Page 19 of Between the Lines

“Explain yourself,” she demanded crisply. He gestured for her to sit, but she remained standing, refusing to do anything he told her to.

“I’m going to go,” John announced, clapping his hands together as he cast Theo a stern look. “Please stop by my office after...whatever this is.”

Theo acknowledged the other man with a jerk of his chin, and then John was gone. He closed the door behind him, leaving Jo alone with Theo.

Her pulse tripped, then started to beat double time.

“What are you doing, Theo?” Her voice trembled, and she told herself that it was with anger. “You had a chance to talk to me last night. You didn’t have to drag me all the way here with a made-up story.”

“Let me be quite clear.” Theo’s voice was suddenly sharp, commanding in a way that she’d never heard before. It caught her attention, and she eyed him sharply. He still lounged against the desk, but he’d straightened.

Rather than the lazy, hedonistic Theo she was acquainted with, this man looked in control. She had no idea what to make of it.

“There was no false story. I own Crossing Lines. I am looking for a unique voice to draw in new users. The offer of a job is real.” His expression darkened, and he didn’t hide the way his gaze swept over her small frame. “But at the same time that John and I came up with that idea, I was looking into what my ex-girlfriend was up to, since I was coming back to Boston. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the sweet girl I’d left was the writer of a blog exploring all things kinky.”

“I’ve never been a sweet girl.” Jo made air quotes around the last two words with her fingers. “And you didn’t discover that I was the writer of my blog with a simple internet search. I’ve made sure of that.”

The corners of his lips twisted in a smile. “Touché. I may have had one of my programmers dig a little. But your secret is safe with me.”

“Why offer me the job, Theo?” Jo’s voice was quiet. “There are a million writers out there who could write what you want. This has messy written all over it.”

He paused.

“I owe you,” he finally said, tapping a finger on the desk. “Though of course, if you weren’t qualified, this wouldn’t even be an issue.”

“You owe me?” Jo heard her voice echo off the high ceiling and realized she was shouting but didn’t care. “Fuck that noise, Theo. You thought you’d come throw a job at your fancy new company at your hard-up ex and all would be forgiven? I don’t need your charity. I don’t need you.”

That was it—she was done. Her fury at his actions overrode the very real disappointment that the job wouldn’t work as she stormed toward the door.

When Theo grabbed her arm, she slapped at it with angry hands. “Stop manhandling me!”

“Then stop acting like an ass and listen.” Hauling her around so that her ass was pressed against the desk, he leaned in, a hand on either side of her hips, forcing her to rear back.

She could smell him, some kind of pricey cologne that made her throat go dry. She could feel the heat of his body all along the line of her own, and damn it, that ache between her thighs decided that it would be a fine time to wake up.

It was Theo. It had always been him.

“The reason I offered you the damn job, and the reason that you’re going to take it, is because we have unfinished business.” He leaned in, and she felt his warm breath mist over her lips. “I didn’t leave because of you, or us, and you damn well know that. And there’s still something here. You can’t deny that.”

Opening eyes that she didn’t realize she’d squeezed closed, Jo looked up at Theo, saw the glint of truth in his eyes.

Her heart felt as though he’d placed it in his fist and squeezed.

“You may not have left because of us, but you still left.” She did her best to keep her voice level. “You really expect us to just pick up where we left off? Unbelievable.”

She placed her hands on his chest, intending to push him away, but the feel of his body beneath her palms made her hesitate. Like a shark sensing her weakness, he closed the ribbon of space between their bodies, pressing himself against her.

“Tell me you don’t want me to touch you.” He touched his lips to the thin skin behind her ear, and she couldn’t hold back the shudder. When her fingers dug into his chest, he slid those lips down her neck and over, measuring the beats of her heart in the hollow of her throat.

Damn it.Damn herself. She’d gone for so, so long without feeling this heat, and now that she’d had a taste, she wanted another hit, and another after that. Would it really be so bad to just let herself go, one more time?

Slowly, giving her time to say no, he moved his hands from the desk to her hips and up, until his long fingers framed her waist. He squeezed gently, and she remembered what it was like to have him grip her like that when he was inside her.

She also remembered what it had felt like after he’d left, in the days and weeks and months when she’d missed him so much it felt as though she’d been stabbed with a ragged shard of glass. It had taken everything she had to move past that—was it worth feeling that again, in exchange for just a few moments of pleasure?

No.No, it was not.

Pulling back abruptly, she pushed him away and broke the embrace. Her breath came fast and hard as she made space between them, wiping sweaty palms on the thighs of her jeans.

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