Page 49 of Meet Me In The Dark

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My jaw drops. “I did not—”

“Celeste.” His voice cuts through me like a blade. “You were wet before you even started thepresentation.”

I hate the moan that slips out of me.

This can’t happen. This is my office, my career, my life.

I somehow find my spine and straighten it.

“Let me be clear,” I declare, chin held high. “We work together now. That night was a one-time thing.”

He doesn’t flinch. “Sure.”

“I’m serious.”

His eyes flick back to my mouth. “I believe you.”

“Then give me some space.”

Don’t. Please don’t.

He does as I ask and steps back. The loss of heat hits me like a punch.

“This can’t happen again,” I tell him.

“If that’s what you want,” he replies with a nod.

I believe him. I shouldn’t, but I do. My trust in this man is based on just one night. I trusted him blindly then, and he repaid me for it.

That’s when I realize why he’s looking at me like that.

He doesn’t believeme.

Frustration hums low in my stomach and tightens with each breath.

I hate him for it.

But mostly, I hate myself.

For reacting.

For feeling.

So I do the only thing I know how to do. I shut everything else off. I build the wall, brick by brick. It saved me before.

“It was one night. Sex and nothing more. We move on. Simple.” The words feel like knives in my throat. It’s a lie so brittle I can barely forceit out, but I can’t afford the alternative.

I can’t afford Julian Blackwood.

“Simple?” he echoes, scrubbing a hand over his jaw.

“Yes.”

“We move on?”

I’m supposed to be agreeing, but I’m already shaking my headno.

I barely have time to take my next breath before he moves.

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