Redeemed By Passion

Liam stepped into the large open-plan office and met the wide eyes of the young receptionist sitting behind a sleek desk. Early twenties, first job out of college, wide eyes and desperate to please. Child’s play.

“I’m on my way to see Ms. St. Claire.”

Liam had to give her credit; she did jump up from her desk and did try to run after him, but his legs were longer and her headphones were connected to her laptop. Besides, he was a foot taller, bigger and broader; how on earth could she stop him?

Walking across the open-plan offices, he ignored the buzz of chatter his presence generated and ignored the eyes boring into his back. Limitless Events occupied one corner of the top floor of this building and high, arched windows flooded the office with natural light. He flicked a glance outside; it was still raining, and he thought that Teresa had a hell of a view. Slowing down, he approached a messy desk in front of the only self-contained office and growled when he saw that the doors were closed. He looked at Teresa’s PA, surprised to see her leaning back in her chair, legs crossed, a smirk on her pretty face.

“To what do we owe the honor of your illustrious presence, Mr. Christopher?” Oh, yeah, there was a ton of snark under the sweet smile.

“Cut the crap, Corinne. You know damn well that I’ve left six messages and that I’ve been trying to talk to her since early Sunday morning,” Liam retorted. “She’s avoiding me.”

“So you thought the best way to deal with her was to show up at her place of work?” Corinne had the audacity to roll her eyes. “Do you know anything about women, Mr. Christopher?”

Obviously not. Up until Teresa appeared in his life, he thought he had. He could charm them into bed, show them a good time and when he was bored, extracted himself quietly, easing his way out of their lives with flowers or perfume or more expensive gifts, depending on the woman and the situation. Once, when that Russian ballet dancer refused to go quietly, he’d needed to say goodbye with a holiday in Cannes and a diamond tennis bracelet. But generally, women weren’t difficult.

And then there was Teresa...

“Can I go in?”

Corinne bared her teeth at him. “Let me see if she has time for you.”

Before Corinne could connect the call, Liam turned at the sound of a door opening. Teresa stood in the open doorway, looking beautiful but fragile. Her creamy complexion was two shades paler than usual, her sexy mouth was pulled tight and the bags under her eyes were a darker blue than her irises. But as he was coming to accept, Teresa could look like a ghoul and she’d still manage to turn him on.

“What are you doing here, Liam?”

Since there was only one answer to that question—he wanted to speak to her, dammit!—he shook his head and took two steps in her direction. When he stood close enough to her to inhale her sweet breath, close enough for his chest to flirt with hers, he placed both hands under her elbows and lifted her off her feet. Hell, his woman, this woman, needed to eat more! Walking her backward, he deposited her inside her office, back on her two-inch, ice-pick heels—black today to match her severe black suit and, probably, her mood—and kicked the door shut with his foot.

When he heard the snick of the lock, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his suit pants. His hands, stupid things, desperately wanted to pull that black sweater from her skirt and lift it up and over her head. Would her bra be black, too? Her panties? He thought so but he sure as hell would like to make sure.

“I do not appreciate you barging into my office,” Teresa told him, trying to sound snotty.

“I do not appreciate you not taking my calls,” Liam whipped back, not fazed by her cool eyes and her tight mouth. He knew her well enough to see the pain lurking beneath all that liquid, velvet blue, knew that she was fighting the urge to weep or scream.

She had a right to.

Liam couldn’t resist running a thumb over her cheekbone, skirting the edges of her eye sockets. “Have you slept at all since the weekend?”

He knew that her pride had her wanting to lie but at the last minute she shook her head. “No, I’ve dozed here and there.”

“Things will seem better after you’ve slept.”

Teresa stepped away from him and walked away, dropping into the sleek office chair behind her desk. She placed her hands on the table and her amazing eyes flashed blue fire. “So if I sleep, will I wake up and find that my brother didn’t gate-crash Matt’s party, you didn’t hit him, he wasn’t seen on YouTube and I didn’t have to force him to stay in rehab, with him insisting that he’s not an addict? Will that just all go away with some sleep?”

She had him there. “No.”

“Exactly.” Teresa scratched her forehead and she released a long stream of air and her shoulders fell from somewhere near her ears. “I don’t want to fight with you, Liam.”

“I don’t want to fight, either.”

“But I can’t deal with you right now. Right now I have another commission, an event to organize, and everything is riding on it.” Teresa picked up a pen and rolled it between her palms. “I can’t be distracted and I need to focus. And I really do believe that it’s better that we not see each other anymore.”

“BS,” Liam shot back. “You’re just feeling overwhelmed. Possibly scared.”

Teresa nodded. “Sure I am. But maybe I am also trying to protect you. I’m not good for you, Liam.”

Liam slapped his hands on his hips, anger coursing through him. She sounded too much like his mother, who’d made her own disparaging comments about Teresa over the past few weeks. Not good enough, a tart, so little class. They were both wrong but there was only one person whose mind he wanted to change. “I’m a big boy. I don’t need you protecting me.”

“No matter what I say, there are people out there, including your mother, who believe I had an affair with your father, who think I’ve only latched on to you because I have my eyes on your company.”

He didn’t give a rat’s ass what other people thought and, honestly, he didn’t care much what his mother thought. “So? Let them think what they want.”

A pencil hit his chest and dropped to the floor. Liam looked at it, raised one eyebrow and returned his eyes to Teresa’s face. On the plus side, she had color in her cheeks. She also looked like she was about to blow.

“Liam, listen to me. You and me, it’s... Whatever the hell we had, it’s over! Whatever it was, it’s done.”

Liam sent her a steady look. “I’m not trying to be a jerk, Teresa, but it’s not as easy as that.”

“Just go, Liam. Please.”

