There was no way I was going into work. I couldn’t do it. I got up when my alarm went off and dragged myself into the shower, still half asleep. I’d tossed and turned for half the night trying to decide what to do.

I’d thought what happened in the limo was the most mind-blowing experience of my life, but that was nothing next to what had happened on Aiden’s couch.

I’d read about oral sex in books. I’d had two boyfriends I’d done it with—me giving, never receiving. They’d both said returning the favor was gross and a little weird. It was clear Aiden didn’t share their opinion.

My body tingled in memory. Enthusiasm didn’t quite cover it. Aiden had put his mouth on me like it was the only thing he’d ever wanted, like kissing me there, licking me there was more important to him than anything on this earth.

And he’d made me orgasm twice. Twice. I didn’t think that was possible. Another thing I’d read about and written off as exaggeration.

I was vaguely sore between my legs and had beard burn on my breasts. I wanted to go back to the night before when we were alone, and this time I wanted to do everything. I wanted to strip off my clothes and then his. Wanted to touch him. I wanted to feel him inside me, get my hands and my mouth on that hard cock I’d only felt through his clothes.

Another mystery. What kind of guy didn’t want to get his back? He’d made me come three times and hadn’t even let me touch him.

Aiden Winters was so far beyond my understanding of men, I didn’t even know where to start trying to figure him out. I reminded myself that there was no point in trying to figure Aiden out. All of this was temporary.

No, not temporary.

It was over.

I couldn’t walk into that office and face him. There was no way I was going back there.

It wasn’t just what had happened in his office. And the limo. It was more than that. Somewhere in between Aiden feeding me cannoli and racing down the stairs, my heels so loud against the concrete I was sure I’d be caught, sure at every landing the door would pop open and Gage would be there with his accusing glare—somewhere in there I’d realized that I couldn’t do it anymore.

I’d started this stupid plan thinking I’d be at Winters, Inc. a few days, I’d find some dirt on Aiden Winters, I’d threaten to expose it if he didn’t give Chase his company back, and that would be that.

In retrospect, I’d been an idiot. Anger didn’t bring out my best reasoning skills. When I was furious, bone-deep enraged, I acted like a moron. My temper lost me my first job. My temper got me kicked out of my parents’ house. And my temper had convinced me I could best Aiden Winters.

The truth was, there wasn’t any dirt to find. Aiden Winters was a good man. Not an angel or he wouldn’t have scammed Chase out of his company, but everything else I’d seen had convinced me he was essentially a good person. He loved his family. He looked out for his employees. He ran a charitable foundation for heaven’s sake.

My heart twisted in my chest at the weak words. Aiden was more than a good man. He was sweet and thoughtful. He was bossy as hell and brilliant. He carried so much on his shoulders—his family, the company—and he never faltered.

He took care of everyone in his life and no one was taking care of him.

Not your job, I told myself, firmly. So very much not your job.

It wasn’t. This was over. Not just because I’d realized there wasn’t any dirt to find on Aiden. No, it was over because, as I’d raced down the stairwell to hide from Gage, I’d realized that if I found any dirt, it would break my heart.

That was really the end.

I couldn’t talk myself into looking for something I didn’t want to find. I’d failed my brother, and I’d made an utter fool of myself.

Things couldn’t go any further with Aiden. The whole idea was absurd. Even if you put aside the fact that we’d met because I’d lied, and worse had been trying to manipulate him to my own ends, he was still way out of my league. My life was nowhere close to the world Aiden Winters lived in.

If I hadn’t scammed my way into his company, we never would have met. That’s the way it should have been. I knew how Gage felt about me, and I’d seen Jacob’s reserved reaction to meeting me. I wouldn’t come between Aiden and his family, even if he wanted me to.

Standing in the kitchen, staring at the coffee maker and wrapped up in a thick terrycloth robe, I made a decision. Before I could change my mind, I picked up my phone and pulled up my email. It didn’t take long to type up my resignation.

Yes, I’m a coward.

A better woman than me would have quit over the phone, especially after everything that had happened the night before. A braver woman would quit in person. That was the right thing to do, and I cringed at the thought.

Aiden had said I couldn’t leave until he was ready to get rid of me. I didn’t have to ask if he was ready. If nothing else, I owed him three orgasms. Aiden wasn’t the kind of man who’d let that go unanswered.

My thumb hovered over the Send button as I thought about what might happen when Aiden read my email. Maybe I should go out of town for the weekend. Maybe I should move to Alaska. I thought about the Winters’s connection to Sinclair Security and I realized Alaska wasn’t nearly far enough. He’d threatened to hunt me down if I ran.

