It wasn’t enough.
It was never going to be enough.
I knew I needed to keep it controlled. Keep it to just a kiss. A taste. Proof that I could stop if I wanted to.
But then her tongue touched mine and control vanished.
I hauled her onto my lap with one arm around her waist. She came willingly, straddling me without hesitation. The weight of her, the feel of her thighs on either side of mine—it was too much and not nearly enough.
My free hand gripped her hip with a bruising force, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything except the way she rolled her hips against my cock and the soft, needy sounds she was making.
I dragged my mouth from hers, kissing down the long line of her throat. I couldn’t resist biting down on the soft skin where her neck met her shoulder.
Marking her.
“Ah—” she cried out, her back arching, offering those big, beautiful breasts without a word. My hand slid under her sweater, finding bare skin. Warm. Silky. Real. I spread my fingers across her ribs, memorizing the feel of her. My thumb brushed the underside of her breast.
“You drive me fucking crazy,” I growled against her skin. “Do you know that? Every fucking day, you’re here. In my head. In my space.”
I caught her bottom lip between my teeth and bit down gently. She whimpered, the sound going straight to my cock, and ground against me. I groaned, swelling beneath her.
Was she wet?
All I had to do was slip my hand inside her jeans to find out.
I wanted to take her right here. Right now. Strip off her clothing and taste her sweet pussy. Feel her come apart under my mouth and then around my cock. I wanted to hear every sound she’d make when I filled her, wanted to erase every other man who’d ever touched her from her memory.
The possessiveness of that thought crashed over me like cold water.
What the hell was I doing?
This was Amber. My employee. A woman who would be gone soon.
A woman who’d already told me she didn’t trust promises any more than I did.
And I was seconds away from breaking every rule I’d ever made for myself.
I pulled back, breathing hard. Forced my hands to release her even though everything in me screamed to hold on tighter.
“We have to stop.” The words were dragged from somewhere deep inside me.
Lie. We didn’t need to stop. Everything about her felt right. Her weight in my lap. The taste of her on my tongue. The way she fit against me like she was made for this.
Made for me.
But I’d thought that before. About Sarah. And I’d been wrong.
Her expression shifted—confusion, hurt, then something shuttering closed. She scrambled off my lap, putting distance between us.
“Right.” Her voice was carefully neutral.
I stood, needing to move. Needing to not see the way her hands were shaking as she straightened her sweater. “Amber—”
“Don’t.” She held up a hand. “You don’t owe me an explanation. You made yourself clear from the beginning. You’re a cold-hearted cowboy not looking for love.” Her laugh was bitter. “I should have listened.”
She headed for the stairs, and I wanted to call her back and tell her this had nothing to do with her and everything to do with me being a coward.
But the words stuck in my throat.
