Total pages in book: 183
Estimated words: 174715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 874(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 874(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
“You’re still doing it,” she bites out.
“So are you,” I assure her.
She presses her hands to my chest. “Stop.”
I lean back to look at her. “I can’t stop. You can’t stop, and what’s crazy about that is that I don’t lose control. I don’t think about a woman when I should be thinking about other things. I don’t fuck people I work with. And yet here I am and here we are.”
“Exactly,” she says. “I don’t risk my future over a man.”
“You think I’d let you get hurt?”
“Not intentionally, but we’re in a stairwell, all over each other, Cole. Cat said we’re glaringly obvious and she’s clearly correct. Which, by the way is why I asked to talk to you, but I couldn’t remember that fact until this moment. And why is that? Because we were too busy doing everything but talking. I had to tell her that we met on the street that day and that you asked me to coffee.”
“And she said what?” I ask.
“If we’re obvious to her, we can be obvious to others.”
I narrow my eyes on her. “Did she say that, or did you say that?”
“I’m saying that.”
“Cat and Reese are friends. They’ll see what others do not.”
“We’re out of control.”
My hands settle at her waist and I pull her to me. “Let’s try a repeat of my prior question. Did Cat say that, or did you?”
“Me. I said it.”
“What else did Cat say to you?”
“Nothing that I want to repeat,” she says.
“Tell me anyway,” I order softly.
Her hands grip my wrists as if she wants to control me, or maybe herself, and holy hell, her hands on any part of my body just make me want her hands on every part of my body. “Summarizing. The writing is on the wall. We’re going to end up naked, and I need to accept that, and plan accordingly.”
“What else?”
“She left the what else to us, but she told me that if it made me more comfortable, I could move to Reese’s team.”
“And you said what, Lori?”
A door above us opens and crashes shut. Lori shoves out of my arms as footsteps trample downward toward us. Lori heads for the door, and I quickly follow on her heels a moment after she exits to the elevator bank, and if I think she will run, I’m wrong. She whirls on me and pokes my chest.
“I told her that I’m staying with you. You need me, Cole. You have no staff and I won’t let you down or betray you. But Cat was right. This isn’t going away and I need to deal with that and you.”
“And how exactly do you plan on dealing with me, Lori?”
“I’m going to go home with you, fuck you, not you me, and get this out of my system and yours. Then Monday morning, I’m going to do my job, get my degree, and start my career.” She turns and starts to walk away.
I let her, because a) her ass is about as perfect a view in those sweatpants as any man could hope for, and b) I know what she knows but won’t admit yet. I do need her and not just professionally. Outside of my new role as her boss, I have wanted her so damn long at this point that I have a deep need for her I cannot escape, and I’m not alone. She needs me, too, and tonight, in between orgasms, I’m going to make her say it.
Chapter twenty-six
Lori
Tonight has to happen.
With those words playing in my mind, and the taste of Cole on my lips, I pause outside Cat and Reese’s apartment to validate the decision I just made to give us one more night. We need this. Cole and I both need closure, and I don’t believe that can happen in an office or a stairwell. We need to be alone. We need to fuck each other senseless and then talk, in that order, because words are not going to mean anything until we get the edge off. And I’m not going to mean anything I say to him, not until I stop melting every time he touches me. Lust is distracting us both and the truth is: Cole was right when he said we needed closure. I left him in that hotel room. We came face to face again as boss and employee and we’re reacting to those facts, not dealing with them. And dealing with them is control.
Feeling good about my decision, I take it upon myself to open the door to Cat and Reese’s apartment, and it’s as if Cat is waiting to pounce on me. The minute I enter the foyer, she is there, and she’s changed into dark blue jeans and a dark blue silk blouse. “We need to go if we’re going to make that interview,” she says as I’m shutting the door. “As it is,” she continues, “we have to take the subway to have any chance of being on time.” She motions me forward. “Go change into something in my closet. I don’t care what. You know your way.”