Another late night at the office. Working longer hours is the only way I’ll ever get close to getting everything done. The marketing department took up half of my day trying to get me to make decisions on stuff that is not part of my skillset. Poppy is the designer, not me. But that’s not what they wanted to hear. I was a bitch to them, and I wouldn’t apologize for it, they were totally out of line. Completely.

But it brought home one fact that I’d been ignoring this past year. This job wasn’t for me. I was good at it, because detail and efficiency are kind of my jam, and the pay and benefits were good. Really good. But this job didn’t move me, didn’t fuel me. And the more I see of it, the less I want it.

I picked up my phone without thinking and I regretted it almost instantly. “Hello?”

“So, you do answer your phone.” Luke. His voice was too damn sexy for my peace of mind. “I was starting to think it was just me.”

It was, but he didn’t’ need to know that, it would give him an advantage I couldn’t allow. “What’s up Luke?”

My short words took him off guard, and he stumbled over his words. ‘What’s up is that I’m downstairs.” I say nothing, because I can’t decide if this was a good thing or not. I’ve been avoiding him for a reason, but if I let him come up, we would get naked, and I’d get his beautiful cock inside of me again, making me feel good. Really good. “With food.”

A groan escaped me at just how adept the man was at getting doors to open for him. I’d gone ten days without seeing or tasting him, so I knew I needed to brace myself for the hotness that was Luke.

“Put Jonas on the phone.” I gave Jonas permission to let Luke up, and then I scrambled to get myself ready.

I had about one minute before the elevator reached this floor and I used it wisely, smoothing twelve hours of wrinkles from my dark green sleeveless dress, slicking a colored gloss over my lips before settling back on my spot on the floor. My hair was a mess. I took it down from the clip holding it into some semblance of a ponytail and ran my fingers through it. Since I wasn’t trying to impress anyone, I left it as it was and pretended to be deep in work when Luke made his appearance.

I told myself not to look up when his shadow darkened my door, and I should have listened, even though I’d never been any good at listening to me or anyone else. Luke in a suit was a panty wetting dream, but in jeans he was all that and more. Dangerously sex. Seductive with his blond hair that looked like it had just been mussed. But his t-shirt made him look like the quarterback all the girls swooned after in every high school across America. I had to reign in the lust and talk myself out of crawling across the floor and then climbing up his body, begging him to have his way with me. “What did you bring me?”

He laughed and sauntered in, kicking the door closed with a smile that promised lots of dirty things to come. “It’s good to see you too, Talia. Damn good.” His voice deepened and pitched with sex. “Especially on the floor like that, now just arch your back a little.” He barked out a laugh when I glared at him, but what he didn’t know was how tempted I was to arch my back and see his eyes glaze over. “I brought risotto, chicken marsala and salad. Oh, and wine.” His smile was bright and seductive.

“You can stay then,” I told him seriously.

With a satisfied smile he took a seat on the sofa behind me and began to unpack the food. “Does this mean you’re done avoiding me?”

Of course he wouldn’t let it go. “I wasn’t avoiding you, Luke. But in case it’s slipped your mind, my boss is on bed rest for the foreseeable future, so my load has doubled, at least. Is your ego bruised?”

He nodded like a wounded little boy. “It is, and now it is completely up to you to make it better. I think a kiss would go a long way to make me feel better.” Before I could call him crazy and pretend I didn’t want it, Luke took it out of my hands and pressed his mouth to mine, dipping my head so it was the perfect angle to receive his kiss. His wickedly delicious kiss that I couldn’t get enough of. His kisses were a special treat, the kind that good girls only allow themselves on special occasions.

But when I was wrapped up in Luke’s arms, I didn’t want to be good.

I wanted to be bad. Very, very bad.

When a heady, high sensation took over, I had to pull back for the sake of sanity. And oxygen. “Not that I’m complaining, but why are you really here?”

“Dinner,” he pointed to the plastic containers waiting to be devoured. “And because I wanted to ask you something.”

“Okay.” My words were wary. “Well?”

“Would you like go out on a date with me?”

To say I was shocked would have been a massive understatement. What shocked me even more was how tempted I was to say yes.