Page 50 of The Secret

Bell also had other ideas. Three hours and sixteen minutes of crying later, it had killed any possible notion of returning to where we’d been. And if it hadn’t been for the intensity still blazing in his eyes as we switched Bell between us, I could have almost convinced myself I’d imagined it.

Imagined chemistry more intense than a chem student’s end of term paper.

Which is probably what I needed to do - pretend nothing had been about to happen because no good could ever come from falling for your boss.

And no matter how much I wanted to deny it, I was nearer the edge of that cliff than I ever should be.

9

Murray

Irested back in my chair, the front legs tipping as I crossed my feet on the desk and watched the screens in front of me, the bright flickering colors mesmerizing as they rapidly changed from the values and volumes of stock trading live on the global exchanges I was monitoring.

Linking my hands behind my head, I closed my eyes, tired from my sleepless night. And then there she was, arriving as bright and true as she did in real life, bursting into my days, her sunny disposition and unequivocal charm preventing me from any possible chance to sleep peacefully.

Even power nap peacefully.

The hungry, appreciative look she’d given me outside my bedroom as her eyes slowly scanned across my body heated me up as quickly a branding iron thrust into an open flame.

Her pupils flaring under my gaze.

Her pulse beating like a drum through her impossibly soft skin under my fingertips.

Her lips parting as I wiped the ice-cream from the corner of her mouth, her tongue following the movement.

And then the way she sucked in her cheek as I licked it off my thumb.

Her breath hitching.

Nor did I miss her squirming. Only the inflexibility of my jeans stopped my dick from viciously punching out at her.

I’d never seen anyone with such intense desire in their eyes.

And it was all for me.

All of it taking me so close to breaking point I could touch it. Smell it.

Which was why I sprinted out the door this morning before she woke up - because I couldn’t see her and not want to finish where we’d left off. I hadn’t even been able to reply to the photos of Bell she’d sent through, as usual, because even with fifty blocks between us, she was still clouding my ability to think or craft a perfectly normal and grown up response beyond a very weak ‘thanks’. Not to mention the thirty minutes of internal debate I’d had about whether to add anXon the end.

My eyes shot open as the door flew wide, Penn and Rafe marching through and flopping down on the black Jean Royère sofa, stretching along the back wall, which Freddie picked out and sent me the bill for later before I’d had a chance to object.

“Come and play with us,” demanded Penn, taking a position similar to the one I’d had before they’d barged in.

“No, I can't.” My chair legs landed back on the floor and I leaned forward across my desk. “I have actual work to do, which includes making you two a lot of money.”

It was irrelevant that I hadn’t done any work yet, too distracted by thoughts of Kit and her sweet, perfect mouth. The way her cheeks pinked when I teased her, which had become my favorite thing to do since the first walk we’d been on.

“We already have a lot of money, so we give you permission to play hooky.”

I rolled my eyes.

The door opened again, this time it was Joan, my secretary, bringing in coffee and placing it on the table in front of them.

“Thanks, Joanie!” they cried in unison.

Her withering look only amused them more, because they prided themselves on being able to achieve it.

“Feet off the furniture!” she scolded before walking back out.

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