Individual but marketable.
Unique but trendy.
It was close to midnight before I got the last design done to my satisfaction. Okay, so I only did twenty-five and not the thirty that was requested, but Roxy or one of the other artists could always add a few to top it up.
I stood up and raised my arms above my head, stretching my back. I had been hunched over my desk for too long. I twisted to one side and caught Meredith staring at the space where my shirt had slid up.
Damn, I wanted her. Sure, we were at each other’s throats only hours ago but we had worked it out. Compromised. Surely, we could celebrate that naked?
“I think we should can call it a night,” I said.
She nodded and yawned. “Good, I’m wiped out.”
She bent to pick up her things, and I moved closer. “We work well together.”
She nodded. “When we aren’t ripping each other’s heads off.”
“We’re both passionate people. It is bound to come to blows sometimes.”
“Well, I’m not blowing anything tonight,” she deadpanned.
Her words went straight to my cock. I swallowed, watching the sway of her ass as she gathered her things, every shift of her hips taunting me. “Do you ever think about it?” My voice was low, rough. “Our night together, I mean?”
She froze for half a beat. When she straightened, she moved so quickly her ass brushed the front of my jeans. Soft and warm, deliberate or not, it didn’t matter. I hadn’t even realized I’d stepped that close.
“You know I do,” she said, still not facing me. Her voice was steady, but I heard the breathless edge under it. That little tremor that told me everything.
I did know it. Hell, we’d been circling the subject all night, pretending it was a joke. It was safer that way. Not touching her was easier than touching her and stopping. “We can’t fight this forever,” I murmured. “It was so fucking good last time.”
She exhaled shakily, and then her shoulder blades eased back until they met my chest.
“I don’t want to keep fighting the way you make me feel.” I pressed my hips against her so she could feel exactly what she did to me.
Her breath hitched, the sound tiny but devastating.
My hand found her hip, sliding over the curve of it. I dragged her closer, my palm settling low on her stomach, feeling hershudder when my thumb stroked the edge of her waistband.
She didn’t pull away. She pushed back—slowly, purposefully—until my aching cock throbbed against the perfect heat of her body.
The room felt too small, too warm, too charged with the kind of tension that had rules and consequences, but not enough to stop either of us.
I lowered my lips to her neck, letting my breath roll over her skin before my mouth touched it. She sighed, a sound that shot straight through me, tilting her head, offering more. Her fingers slipped over mine, holding my hand there like she didn’t want it to move away, or maybe she wanted it to move lower. Both possibilities wrecked me.
She turned her head to face me. Her cheek brushed my lips before her eyes met mine over her shoulder.
That look dragged me down to her. She rose onto her toes, meeting me halfway, and her mouth found mine.
She groaned or maybe it was me. Her lips were familiar but somehow hotter than I remembered, more urgent. When she parted them, I didn’t hesitate. I deepened the kiss, stroking her tongue with mine until she melted against me and those little sounds spilled from her again, the ones that made me want to forget every reason we’d promised we wouldn’t do this.
Then, just as quickly as it started, her mouth pulled from mine. Her hand slipped away. Her warmth disappeared, leaving cold air where her body had been.
And I stood there, breathing hard, every nerve in my body reaching for her as she stepped out of my arms.
She took a few steps away. She looked wide-eyed and breathless. Her lips were red from the heat of our kiss. “I can’t, Luke. This is…I can’t.” She looked ready to bolt.
“Hey, it’s okay.” I took a step forward, and she retreated some more.
She wiped her lips with the back of her hand and avoided my gaze. “This is just…I’m sorry.” She bent and grabbed her bag, then hustled past me and out the front door.
