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“I don’t play games,” she countered, her face serious as her intent, dark eyes robbed Rhiannon of her senses.

“Want to know what I think?” Rhiannon asked rhetorically as she shifted closer to Carmela until their thighs were touching. “I think it really freaked you out that you wanted me as much as I wanted you.”

The truth hung between them untouched for a moment, but Rhiannon refused to break eye contact even as the

mounting silence made her muscles tremble.

“You’re crazy,” Carmela replied, but she was no longer laughing.

“Am I? Because I’m willing to bet I’m not.” Rhiannon’s eyes flashed down to Carmela’s painted lips, then back at her eyes.

Carmela leaned forward as if daring her to do something.

“Don’t play with fire, Rhiannon.”

The warning and her name, uttered low and gravely, was the hottest thing Rhiannon had ever heard. Her lip twitched in response to the challenge. It was too tempting. Too impossible to resist.

“I think you’re dying for me to do what you’re too afraid to do,” Rhiannon countered as adrenaline pushed through her veins making her brave and reckless. “You wanted me the other day, and you want me now, but you won’t act on it.”Carmela’s jaw tightened. “You’re so confident and so wrong. How typical,” she said, her voice wavering as she searched Rhiannon’s face, willing her to backdown.

It was a challenge. Rhiannon recognized it instantly. Even this couldn’t happen without the tit-for-tat way they goaded each other. Her lip twitched with anticipation as desire flooded her system and turned the breezy night sweltering.

“Just remember,” Rhiannon said as she leaned in closer, her lips hovering just above Carmela’s parted ones, “I’m not the one who runs away.”

With a racing heart, Rhiannon closed the short gap and claimed Carmela’s soft bottom lip between hers. She tasted sweet and minty from the Mojitos but was far more intoxicating than any drink.

In seconds, the urgency in their kiss became scorching.

Rhiannon’s lungs burned and her mouth moved too fast

before Carmela cupped her jaw. With gentle urging, she slipped into the slow, syrupy tempo of Carmela’s lips.

Losing all sense of time and place, every nerve in Rhiannon’s body sung the praises of Carmela’s kiss. Of the tongue invading her famished lips. Of the fingers slipping into her hair and gripping her so tight it produced the best moment of pleasurable pain.

A rush of electricity ripped through her body, forcing a gasp from her lips. Fuck.

“Damn it, Rhiannon,” Carmela cursed, sounding tired and aroused and confused all at once as she pressed her forehead against hers.

“Was it that bad?” she joked, still breathless, her lips itching to return to Carmela’s mouth. It wasn’t time to talk.

“It was too good,” Carmela admitted, her eyes like two polished onyxes as she pulled away and untangled her fingers, leaving Rhiannon feeling naked and cold. “But we shouldn’t have done it.”

This time when Rhiannon’s heart raced, her stomach dropped. If only they could lose themselves in a tangle of limbs and expletives rather than have the conversation Carmela was barreling toward.

“Why the hell not? We’re both single adults . . . aren’t we?”

Every nanosecond it took Carmela to answer filled Rhiannon with dread.

Please don’t be married or something, she prayed.

Finally, Carmela smiled sadly. “Yes,” she agreed, much to Rhiannon’s immediate relief. “But,” she added, making Rhiannon’s shoulders tense again, “that doesn’t mean we can do this.”

It was hard to do anything but stare at Carmela’s swollen lips and the world’s hottest smudged lipstick, but she forced

herself to pay attention. “Why? What’s the big deal? It’s not like we even have a boss. Who could possibly care?”

Carmela smirked. “You’re kind of adorable w

hen you whine.”