Pleasure Exchange

As his gaze caressed her curves, anger once again segued to desire, leaving him warm and wanting. Cuffs rolled up at the ankle, her pants rode low on flared hips. Underneath her thin top she wore no bra, gifting him with a view of perfect round peaks. Eyes fixated on her sweet angles, he tried not to stare, but her gentle slopes proved too much of a distraction. His fingers itched, forcing him to fight his natural inclination to touch her. Christ, if she'd removed her damp bra he could only bet she'd disposed of her panties too. Fire licked over his thighs. Oh hell! He gulped air as his thoughts scattered like his lab rats when the lights flicked on.

"Coffee smells good."

Right. Coffee. Censoring his thoughts, he turned from her probing gaze and filled her mug. His knuckles brushed her skin as he handed it to her. Soft. So very soft. Like a kitten's fur. He wondered if she purred too.

"Have a seat, let's talk." He tried to keep his voice level, but it came out harsher than he intended.

She raised one hand in a halting motion. "Before you start yelling, I want to apologize."

He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off.

"First hear me out." Cat grabbed a chair, tipped her mug and took a tiny sip of her coffee. "I heard what you said to Rio and I really am sorry, Sam. The article wasn't meant to draw negative attention to your experiments. I just wanted to break away from fluff articles and show my editor what I'm capable of."

Sam's head came up with a start. It surprised him that she considered her work fluff. He loved her humorous, "Cat on the Prowl" column. A satirical take on 'men, mating and masturbating' as she put it. On many mornings her column was the topic of conversation around the water cooler.

"Fluff articles?"

She blew out a breath and continued. "If I ever want to move up the food chain at the paper, I need to start writing serious news. Without substantial experience or noteworthy editorials no one is going to look twice at me." Cat took another sip of coffee and blinked up at him. "So you see Sam, I respect your work. It was never my intention to upset you or lead protestors to believe you were going to hurt Rio. I, for one, understand the need for testing, but never thought for a minute you'd do anything to harm her. I've seen the way you care for her."

The last shreds of anger dissipated as he met her apologetic eyes. He understood the inner drive to succeed. He had that drive himself.

"So I've been giving it a lot of thought." She leaned forward, her plunging neckline affording him a view of her creamy cleavage, fueling his imagination. In that instant he knew there was nothing he could do to deter his cock from rising to the occasion and tenting his pants. The gentleman in him urged him to look the other way. The man in him decided at this particular moment, manners were overrated.

His mind careened off track. Desire stabbed through him. He indulged his wayward thoughts as he envisioned his mouth wrapped around one perfect, pink areola, sucking, nibbling and licking until she cried out in painful bliss. Sweet mother of God and all good things holy! His sinful thoughts were paving him a path straight to Hell.

"I've figured out a way I can help you finish the experiment."

He transferred his thoughts back to the situation. "Help?" He poured a generous amount of cream into his coffee and met her at the table.

She cleared her throat before speaking. Her voice thinned to a whisper as she proceeded. "Yeah, me in exchange for the chimp." With a quick nod, she motioned to Rio.

Had she read his mind?

Blood racing, he came up short. His knees nearly went right out from under him, causing him to spill his coffee. Suddenly it took effort to stand. He pulled out a chair and lowered himself into it. He met her gaze from across the table.

She had to be kidding.

He paused and cocked his head, assessing her. They stared at each other for a long, quiet moment. He furrowed his brow, unable to believe her offer.

"Are you serious?"

Her sensuous mouth twisted into a frown, clearly indicating her silent apology. She wrapped her slender hands around her mug and blew out a slow breath. "I got you into this mess, it's the least I could do to get you out."

He got quiet for a moment as he mulled over her offer. Did she have any idea what she was getting herself into? Any idea of how they'd have to test the serum. Provocative images of how he'd like to test her responses to the libido enhancer made his pulse rate kick up a notch. He bit back a low growl of longing as his desire mounted.

He threaded his fingers through his hair and kept his voice controlled. "Do you have any idea what this entails?"

She nodded, dark lashes opening wide over come-hither eyes. "Testing a female libido enhancer," she rushed out, leaning toward him. He caught another whiff of her delectable orange scent.

Sam had to admit, right now there were two things he wanted. One, to complete his assignment on time, and two, Cat Nichols. Not necessarily in that order. Damned if she wasn't offering him a way to have both. He'd never mixed work and pleasure before. The two had never gone hand in hand. Until now.

"Cat, do you understand what you'd have to do to help me?"

"Not exactly," she confessed.

Sam leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs. Warmth coiled through him as his calf brushed hers. She didn't flinch, nor did she pull away. What she did do was shift in her chair, allowing more of her leg to brush his.

It took all his effort to force his arousal-fogged brain back to their conversation. "First we have to test and record your sexual responses to stimuli without the enhancer. Then we wait twenty-four hours, give you the serum, and test your responses again."

Her eyes darkened. "Sam?" she asked, her voice a little uneven, a little raspy. "What stimuli?"

He angled closer, gauging her reactions. He spent a long moment just looking at her before he answered in a soft tone, "Me."