Torrid Little Affair (Forbidden Desires #3)

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I sighed, glancing at my digital calendar as I tried for the fourteenth time that morning to rearrange my meetings in some way that allowed me to squeeze the most into my day. Too bad that wasn’t the only thing on my mind. As I shifted one mixer and another golf outing, I stared at the orange highlighted dates on the screen. They were colored but blank-I hadn’t typed the words on the calendar, but I knew what they meant.

Time with Corinne.

In the past three weeks since our night at the museum, we’d seen each other three or four times a week, but try as I might, there was still something between us. An invisible wedge. A bridge that I wasn’t allowed to cross.

Not that I hadn’t tried. I’d taken her to movies and readings and art galleries. Cooked her dinner at my place and asked her every question I could think of-her favorite television show, her favorite toy as a kid, her childhood best friend’s name. She answered me patiently, but in spite of all my efforts, I felt like I still didn’t know her. The real her. Like there was something she was keeping from me.

But it was more than that. As the weeks wore on, I started to notice little quirks. Like how we could never head back to her apartment after a night out. She never stayed over at my place, either. And when I’d suggested going away for a weekend? She’d flatly refused, saying “it simply wasn’t possible.”

I’d tried to be patient, but it was getting to the point that I couldn’t be patient much longer. Not without some explanation beyond the one she always gave. That her life was just too complicated for anything more than what we were doing. That she appreciated the sex and the company, but we could never be anything more.

And for now? I was taking what I could get.

Not because I didn’t want more-I wanted everything. But if she wasn’t willing to give herself to me completely? Well, I wasn’t willing to let go of what little parts of her I could have.

She was incredible. Smart and driven at work, punctual and professional. And in bed? She was better than anyone I’d ever been with. So needy and responsive. So thirsty for more.

Even if I’d wanted to, I couldn’t walk away from her. Not now. Not yet.

But that didn’t stop me from daydreaming about what else we could be. About what she might be like when that wall of ice around her heart melted away and she finally let me in.

Tapping my calendar for the millionth time, I added another orange dot to the night of the company mixer-a hopeful dot-and then buzzed Corinne to head into my office.

Within five minutes, she appeared, her red pencil skirt clinging to her hips and showing off her perfect hourglass frame. Her hair was pulled into a professional knot at the nape of her neck, and I imagined running my fingers through her silky locks until they tumbled all around her face.

“Good morning,” I said, careful to remind myself of the professional atmosphere we’d sworn to maintain.

“Morning,” she said, her cheeks slightly pink as she smiled at me.

My body responded instantly, but I forced myself to focus.

“I have a list of things we need to go over before the gala this weekend. Will you take a seat?” I motioned to the leather chair across from my desk and she slipped into it easily, setting her clipboard on her knee as she waited for me to speak.

I cleared my throat, trying my best not to stare at the faintest hint of cleavage that peeked out from her button-down top, and then glanced at the list of questions in front of me, delegating each task while ensuring she had everything else in order.

As always, she was rock steady and had everything under admirable control.

“Anything else?” she asked when my battery of questions had finally been satisfied.

I glanced at the closed door, letting my imagination run away with me for a moment. I could ask for so, so much more, but instead I said, “Just having some trouble with my calendar. Too many events, not enough hours in the day.”

“Want me to take a look?” she asked. “See if I can reschedule some things or take them off your plate?”

“Sure.”

I motioned to the computer screen in front of me and she rounded my desk, leaning over to study my schedule and putting her ass on full, perfect display. She shifted slightly, her pouty mouth pursed as she tried to make sense of all I had to do. But then, when she jutted her hip out to the side, it was too much.

I wrapped my hands around her waist and pulled her into my lap side-saddle, kissing the creamy length of her neck until I reached the shell of her ear.

“You tricked me,” she murmured breathlessly.

“I didn’t mean to. You’re just so damn hot,” I murmured, nibbling on her earlobe.

“Cooper . . . someone could come in.”

“So what? I’m the boss,” I whispered, blowing lightly into her ear. “And no one but you comes in without knocking. Don’t make me stop.”

“I have to.” She squirmed a little but stayed in my lap all the same. “We agreed not to mix work and pleasure.”

“Okay, I’ll stop, but only if you reconsider coming away with me next weekend,” I said, pulling back and fighting the ache in my swollen cock.

She shook her head. “I told you. I can’t.”

“Not ever? Do you turn into a pumpkin at midnight or something? Were you cursed by an evil witch?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course not, silly. I just can’t. It’s complicated.”

“I’m starting to learn that a lot about you is complicated,” I said softly as I released her, both sexually and emotionally frustrated.

She cupped my jaw and held my gaze with her solemn one. “It’s the truth.”

“All I want is to get to know you. I feel like there are parts of you, even after all this time together, that I just don’t know or understand.”

“And that bothers you?” she asked.