Her Perfect Stranger

10

They were in the final stages, coming into the home stretch before the launch. With a month left to go, Mike's days were wild, chaotic and nerve-racking. They were the most exciting days of his life.

Exhausting, too. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a full night's sleep and a decent meal, but he wouldn't have changed his life at the moment for anything.

Well, actually, he amended, looking across the large hangar to where he could see Corrine pointing and directing several crew members, there was one thing he would change if he could.

His relationship with Corrine.

It had started out on a whim, that night three months ago. A thrilling sexual adventure, and it had flamed hot and bright. Still flamed hot and bright, only now she pretended it didn't exist, and he'd let her.

He'd been willing to let her pretend forever, thinking no woman, no matter how great in bed, was worth the upheaval that the demanding, incorrigible, unforgiving, passionate, determined Corrine Atkinson would cause in his life.

But that had been when he'd considered only the sexual nature of their relationship. Now, after working with her day in and day out, for weeks and weeks, he felt differently. He knew what it took to make her smile, even laugh. Knew how to make her entire face light up with the thrill of what they were doing. Knew how she thought, and what she wanted out of her day.

And incredibly, he could no longer remember what it was to want her only physically, because that want had deepened. Grown. Hell, it had skyrocketed, if the truth was told.

He wanted it all.

Their day was done now, and it was actually early enough that if he wanted, he could go home and have a life until bedtime. But he didn't want to go home-not alone, anyway.

He wanted the company of a woman. Not just any woman, but one he knew, and who knew him. One who could simply look at him and know that he needed her body close to his, her arms around his neck and her mouth curved in a smile just for him.

Corrine. He wanted Corrine.

Slowly, he walked toward her, watching as everyone called out their good-nights to her. For most she had parting words, advice, comments, commands, and it made him smile.

He couldn't believe it, but along the way, he'd actually come to enjoy the fact that she was higher ranked than him. He liked her demanding ways. In fact, at this moment, he ached for her to look at him, with her will of steel, and demand something special of him. Of course, he doubted she'd think his thoughts appropriate-or his erection, for that matter. Tough luck.

She and Stephen were high above him now, on a platform. They were studying the west bay of the shuttle prototype. Corrine was pointing, using her hands as she talked. As always, she was oblivious to the height, to the danger, to how absolutely appealing she looked. Any other woman would be…but she wasn't any other woman.

After another few minutes, Stephen came down, looking beat. When he saw Mike, he shook his head. "I need sleep, even if she doesn't," he grumbled, and left.

When Corrine came down, he could see she was lost in thought, probably calculating something in her head, or formulating some new way to torture her team tomorrow. Whatever it was, it gave him the advantage, as she clearly believed herself alone.

She hopped off the last rung of the ladder, turned and plowed right into him. Stiffening, she gasped.

Mike used the opportunity to put his hands on her arms in the pretext of holding her steady, though there was no one steadier than Corrine Atkinson.

"Mike."

"In the flesh." His fingers brushed the bare skin of her forearms, then slid up beneath her short sleeves to skim over her shoulders.

She shivered. "What are you doing?"

"Working for a woman is very satisfying, did you know that?"

"Mike."

"Know what else? I've been unfair to both of us, letting us get away with ignoring each other."

"Don't be silly, we-" She broke off with a harsh intake of breath when his thumbs brushed the sides of her breasts. "Stop that."

"Think how good an orgasm would be for your stress level right now."

"Mike!"

Because she smelled so good, and looked so annoyed, yet bewildered, he rubbed his jaw against hers. He'd meant only to soothe, but like a cat, she stretched against him, and the thought of soothing fled from his mind, replaced by something far deeper. And hotter.

Concentrate, he told himself. Screw this up now and you won't get another chance. "I don't want you to ignore me anymore."

"We haven't been ignoring each other. As you've mentioned, we work together, every single day."

"You know what I mean. You think you can't let anyone in your life, that you have to be one big, bad, tough woman to make it in this world." Beneath his hands, she stiffened, and he touched her face lightly, lifting her chin up to look into her eyes. "Any response to that?"

"I'm considering several."

Because her eyes were flashing and her body was tense, he held her tight, knowing, now, that she held black belts in several different martial arts. "Okay, let's skip to me," he said quickly. "I believed I didn't need anyone in my life because it was so full already. Women had a place there, but it wasn't a very big one. But you know what, Corrine?"

"I can't imagine."

