Page 65 of Challenged by the Single Dad

Oh yeah, she had to be ovulating. There was no other excuse for her primal need to climb this man-bun-wearing man like a goddamned redwood.

Once they were in the tight, confined space of the cashout room again, he closed the door, making the place feel as spacious as an armoire. Brooke’s mention of this room not being soundproof but working in a pinch slammed back into her brain.

She needed to get out of there before she wound up naked and shaking from orgasms. But when she spun around, her chest bumped his.

“Oh!” She laughed, because if she didn’t, she’d jump him. “Sorry.” She tried to back up, but like the first night when he had showed her how to cash out, there was no placetoback up.

He cleared his throat. “It’s okay.” Leaning against the door, he attempted to give them as much space as possible, which was less than four feet.

She could feel his heat. She could smell him—and damn, he smelled good. Most of all, she could see the small patch of discoloration on his neck.Oh crap!Did she give him a hickey last night? Was that from her?

He cleared his throat again. “So, listen … about last night.”

“Total mistake,” she said quickly. “Shouldn’t have happened. Won’t ever happen again.”

His gaze shot up from the floor to her face, and she could have sworn disappointment flashed in his eyes, much like she thought it had last night.

He swallowed. “Right. Um … I couldn’t agree more. I just … Iamyour boss. And you …” He yanked out the hair elastic that held his man bun in place, allowing the brown tresses to fall down and frame his angular face. Then he shoved his fingers into his hair and glanced away for a moment. “Fuck, this is hard to say. Um … you didn’t feel … wait—I can’t tell you how you feel. Sorry.Didyou feel at all like I took advantage of or coerced you? Iamyour boss—as you reminded me last night. And that comes with a disparity of power. I would never …” Growling, he shoved both hands into his hair. “This is coming out all wrong. I … It was an abuse of power and I’m sorry. I was wrong. And the last thing I want is for you to feel unsafe at work or like there is an expectation. Because there absolutely isn’t. I don’t expect anything of you.”

Even though she’d been listening to him, her gaze kept meandering back to the hickey on his neck. She couldn’t even remember doing it. But that had to be what it was.

How old was she? Fifteen?

She certainly behaved like a teenager with a crush when she was around Dom.

“Chloe?”

“Hmm?” She broke her stare at the hickey and met his gaze.

“Do you feel like I took advantage? Like I coerced you?”

“No!” Wow, that was said with way too much enthusiasm. She cleared her throat. “What I meant to say is, no. There was no coercion. No advantage taking. No … abuse of power. I did not, and do not, feel like if I hadn’t … if we hadn’t …you know, that I would have been fired. You didn’t put pressure on me. It was absolutely consensual.”

His shoulders left his ears and the creases in his face relaxed. “I would never. I swear. I …”

“It was just a mistake. We’re human. We make them. No harm, no foul. Now we can go forward as friends and colleagues. Onwards and upwards. Right?”

Those creases around his eyes and on his forehead were back. And he was taking an awful long time to reply. He was also just staring at her, and even though it should have given her the creeps, all it did was turn her on.

“Right?” she probed. “We’refriends?”

His chest rose and fell rapidly, and he swallowed. Her gaze fell to his lips. His very talented, very soft, very full lips. Her own mouth parted as if to just taste the air he breathed, and she slid her tongue across the bottom lip slowly, mesmerized by the way he just watched her.

“Dom? Wearefriends, aren’t we?” Her voice was weak now.

She’d said the word “friends” so many times now, it didn’t sound like a real word. It didn’t have meaning. Wasn’t that called semantic satiation? Now the word was simply a sound.

And it was a sound she didn’t want to be associated with Dom.

Deep down, she didn’t want to just befriendswith him.

He understood her. He challenged her. He made her feel more alive than she’d felt since Elliott died.

And he still hadn’t said a damn word. He just stared at her.

Now, her chest rose and fell quicker. Her body was hot, and the air around them seemed to crackle and spark like there was a live wire overhead.

“Dom … say something. Please.”

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