“You look nice today.” I run my hand teasingly up her thigh, enjoying her shudder. “I like that dress on you.”

“Oh, thank you.” She lifts it slightly, showing me the bottom of her delicious lacy red panties. “I thought you might. When I was standing in front of my mirror, I wondered what you would like to see me in.”

Even though I think she’s joking, I like to imagine her planning out her dresses for me. Taking certain ones off, peeling them off her gorgeous soft skin, and sliding new ones on until she picked the right one.

“Well, you chose correctly.” I cup her face in my hands and bend down to kiss her. “I love it.”

“Mmm, you taste delicious.” She rakes her tongue along her bottom lip. “You drive me wild.”

“Still? After three months of this, I still make you wild?” I grip her butt and drag her toward me. “Good, because after all this time you still have my heart racing faster every time I look at you. You’re beautiful.”

“Three months? It’s only been three months. God, it feels like so much longer than that.”

“It does, doesn’t it? Yet at the same time, it’s flown by. God, it was over a week since Josh apologized.”

I can’t help glowering at that. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. Obviously if I knew he said something to you—”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s all in the past now. It seems like everyone has accepted us. Including your mom.”

“My mom was the first one. She asks about you before me now. She loves you.”

She rakes one of her hands through my hair and smiles. “Someone has to I suppose!”

I kick the door behind me, slamming it closed while wiggling my eyebrows at her suggestively. She bites down and glances behind her, trying to see if we have the time. To be honest, we’re so sickening that most people try to avoid us as much as they can now, calling my office rather than coming to see me if they can help it, but it’s still a risk. A risk that I do and don’t like in equal measures.

I slide my hand up her thigh once more, creating a massive tremble that runs through her body. She might put up a barrier, but I’ll have it crumbling down in no time. She seems to struggle to resist me as much as I do her. We’re completely obsessed with one another. The rest of the world is almost nothing anymore.

“Oh God, you’re so bad.” She gives in and hooks her hands around my neck. “What will I do with you?”

I slide my hand into her panties, groaning loudly as her wet heat circles me. I push two fingers into her, gripping onto her hip as she rolls greedily into my hand, needing more. I thrust inside of her harder and harder, flicking my thumb over her clit as she wraps herself around me. I fuck her with my fingers, staring intently at her contorted expression as she slams into me over and over again, her body convulsing as the bliss claims her.

“Oh, Brock.” I love the way she says my name. It shoots straight to my cock and clears my brain of any thoughts. Her walls clamp around me, and she tosses her head back, her hair dangling behind her. I grip her tighter, trying to stop her from falling to the ground as she succumbs to the pleasure.

Once she collapses into my arms panting, breathing desperately, I let a chuckle out. This is why this has to happen first thing. If it didn’t, neither of us would be able to concentrate all day long. She completely drives me over the edge.

“God, Jodi, you’re going to be the death of me. You’re just too much.”

She doesn’t even answer me. She dips her hands into my trousers, grabbing hold of my rock hard cock. I’m ready for her already. I need her to feel me. I’m twitching, about ready to explode. Her delicate, velvety fingers send my head spinning, and I lean back onto the desk, letting her have total control over me.

“You are everything . . .” she tells me, running kisses over my face, my mouth, my neck. “Everything to me.”

Something has shifted between us, and it’s growing deeper and deeper. It’s still very sensual, very sexual between us, but there’s a real depth which thrills me. This journey is incredible.

She slides down to her knees, keeping her eyes on mine as she does. Then she slides me between her lips, and she licks and flicks her tongue all over me, sending me to heaven. I’m sure at one point I hear someone knocking at the door, but I can’t stop this now to see who it is. Jodi completely owns me.

It isn’t long before I explode like a volcano, the lava flowing from me, past those gorgeous plump red lips, and into her mouth. She pulls back and gulps loudly, wiping the stray whiteness from her lips. She’s like a fucking porn show just for me, and I get to keep her. I work with her, I can spend as much time as I like with her out of work . . . she’s mine.

“I love you.” The words burst out as I zip myself away. I wasn’t expecting to say it so quickly, but she’s pushed any logic out of my mind. “Sorry, I just . . .” I giggle loudly. “I don’t know where that came from.”

She pulls me close to her and presses her lips to mine. “You know what? I love you too.”

“You do?” I can’t stop the giant smile from spreading across my face. “Really?”

“I do. I’ve loved you for a while now. I just didn’t want to say it aloud.”

“Why not?” I run a finger down her cheek. “Were you afraid of losing me?”

“Yeah, I think so. I didn’t want to move too quickly. I have a habit of picking the wrong men.”

