She stutters and blinks at me. “It’s not a stunt. I cannot work for you.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” She trails off, then laughs. “For lots of reasons, but let’s start with, you just threatened to spank me!”
“Ipromisedto spank you, and only if you hit me again. Corrective consequence.”
“I don’t need correction! Who are you, and what did you do with Jacob Lowe?”
I release her wrist, only to catch her face with my hand instead as she tries to look away. I cup her cheek, my thumb dragging along her jaw. Fuck, I like making her shiver. Why wasn’t I doing this for the last two years?
Morals.Workplace harassment rules. A desperate need not to lose her, although look where that got us.
Right.
“I’m the same man you’ve always known. But right now, I’m not your boss. You quit, remember? And you quitting unleashed a different side of me. So it’s not whatIdid with Jacob Lowe, sweetheart. It’s whatyoudid to him when you told me you wouldn’t be returning after the holidays.”
She gasps.
I’ve never wanted to kiss her more, and I have wanted to kiss her plenty. I just didn’t have the balls to do it before.
It’s time for that to change.
I lean in and just barely graze her lips with mine.
She shudders and stiffens.
“Shhh,” I say, soothing her. I back off, holding her face between my hands. “I’m not going to kiss you properly until you relax. But if I’m your boyfriend for the week—”
“For the night. You need to leave tomorrow.”
“Can’t do that. There weren’t a lot of tickets left for me, so I’m returning to Conception Ridge at the same time as you.”
“What?” Her gaze is wide, her panic clear.
I’ve never been so turned on in my entire life.
This is why you can’t have her, Jake. You’re playing with fire, and Sienna is too sweet and innocent for your particular cravings.
She’s not moving. Not breathing. I’m not sure she’s thinking. Her pupils are dilated, her lips parted. She’s completely still.
Tell her, you fuckhead.
I can’t.
“Holiday travel,” I finally grind out. “It’s what I could book at the last minute because you dropped this bomb on me. So unless you want to explain to your parents that you quit and I followed you here to convince you to come back, then I guess I’m your boyfriend for the week. And we’re going to have to kiss. I know I’m going to enjoy it. I hope you will, too.”
“We can’t.” Her chest rises and falls between us, her whole body shaking. “Jacob…”
“Don’t call me that.” I frown, trying to not pour all my focus on how fucking good she feels pressed between me and the wall. “Anyone in your family know that jerk you work for as Jacob?”
She squeaks. “Worked for. Past tense.”
“Agree to disagree.” I grind the words out. “But there’s another good reason to call me Jake. It might help you…bear this. If I’m someone different.”
“What would help is you walking downstairs and leaving.” But her voice goes tight as she says it, and I think about everything she’s ever let slip about her family. How her siblings both married young, and her parents have an idyllic marriage.
She wouldn’t want them to think we’ve been fighting up here.