Page 39 of Inarticulate

He did as she requested, turning his focus away to glare at the world.

“I want to spend more time with you.” The only problem was that she needed to be discreet. Oh, so discreet. She had to move on from Spencer slowly. He couldn’t find out she was with an employee of their competitor. He’d be furious, and his father would lose faith in her work ethic.

Keenan’s inability to speak would also be held against her. Spencer would try to humiliate her to save face. Worse, he would inevitably try to humiliate Keenan.

Christ. It was such a mess. So why couldn’t she take the easy option and watch him walk away?

“We need to keep this quiet.”

His nostrils flared and he nodded.

“Is it worth it?” Her question was meek and needy, the fragility demanding reassurance.

He pinned her with his glare, but this time was different. This time his ferocity saidhell yes, of course it is. He stepped into her, his large physique overbearing.

Her throat tightened with his proximity and she swallowed over the need to kiss the anger from his features. He grabbed her hand and tugged her out from underneath the streetlight, his long stride taking her to a shadowed position beside a neck-high shrub.

She’d never been with a man who had less than an executive role in a company. Not unless you included high school. But when he looked at her, when he touched her, none of it mattered, not his job or his lack of speech. Not even her cousins warning her away.

“How are we going to do this?”

He pressed into her, thigh to thigh, and grasped her hips. She struggled for air, the deep breaths she’d been inhaling now coming out in puffs of short, sharp white fog.

She was overwhelmed with a sensation she’d never experienced before. Lust was no longer the only facet to the attraction between them. Other things were weaving their way in. Emotional things. Needy things.

It was wrong. Yet while she stood against him, it felt entirely right.

Her career didn’t matter. Her cousins didn’t exist. Even the hardship of restricted communication didn’t stand a chance against the insanity of her emotions. She wanted a repeat of the other night. A continuous loop of lust and passion, for days on end. It was vital that she acquire everything he had to offer.

He tugged her into a one-armed hug and she went willingly. His scent comforted her. Crisp and clean. Sexy and inviting. He typed with his thumb, never releasing her, and held the screen between them.

I can keep my mouth shut if you can.

She closed her eyes and laughed at his self-deprecation. They shouldn’t joke about this. It wasn’t a game.

“Hiding seems childish.”

He squeezed her, demanding she look at his cell.We don’t need to hide. We’ll just be careful.

Careful? They were far beyond that. Careful meant not following him into the private property of a darkened mansion. Careful wasn’t sitting beside him at a local restaurant or inviting him into her suite.

You’re tense.

“Yeah,” she admitted and turned her gaze to his.

His ferocity was gone. Now the familiar man from her dreams was at the forefront. He slid his palm around her neck and leaned in slowly, giving her a chance to protest before his mouth grazed hers. She sank into him, placing her hands on the hardness of his chest as his tongue snaked across her lips.

Desire warred with self-preservation. She tried to pull away, but he held her neck tight, hypnotizing her with a kiss that couldn’t be denied.Shouldn’tbe denied. Her fingers tangled with the material of his shirt, their noses brushed. He ground his hips into her, and the unmistakable erection nestled between them doused her in a bucket of crystal clarity.

She shoved from his grip and gasped for breath. “Not here.”

He inclined his head, his lips kiss-darkened, and he stepped back to use both hands on his cell.Go get changed. I’m taking you out.

“No.” She backtracked, distancing herself from whatever pheromone-induced stupor he’d pulled her into. “I should lay low for a while.”

A lot lower than kissing behind a shrub out in front of her hotel.

Why?His forehead crinkled in the cutest look of desperation.You’ll be gone soon enough.

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