Torrid Little Affair (Forbidden Desires #3)

“Good morning.” She laced her fingers together and placed them primly on her knee before staring at her folded hands. “Y-you asked me earlier what I did last night.” She lifted her chin and met my gaze. “Other than the time we spent together, I mostly just did a lot of thinking.”

“Oh?” I said, trying not to jump out of my skin with impatience.

“Yes.” She nodded. “I think I need to apologize to you, Cooper. I thought that I could do this . . . arrangement, you know, with professional workdays and sexual encounters in our personal time, but I just can’t.”Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

Her words hit me like a fist to the solar plexus, and the room seemed to close in around me.

“So, you want to have the sex at work?” I tried for the feeble joke just to regain some sort of equilibrium, but her cool expression let me know instantly that I had blundered.

Seemed like it was getting to be a habit with her.

“I want to continue working together amicably and platonically. I’m sorry, but my decision is made. I don’t want to do this.”

Even as she spoke, though, she was shaking her head. Despite her strong words, her eyes were filled with doubt, which, in turn, filled me with confidence.

Slowly, I shook my head, encouraging her to maintain eye contact with me by sheer force of will. “No. I don’t think that’s true.”

“Ex-excuse me?” she stuttered, the pulse in her neck throbbing like a butterfly trapped beneath the surface of that silky flesh.

I pushed myself to my feet, my sadness and insecurity fizzling away, leaving behind only confidence and thick, hot need. I rounded the corner of my desk until I was only inches away, towering over her.

“I think you’re lying, Corinne. To me, but more importantly, to yourself. I think this is exactly what you want. In fact, I think you want it so much, it scared you.”

Her cheeks went crimson as she shot to her feet, meeting me toe-to-toe. It didn’t seem to matter to her that she was a good ten inches shorter than me, she straightened her shoulders, her posture stiff, ready to square off.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it?” I cocked an eyebrow. “I felt how responsive you were in my arms, how much you wanted me. I can see your breath quickening right now as I get closer to you. Your nipples getting hard beneath that dress.”

She quickly folded her arms over her chest, but it was too late. Like a shark scenting blood in the water, I knew the truth.

“You want me, Corinne, but you’re afraid. That’s why you ran. That’s why you’re trying to run now.”

She shook her head, but I caught her chin and held her so her gaze met mine.

“Tell me you don’t want to know what else we could do to together. Tell me you don’t wonder what it would feel like.”

She looked at me for a long moment, studying me, and then finally said, “I can’t. I can’t do that.”

“You know I’m right.”

“I do.”

I released her and she took a step back.

“But,” she said, “it’s more complicated than it should be. There are things you don’t know. Things that I need to work through. I’m trying to save you from yourself here,” she said with a short, humorless laugh. “Cooper, I’m a mess. I’m high-maintenance and I’m not an idiot. I know you could have any woman you want.”

I took another step toward her, closing the space between us as I wrapped my hand around her waist. “The only woman I want is you, dove.”

Gently, I pulled her toward me, breathing in her perfume as she came closer, and then, finally, savoring the sweet heat of her lips on mine. The kiss started so slowly, it wasn’t even a kiss-just two people standing inches apart, our lips touching as soft breaths passed between us.

But then her lips parted, and I could have groaned at her invitation, but I didn’t. Instead, I pressed forward, licking her lower lip. When her tongue swept out to greet me, I groaned with both relief and desire. I stepped forward, pressing her back until she was flush against the door as I matched her tongue stroke for stroke. We sank into each other, fitting together like two pieces of a puzzle. It was perfection.

The hammer of desire came down hard, and all the pent-up need and frustration of the past few days hit me at once. The blood rushed from my head downward as I ground against her, letting her low, throaty moans fill my senses.

Yes. This was what I wanted more than I’d wanted anything I could remember.

Her hand slid up between us to grip the cotton of my shirt, anchoring me closer even as her hips pulsed restlessly against me.

This was good. So good that I wasn’t about to fuck it all up by having us get caught screwing around at work and sending her running again.

Regretfully, I pulled away. It took every ounce of strength I had not to lock the door, drag her over to my desk, and-

“Right.” She gasped, her hand fluttering to her heaving chest. “We’re at work. Good call.”

We stared at each other for a long moment, and I leaned in to press my forehead against hers. Something about this woman-the feel of her, the taste of her, just her general presence-made me want to know her. To have her completely as my own.

I pressed one last gentle kiss to her lips and dropped my voice to a whisper. “Someday, when I’ve earned it, will you tell me what happened? Why you’re still single? Why you’re so timid?”

She searched my gaze, though she didn’t cower or look away. Instead, she gave me the briefest of nods. “Not now, Cooper. Not yet.”

“I know about the orphanage,” I said softly. “Does it have something to do with that?”

She nodded, the sadness in her eyes making me want to snatch the question back. “Yes, but that’s not all of it. There’s . . . more.”

I nodded. “Okay, then I won’t push you. Just know that I’m a great listener and I care, Corinne. More than you know.”

She wet her lips and smoothed a hand over her dress as I stepped back. She closed her fingers over the doorknob, but before she twisted it open, she turned and met my gaze again.

Unwavering, she nodded once. “I care too, Cooper. Just so you know.”

She flung the door open, and just like that, she was gone, leaving me staring after her.

Today hadn’t been without its bumps, but damn it, she wanted me as much as I wanted her. And more than that?

She cared.

A slow grin spread over my face as I made my way to my desk, suddenly full of energy.