There was a very good chance that when I quit, Aiden would shrug his shoulders and move on. He was drowning in gorgeous women. He didn’t need me.

But if he didn’t…

If he didn’t shrug and move on, there was nowhere I could hide that he wouldn’t find me. I squeezed my eyes shut and lowered my thumb to hit send.

The phone rang in my hand. Between the sudden vibration and the eruption of sound, I screeched and dropped the phone. Staring in horror, I read Aiden’s name on the display.

Moving in slow motion, I leaned down and picked the phone up off the kitchen floor. The call went to voicemail, but before I had the chance to be relieved, it began to ring again.

Nauseous, I tapped the green answer button and lifted the phone to my ear.

“Have you left yet?” Aiden said quickly. He sounded like he was moving. From a distance, as if he’d moved the phone away from his mouth, I heard him say, “Yep, love you too. See you Sunday.”

“Violet. Are you there?”

“Uh, Yeah, I’m here. I mean, yes. Yes, and I need to talk to you—”

“We can talk on the plane. I’ll be there in twenty-five minutes. We’re going away for the weekend. Meetings in Vegas today, maybe tomorrow if we don’t get things wrapped up. We fly back on Sunday. Pack for business and casual.”

“Excuse me?” That was all I could get out.

“I know you heard me, Violet. You have twenty-five minutes.”

“You can’t just order me to go away with you for the weekend,” I said, feeling my spine go poker straight.

“As your boss, yes I can. But if it would make you feel better—Violet. Sweetheart. Darling. Would you please pack so we can go to Vegas for the weekend?”

My knees went a little weak and I sagged against the counter.

Sweetheart? Darling? What was going on?

I dropped my head, my wet hair falling in my face, and said in a low voice, “Aiden, hasn’t this gone far enough?”

Calmly, Aiden said, “I’ll decide when it’s gone far enough. Pack your things. It’s a four-and-a-half-hour flight, so you can dress comfortably for the plane and change right before we land. I’m leaving now. Twenty-five minutes.”

He hung up.

I stared at the home screen on my phone in disbelief. Maybe I could reason with him when he got here. Or, a sneaky little thought crept in, I could pack and go to Las Vegas with him for the weekend. I could balance the scales before I quit and I never saw him again.

I knew what Vegas meant.

Vegas meant a bed.

Sex.

I had a quick, vivid flash of the night before, his mouth, his fingers, the thick bar of his erection through his suit pants.

On a scale of innocent to completely evil, how bad would it be to drag this thing out for three more days?

Aiden wasn’t a fool. The Sinclairs had probably found out every detail of my life five minutes after Aiden realized my last name wasn’t Hartwell. It wasn’t much of a deception when the target knew the truth.

Chase wouldn’t be back for another week. He’d never have to know I went away for the weekend with the man who stole his company.

I put my phone on the counter and scrubbed my palms over my face. What was I thinking? I should go get dressed and be prepared to tell Aiden I wasn’t going with him. That was the right thing to do. It was the only thing to do. Anything else would be completely insane.

Taking the job at Winters, Inc. hadn’t been my brightest move, but I was usually fairly smart. Smart enough to know that my brother would be incredibly pissed off if he found out I’d had anything to do with Aiden Winters, much less had an affair with him.

This whole thing had spun out of my control so quickly I didn’t know how to stop it.

No, I knew how to stop it. Aiden wasn’t a monster. If I looked him in the eyes and told him I truly wasn’t interested, he’d back off. And that was my problem. I was a terrible liar, and Aiden could see right through me.

He knew I was interested.

I was so interested I hadn’t been able to sleep the night before thinking about how interested I was.

Interested in getting his clothes off.

Interested in seeing how good sex would be considering the three orgasms he’d already given me.

The person making this complicated wasn’t Aiden Winters, it was me.

I was a liar and I couldn’t bring myself to do the right thing even when I knew what it was.

At that thought, a harsh laugh brought tears to my eyes. Wasn’t that what my parents had said right before they kicked me out? I was a liar who didn’t know right from wrong.

But this wasn’t about my parents. It was about me.

It was about wanting a taste of something I wasn’t supposed to have, something that was out of my reach.

One weekend.

Three days.

I could have three days with Aiden. Three days in a hotel room away from his family, away from Winters, Inc. A moment out of time just for us before I had to make myself walk away. There was no possibility this could go further, but I could have these three days before I had to say goodbye.