Page 17 of We Met Like This
Shit. My body liked that statement. I needed to flee. Come back tomorrow after I’d given myself a million lectures about why this couldn’t happen again. About how wrong this was. About my future. About how it shouldn’t…couldn’tinclude him. Even if a relationship with him were appropriate, he’d broken my heart several times over. I didn’t need to hand it back to him for another attempt.
I stayed where I was. “I’m here every day.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes, I mean, no, Rob. I’m here to talk to you about Kari.”
He stepped past me and looked out the door and down the hall both ways before he shut it and turned to face me. “Did you know that when you look at me, sometimes you bite the inside of your cheek, which causes these adorable little dimples to form on your chin?” He was in front of me now, and with those words, he brushed a light finger over my chin.
“Rob…” I started, staring at the wood floor by my feet.
“It drives me crazy.”
“No, I didn’t realize I did that.” I lifted my hand to brush his away, but he captured it in his, pulling me closer. I finally looked up at him.
“And your eyes. Those gorgeous dark brown eyes are so intense. Sometimes I think you see right through me.” His blue eyes were pleading and fiery at the same time and they made my insides twist uncomfortably.
“My future here… and Kari, she has a new…” I was losing my courage.
“I know,” he said. “A career-destroying idea.”
Wait, was that in reference to me or to Kari?
He smiled his thousand-watt smile. “Did she request that you soften me up?”
Kari. He was talking about Kari.
I nodded because that’s all I could do at the moment with him so close. The heat from his body was making me claustrophobic, like I couldn’t breathe.
He chuckled. “Little does she know the ways you plan to do that.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head, which seemed to give me a little clarity. “I’m not trying to… I just want to talk. Her idea isn’t bad. Authors genre-hop all the time. If she markets it right, it could be good.”
“It could be good,” he said in a silky voice, stepping closer. “Reallygood.”
The backs of my thighs hit his desk. When had I traveled that far into his office?
“Yes,” I said. “It could be.”
My hands went to his chest, to push him away. He must’ve thought it was an invitation because he was suddenly pressed against me, his hot breath on my neck, his hands at my waist. My palms went back on the desk, to stabilize myself, but that really just opened me up even more. He stepped a foot between my legs, his thigh hiking up my skirt.
“Yes?” he said.
“Yes,” I muttered.
Then he covered my mouth with his.
My body melted against him as his hands moved up, brushing the sides of my breasts.
I hated that I missed this. Missed feeling wanted, desired.I missed being touched and kissed. I wanted to be someone to somebody.
His tongue slipped past my lips.
No.The word entered my mind forcefully.
I didn’t want just anybody. I wanted the right person. And that wasn’t Rob. Everything in me was trying to remind me of that—my twisty stomach, my sweating palms, my stiff back. Why had I let him get close again?
I pulled back as far as I could, considering the desk behind me. “I can’t do this.”
