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She stared him down, one hand on her hip, and damn if his fingers didn’t itch to pull her over his lap to spank the sass and sadness right out of her. Matt hadn’t opened the door on his sexual proclivities in a long, long time. Leaving them behind hadn’t been hard to do because, before Liza, he hadn’t felt the desire to dominate a woman in the bedroom since…
Since his world crashed around his head and all he’d managed to drag from the wreckage was this shell of a man.
“I know you’ve come to discuss the annual report,” he said, resuming his composure. “But perhaps?—”
“The budget was an excuse,” Liza interrupted him. “You and I both know it could have been shared in an email. I thought perhaps we should talk, but…” Her gaze drifted back to the closed door, clearly recalling that nasty insult of Patricia’s as well as the kiss she’d blown to him.
She thrust the folder with the annual budget into his hands, gearing up to leave. “But that’s not necessary now. I have all the information I need.” She took a couple of steps toward the door. Patricia’s presence had shaken her up.
He’d always admired Liza’s spunkiness, her fire, so it rubbed against the grain to see her backing down.
“Running away again, Ms. Moretti?” he drawled, giving her exactly what she’d just asked for. Whether she realized it or not, Liza was issuing an unspoken challenge to his dominance, and he found himself replying to it. She wanted him to stop her. He could see it in her eyes.
The second his taunt landed, she paused, spinning to face him.
Liza crossed her arms, drawing his attention to her breasts. He could still recall how they’d filled his palms, how tight and utterly suckable her nipples had been. Her body was a goddamn masterpiece. She should be on display at the Louvre.
“You’re right. Let’s do this. It would be better if we cleared the air. You and I fucked.”
She was purposely using the stronger, cruder description to minimize what they’d shared. In Matt’s mind, what they did was a million miles away from fucking. It had felt too steeped in importance, in meaning…in danger.
But he couldn’t say that to her. “We did.”
“And we agreed it was a mistake.”
That wasn’t entirely true. “You said it was a mistake,” he reminded her, his response taking her by surprise.
She fell silent, and Matt got the sense she was waiting for him to agree with her. Or maybe she was hoping he’d disagree.
Liza was poised, her gaze unwavering, patient. She intended to wait him out.
Matt wasn’t sure why he didn’t just give her the words, didn’t agree that it had been a mistake. Because she was correct. It had been a mistake of epic proportions.
But the words wouldn’t come, so the silence lingered too long.
In the end, she broke first.
“We’re adults and we’ve been playing the game for a long time,” she continued, “so it’s not like we’re new to one-night stands. We’d both had a bad evening, and we reached out to each other. It was just sex, so no harm done.”
“No harm,” he repeated, perfectly aware those words didn’t fit the situation.
“But for the sake of our working relationship,” Liza forged on, her eyes slowly drifting downward until she was staring resolutely at his tie, “it would be best if we put that night behind us. Forget it ever happened. Actually, it looks like you already have.”
She was saying exactly what he’d been practicing, and he should be grateful for that, for her willingness to put that night in the rearview mirror and return to the status quo. He should take her words at face value and move on.
But he couldn’t. Because for the first time since his and Liza’s worlds collided, she wasn’t holding his gaze.
“Can you forget it?” he asked.
She nodded instantly, not bothering to look at him.
Matt stepped closer and pushed her chin up with a knuckle, until she had no choice but to look him in the eye. The position left them standing too close to each other, her upturned face with those full lips right there.
“Don’t lie,” he warned, his voice stern. Fuck him if Liza didn’t respond to it.
Their proximity allowed him to see the way her mouth parted; the rapid blinks meant to shield her aroused reaction until she could school her features again.
She took a deep breath and then—because Liza was fearless—she gave him what he couldn’t give her.