"I was wrong." He laughed in delight at her one raised brow. "I know, can you believe it? Wrong. Dead wrong. And guess what, baby? You were wrong, too."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, yes, you do." He smiled, feeling some sympathy because he understood the fear that he knew was coursing through her veins. He understood it well. "This has been a long time coming," he murmured, wondering just how alone they were, and whether, if he kissed her now, he'd ever be able to stop. But he cupped her face, tilted it to suit him, and bent. She slapped a hand to his chest. "Someone will see!"

"Everyone has left." He touched her mouth with his.

She gasped and he simply used that to his advantage, deepening the kiss. When she met his tongue with her own, his knees nearly buckled. "Corrine," he whispered, pulling back to gaze into her eyes. "I know this looks impossible."

"It is impossible."

He set a finger to her lips. "So we work together. Lots of couples do, and-"

"Couples?" she choked out. "My God, Mike. We're not a couple!"

"I know, that word's hard to wrap your tongue around, much less your brain. But I can't imagine my life without you in it." He let out a harsh laugh and shook his head. "Can you believe it? Me saying those words? But it's the utter, terrifying truth. I have no idea what's happened to me-wait, I do know. It's you. You've happened to me. I want you, control freak or not-"

"Now, wait a minute-"

"In fact, I like that about you. You know what you want, you're not afraid to go get it, with the exception being, of course…me."

She just stared at him. "I think you inhaled too much oxygen on that last SIM."

"And you know what else?" he asked her cheerfully. "I even like that you're higher ranked than me."

"You're a sick man, Mike."

"Look, if you're worried about the people here, and what they think, this mission will be over soon enough, and then we'll both be reassigned for other missions."

"What are you saying?" she cried, wide-eyed. "My God, Mike, what are you saying?"

"That we should give in to what we feel for each other."

She shook her head, so sidetracked she'd forgotten he still held her. "But I don't know what I feel."

"Then let's explore that." Nibbling at one corner of her mouth, then the other, he slowly pulled back. Her eyes were half-closed, sleepy and sexy. Her mouth, wet from his, pulled into a pout when he didn't kiss her again, making him let out a laugh that turned into a groan when he looked down and saw her hardened nipples pressing against the fabric of her blouse. "Cold, Corrine?"

"No." Her voice was low. Almost harsh. "Damn you, I'd almost stopped dreaming about you, almost stopped waking up hot and bothered."

"Really?"

"No," she said miserably.

Now he did grin, and when she saw it, she pushed him back, walking away. "I need…air," she said over her shoulder.

Needing some himself, he followed, but she stopped in the hallway in front of her office.

She stared at the door and he stared at her slim back, wondering if she could possibly be feeling half of what he was.

Turning only her head, she looked at him, and there was no mistaking her need, her hunger. Slowly she opened the door. Flicked off the light. Stepped inside the darkened room and turned to face him. "I've obviously lost my head, but… would you care to come in?"

He moved so fast, coming in, shutting and then locking the door, fumbling with his jacket, that she let out a low laugh that was unbearably erotic in its sudden confidence. "We're really going to do this?"

"Yes." He came forward in the dim light shining through her slated blinds, to haul her close. "Now kiss me like you did in my dreams last night."

"It will help, right?" she asked. "If we appease this…this heat now? Then maybe we won't implode on our mission, when we're locked in space together for ten long days."

He didn't know how to tell her that he was beginning to suspect they'd always be this desperate for each other.

Always.

That word was a doozy. It went along with others, like forever.

And love.

Oh God. He needed to sit down.

"Mike?" Corrine nervously licked her lips in an innocent, artless way that went straight to his gut. And then his heart. And suddenly he felt strong, so very, very strong.

"Is this crazy?" she whispered, covering her face. "What are we doing?"

"What we were born to do." He took her hands and pinned them behind her, which left her body thrust against his. His voice was far thicker than it had been. "Let's make love."

"And get it out of our system."

"Hmm," he murmured noncommittally.

Corrine was beginning to wonder if that was even possible, but she couldn't think effectively with her attention so drawn to his wonderful, firm, masculine mouth. "We really shouldn't. You know that."

He drew her closer, but didn't kiss her, just held her until her entire body was throbbing with need.

"Love that," he murmured. "The connection. Can you feel it?"

"What is it, exactly?" she asked, needing to know. But instead of answering, he unbuttoned her blouse, unhooked her bra, pulling the material away from her body. Then he just looked at her for a long, long moment before slowly shaking his head in wonder. Touching a nipple with his finger, he watched intently as it puckered and darkened for him. "So pretty."

Silly, really, how just a few words from him could make her lose her head. "Here, Mike?"

He smiled against her throat. "Oh yeah, here. And everywhere."

"What if someone comes?"

"Everyone is gone."

Turning, she swept everything on her desk to the floor with one swipe, watching as the piles of paper hit with a thunk. "I've always wanted to do that."

