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“Not that problem.”

She knows what I mean. I see it in the way she resets her weight, the almost imperceptible lift of her chin. “There’s no problem,” she says. “Not for me at least.”

“Is that why you pretended we’d never met in front of your alphas today?”

She scowls. “Whatever was between us, it’s in the past.”

I cross the room slowly, and to her credit, she doesn’t step back. She just watches me come, chin still raised, eyes steady. I stop close enough that I can see the slight quickening of her breath.

“Maybe that’s the problem,” I say quietly.

Her brow pulls in just slightly. “What does that mean?”

“It means two years is a long time to imagine having you again.” I hold her gaze. She opens her mouth, clearly intent on arguing, but I cut her off. “Don’t bother trying to pretend you aren’t imagining it right now. I can smell it on you.”

I inhale deeply—appreciatively—and she glares. But I also don’t miss the way her nipples harden through her shirt.

Fuck.

My erection is going to be impossible to hide in these pants.

“Big talk for a guy wearing wide-leg polyester. Did you mean to seduce me with this getup?”

I grin, ignoring her taunts. And hoping she doesn’t notice the pants are now a tent. “I think the only way through this is to stop pretending we can work three feet apart from one another for the next several weeks without it becoming a distraction.”

“Several weeks?” Her eyes widen. “Grey said a few days.”

“Yes, well, I made some arrangements at the college. My board will run things in my absence, giving me a bit more time here while we deal with Ramsey.” I let my gaze drag over her. “And with you.”

I watch while she takes that in. There’s a flash of something. Interest. Excitement. Then it’s gone, and she’s shuttered back to her resting maneater face.

“We’re both professionals,” she says. Firm. Clipped. “We’ll figure it out.”

“We are.” I agree without hesitation. “And we’re also two people who very much enjoyed the way you sat on my cock once, and that memory is going to be in the room with us every single time we’re in it. So…” I tilt my head slightly, enjoying the slight flush creeping into her cheeks. “I propose we get it out of our systems. Once. Clean. And then we can focus on doing our jobs.”

She stares at me. “You’re serious.”

“I'm always serious.”

“You’re proposing we fuck. Right now. Tonight. While you’re wearing…that. And after two years of no contact. When you don’t even know if I have a boyfriend. Or a mate for that matter.”

I refuse to think about her with a mate. Almost as much as I refuse to let her see me sweat. So, I grin and say, “Is there another night that’s good for you?”

Her mouth falls open a little, and I take pride in rendering Mia Reyes truly shocked. But it’s not anger beneath her words when she says, “That is the most arrogant thing anyone has ever said to me.”

It’s amusement. Okay, maybe mixed with some indignation.

I lean in, wink, and say, “So far. The night is young.”

Another almost-laugh she swallows before it escapes. Her eyes narrow instead. “Prepotente. And if I say no?”

“Then I go back to my room at the estate and come on my own hand while picturing your face, just like I’ve been doing for two years already, and we do this for however many weeks it takes to run Ramsey to ground. Tension so thick, you could cut it with that laser-beam glare of yours.” I hold her gaze. “Your call, Mia. It always will be.”

The air between us pulls tight. I can feel her wolf—that ferocious, controlled energy she keeps locked down like classified intelligence—pressing at the edges of whatever she’s holding back. My own wolf goes utterly still. Focused. Nearly panting for her.

I reach up and brush my knuckle along her jaw, just once. She doesn’t move or react. Her eyes stay locked on mine.

Fuck it.