“Goodbye, Ryan,” she managed before she ran to her car.
His chuckle followed her all the way. She unlocked old Bertha and climbed in, glancing at the building. He still stood there, watching. Elissa started the car and drove away. Half a block later, she pulled into a grocery store parking lot.
“Oh, fuck.” She rested her head on the steering wheel. Worth the dollar she now owed the swear jar.
Elissa counted to ten, then did it again, before she finished driving to the office. She waved to the receptionist as she walked carefully, slowly, not at all flustered, to her cubicle.
All of her carefully curated experiences were not helping her cope with the chaos Ryan brought into her life. In her three years working for JMS Accounting, she’d never been tempted to ogle a client or one of their employees, let alone carry on an affair.
She tried all morning to put him out of her mind, but every time the DeMarco name appeared on her spreadsheets, she was right back in the file room, kissing him like her life depended on it. Maybe someday the DeMarco name would lose the emotional meaning. Perhaps instead of a handsome, chiseled face with soft, brown eyes, the name would become a series of inputs. Income, expenses, profit, loss. Today was not that day.
Karina popped in before lunch.
“Did you find the missing DeMarco files?”
Elissa startled. She had managed not to think of Ryan for about five minutes, dealing with the files from Saguaro Glen Apartments. No mention of the DeMarco name and good, clean figures. Then her boss had to ruin it.
“Yes.” She pointed at them in a neat pile on the corner of her desk. “As you said, left behind with all the chaos of training a new office manager. I’m through some of the smaller properties already.”
“Excellent! Let me know if anything comes up with them. Otherwise, give me a report when you’re done and we’ll go from there.”
Karina was gone before Elissa could formulate her explanation about kissing the office manager. It could wait. Probably. But not much longer.
She opened the shared calendar. Karina’s schedule was booked the next couple days, but Friday was clear. Elissa would have plenty of time to figure out what to say. If she was going to be a problem, she’d also offer a few possible solutions. Though she didn’t want to give up working on a high profile account like DPM, this was the ethical thing to do.
That decided, she found her focus and thoughts of Ryan faded deep into the background. She couldn’t work twenty-four seven, though. Eventually, she had to go home. Her old junker groaned a bit when she started it, but she backed up fine. Before she knew it, Elissa pulled into her spot at the apartment complex.
She dragged herself into her apartment on the second floor and opened a bottle of pink wine. With bubbles, thank you very much. It was a bubbles kind of day. There might even be a bubble bath later. Jules was working late, and she’d have plenty of alone time.
She put together a girl dinner of crackers, cheese, and ice cream to go with the sparkling wine. Flopping on the couch, she grabbed the remote and flipped through the streaming services for a few minutes before settling on Parks and Recreation for the thousandth time.
Elissa watched two episodes, cleaned up, and drew a bath. The tension in her shoulders was driving her to distraction. She pulled out her favorite rose-scented bubble bath, poured another helping of bubbly into an acrylic cup, and climbed into the tub.
And couldn’t get the kiss out of her mind. Or Ryan’s firm body pressed to hers. Or his taste as his tongue expertly riled her up and left her wanting oh so much more.
Her free hand drifted over her bubble-coated breasts, teasing her nipple. She placed her empty cup down on the bathroom floor and dipped her other hand into the water. She rubbed gentle circles around her clit, and her back arched at the sensation.
What would it feel like with Ryan’s calloused hands? What would he murmur in her ear? What would his lips?—
The front door slammed.
“Hey lady!” Jules shouted.
The mood popped like a bubble. Elissa stopped her sexy times.
“In the bathroom!”
Dammit. It was just getting good.
“I brought dessert,” Jules said from outside the door. “The pastry chef made a fantastic berry cake tonight and there were leftovers.”
At least there was cake.
thirty-two
fine and professional
Ryan was a ball of nervous energy Thursday morning. He couldn’t get their kiss out of his head, and he’d spent the past two nights imagining her lips on other parts of his body. Desire simmered under his skin and sidetracked his brain at the most inopportune moments.
