Page 10 of T is for…

Tara’s cheeks felt hot, but her complexion usually didn’t show a blush, and with the low lighting, she hoped he wouldn’t be able to tell as long as she held her expression still.

“No. But I have plans that will make coming here, even twice a month, impossible.”

Nathan was frowning again. “Is it a new job? I thought your current project was at least a five-year commitment.”

“It is. It will probably be closer to ten.”

“Wait, are they moving your lab overseas?”

“No, no. I would have told you if something was happening at work. This isn’t about work.”

He opened his mouth, and she shook her head. Just once, but his lips closed and he nodded. She wasn’t ready to talk about her plans with anyone aside from the medical team. Not yet.

And Nathan…

She had no idea how to tell him. Oddly, his opinion of her plan was one of the most important to her. Until she found the precise right words to explain it, she didn’t want to.

But she was also hoping he’d help her.

Never, in even her wildest imaginings, had she pictured asking him for help while in Las Palmas.

That brought her back to the wild idea she’d had only moments ago.

“Like I said, I was already planning to resign. Problem solved.”

He nodded, but didn’t look relieved.

Her stomach fluttered, the wild thought she’d had only moments ago seeming like more and more of a good idea the longer she sat here, and the more she drank.

Tara sucked an ice cube out of her glass, crunching it between her teeth as she worked through what she was about to say one more time. Nathan was attentively watching her, and she could feel his regard as if it were a physical thing. This should have been it, the end of their conversation—the problem of their game assignment solved by her impending departure.

But neither of them moved, and Nathan’s expression turned expectant.

Beneath her robe, her nipples were hard in the fetish lingerie.

Tara drank the rest of her kalimotxo in one go. Liquid courage.

Intellectually she knew it would take far longer than thirty seconds for alcohol to affect her enough to impair her decision-making skills or lower her inhibitions. But she could pretend, and later blame it on the half glass of red wine. Fortified by the courage placebo, she turned to face Nathan.

“I resign now, and we ignore the assignment. Or…”

Tara met and held his slightly widened gaze with her own.

“Or we do it. We play the game.”

Chapter 3

Nathan waited, holding himself so still and tight that his muscles started to hurt. Tara was making a joke, so really, he should force a fake laugh, but he couldn’t.

The best he could do was hold perfectly still and try not to show his reaction to her words.

She was his best friend. His oldest friend.

He repeated those phrases, using them to create a shield that held back the fantasy trying to take shape in the dark corners of his mind.

“Nathan, did you hear me?”

“Yes.” He’d been holding his breath too, so the word escaped on a heavy exhale. “You almost had me going there for a minute.” Now, he did manage to fake a laugh.

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