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“Alli.”

She liked it when he said her name. Did he like it when she said his, too?

“Sam.”

He shoved her underwear aside, brushing her clit with his thumb. She made a noise she didn’t recognize as he pressed inside of her, slowly but surely. He was taking his sweet time, and she didn’t have the patience for it. She wanted him into the hilt, and she wanted everything that he could give her. If that made her greedy, so be it.

If she was going to implode her life over a roll in the hay with her boss, it had better be damn spectacular. She wanted to see fireworks.

“Now, Sam. Now.”

There was nothing slow or lazy that came next. He had her pinned to the wall with his hands under her thighs. He pistoned into her hard and fast, his teeth gritted with the effort. Her heels dug into the small of his back, and her nails left crescent marks on his shoulders.

Their bodies slapped together lewdly, their skin covered in a fine sheen of sweat. She couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer, although she yearned to see his face when he climaxed.

When her orgasm hit, her whole body clenched around him and trembled. She heard him say something that was half her name and half a curse, and then he thrust up into her once more before going still.

She couldn’t have said how long they stayed like that as their bodies and ardor cooled.

“I’m going to put you down,” he said eventually, “and I need you to be aware that I might go down with you.”

“I’m warned.”

He lowered her, slowly and carefully. Her bare feet hit the carpet, and her knees did exactly what she’d expected them to do, giving way underneath her like a newborn colt. He must have been ready for it, because he caught and steadied her, holding her until she could stand on her own.

His tenderness after their almost animalistic sex was almost her undoing. There were so many sides to this man; she could spend a lifetime learning about him.

Don’t go there, girl. Don’t be thinking about lifetimes or even futures.

Later, with the lights off and Sam asleep beside her and one of his arms heavy across her waist, Alli lay awake and finally let in all the thoughts she’d firmly pushed away earlier.

She had slept with her boss. Her brand new boss, too. Every single thing about it was a bad idea, and she had known that the entire time. Yet, she’d done it anyway, almost like Wile E. Coyote running straight at that rock wall that was painted to look like a railroad tunnel. She was going to end up roadkill at this rate.

Tomorrow morning, he would wake up and be the CEO again. He might put his suit on and look at her across a rental car and decide this had been a mistake, and if he did, she would have to sit outside his office and answer his phone and keep her face still while she watched him regret her.

She turned that over and waited to feel sorry.

It didn’t come.

Because here was the truth, and she was too tired to lie to herself about it at one in the morning. She hadn’t fallen into bed with a good-looking man because she was lonely, though God knew she’d been lonely. She had gone into this with her eyes open, for the oldest and stupidest reason there was.

She cared about him.

Somewhere between a parking garage and a swan boat, she had started caring about Sam Winslow, and she was not going to insult herself by pretending otherwise.

So. If it went sideways in the morning, it went sideways. She’d survived worse than a man changing his mind. She’d survived a whole newsroom watching her ex change his.

Alli shifted closer, tucked herself under his arm, and closed her eyes.

I chose this. Whatever it costs, I chose it.

She was not going to be sorry.

Alli woke up at six with the unfamiliar weight of a man’s arm across her waist. Pleasant and warm. It took a full ninety seconds of not remembering before she remembered to be worried about it.

Damn.

She lay still, staring at the ceiling, and running through her situation. Her boss. A hotel room the firm was paying for.