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“No, you don’t.You’re working from here today.I’ve cleared it with Sheena.”
She rounded on him.“You’ve what?”
He stood and walked over to her.Her color was heightened with her anger, but her eyes were adorably drowsy from sleep and sex.And he’d never craved her more.“We never got round to discussing what you’ve come up with for the project.I thought we could discuss it this morning.”
“That will take about an hour.Then what the hell will I do for the rest of the day?”she snapped, her eyes blazing blue hell at him.
He couldn’t stop his grin at her exasperation.She was getting animated.Good.He preferred that to her silent scheming on how to leave him.
“I’m pretty sure we can come up with something.”
She closed her eyes.“I can’t spend what’s supposed to be my workday here with you?—”
“Fucking my brains out?I beg to differ.Wasn’t that what the marathon fucking last night was all about?”
Her frown held a world of wariness.“What are you talking about?”
He shook his head, unwilling to embrace his fears.Last night had been getting him out of her system.A fuck before the fuck off.Little did she know his mission had been the opposite.He’d tried being a gentleman.He’d tried begging.Hell, he’d even tried blackmailing.
Now he intended to fuck himself back into her system.But he couldn’t risk frightening her off by coming on any stronger.
Pulling her close, he slanted his mouth over hers.His dread lessened a fraction when she responded by opening her lips and participating wholeheartedly in the kiss.When her hands slid around his waist, he breathed even easier.Her eyes were dreamy with need when he raised his head and stared down at her.
“Let’s try this again.Good morning, Peaches.”
“It’s not a good morning for me when you try and derail my day before it’s even started, Zach,” she complained.
She tried to pull away, but he held on.More and more, he felt like he was trying to hold on to her while she pulled away from him.Slowly, he glided his thumb over her bottom lip, felt it quiver beneath his touch.
“That’s not what I’m trying to do.I thought I’d save you time by cutting out your commute into work.”
“You don’t get it.I’m a grownup.I can arrange my own workday.I know you don’t care whether Sheena finds out about us, but I do.Can you try and respect that?”Blue eyes glowered at him, but there was also a hint of sadness in them that shredded him.
Something had to give here.And soon.“Forgive me, baby.I just wanted you here with me today.”
She continued to stare at him for another minute, then she nodded.“But we’re definitely working, got it?I want to give Sheena a progress report by close of play.”
“We’ll be done by lunchtime.Then I’ll take you to lunch.If you want,” he tagged on quickly when her brow started to rise.“Or we can prolong work and call it a business lunch.”
She shook her head in exasperation.“Do you not have… I don’t know, other work to do?”
“My workday is… fluid.”He had nothing planned in his immediate future beyond doing everything in his power to hang on to her.
Her eyes met his and slowly wary speculation grew in the mesmerizing depths.
“How long do you think you can keep this up, Zach?”Again, that sadness, that soul-deep echo of pain, which cut a jagged path through him.
“Fight to keep from losing you?As long as I have breath in my body.”
Her own breath caught but she began to pull away.
“Bethany—”
“I need a shower,” she said, her tone more than suggesting that she didn’t need company.
He dug his feet into the carpet, to keep from stalking after her when she headed for the bathroom.Shucking a hand through his hair, he calculated the time difference on the West Coast and exhaled noisily.He was beginning to realize that even if his attorney managed to get the non-disclosure clause lifted, he would have to tell Bethany a lot more about his life than Farrah and what had led to the incident six years ago.
For one thing, there was also the issue of his mother and her lifestyle.