It’s only because I can’t have her, he reminded himself. The forbidden was always the most alluring to Bryce men.
But Heather slid a little closer and he couldn’t bring himself to look away from her gaze. He felt locked in place, staring into those green eyes, searching them for the same truths he held inside himself.
‘It’s about...?’ she asked, so softly it was barely more than a breath.
‘It’s about the way I don’t think I can make it for another moment without kissing you,’ he said, before his brain or his sense of shame could talk him out of it.
Heather bit down on her lower lip and his caution jumped out of the castle window and into the moat. In a heartbeat he had her in his arms, her legs swung over his as he pulled her into his lap.
He’d tried. Really he had. He’d tried to be the one good Bryce man, the one male in the family who’d avoided scandal and stayed away from temptation. He’d tried not giving in to it when temptation had come knocking, with a rubber duck tucked under her arm.
But it was no good. Bad blood won out, and he couldn’t fight his genes any longer.
So, with a relief so palpable he could feel his whole body relaxing as the decision was made, Cal kissed Heather, and forgot—just for now—all the reasons that this was the worst idea he’d ever had.
* * *
Oh, God, she was kissing Cal Bryce.
The one thing she’d absolutely sworn to herself that she wouldn’t do. One of the few things she could do to make her own scandalous situation worse.
And hands down it was the best kiss of her whole damn life.
Heather allowed herself to fall into the kiss, to experience every sensation and luxuriate in them. His hands on her back, firm and warm. His lips against hers, so sure and confident that she had to wonder if he’d been imagining this moment as much as she had.
And the very hard evidence against her hip that told her this wasn’t just an accidental or a casual kiss.
He wanted her.
A lot.
And the feeling was very, very mutual.
Heather let out a small gasp as Cal deepened the kiss, pulling her into him until she wasn’t sure where she ended and he began. She shifted in his lap, trying to free her arm from where it was trapped between them, desperate to use it to touch him, feel him, make this experience last for ever...
Which was, of course, when she unbalanced them completely.
Cal swore as the chair tipped backwards towards the window, reaching out with both hands to grab the desk and stop them falling. Heather, however, no longer tethered by his arms, tumbled back towards the floor, and he let go of the desk to catch her—resulting in them both tipping sideways off the chair and landing on the Persian rug under his desk.
‘This was not how I intended this to go.’
Cal let his head fall back onto the floor, and Heather patted his arm sympathetically as she rested her cheek against his chest.
‘Maybe we’ll do better next time,’ she said.
Cal’s hand, which had been rubbing slow circles against her side, stilled, and she knew she’d said the wrong thing.
‘Heather... I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.’
Something cold settled in her heart. ‘Shouldn’t have tipped me onto the floor of your office or shouldn’t have kissed me like that?’
Like it meant everything.
‘I think you tipped us,’ Cal pointed out. ‘And I shouldn’t have kissed you. It was...inappropriate.’
‘You mean scandalous.’ Heather sat up, brushing her unruly hair away from her eyes as she stared down at him.
‘You’re pregnant with my brother’s child,’ Cal reminded her—as if she didn’t already know. ‘And you’re my employee.’
‘I hoped I was your friend, too.’
‘Friends don’t kiss friends like that,’ Cal said, his eyes shut tight, and she knew he’d felt it, too.
Knew that the kiss had meant as much to him as it had to her.
‘Cal...’ She stared down at him, willing him to open his eyes and look at her.
As if he’d heard her thoughts, he did. ‘Heather. We can’t.’
‘Why? Why can’t we?’
Yes, yes, she knew the reasons. Had argued them with herself for weeks now. But in the end it came down to basics. Undeniable, irresistible basics. He wanted her. She wanted him. His brother certainly hadn’t had such reservations...