Surrender to Temptation Part V: Tempted to Reveal

Contents

Also by Lauren Jameson

Title Page

Copyright

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Special Excerpt from
BLUSH

About the Author

Surrender to Temptation

Part I: Tempted to Submit

Part II: Tempted to Rebel

Part III: Tempted to Obey

Part IV: Tempted to Entice

Part V: Tempted to Reveal

Surrender to Temptation

Part V

Tempted to Reveal

Lauren Jameson

I
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have control over and does not have any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

TEMPTED TO REVEAL

An InterMix Book / published by arrangement with the author

PUBLISHING HISTORY

InterMix eBook edition / January 2013

Surrender to Temptation
copyright © 2013 by Lauren Jameson.

Excerpt from
Blush
copyright © 2013 by Lauren Jameson.

All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-101-62075-5

INTERMIX

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Chapter One

My hands shook as I contemplated lifting my coffee cup for a drink. After a night without even a minute of sleep, it seemed like more work than I could manage. I had been here, in the office, for an hour already, hoping for the distraction that my workload might give me.

Instead, everything in the entire building seemed to whisper Zach’s name, tormenting me like a thousand tiny needles pricking my tender skin.

I squirmed in my seat at the thought, my bottom sore and hot after last night with Zach despite the tea tree ointment he had administered and the warm bath we had soaked in together. As the discomfort washed over me, so did anger.

We were over. After all I had been through with him, it was absolutely, positively, one hundred percent over.

I had tried, dammit. I had opened myself up to things that had shocked me to my core, just to please him. I had let him tie me up, had let him paddle like an impertinent child.

In the end, it hadn’t mattered. He couldn’t give me what I needed. I had hoped for more than he said he could give, and look how that had turned out for me. And try as I might, his rejection—again—forced those little fingers of self-doubt to play over my neck in a discomforting sensation.

Get a grip, Devon.
Scowling, I shoved my coffee, now ice-cold, to the corner of my desk and pulled my keyboard closer. As eight o’clock neared, I welcomed the distraction of my coworkers as they began to trickle in.

Diversion was good. I would welcome anything that could help me forget Zachariah St. Brenton.

“Morning, Devon.” Tony smiled at me as he placed two Styrofoam cups on his desk, then shrugged out of his jacket. He studied my face intently, and didn’t bother hiding his displeasure at the shadows that he saw beneath my eyes.

“I got this for you.” He crossed to my desk with one of the disposable cups, setting it down near my elbow.

I blinked with surprise and not a little pleasure. Sometimes my coworkers would bring coffee or muffins for one another, but no one had yet included me in the tradition. I hadn’t been there long enough to make friends, and I had the additional black mark of extra attention from the CEO, which hadn’t sat well with many of the women.

A genuine smile crossed my lips as I curled my hands around the cup, savoring its warmth.

“Thank you, Tony. Can I give you some money for it?” He scowled at the question, making a shooing gesture with his hands.

“Absolutely not. You can get the next one.” The surge of acceptance, combined with my shaky emotions over Zach, made me suddenly tear up.

Tony looked alarmed.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Sliding behind me, he placed his hands on my shoulders and rubbed gently. “I won’t bring you coffee anymore, I swear.”

I barked out a laugh through my dry throat. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about his touch on my shoulders. He had offered it out of comfort, and that was nice, but I had caught his interested stare too many times to think that the caress was strictly platonic.

“Um.” I was trying to formulate a polite way to extract myself from Tony’s handling when I felt those fingers dig into my muscles.

“Ow.” I jerked away from the bite of his nails on my skin, distancing myself from his touch at the same time. “What was that for?”

I shoved an errant lock of hair behind my ear as I looked up, and my own fingers clenched involuntarily. I sucked in my breath, steeling myself.

Where had he come from? Zach stalked—there was no other word to describe his movements—across the crowded accounting office toward us. His thunderous expression told me that he was not pleased at what he saw, and the manner in which he approached reminded me of a jungle cat—smooth, graceful, and deadly.

“Mr. Figuero.” Zach fastened that terrifying stare directly onto Tony, not looking at me, not even a glance. “Must I remind you of the policy on dating within one’s own department yet again?”

“No, sir.” Tony’s words were tense as he stepped farther away from me. As he marched to his own desk, not daring to look back at me, my spine stiffened in outrage.

