Melissa ran a tongue over her upper lip so it glistened even more. She walked over to the chair on the other side of his desk and laid her jacket upon it. “You should know me better than that, Ben. I never joke when it comes to finding solutions to problems. You have a problem, and I have the solution. You need a woman, and it just so happens…I am one.” To prove her point, she slipped open the first three buttons on her blouse, allowing Ben a healthy glimpse of what lay beneath—a tight, white camisole that covered the full curves of her breasts.

Ben’s jaw dropped.

That was all it took for him to get an erection. With a sudden rush of blood, his cock filled and stiffened, leaving him perplexed.

A stiffy?

For Melissa?

Considering friendship was one thing. Being hit for six by an unexpected dose of lust another altogether.

“Now please don’t mistake this for anything it’s not,” Melissa told him. “It’s not as if I’m going to start bringing food into work for you.” She rolled her eyes, mocking herself. “That’s a good thing, by the way. I’m a terrible cook.” Her smile was small, but it still lit up his office. “And I’m not going to get all soppy and lovey-dovey on you either.” She spoke more seriously now. “This is just one solution. Sex. That’s all, nothing more.”

Ben gaped at her. Sex? Melissa Sparks was offering to have sex with him?

She smiled again. This time with a seductive, sexy expression he’d never dreamed he’d see on her face—not directed at him anyway. The smile was just as enchanting as the previous one. “You look surprised.”

“Er, a little surprised, yeah.” Even more surprising was the fact he could form words. Melissa? Seducing him?

Melissa undid the rest of her buttons and pushed the shirt off her shoulders, so she was now clad from the waist up in just the camisole.

Fuck, she looked sexy. Damn sexy. Sexy in a way Melissa had never looked to Ben. Uh—not just sexy. She was prime female flesh. All woman. And she did crazy things to his insides.

She made breathing difficult. Made him wonder if someone had messed with the air conditioning, because the temperature seemed to have jumped about twenty degrees in the last couple of minutes.

Ben was forced to loosen his tie and undo his top button. Anything to get fresh air on his feverish skin.

“Here’s the deal—assuming you agree, because this would involve both of us.” Melissa pulled the cami up and over her shoulders, leaving her breasts covered by nothing more than a satiny white bra.

Holy shit. She had a pair on her.

So not what he should be concentrating on. He should be remembering that she was a colleague. An excellent investment banker. A woman who’d given him outstanding advice and support over the years.

“You get to fuck me whenever the stress and tension get to be too much. This won’t be a relationship. Well, not a traditional relationship, anyway. This’ll just be a natural extension of our working association. We work, we fuck, we go home. End of story. I’m not interested in deep and meaningfuls.”

Melissa ducked her head as she said that, but Ben still caught a glimpse of some unidentifiable emotion in her eyes. Sadness? Loneliness? Determination? He couldn’t tell.

She released the clasp and zip on her skirt and stepped out of it gracefully. “I am, however, focused on making partner. Which means my romantic life’s suffered because I work ridiculous hours. But, see, I’m just as human as you are.” She blushed, telling him that as focused as she was on making her little speech, her actions still embarrassed her a little.

Shy? Melissa? Well, there was a fascinating new insight into her.

He liked that shyness. A lot. Liked her uncertainty. Melissa never seemed uncertain.

“I have needs,” Melissa said, still with the delightful pink stain on her cheeks. “You have needs. Let’s meet those needs together and not get involved any deeper than that. What do you say?”

Ben wanted to respond. Christ, he wanted to badly, but first off, he wasn’t sure what he’d say, and secondly he couldn’t find his voice. His mouth was suddenly parched.

Garters?

His straight-laced colleague wore thigh-highs and garters under those practical skirts? Garters that matched her bra and knickers and made her legs look a mile long, by the way.

How could he not have known that?

A bead of perspiration slid down his spine.