It is lovely and cool inside the limo. I uncork a mini bottle of champagne and pour it into a pair of fluted glasses. She watches me from beneath her lashes. Her thigh is touching mine. I hand her a glass.

“We’re like what, ten minutes in?” she asks. “And you’re already trying to get me drunk?” She shrugs. “It works, I guess.” Her laughter bubbles up like the champagne in her glass, and it’s just as intoxicating.

“I don’t need to get you drunk. Behold last night and this morning,” I counter, grinning at her.

“Touché.” Tipping her head back, she slams the whole thing.

I take a sip and watch her. I’m trying to understand why she gets under my skin the way she does. Why her?

She opens a lidded container. It has little canapes. She bites into it delicately. “Mmm…lemon grass and chicken.”

“Let me taste,” I urge.

“Get your own. I’m not sharing.”

“I don’t like to share, either,” I say, my voice low.

She knows exactly what I mean, and I watch a smile cross her face. I can tell she might just like me as much as I like her.

We get to the restaurant, and I help her out of the limo. Inside, a hostess in traditional costume puts her palms together and leads us to a table. There are palm fronds all around us. Every head turns to look at us. We must look good together.

The wine list is not the best I’ve seen, but I order a light Muscadet to go with our high spiced food.

“To us,” I say, lifting my wine glass.

“To us,” she echoes.

The delicate way she sips her wine is driving me crazy. Everything she does is sexy to me. She could snort when she laughs, and I would still find it charming as hell. “You’re fucking sexy, you know.”

“Oh please,” she says with a laugh, but then she licks the rim of her wine glass.

It’s something that many a woman have done to tantalize me, but when she does it, it pierces right to the heart of me, sending desire surging through my veins. I want her bad. And I want her right now.

I picture ripping her dress off and sucking on her gorgeous tits right in the middle of the restaurant. Laying her on the table and eating her out for dinner and dessert. My cock stirs in my pants.

“What?” she asks, a single, delicate eyebrow raised.

“Nothing.”

“No, tell me,” she prompts.

“What if I don’t want to?” I tease.

“Well then, I guess we won’t be having sex anymore,” she says,

I stare at her. Surrounded by ferns and greenery she is like a seductive nymph. “Why is that?”

“If you can’t tell me what you’re thinking, then I can’t let you into my pants.” She shoots me a seductive smile.

This girl is killing me, and I’m loving every second of it. I’m starting to think that this thing between us might just work out after all. The food arrives and it is delicious. I do that thing I never do. I spear a morsel of food on the end of my fork and hold it out for her.

She takes it between her lips. Her eyes watching me. Oh, sexy.

Then she flutters her eyelashes comically and laughs at herself.

I laugh too.

We have so much fun together, and for the first time, I want more of that in my life. Fun. But not just any kind of fun. Fun with her. Fun where we go back and forth, teasing each other. Fun that makes everything we do together exciting and new, even if it’s not the first time we’ve done it. Her stockinged foot slides up my leg.

God, I want this woman.

I excuse myself from the table and go to the restroom. I’ve got to adjust myself because the conversations we were having, the thoughts I’ve been thinking, and her wandering leg, have given me a painful erection. This is definitely not the sort of place for me to be showing it off.

As I re-enter the dining area, I run into a business associate from way back, Matt. We weren’t close or anything, but we’ve hung out outside of work before. I haven’t seen him for years, and I almost didn’t recognize him.

“Luke-fucking-Remington,” he says loudly, clapping his meaty hand on arm.

“Hey, man,” I reply, surprised to meet him in Bangkok of all places.

“How the hell are you?”

Alcohol fumes hit me in the face and I lean back slightly. “I’m good. Really good, in fact. What are you doing here?”

He grins broadly. “Business, of course. Like there’s anything else? What about you? Is this business or pleasure?”

I shrug. “Business, mostly.”

He gives me a skeptical look. “I didn’t recognize you from the back before, but if you’re with that hot chick over there, I guessing she’s the eager little assistant, and you’re dipping your pen in the company ink, huh? You dirty dog, you.” He laughs at his own joke and slides his eyes over to where Jade is sitting. “I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t mind a bit of that ass myself.”

I’m not laughing. My stomach is churning. I hate the way he’s talking about Jade. As if she’s nothing. A piece of meat. And like I’m hanging around her just to get laid.

My whole life, I’ve had issues with relationships because my dad cheated on my mom with his bimbo secretary. It broke up the family, my mom never got over it and I hated my dad for it. It’s been weighing heavily on my mind ever since I saw Jade in that towel, but I’ve pushed the thought away more than once when she and I are together.

But to have someone else echo my own doubts, even as a joke, is like getting hit in the balls with a speeding baseball. I’ve spent my whole career making sure I didn’t get involved with anyone I worked with and what do I end up doing? Exactly what my father did. I’m banging my secretary. Worse, I’m imagining all kinds of feelings to camouflage the fact that I’m just like my dad. Weak and without real principles. All my great protestations were only good while there wasn’t real temptation. As soon as there was one, I fell for it hook, line and sinker.

I scowl at Matt.

Even though he’s hammered, he senses the shift in my mood. “Hey, I was only kidding, dude. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Whatever, man,” I say, pushing past him. I make my way back to the table. I’m done with him, and I’m done with this dinner. And I’m done with Jade. It’s not just about my own reputation, although that is a serious issue for me. It’s about hers too. Everyone will look at her the way Matt just did. They’ll think of her as slutty and cheap, when she is anything but those things. I like her too much to let people treat her that way. I can’t do this with her. I’ve been fooling myself. We’re away. In a hot country. We’re both attractive and we just lost our head. But the fun clearly has to end, for her sake and mine.

I walk up to the table. “We need to go.” I hate the cold sound of my voice, but it’s the only way I can get through this.

A flicker of surprise crosses her face. She doesn’t ask why. She simply sets her glass of wine down and stands up, so we can leave.

I don’t blame her for the confused expression on her face. I didn’t really explain to her what caused my sudden mood shift. I don’t want to explain it. And I don’t need to.

I’m coming off like an asshole, but my run in with Matt has me shaken up. He made it impossible for me to carry on pretending that what I’m doing is okay. Why the fuck did I have to run into him tonight? It ruined my good evening, and now, possibly even ruined things with Jade forever. I’ll never be able to look at this situation the same way again.

“Is something wrong?” she asks, as we walk out of the restaurant.

“No,” I say, trying not to snap at her. It isn’t her fault that I’m upset. I’m the bad guy here. I’m the fool who let things get this far. I have rules in place to avoid situations like this, but I stupidly broke those rules for Jade. My father must be laughing in his grave. Wait until you are in my shoes, then let’s see if you can walk away, he told me once when I begged him to come back to Mom. I spat in his face and told him I’d never be like him. Never.

Well, Dad…

She is my assistant. And I made a mistake. She’s beautiful and I got carried away. But I’m not going to carry on letting my dick decide my life. I’m not you. Not now. Not ever. I won’t let that happen. I’m better than you.

I know I’m hurting her, but in the long run, this will be for the best for her too. She deserves better. I’ll just end up breaking her heart and almost certainly hurting her career if I keep going with this. I could never live with myself if I did that.

I’m aware she wants to know what’s going on. Jade has a baffled expression on her face. I just can’t be with her. It’s not right for either of us. I just hope I can make her see that without tearing her heart to pieces like mine is right now.