Page 24 of Latte Girl
“I haven’t seen you around,” she says after a fewsteps.
“Lots of hours locked up in my office,” I answer, my voice sounding more guarded than Iintended.
The weight of what happened in the boardroom last week hangs between us, and we walk the rest of the way to the cafe’s back exit in silence. I give Hailey the umbrella to hold and move to openthedoor.
It doesn’tbudge.
“Um, do you have a key?”Iask.
“It’slocked?”
Hailey comes to stand beside me and tries the doorherself.
“Shit,” she says. “It’s usually open. I’ll have to go around the front if no oneanswers.”
She bangs on the door a few times, but no onecomes.
I’m about to offer to watch the cart for her, or go around the front myself, when she turns to me and says the words “I’m sorry” with such sincerity I’m takenaback.
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t lock the—” I start to say, but she cutsmeoff.
“No, not that. I’m sorry for what happened last week, in the boardroom.” She blushes, and I fight to stay focused as she continues. “Maybe I was out of line. Maybe I misread things. I know it got kind of...unprofessional, and I’m sorry if that’s made you feel weird. Everyone was complaining about you missing the meeting I catered, and you can call me paranoid, but I swear I saw you jump into the elevator yesterday when you noticed me coming down the hall. I don’t want you to feel like you have to avoid me. We can just pretend it never happened and go back to doingourjobs.”
She’s giving me the perfect opportunity to make a clean break. All I have to do is tell her she’s right, that we made a mistake and it would be best tomoveon.
“Hailey...”
I start to say exactly that, but the words die in my throat. Out here in the rain and the frigid air, standing so close that the clouds of our breath merge together each time we exhale, I don’t feel like a junior executive talking to a catering manager. I don’t feel like the spoiled son of a business tycoon holding an umbrella for alattegirl.
While I can count the number of conversations we’ve had on one hand, every second I’ve spent with her has made me feel like a different version of myself. With Hailey, I’m the kind of Jordan who can make a joke that isn’t depressing. I’m the kind of Jordan who can smile without feeling fake. I’m the kind of Jordan who can be crazy enough to kiss a girl in theboardroom.
Ortherain.
Suddenly everything that’s wrong about this is nothing compared to how close her mouth is and how right it would feelonmine.
In the next second we’re crushed together, the taste of her on my tongue enough to make me forget how to breathe. The umbrella hits the ground and cold rain drips onto our skin. Her hands dig into my shoulders and I press her up against the cafe wall, parting her thighs with one ofmyown.
I feel her moan as much as I hear it. She hooks her leg around my hip and I reach down to hold it in place. She rocks against me, moaning even more at the feeling of the friction between us. With my other hand, I tear one of her arms away from my shoulder and pin it against the wall, kissing her with a possessiveness, a hunger that rises from somewhere deep inside me like agrowl.
I suck her bottom lip between my teeth until she cries out, and then move my mouth to the soft skin of her neck, licking up the trail of the raindrops that streakdownit.
“Jordan,” I hear her gasp, as her hips buck against me. I press my thigh even harder betweenherlegs.
Releasing her arm from above her head, I run a hand over her hip and up the curve of her waist before cupping one of her breasts. She presses her forehead to mine, and each gasp and shudder she makes sends a throb to my cock, which is hard enough to feel liketorture.
“I want you, Hailey,” I say, my voice coming out low and hoarse. “I’ve wanted you since Imetyou.”
As an answer, she lifts up my chin and brings her lips to mine again. This kiss is slower, more sensuous. I feel her hands running up and down the length of my back. She opens her mouth and slips her tongue into mine, teasing a moan from me before breakingthekiss.
“You can have me,” she whispers, glancing up at me through downcasteyelashes.
But Ishouldn’t.
Her invitation has me so hard all she’d have to do is reach down to touch me and I’d be hers, but the small part of my rational brain that’s still working has just realized how bad thisallis.
I set her leg down and step away, noticing how cold the rain is when I’m not pressed against her. She stares at me, confusion setting into an expression still dazedwithlust.
I stare back, rain pouring down both our faces, soaked hair plastered to ourheads.
The sound of the cafe’s back door opening is a shock. A brown haired employee pokes her head out and addressesHailey.
“Sorry! I was stuck on the cash when you knocked. I onlyjustg—”
The girl freezes when she takes in the scene before her. The umbrella is lying open on the ground, and Hailey is still backed up against the wall, two feet of distancebetweenus.
“Hailey, are you okay?” she asks, her voice edged withalarm.
“I’m fine.” Hailey doesn’t take her eyes off mine as sheanswers.
I swallow down whatever words are rising in my throat before ripping my gaze from hers, turning away and all but running back to KnoxSecurity.
