Page 78 of The Playboy

She nodded. “I can’t want you and also want to work for your company. That feels … wrong.”

My cousin, Jo, had dated our corporate lawyer, Jenner, for a while before they aired their relationship, and now, they were on the verge of getting married. Declan, one of the Daltons’ top lawyers, had dated his intern and a member of the Dalton family, and they couldn’t be happier.

Shit like that happened in the real world.

Even if we had a nonfraternization policy at Spade Hotels—which we didn’t—Brooklyn and I would be an exception because things had started between us prior to her employment.

An employment that still had several steps before she got the green light.

“I didn’t ask you to interview for the job just because I care about you—even though I do, and you know that. I did it because you’d be perfect for the role.” My thumbs rubbed across the sides of her mouth, reminding her of a similar conversation we’d had inside the diner. The last thing I wanted her to think was that I had done this out of pity or obligation or to advance things between us or for her to feel like she was indebted to me. “One thing has nothing to do with the other. They’re separate entities.”

“But it’s your company.”

“It’s my family’s company,” I corrected her.

“But I’m going to be interviewing at your family’s company, the same place you work.”

I tightened my grip. “We employ thousands of people. You wouldn’t be entering an office with only five employees, where you’d see me every time you took a breath.” I chuckled. “Besides, you wouldn’t be interviewing with me.”

Because she couldn’t technically interview with me if I was the one referring her. Even I knew how wrong and fucked up that would be.

But I didn’t mention that part to her.

“You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”

I calmed the buildup in my chest.

Where I had an answer, she had an excuse.

And I could go round for round, but I had to remind myself that this wasn’t a fight. This wasn’t even a negotiation.

Brooklyn wanted me. She was just confused, overstimulated, trying to sort what she couldn’t control and make sense of it all.

I traced my thumb across the softness of her lips. “I’m just reminding you that there’s us. And there’s Spade Hotels. Don’t categorize them together.”

As she stared at me silently, I saw the battle in her eyes that seemed to intensify every time she blinked. “I don’t know if I can separate them.”

That was because this was new—me and the offer, one she’d just learned about tonight.

So, for now, she was using it as another excuse, fearing that things would get muddier.

Yet, less than an hour ago, she’d admitted that she’d come to the hotel to talk to me, and that was when she had seen me in the bar with that woman. She’d assumed the worst; she had been overflowing with jealousy, and that had been the cause of her attitude earlier tonight.

If she hadn’t cared, she wouldn’t have given me attitude. She wouldn’t have listened to my side of the story. She wouldn’t have jumped off the stage and into my arms. She wouldn’t have let me take her to the diner. And if she didn’t like the idea of being around me, she wouldn’t accept the offer to interview at Spade Hotels.

Really, it was as simple as that.

So, all she was doing now was filling me with words—words she thought were right, but they didn’t have any meaning behind them.

She wanted me.

She wanted us.

And over the next two months, while I was still on Kauai, I would make her realize that it was more than just her body that was addicted to me.

I leaned my face down until my lips were hovering just inches above hers. At first, her eyes closed, like she was anticipating my kiss. And when I didn’t give her one, they slowly opened again.

“You’re saying you don’t want me to kiss you? Is that what I’m hearing, Brooklyn?” I tugged at her lip with my thumb. “Because that’s not what your body or your face is telling me at all.” I moved her neck back a bit more, giving me better access to her mouth. “What it looks like is that you’d do fucking anything to have my lips on you.” I dipped into her neck, that spot I always went to. The one, when kissed, initiated goose bumps all over her skin. “I can hear your pussy purring right now.” My lips pressed down. “I can almost feel how wet it is.” I slid my lips up her neck and positioned them directly in front of hers. “Do you know how badly I want to taste that wetness?”

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