Page 21 of Teach Me
Or at her bare butt.
A hasty grab for her pants found them already pulled back up to her waist. She dared a glance at Conlan, but he was staring toward the door. If it weren’t for the red flush across his cheekbones, she would think he’d been totally unaffected by what just happened. Of course, with their bodies so close together, another part of his anatomy also served as evidence that she hadn’t just imagined the hunger between them.
Thank God.
“Lori?”
An embarrassing pause stretched out. Finally, a hint of laughter in her voice, Lori called, “I’m sorry. I thought you’d be…”
Teaching?Jess turned her head, catching a glimpse of Lori lingering by the doorway. The receptionist was trying hard not to smile—unsuccessfully.
A suspicious hitch interrupted Conlan’s breath. “Did you need something, or are you just here to cramp my style?”
“I needed your signature. Cramping your style is a bonus,” Lori said.
Oh God. First Conlan turning her down, and now this. She just couldn’t catch a break, could she?
Another hitch from Conlan spilled into laughter. He still held her against him, so she didn’t have much maneuvering room, but she managed to squeeze in a punch to the meaty part of his biceps.
“Ow!” he wheezed. And laughed harder. A feminine chuckle near the door had Jess hiding her face. Where was her freaking protector now? Oh, right. Laughing at her. Or with her. Or at the situation… Whatever. All she could do was wait it out and pray that, just this once, the floor really would open up and swallow her whole.
Easing back into a lazy chuckle, Conlan stroked a hand along her spine and called out to Lori, “Just put the papers on my desk. I’ll take care of it first thing in the morning.”
“You got it, Boss. I’m headin’ out.” The sound of footsteps, then, “Night, Jess.”
Jess waved behind her without raising her head. Not until thesnickof the door confirmed its closing did she dare to look up at Conlan again.
“Well, that works almost as well as cold water.”
Jess raised both eyebrows. “Really? And you would know this because…?”
“Because I’ve experienced it often this week,” he said, the words light despite the weight of their meaning. Without elaborating, he shifted her on his lap, and Jess’s grip on him tightened as his hard shaft slid along her sensitized clit. A strangled sound escaped without her permission.
Conlan tugged her chin up to give her a quick, hard kiss that said he felt the same. He leaned forward, and their foreheads met. Jess closed her eyes. He couldn’t keep doing this, hungry one moment, tender the next. Her heart couldn’t take it. If she was going to do this—and her presence on his lap, against hiserection, said she was—she had to keep her heart free. The world had taught her long ago not to hope for miracles; she wouldn’t believe Conlan could be the first.
Still, the touch of his skin and the feel of his breath calmed her, eased the cold sting of embarrassment.
He held her for long minutes, and when he finally pulled away, he took the earlier warmth and freedom with him. Her skin constricted, threatening to choke her. Obviously the mood was dead, but she wished it wasn’t.Back to square one.
Forcing her feet to move, she managed to stiffen her muscles enough to stand. Conlan followed, and a glance up confirmed that the laughter was gone, replaced by a pensive look that didn’t bode well for the rest of tonight. Not knowing what to say, she opened her mouth anyway, but Conlan got to it first.
“We need to talk.”
* * *
After changing out of their workout clothes, he led her across the fourth floor to the opposite side of reception, down another hallway, and into what she presumed was his office. His, Jack’s—she didn’t care if it was a supply closet at this point; she was too busy trying to figure out what the hell he wanted to talk about. What had she done wrong? Had he not liked something?
Maybe he hadn’t wanted his employee to know he was having sex with a customer. The thought that he might be ashamed of being with her made her cringe.
And then she took a good look at him as he turned to lean his hips against a big-ass desk taking up way too much space, and realized…she didn’t care. If he had a problem, it was his problem, not hers. She wasn’t accepting blame for another man’s emotions or thoughts—she’d done that once, and she wouldn’t do it again. She was responsible for her, no one else.
“Come here,” he said gruffly, holding out his hand.
She moved to him. Conlan took both her hands in his, the way young girls did, almost as if he would start swinging them. The refrain from “London Bridge” whispered through her head, and Jess had to fight a nervous desire to laugh.
“I told you I was unavailable.”
And yet I threw myself at you.That she had to take responsibility for. She hadn’t taken his no for no. She flinched. “I’m sorry.”
