Page 34 of Unexpected Temptation

He smirks again, but then he realizes where he is and what he’s doing.

“We can’t.” He suddenly backs up, leaving me stranded and feeling foolish on the desk. “I’ve got a visitor coming, somebody I need to impress. Or intimidate. Hence the monkey suit.”

“Who is it?” I say, quickly hopping down from the desk.

So this is the game, then. He’s going to get all hot and steamy and then act like it never happened. My lips are still sore from the kissing. This shivering deep inside telling me to do it again, but …

“It doesn’t matter,” he says. “I’m your boss. You need to take Loki and Luna home. Or don’t you think you’re up to it?”

His tone stings. He’s getting cold all of a sudden. His words say one thing, but his eyes tell a different story. They’re full of heat and maybe something more. “So we’re going to pretend like last night never happened?” I still feel an echo of enchantment from when he came to my rescue. I’ve seen my fair share of bad, but if that man’s sick plan had worked, if Tristan hadn’t been there… I can’t even think about it. “Or … justnowdidn’t happen?”

He frowns. “Neither of us can afford to think about it right now.”

I can’t believe what I’m about to do. I don’t know where this confidence comes from. Maybe it’s being so low on sleep. Perhaps it’s the comedown, or sometimes you just have to take a chance, but I march right up to him. “Think aboutthis.”

He groans as he catches me, falling into the kiss. I grind my body against him, feeling his hardness, his muscles. Then I pull away, not wanting to give him the wrong idea. I can’t do what I really want in this office.

“I’m sorry,” I murmur.

“Don’t apologize,” he says fiercely. “Just do what I ask, Maya, please.”

I still don’t get why he cares so much. Except the heat of his lips tells me otherwise.

“A kiss for the road?” he says, pulling me into his arms.

“Then we’ll pretend this never happened, too, right?”

He leans down,claimingme with a kiss. I know how that sounds, but this kiss is different somehow.

The world around us dissolves. The sensation is electric, a jolt of warmth that spreads from my mouth to every corner of my body. I lose myself in the texture of his lips, the way they move with an insistence that leaves me breathless.

I clutch at his shirt, needing something to anchor myself as the intensity of the kiss pulls me under. His hand cradles the back of my head, fingers threading through my hair, and I feel a shiver run down my spine. It’s as if his touch ignites something deep inside me, a fire that blazes hotter every second.

Emotion swirls within me, a tumultuous mix of desire and vulnerability. My heart pounds in my chest, each beat echoing the clash of physical need and raw emotion.

I can taste his breath and feel the rhythm of his pulse against my skin; it’s intoxicating. I want to lose myself in this moment, drown in the sensation of him, forget everything else. My thoughts blur, replaced by the sheer intensity of feeling. It’s all-consuming, a tidal wave of passion that sweeps me away.

He suddenly leans back as if he can sense it, too, but he fears it. I’m struggling to breathe.

“You should go,” he says, his voice low, like he’s scared of what will happen if I don’t.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll get Loki and Luna and … and get a ride back.”

“I’ll have Simone drive you,” he says, walking over to his desk. This time, he stands on the other side of it as if he wants to put it as a shield between us.

“Thank you,” I say, pausing at the door.

He adjusts his shirt. His collar is crumpled from where I must’ve grabbed it in our passion. I can still feel his body imprinted against mine.

“I’m just trying to do the right thing,” he replies, echoing his text from last night.

“Still, I mean it.”

“I’ll call you when we need you back here,” he says.

“Uh, okay.”

Maybe I should stop questioning this, but I still feel like none of this is happening. Yet the tingling from the kiss is real. The blazing between my legs, my nipples suddenly sore and sensitive against my bra is real. The aftershocks of the Devil’s Breath—the fear, the sleeplessness—all tell me this is real.

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