With a sigh, she started twirling pasta around her fork. “Sorry for dumping this on you guys.”

Annabelle reached over and smacked her arm. “Stop that. It’s not like you didn’t listen to me bitch before. That’s what friends are for.”

“And other things.”

Jared’s deliberately suggestive comment left both of them in stitches and, for the rest of dinner, she made a deliberate effort to pull herself out of her funk.

By the time she wandered back to her apartment, not long after they’d polished off a third bottle of wine, Kate lay in her bed, nearly asleep when her phone rang.

She thought about not answering it, but then it could be Tyler. Maybe he was sitting in her parking lot again.

That got her moving.

“Hello.”

“Kate.”

Yes. “Tyler. I’m so happy to hear your voice.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine.”

She thought she heard him chuckle. “Yeah, it sure sounds that way. What were you drinking?”

“A few bottl—glasses of wine. What makes you think I was drinking?”

She definitely heard him laughing now. “No reason. Just a lucky guess. How was work?”

“Sucked. Are you in my parking lot again?”

“No, unfortunately I’m not. I had a sucky day here too.”

“When will I see you again?” The words slipped out before she could check them. She didn’t want to be the clingy type but alcohol loosened her tongue. And her inhibitions. “I wish you were naked and spread out on my bed so I could do whatever I wanted to you.”

He paused before asking, “And what would you do?”

His voice had dropped to a low growl that made her go wet. As payback, she told him.

“I’d sit on your thighs and put my hands on your chest so you couldn’t move. Then I’d bend down and bite your nipples. Not too hard. Just enough to let you know I was using my teeth. Then I’d lick them so they wouldn’t hurt at all.”

“So far, so good.”

Did he sound a little out of breath? She smiled. “Oh, I’ve got lots more planned. Next, I’d pet you for a while because you have such a great chest. Firm and hard and—wait, they mean the same things. Never mind.”

“No, please continue. You can call my chest any version of hard you want.”

“Hey, are you making fun of me?”

She definitely heard amusement in his voice.

“Not at all. I’m enjoying you talking about my hard chest. Tell me more.”

“I’m not sure you totally appreciate the effort I’m putting into this.”

“Honey, if I were there, I’d show you how much I appreciate it.”

She smiled, loving this side of him. Tyler had serious down to an art but his dry humor had a way of sneaking out when you weren’t expecting it.

“Oh, yeah?” she said. “Tell me?”

“I’d kind of like you to finish what you were saying.”

“About how I was stroking your chest?”

“Will you be stroking anything else?”

“Do you want me to?”

“I want you to stroke anything your heart desires, Kate.”

“Then after your chest, I let my hands stroke down your stomach until I reach the waistband of your jeans. I’d open the button at the top and pull down the zipper, carefully because your dick’s so hard, it’s pushing against it.”

She swore she heard him swallow over the phone. “Because I want you to suck me.”

Yes, she wanted that too. “I push you until you’re lying on your back. I have your pants and your underwear around your thighs and your cock is right at my mouth.”

“Jesus, Kate—”

“I open my mouth and take in the tip, let my tongue swirl around it.” She swore she heard him groan, and it made her even bolder. “I put my hand between your thighs and cup your balls. They’re so tight and hot and I know you like me to play with them. Your cock’s swelling inside my mouth so I take you deeper. You taste so good.”

Her eyes had closed and, in her mind, she saw exactly what she was doing to him. One hand slipped between her own legs to finger her clit, rubbing, trying to ease the ache in her gut.

“I let my mouth slide down your cock until I can’t take any more. My nose rubs against your stomach and I swallow—”

His groan made her breath catch until she couldn’t continue.

“Kate, are you playing with yourself? Get yourself off. I want to hear you moan when you come.”

“Then you have to—”

“I’ve got my hand wrapped around my cock. I’m ready to blow but I want you to come too. Rub your clit. Imagine it’s my tongue and I’m licking you hard and fast, like you like it.”

“Oh, my God. Tyler!”

Her body convulsed as she found the perfect rhythm, just as she heard Tyler groan on the other end of the phone.

For at least the next minute, all she did was lay there and listen to him breathe.

“I wish I was there to see you right now.”

