Free Office Affair by Jess Dee

and efficiently.
    “Why? You think someone will see us together and suspect something is going on?”
    Her cheeks flushed, and her hands stilled, then she unpacked and repacked her entire briefcase.
    Hello again, shy and uncertain Melissa. At least she hadn’t gone AWOL. Ben would have missed her.
    “That’s exactly what I think,” she said.
    “Sweetness, we’ve already been seen together.”
    Panic crossed her face. “Please tell me you know him well enough to assume he won’t say a word?”
    The need to protect her rose in his chest. “He won’t.” Ben had absolute confidence in that. Neither he nor Will was the type to kiss and tell. Or watch and tell, for that matter.
    “Good.” Her sigh of relief was audible. “I wouldn’t like anyone else aware of what’s going on between us.”
    Okay, taking precautions to ensure no one walked in on them while they had sex was one thing, but this bordered on neurosis. “And two colleagues walking out of an office together is going to tell the world what? That we’re lovers?”
    She blinked.
    “I’ll be walking beside you, Melissa, not fucking you on the footpath.”
    Her face flushed and for a second she had a wicked gleam in her eyes.
    “Oh, fuck.” Ben took a shuddery breath. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
    She shook her head. “What I’d like is irrelevant. I’m just acting the way I feel I have to in public.”
    He refused to do this. Refused to let her push him away. Melissa was not a nameless woman he’d shared with Will. She was a lover he was fast becoming addicted to.
    “Fine.” Ben shrugged, pretending she didn’t frustrate the hell out of him. He’d try a different tack, one he knew she wouldn’t ignore. “I thought I could take the opportunity to tell you about my phone call with Everton this afternoon, but I guess it can wait ’til tomorrow.”
    Melissa eyed him warily but finally conceded with a nod. She closed her briefcase, stepped past him and walked out into the corridor. Why, oh why did she feel the need to keep her distance? Did he scare her? Bore her? Threaten her?
    He wanted to reach out and grab her hand so he could hold it in his. Or put his arm around her shoulder and pull her close to his side, keeping her there. He wanted to take her home with him, strip her naked and make love to her for the rest of the night. Or for half the night, at least—and spend the remainder of the dark hours curled up around her slumbering body.
    He gave in to one instinct, reaching out to take her hand.
    For a few moments she let her palm rest against his, even tangled their fingers together. Her hand felt warm. It fit perfectly against his.
    But when the doors to the lift slid open, she pulled away.
    As the lift descended to the ground floor, Melissa cleared her throat. “So, what did Everton say?”
    “He said yes. They’re going to issue the debt. We need documentation on their desks by four p.m. tomorrow.”
    “Took them long enough to make up their minds, but at least we’ve got them on board.”
    Ben nodded. “You have the paperwork ready?”
    “I do. We’ll go through it first thing in the morning, make sure everything’s in order and courier it over.”
    “As long as we do it in your office, that’s good for me.”
    Melissa raised an eyebrow in question.
    He repressed a grin. She may have reverted to full-on professional mode, but he hadn’t. “We could do it in my office, but just know that if we do, the minute the last I is dotted and the final T crossed, I am going to strip you naked, throw you over my desk and fuck you ’til you scream. And I don’t particularly care who sees us.”
    “Ben, I beg you. Restrict talk like that to your office, after hours. Where no one but you and I can hear it. Please.”
    The doors opened, and Melissa all but raced out of the lift into the deserted lobby.
    Ben had no compunction calling after her, knowing his words would stop her in her tracks. “Why are you running, Mel?