After Hours

She hesitated only a fraction of a second. “Yes.”

“Okay.” He looked at her as if he didn’t believe it. “But why not have some fun between now and Saturday? Meet me again tomorrow night.”

She had to remember that seeing him again could be a fantasy-killer. That was one of the risks. “It wouldn’t be the same as tonight. This was—”

“I should hope it wouldn’t be the same! Been there, done that. Time for a new fantasy.” He paused. “Ever wanted to do it on the rooftop of a downtown office building at night?”

Her pulse leaped at the idea. Talk about a Batman-style adventure.

He smiled. “I think that turns you on. Your eyes are going all dark and stormy again.”

“Again?” Her response sounded husky and intimate.

“The way they were in your office, when I was—”

“Never mind.” She couldn’t let him go into detail or she’d be over there ripping at his clothes. “I get the picture.”

“Do you? Do you see us up on that roof, with the city around us and the night sky above? It’s still warm this time of year…you wouldn’t get cold, no matter how much clothing you took off. Or I took off you.”

Heart pounding, she searched for the strength to resist the temptation he offered. She also wondered if he was throwing out ideas without considering the logistics. “If you were thinking of this building, I have no idea how you’d access the roof.”

“Not this building. It’s only four stories. Something higher. And you can leave that to me. I install telephone systems for a living. I can certainly arrange access to a suitable roof.”

She was getting hotter by the second. “You’ve thought of this before?”

“Sure. Just never had a woman wild and sexy enough to do it with.”

Reaction zinged through her, making her throb in anticipation. He was her fantasy man, somebody who loved this kind of adventure. Apparently he was as immature as she was in that regard. “I’m insane for even considering such a thing.”

“Come on, Eileen. You’re the one who started this. Don’t back out now. I’ll pick you up in a company van out in front of this building tomorrow at six. I’ll bring takeout and a blanket so we can have a picnic up there, as well as do….” He paused to grin. “Each other.”

A man who could tease her about sex. That alone was reason enough to take him up on his proposition. She would probably live to regret this decision, but she would regret even more living the rest of her days without spending three wild nights with Shane Nichols. She swallowed. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Excitement shimmered in his expression, but he remained standing quietly, as if waiting for her to make the next move.

“I’m going home now.” She took a step toward the door.

“And I’ll finish the system upgrade.”

“I’m not going to kiss you goodbye.”

“I don’t want you to.”

“You don’t?”

He shook his head. “What we have going is too hot for little goodbye kisses, and you know it. If you came over here to kiss me goodbye, we’d be rolling on the floor in two seconds.”

He was right. She trembled with the urge to go over and unzip those soft denim jeans one more time. Judging from the size of the bulge under his zipper, he wanted that, too.

“Good night,” she whispered.

“Good night.”

She turned and forced herself to head toward the door.

“Eileen.”

She paused, her hand on the knob.

“About tomorrow night…”

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw him standing there, so obviously aroused. Heat sluiced through her. “What about tomorrow night?”

“Skip the underwear, darlin’.”

4

SHANE STARED AT THE carved mahogany door after it closed behind Eileen. Then he listened to the click of her heels echoing in the empty tiled hallway leading to the elevator. Sex on a rooftop?

He had no idea where he’d come up with that one. He’d had plenty of sexual fantasies, but they’d been pretty much confined to the bedroom. Okay, maybe he’d considered elevator sex, or doing it in an outdoor hot tub.

But on the roof? Not consciously. But desperation must have pulled this right out of his subconscious, and thank God for that, because rooftop sex had obviously appealed to her. He had a wild one on his hands.

Well, wasn’t that what he’d wanted? Eileen was the answer to his prayers, especially if he could pry her away from her plan to move in with the boyfriend. Logically he should need more time with her before he could possibly know she was the one, but instinct told him that time would only confirm what he already knew in his gut.

She was the woman he’d been waiting for. Maybe working himself to a frazzle all these years had been designed to bring him to this point, face-to-face with Eileen. At the very moment when he needed to add more play in his life, she’d appeared to help him do that.

The ding of the elevator bell, muffled by the closed door, told him she was leaving the building. That was his signal to get this new telephone system hooked up so he could go home, get some rest and figure out what favors he could call in to secure himself a rooftop for tomorrow night.

He’d even told her to skip the underwear. In fact, the command had been, Skip the underwear, darlin’. He’d never called a woman darlin’ in his life. Apparently she was bringing out his inner rogue. And he liked that.

He glanced over at the dolly stacked with boxed equipment. One of them contained her new phone, which was a good thing after the way her old one had hit the floor. He might as well take her new one in there and hook it up now. That office of hers was calling to him, anyway.

Sorting the boxes on the dolly, he pulled out the one he needed and walked down the carpeted hallway. No light on in her office this time. He stepped through the doorway and hit the switch.

The scent of her perfume mingled with the unmistakable aroma of fresh sex. But she’d cleaned away some of the evidence, stashing the crumpled papers out of sight somewhere so the desk looked neat and official with its calendar blotter and telephone positioned just so. The nameplate hadn’t been returned though. She’d known he’d be in here replacing her phone with a new one, but she hadn’t known then that he’d already discovered her name.

Walking around behind her desk, he glanced at the calendar blotter. She’d scribbled Benjamin leaves and a flight number and time on Monday. Her handwriting was almost as bad as his. Then she’d drawn an arrow across the week, ending with Saturday, when she’d written Benjamin home with another flight time and number.

So Shane’s arch rival was named Benjamin. Obviously the guy used the whole thing, all three syllables. Damned pompous. Wait a minute. One of the office lines on the receptionist’s phone had been labeled Benjamin. The guy worked right here with Eileen.

Shane left Eileen’s office and went through the suite flipping on lights and checking nameplates until he found the lair of Benjamin Hobbs, official adversary. The guy had a massive black desk chair and a desk big enough for Ping-Pong. Old Benny could have major desk sex on this baby, if he were so inclined. Shane was betting that he wasn’t.

Prowling the perimeter of the room, Shane took inventory of bookshelves with glass doors, English hunting prints, a framed license to practice law in the State of Arizona and a framed diploma from Harvard. The hunting prints were a cliché, but the Harvard sheepskin was impressive.

Aw, geez. On the far wall was a picture of a guy shaking hands with the governor. Had to be Benny. Yep, he’d even had the governor autograph the picture for him. What a suck-up.

Shane took the picture off the wall and studied his competition. Benjamin Hobbs had a symmetrical row of very white teeth, perfectly barbered blond hair and a nicely tailored suit. Plus he had at least a passing acquaintance with the governor. This was the kind of man women loved to bring home to momma. Shane wondered if Eileen’s mother was thrilled with the prospect of a Harvard lawyer in the family.