He brought her to the edge again and stopped.
“Keep going.” The words were barely recognizable.
He lifted himself on his forearms and kissed her with such tenderness she nearly unraveled right into the carpet. His thrusts slowed like he’d suddenly become aware of some secret only he knew.
Slowly, he brought her back to the edge. Her breaths ragged, she gripped his shoulders and fell. He took his time following, finally letting go and burying his face in the side of her neck.
“That was unexpected,” she said against the top of his head.
“Luce.” He rose above her.
Was that regret that passed over his expression? No, he couldn’t have regrets about this.
“Did I hurt you?” He started to pull away.
“No, I’m—”
He kissed her. Hard. “I’d never want to hurt you.”
“You didn’t.” She scooted backward, but he caught her around her waist.
“I’m going to deal with this”—he glanced down to the condom—“then we can order dinner.” His gaze met hers and she felt the heat of it all the way to the bottom of her toes.
He left to deal with…that…and she tugged on her clothes.
How was it, she’d really like to know, could he take her on the carpet and still appear ready for the cover ofGQwhen he emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later?
She settled on the sofa, leaving a gap between them. Practice for the future.
Clearly, he wasn’t interested in space. He erased the invisible line she’d crafted, his large hand covering hers.
“What’s going on?” he asked, the seriousness of his tone nearly making her fall into a slurry of hysterics given what he’d just done to her on the living room floor.
“Right. I’ve been thinking a lot about things. About us. If we’re going keep doing”—she waved her empty hand over the space on the floor—“this regularly, then we should make some rules. Especially now that we see each other at work.”
“What do you propose?” The way he fiddled with a chunk of her hair was really very distracting.
“Okay, well, work is work.” She licked at her lips. “Home is home. Let’s start there.”
“Fair enough. You don’t want special treatment.”
Exactly. He understood.
She nodded.
“That’s not going to work for me.” He sat back against the arm of the couch.
“Excuse me?”
“You can put things in little boxes, but people will find out we’re together. There will be overlap. That’s how it is.” His thumb stroked her fingertips.
She pulled her hand away. “That’s not what I want. I want things separate or this can’t happen. And once you’re officially my boss, we have to be done. As a couple.”
His jaw set hard. “You want temporary?”
“That’s all we can be, Will.”
“If I agree to your terms, you’ll relax and let us just be together?”
