Legal Attraction

Muriel really needed that drink. Hell, she needed more than a drink. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten. And she was not the type of model who starved herself. She enjoyed food too much.

Fortunately, the fashion industry appreciated curves now over skin and bones. Or she wouldn’t have been able to get any work. Now she was sought after...

Professionally. Personally—not so much. Men weren’t eager to date the man-eater the media had painted her as being. She’d overheard people talking about how she was too intimidating to the opposite sex now.

Ronan Hall hadn’t appeared too intimidated the other night. And he must not have been or he wouldn’t have sought her out again.

The doors closed, shutting them into the stark car together. This elevator wasn’t nearly as fancy as the one in her building; it was all bare metal and wood, and it was bigger—big enough to carry crates of garments from one floor to the next.

She didn’t have to stand anywhere near Ronan. But it didn’t matter how far away she was from him; she could feel his presence. It was as if electricity arced between his body and hers.

Her skin tingled, and her blood heated, pumping hot and fast through her veins. “We should go somewhere with a kitchen,” she said. “I’m hungry, too.”

She felt a hollowness inside, but she wasn’t sure that it was one food could fill. Maybe only he could...

He reached for the panel again, jabbed a button and the elevator shuddered to a stop.

“I’m hungry, too,” he said as he reached for her. He wrapped his arm around her waist and reeled her in until her body pressed against his. He was so big, so broad, so tense.

His erection strained against his pants—and against her hips. Instinctively she arched and rubbed against him, and he groaned.

“And with every outfit you changed into, I got hungrier,” he said.

“You didn’t have to stay.” But she’d been glad that he was still there—every time she had stepped out of the dressing room after a wardrobe change. She’d wanted him to see what she was wearing; she’d wanted him to see her, and she’d wanted to see his reaction.

“I couldn’t leave,” he said, his voice gruffer now as if he was in pain.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because I didn’t get what I came for...”

“And what did you come for?” she asked.

He lowered his head to hers and kissed her—deeply—hungrily. His lips moved over hers, nibbling and plucking at them until she gasped with pleasure.

“I came for you,” he said, his voice a gruff whisper. “I came for this...”

His hands moved over her, lifting her sweater up and over her head. He uttered a lustful sigh. “I was hoping you were still wearing this...”

It was the black bra with the bow in the middle. Bette was a genius designer. She somehow made the bras so that the one bow held the cups together and provided support. Muriel’s breasts swelled over the top of it.

“Why?” she asked, and she wasn’t faking the breathlessness in her voice. Her heart was racing so fast that she could barely draw any air into her lungs. But as she tried, her breasts swelled even more and nearly spilled over the top of the black bra.

Ronan reached for that bow, tugging on the ribbons, and the bra fell away, freeing her breasts. She panted for air now as excitement coursed through her. Her nipples tightened and ached for more than the touch of his gaze.

“That’s why,” he replied. “I’ve been dying to undo that bow.”

Muriel had been modeling lingerie and swimsuits for most of her career, so she had long ago gotten over any qualms she might have had about modesty. But there was something about the way that Ronan Hall was looking at her that made her feel more naked than she had ever felt before.

He wasn’t just looking at her body. It was as if he was trying to peer into her heart and soul. Maybe he was wondering if she had one.

She did. She doubted that he did, though. So what the hell was she doing getting half-naked in an elevator with the man who had nearly destroyed her?

CHAPTER FOUR (#u858c4dcd-0861-54a4-a32c-590ca062cd5c)

RONAN’S HEART POUNDED in his chest and in his cock. He couldn’t believe how damn beautiful she was. Her breasts were full and perfect mounds, her nipples ripe and rosy. He wanted to close his lips around one so badly. But when he reached for her, she stepped back.

Her green eyes widened with panic and she lifted her hands to cover her breasts.

He glanced around the elevator. Was there a security camera in it? He hadn’t thought about that, although he should have. But after watching that photo shoot, he hadn’t been able to think at all. He had only been able to feel, the desire coursing through him.

He wanted her more than he could remember ever wanting anyone else. He wanted to become an addiction for her, but now he was afraid that it might be the other way around—and that was before he’d even had her.

Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe he should be taking a step back like she had. He felt a punch of the same panic he saw on her face. But it wasn’t nearly as strong as the punch of desire that had his stomach tightened into knots.

“What the hell are we doing?” she asked, her voice shaking with horror.

He shrugged. It wasn’t as if he could admit to wanting to seduce her into telling the bar association the truth. She might not even know what the truth was anymore. His mother had gotten that way—so caught up in her own lies that she’d begun to believe them.

“I hate you,” she told him, her voice shaking with anger. “I hate what you did to me.”

And now he felt another kind of punch—of regret. But he’d only been doing his job—getting the best deal for his client. “I didn’t do anything...”

...That she hadn’t had coming. She’d put her husband through hell. He hadn’t seen a man that broken since his father. He flinched as he felt that jolt of panic again. But he didn’t have to worry. He wasn’t like her ex or his father; he was too smart to fall for a pretty face. Hell, he was too smart to fall for any face. Ever...

Her breath hissed out between her teeth. And she leaned down to grab her bra up from the floor of the elevator. “How can you say you didn’t do anything? You hired a PR firm to smear me!”

“It’s not like your career suffered for it,” he pointed out. “In fact, I think the whole trial helped your career.” Now everyone knew her name and her face, whereas before they might have only known her body. While she had been modeling lingerie and swimsuits for years, she hadn’t become famous until her divorce drama.

She shook her head, and her titian hair swirled around her bare shoulders. She had yet to put on the bra. She still held her arms across her breasts.

He wanted to see them again. He wanted to touch them. Taste them...

“You should be thanking me,” he said, grinning as he goaded her.

She lifted one hand away from her breasts to swing it toward his face. But before her palm could connect, he caught her wrist and jerked her body against his.

“That’s not how you thank someone,” he admonished her. And he lowered his face to hers. “This is how you thank someone...” The minute he touched his lips to hers, he forgot all about teasing her. Or the panic he’d felt.

He forgot everything but how much he wanted her. Her soft breasts pushed against his chest, and he could feel the tightness of her nipples through the thin silk of his dress shirt. He swallowed a groan as his body tensed and throbbed with desire. Then he swallowed her moan when a soft one slipped through her parted lips. He deepened the kiss.

He slid his tongue inside her mouth, and she stroked hers over his. They mated and tangled around each other, teasing, tasting...

It was the hottest kiss he’d ever had—all panting breath and moans. It was wet and wild. And he wanted her the same way. He wanted her wet and wild for him. So he eased her body back from his, and he touched her.

He moved his hands over her beautiful breasts, skimming his fingertips over her silky soft skin before stroking them over her tightened nipples.

She moaned again.