Page 20 of Falling for Her Grumpy Boss

At Club Indigo, I watched people shift around her without realizing they were doing it.

Now she stands in front of me with her throat exposed beneath my hand and her eyes fixed steadily on mine while something inside me comes apart piece by piece.

My palm settles more firmly against the side of her neck, and she gives another small breath when my thumb traces her jaw. The sound goes straight through me. So does the feel of her staying exactly where she is instead of stepping back and putting distance between us again.

My body reacts instantly.

Need pulls hard enough through me that it almost hurts.

I can feel the exact moment she stops holding herself apart from me. Her shoulders loosen beneath my hand. Her breathing turns uneven. Her lips part softly beneath my thumb, and when I shift closer, she tilts her head back for me.

The movement feels instinctive. Natural.

Like she was always going to yield once I touched her like this.

Control doesn’t snap.

It gives.

Gradually, then all at once.

I don’t step back.

I don’t say anything else.

I close the distance and bend toward her, the decision already made somewhere between noticing and acting, leaving no space for reconsideration as everything else falls away.

CHAPTER 5

Dylan

The door closes behind Tess with a soft click that should not sound nearly as loud as it does.

Get a grip.

I draw in a slow breath through my nose, aiming to control the hard-on I’m sporting and getting the exact opposite. Her perfume still lingers in the air. The scent hits me immediately, worsening my condition.

Jesus Christ.

I drag a hand down my face slowly, forcing air into my lungs before I shove away from the desk hard enough that the chair behind me rolls slightly across the floor.

What the hell was that?

I know exactly what it was physically. My body made that very clear the second Tess kissed me back like she’d been holding herself in check as tightly as I had.

But standing here now, replaying the look in her eyes before she walked out, the problem sitting under my skin has very little to do with wanting her naked.

I’ve wanted women before.

Plenty of them.

Wanting Tess feels different in a way I deeply do not appreciate.

I cross toward the windows overlooking Main Street, loosening my tie as I go; the knot suddenly feels too tight against my throat. Outside, late afternoon light catches on truck windshields and storefront windows, washing the brick buildings below in gold before clouds drift over the sun again.

Normally, the view settles me.

Right now, my pulse still hasn’t come down.