Royal Seductions: Secrets: The Duke's Boardroom Affair. Michelle Celmer

closer, and that said everything he needed to know. He may have been bigger than her, but they fit together just fine. He stopped worrying about hurting her. All he could think about was the way it felt. The way she felt. And every thrust brought him that much closer to the edge.

      The last coherent thought he had was that this was too good, too perfect, then Victoria shuddered and cried out, her body tensing around him, and he couldn’t think at all as she coaxed him into oblivion with her.

       Ten

      Victoria lay in bed beside Charles, watching him sleep. Typical man. Have sex three or four times then go out like a light.

      He looked so peaceful. So…satisfied. A feeling she definitely shared.

      In her experience, first times always tended to be a little awkward or uncomfortable. But there was nothing awkward about the way Charles had touched her. She’d once believed that just because a man looked like he would be good in the sack didn’t necessarily mean he would be, but Charles had completely blown that theory to smithereens as well.

      In fact, he was so ridiculously wonderful, so skilled with his hands and his mouth and every other part of his body, it should have given her pause. He’d obviously had a lot of practice. Yet when he looked at her and touched her, it was as though there had never been anyone else.

      It was almost enough to make her go mushy-brained. And she probably would have if she weren’t so firmly rooted in reality.

      At least now she knew what all the fuss was about.

      For a minute there, when he’d first taken off his pants, she honestly thought the size difference might be an issue, but in the end the tight fit and the wonderful friction it created had been the best part. Remarkable size wasn’t worth much if a man didn’t know how to use it.

      And, oh, he did.

      The second best part was the knowledge that she was doing something totally wrong for her. Wrong on so many levels. She’d always been the obedient daughter, doing as she was told. She never imagined that a simple thing like being bad could feel so good.

      But it’s just sex, she reminded herself, lest she get carried away and start having actual feelings for him.

      She was sure that things would be clearer in the morning, at which point she would realize what she’d really done and feel overwhelming regret. Especially when she got to the office. Wouldn’t that be awkward? But until then she was going to enjoy it.

      She curled up against him under the covers, soaking up his warmth. He sighed in his sleep and wrapped an arm around her.

      Nice. Very nice.

      She closed her eyes, felt herself drifting off. When she opened her eyes again, the morning sunlight was peeking through the blinds, and Charles was already gone.

      Sleeping with Charles had been a really bad idea.

      Victoria stood in the elevator at work as it climbed, dreading the moment it reached her floor. The hollow ting as the doors slid open plucked every one of her frayed nerves.

      He hadn’t even had the decency to wake her before he left. He’d just skulked away in the middle of the night. Probably the way he did with all the women he slept with.

       Did you really think you were any different?

      She had gone from feeling sexy and desirable, feeling bad, to feeling…cheap.

      He could have at least said goodbye before he left. Maybe given her one last kiss.

      You are not going to let this bother you, she told herself as she exited the elevator and walked to her office. Penelope, who typically ignored her, lifted her head as she passed and actually looked at her. Not a nasty look. Just sort of…blank.

       She knows. She knows what Charles and I did.

      That was ridiculous. It was just a coincidence that she chose today to acknowledge Victoria. After all, she doubted Charles confided in his secretary about his sex life. And how else would she possibly know?

      So this was what it felt like to be the office slut.

      Fantastic.

      Victoria nodded at the old prune, then opened her office door. Feeling edgy and unsettled, she hung her jacket, sat in her chair, and stowed her purse in the bottom desk drawer. Work as usual. This day was no different than any other. Not to mention, this situation was temporary. With any luck, she would hear from the employment agency about a suitable replacement.

      She was just about boot to up her computer when the intercom buzzed, startling her half to death, and Charles’s voice, in a very professional tone, said, “Would you please come in here, Victoria?”

      Her heart jumped up into her throat.

      Here we go, the part where he tells you it was fun but it isn’t going to happen again. He certainly wasn’t wasting any time. Not that she hadn’t expected that.

      She pressed the call button. “One minute.”

      The sooner it’s over the better. And only once, for a millisecond, would she allow herself to admit that she was the tiniest bit disappointed it had to end. It may have only been sex, but it was damned good sex.

      She remembered the invitation to spend the weekend with his family and cringed. That would just be too awkward. She would have to come up with some reason to decline. She doubted he would be anything but relieved.

      What had she been thinking? One night of fantastic sex was not worth all of this complication.

      She took a deep breath. No point in putting this off any longer. She rose from her chair, walked to the door and pulled it open, stepping inside his office. But he wasn’t sitting at his desk.

      The door closed behind her, and the next thing she knew, she was in Charles’s arms.

      “Morning,” he said, a wicked grin on his face, and before she could utter a sound, he was kissing her. Deep and sweet and wonderful. And though everything in her was screaming that this was wrong, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

      She didn’t care that he was kissing away her lipstick, or rumpling her hair. She just wanted to feel him. To be close to him.

      Oh, this was bad.

      When he broke the kiss she felt dizzy and breathless. He grinned down at her and said, “Good morning.”

      She couldn’t resist returning the smile. Despite feeling as though her entire world had been flopped upside down, she actually felt…happy.

      “If it weren’t for the conference call I had this morning,” he said, caressing her cheek with the tips of his fingers, “we might still be in bed.”

      “Conference call?” He left because he had to be at work?

      “At six-thirty. You didn’t get my note?”

      “Note?” He left a note?

      “On the pillow.”

      The rush of pure relief made her weak in the knees. And she didn’t even care how wrong it was. “I guess I didn’t see it.”

      A grin curled his mouth. “You didn’t think I’d just up and leave without a word, did you?”

      She shrugged, feeling ashamed of herself for thinking that. For judging him that way. And automatically assuming the worst. “It doesn’t matter.”

      “Have time to take a break?” he asked with a devilish smile.

      “I just got here.”

      He dipped his head to nibble on her neck. “I don’t think your boss will mind.”

      Office