“Are you serious! What were you thinking?” I ask Ryder as he merges onto the highway.

“That he was being an asshole and needed to be taught a lesson.” The smirk plastered on his face is annoying me. He’s obviously proud of himself, of the reaction Ian had.

“And you thought telling him we were sleeping together would do what? Make him jealous?”

Anger seethes through my veins. I stood in the hall, paralyzed, listening to Ryder and Ian fight for a few moments before retreating to finish gathering my things. It was time to get out of there before the situation got worse. If that was possible.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that Ryder started it. Instead of telling him the truth about why he was there, he made up a preposterous story.

I’m more than just his assistant.

We’re dating.

It was love at first sight.

I’m moving in with him.

Lies, all lies. Ian wouldn’t even look at me as I stacked everything by the front door. It wasn’t until Ryder took a load of things down to his truck that he finally broke his silence.

“That guy, really? You left me for him?”

“It’s not what you think, I swear.”

“It sure does look that way. He watches your every move. I can see how much he cares about you. He gets this look on his face when you walk in the room. It’s like you light up his world. I remember feeling that way once. What happened to us?”

That’s when I nearly broke. Seeing the anger and hurt on his face. His eyes were bloodshot as if he had been crying. I knew it was because he was sick and not because of me, but it still got under my skin.

I’ve been asking myself that question for a while now. We’ve both changed, grown, but it hasn’t been as a couple. We’ve grown as individuals and that caused us to grow apart. The things I use to love about Ian I no longer see in him. I’m sure he feels the same way about me, even though he hasn’t said as much. It would explain why he was trying to change me, to control my life.

He wanted me to be the person he fell in love with again. I’m not that person anymore. Neither is he.

We were young when we started dating. Still in college, love was a glamorous thing. It was shiny and new, just like our relationship. Every day, every moment we spent together was fun and exciting.

Sometime between then and now, the sparkle faded and our lives became routine. Saying I love you became automatic anytime we said goodbye, whether it was for an hour or a month. I can’t remember the last time I felt a flutter in my chest when I heard him tell me he loved me. That feeling should never fade, no matter how long you’re together.

“I’m sorry, Emerson. I am. I wasn’t thinking. I saw him and how angry he was, and I wanted to draw the attention away from you and onto me. Let him be mad at me; I don’t care. You don’t need him to be mad at you,” Ryder explains as we come to a stop at a red light.

“Well, he is. At least he will be until I tell him the truth. I don’t want him thinking we’re together. There are enough rumors going around right now, I don’t need him spreading more.”

“I’ll put a stop to the rumors.”

“I don’t care about the rumors, Ryder!” I scream, at my wits end with everything that’s happened today. “I don’t care what people think about me. I have a job to do; that’s all that matters right now. I can’t do that if people are watching me and analyzing my every move. I can’t control them, though. All I can control is myself, my actions, and that’s what I’m going to focus on.”

“Em—”

“I’m done talking about this. There are always going to be rumors. The only way to extinguish a rumor is to make it true. Once it becomes a fact, it’s not fun to talk about anymore.”

Ryder doesn’t respond, giving me a moment to myself before we pull into the parking garage. As soon as he puts his truck in park, I reach for the handle to get out. Locked.

“Can you let me out, please,” I say, my eyes focused on the handle.

“I want you to know that I didn’t plan to make your life harder by going with you today. I really was trying to help. That’s all I want to do, Emerson. Help you. I’m not a bad guy, I swear. I just have a hard time keeping my cool when it comes to people like you. I always go caveman and get protective. It’s who I am.”

“People like me?” I ask, turning to face him.

“Yeah. Good people. People with a large heart. People who’ve shown me that they care. People I care about. People I’m attracted to.”

Attracted to.

Shit!

Say something, Emerson. At least acknowledge his confession.

“You’re going through a lot right now, and you’re really vulnerable. I never meant for my kindness to come across as anything else. I’m sorry if it has. I’m just trying to do as you ask, do it well, and prove myself. Nothing more, nothing less.” My reply is barely above a whisper. The car is silent, and for a moment, I think he may not have heard me.

“You haven’t come across as anything other than a kind-hearted, hard-working person, Emerson. I, on the other hand, have been battling with my feelings for you. From the moment I met you, I knew you were special. I could see it in your eyes. I know I shouldn’t feel anything, not right now, maybe not ever, but I do. We’re both in complicated situations right now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel the way I do. I can’t control it any more than I can control the weather.”

That explains the Jekyll and Hyde personality he displayed the first few weeks.

“Um.”

Think, Em, think.

Looking at the dash, the time saves me.

“You have a meeting in ten minutes with your father. We should probably talk about this later.”

“Can we? Talk later, that is?”

“Sure,” I say when I hear the doors unlock.

Hopping out of his truck, I speed walk to the elevators, hoping to make the climb alone. Ryder being almost a foot taller than me, catches up to me easily and falls into step.

“You know, your stuff is still in my truck,” he says as the elevator doors slide close.

Shit!

“I’m parked close to you. I’ll grab it later.”

