Page 105 of Unbossly Manners

“Please go, Peyton.” He brushed past me.

I bristled. “Why are you mad?”

“If you don’t know, it’s too humiliating to say.”

“You were about to humiliate me,” I shot back.

“I just… want to be alone.” His butt rested against his desk and he ran his hand down his face. “If you’re here to apologize, please don’t.”

I walked across the rug until I stood directly before him.

“I want another lesson.” My fingers touched his arm, and he stiffened.

“Don’t tease me.” He swallowed, and gently pushed me away.

“Is it true what Derrick told me?” I asked. “About Kat?”

Jackson slid along the edge of the desk and walked to the tall windows.

“If he said my life flashed before my eyes and when I woke up in that hospital room I realized I’d been a waste of space for the past year, maybe more, and I was done living in the past, which means I’m done with Kat… then, yes. It’s true.”

Up until this point, Jackson hadn’t been available to me and I wasn’t going to open a package that was broken. There was no return policy. No getting my money—or heart—back.

But now he was free.

Hope is a funny thing. When it flutters in, everything changes. The light in the room grew brighter, the weight lifted off of me, and fear was replaced by a new kind of bravery.

My fingers traced the sill of the window until it reached his hand. I took it in mine, then ducked under his arm until I was facing him. He cocked his head and furrowed his brow.

“What are you doing?”

I stepped into the space between his legs, and used my knees to spread them open. He fell against the windowpane. Then I said yes to something that scared me, and I kissed him.

The connection of my lips on his exploded into my heart. He gently shoved my shoulders back. Our lips separated and I mewed, wanting to get back to him.

“Why did you do that?” he asked, holding me afar. His blue eyes were alight but unsure.

“Why do you think?” I tried to lean in for another kiss, but he held me back.

“You just rejected me in front of the entire company.”

I snorted and stepped away. “No, I didn’t. I announced my promotion and they bought it.”

Why were we still talking? I wanted to rip his clothes off. Unless… Oh, shit. Had I misunderstood?

“Wait… you were about to, um… confess something, right?”

He frowned and my hope plummeted to the floor.

I shifted, but he reached out with his hands and pulled me to his chest.

“That wasn’t a rejection out there?” he asked, his eyes penetrating.

“No,” I whispered, the heat from our bodies pulsing between us, drawing me in. “I’ve wanted you from the moment I crashed into you in front of the elevator. And I don’t just mean sex.”

His forehead fell to mine.

“Fuck’s sake,” he said, his breath hot and sweet on my nose.

---