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“Did you react to him the same way you react with me?”
Whipping my head around, I stared at him. “I…no. But that doesn’t matter. I don’t trust myself to keep things separate, James. Maybe you can, but I’m not made that way. You’re gorgeous. You make my brain melt, and I want you, but I’m an adult. I know we don’t get everything we want in life. As much as I want you, I need this job more.”
Sixteen
Maximus
Mixingbusiness with pleasure had never been an issue for me, and if it had been anybody other than Tina, I would’ve accepted the rebuff and moved on. It wasn’t some bullshit thing about wanting what I couldn’t have.
It was her.
And she wanted me too.
“I can have one of my employees take over for me on this project.” It wasn’t what I wanted to do, but the hotel was just a means to an end—to her. Now that I’d gotten a glimpse of just how much she wanted this job, I would never take it away from her. Even if she walked out the door and never wanted to see me again, she would get this job.
It might take work to convince her to mix business with pleasure, but I’d never been one to back down from a fight.
Warily, she eyed me. “I’d already assumed you’d have somebody handling things from here on out. Isn’t that what you normally do?”
“I don’t have a normal way of doing things, but I’m happy to step back to ease your concerns about mixing business and pleasure.” My gaze dropped to linger on the lush, ripe curve of her lower lip, the need to taste her again already driving me crazy.
With a huffing sort of laugh, she shoved her hair back. “I don’t get it? I’m not the most beautiful woman in the world. I’m not even the prettiest woman you’ve seen this week.” She held up a hand before I could say anything. “Sure, I know damn well I’m attractive, but I’m just not…all this.” She waved her hands around.
“I want you,” I said.
“You’ve had me.”
Smiling, I shook my head and looked away. “Tina, Friday night didn’t even take the edge off. If you have any idea….” I stopped, figuring it probably wasn’t a good idea to tell her all the ways I’d fantasized about having her.
“You know, part of the problem lies right there,” she said, her tone sharp.
That brought me up short. “And what does that mean?”
“You’ve got something of a reputation, Maximus. Don’t tell me you aren’t aware.” Although her face flushed again, she didn’t look away.
“Just what, exactly, have you heard?” It wasn’t any secret that I had…less than traditional preferences for sex, but it wasn’t anything that got discussed in the paper.
She clenched her jaw. “Enough to make me wonder, but for the record, it’s not your unusual proclivities that are my main issue.”
“Unusual proclivities,” I murmured. It almost made me smile. It was better than being called a pervert. “Alright, if it’s not my unusual proclivities that are a problem, what is?”
“Seriously?” She sighed and let her head fall back, staring upward at the faded paintings decorating the high ceiling. When she finally looked back at me, the flush had disappeared from her cheeks, and her gaze had lost that bright glint. “I’m not interested in being your flavor of the month. I think I already mentioned that. You’re a playboy, James. If I did a google search on you, the image results would probably show a good thirty different women on your arm—and that’s just for the past year or two.”
“So you’re looking for commitment?”
“I don’t know!” she snapped. “All I know is that when you’re not a dick, I enjoy being around you. But you seem to push for more than just another date. If this were to go on any longer than that, then I’d like to know I’m the only one sharing your bed.”
“That wouldn’t be a problem.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it. Shaking her head, she turned away and walked over to the high counter that was once the registration desk. “Stop it, okay?”
“Stop what?” I walked toward her. She stiffened, but when I bracketed her in place with my arms on either side, she didn’t try to flee. Lowering my head, I skimmed my lips down the side of her neck. “You want me to stop craving you? I can’t. Besides, you want me as well. I can feel it.”
She shivered as I bit her, just barely scoring the skin with my teeth.
“What are you so afraid of?” I murmured. “You never know how things could be if you don’t give it a chance.”
Her fingers brushed across my thigh. When she spread her palm flat against my skin, I had to fight not to spin her around and start stripping away the clothes that were an unwelcome barrier. I wanted to feel her hands on me, her mouth.