angry at him for cutting her words.

*****

As he picked up the towel and finished drying off, Duncan took a few long, drawn-out breaths as Lexi walked away. Seeing her storm in here, her eyes blazing, was hell on his libido. He was painfully aware of his erection, and how stupid it had been to defy her expectations and drop the damn towel. She was so blatant in her attraction to him, desire of him, and as a wolf, he appreciated her boldness and vivacity. Even if she didn’t taunt him with her words he would have known that she wanted him; he could see it in her eyes, feel it in her touch. But there was no way in hell he was going to attack her in the men’s locker room with other men standing around. He wasn’t a beast.

His wolf wouldn’t have cared who was watching.

God, she was glorious! In everything she did, she did with her whole heart. Making love to her would be unlike anything he ever experienced before. Having sampled her briefly, he knew that much. It would be enough to change a man, make him forget what was important, forget his name, forget the reasons why he shouldn’t. And it would be worth it – until she ended up writhing in agony as the wolf’s venom coursed through her system because he forgot himself for one moment.

Damn it; he needed to get himself under control. He wasn’t behaving rationally; in fact, he was acting no better than his wolf, willing to rut without any concern of civility. He could control himself around Lexi; she wasn’t a Siren, luring men to their downfalls, their deaths. She was just an intoxicating woman that stirred his basest passions. Hell, if he kept panting after her, he would be luring her to her death. He shouldn’t sink any deeper.

Of course, if he were absolutely honest with himself, he would admit that he already had. If she had just been a sexy woman, he could have given in to lust and fucked her before letting her go. But she had to go and make him like her.

Just once
, his wolf whispered.
Take her just once and end the madness
.

No, because once would never be enough. He was going to accept her resignation and never surrender; he was already too twisted up inside and he did not like the feeling, the spiraling out of control, of losing control to the wolf inside of him.

“
That Lexi Darling is a real piece of work,” someone to his left said. Duncan turned his head and saw one of the copy editors standing there, staring at the door where Lexi disappeared. Letting out a low whistle, he continued, “I’d fuck her, though.”

“
Excuse me?” Duncan asked, his voice full of disdain that this man should dare talk about Lexi. He didn’t like the guy’s look, with his slicked back white-blond hair, ice-cold blue eyes; the guy was a malignant tumor on a cockroach's ass.

The guy sneered, apparently unaware of the grave he was digging for himself. “Uh, Miss Darling. She comes in here like it’s her God-given right, wearing those… outfits. I swear, she just asks for it.”

Duncan’s nostrils flared, his chest tightened, and his hands curled into fists; if the jerk said one more word, he was going to end up in the ER needing surgery to remove his head from his rectum. Turning back to his locker, Duncan threw the towel down, needing to get dressed in order to make the meeting with Lexi. He didn’t need to hear some jackass talk crap about her.

“
I can see she has the same effect on you,” the guy continued.

Duncan turned his head and caught the guy staring at his erection, which had barely gone down, even with the idiot blathering on. He wanted to wrap his hand around the idiot's throat and squeeze until there wasn't a drop of life left. Breathing heavily, it took a moment to get the violent thought out of his head.

Gritting his teeth together, Duncan grabbed his pants and pulled them on, not bothering with his briefs. Dressing as quick as possible, he needed to get the hell out of there before he committed manslaughter. If the guy kept talking, his wolf was going to rise to the surface and rip the bastard’s throat out.

Pausing, he took a deep breath to get the fury under control; the last thing he needed was to turn into a wolf in the middle of the locker room and slaughter an idiot. Damn it; he hadn’t been this out of control since he was a boy barreling through puberty. How the hell did Lexi get so much power over him in such a short time that he was willing to become a savage to protect her?

The oblivious fool with a death wish chuckled to himself, “The other day, she came in wearing some sort of school girl uniform; I swear, I had some x-rated fantasies for a week.”

Hearing this other guy, even if this other guy was slime, admitting his own lascivious thoughts regarding Lexi strengthened his resolve. He couldn’t get any more involved with her; he didn’t need to be all twisted up inside. Tying his tie, he closed the locker, turning his back on the asshole. With a grim expression, he left the locker room behind, grateful for the encounter with the lecherous ass since it managed to reinforce his decision to keep Lexi at a safe distance. Say, Antarctica.

He just wasn’t sure who he was trying to keep safe.

*****

Mrs. Reynolds kept throwing friendly smiles her way, but Lexi was not in any state of mind to chat; her thoughts were warring between desire and annoyance. She leaned against the outer door to Duncan’s office, arms crossed beneath her breasts, lust and indignation fortifying her resolve. She could control her lust long enough to yell at Duncan and then he better be ready to pay because after that performance in the locker room…. She had to fan herself to keep from burning up.

He finally appeared looking even more powerful – even more warrior-like – then he looked in the locker room. The dark suit only emphasized his incredible build; unless that was just Lexi remembering what he looked like underneath all of those clothes. A rush of heat tore through her body at the thought and she had to consciously remember to not groan out loud. God, he was just so damn sexy.

His spine was rigid, almost to the point of breaking, as he stopped at his secretary’s desk, not looking at her, and asked for his messages. Lexi wondered what would happen if she ran her fingers along his back, if he would arch into it like a cat or if he would claw at her. She wasn’t going to risk touching him; if she touched him, she’d be the one liable to arch like a cat.

“
Miss Darling,” his voice interrupted her thoughts and she straightened. He held out his hand for her to precede him into his office, careful not to touch her as she passed, his expression grim and reserved. She wanted to see him lose control so she added a little swing to her step as she walked past him.

Yeah, that worked until the door closed and she was alone in the office with this paragon of masculine virility, this warrior, and she realized that more often than not fire burned and consumed everything in its path. Sucking in a deep lungful of breath, she watched as he made his way around his desk and sat down in his chair, looking every inch the powerful warlord who could determine whether or not she lived or died. Whether he would choose her to be in his harem.

The image of her in a slave girl’s costume awaiting her master’s pleasure detonated in her brain and she could almost feel the flimsy material that hid nothing from his silver perusal. She would kneel before him, looking up at him with kohl-lined eyes, as she reverently pull his thick cock from his silky harem pants, holding his gaze as she took him into her mouth and….