“Really?” She knew she didn’t sound as upset as she should. Sometimes she felt something wild inside, and she often hoped there was the presence of a cat, but she doubted it. On the other hand, she didn’t mind in the least being alluring to Jake.

“I’m going back to work,” he said, frowning at her. “I can see you’re not a bit sorry for making me as hard as a rock.”

“Not really, no.” She smiled up at him.

“You’re going to be taking care of it,” he warned.

She nodded her head. “I’ll be looking forward to this evening.”

17

THE ache in his body invaded his mind for the millionth time. He couldn’t concentrate. There was just no way. He dropped his hand to his lap and rubbed in an effort to alleviate the burning tightness. If he grew any thicker, he was going to burst right out of his skin. He’d been fantasizing more than working, wishing Emma was in his office with him instead of just outside his door, somewhere in the house with the kids.

Was she thinking about him? Did she hurt the way he did? He could only hope that she was. He wanted to occupy most of her thoughts and found himself a little jealous of her spending so much time with everyone else. He rarely had her to himself, and when he did, his emotions got in the way. He tapped his pencil idly on the desktop. There had to be a way to seal her to him. Yes, he could keep her pregnant, but that didn’t mean her loyalty would be to him. He had to find another means.

Again his hand fell to the thick, throbbing length of him. He was so engorged he was afraid he might split his trousers, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to make it until the evening. He had many women and none sated him the way she did. He didn’t crave their soft skin, or want their bodies wrapped around his. It was as if his body knew hers, remembered hers from another life. Maybe all the nonsense Drake told him was more truth than legend, but whatever the reason, his body was tied to Emma’s body.

He knew a million sexual tricks, ways to make any woman want more, crave more, become obsessed. If he could get her to go along with him while he trained her body, she’d always need him. She’d be bound to him completely.

He rubbed his jaw for a long moment and then dropped his face into his hands. He didn’t know what was right anymore. He only knew that he couldn’t live without her and he couldn’t live with being so emotionally vulnerable to her. Somehow, some way, he had to get the upper hand. He had to take it back, return their relationship to a footing he could deal with.

EMMA took several different types of lettuce from the refrigerator, trying to ignore the building tension in her body. Her body temperature was going up; she could feel the heat radiating off her, coming from her very core. She was hot and aching and needy, and getting moodier by the moment. She was slick and inflamed, the dampness between her legs keeping her on edge. She’d snapped at Brenda when she brought the children in for a snack. They sat in their high chairs eating, as she began to make the preparations for dinner.

There wouldn’t be any eating for her. She was tempted to try a cold shower.

“Emma.” Jake’s voice was quiet on the intercom.

She glanced up automatically, although it was just his voice and not his body. A note in his voice. Soft. Sexy. Commanding. Her body tightened even more in instant response, flooding with more heat. She was going to have to ask him to install fans throughout the house. “Yes?” He was up to something, she was certain of it.

“Get Brenda to handle the kids for two hours and come into my office. Ten minutes.”

She hesitated but he had already clicked off. She could instantly feel the difference in her body, arousal teasing along her thighs and centering deep so that she pulsed with need. Just from his voice. He scared her sometimes, the way he controlled her body. Just his voice changing had such an effect on her nerve endings.

She looked around the kitchen at the preparations she’d begun for dinner. Ten minutes. She couldn’t get things done in ten minutes. She radioed Joshua, alerting him that she would not be with the children and he needed to come in and be present in the house with Brenda. She put everything away, but she was finished long before he arrived. Andraya and Kyle stayed in their chairs, eating their snacks while she worked. It took a few minutes to get them settled down with Brenda and Joshua before she felt she could safely leave them.

She knocked on the door of the office and stepped inside. Jake was working at his desk. The office was spacious, the entire wing soundproofed so that once she closed the door, she could no longer hear the sound of the children. Her painting hung on the wall opposite his desk. Jake didn’t look up.

“You’re late.”

“Two minutes, Jake. It isn’t all that easy to settle children down.”

He still didn’t look up, studying the papers before him. “I didn’t ask you to settle them down, I asked you to come into my office in ten minutes. Joshua is capable of settling them down.”

He was going to be difficult. She stayed silent, waiting, refusing to make any more excuses or rise to the bait. Minutes ticked by. When he looked up, his eyes had that glitter to them, somewhere between menace and pure lust. A fireball hit the pit of her stomach.

“Lock the door and take off your clothes, fold them and put them on the chair by the fireplace.”

Excitement spread through her, but she didn’t allow it to show. She studied his face. The lines etched there. The set of his jaw. The dark lust and intensity of his focus. She kept him waiting a full minute before she kicked off her house sandals and slowly began to unbutton her blouse. When the material parted, she shrugged it off and took her time folding it. Carefully she set it on the chair, reaching behind her to unhook her bra.