“You do?” My heart pounds quickly. This is the one thing we still need to get through. Her past. We still haven’t broken down that wall. I’m waiting as patiently as I can manage.

“Yeah, I told you, didn’t I? About the reason I had to come here from New York.”

“Some trouble with a guy you used to work with? Is that right?”

I hold a breath, hoping that I haven’t asked a question too many. I don’t want to push her away from me again.

“Um, yeah. He was a guy I used to work with in the stock exchange. He was a nice guy, sweet, good-looking . . . I didn’t think I had any reason to say no when he asked me out on a date. I thought it would be fine.”

I freeze. I don’t move a muscle, scared of pushing her away like she’s a deer or something.

“It was . . . at first. It was okay. The date wasn’t too bad, but I had a bad feeling. I could tell right away when we were alone that there wasn’t a spark, and he gave me a bit of a weird gut feeling. So the date ended, and I just didn’t say too much about it. I guess I kinda hoped that he’d feel the same way, and it would just die.”

She pauses for a beat too long, her face paling. I reach out to rub her arm, hopefully comforting her.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me everything now if you don’t want to. Don’t upset yourself. I just want you to tell me when you’re ready. It’s fine, Jodi.”

“No, it’s okay.” Her breaths are sharp. It’s almost as if she’s only breathing in. “I want to. You’ve shared so much with me, and I know I need to tell you.” She gives me a sweet look, but I can see the terror behind her gaze. I’ve inadvertently taken her back to a clearly horrible time. “Especially if you love me.”

I kiss the tip of her nose, my love shining through. “I do love you. So, so much.”

“Well, things got quite strained afterward. He wanted to be with me, and he couldn’t seem to take no for an answer. I . . . I thought I could handle it at first.I assumed it would be okay, but it wasn’t. It got to the point where everyone started to notice, and it affected my work. We became the subject of office gossip, which made it harder. With the constant scrutiny, I could hardly stand it. It seemed to fuel him and make him worse . . .”

“Wow, that must have been really hard for you. I can’t even imagine . . .”

“Yeah, it was. To be honest, I lost all control of the situation.” She breathes deep, almost like she’s having a panic attack. I want to grab hold of her, to make it alright again. “I didn’t know what to do . . .”

Knock, knock.

“Fucking hell.” I can’t stop the expletives from flying out of my mouth. There’s definitely someone at the door this time, and we can’t ignore it. Can’t the person tell that I’m finally getting somewhere with her?

“I’ll get it.” Jodi takes a shaky step toward the door. “Oh, Shelley, is everything okay?”

I don’t hear Shelley’s end of the conversation, but Jodi soon turns to me and indicates that she needs to leave, shattering the magic of the moment completely. It took us so long to get to that point, and I don’t know if we’ll ever get there again. Frustration builds and builds as the jigsaw pieces scatter to the ground all over again.

Ring, ring . . . Ring, ring . . . Ring, ring . . .

“Who the hell is that?” It isn’t my cell phone, so it has to be Jodi’s. I find it on her desk and grab it just to silence it. The name on the screen makes my heart stop dead in my chest. “Lucas? Is that him?”

I almost pick up to tell him to get lost and to never bother her again, but something stops me. Jodi has only let me see a peep of her life, and it isn’t really right of me to interfere. It’s with a shaky hand and a heavy heart that I put the phone back on her desk and listen to it ring out. It’s been one hell of a roller coaster ride this morning.

I force my heavy limbs to take me back to my desk, and I take my seat. I clutch my hands tightly together while I wait for her to come back in. The name Lucas rolls around and around in my mind. I don’t like the idea that he’s still contacting her, that he could turn up at any moment, shattering my happiness.

I’ll have to fucking kill him to get rid of him. If he’s as obsessed with Jodi as I am, then it’ll be the only way to get rid of him.

Not really. I mean, I’m not actually a murderer. But I’ll have to do something drastic. She’s mine, not his.

Jodi bustles back into the office, distracted, and she takes her seat.

“I’m sorry about all that this morning. I know it isn’t appropriate to talk about it at work.”

“It’s okay. If you want to talk about it, it’s fine. I want to listen.”

“No, no. It isn’t the right time. I will tell you though. You deserve to hear the whole story about Thomas.”

Her face darkens as she looks at her cell phone screen and she sees the missed call. She slams it back down, ignoring it, but that isn’t the main thing that’s troubling me right now. She said a name that definitely wasn’t Lucas. Maybe it was an accidental slip of a tongue.

“Thomas?” She nods. “His name is Thomas?”

“Yeah.” She sighs loudly. “Thomas fucking King.”

If he’s Thomas, then who the fuck is Lucas?