BEN
My finger tap-tap-tapson the front desk as a group of members wanders by, their words and faces a blur. I can’t bring myself to focus on them.
My attention is solely on Skyler.
I watch her through the open doorway to the yoga studio. She’s chatting with a brown-haired girl around her age while packing up her gym bag. The urge to move closer, to find out what they’re saying, burns like hunger. It feels wrong to fight it, but I have to keep my distance. Otherwise, she’s gonna think I’m obsessed with her.
And you know what? She’d be right.
The other girl heads out and Skyler waves goodbye to her with a radiant smile. She zips up her bag, then pulls out her scrunchie, allowing her auburn waves to spill down her back. My whole body tenses as she runs her fingers through her hair, tugging gently at a few knots.
She tilts her head, exposing the length of her neck, and causing her dark blue shirt to lift slightly. All I can think about is how badly I want to glide my tongue across that sliver of bared skin. I know her cheeks are flushed from teaching yoga, but I can’t help imagining all the other scenarios that might cause her to work up a sweat. How would she react if I marched over to her right now, grabbed onto her hips, and ran my tongue up the side of her throat? Would she gasp or moan, calling attention to everyone within earshot?
“Goddammit,” I mutter under my breath, ripping my gaze from Skyler’s body.
Last night, I told myself I wasn’t going to let my physical attraction to my employee get the better of me. But the desire surging through my veins has only grown more potent in the hours since she showed up for work.
I’m not used to feeling like a slave to my own impulses. That’s not who I am. I’m driven, but I’m also regimented. I don’t pander to short-term gratification. And yet, my instincts are telling me to cross every line in the HR rulebook to make her mine. I’m supposed to be finishing up paperwork in the office, but I needed to see her, so I’m loitering around the front desk, hoping to share a few words with her once she comes out of the studio. I just want to hear her voice again.
When Skyler finally walks by the front desk, my brain blanks, and the only thing I can think to say is, “How’s it going?”
As far as opening lines go, it’s fucking weak. But it does the trick. She stops and turns toward me, her hazel gaze flitting to mine and then darting away again.
“Hi, Ben,” she says with an easy smile. “I’m doing well, thanks. How’re you?”
“Can’t complain.” After having spent the last twenty-four hours thinking about nothing but Skyler, you’d think I’d have an easier time coming up with things to say.
“That’s good.” She nods and fidgets with the strap on her bag. “Well, I’m heading out now. Have a good night.”
She starts to walk away, and a surge of panic wells up in my chest. The few pleasantries we’ve exchanged haven’t begun to satisfy my craving for her. I can’t let her leave like this.
“Wait,” I say, a little louder than I intended. “I’m leaving, too. I’ll, um...walk you out.”
“Oh...” She blinks, surprised. “Okay, sure.”
“Just give me one sec.” I dash back to my office to grab my keys and my jacket, then lock up for the night.
Moodie’s white brow arches as I jog past him for the second time.
“Do my eyes deceive me or is Ben Gold leaving work early?” Moodie asks. I grumble something about wanting an early start tomorrow. The old man looks at me like I’ve just sprouted horns.
I rejoin Skyler at the front desk and then walk with her to the main entrance.
“Wow,” she says, pausing in the vestibule. “It’s really coming down out there.”
I hadn’t even noticed it was pouring outside. For the last hour and a half, all of my focus has been on the gorgeous young woman beside me.
She sighs. “If I’d known it was going to pour, I would’ve brought my umbrella.”
I immediately slip off my jacket and drape it over her shoulders.
Her already pink cheeks deepen in color. “Oh, no. I didn’t mean—”
“I insist.” I keep my hands on her shoulders, not letting her shrug the jacket off. “You’ll catch a cold in this weather. I don’t want you to miss work.”
She bites her bottom lip like she’s holding herself back from saying something.
“Thank you,” she says softly, pulling the jacket tightly around her.