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“I am,” he whispered as he took one step closer to her, his eyes unblinking.
“And that you’re still hiding feelings for me.”
He took another step. Then two more. “Too well, apparently.”
“But …”
He stopped in front of her, their toes as close to touching as they could get without doing so. “We work together. And I’ve had to keep my distance. But do you know how hard that’s been? Or how miserable that’s made me?”
“You are a bit of a stiff at the office. And people may or may not call you Montgomery Burns because of your demeanor.”
He smiled the first genuine smile she’d seen from him since the night they shared a pizza. Just like the ones he’d doled out as freely as a worker at Costco handed out samples. “I suppose there are worse Simpsons characters they could have named me.” He smiled as he wetted his lips, a nervous habit she remembered from years ago. But right now, it only made her notice them more. Moved her slightly closer to them. “Staying away from you has been terrible. Mia, you’re like the sun, warmth, and everything else plants need to grow. You know—you’re the expert.” When he leaned in, his breath tickled her face, her lips. He looked at her through hooded eyes, brows arched, as though asking for permission to a question Mia had known the answer to for years. She just never dreamed he’d ask.
So, she responded, wrapping her arms around his neck, feeling his firm body against hers. Their lips crashed together, the franticness only heightening the urgency of this moment. One that had been years in the making, with a buildup she hadn’t even realized the intensity of until its release.
His fingers ran through her hair, massaging the sensitive skin of her scalp. A tingle shot from her head all the way to her toes, and it was good luck that he’d been holding her so tightly—her legs nearly forgot their job of holding her up.
“Mia,” Ben whispered between panted breaths as he peered down at her. “This—this is …”
“What?” she asked, her heartbeat in her ears the only thing she could hear.
He brushed a stray piece of hair from her face, the pad of his fingertip leaving a trail of heat in its path. “I should have taken risks long before now.”
They both chuckled, and the rumble of his chest against hers was as comforting as a warm cup of tea. Because here was this man, someone she’d dreamed about for ages, and it turned out he’d been pining over her all along. If only it hadn’t been for …
“What about work?” she asked when the realization that they’d just violated about ten HR rules in the past three minutes hit her. The timing was terrible, she knew, but that had been the reason he’d kept her at arm’s length since she started working there.
Ben looked up at the ceiling with a groan, giving her free access to kiss along his neck. But she didn’t. She couldn’t add more violations to her growing list.
“I’ll take care of it.”
The vague answer was something they’d have to discuss, and they would. They had a long drive ahead of them tomorrow. But tonight—tonight, they’d continue the kissing they’d started.
The morning sun peeked through the hotel room as Mia cuddled something squishy. She knew right away it wasn’t Ben—mostly because she got a good feel of him during their make-out session last night. There was nothing pillowy-soft about that man’s muscles. Also, he’d insisted on putting a barrier between them before they fell asleep, claiming he wanted to be a gentleman. But there was nothing gentlemanly about the way his dark eyes looked back at her. If she had to guess, it had more to do with him needing something to keep himself from making his way to her side of the bed. She could definitely relate to that.
“I left you a voicemail and an email yesterday. I told you I got sick.”
Mia sat up when she heard Ben’s voice from the other side of the room.
“Is that so?” a snooty voice sounded through the phone’s speaker. Of course, Darren wouldn’t understand. “Need I remind you I’m your boss, and I call the shots?”
Mia watched from the bed as Ben ran his hands through his hair. His back was to her, but she could read the frustration in his actions. “Look, we’ll reschedule. They completely understood why we couldn’t make it. Plus, the storm made it unsafe to travel.” The usual confidence in Ben’s work voice disappeared, and Mia walked to his side to give him some support.
Only he wasn’t on speakerphone. It was a FaceTime call. A call which showed a disheveled, bed headed Mia in the screen's corner. In Ben’s hotel room.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Darren said as a smile curled up his face, much like the one the Grinch sported when he was about to do something sinister. “Now I see why you were so quick to pull the plug on the trip. Shacking up on company time and money isn’t something we look too fondly on at the firm.” Oh, so now cared about morals?
“Knock it off, Darren,” Ben roared into the screen, and Mia saw the veins in his neck stand at attention. Even she leaned back a bit, thrown from the thunder in his voice, after hearing nothing but monotone Ben at their workplace. But Darren didn’t move an inch. Well, his body didn’t. His creepy smile got bigger.
“I’m sure HR will be eager to learn about this.”
“Don’t,” Ben interrupted. “Don’t bring her into this. It was my fault. I’m the reason the trip had to stop.” He turned to her, giving a single nod before he looked back into the screen. “So, you don’t have to tell HR anything. Because I quit.”
Chapter Seven
Mia eyed the hand grenade on her coffee table, waiting for it to explode any second.
Okay, it wasn’t a grenade. Just her phone. That little communication device that kept people connected. Ben said he would call this weekend, when he’d dropped her off at home Friday afternoon. After they’d spent a few hours in the car, barely saying two words to each other.
