If she’d thought his eyes burned hot before, now they nearly scorched her. Glancing behind him, he thumbed the touch pad and the elevator came to a gliding stop.

There was a flurry of activity as he shoved her skirt up and ripped her panties down while she unbuckled his belt and trousers. When he produced a condom from his back pocket, she scooped it out of his hand and rolled it onto his cock.

And then he lifted her and impaled her and braced her against the wall so he could drive into her deeper and harder. She locked her legs around his waist as he gripped her bottom to support her, the fierce pressure of his fingers intensifying the sense of urgency. She returned the favor, digging her fingers into the bunched muscles of his shoulders to brace herself.

His rhythm was hard and relentless, and she reveled in it, wanting it to go on forever, even as she panted for the explosion he was building to.

Then he came, pulsing inside her as his shout of completion boomed inside the enclosed space. He shifted angles and ground his pelvis against her so an orgasm crashed through her. Every muscle in her body tried to tighten, but she was crushed between Nathan’s big body and the elevator wall, so she couldn’t move, only feel. She had the sense of a storm contained in a bottle, the glass sides forcing the power to fold back on itself, magnifying the fury.

Her cries reverberated around them.

Then Nathan was slipping out of her and lowering her feet to the floor. He smoothed her skirt down over her hips and retrieved her panties. “That was . . . unexpected.”

“You started it.” Chloe turned her back to work her underwear up under her skirt.

As soon as she straightened, his arms snaked around her waist, and her back was against him. “And it was a spectacular finish. Maybe I’ll join you in the Rolls. It has a privacy screen.”

“Not a good idea.” She didn’t want him crossing the Hudson River into her private life. It would just make their parting more painful.

His hands were drifting up and down her body. “I think it’s one of my better ideas.”

She stepped away from him and raised her hand to the elevator’s control panel. “How do you start this thing again?”

He reached around her and sent the elevator soaring upward. It stopped again almost immediately, and the door silently opened. Nathan took her elbow and escorted her to the main elevator a few feet away before he turned her into his arms. “How am I going to survive two days without you?”

Her own silent question was harder to answer. How was she going to survive the rest of her life without him?

CHAPTER 13

“There’s chicken marsala keeping warm in there,” Grandmillie said, waving her cane at the oven. “I ordered in from Vinny’s for dinner.”

“Bless you,” Chloe said, dropping her purse and jacket on the coffee table and leaning down to kiss her grandmother. “I’m sorry I haven’t been home much this week.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. You were needed at work.”

Grandmillie’s choice of words evoked her last exchange with Nathan, and Chloe felt a flush of desire and guilt. “Shall I open the Chianti?” The wine would help calm her whirring mind.

“TGIF!” Grandmillie said with a nod.

Chloe took her grandmother’s arm to help her up out of her recliner and thought how fragile the bones felt. Such a contrast to Nathan’s powerful forearm. She shoved that thought away.

As soon as she was on her feet, Grandmillie gently tugged her arm free of Chloe’s grip. “Got to keep my balance muscles strong,” she said, starting toward the dining table.

Chloe carried food and wine from the kitchen and attacked the delicious chicken with gusto. She had good reason to be ravenous.

Grandmillie let her take the edge off her hunger before asking, “Where did you work today?”

Chloe choked on the wine she’d just sipped. “Swallowed wrong,” she croaked before taking a gulp of water. “In Mr. Trainor’s home office. Turns out his penthouse has three floors, not two. You get to the office in a private elevator.”

“So that’s why you came home in the fancy car. I saw it out the window.”

Chloe had a hot flash at the memory of Nathan wanting to join her behind the privacy screen. All the way home she’d been picturing what they might do on the deep leather seat.

“How was Mr. Trainor feeling today?”

Thank goodness she hadn’t taken another drink of wine. “Much better. He wanted to go to Trainor Electronics, but his doctor threatened to quit if he did.” How different would her day have been if Cavill had given the okay for Nathan to return to work? Would the heat between them have flared up even there, or would it have remained at a simmer because they were in a real office? She had an erotic vision of Nathan making love to her on the conference table.

“But he got up and worked anyway.” Grandmillie snorted. “Typical man. More muscle than sense.”

“Exactly.” Chloe swallowed the last of her wine in a gulp and refilled her glass. “Shall we celebrate our windfall with a shopping trip to the mall tomorrow? I need a couple of nicer blouses if I’m going to keep working in the executive suite, and you’re due for a pretty new top too.”

“I’m not done with Mr. Trainor yet,” Grandmillie said. “So he wants you back on Monday.”

Needed her back on Monday, according to him.

“I knew if you got your foot in the door, they’d figure out how smart you are. Here’s to a permanent job offer.” Grandmillie lifted her wineglass.