Page 43 of As You Crave It

CHAPTER TWELVE

THENEXTMORNING, Quin woke up with a smile on his face. It had everything to do with the warm body pressed against him. Celia had stayed the night. He knew they still had a lot to discuss. He still didn’t know where they stood—were they a couple? Were they friends? Would they end the charade of needed lessons from each other? He had no idea. But he didn’t care what they were as long as he could wake up next to her, holding her in his arms every morning.

He realized that was what his life was missing. If he could just spend every day wrapped up in Celia, he would die happy. He checked the clock and saw that they both had a couple of hours before they had to be at work. He did a mental inventory of his fridge—maybe he could whip them up a little breakfast in bed.

He watched her sleep for a few minutes, and she shifted in his arms. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled when she saw him.

“Good morning,” he said, placing a kiss on her forehead.

As quickly as the smile had formed on her lips, it faded. “Quin,” she said, as if she was surprised to see him. “What time is it?”

“Almost seven.”

“Oh, hell, really? I need to go,” she told him, disengaging from his arms. “Where are my clothes?”

He looked around the room—their clothes were scattered around the floor. “They’re everywhere,” he told her.

“Can you give me a ride back home?”

“Yeah, of course. But what’s the rush?”

“I have to be at work. Jared’s back today.” She pulled her hair back and deftly stuck it in a knot that somehow stayed in place. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep here.”

“No? What’s wrong with that? You have plenty of time to get to work.” He felt hurt that that she was willing to dismiss the feeling of waking up together.

“I can’t be late.”

Quin watched her as she finished gathering her things. Maybe this was them falling back into friend territory. There were some seriously blurred lines to whatever relationship they had. The sense of peace he’d woken up with dissipated and he knew that life was becoming once again more complicated. His heart thundered in his chest—and not in a good way. Her reaction to waking up in his bed had surprised him. He was hurt and needed to get away for a few minutes. To sort it out before he did or said something he would regret. Like tell her his true feelings and make himself too vulnerable.

“Okay, just let me get a quick shower and we’ll be on our way, okay?”

“A shower, really? I have to go.”

“I need to get ready for work too. I’m not going to drive you home and then come back. I’ll be five minutes.” That made perfect, logical sense to him, but Celia looked annoyed at having to wait for him. He got out of bed and headed for the en suite. He was still naked and saw that Celia was watching him. “Care to join me?” he asked with a smile, unable to help himself, hoping to alleviate the tension between them.

“No,” she said, and Quin knew she was trying harder to convince herself than him. “We don’t have time. I’ll go make some coffee.”

“Okay, sure.”

Celia sat at her desk. Quin had dropped her off at her house with a quick goodbye. Maybe she’d reacted badly that morning, waking up in Quin’s warm embrace. It had been heavenly, and she’d wanted to snuggle back into him and forget the world for the day. But the harsh light of the morning had made her realize where she was, what she’d done. Goddammit, it was happening again—she was falling in love with Quin Rexford.

She felt a shadow come over her cubicle and she turned around and saw Jared standing behind her. She looked over her shoulder at her boss. “Good morning, Mr. Foster.”

“Good morning, Celia. Nice of you to finally join us.”

“I was fifteen minutes late. I’m sorry.” It was ridiculous to apologize, of course, especially when Jared didn’t even typically arrive at the office most days until after eleven, if he showed up at all.

He put a hand on her shoulder and she almost squirmed away. “Maybe you can make it up to me.” Her skin crawled. “Come to dinner with me tonight.”

“I can’t.”

“That’s too bad. You’re doing some good work here,” he noted. “It’d be a shame if you squandered your life and career here by not being promoted.”

The things that Jared said to her were not okay. He was a predator. But Celia had to smile as he said them, because she knew that he was digging his own grave. The recorder on her laptop had captured every word, and even video of the way he touched her. “Are you saying that my success here is based on me sleeping with you?”

“Celia, you hurt me. I said no such thing. But I would encourage you to meet me for dinner, after all.”

Celia knew she was trying to get dirt on him, but there was no way she was going to meet him alone for dinner. She wasn’t stupid. As much as she wanted to bury the bastard, and even though she could probably take him in a physical confrontation, she wouldn’t put herself in danger to do it. So she thought quickly. As much as she didn’t want to think about it, going on his boat had been dangerous and reckless. He could have easily hurt her. She would have to be safer around her boss, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be alone with him ever again. “I don’t think my boyfriend would like it.”

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