The past several days had been unbelievably stressful. I was worried about my friends. Sophia was pretending like she hadn’t had a bomb dropped on her when Lola informed us that her brother Dominic, who just so happened to be Soph’s ex-boyfriend, was in town for an indefinite period of time. I tried to get her to open up, but she insisted that she was totally fine. I wasn’t buying it, seeing as the man had completely demolished her heart ten years earlier, but I let it go.

Lola, on the other hand, was quickly spiraling out of control. After a meeting with Grayson’s family had ended in catastrophe, she’d slowly started slipping. But when pictures of him out with his ex-girlfriend, a stunning redhead named Fiona, hit the papers, Lola had officially lost it. She’d gone from moping around like someone had run over her beloved puppy to on-air tangents with our callers during our radio show. Sophia and I tried our hardest to get through to her. It was obvious she wasn’t handling her split with Grayson well—I’d never seen her so lost in all the years I’d known her—but trying to convince her to talk to him was like beating our heads against a brick wall.

The final straw had been when she punched our station director, Sam, in the nose. Granted, the asshole had it coming with his chauvinistic remarks about Lola and Grayson, but the situation could have been handled much more professionally. It led to yet another meeting with HR and the higher-ups. If we kept going down the road we were currently on, I had no doubt that the station would can Girl Talk without so much as a backward glance.

The only plus side to all the drama happening around me was the fact that I hadn’t had much time to think about Caleb and how my body still yearned for him.

I let out a heavy sigh as I made my way from the conference room. To say Lola had gotten off lucky with just a mandatory three days off for breaking our boss’s nose was putting it mildly.

“Well this is really going to make the gala interesting, isn’t it?” Sophia asked.

I looked at her, confused for a second. Then it dawned on me. “Ah hell, is that this weekend?”

I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about that. The charity gala at the Seattle Art Museum for the Wave Foundation was something Bandwidth hosted every year. And as hosts of KTSW’s most successful talk radio show, Lola, Sophia, and I were always a big part. This year we decided to up the stakes and auction ourselves off for dates to the highest bidders in the hopes of raising even more money.

“You forgot?” Sophia asked in shock. “How could you forget? It’s your favorite event of the year!”

She was right. I loved the gala more than Christmas, New Year, and Oscar season combined. It was the one time a year I got to dress up like a movie star walking the red carpet and not feel guilty for spending way too much money on designer gowns and shoes. The expensive dresses I wore for the event each year were the closest I was ever getting to a wedding gown again, so I basked in it.

“Can you blame me for being a little distracted? You and I have been kind of consumed with helping Lola to not self-destruct. And look how well that’s gone. She broke Sam’s nose, for Christ’s sake.”

Sophia gave me a lopsided grin full of mischief. “You sure your distraction doesn’t have anything to do with a certain sexy blond dude with a skill at giving orgasms?”

I nearly choked on my tongue. I hadn’t confessed to her that I’d fallen off the Caleb McMannus wagon again, and had no intention of ever admitting it to anyone, but it was almost as if she was reading my mind. I laughed maniacally. “What? No! Of course not!”

She looked at me with narrow-eyed suspicion. “I don’t know who you’re trying harder to convince, me or yourself.”

I released a very loud snort, like every word out of her mouth was utterly ridiculous. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. I’m totally over the whole Caleb thing. I’m going to grab a latte from the cart in the lobby. You want one?”

She crossed her arms over her chest, grinning knowingly. “No, thanks, but nice effort to change the subject.”

I shrugged and started for the elevators. “It’s just one of my many gifts.”

“You know, you can’t avoid talking to me forever,” she called at my back as I jabbed the button to take me down.

“But I can sure as hell try,” I murmured to myself as I watched the floor numbers light up above the elevator. I gave the Down button a few more good stabs with my manicured finger, letting out a sigh of relief when I heard the ding and a set of doors slid open.

Closing my eyes, I rested against the back wall of the car and dropped my head back against the mirrored panel with a frustrated sigh. I’d have given anything to be back at home with a bottle of wine and my recorded episodes of Outlander. Jamie was the only man I could count on to never let me down. Unfortunately, my beloved ginger was a fictional character. And I’d already discovered the brutal truth that real-life men could never live up to the ones in books.

I opened my eyes as the elevator slowed to a stop and opened to the ground floor. The smell of fresh pastries and ground espresso beans coming from my favorite little cart made my mouth water as I stepped out onto the shiny marble floor. I stood in the ever-present line, hoping they hadn’t already run out of my favorite cheese Danish, when a voice from behind me made goose bumps break out across my arms.

“Looks like it’s my lucky day.”

I bit my lip to suppress a groan, ignoring the way my nipples tightened into aroused peaks beneath the lace of my bra as I slowly turned to face the man standing directly behind me.

The faint spiciness of his cologne overwhelmed one of my senses while the sight of him totally affected another. Three of my five senses had already gone into shock over this infuriatingly perfect man. All that was left was touch and taste, and you could bet your ass my body wanted to do both.

God, I hated him.

“So you’re stalking me now?”

“Bumping into you was just a happy little coincidence, but it does remind me.” He stepped closer, lowering his voice to a whisper. “You and I have some unfinished business.”

I somehow managed to stop from shivering as his warm, minty breath slithered deliciously across my skin.

Not wanting him to see the longing I was sure radiated in my eyes, I faced the front of the line, sending up a silent thank-you to God that it had moved. There were only two people in front of me now. I was that much closer to my blessed Danish and a soothing latte. But more importantly, I was that much closer to escaping Caleb.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said flatly, refusing to look back at him as I spoke. “Anything between you and me is so finished it’s already dead and buried.”

