All He Really Needs Read Online Free PDF Page B

saying. Then he did the most amazing thing. He threw back his head and laughed. And laughed. And laughed.
     

Three
    I t was cute really, how annoyed she
looked.
    She set her jaw as bright pink flushed her cheeks. “I’m not
joking.”
    He tried to clamp down on his laughter. He really did. “ I’m not joking.”
    “Then stop laughing.” As if to give herself a better angle from
which to glare at him, she pushed to her feet.
    But from his point of view, it only brought her closer. She’d
been sitting not far from him but still out of reach. Now he was easily able to
lasso her arm and pull her toward him so she stood between his outstretched
legs.
    “I’m serious,” she insisted, but there was no force to her
words and—as if she could read his mind—her gaze dropped briefly to his
mouth.
    “I know you are. That’s what makes it cute.” He widened his
stance and pulled her close enough so that she was pressed against the vee of
his legs, the juncture of her thighs against the hard length of his
erection.
    It felt so good having her there, so right. He inhaled sharply
and was immediately hit with the scent of her. Sydney never wore perfume, but
she favored a shampoo that smelled like coconut and lime. He was used to the
smell of her hair, the way it mixed with the naturally sweet smell of her own
skin and made him think of eating pancakes in bed on a perfect, lazy Saturday
morning. But today she’d showered at his place and instead of her normal
tropical, fruity smell, when he inhaled, he got a hit of Sydney layered under
the smell of his own soap. Maybe it shouldn’t have been sexy, but it was. He
felt it like a punch in the gut. She’d been in his shower mere hours ago. The
smell of her only reinforced every instinct he had. She was his. Whether she knew it or not, she belonged to him.
    Which made her edict that they stop sleeping together all the
more funny.
    He gave in to the urge to slip his hand along her jaw and to
pull her closer.
    Her mouth parted and she sucked in a quick breath.
Anticipation. But instead of kissing her, he buried his nose in the hair right
behind her ear and drew in a deep breath, just taking in the scent of her
because he wanted to remember forever how she smelled in that instant. To burn
it into his memory.
    He felt a little shudder go through her and then he couldn’t
resist running a trail of kisses up under her ear and across her cheek to her
mouth. Then his lips were moving over hers in a soul-searing kiss. The kind that
almost ended up with him ripping her clothes off and devouring her until she
came apart in his arms.
    Unfortunately, he didn’t think sex with his assistant would be
a very efficient way to spend his first afternoon as CEO. Besides, even with the
door closed, there was always the risk they’d be interrupted.
    It was a struggle, but he mustered enough restraint to lift his
mouth from hers and nudge her hips away from his before he lost all control. For
a long moment she just stood there, face tilted up, lips moistened and parted,
like she was so dazed she hadn’t even realized he was no longer kissing her.
    He smiled again, purposefully making light of the irresistible
pull she held over him. “Well, then, you let me know how that goes for you.”
    She blinked. “How what goes?”
    “That whole not sleeping together thing you have planned.”
    The space between her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Then she
backed up a step and jerked her hands away from his hips. “Well, this was hardly
a fair test.”
    “Right, sweetheart.” He bopped the tip of her nose with his
finger. “Let me know if you devise a fairer test than that. Meanwhile, I’ll be
in my new office.”
    He loved seeing her shocked expression as he sauntered into the
office that used to be Dalton’s and shut the door behind him.
    Once he was alone in the room, however, he blew out a long,
slow breath.
    When it came to running Cain Enterprises, he wasn’t nearly as
confident as he’d let