God, this woman was as stubborn as a boulder. He could tell her that their attraction hadn’t died, that it would take more than her calling it to end this craziness between them. They couldn’t just switch off the taps and walk away. Like her, he couldn’t define what they had but it sure as hell wasn’t something that could be simply and easily dismissed. He’d tried that several times and it never worked. But that argument wouldn’t work with her so he latched on to what was tangible. “Linus’s will stipulates that we still have to work together at Christopher Corporation for a whole year.”

His statement detonated fireworks in her eyes. And not the good kind. “The corporation? That’s what you are thinking about?”

Well, no. He was thinking about taking her to bed but knew that if he made that suggestion he might leave her office minus a few of his essential body parts.

And that thought pissed him off, big-time. And once he acknowledged his anger, it took on a life of its own. He’d been worrying about her for days and he had to storm her citadel to check whether she was okay.

Teresa placed her fingertips on her forehead. “We can’t keep doing this, Liam. At some point we have to accept that we are bad for each other.”

Liam surged to his feet, walked over to her chair and placing his hands on her waist, pulled her up. He gripped her luscious butt and yanked her into him, allowing his hard erection to push into her stomach. “Feel that? That isn’t bad, dammit!”

Teresa looked up at him and he could see her body warring with her brain, each equally stubborn. He dipped his head down and slapped his lips against hers. Her mouth immediately opened beneath his and he swept inside, determined to show her that desire like this was worth fighting for, holding on to, keeping. Yeah, they weren’t great at communicating but this, this they could do. This they couldn’t fake, lie about, deny.

As for the other stuff, they could work on it...

Liam felt Teresa soften and when she pressed her breasts into his chest, he slowed his kiss down, needing to savor her, to explore her intense combination of flavors. He could taste her hazelnut-flavor coffee, toothpaste and a tart sweetness that was all Teresa. Pulling her jersey up, he placed his hands on her lower back, easily spanning her slim waist. The smell of soft, fragrant, heated skin drifted up to his and he felt his knees soften, his head swim. This was the only woman who’d ever managed to create fog in his brain, remove the saliva from his mouth, shut down his thought processes.

Not for the first time Liam decided that she scared the crap out of him.

Liam pulled back from the kiss and lifted his hand to hold the back of her head, his fingers pushing up and under the loose bun she habitually wore. Risking her ire but needing to see her hair down, he pulled out her pins and her thick blond hair cascaded over his hands, down her back. With her hair down she looked softer, more vulnerable and younger and, if that were at all possible, sexier.

Teresa rested her cheek on his pec and lightly placed her hands on his waist as if she couldn’t decide whether to hold him or not. “Stop fighting me, Teresa, and let me hold you.”

Teresa stiffened in his arms and then he heard her long sigh and slowly, so slowly, her arms moved around his body and she buried her nose in his shirt.

“Everything is so messed up, Liam.”

And she was, as she always did, trying to handle everything herself. “I know, honey.”

“I can’t let you help. I don’t know how to accept help,” Teresa said, her voice so low he had to bend his head to hear her soft words. “I need to sort this out myself, Liam.”

He dropped a kiss into her hair. “Why?”

Teresa took her time answering. “Because people have told me, all my life, that they would be there for me. Then they left.”

“I won’t do that to you, Teresa.”

Teresa pulled back, pulled her teeth between her lips and when Liam looked into her eyes, the pain within them nearly dropped him to his knees. “Maybe, maybe not. But I can’t take that chance because you, disappointing me again, is a step too far, a bridge that will blow up once I cross it. I’m not strong enough to cope with that, as well as the rest of my life falling apart. Frankly, Liam, I’m starting to believe that I’m not very strong at all.”

Teresa walked over to her desk, stared down at it and tapped her finger on the sleek wood. He watched her profile as her eyes moved from her desk to the window to right at the view of Elliott Bay. When she spoke again, he heard her uncertainty and, dammit, the fear in her voice. “I need some time, Liam, probably quite a bit of it.”

“I can’t give that to you,” Liam replied.

Christopher Corporation, and the terms of his father’s will, demanded her presence and involvement in the company. And besides, if he gave her the space she demanded, wouldn’t he be doing exactly what she expected, running when she needed him to plant his feet and stick?

“My brother owes money to dangerous people. Money that I am in the process of trying to find. I have a high-society, over-the-top wedding to organize in two weeks’ time so that I can save my company’s reputation and buy us some time with those previously mentioned mobsters. And I still need to face Matt Richmond and apologize once again for ruining his gala evening.”

“While organizing a wedding isn’t in my skill set, I am thrilled you have work and I know you will do a fantastic job. I will bring you late-night pizzas and early-morning coffee if that’s what you need me to do.” She was listening to him so he took the opportunity to float a few options available.

“Allow me to lend you the money to pay off your brother’s debts. I have the money and we can work out a repayment plan because I know that you are too proud to take a handout. Yeah, apologizing to Matt is something I can’t do for you but I can hold your hand while you do it.”

Teresa closed her eyes and Liam desperately wanted to rub away the single tear that dared to escape. But he knew that if he acknowledged her emotion, he’d lose her. So he just kept his eyes on her face and waited for her response.

“Please go, Liam. Go before I take you up on one or all of your sweet offers. Go before I start to believe in you.”

To hell with that. Instead of walking to the door, Liam wrapped his arms around her and held on tight. Resting his chin in her hair, he held her until he felt her body stiffen, until she started to push away. Knowing he’d pushed her far enough today, he decided to retreat so he placed a kiss on her temple and released his grip. “I’m going to go. But I’ll call you later, okay?”

Teresa nodded.

Liam tipped her chin up with the side of his thumb and waited until her eyes met his. All that deep, velvety blue was a sharp smack to his heart. “And when I do, take my damn calls.”

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