“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“I believe you once told me that you were far from desperate,” I tease, throwing his words back at him.

He chuckles softly before pursing his lips. “That was before I spent an endless amount of time, in God knows how many boring meetings, thinking about what exactly I’d like to be doing with you.” A lascivious grin spreads across his lips. “And to you.”

“That’s a lot of dirty thoughts.”

“Oh, Rylee, you have no idea.”

I swallow loudly, the lust that leaps in his eyes and darkens his irises giving me a hint. “So, you planned on acting out these impure thoughts in my office? On my desk?” I arch my brow in mock disapproval, but the smirk on my face betrays me.

“Yep. I told you,” he says, playing along, “I take what’s mine when I want it…”

“With an audience of my co-workers?”

“Ah-huh.” He grins like a mischievous schoolboy. “I’d planned on coming straight from the airport this morning but I didn’t think Teddy would approve of it.”

I run my tongue across my top lip as I look up at him, placing my hands behind me on the table so I can lean back on them—my shoulders arching and my breasts pushing forward. I take notice of Colton’s eyes and their languorous appraisal of my new posture—his eyes heating and tongue darting out to wet his lip. “Since when do you care what people think?”

“Oh, sweetheart, believe me, I don’t...” he smirks “...but we still have to preserve your reputation.”

“I think that was ruined the minute I started going out with you.”

“Probably.” He shrugs in nonchalance. “I still think that your boss might object to his star employee being fucked on her desk.”

“But your boss?” I ask playfully. “He’s okay with his employees doing something like that? Here?”

A slow, suggestive smile curls one corner of his mouth, his dimple deepening. “Oh I think so,” he says, leaning down and laying his hands beside my knees on the table.

“You think so? Why’s that?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at him as I continue to play along.

“Oh, he has quite a vested interest in this situation here,” Colton murmurs as he leans closer into me.

“Oh really?” I breathe as I involuntarily arch my back so my breasts brush against his chest. I bite my bottom lip as we stare at each other.

Colton’s breath whispers over my face. “Sometimes it’s fucking great to be the boss,” he says before lowering his lips to mine again, but this time it’s an achingly slow kiss that tantalizes and torments me to the point of no return.

I want him, and I want him now. My God the man makes me crave with an intensity I never thought was imaginable. His fingers begin a slow, languid slide up my arms, my body coiling at the thought of where his talented fingers will trail to next.

I lean my head back as his mouth skims down my jaw and expose my neck for him. I reach his hip with one hand and pull him harder against me as his mouth tempts and dips below the neckline of my sweater.

“Colton.” I exhale as need swelters through my core and fire spreads in my veins.

A loud beep fills the room suddenly and Colton sags against me as I hear, “Excuse me, Colton?” coming from the phone on the credenza.

“Fuck,” he mutters quietly against my neck. “Yes?”

“Beckett’s looking all over for you. Something about an issue with Eddie…” she trails off as if she’s afraid of his response.

“Christ!” he swears aloud, his body tensing in response to her comment.

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Where?”

“They’re on the garage floor.”

“I’ll be right there. Thanks, Brooke.”

The phone clicks off as Colton straightens his frame to its full height. I push myself off of the conference table as he walks over to the glass-viewing wall to look at the garage below. When he turns back toward me he has transformed from the playful lover to the consummate businessman.

“I apologize, Ry. I have to go take care of something down below. Come with me?” he asks, holding his hand out, and I’m slightly taken back. Mr. I-Don’t-Do-Commitment wants to hold my hand at his work? Isn’t that a little too much of a ‘public display’ for someone with his history?

“I can stay here if you’d like,” I offer meekly, not wanting to leave his side.

He just looks at me oddly before reaching out and grabbing my hand and pulling me with him. “I’m not letting go of you, Ryles, until I get my fill of you,” he warns in a promise that causes flames of desire to lick at my center, “and that may just take a long fucking time.”



Beckett nods to me, the ghost of a smile curling his lips as Colton leads me from the garage floor. We make our way to a side door that Colton ushers me through, and I find us in a stairwell of sorts. “Up.” Colton points as he places a hand on my back.