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Which he was. Completely.
“Where are you guys?” Daniel asked.
“We’ll be landing in San Francisco in half an hour.”
“Hey, let me talk to Lyssa, would you?”
Cal’s heart dropped like a stone, falling thirty thousand feet to splat on the ground. He couldn’t tell Daniel, No can do, she’s still sleeping after we spent the entire flight home in my bed.
Instead, he opted for, “She’s in the powder room. I’ll have her call you.”
“No need, I can talk to her later. I just wanted to say hi if she was around.”
Once they hung up, Cal turned his phone off, threw it on the table, and turned to find Lyssa standing by the galley door. She’d put on her clothes, and he didn’t think she’d taken the time to shower any more than he had.
“Thank you.”
He felt sick. “For what?”
“For telling Daniel how well I did with Dane Harrington. I appreciate that.”
Did she appreciate more than just what he’d said to her brother? Was she glad that he’d appreciated every inch of her beautiful body with his hands and mouth and—
He clamped down on the rest of his wayward thoughts, even as he had to face the truth that he’d do it all over again if there was the smallest chance he could.
He was out of control. Completely out of control.
The only way to fix it was to remove himself from temptation.
* * *
Tingles coursed through Lyssa’s body. It wasn’t just the things they’d done together in the bed and bathtub. It was what he’d said to her brother, praising her, every word ringing with sincerity.
Cal believed in her. And that meant the world to her.
He shrugged off her thanks. “It’s the truth. You’re a major asset to the foundation.”
As he spoke, color crept up his neck as if he were embarrassed she’d overheard his conversation. In fact, he was having trouble making eye contact with her.
Oh no. Was he embarrassed about what they’d done? Did he regret it? Did he wish it had never happened?
“I made coffee, if you’d like any.” He waved a hand at the galley, still not looking at her. Even his voice sounded off, each word too precise, his movements a little robotic.
He was acting as if he hadn’t touched her, kissed her, taken her again and again. As if they were strangers. As if he’d become her boss again…and nothing but her boss.
Even though it felt like her insides were shattering into a million pieces, she tried to reply in a perfectly normal tone. “I’d love some, thanks. You want me to pour one for you?”
He shook his head, still staring out the window at the clouds they were descending through. “I’ll get my own in a minute.”
“It’s okay. I can pour two.”
A few moments later, he took the coffee from her, making a point not to brush his fingers against hers as he did so. “Thank you.”
He was so damned polite that her teeth clenched in frustration, and her mood took a nosedive.
Everything felt awkward. Horribly awkward.
Okay, so she hadn’t thought through exactly how the aftermath of an affair with her secret crush/boss/brothers’ best friend would turn out. But she’d never wanted it to be like this.
She didn’t expect him to declare his undying love for her or anything, but she’d thought they’d at least manage to be adults about it. She’d hoped they could keep the pleasure they’d shared in each other’s arms from conflicting with their jobs.
Was it because her brother had called? Was that why Cal had gone all twitchy? Was he worried that Daniel would kill him if he found out? Was he worried that she was going to dash off the plane and tell everyone in her family what they’d done?
The pilot told them over the intercom to buckle up for landing, which meant they were now stuck in the same room for the next ten minutes. In that case, there was no time like the present to lay it all out in the open before things got any weirder.
“Cal, you don’t have to worry. I’m not going to tell Daniel—or any of my brothers—about what just happened.”
“About that…” Frown lines appeared on his forehead. “Today was great.”
She nodded, doing everything she could to reply in an easy tone despite her twisting stomach. “It was.”
“You’re an amazing woman.” He breathed in deeply, let it out.
She was about to say something to diffuse the fraught situation, but changed her mind, deciding to see where he went with it.
“But, uh, I’m your boss.” His gaze focused somewhere over her left shoulder. “So—”
She couldn’t stay quiet a moment more. She had to jump in. “So you’re regretting what happened?”
At last, he met her gaze. “It can’t happen again,” he replied, not answering her question. “We work together. Your family trusts me with you. I’m much older than you. None of this is—” He searched for a word, his Adam’s apple sliding. “Appropriate.”
