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I exhaled a slow breath, trying to calm down. Okay, that was worst-case scenario. That was unlikely. It was far more probable that no one—and by no one, I meant Corva—would ever find out.

But there was still a chance. I fearfully looked up at her as she chatted to Vee about something. Should I tell her before she found out some other way? Just… rip the band-aid off and deal with the consequences now, instead of worrying and feeling guilty for months while I worked on the Rorik + Stimis event? While I interacted with var Rorik on a regular basis. While Corva trusted me to do a good job and maintain her business’s excellent reputation.

If I told her, she could deal with it how she saw fit. It seemed like the fairest thing to do. The decent thing to do. Maybe she wouldn’t fire me, but she’d almost certainly take me off the Rorik + Stimis contract. That might not be a bad thing. It would mean I wouldn’t have to be around var Rorik anymore.

It would remove me from the temptation.

Because I was certain that I wouldn’t just be able to forget what had happened and move on. I was certain I wouldn’t be able to look at him and only see a client. I’d already admitted to myself that I was physically attracted to him, but now it was a million times worse. He’d made me come. His tongue had literally been inside me.

And afterward, when I’d been panicking, he’d actually been… nice. Considerate. He’d seemed utterly offended by the insinuation that he would tell Corva what had happened, which had taken the edge off my worry. He hadn’t made any mean jokes about it. He hadn’t gotten all entitled and pushy when I told him it couldn’t happen again. He’d simply agreed.

But his email this morning seemed like a subtle way of telling me he’d be open to it happening again. Which… didn’t help. Because I wanted it to happen again too.

I was pretty sure I wanted it to happen again multiple times.

Even after Corva disappeared into her office, I still couldn’t relax or focus on work. I stared at var Rorik’s email on my screen, wondering how I should reply. Because I had to reply—that was the professional thing to do. Acknowledge the correspondence from the client, even if it was nothing more than a brief, No problem at all. I’ll be in touch soon.

But I kind of… didn’t want to be that curt, despite knowing it was the sensible thing to do. Things had changed now. Even if we never acknowledged it again, we’d still both know it had happened. We’d still shared something intimate.

And… he wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. He wasn’t a bad person. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I liked him, but… I didn’t not like him.

He was really good with his tongue.

I had a sip of water and tried to think of how to reply. Something professional and polite, but not cold. Friendly but not too friendly. With maybe a subtle acknowledgement of our “lively discussion” without insinuating anything. I didn’t want him to think I actually regretted what happened—that I regretted letting him touch me, that I’d gone home upset about it. That would be an awful feeling for anyone, and he hadn’t done anything to deserve it. I’d been an equal participant in what we did. If anything, I’d been the one to escalate things by grabbing his hand and shoving it between my legs.

Making a decision, I reached for my phone and brought up my contacts. I’d get the viewing for the Basalt arranged, and that could form the focus of my response. I could acknowledge what he’d said and swiftly move on from it without seeming cold.

We worked with the Basalt often, so I was friendly with the events manager there and had the number for her business cell already. She didn’t pick up, so I left a voicemail and asked her to call me back.

As I was hanging up, Corva’s office door opened and she poked her head out.

“Anita, how swamped are you today?”

There were plenty of things I could be getting on with, even though the venue wasn’t booked yet. Finding a string quartet that was available on the date, drawing up a tasting menu and a list of canapes from the options sent over by Piquante Caterers, contacting the graphic designer we used to start putting together mock-ups for the invitations.

But guilt made me leap out of my seat and ask, “What do you need?”

“Well, if you do have a moment, could you take a look at the seating plan for the NADC gala?” She gave me a grateful smile. “I’ve started laying it out in the meeting room, but I’ve got about a million things to do today.”

“Of course,” I said quickly. “No problem. I’ll do it now.”

“Thanks, darling. It’s half done, just about. And there’s a list of the attendees who can’t fucking stand each other.” She rolled her eyes at me. “You know what those bourgeois circles are like. Even at a charity gala, they’ll bitch and make snide remarks.”

I was pretty sure Corva was in those bourgeois circles, so I didn’t comment. After giving her a brief smile, I turned and headed for the meeting room, grateful for the opportunity to be on my own so I could anxiety-sweat in peace.

And maybe imagine what var Rorik looked like naked some more without having to worry that my horny thoughts were painted all over my face.

Chapter Fourteen

Anita

“Y ou okay, hon?”

I looked up to see Hustin standing in the doorway of the meeting room. “Hey. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Sure?” He wandered closer and looked down at the seating plan laid out on the table. “How’s it going?”

“Almost done. There’s just a lot of mutual enemies attending this one.”