Temperatures Rising by Brenda Jackson Page B

take much to push him over the edge and have him take her right there on her desk.
    There was no telling how long they would have continued to kiss if there hadn’t been a loud knock on the door. Her breath caught the moment Terrence released her mouth. He watched as she breathed in deeply, fighting the urge to kiss her again.
    A knock sounded again, and she quickly went to the door, glancing over her shoulder before making a move to open it. Since a hard-on was something he knew couldn’t go away quickly, he decided to sit down on the love seat. “Go ahead and open the door, Sherri,” he said quietly. “I’m as put together as I can get under the circumstances.”
    Trying to recoup all her senses, Sherri took a deep breath before opening the door to find Prentice Sherman standing there. It was then that she remembered their meeting. She cleared her throat. “Prentice, sorry about this, but my meeting with Terrence has run over for just a bit. I’ll buzz you when we’re finished.”
    Prentice smiled. “Sure thing, Sherri. No problem. I’ll be in the break room,” he said before turning to leave.
    As soon as the door was closed, Sherri whirled around and stared at Terrence with eyes as sharp as daggers. “How dare you.”
    An innocent look appeared on his face. “How dare I what? Kiss you? In that case, how dare you kiss me back?”
    Inhaling a calming breath, or at least trying to do so, she ran her fingers through the mass of hair on her head. There was no way Prentice wasn’t suspicious about what they had been doing. First, it had taken two knocks before she had opened the door, and then there was no doubt in her mind that she probably looked like a woman who’d been pretty well kissed.
    “This is all a game to you, isn’t it, Terrence?”
    “Why would you think that?” he asked, getting to his feet.
    “Because it was my understanding that after our one night together there would be no more hitting on me. No more trying to get me in your bed. No more of anything. We did it.”
    Terrence couldn’t stop the smile that touched his lips when he crossed the room to stand in front of her. “Yes, we did do it, and it was done in a way that still leaves me breathless whenever I think about it. And for that reason, I need to spend more time with you. I need to do it again.”
    “No. Once was enough.”
    He shook his head. “No, once wasn’t enough for me, and from your response to our kiss, not for you, either.”
    She lifted her chin. “You’re imagining things.”
    Amusement darted across his lips. “Trust me, whenever I’m inside your mouth or inside your body, I’m dealing strictly with reality.”
    He checked his watch. “It’s getting late, so I’ll leave you to meet with Prentice. I’ll call you later to see if—”
    “Don’t.”
    He met her gaze, and she met his. “Why are you afraid of me?” he asked softly.
    “Leery is a better word, and like I said earlier, I refuse to participate in whatever game you’re playing.”
    He thought about the game they’d willinglyplayed together two nights ago. Their naked bodies tumbling between soft cotton sheets…His mouth tasting the sweetness of her unlimited times with no threat of facing a time-out…Her body while her inner muscles clenched him inside of her, releasing him and then clenching him some more, milking him for everything he had…He no longer had to wonder how it would be to make love to her, because now he knew. That knowledge stirred his insides whenever he thought about it. It was the force behind the hunger, so intense and deep, it racked his senses. It was part of what was channeling his love, something he could admit to freely.
    “Do we understand each other, Terrence?”
    Her question regained his attention, and he felt it was important that she be the one to understand. He wouldn’t tell her that he had fallen in love with her until he had time to work on her heart. Whatever glass case she had surrounding it would be