Page 49 of No More Heartbreakers

“Of course, you always look beautiful.” He gave me a smile that could’ve been marketed as an aphrodisiac.

My belly went cliff-diving, swooping and falling at precarious speeds while all the air left my lungs at once, making it difficult to respond.

“I… I didn’t know you were there. I’m pretty much done in here… if you need to get in.”

A stupid thing to say, considering there were two other edit bays, and we were probably the only ones left in the whole building now the newscast was over.

I was completely unnerved—by his surprising words and by the fact that I was looking up at Aric from about groin-level. Standing and scooting toward the wall, I attempted to reach the door without touching him.

Instead of stepping aside to let me out, Aric moved further into the cramped space, forcing me to slowly retreat until my back met the padded wall.

“What are you doing?”

I was breathing like a last-place finisher in the Boston Marathon. If Aric had ever entertained any doubt about how much his nearness affected me, he had his answer now.

“I came to check on you—see how your new and improved reel’s coming together.” The words were benign, but his voice,thatvoicewas low and intimate.

A hot tremble began in my middle and spread like an accelerant-boosted arson fire until it reached the rest of me. I pressed my shaking fingers to the wall on either side of my body, clenching the tips into the soundproof padding.

Aric took another step closer, aligning the front of his body with mine, not quite touching, but oh so close.

His beautiful neck was right at my eye level, allowing me to see his pulse beating beneath the smooth skin in a rhythm that matched my own supersonic heartbeat.

Oh, this was bad. There was no reason for him to be here, inching closer to me, smiling down at me in that sweet, dark way unless he felt it too. This crazy pull between us.

I wanted him to go away. I wanted him closer. I wanted…

“I want to kiss you,” he whispered. Aric’s head lowered, his lips hovering just above mine but not taking that final few millimeters of choice away from me.

He’s letting me make the decision.

There was no choice. I had to stop this right now and get away from him. I’d let it go too far already.

I spread my hands on his chest, meaning to push him away. I didn’t.

His body felt so good under my fingertips, the motion I’d intended never happened. The sunny, beachy-fresh scent of him swirled around me, making me light-headed and unsteady.

My head moved slowly back and forth in a “no” gesture. But my mouth pressed upward to meet his in a very definiteoh yes.

Aric’s lips touched mine and moved against them, a slow caress. Then he deepened the kiss. Andwow.

How do you describe something you thought you’d understood but suddenly realized you had no idea about?

I mean, there’s kissing, and then there’skissing.Aric’s mouth moved with mine in hot, wet strokes that sent pleasure screaming through me. My body temperature rocketed, spontaneous combustion suddenly seeming like a perfectly legitimate life choice.

I rose onto my tiptoes. His arms went around me, pulling me into him, helping me get closer, but not close enough. I slid my hands up around his neck, into his hair, wanting to touch all of him, wanting things I hadn’t allowed myself to want in a very long time.

He kissed me until I was a weak, shivering mass of overstimulated nerve endings and there was no doubt left we werenevergoing to be “just friends.”

Aric’s hands slid from my back to my sides, coasting up, up, until the heels of them barely brushed the sides of my breasts.

There was a rapidly compounding demand low in my body insisting that if I didn’t do something to stop this, I would be in Aric’s bed tonight, or he’d be in mine, or we might make do with the edit bay, which was growing more and more likely by the minute.

No.

Once I went there with him, there’d be no going back for me. I’d be the little turtle again and have only myself to blame for swimming straight into the waiting jaws of the alligator.

Then it would be up to him whether to swallow me whole or let me get away with just a few teeth marks. I couldn’t handle that level of risk.

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