I couldn’t believe Zach’s audacity, interfering here like a jealous husband. He could cite interdepartmental dating policies all he wanted, but we all knew that he was marking his territory.

After his behavior last night, he had no right. We were through.

Standing, I opened my mouth to tell him just that. I only hoped that I could get it out before the angry tears began to choke my words.

“Please come with me.” He spoke before I could, persuasively, effectively disabling my anger with that one sentence. I narrowed my eyes at him with suspicion.

“Go where?” Zach had put me through enough of an emotional typhoon. I needed him to spell out his intentions more clearly.

He sighed, raking a hand through his hair in the way that I loved. I did my best to squelch the desire that snaked through me at the gesture.

“Come with me for a second.” Thoroughly irritated, I followed him into an empty office. Shutting the door behind us, he looked me right in the eyes.

“Let’s go to Cambria, Devon. Now.” My mouth fell open at the words.

I cocked my head with confusion. “What’s changed?”

“We can talk about this on the way.” He rocked back on his heels, clearly impatient for us to be on our way.

I planted my hands on the empty desk. Through the glass of the window I could see that the department outside the private office had all but come to a standstill, everyone gaping at the enigmatic billionaire.

I knew that it was a good sign that he was willing to come to me at work. I was still angry enough not to want to make it easy for him.

“Tell me what has changed now, or I’m not going anywhere.” I quaked as an expression of dominance flashed over his face, and I wondered if he would haul me over his knee and spank me for disobedience then and there.

Instead, I watched as he visibly struggled to rein in his need for control. Inhaling deeply, then letting the breath out, he ignored the spectators and fastened all of his attention on me.

“I want to tell you everything that you want to know, Devon.” His words were hardly more than a whisper, but I was so focused on him that they were loud and clear to me. “I simply am not ready.”

Disappointment was a cold rain, chilling me to the bone. I shook my head slowly, then turned away.

“Then there’s no point in your being here, Zach.” My heart felt like it was being squeezed by a giant, invisible fist. I began to tremble, but I vowed that I wasn’t going to break down.

If Zach had shown me anything, it was that I was stronger than that.

Inhaling deeply, I left the private office. Conversation in the department outside hushed for a moment as I rejoined my coworkers, then restarted when I refused to make eye contact with anyone.

“Devon.”

I ordered myself not to turn around, but in his voice I heard the anguish that I had only seen from him in the aftermath of his nightmare.

“You can drive.” Cursing myself, I looked back at him. He dangled a key fob from his fingers.

I thought I could see on his face a new vulnerability, a hint that he had dropped some of his defenses. And at that sight, I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around him and never let go. I couldn’t believe that he had chosen to approach me and take me aside in front of everyone. Gossip would spread the story to every set of ears by the end of the day.

In the end, that was what pushed me that last inch. It couldn’t have been easy for him to come here, to do this. In his own infuriating way, he was trying.

That meant I could try, too.

“I have work.” I had already made up my mind, but still felt the need to go through the motions.

“You have an in with the boss.” His voice was wry, and I did my best to swallow a smile. When he saw that I was wavering, Zach continued.

“I’ve already informed Mrs. Gallagher.” A look across the room revealed the woman sitting in her desk, watching us as everyone else did.

She didn’t look pleased, and in fact, she looked worried for me.

Rubbing my temples with my fingers, I closed the distance between Zach and me, lowering my voice.

“I don’t have an overnight bag packed.” It was my last line of defense and, as I’d expected, he broke through it with ease.

“I have one for you.”

“Awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you?” I supposed I should be angry that Zach had assumed I would fall into line, but I couldn’t muster up any sense of outrage. I liked that he made decisions, and that I didn’t have to. It made me feel cared for. Still, I worked up a token sneer.

“I’m never sure of myself with you.” Zach’s face was somber as he regarded me, and I felt my heart trip in my chest. “Definitely hopeful, though.”

I tried to keep my expression neutral as I studied Zach’s face. Though I couldn’t understand the cost of his pushing himself out of his safety zone, I knew that it was not something he often did.

But he had because I had asked him to. More than anything else, this told me that there was more between us than sex.

“All right.” My voice was so soft that I could barely hear it myself. Though I wanted, more than anything, to go with Zach, and for everything to be all right between us, I hoped that I wasn’t opening myself up for more emotional distress.

