She leans in close, breath feathering my chest, and it’s the first time in years I’ve wanted the pain to last. If it means she keeps touching me, I’ll take it.
When she smooths the bandage over my chest, her touch is light. Careful. But I can see the way her pulse jumps in her throat, the slight tremor in her fingers.
She’s not unaffected either.
“I know you were lying,” I say, my voice low. “What we had that night... it wasn’t a disappointment.”
She takes a step back, but there’s nowhere to go in my small office. “Yes, it was.”
Her eyes give her away, dropping to my abs before settling on the obvious bulge in my pants. She’s remembering too. How good we were together. How she came apart in my arms.
“Liar.”
I push away from the desk, and she backs up until she hits the wall. I follow, caging her in with my hands braced on either sideof her head. Not touching, but close enough that I can feel her breath on my lips.
“You think I don’t remember how you felt around my cock?” My voice is barely above a whisper. “How you squeezed me when you came? You were so fucking tight, Nina. So wet.”
Her breath hitches. Her pupils dilate.
“The way you said my name when I made you come...” I lean closer, my lips almost brushing her ear. “You can lie to yourself all you want, but your body remembers.”
Something shifts in her expression. Her gaze drops to my mouth, and then she’s reaching for me, her fingers curling into my shirt as she pulls me down to her.
I crush my mouth to hers, and she melts into me like she’s been waiting for this as long as I have. Her lips part for my tongue, and I take everything she’s offering. Her taste explodes across my senses, sweet and addictive, but it’s the familiarity that guts me—like no time has passed since that night.
My hands fist in her silky hair as I deepen the kiss, pressing her back against the wall. Her body is warm and pliant against mine, all soft curves pressed tight against me. My chest screams in protest, but the pain barely registers.
She moans into my mouth, her nails digging into my shoulders. The sound goes straight to my cock, and I can smell that faint vanilla scent that clings to her skin.
I’m harder than I’ve been in years, harder than I was even that first night.
This is insane. This is dangerous.
This is exactly what I swore I wouldn’t do.
The thought cuts through the haze of lust. I tear myself away from her, putting the width of the room between us before I do something we’ll both regret.
The familiar panic claws at my chest. This is how it starts. You let someone in, you start to need them, and then they walk away when the reality of your world becomes too much.
Nina’s panting, her lips swollen and her cheeks flushed. She looks thoroughly kissed and absolutely beautiful, and I want nothing more than to go back over there and finish what I started.
Instead, I yank open my office door like the coward I am.
“Keith!” I bark at the first bouncer I see. “Walk Nina to her car. Make sure she gets there safely.”
I don’t look at her face. Can’t. If I see the hurt there, I might do something stupid. Like apologize. Like admit that walking away from her is the hardest thing I’ve done in years.
Nina doesn’t say a word as she follows Keith out. But I feel her disappointment deep in my bones.
I tell myself this is the right thing to do.
But as I watch her disappear into the night, one thing becomes crystal clear:
My Temptress is going to be the death of me.
13
NINA