Laughing, Mike helped her up, then stepped between her thighs. He undid her slacks and slipped his hands inside her panties, holding her bottom, pulling her close to a most impressive erection.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pressed her face into his neck and breathed deeply of the masculine scent that had haunted her for months. With his big, warm hands he squeezed her bottom, then cupped her breasts, plumping them up, dipping his mouth down to taste, using his tongue and then his teeth until her hips jerked in reaction. "Mike."

"I know."

"Hurry."

"Take everything off, then," he said in a rough whisper, and lent his own hands to the cause. In two seconds flat they were both stripped. Corrine had barely straightened up before Mike slipped his hands between her thighs, opening them wide. "Mmm, you're wet."

Yes. Wet and hot, and she'd made his fingers that way, too, the fingers that were softly stroking, over and over again, until she was arching up into him, helplessly thrusting against that hand. "Mike!"

"Tell me."

"Don't stop." To make sure he wouldn't, that he couldn't, she closed her legs around him and that hand, shamelessly rubbing and writhing, desperate for more, for the touch that would send her reeling. "I need to-"

"Then do it," he urged, leaning down and drawing one nipple into his mouth, sucking it as he slid a finger inside her.

She would have fallen backward if he hadn't brought one hand to her waist to support her. Now that finger withdrew slowly-so slowly she thought she'd scream-only to dance over and over her with infinite, thorough patience. At every pass she cried out his name.

"Come for me," he coaxed, his mouth full of breast, his fingers diving back into her. "Come for me, baby."

And she did. She exploded. Imploded. Burst out of herself. All of that and more, and when she could hear again, see again, she realized she had him in a death grip and was still chanting his name.

Mike was breathing every bit as harshly as she. Lifting his head, he looked at her, his eyes hot and dark, so very dark.

Cupping his face, she kissed him. "We're not done."

He smiled and sighed reverently, pulling a little packet out of his wallet.

Boldly she took the condom and put it on, not as easy a feat as she'd have imagined. By the time she was done, he was trembling and she couldn't get him inside her fast enough.

"No," he said when she tried to pull him onto the desk with her. "It won't hold us."

The desk was old and rickety, and making loud, creaking, protesting noises, but with Mike stroking her halfway back to bliss, she couldn't think. He craned his neck and looked toward the shelving unit, making her laugh breathlessly. "Not the shelves."

Scooping her up, he started toward them anyway, and she wasn't so far gone that she couldn't imagine them collapsing to the floor in a loud heap that would bring the custodian running. "Mike, no."

He turned abruptly, and before she could say another word, he had her against the office door. She'd barely spread her thighs when he buried himself deeply inside her. At the feel of him filling her beyond full, her eyes fluttered closed, her heart raged. Her senses soared. "Yes."

Another powerful stroke pounded both her and the door, and she cried out again, completely lost, as always with him. She might have been terrified, even furious, at his mastery over her, but if his hoarse groan and quivering limbs were any indication, he was just as lost as she.

And then he lifted his head, his eyes dark with passion, need and a hunger so fierce it took her breath. Holding her gaze captive within his, he started to take them both right over the edge. "Look at me," he all but growled.

"I am. Mike, I am."

"Don't stop. Don't ever stop seeing me, even after-" He broke off when she tossed her head back and arched against him, already shuddering with another orgasm.

He followed.

They were still damp and trembling, and still quite breathless, when the knock came at the door.

"Corrine?" It was Stephen, and he sounded worried.

And wary.

"We heard some banging," he called out. "Just wanted to make sure you were okay. Corrine?"

Horrified, stunned and still wrapped around Mike as if she'd been trying to climb his body-which of course she had!-she went utterly still, staring at Mike. Mike, who'd promised her they were alone.

"Corrine? Is that Mike in there with you?"

"I'll be right with you," she somehow managed to reply.

Which was worse? Being caught in this compromising position, with Mike still buried deep inside her, or the look on his face? A look that didn't hold surprise so much as acceptance. "How did this happen?" she whispered. "My God, Mike, you said they were gone. You didn't do this on purpose, did you?"

He didn't so much as blink, but let go of her thighs so she could slide down his still hard, still hot body.

She stood there, naked and shaking, as fury mounted, along with humiliation. "You did."

Turning away, he reached for his pants, the long, leanly muscled lines of his sleek back drawing her even now. "Is that what you think?" he asked. "That I would? That I could?"

Where were her panties? Oh perfect, they were hanging off the filing cabinet. "I don't know. Why don't you just answer the question?"

He left his pants unfastened as he turned to face her. "Because you should know better."