Page 32 of Taking Care of the Target

“I’m onboard with being able to boss you around.” He tugged the book out of her hands, tossed it aside, and pulled her onto his lap. “Kiss me. Now.”

She hovered her mouth over his, pulling back when he tried to close the distance. “To be clear, I’m doing this because I want to, not because you told me to.”

He reached up and twisted a strand of her hair around his finger. “I’m not really picky as to the reasons.”

She closed the mere inches of space between them, sighing when their lips made contact.Maybe tonight will be the night. I’ll make a nice dinner, open a bottle of wine…

Vince moved his lips to where her jaw met her neck and sucked lightly on her skin. She dug her fingernails into his arm, holding on as the world began to spin. His arousal twitched against her, growing harder by the second, and passion sparked and took hold.

Maybe we’ll just skip dinner.

He gripped her butt and hauled her tighter against him, groaning into her ear when she rocked her hips. The delicious friction made her shudder against him, and their lips met again in a fevered kiss.

He stroked her tongue with his, and she sunk farther into his lap, enjoying the deep guttural sound he made in the back of his throat and the way it vibrated through her.

But then his fingers wrapped around her hips, holding her in place as his breath sawed in and out of his mouth. She looked down at him, he looked up at her, and she didn’t know what just happened, because they’d been in the middle of something and evidently he was trying to put it on pause.

He reached up and traced her bottom lip with his thumb, groaning again when she nipped at it. “Baby, I think…” He closed his eyes and let out a harsh exhale and an even harsher curse. When he opened them, he kept his gaze off her. “Did you wanna go out for dinner?”

She almost said,No, I want to stay in.But his reaction had her second-guessing herself. “I planned on making dinner tonight.”

“Want help?” Still not looking at her.

She tried to shift into cooking mode, but her racing pulse didn’t quite get the memo. “Okay.” Slowly she climbed off him, trying not to read too much into it—obviously he was affected. The evidence was still there, tempting her to take her boldness a step farther.

But she chickened out and moved into the kitchen.

“I’ll be right back,” Vince said, and then he disappeared down the hall.

***

Vince splashed cold water on his face—not that it helped much. It wasn’t like water could erase the memory of Cassie on top of him.

Over the past week and a half, he’d crossed several ethical lines. Besides the few shifts he’d put in at Rossi’s while Cassie was at work so he wouldn’t go crazy, they’d spent most every spare moment together. Watching movies, kissing, cuddling, talking about everything and nothing, with a few necessary lies sprinkled in. More kissing. More almost crossing the line into taking things farther.

Tonight he’d gotten lost in her for long enough to almost slip and ignore his last shaky ethical line in the sand about sex. She had today off, and he’d barely managed to wait until five to come over so he could forget who he was for a while. It was addictive.

Shewas addictive.

He stared at himself in the mirror, wondering how long he could face the guy in the reflection if he discarded his pathetic attempt at keeping things semi-honorable and just had sex with her before he lost the chance forever.

What was one more line? Might as well go big or go home, right?

Or maybe I should just tell her I can’t see her anymore. Watch her from a distance a little while longer, and then give in and tell Carlo I’ll be his number two so I’m still the first to know if anyone brings her up.

He leaned his hands on the side of the sink and let his forehead fall against the medicine cabinet mirror, going back and forth, weighing the pros and cons. He tried to tell himself he could handle watching from afar, even if it’d be torturous to see but not hear her happy voice or the funny ways she put things… To look but not touch.

What it really came down to was that he didn’t want to let her go yet.

It’d hurt her, too, and if even a hint of sadness crept into her features, he’d instinctively want to do whatever it took to make it go away.

Shit, shit, shit.One more splash of cold water and then he wiped his face on her towel, catching a whiff of coconut which didnothelp his current situation. He finished pulling himself together and headed back into the living room.

Cassie was turned away, stretched as tall as she could go as she reached for a can on the top shelf of one of her kitchen cupboards. Her shirt lifted, exposing a sexy strip of skin.She’s certainly not going to make it easy to do the right thing.

He was about to step in, but then she managed to get hold of it. She tossed the can of crushed tomatoes in the air, bumped it on her forearm and caught it, then spun to the can opener. She dumped it in a saucepan that, from the smell of it, had sautéing onion and garlic, and then grabbed a small spice container from another cupboard. She tossed it end over end, caught it behind her back, and then popped the red lid up with her thumb.

“Wow. Dinner and a show.”

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