Mine drops open unceremoniously.
Did he just?
He did.
“As I live and breathe—” I say.
“That was—”
“Did Ryan Grant just—”
“—uncalled for—”
“—cross professional boundaries?”
He exhales like a deflating balloon. “I shouldn’t have said that. It just slipped out.”
Maybe I’m rubbing off on him. I’d love to know what else would justslip outif he didn’t keep such a taut leash on himself. “I didn’t mind.” No use lying. I look both ways down the quiet street we’veveered onto, making sure we’re alone. Take a step closer, reach for his hand. “I liked it.”
He stiffens, his Adam’s apple rising on a thick swallow.
I pull my hand away—I’m overstepping, he only said that opportunistically, he didn’t mean it—but he reaches out and grabs it back, curling his fingers tight around mine.
The contact sends ripples of electricity up both our arms—I know he’s feeling the same thing I am. There’s no chance his eyelids have flown to half-mast because my touch doesn’t affect him just as much as his affects me.
His gaze rises to meet mine, remaining hooded, dark. He grips my hand more firmly, drawing me nearer despite himself, my body only a few inches from his. This close—at any distance, really—he radiates something that tugs deep in my belly. And lower.
How can his hand feel so right in mine?
“Ana,” he says, but nothing else.
His breath comes out in a rush when I tip my head back and my lips part, ready for a kiss he’s reluctant, yet visibly hungry, to give me.
“We…can’t,” he whispers, hesitating on the second word, showing his lack of conviction.
“But you want to,” I say. He hasn’t let me go.
“That doesn’t matter. I—” He licks his lips and I want to die from what it does to me. “We’re drunk.”
“Don’t do that,” I say.
“Don’t do what?”
“We had one beer that was mostly foam, almost two hours ago.”
My free hand traces a path from his shoulder down over his hard pec and the flat ridges of his abdomen, drawing a shudder from him.
“I would never jeopardize your job,” I say. “I know now how important it is. Celine’s tuition and—I would never mess it up for you. We can be discreet. Nobody at Woodsworth would everknow.” My fingers reach his belt, lingering on the leather. “Don’t you get tired of denying yourself?”
He exhales shakily. “You have no idea.”
“Then just take what you want for once.”
He searches my eyes, his brow gathered. “We’re on this tour together for another week. What if things get…uncomfortable? I don’t want to put you in that position.”
“I can think of a few positions we’d both very much enjoy being in, and none of them would be uncomfortable.” I snake my hand around his waist, up the hard muscles of his back, pulling him closer, aware that he doesn’t resist in the least. “All I want is to enjoy each other’s bodies.”
Frown lines form grooves in his forehead. “Is that really all you want?”
