#MidWeekTease – Act Like A Grown Woman #TheChallenge

Hey teasers, how have you been? I’m nearly at the end of writing Vol. I of that boxed set, The Challenge. I’ll most likely not finish the full story by the end of NaNoCamp but I’m on the right track. Today I’m sharing something from the midpoint in which the heroine finally gets a chance to talk to her stranger. What will happen between them and will she accept his challenge?

The cover is temporary.

He cleared his throat and I winced with even deeper shame with my behavior.

“I can deal with the Shy Librarian but I cross the line when it comes to awkward schoolgirls.”

I frowned. Who the fuck was that guy and what right did he have to make me feel like I was inspected? Did he even work here or he was just some of Kristen’s men? Why was I even talking to him instead of asking him to leave?

“You’re a grown woman, aren’t you?” His voice suddenly shifted from taunting to deadly serious. He was still speaking in the same low register but at that moment the cold, commanding notes made me go numb with shock. “Act like one. Take your hands out of your pocket. Straighten your shoulders and look at me while we’re talking. Don’t look away unless I say so.”

The devil knows why but that’s exactly what I did. I obeyed his calm orders like a good, little puppet. My cheeks were still burning with discomfort. The lust and fear were ripping me apart on the inside and yet I raised my head to meet his demanding eyes. The moment we touched each other with our gazes he gave me the first genuine smile.

“That’s more like it.” He took one step closer to me and I caught his scent, of some perfume that was probably one hundred percent pheromones. Just being so close made me wetter than before. “You’re way too pretty to slouch and hide your eyes.”

You? Pretty. I knew it, he’s blind.

The stranger smirked at my bewildered expression at his compliment.

“Don’t act so shocked and like you don’t know you’re a beautiful woman. You did your best to make yourself look like an ugly nerd, I’m impressed. I’m sorry to tell you that your efforts failed.” He paused and tilted his head. “Do you need these glasses?”

“Yes…” I uttered in confusion. “I mean, I have no vision problem, these are computer glasses as I spend all day long in front of screens and I have to protect…”

“Take them off. You can put them back on when you return to work.” He switched back to the demanding tone and made one step back.

“But…” I made one attempt at a weak protest to show I wasn’t a human doormat.

“Veronica.” The soft seduction when he said my name earlier had faded in favor of the steely dominant notes. “Now.”

I shivered in discomfort when I removed my glasses. They were my protection from far more than just the ugly computer glare. That sense of vulnerability intensified as if he had ordered me to strip in my own office while everyone outside was watching.

His voice rendered me helpless and his commands were melting me. I’d have absolutely loved it if it was happening in the private space of my bathroom or some obscure sex club but here, in my daily life? I wasn’t sure I liked it.

“So much better.” He smiled at me again and reached out, inches away from touching my hair. Instead, he circled around me. “Just as I suspected, you have gorgeous eyes. Show them more often. I wasn’t fooled about something else.”

“What could that be?” I cleared my throat and did my best to speak with more confidence.

“You’re not very good at hiding your feelings.” He leaned in to whisper that in my ear. “I could read you so well from distance and now that I’m so close you practically drown me with emotions. It must be exhausting to feel that intensely.”

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