Page 8 of More than Need

“Peanut butter?”

Gideon jerked so violently that half the papers on his desk went flying, his mug—thankfully empty—toppled to the carpet, and his small holder of pencils and pens tipped over, his stationery going rogue and attempting to escape via the floor.

“Fuckinghell,” he rasped out, pressing a hand to his rapidly beating heart.

Riley stared passively at him, like he hadn’t just tried to take fifty years off Gideon’s life. He wanted to dieyoungand like, in a heroic action scene. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“They would never expect it here,” Riley remarked.

“Put something nice on my tombstone.” He contemplated leaving everything on the floor. The carpet would be too tempting. Surely, he’d worked enough to earn a quick power nap under his desk?

“What are you still doing here?” Riley asked.

“Waiting for you,” Gideon said bluntly, too tired to skirt around the truth.

Riley scowled. “Why?”

“Where do you want me to start?” There were so many appropriate answers to that question it was practically a lucky dip.Because you were dealt a serious blow today. Because we basically kissed. Because I liked how you held me, and I want to know what it means.Some were more important than others, but they were all things they needed to talk about. Gideoncouldn’t deny that one split-second decision had changed everything. Riley might have been able to dismiss it, and Gideon might have been able to as well if he’dwantedto. He didn’t. He wanted to know what it meant that Riley even allowed that much to happen.

Riley’s scowl deepened. “Go home, Gideon.”

Gideon didn’t consider his empty two-bedroom apartment “home.” He hadn’t even unpacked properly yet, instead searching through boxes to find the essentials as he needed them. Every time he put something new into place it felt like another nail in the coffin that reminded him he didn’t get to see his little boy every day anymore. That the place he’d called home for so many years didn’t have a place for him anymore.

“Are you going home?” Gideon countered. “Why don’t we walk out together?”

“I’m not doing this with you.”

Gideon stood, evening their heights out a little better, only needing to tilt his head up a bit to meet Riley’s gaze. He didn’t want to have such a significant disadvantage. Not for this. “Not doing what? Talking about the fact that you have asister, or the fact that you kissed me in your office?”

Riley glanced around as if Gideon didn’t already know the place was empty. He wasn’t that much of an idiot.

“A mistake,” Riley said stiffly.

“Which bit?”

“It wasn’t a kiss.”

Okay, Gideon could work with that being where they started. “I felt your lips against mine.” Riley couldn’t pretend it didn’t happen. Facts didn’t lie, and Gideon could still feel that brief pressure, even hours later. Branded on him like a tattoo. And he wanted more. What would a real kiss from Riley feel like? Maybe that avenue of thought led to a dangerous path. If Gideon caredabout that, he might have closed the door and left it behind him. Why had Riley kissed him? Why hadn’t he pushed Gideon away?

“A minimal touch. If you consider that a kiss, then I feel sorry for you.”

Well, Gideon couldn’t ignore that opening. “Why don’t you show me how it’s done, then?”

Riley visibly swallowed, jaw twitching. Somewhere deep down, Gideon had thought it’d been a fluke. Heat of the moment, and Riley being upset about a pretty fucking significant bombshell. It had put him in a strange bubble all day, and he’d assumed it had only affected him.

He could see the truth of it in Riley’s eyes.

Riley wanted tokisshim. Gideon had never entertained the idea before, and now he couldn’t think of anything else.

Riley stepped closer, and Gideon braced himself, heart racing. His gut clenched when Riley fiddled with the clasped middle button of Gideon’s suit jacket, holding tight over his stomach. A hint of Riley’s fingertips whispered over Gideon’s white shirt. Riley glanced at his lips, and his body went into overdrive, a hot flash racing through him.Hell yes.

Gideon had always acknowledged Riley’s attractiveness, in that unattainable way. A marble statue in a museum that had a distinct “look, don’t touch” sign hanging in front of it over a red rope. Lucia, his ex-wife, had waxed poetic about all of Riley, mostly as a joke to tease Gideon but also because anyone with eyes knew exactly what Riley looked like. Hot, competent, and in charge. The ultimate trifecta. Gideon couldn’t come right out and say, “Yeah, my boss is hot as fuck,” but secretly, he’d agreed with her. An abstract thought, not concrete.

The tiniest shift to the left in a split second had morphed it into something more tangible.

Gideon curled his hands around the edge of his desk to stop himself from reaching out. He had a feeling that any attempt toforce Riley to go faster wouldn’t go down well, and he wanted this kiss. Wouldn’t be denied.

Riley tipped Gideon’s chin up, searching his eyes. The hold heated his skin, and he acutely felt everywhere Riley touched him. He couldn’t ignore any of it, not the way Riley smelled—so fuckinggood—and not the way his skin burned up under Riley’s fingers.

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