The weeks since I had met Zach had been full of extreme highs and devastating lows. Right now, my emotions were creeping back up, and I wanted them to stay there.

“Let me get my purse.” As I stooped to pull the leather satchel from under my desk, I caught Tony’s eye. His lips were pinched tightly together, his expression disapproving. I looked away, but as I did I realized that nearly everyone in the office was staring at the spectacle that Zach and I had just provided.

Faced with the onslaught of curiosity, jealousy, and disapproval, I wavered. My hands, which were clutching my purse tightly, broke into a nervous sweat.

I could just imagine what everyone was thinking.

“Devon. Let’s go.” Zach moved to the back of my desk where I still stood, frozen in place. Tilting my head high with one finger placed under my chin, he draped the strap of my purse over my shoulder, then placed his hand at the small of my back, urging me forward.

Any resistance that I had felt over succumbing to his request melted as he shared his strength with me. Under his fierce look around at the onlookers, the office came back to life, people doing their best to at least pretend that they weren’t watching us, though I knew the truth.

Though I knew that the speculation would increase tenfold when I returned from this little trip, for the moment, I could handle it. I could handle going after what I wanted. And the only reason that I could do so was Zach.

Though I knew it wasn’t smart, I couldn’t help it. As Zach ushered me across the lobby to the elevator, I realized how deeply I could love this man.

***

Zach was unlocking the door to his private garage when I caught sight of my own car in the staff lot. My mind flashed to the bag that was still crushed underneath the passenger’s seat.

“Wait just a second.” I scurried across the cement to my car while Zach stared after me, bemused. I knelt gingerly on the uneven surface as I tried to extract the bag, which had been smushed to the point of no return.

Good thing it’s not breakable.
I grinned triumphant as the bag gave way, tearing open. Carefully I pulled the swatch of midnight blue silk out from its hiding place, folding it gingerly and tucking it into my purse.

I had purchased it for myself, after all, not for Tom. And the thought of Zach’s face when I wore it caused heat to wash over my skin.

“What were you doing?” Zach raised his eyebrows when I grinned at him and sailed through the door that he held open, my spirits high.

“Never you mind.” Narrowing his eyes, I could tell that he was thinking of ordering me to tell him.

I stared right back, and finally he nodded.

“Very well, little minx, keep your secrets. I’ll enjoy punishing you for it later.” I jolted at the surge of sexual heat held in Zach’s words, nerves and anticipation assaulting me at once.

“Well.” I eyed the sleek black vehicle, both nervous and excited to drive such a car. “Let’s go?” The fob in my hand was far more high-tech than the simple key for my own sedan.

Zach didn’t reply. Turning, I found him standing ramrod straight, his hands in tight fists at his sides, his jaw tense.

“Zach.” My heart melted, even though our argument from the night before rang in my head. I knew now, though, that he wasn’t trying deliberately to withhold the cause of his pain.

Whatever it was, I suspected it would pain his soul to relive it.

“Hey.” Crossing to him, I placed a hand on his upper arm and rubbed. He blinked down at the gesture, his brow furrowing as if he couldn’t quite conceive of being comforted. “We don’t have to do this.”

Stubbornness darkened his features, and I sighed to myself. Zach didn’t do compromise very well, and he had apparently used up his store of it with me already.

“We’re going.” His movements still stiff, he opened the driver’s side door and waited until I slid in. After he had walked around the car and gotten in himself, I opened my mouth to ask him a question about adjusting the seats before deliberately biting my tongue.

He didn’t drive the car. He would have no idea. There was no point in reminding him of his unease.

“Give me a minute.” I squinted at the dashboard. The car had a lot of fancy features—an incredibly complex-looking stereo, an ionizer, and something that looked like a small television. But apart from the fact that the car started with the press of a button rather than a key in the ignition, everything else was normal, if prettied up.

It had been a while since I had driven a manual vehicle, and I prayed to myself that I wouldn’t do anything awkward while I got back into the feel of it. I didn’t think that Zach was the kind of man who would appreciate showing weaknesses, like his anxiety at even being in this car with a new driver.

“How do I open the garage door?” I pressed the button and the car rumbled to life. My foot on the brake, I shifted the car into first. Beside me Zach tensed, but after a deep breath forced his muscles to relax.