Tempt Me

He didn’t let up, caressing her through her climax and as she came down from the high, and only when she was too sensitive to take his touch anymore did he slide his fingers out of her pants.

At the sudden loss, she forced her eyelids open and looked into his lust-filled gaze. “Austin,” she whispered, her voice hoarse, in awe of what she’d just experienced at his hands.

“I like hearing my name on your lips when you come.” A satisfied smile tugged at his lips.

“I like when you make me come.” The admission caused her to blush.

Not breaking eye contact, he raised his fingers to his mouth and licked the taste of her off his fingers, causing a tug of renewed desire to flicker to life inside her. But her brain was just beginning to function again and though she couldn’t say she regretted what just happened, she was pretty sure it hadn’t been her smartest move. All the reasons she’d laid out to Amber returned, running through her brain on a never-ending loop. He was her boss, she loved her job, and ultimately they wanted very different things out of life and relationships.

She let out an unwitting sigh, wishing she could take it back the second the sound escaped her lips.

He met her gaze, eyeing her warily. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said, and despite her reservations, she reached for the waistband of his pants, wanting to give him the same pleasure he’d bestowed on her.

He grabbed her wrist, gently pulling away, her hand grazing his hard erection, which strained against the taut fabric. “Fuck,” he muttered, his voice sounding like rough gravel, his need obvious.

“Why are you stopping me?” she asked.

“Because it’s clear I lost you.”

She nodded because she couldn’t deny the truth. “All the reasons this is a bad idea are shooting through my brain.” She reached down and closed her jeans, feeling totally awkward, especially since she’d just come and he… hadn’t.

“I get it,” he said in an understanding tone. “I came on pretty strong when you walked in the door and I didn’t give you time to think.”

She sunk her teeth into her lower lip and shook her head. “I can make my own decisions and I own what happened between us. It wasn’t you pushing me into anything. I just think since I work for you, we shouldn’t get involved.” She settled on the easiest explanation even though it hurt her to say it.

No reason for him to be privy to the fact that the future she envisioned for herself—a family and a man who loved her—were the things that would fill the emptiness she’d grown up with inside her. She always sugarcoated her time in foster care because she had had it better than most, but deep inside her she yearned for more. She didn’t do casual relationships well and Austin was the whole package.

He could break her heart.

“I should go.” She picked up her shirt, put it on, then turned and headed for her room, feeling his hot gaze on her back as she walked away.

* * *

Austin watched Mia leave before shutting the lights and heading upstairs to his room.

Alone.

He had to admit that hadn’t been the outcome he’d envisioned when he’d had his hand down her pants, his fingers spreading her slick need over her clit as he made her come.

Her sigh had been his first clue something was wrong, and though she’d been willing to give him his turn, he didn’t want her that way. He wanted her breathless and eager, no hesitation between them. Besides, he had the feeling she wasn’t giving him the full reason for her reservations. Yes, she was his employee. Yes, it could be awkward and had bothered him, too, but he’d come to realize they had no one to answer to but themselves and she’d wanted him as much as he desired her. Something more was at play behind those expressive eyes of hers.

But unless he wanted something more than easy sex, he had no right to ask. So instead of her sexy lips wrapped around his dick or taking her upstairs to his bedroom, he was suffering from a painful case of blue balls he was going to have to deal with in the shower. And as he wrapped his soap-slickened hand around his cock, water streaming over him, it was Mia’s mouth sucking him dry that took him over the edge and to completion.

He woke up the next morning and drove to pick up Bailey, bringing her home and going about his business as if the night hadn’t occurred.

* * *

Austin drove into work, pulling into the parking lot, early for the normal weekly meeting. A week had passed since that night he’d felt Mia’s slick sex beneath his fingers and brought her to climax, his name on her lips, and he found the trip to the office a welcome reprieve from being alone in the house with Mia and pretending he didn’t desire her with every breath he took.