“Or I can drop it off at Angela’s place tonight if you want. I’ll bring Thai food with me.”

That sounds a lot like a date.

Leaning down so his lips graze my earlobe, Ryder whispers, “I promise to be on my best behavior.”

A shudder runs up my spine at the thought of him being bad. I shouldn’t be thinking about him like that. Shirtless, like he was the other night. The image of his hand running along his tattoo is still fresh in my mind. That image has made more than one appearance in my dreams since then.

Hot dreams. Naked dreams. Naughty dreams.

No, no, no!

Now I won’t be able to look at him the rest of the day without blushing.

“You know that’s not a good idea.”

“How else am I supposed to get you alone without more rumors starting?” he questions, a hint of laughter in his voice.

“The point is to stop the rumors—”

“You said the only way to stop the rumors were to make them less interesting. This could make that happen.”

“I’m not dating you,” I say sternly.

“Who said anything about dating?” he insinuates as the elevator doors open and Helen’s head pops up from behind her desk, a large smile on her face.

Ryder backs out of the elevator, wiggling his eyebrows at me before heading down the hall toward his father’s office.

Is he serious?

Does he just want a piece of ass? A booty call?

That’s not how I operate. I’ve been with very few men in my life, and I plan to keep it that way. Unlike most of my friends, I never went through a “slut” phase. Instead, I lived vicariously through them while they freaked out about condoms breaking and remembering the name of the drunk guy they went home with the previous night. I’m sure they had fun, but to me it seemed like a lot of work that never paid off.

Sure, you got laid. Maybe you even had an orgasm. But the next day, your work started all over again. You had to find a new “buddy” to meet your needs. No thanks. Not my thing. Plus, I was with Ian and I thought he would be the last man I would share myself with. Apparently, I was wrong.

Watching the minutes tick by, I plan my escape. I’ve never left without letting him know before. He knows that. Today I plan on running before he can stop me.

Ryder is still in a meeting with his father when five o’clock rolls around. This makes my life a little easier. Grabbing my purse, I say goodbye to Helen and wait for the elevator to pick me up. Just as it arrives at the floor, I hear Ryder’s voice from down the hall.

It’s faint, but it’s his.

His words have been playing through my head all afternoon. His voice echoing. He has a voice that’s hard to forget, deep and sensual. It almost sounds like he’s grunting sometimes.

I’m sure his grunt is sexy.

Lost in thought, the elevator doors begin to close in front of my face when a hand stops them.

“Are we done for the day, Emerson?” Ryder asks.

“I am. I’ll see you in the morning,” I say, stepping into the car.

“I’ll walk you out,” he replies. Standing close to me, he whispers “We have some business to discuss.”

Of course we do. Business that isn’t business related. Business that I’m not sure I want to discuss.

His divorce isn’t final yet. I’m just getting out of a long relationship. Now is not the time to entertain ideas like this. We’re both vulnerable and horny. Our sexual needs aren’t being met. I’m sure we could help each other out with that, but it wouldn’t be a good idea.

It would eventually come to an end, and then what? I work for him.

Would I have to find another job? It took forever to find this one.

The rewards aren’t worth the risk. Maybe that’s what I need to tell him. Honestly is a good policy. It’s not like we’ve passed the point of no return. We can still make this work as a business relationship.

A few people hop on the elevator on the second floor and ride it to the lobby, exiting and leaving Ryder and me alone for one more level. As soon as the doors separate us from prying eyes in the lobby, Ryder moves in front of me and presses me against the wall, trapping my body with his.

“I’m going to kiss you, Emerson. It’s all I can think about. I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first day I met you, and it pisses me off that I couldn’t. I don’t care about the rules, anymore. I know you work for me, so I’m letting you make the decision. If you say no, I won’t. I won’t do anything that you don’t want me to do. But if you let me kiss you, I promise it’ll be worth it. I’ll make sure of that.”

My chest is rising and falling rapidly. His proximity, the feel of his body against mine, is making my heart race and my palms sweat. Every ounce of sanity and willpower left my body the moment he started talking.

Do I want him to kiss me? Hell yes!

Can I let us cross that line? Once we do, there’s no turning back. Our “business” relationship will have two sides to it. One while we’re at the office and one when we’re not. Can they really be kept separate?

“I… I don’t know if… It’s just…”

Moving his hands from their place on either side of my head, Ryder takes my face and tilts it toward his. I’ve been afraid to look at him, to look in his eyes. I knew once I did, I wouldn’t be able to say no to him. I wouldn’t want to.

“Yes,” I whisper as the elevator dings loudly.

Thinking quickly, Ryder pulls the stop button. The elevators doors are slightly ajar, but that doesn’t stop him from moving in to devour my lips. He’s gentle, his kiss soft, until I sweep my tongue across his lips and his restraint fly’s out the window. So does mine.

Saying yes, letting him kiss me, is the best decision I’ve ever made. No matter what happens, I’ll never regret or forget this kiss, the way it makes me feel, or the man who makes me feel this way.