I Thought I Hated Him Ch. 02

Daniel was behind me now, pacing back and forth like a caged leopard. I blundered bravely on. "We have to work together to get this project finished and then maybe I'll talk to Maddock and ask that we never are partnered again. He won't like it, but it might be best."

Daniel leaned over me from behind, bracing his arms on the table on either side of me, whispering in my ear. "What about us?"

"What about us? Nothing happened, Daniel. We should keep it that way."

"Why?"

I wanted to spin about and look him in the face, but he blocked all efforts to move my chair; his breath was hot against my neck, his voice low and sensual in my ear.

"W-why?" I sputtered, stunned at the sudden change in events; a moment ago I'd felt in control. "I just told you why."

"No," Daniel purred dangerously in my ear. "You spouted off a load of bullshit, all the prim and proper arguments, but you still haven't given me the reason why you left last night."

"I told you, it isn't right."

I couldn't see his face, but I knew one raven eyebrow had shot instantly to the ceiling. "I'm single; you're single. I want you; you want me. What's the problem?"

I sighed in frustration, feeling the heat rise in my face. "Fine Daniel, I chickened out. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Why?"

Fuck; it figured that the Dragon wasn't going to make it easy for me. "You scare me. This scares me," I touched the back of his hand tentatively, watching as his long fingers jerked reflexively. "I told you, I don't do things like this. I never have. And you make me feel…"

"Young?"

I almost laughed. "Yes. Young. And inexperienced. And foolish. You got me to admit it. Happy?"

"What sort of person do you think I am, Clara? Some violent ravisher of innocent girls? Some depraved pervert who preys on a smaller, weaker victim?"

"That's the problem!" I cried. "I don't know anything about you. What sort of person do I think you are Daniel? I hardly know. You stomp around this office, snapping and growling at anyone under you; you have the reputation of tearing junior architects to shreds if they so much as look at you the wrong way; you yell at me one minute and kiss me the next; you bring me home and then let me leave without so much as a word. So do I know what sort of person you are, Daniel? No! How can I? You won't let me."

"Do you want to reform me, Clara? Turn me from this bad guy into some shining hero?" Daniel's voice was low and hard as steel. I was glad my back was to him; I didn't want to see his face when he spoke like that.

"No," I whispered shakily, feeling a small frisson of doubt inch in beside my frustration. "I'm not here to save you Daniel. I just want to know you."

"What do you want to know?" His voice was chilly with sarcasm. "That I'm 44 years old and I have two failed marriages? That I've worked for Maddock for almost twenty years and I'm starting to think he'll never make me a partner in this fucking firm? That I've watched a hundred junior architects come and go and you're the first one even worth mentioning? That you're so unaware of your talent that it scares me?

"You're better than me Clara, better than everyone else in that room out there, and instead of making me proud it makes me angry, because I feel like I've accomplished nothing in my life. And to top it all off I want you badly, more than I've wanted a woman in a very long time.

"It keeps me awake at night, thinking about you and all the things I want to do to you. I don't care Clara, if you're young and inexperienced, I want to teach you everything I know about sex; to bend you over and fill you so deeply it makes you scream; to fuck you until neither of us can stand or think straight; to feel your fingernails scrape along my spine as I come inside you."

He paused, breathing hard in my ear; my own ragged breathing matched his. I couldn't move, couldn't think. Images of Daniel between my legs raced through my head and made my insides quiver.

"You threaten everything, Clara: my job, my libido, my fucking sanity; but I don't have it in me to wish I'd never laid eyes on you." He leaned in closer and brushed his lips softly against my neck. "You exhaust me and we've only just begun. You know what I want; I won't bother you again."

And then he was gone.

With a gust of exhaled breath I laid my head down on the table, the smooth wood cool against my flushed skin. I knew I should get up, go to my desk, and get back to work, but for the moment I didn't trust my legs to hold me up.

To be continued…