I glanced across the hall and found Rush sitting in his chair, staring straight at me.
Two points for Gia.
Feeling particularly ballsy, I turned back around and quietly unbuttoned the top two buttons of my silky blouse. The material parted down to beneath my bra. Then I grabbed a stack full of extra menus that I didn’t need from the top shelf and accidentally dropped them all over the floor when I turned around. I might as well have been naked from the peep show my gaping blouse gave when I bent to pick them up—one at a time, of course.
The look on Rush’s face when I stood made me feel like a queen. But when he quickly diverted his eyes like he’d been doing something wrong, it caused a physical pain in my heart. Apparently, he hadn’t read the rules to the game—looking is encouraged. So I decided to fill him in. He stared at my legs with every step I took from the supply closet into his office.
Shutting his door, I leaned my back against it with my hands tucked behind me. “You know, I see you watching me.”
Rush clasped his hands together, resting his elbows on the arms of his chair—a very casual, but confident stance. Full of attitude. So Rush. “Is that so?”
I pushed off the door and took two steps toward him. “Yep. And you know what?”
“What?”
“I love that you look.” I took another step. “I love that you don’t seem to want to look, but you can’t help yourself.”
Rush just continued to stare at me. So I took that to mean he wanted to hear more. Raising my hand to the skin on my chest, I grazed a fingernail up and down my exposed cleavage. Rush’s eyes followed along. “But you know what part I don’t love?”
His eyes jumped to meet mine.
“I don’t love that every time I catch you, you avert your eyes like you’re doing something wrong. Like you’re not supposed to be looking at me the way you do.”
“Gia…” His husky voice was a warning.
So I took a few steps more and leaned on the opposite side of his desk, across from him. “Whether we wind up together or not, you’re supposed to be looking at me. And I’m supposed to be looking at you the way I do. Because you’re my person, Rush. And I’m yours.”
His stare was so damn intense, but he still didn’t utter a word. I walked around to his side of the desk and turned his chair so he faced me. “You do like looking at me, Rush, don’t you?”
Still no answer, not in words anyway. But his breathing definitely said something. It grew louder, faster…heavier.
I scraped a finger along his chest. Between my legs throbbed with need, and I wanted nothing more than to get on top of his lap. What harm would that do? We were adults. He might not want to be together, but he clearly wanted me. It suddenly dawned on me that we’d been here before, with me taunting him and inviting him for a physical relationship, one with no strings attached. The only difference was—we had strings now. So many that we were both tangled and tied up with a million knots. But it didn’t change the fact that we both had needs.
I unbuttoned another button on my blouse.
“Do you miss seeing me naked, Rush? Because I miss seeing your body. The hard lines of your stomach. The beautiful artwork inked all over. Your broad, strong shoulders. How hard you get for me…”
The air in the office grew so thick, it became difficult to breathe. Rush’s eyes dilated to the point that he had little color left in his beautiful blues.
The muscle in his jaw ticked a few times. “What gets hard for you, Gia? Say it.” His voice was so damn raspy.
I ran my tongue across my top lip while he white knuckled the arms of his chair.
“Say it…”
“I love when your…”
A knock at the door cut me off. Rush’s chest heaved up and down. He looked like he might burst if I didn’t finish the sentence. But before I could speak again, a second knock came. This time louder, and the door creaked open a crack. “Boss. It’s important.”
Oak.
I quickly turned my back and buttoned my shirt. Rush adjusted his pants and pulled his chair closer to the desk to hide the very prominent bulge he was sporting.
“Come in.”
Oak glanced back and forth between us and frowned. “Sorry to interrupt, boss. But you have a call. She called earlier, and I told her you were busy. But she called back again—said she’s been trying to reach you, and you’re not answering your cell. Said it’s an emergency, or I wouldn’t have bothered you two.”
“Who is it?” Rush clipped.
“Lauren.”
In a heartbeat, I went from hot and horny to frozen and freaking out.