Incarnate by Claire Kent Page A

through the auburn brown of his hair, but women still watched him wherever they went. This evening he’d taken off the jacket of his suit, and his dress shirt was slightly rumpled. “I could smell you from down the hall.”
    She gaped at him. Finally choked out, “What? What ! That’s impossible—I don’t care how good your creepy sense of smell is! Besides, I’m not even that aroused yet.”
    She was a little aroused, just thinking through her plan for seduction.
    Seth threw his head back and laughed—long, warm, and genuine. He’d never laughed that way before they’d gotten together, and she’d always loved the sound of it.
    Right now, however, it was a little annoying. “Why are you laughing? I’m serious. You couldn’t possibly have—”
    “I wasn’t referring to that particular scent,” Seth explained, his voice still husky with amusement. “I smelled the scented lotion you’re wearing. You always wear it when you want to have sex.”
    It was true. Erin, of course, hadn’t done anything as obvious or out of character as wear perfume, but she had wanted to make herself attractive, in every possible way. So she’d put on her favorite ginger-scented lotion in addition to choosing her most flattering bra and panties under her dress and carefully tousling her hair. She’d thought the scent was a subtle touch. Damn Seth for having noticed and correctly interpreted it.
    Her annoyance at his relentless perceptiveness came close to distracting her from her mission, but she caught herself just in time.
    After all, this was just a very small set-back. She’d had a whole preliminary sequence in place, but she’d just scrap that and move on to the next stage of her plan.
    She gave Seth a slow, sensual smile. “I thought you liked the lotion.”
    “I do.”
    “So did it work?”
    Seth shifted in his chair, slouching slightly in a way he almost never did, as if he were making himself more comfortable so he could enjoy what was coming. “Honestly? It did. I think I’ve connected that scent with sex so completely that I got a little hard when I smelled it.”
    Erin’s mouth dropped open, in genuine, uncalculated delight. “Really?”
    “Did you want to come over and verify?”
    She felt a delicious pressure tightening at her center, at the sound of his textured voice and the sight of his relaxed, rumpled figure. Then she silently berated herself. Despite her carefully constructed strategy to make Seth properly receptive, she was getting more seduced by this encounter than he was.
    It wouldn’t do at all.
    “Maybe,” she drawled, moving farther into the office and closing the door behind her. She locked it. The girls were at home and in their rooms, but who knew when they’d decide to wander the halls. “You haven’t yet convinced me you deserve it.”
    Seth’s smiled broadened, and he ignored her last comment. “In the office? Really?”
    It had been ages since they’d made love anywhere except their bedroom. “Why not? Getting staid and boring in your old age?”
    Seth narrowed his eyes as his smile faded, just as she’d known it would. She knew he wouldn’t be genuinely insulted by her comment—they were far too familiar with each other for him to take it seriously—but he’d know a challenge when he heard one. “What did you have in mind?”
    Now he was in the right mood. His gaze had grown focused and intent, and his shoulders and abdomen had tightened. She knew he wasn’t fully aroused yet—those days were long since gone—but he would get there.
    Sooner rather than later, if she had anything to do with it.
    She moved one of her hands to the tie on her dress. She’d been wearing the dark green wrap dress earlier that day—which turned out to be very convenient. When she saw his eyes were fixed on her hand, she pulled loose the tie.
    One side of her dress fell open, leaving only the inner tie keeping her dress in place.
    Seth licked his lips as he watched her, a naturally sensuous