His rough tone sent another shock through her body, and her sex tightened in aftershocks.

“Me too.” She paused. “Will I see you this weekend?”

“I want that. Can you come down?”

If she worked eighteen hours a day for the next three days and switched her meeting—

No, she couldn’t switch that meeting Saturday morning. She and the potential client had had trouble finding a time to meet and that had been the only time they could agree on.

“I should be able to come down Saturday afternoon, if that’s okay?”

He paused. “Is there a reason you can’t come Friday?”

“I have a meeting Saturday morning with a new dress client and I really need to get caught up on some projects I’ve been contracted for.”

She realized she was holding her breath, waiting for him to say he’d come up Friday night.

“Then Saturday it is. I’ve got a shitload of meetings this week and I’m meeting with the GoldenStar board Friday afternoon. I have no idea how long that’s going to take.”

Well, there went Friday night. “So you decided to take the chairmanship?”

“Not yet, no. This is just a preliminary meeting. There are a few board members I’m not sure I can work with. I need to get a better read on them.”

“Then I’ll look forward to seeing you Saturday.”

“Kate . . . are you sure that’s okay?”

No, it was too long to wait. “I’m positive. Can’t wait to see you then.”

“Alright. Sleep well, Kate.”

“Good night, Tyler.”

* * *

“Buddy, you need to get laid. Why the hell don’t you just knock off for the night and drive up to see Kate? I don’t think she’d be upset to see you. And you could use the downtime. Especially before that meeting tomorrow. You’re already twice as uptight as you normally are.”

Tyler gave Greg the finger but didn’t spare a look. He’d been pouring over GoldenStar financial reports dating back ten years for at least the past two hours. Maybe more. He couldn’t remember when he’d picked up the packet, knowing he’d been avoiding it since it’d arrived Monday.

Knowing he couldn’t avoid it any longer.

“Seriously, Tyler. Take a fucking break.”

He sighed, reaching for the cup of lukewarm coffee he’d been nursing for half an hour. “I can’t. There’s something about the numbers that isn’t adding up, but I can’t tell if I’m just not reading them right or there’s something I’m missing.”

“You don’t tend to miss too much.” Greg shifted forward as he sat across from Tyler’s desk. “What’s the problem?”

With a disgusted exhale, Tyler shoved the file across the desk and sat back to scrub at his eyes. “The problem is I feel like I have to do this. I feel like it’s what my grandfather wanted. And, God damn it, I want the damn thing.”

Greg’s eyes widened. “I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you say that. Why the sudden change of heart?”

“It’s not a change of heart. I’ve always wanted the chair. I just . . . I didn’t think my dad was going to retire this soon and I don’t like feeling forced into it. Jesus, I sound like Jed, don’t I?”

Greg smiled. “No, you sound like a guy who’s got a shitload on his plate at the moment. Haven, the spa, a new girl. Now this.”

A new girl. It sounded so juvenile.

And yet, it was true.

Kate was on his mind all the time, whether he was working or not. He’d taken to carrying his grandmother’s ring, the one Kate had found at the flea market. He liked having it in his pocket, the weight of it comforting somehow.

But every time he thought about the ring, he thought about Kate and everything else became secondary.

He wanted her here. Wanted her to be waiting for him in his bed when he finished whatever the hell was left on his to-do list.

“I don’t have time for her right now.” It sounded cold, and he felt like a bastard saying it out loud, but it was the unvarnished truth. “I should stop stringing her along.”

This was the absolute worst time for him to fall for a woman.

A new relationship required time. It required commitment and a willingness to compromise. Neither of them had those luxuries at the moment.

What they had was lust. And that wasn’t enough on which to base a lasting relationship.

“So that’s what you’re doing? Stringing her along?” Greg snorted. “I think that’s one sorry-ass excuse. At least admit it. You’re afraid.”

Tyler barely managed to control his grimace. Greg would see it as a sign that he was right.

“I’m not afraid of anything except raising her expectations and then not being able to meet them.”

“And I think you’re going to use all the rest of this shit as an excuse to not get close to her.”

“Why the hell would I do that? I like her. Jesus, Greg, I really like her. She’s smart and driven and— Why the fuck are you smirking at me?”