Page 81 of Can't Fight the Moonlight

He grabbed his key and headed downstairs. Shay was at the front desk. She gave him a friendly smile.

"I heard you've been working all morning," she said. "Your grandparents were disappointed you couldn't join them for breakfast."

"It was unavoidable. Is Lizzie around?"

"She's in her office."

"Thanks."

He moved past her to knock on the office door.

"Come in," Lizzie said.

When he entered, she gave him a conflicted look. "Hi," she said, her gaze filled with memories of the intimacy they'd shared. But there was also wariness in her eyes as she got to her feet. "How has your morning been?"

He frowned at the cool note in her voice. "Seriously? You're going to talk to me like I'm a guest after the night we had?"

"What do you want from me, Justin?"

"I want you to act like you, not like a stranger."

"I'm sorry. No. I'm not sorry," she amended. "You left without saying good-bye. It was a weird way to end things."

"I got an emergency text from my colleague in London. I had to take his call, and I didn't want to wake you up. There was a big problem with our deal, and I had to jump into the middle of it. I just finished, and I came to find you before I did anything else."

She looked slightly mollified by his explanation, although she still had her arms folded across her chest. "Okay, I understand. I just missed you. And that terrible feeling reminded me of why I'm not good at hookups. I have a hard time separating the emotional from the physical."

"It wasn't just a hookup, Lizzie. You know that. We talked a lot."

"We did." She sighed. "I'm afraid I just like you a little too much, Justin. It's what I do. I get involved. I care too much."

Her candid admission touched his heart. "I like you, too, Lizzie. And I care about you as well."

"That's nice."

"We're back to nice?" he teased.

She gave him a smile that melted the ice between them. "I guess we are back to where we started."

"No, we're not. We can't go back. We move forward and we don't have regrets."

"I don't have regrets about last night. I'm not sorry we were together. I'm just very aware of time passing."

"Our time isn't up yet."

"That's true."

"Then we don't need to end things now."

"No, we don't."

"Good." He walked around the desk, pulled her into his arms, and gave her a long kiss that filled him with lust. When they broke apart, he said, "Are you really busy right now? Any chance you could take a break upstairs, in your bedroom, or in mine?"

She gave him a breathless smile that unfortunately came with a negative shake of her head. "I wish I could. But I can't, Justin. I have to figure out where to find some money."

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Too much debt, not enough income." She sat down behind her desk. "I keep looking at the numbers, but I can't figure out a way to make things work." She rubbed her eyes. "Also, some of this just doesn't make sense. So, I need to go over it again and again until it does."

---