I frown. I had no idea she’d lived with him. Hearing how he had Talia in his bed nightly for a stint makes me hate him more than when I punched him in the face. I didn’t think that was possible.
Deep breath.This isn’t about me.
“You don’t want a raise or a title change.” I lean back in my chair and regard her earnestly. “You want freedom. Choices. You can have those with me.”
“Sure, why not put another man in charge of my paycheck?” She drinks her bourbon in one swallow and gestures between us with the glass. “I’m sure this will end well too.”
I’m on my feet and standing in front of her before she realizes I’m there. Her head tips, her eyes sparking with both challenge and interest. I like that look on her way too much.
“You’re in charge of you if you work with me, Talia. I don’t babysit. I don’t require performance reviews. It’s a contract. Limited time. And you’re writing up your terms, not me. I’ve seen the effects of your labor. You’re an asset. Ed can’t see that because his head is in his ass. Or maybe it’s in Brandon’s ass. Hell, maybe he alternates.”
A startled giggle softens her face, smoothing out the worry lines from her forehead. That’s what I like to see. Tough Talia is attractive as hell, but the smile she’s wearing goes straight to my dick. I have the foreign desire to beg her to touch me. Awareness between us crackles to life like a live wire dropped into a filled bathtub, just like the first time I saw her—the second and third time too. I have an inkling she feels that awareness too but resists. Why does she do that?
Then I answer myself.
She ignores what’s between us for the reasons she stated. She’s tired of making forward progress only to be knocked back by greedy bastards like Ed and Brandon Lambert. Men like them can’t handle a woman taking what she wants and needs in life.
For that reason, I don’t lean in and kiss her to satisfy the craving hollowing out my gut. Even as her eyes flare with interest and her gaze darts to my neck. Assuming she’s not meeting my eyes to deescalate what’s between us, I step back to give her space. I won’t take anything from her she’s not willing to give me.
“Think on it today. Will your sister be home soon?”
She shakes her head. “Late. Midnight, probably. If she doesn’t go out with her friends and have after work drinks, which she usually does.” Her eyes stray to my glass. “Stay for one more.”
“I’d love to, but I have a rental car to drive and the sleep I had was shitty before I climbed on the jet this morning to come here. Sleep deprivation, I can handle, but sleep deprivation and tipsy, you’re gonna be bailing me out of jail.”
She grins, amused. Despite my earlier promise to myself, I fight to keep from scooping her into my arms and kissing her senseless. I bet she tastes like heaven.
“Where are you staying?”
“Haven’t booked a room yet. I came straight to you.”
Her face changes, softening like it did when she smiled. Vulnerability leaks in. Just enough to stop me from turning around and walking out of her apartment. I study her for a long while. Long enough that when she fists the front of my shirt, I’m too stunned to react.
Her open mouth hits my throat, plush lips sliding over my skin. They close on a kiss before opening again. Her tongue darts out and travels up the side of my neck, past my beard, and over my cheek. When her fantastic mouth reaches my ear, I’m shaken from my stupor. My hands come up to grip her arms, but instead of setting her away, I pull her closer until her jacket brushes the front of my shirt.
She nips my earlobe and whispers, “Stay with me a little longer.”
She lowers to her heels and sends me a demure smile. My chest heaves as I suck in oxygen I apparently needed very badly. I’m looking into her warm, kind eyes, wondering if this is one of those tests life gives you. One where you should say no even though every fiber of your very horny being is screaming YES.
Her eyes are crystal clear, knowing. She’s not drunk. She’s just Talia. And she’s asking me to stay while wearing skintight black leather pants that make her look like a badass, paired with a pink camisole and jacket that make her look like a confection.
What happens next takes me more by surprise than her offer. A smile splits my face. A big one.
She lets out a throaty chuckle. “You look like you really, really want to say yes.”
Guilty.I slide my fingers into her dark, luscious hair—a first—and tilt my head. “Hell, Wildflower. How can I say no?”
Her fist tightens on the front of my shirt again as her eyes zoom in on my lips.
I lean in a scant inch, giving her a chance to take charge or back off. Her call. She satisfies us both by kissing me again, this time on the mouth. I don’t hold back. Not this time.
Not anymore.