Gabriella

“Hey, wake up.” Colette pokes me in the side with a ruler.

For a moment, I think I’m back in bed with Harrison, and then I remember that I’m at work, at my desk. “I wasn’t asleep,” I mumble. It’s a half truth. I’m so tired I was phasing out, and she caught me right at the moment my eyelids drooped.

“Here.” She plonks a mug of coffee in front of me and pulls up a chair. Dragging a pile of new brochures toward us, she opens one as if we’re about to proofread for errors, then says, “You have to tell me everything.”

“I had a glass of bubbly and some potato wedges,” I reveal.

“Gabs!”

My lips curve up. She looks like a kid on Christmas morning. Bless her, she’s really excited for me. “It went well, don’t worry,” I tell her.

“Did you go back to his place?”

“Yeah…”

“And?”

“It was lovely. I loved his kitchen.”

She sits back in her chair and gives me a wry look as she sips her coffee. “At least tell me you had a good time?”

“You could say that.” I cross my eyes. “The guy’s insatiable.”

“Really? How many times did you do it?”

I bite my lip. “Seven.”

“Seven! Holy fuck.”

“It was indeed. Seven holy fucks.” We both chuckle. “I think he only stopped because I fell asleep,” I admit. “He kept me up until four a.m. I’m a shadow of my former self.”

“I’m so proud of you!”

That makes me laugh. “I’m glad.”

“Did he finally banish the ghost of exes past?”

“He did. In more ways than one.”

“What do you mean?”

I sip my coffee as I think about it. “He made me feel… different from how I was with Alex. It was exciting, and it made me realize how much my relationship with Alex had grown stale. But I suppose that’s natural, isn’t it? No relationship can stay fresh over ten years. Everything fades in the sun.”

Colette shrugs. “I hope not. Things with Seb are only getting better.”

“You have only been with him three months,” I remind her gently.

“True. But there’s something between us I’ve not felt before.” A touch of color appears on her cheekbones.

“Are you saying you believe in soul mates?” I tease.

She doesn’t laugh, though. “Maybe. Or perhaps it’s just a confluence of events—the meeting of two people who are statistically well matched with likes and dislikes, and it happens at a time in their lives when they’re ready for the next step. Maybe if I’d met him a year ago, or even six months ago, the timing wouldn’t have been right. Who knows? But I’m hopeful that this one will last.”

“Of course it will!” I feel bad for suggesting otherwise, because it’s clear the two of them are crazy about each other. “Don’t mind me. I’m just jealous.”

“Doesn’t sound like you have a reason to be.” She winks at me.

“I hardly think we can compare your relationship to my one-night fuckfest.”

“Hey, mine started as a one-night fuckfest. We had no intention of it developing into something more. But flings tend to be like feral dogs—they have a mind of their own. Are you going to see him again?” she persists.

“Noooo.” Of that I’m certain. “I’m going travelling, remember?”

“Not for another few weeks.”

“Yeah, but it’s a reason not to get involved.”

“Is it? You could say it’s the perfect reason to have a fling. No worries for either of you about Where This is Going.”

I don’t reply to that. I’m not sure I can put into words my fear that I’m going to fall for Harrison Grant.

I liked him even before I went to bed with him. And now…

An intern who wants some details about the new brochure distracts Colette, giving me time to stare into the distance and daydream about last night.

I’d told Harrison during a moment of sensual madness that I wanted him to use me, to fuck me any way he wanted. To make me his sex slave. I can’t believe I was brave enough to say the words now, but I did, and he absolutely followed my instructions to the T. He took complete control of my arousal last night, and he did make me his slave inasmuch as he directed me into different positions each time, and he took his own pleasure from me with no sign of a decrease in passion from the first time to the last.

But even though in my sexual fog I’d offered him the use of my body, and I completely expected him to take it with little thought to my own desire, I couldn’t have been more wrong. He took great delight in taking time to arouse me, touching and stroking me in between the moments of intercourse until the whole night blurred into one long haze of sensation.

I’d expected him to be passionate, and maybe even to be thoughtful, making sure I enjoyed myself. But I assumed after that, he’d be showing me the door. Instead, I stayed all night, and it was only when my phone went off at six that he finally let me call a taxi and go home to shower and get ready for work.

“Earth to Gaby.” Colette finishes off her coffee. “Dreaming of Mr. Seven-times-a-night, are we? Your eyes have glazed over.”

“I was thinking about having a chocolate muffin, actually.”

“Figures. You need something to keep your energy up if you’re going to expend that number of calories.” She smirks.

I open my mouth to give a sarcastic retort, then stop as out of the corner of my eye I see Harrison walk into the office. The words die on my lips, and my whole body floods with heat.

Colette stares at me—I’ve obviously gone scarlet—then follows my gaze. She laughs.

Harrison is with someone who’s wearing a visitor’s badge, no doubt showing an investor or someone else of importance around the office. He hasn’t seen us yet, and I enjoy having a few seconds to ogle him. He’s wearing a slate-gray suit, with a white shirt and a sky-blue-and-silver striped tie. Ohhh… he’s gorgeous. I want to jump on him, rip off his clothes, and have him for breakfast.

“Wow,” Colette whispers. “You’ll set him alight if you carry on looking at him like that. Want to drag him off into the stationery cupboard?”

“No chance of that,” I mutter. “I can barely walk this morning. My lady parts are radioactive.”

He glances over at that point, and for a moment I think he heard what I said. He looks at Colette, who’s smirking again, and then his gaze flicks to me. My face burns as images from last night flash through my mind. His mouth, his hands, other pieces of his anatomy… Teasing me to the edge of pleasure, and beyond… This man took me to places I’ve never been before, exciting places, dark places, pushing my boundaries, and showing me what real, grown up, sexual desire is all about.

I thought I’d rise the next morning and walk away without looking back. I thought I’d be an adult about this, be able to have sex with him and not give him another thought.

I’m such a fucking idiot.