Counting On You (Counting the Billions 2)

“That’s fair,” I said, nodding gravely at her and knowing she was correct. “I’m sorry that I left you in that position today.”

We both stared at each other for a long moment. My shirt lay discarded somewhere on the other side of the room where I’d dropped it as I’d walked toward her, and the attraction between us burned hotter than it ever had before. I didn’t know if I could pull my hands away from her, even. It felt like our fingers were glued together.

Fortunately, Abby didn’t yank away from me. Instead, she leaned closer to me, leaning up on her toes, using our linked fingers for leverage as she kissed me.

The kiss was long and heated, both of us caving helplessly against the passion we’d been feeling for so long now. I tugged wordlessly on her hands, drawing her even closer to me. I couldn’t get enough of the taste of her, of the feeling of her soft, warm lips against mine.

I remembered the last time I’d had her in my home with me. It had felt, then, like everything was going right between the two of us. We had come together so perfectly and collapsed into sleep together, and in the morning, I had made breakfast for her. It had felt so domestic in a way I had never realized I craved. I hadn’t wanted it to end.

But it had, and now, well. This probably was a terrible idea.

I couldn’t find it in me to pull away, though. And I definitely wasn’t going to ask Abby to leave. Maybe that was the only mature thing to do, but right now, it sounded like a horrible plan. So as she moaned into the kiss, I finally tugged my hands away from hers, but only so that I could wrap my arms around her waist and tug her body flush against mine.

Chapter 12

Abby

I KNEW I SHOULDN’T be making out with Daniel like this. I tried to remind myself that I had just come by to check on him after he had looked so miserable at work today. I tried to remind myself that I was the reason, in fact, that he had looked so miserable.

But I couldn’t help thinking about how miserable I had been too. About the fact that I didn’t want to let him go any more than he wanted to let me go. It wasn’t just that I wanted to keep this job as his advisor. No, I didn’t want to lose him from my life in any way.

I couldn’t help the attraction I felt for him. He was smart, gorgeous, confident. Everything that I could ever want in a guy. And although there was something in me that kept clamoring about how wrong this was, about how I had been burned before and how surely this was just another of those times, there was something else, a louder part of me, that swore that Daniel would never hurt me, that I couldn’t give up on him, that this was right.

I was confused, and to be perfectly honest, I no longer knew just what to believe. But at the end of the day, I realized that I trusted him. Heart, body, and soul.

Now, his lips still pressed against mine, his tongue still stroking against my own, he walked me backward until the backs of my knees met resistance. I sat abruptly and lay back on the exercise bench as Daniel covered my body with his. The bench was narrow, of course. There wasn’t really space for us to lie down on top of it.

But I wasn’t really focusing on whether or not there was enough space for us right now. Instead, I was more focused on the feeling of his knee nudging mine apart, on the way that he held my body close to his. He lowered his mouth from my lips down to my neck, nuzzling along the soft skin there and then dropping lower, nipping at the sensitive skin of my collarbone.

His fingertips found their way up under my shirt, making me tremble as his touch brushed across my naked skin. I moved into his touch, back arching against the workout bench. Slowly, I reached down, grabbing the hem of my own shirt and pulling it up over my head, dropping it off onto the floor. I could see the change that made in Daniel’s eyes, could see the way they darkened with need.

He undid the front clasp of my black, lacy bra, and it fell away from my shoulders as well. “Have I ever mentioned how badly I want you?” he growled, laying kisses to my newly revealed skin, his mouth dipping lower and lower toward the hem of my skirt.

It didn’t take much longer until he was sliding into me. He didn’t even remove my skirt or panties first, instead just pushing them to the side so that he could thrust inside of me. He was still wearing his gym shorts, with them pushed down around his powerful thighs as he crouched on the end of the workout bench and rocked into me.

He reached up to cup my cheek, staring down into my eyes as he slowed his movements, gentling them. I trembled, surprised at the depth of feeling I had for him. Already. After just a few weeks of working for him.

But this was far beyond the work relationship that the two of us had. This was far beyond anything I would have expected from him, really. And as much as my brain screamed at me that I shouldn’t be doing this right now, as much as I tried to remember all my arguments against this...I was helpless in the face of my desire.

I practically sobbed as he pulled nearly all the way out of me, until he was just teasing me, the very tip of his member left inside of my hole. I wriggled against him, trying to get him back into me, trying to get him to slam into me in the way I needed. For his part, he stared down at me as though I was the most fascinating thing in the world, his pupils blown wide with passion.

“Please,” I whimpered, and it was as though that had broken some sort of spell between us. He smiled softly down at me and began to pick up the rhythm again, moving faster and faster until I was crying out on nearly every thrust. I couldn’t help it; he was nailing that perfect spot inside of me, bringing the heat in my core up to incredible levels, the likes of which I’d never felt before.

I clung to him, feeling his strong muscles bunch and relax as he continued to move against me. I could taste the sweat on his skin, a reminder of how I had found him there in his workout room before. I couldn’t get enough of him, of his body, of his mind and personality. I wanted nothing else in my life.

We came at the same time, both convalescing into something more, our bodies crying out for release. I shuddered apart into pieces as he groaned and fell slack against me. I pressed my forehead against his collarbone, unable to think, just so caught up in feeling his body against mine. My fingers continued to slide down his body, coursing over his slick skin.

He kissed the side of my neck, and I sighed, feeling utterly relaxed.

Everything I had been thinking before this, everything I had been worrying about, I was suddenly able to put it all out of my mind in a way that I hadn’t been able to in weeks now. Not that I wasn’t thinking about him. Oh no, I was definitely thinking about him. Smelling him, drinking in the feel of his body against mine.

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nbsp; Daniel pulled away slightly, smiling down at me. He brushed a hand down my hair, leaning down for one more kiss, this one gentle and sweet. Then, he grimaced. “I really need a shower.”

“Oh! Right.” I started to pull away from him, sure that that was my sign to go. I could already feel tears start to roll down my cheeks, but I tried not to let Daniel see them.

Daniel looked stricken, though. “That’s not what I meant,” he immediately assured me. “I was actually going to ask if you wanted to join me?”