Page 12 of The Wrong Boss

He laughed, and I watched the play of the light over his burnished skin. He had straight, white teeth and full lips, and I found my gaze drawn back to him every time I tried to look away to gather my thoughts. It wasn’t like me to feel out of sorts around a man, no matter how good-looking he was.

But as I sat there, regaling him with the tale of my unfortunate breakup and subsequent mania of packing and driving away from the home we’d shared, I realized that I was attracted to him in a way that felt unfamiliar. It was bigger than anything I’d felt before. More volatile. Like the air between us shimmered with gasoline fumes, and I’d just found an old packet of matches in my pocket.

On the surface, it wasn’t that shocking. He was tall and broad, and he’d saved me from a knife-wielding thief who had obviously been ingesting various illicit substances for quite some time. He’d carried me and been domineering, and now he was softer while still looking me over with those dark, dangerous eyes. Of course I’d be attracted to him. He was catnip for a woman on a rebound: just dangerous enough to get the heartpumping, and just soft and safe enough to make you want to give in to temptation.

But as my heart thumped at the sound of his laughter and my thighs clenched when his forearm brushed against mine, it struck me just how long it had been since I’d felt attracted toanybody. My body had been a wasteland of forgotten needs for so long that I hadn’t even realized what was missing.

I wanted sex. I wanted sexwith him.

Forcing myself to turn forward, I focused on the dregs of my drink and shook my head when the bartender offered to make me another. One was enough, especially combined with the two glasses of champagne I’d had earlier. Anything more, and I’d get myself into trouble. Into more trouble.

“How about you?” I heard myself ask.

“How about me, what?”

“Are you married?” I kept my voice casual, but judging by the knowing look Cole shot my way, he saw right through me.

“No.”

“Huh,” I said. “Girlfriend?”

“No again.”

“I see.”

“Why do you ask?” he asked, turning toward me so his legs framed mine. “You interested?”

His voice was teasing, but his eyes were serious.

My pulse pounded through my body, in my thighs, my wrists, my neck. My core. I brought my drink to my lips and sipped a tiny bit of the melted ice through the straw, looking through my eyelashes as I met his gaze. “I’m just making conversation,” I told him with a tiny shrug.

The tips of his fingers brushed against my bare knee, and a shiver went through me. I put my drink down as my hands began to tremble.

Sleeping with him—sleeping withanyone—was a bad idea, no matter what my cousins said to tease me. I’d just broken up with my long-term boyfriend a day ago. I’d had my car broken into just hours ago. I was frazzled and unstable—and I was attending a wedding, of all things, which had obviously addled the last remnants of my rational mind. All that love and companionship and happiness had gotten to me, and now I was here. With him. Itching to lean in and taste the booze on his lips.

Cole would be the rebound of all rebounds, and this attraction was nothing more than me trying to cling to something to make me feel better.

I knew it. He probably knew it. But it didn’t change the fact that the air between us was electric. It snapped against my skin like static, and the gentle, barely-there touch of his fingertips against my knee made my whole body pulse with need.

Wanting to get back on solid ground, I asked, “So what was this big-shot meeting you were having? Or was that just an excuse to get away from me?”

His smile was lazy and darkly amused. “You think you had that much of an effect on me, Carrie?” His thumb stroked against the inside of my knee, and I nudged my legs a tiny bit wider.

My mind blaredDanger!

My body ignored the warning.

I popped a brow. “I think you saw me and decided to playthe hero. Then you manhandled me despite my protests. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume the rest of your story was made up to make you look like even more of a savior.”

“How so?”

“Well, you just happened by on the way to a business meeting when you saw a damsel in distress, and you had to act. Or maybe it’s your usual play. You hang around hotels waiting to see some poor, unsuspecting woman ripe for the picking. Maybe you and that thief are in cahoots.”

He hummed, his thumb still stroking my skin in the crease of my inner knee. His eyes sparkled as he watched me, sinful and dark and delicious. Being in his presence was making me a little breathless, but I was having too much fun to stop. Talking to Cole felt risky and safe all at once. I wanted to poke him and push him and see what he’d do. See whatI’ddo.

After all, I’d spent years trying to be the perfect girlfriend; didn’t it feel amazing to be a little bit bad?

“You’ve got me all figured out,” Cole said, that lazy, dark grin still playing around the edges of his lips.

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