“Yeah? Then I guess that means your rock-hard nipples are just because you’re cold and have nothing to do with the fact that you want me.” He was so dangerously close his words blew a few tendrils of my hair across my shoulder.

I quickly crossed my arms over my chest and spun around with fire in my eyes. “You’re such an egotistical asshole!” I hissed under my breath. “Just to make things perfectly clear: I. Do. Not. Want. You.”

I was sure we were quite a sight to the people around us. They were probably wondering whether we were about to rip each other’s throats out or rip each other’s clothes off. If I were being honest, I wasn’t too sure of the answer myself.

“Your pupils dilate and you bite your lip every time you look at me. When I get close, you get goose bumps, and don’t think I haven’t seen the way you shiver when I whisper in your ear. I’ve got enough experience to know when a woman wants me, Daphne, and your body’s practically fucking screaming for it.”

Damn him and his uncanny powers of perception!

I opened my mouth to spew a denial, but the lie just wouldn’t form. The best I could come up with was “I hate you!”

“You may hate me, sweetheart, but you still want to fuck me.”

I threw my hands in the air with a loud “Gah! You’re unbelievable!” My heels clicked loudly as I stormed back toward the elevators empty-handed. Just another reason to hate Caleb—he was coming between me and my necessary midday sustenance.

“You running away isn’t going to change anything,” he continued as he followed me.

“Will you just leave me the hell alone,” I snapped, pushing the Up button so hard my finger ached.

“Not until you admit the truth.”

I let out a garbled yelp of agitation, not just at Caleb but also at the elevator for being so damn slow. “Screw it! I’ll take the freaking stairs.”

It most definitely hadn’t been my brightest idea.

“You know, I can do this all day long if I have to.” Caleb’s voice carried up the flight and a half I’d just ascended, and the bastard didn’t even sound the slightest bit out of breath.

Meanwhile, my lungs felt like they were on fire, as though I’d just run a full marathon at a sprint. “Oh god,” I panted, grasping the railing like it was the only thing keeping me standing—because it really was. “So. Many. Stairs.” I inhaled and exhaled through my mouth as a painful stitch twisted my side.

“Jesus, really?” Caleb stopped two steps below mine. “You’ve barely gone up fifteen steps. How are you this winded?”

“Shut up.” I massaged my side, hoping to rub the singe away. “This is all your fault, making me do cardio.”

“How the hell is it my fault? I didn’t tell you to take the stairs!”

I lifted the hair off the back of my sweaty neck and fanned at my burning face with the other. It was embarrassing how out of shape I was. “Well I wouldn’t have had to if you weren’t following me!”

“For Christ’s sake!” he barked, yanking his hands through his hair. “Why does everything have to turn into an argument with you?”

“Because you drive me crazy!”

“Feeling’s mutual, sweetheart!”

And just like that, I launched myself at him. He caught me like I weighed nothing, spinning me around until my back was pinned against the cool cinderblock wall. Our mouths battled against each other’s for dominance in a kiss that heated my blood. Our teeth clashed together, our tongues tangled. Caleb’s hands roamed feverishly over every inch of my body he could reach.

A groan slipped past my lips as his muscular thigh forced mine apart, making room for his trim hips. I rubbed myself against him like a cat in heat, desperate for more of his touch.

“Fuck,” he gritted, trailing a heated path from my jaw to my neck with his tongue. “Why does fighting with you turn me on so goddamn much?”

I arched my back, giving his lips more room while pressing my breasts harder against his chest. “There’s something seriously wrong with us,” I panted, out of breath and crazy with desire. Caleb’s fingers dug into my hips, forcing me to grind on his leg. I whimpered as arousal flooded through me.

“Half the time I don’t know if I want to strangle you or kiss you,” he grunted, pressing his thigh higher.

I moaned wantonly. “I want to strangle you all the time,” I said while riding his leg like a total hussy.

One of his hands left my hip and fisted in my hair, angling my head so he could see my eyes. “Admit you want me.”

I couldn’t force the word out, not when my body was so close to detonating. All I could do was shake my head in denial.

“Why are you being so goddamn stubborn? I can feel how wet you are for me. You’ve soaked right through my fucking pants. Just admit it.”

I tangled my fingers in his hair, trying to pull his mouth closer to mine. “Stop talking and kiss me.”

An annoyed growl worked its way up his throat. “Three little words, Daph. That’s it. I. Want. You. Just say it.”

I was close. So freaking close I wanted to cry. My lips parted of their own accord, but before I could get the words out, a door a few floors up opened and the sound of voices echoed through the stairwell.

Caleb and I both stood frozen, completely silent as the voices grew fainter before finally disappearing behind another door. Despite thwarting my impending release, the interruption really was a blessing in disguise. It gave me the time I needed for reality to set in.

Placing my hands on Caleb’s chest, I pushed until there was enough space for me to slip from between him and that wall. With a trembling hand, I brushed the hair out of my face. “This has to stop, Caleb. We can’t keep doing this.”

His face hardened like stone. “Give me one reason why.”

“Because you’re completely wrong for me!” I cried in frustration. I began to pace the small landing as I ranted. “I’ve done the whole man-whore playboy thing before. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now. You’re not the kind of guy a woman gets invested in, Caleb. You’re the fling, the fun one-night stand. You’re the guy who screws so many women he can’t recognize them a few months later!” I shouted, feeling the bitterness course through my blood.

He prowled toward me, a menacing glare plastered on his face. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking you know everything about me, sweetheart.” His words were spoken softly, quietly, but there was no missing the warning in them. “If you think all there is to me is the number of women I’ve fucked, then you’re sadly mistaken.”

With that parting shot, he stomped down the stairs and disappeared through the door to the lobby, leaving me standing on unsteady legs, suddenly feeling very unsure about everything.