An Executive Decision Read Online Free PDF Page A

thinking. I didn’t mean to be such an animal.’
    ‘I like animals.’ She spoke around laboured breath.
    The sting her nails had left across his shoulders and back convinced him she might be a bit of an animal herself, a thought that brought with it a new wave of arousal, which he tried to suppress. ‘Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I want you to know that I never, that I wouldn’t –’
    ‘I know. Me neither,’ she said.
    Neither of them made any effort to get up or to move out of each other’s arms. In fact, the feel of her so close was worth hanging on to. He’d rest for a little while with her so nicely wrapped around him. Just for a few minutes, then he’d call Jeffries to take him to the airport. Just a little while longer, close to her warmth. That was all he needed. Just a few more delicious minutes.

Chapter Three
    ‘He’ll be with you in just a minute,’ Ellis’s secretary said. She left Dee seated uncomfortably in Beverly’s empty office. As soon as she was gone, Dee stood and began to pace.
    It hadn’t been her intention to see Ellis. It had been her intention to sneak back into Pneuma Inc., claim the files she’d left on Beverly’s desk, and leave quietly. Then, when Beverly got back, she’d give them to her in person. There had been no need to bother anyone, no need to bother Ellis. She intended to leave undetected, just like she had done last night.
    She couldn’t even think about last night without a full-fledged infestation of butterflies rising in her stomach and chest. She’d had sex with Ellison Thorne, for fuck’s sake! Just like that; no planning, scheming nor contemplating. They had humped each other’s brains out. And it had been amazing, if all too brief. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that it shouldn’t have happened. He was her client. Well, Beverly was; Pneuma Inc. was. It was so unprofessional. What the hell must he think of her? She knew it had been only for comfort, but he was Ellison Thorne, and she was a nobody. And she had always been a professional with a good reputation at Pneuma Inc. And now this.
    Last night they had dozed together in each other’s arms after they’d had sex. It was wonderfully intimate until guilt got the best of her. She had extricated herself from his arms without waking him, which was a testament to just how exhausted the man was. She’d covered him gently with the blanket from the back of the sofa, then she had hurriedly dressed and left, forgetting the files on Beverly’s desk.
    When she’d called Sandra this morning, thinking just to sneak in and get them, Sandra told her Ellis wanted to see her. Though she was relieved that he hadn’t carried through with his crazy plan to return to Brazil last night, she was not looking forward to their encounter. She paced the floor in Beverly’s office nervously.
    ‘You have my staff wrapped around your little finger.’
    She jumped at the sound of Ellis’s voice. Unlike last night, unlike their first encounter, his tone was cheerful, his smile welcoming. He stood dressed in a charcoal suit with a silver blue tie over a crisp white shirt, once again looking like the Ellison Thorne she had grown used to seeing on the covers of magazines and on the evening news. He held a coffee in one hand and a glass of iced tea in the other. ‘Sandra informed me that this is for you.’ He handed her the tea and offered her a smile that made the butterfly dance move lower in her abdomen. Much lower. ‘It’s your personal glass, she tells me. Reserved for the only person in the history of Pneuma Inc., as far as I know, that Sandra would deign to even bring coffee to, let alone make a special drink for. She’s an executive secretary, and a damn good one. She’s not a housewife, a fact she reminds us all of periodically.’ He pushed the door shut behind him and the butterfly dance got wilder.
    She took the tea. ‘Any more news?’
    He shook his head. ‘Storm’s abating more