These Arms of Mine. Judy Lynn Hubbard

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       Unable to bear staring at her beauty another second, he swiveled his chair to look out the huge wall-to-wall windows. “You can show yourself out.”

       She quickly weighed telling him the real reason Robert had embezzled from him. It had nothing to do with gambling, as he had suggested. If he knew Robert’s actions were motivated out of love, not greed, would it change his attitude? Would the truth soften his hard heart? She didn’t want to bare her soul to him, but if it would save her brother, she didn’t have a choice in the matter.

       “Won’t you please just listen to me?” She faced the back of his head. “Robert’s not what you think. He took the money because…”

       He swiveled in his chair and held up a hand to forestall the remainder of her explanation. He’d had enough and needed her to leave.

       “Alesha, I don’t care why Robert took the money—all that matters is that he’s an embezzler! Nothing you have to say will change that or make me change my mind about pressing charges against him. I’ve heard you out, now goodbye.”

       She quickly stood, realizing she was wasting her time. There was no use in trying to appeal to his better nature. His words made that perfectly clear and she had no intention of giving him the satisfaction of watching her beg.

       She snatched up her purse. “What happened to you? How did you become so cold?”

       “I am what people like you have made me.”

       God, she was torturing him. Her very presence tormented him; yet she also made him feel like he hadn’t felt in a long, long time, and he was angry and unsettled by that.

       “You are what you want to be.” She was angry with herself and with her absurd reaction to seeing him again. “I’m sorry I wasted your time.” She turned and walked toward the door.

       “Alesha?”

       He spoke her name softly, almost caressingly. She felt it run down her spine like soothing, exciting fingers of desire—the sensation stopped her in her tracks. She prayed he would stop being so informal with her because the way he said her name—intimately, for her alone—was destroying her. How could a man’s voice stroke her in forbidden places so forcefully that she wanted nothing more than to be utterly immersed in him?

       She was about to walk out. However, despite his better judgment, he didn’t want her to go. What was it about Alesha Robinson that had always sent his blood simmering and then, just as quickly, boiling out of control?

       She turned turbulent eyes on him. “We don’t have anything else to say to each other.”

       “You started this, Alesha.” He arrogantly lifted an eyebrow before deliberately adding, “And I’m going to finish it.”

       “We’re done.”

       She turned to leave again, not just because he annoyed and angered her, but because there was something about Derrick Chandler that was setting off small explosions of awareness within her entire body. Her legs felt wobbly and her heart ached for something that had once been within her grasp and now seemed light-years away. She needed some air; she had to get out of here before she made a complete fool of herself.

       “What if I told you that I wouldn’t press charges against your brother?” His unexpected words halted her departure.

       Had she heard him correctly? She turned and her puzzled gaze encountered his.

       “What did you say?”

       “I think you heard me.”

       “Don’t toy with me.”

       An arrogant half smile turned up the corners of his mouth at her chastising tone.

       “I never play, unless I choose the game and am assured of victory.”

       She believed him. He was a man used to getting his way—always, except once with her. She slowly walked back until she was standing in front of his desk again.

       “So you’re serious about letting Robert off the hook?”

       “Yes.”

       Something in his tone worried her, yet she stood her ground. She had the feeling she would regret her next question, but she had to ask it.

       “What do you want in return?”

       He stood and slowly walked until he was standing in front of her, so close that their bodies were almost touching. She resisted a strong impulse to turn and run or take the few steps necessary to bring them breast to breast. She faced him unwaveringly as she waited apprehensively for his response.

       His eyes roamed over her from head to toe. His blatant inspection made her feel as if she were a piece of prime meat he was preparing to devour with that wicked mouth of his. Her heart began to beat erratically, not from fear, but from another emotion just as strong.

       “Something only you can give me.”

       “Which is what?” She tilted her head up his tall frame, staring at him uneasily.

       He continued to subject her to his slow scrutiny, his eyes lingering long on her moist, slightly parted lips, before lifting to meet her eyes once again. His thorough examination was more disquieting than anything she could have imagined he would say. However, his next words proved her wrong.

       “I want you,” he answered truthfully.

      Chapter 2

      He was unblinking and serious as he continued staring into her huge, horrified eyes. After a few seconds of silence, he laughed out loud at her apparent shock. He knew his declaration was the last thing she had expected to hear—it was honestly the last thing he had expected to utter.

       She didn’t make a move as his brief laughter reverberated in the quiet office before silence returned. He said nothing further and she was unable to respond. Instead, she stared at him unblinkingly, a hand slowly going to her suddenly constricted throat while her heart thudded loudly.

       When she finally found her voice it was hushed and strained. “You can’t be serious!”

       “Can’t I?”

       She searched his face for signs that he was being facetious, yet found none. Still, he had to be joking. Her other hand moved to her throbbing temple and she tried to laugh dismissively—she couldn’t have heard him correctly.

       “I must have misunderstood you.”

       “Did you?” His piercing eyes studied her face carefully.

       “Did you say that you want…me?” She forced herself to repeat his ridiculous statement.

       “You understand me correctly.”

       “What do you mean by want?” As she articulated the question, she was petrified of his response.

       “Want. A transitive verb meaning to desire, to have need for, to crave.”

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