Jaggar groaned as she turned in Griffin's arms. What they'd just done, twice, had been risky and dangerous, and hot and sexy, and thrilling and damn, did she already say hot?

Griffin's dick twitched against her hip again. What was the man doing to her? After what they'd just done on the desk, and the follow up on the floor, and then the second follow up with Griffin’s mouth easing away the ache, it was a wonder she had any energy to move.

"Where are you going?" His voice was low and sleepy.

"You know we can’t stay on the floor like this, right? Eventually the cleaning crew is going to come."

He twisted his head around to glance at the clock on her desk. "They don’t come until eleven. We have an hour." He licked his lips before kissing her briefly. "There are still a few things I’ve been dreaming about. We should see what we can get up to in the elevator."

Jaggar giggled. "We can’t. You know there are cameras in there right?"

He winked. "Could be interesting knowing someone's watching."

She blinked up at him. Where was the stiff buttoned up Griffin? This version was decadent and knew how to dirty talk. "Somehow I think the secret would be out of the bag then."

He kissed her again. "Good point. Besides, now that I know what you look like when you’re coming, I’m not inclined to share the moment."

She flushed deep. "So you intend for this to happen again? What about the redhead on your phone?"

He cursed low. "Is that why you left me yesterday?"

Embarrassment washed through her and she tried to shrug it off. "Well, I thought I’d interrupted plans you had or something."

"Bullshit. You were scared I was fucking with you."

Jaggar rolled her eyes. "Fine. Yeah. I was. I mean it’s not like we planned what happened. I’m still worried about that."

He watched her intently and when he spoke, his words were deliberate. "She was a dancer at the club. My friend gave her my number. She flirted, but it was entirely one sided."

God, she sounded like a needy jealous girlfriend. And this was not that kind of situation. "You don’t have to explain to me."

"It upset you, so yeah, I do. Especially since I want to do this again. I tried staying away from you for a year. And admittedly, this, us working together makes things a little complicated, but I like touching you. I'd like to keep doing it. So I want the air clear. You and I have been embroiled in the longest game of foreplay known to mankind. I want to see where this goes."

Jaggar bit her lip in an attempt to hold back the smile. She knew better than to go all gung ho with feelings when dealing with anyone. "Okay. That works for me."

"But?" he prompted.

She narrowed her gaze. He was more perceptive than most and she'd have to remember that when she was with him. "But obviously we need to be careful. What we just did was insane and reckless. Totally hot, but—"

He nodded. "We're on the same page. I'm not in the habit of taking risks with my career."

She sat up and wrestled with the lace cup of her bra to re-clasp the front. "Let's face it, my career is more at risk."

His gaze was on her chest and she snapped her fingers to get his attention. His grin flashed. "Sorry. They’re very distracting, but yeah, I hear you. Ryan has it out for you. That much is clear. I'm not going to give him any ammo to use."

He stood fluidly and Jaggar had her own moment of staring. Somewhere between his sliding into her on the desk and the floor, he'd shed his tie and his shirt had become unbuttoned. She couldn’t help but smile at the slashes of red fingernail points on his shoulders and chest. She'd marked him as hers. Even if it was just temporary.

Jaggar shook her head as she pushed to her feet. "I'm sorry if this puts you in an awkward position. I know he's your friend."

Griffin pulled her close and helped her with her dress. "He's shown he has a clear bias against you. It’s not rational and I don’t know why, but he has it out for you. But he's hurting the work with his feelings." He narrowed his gaze. "Any detail you care to shed on the problem the two of you have?"

She wasn't telling him the full story. Especially not now. She'd already put the whole thing behind her. She had a feeling Griffin would open that can of worms right back up with the force of an atom bomb. And she didn’t want to have to go through that all over again. "It's nothing. We just don’t like each other."

His gaze narrowed imperceptibly. But he let it go for the time being. "Okay. So why don’t you tell me what you went to see Elsa about."

She caught him up and when she was done, he whistled low.

"We need to get into the club to talk to her."

"That's exactly my thought. I was going to reach out to Serena again. I hate to outstay my welcome in a manner of speaking, but we need access to her."

He cleared his throat. “I uh, I'm actually a member."

Say what? "Excuse me?"

"A friend of my dad's with money to burn bought me a membership last year for my twenty-fifth birthday when they opened."

She could only stare at him, incredulous. "Do you have any idea how expensive the memberships are?"

Griffin shrugged. "All I know is it's exorbitant."

"Wow, that's a really good friend of your father's."

"You could say that. Miles Anthorp."

“The owner of Anthorp Media is friends with your father?"

Griffin cleared his throat. "Yeah, he's sort of my godfather."

"Holy shit." Anthorp Media had holdings in media companies all over the world. "I don’t get it. With your father's connections and Anthorp, you should have your own show."

He shook his head. "No. I wanted to do this on my own. Or as Dad and Miles call it, the hard way. Dad at least respects it. But every six months or so, Miles offers me some cushy job to see if I’ve come to my senses."

"I guess I understand that. It's why I don’t tell anyone who my mother is." Also because her mother could be well ... difficult.

He helped her slide back into her shoes. When they were both dressed, he said, "I still can’t believe your mother is Bianca Collins. I assume that’s her stage name. My father is a big deal in news circles, but your mother is a bona fide movie star."

"And, I'm not her. A fact she likes to remind me of often. So I'm my own person, just like you’re your own person. Besides, she’d hate for anyone to know she had a daughter as old as I am."

"I guess we're finally learning about each other," he muttered. "I spent a lot of time resenting your being here. Mostly because I didn’t want to want you this bad."

She smirked. "Well, it's better late than never. And, for the record, I wasn’t deliberately trying to irritate you." She shrugged then added, "Mostly. You just hated me so much. And I don't back down."

He shook his head. "I hated wanting you. I was with someone I told myself I was in love with. But there you were invading my space and my brain. I couldn’t get you out of my head."

"So you two ... "

Griffin shook his head. "A story went bad a little bit after you started working here."

"The gangs and drugs story?"

"That’s the one. Anyway, we’d already broken up, because, well, I realized I couldn't have such intense thoughts about someone if I was happy where I was, so I broke it off. One of the gang members I wrote about retaliated against her, even though I’d already broken up with her. It got ugly. Still is ugly. She's moved and she's still having some problems."

"I'm sorry. For her, for getting in your head." What was she supposed to say to that exactly? Sorry you were hot for me when you had a girlfriend? She doubted there was a Hallmark for that one.

"No need. I was the one who couldn’t get you out of my head. Obviously I still can’t. I thought if I could ignore you or make you go away, everything would be fine. And I could go back to my life, but once you were under my skin, well, you see how well trying to stay away worked. I couldn’t. More importantly, I don’t want to."

And she didn't want him to either. Which scared the hell out of her. Attachments will end you. She shoved her mother's words out of her head again. "So when do you want to make another run at Elsa?"

"Tomorrow? It'll give me time to find out if she's dancing and in which room. We can be more efficient."

"Okay, that works."

He reached out a hand to take hers and Jaggar desperately wanted to take it. But she knew better. "Can’t remember?"

A shadow crossed over his beautiful green eyes. "Okay. You’re right. But I’m not done with you yet, so are we continuing the conversation at your place or mine?"

As worried as Jaggar was about what the hell she was doing, she didn’t want to let go of him. Not yet. "Yours.”