“Miss Adams,” he said. His voice was as cold as normal, but he couldn’t completely fool me. I saw a little lingering something in his gaze. I was halfway tempted to check between his legs to see if the man was hard again. Then again, the damn thing was so big I probably could’ve seen it even if my back was turned. I wondered if he’d ever heard the medical advice to see a doctor if an erection lasted more than four hours, but I guessed I was giving him too much shit for that. I had been laying on top of him in the hotel room. I also knew “morning wood” was a thing. And on the airplane, he’d walked in on me with my pants down. Not that I would’ve considered it the peak of sexuality to see me sitting on the toilet, but I wasn’t going to kink shame the guy. Especially after I’d basically ruined my underwear from getting so wet because of our little encounter.
I followed him, telling myself it was all normal, just biological reactions between a man’s body and a woman’s body. Our bodies were just reacting to attraction. That was their job. And it was the job of our heads to decide if that attraction was wise to act on or not. This was definitely an “or not” sort of situation.
Originally, I’d been afraid to acknowledge my attraction for Mr. White because I needed the job. But now I thought I was just scared to see what would happen if we unleashed the growing tension. It felt like the two of us letting loose at this point might be roughly equivalent to splitting the atom. Atomic.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“There’s a restaurant here. We’re meeting some of my partners. Be on your best behavior. These are long-time friends of mine. I want you to make a good impression.”
“Oh, I’m meeting your friends now? I guess things are really getting serious.”
Mr. White stopped, turning to face me just before we reached the hostess who stood outside a white tablecloth restaurant within the hotel. “Jules,” he said. “I will admit I haven’t been entirely professional when it comes to our working relationship. That’s my mistake. But it’s a mistake I intend to fix. I suggest you do the same.”
I was torn between wanting to kick him between the legs and nodding my agreement. It was there again—that implication that I was just as guilty as him of egging on whatever this was brewing between us. I knew I should’ve just nodded my head, but it frankly pissed me off that he wanted to keep lobbing those assumptions my way. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Mr. White. Could you be more specific?”
He stepped closer, giving me a dizzying view of his green eyes. Those eyelashes of his were impressively long, too. “Are you sure you want to go down this road?” His words were laced with warning.
But I was still irritated with him, so I nodded my head. “Yes. Please, enlighten me.”
“I’m having trouble getting you out of my mind, and it irritates me. This weekend is absolutely critical to everything I’ve worked towards for the past ten years, and all I can think about is you. Frankly, I’m sick and tired of it. I want you off my mind, Miss Adams. And yes, I hold you personally responsible for causing such a distraction.”
My breath caught. He spoke with so much intensity that it literally felt like it sapped the air from my lungs. I licked my lips. “I think you’re an insufferable egomaniac. You have the emotional range of a robot, and you ask way too much of your staff. And speaking of your staff, I think we’d both have an easier time staying professional if you stopped letting it get hard and poking me with it or pressing my face into it.”
Something very dangerous flashed in his eyes. He was standing so incredibly close, and the few people passing by us to head into the restaurant or move about the hotel seemed to fade out of view.
I was sure he was going to kiss me. The knowledge came suddenly and without warning, but I could feel it in my core. I knew it was coming, and I knew I was going to let it happen. Worse, I knew I was going to embrace it, because two human beings could only endure so much tension before they burst. Or gave in.
“Adrian,” a man said in a deep voice. He seemed to appear from nowhere, and he clapped Mr. White on the shoulder of his suit, smiling broadly as he moved to his side and faced me. “Are we having an argument? Things looked pretty tense over here.”
Just like that, the thick air between us seemed to snap and I could finally breathe again. I stepped back, feeling my head clear. I could hardly believe I’d actually been so ready to kiss him—to do anything with him if it meant releasing the tension pounding in my lower stomach.