I’d reserved a large table at Nine’s for myself and three of the contractors who were currently working on my dream shelter, plus their lawyers and mine. I set the three iPads I’d brought with finalized terms and contracts on one, liability and insurance forms on the others. We’d agreed on prices after several weeks of back and forth on the plans until we finally reached a shared vision.

Jeannine had prepared my guests a special lunch menu of beef wellington and glazed carrots and paired it with their choosing of wine or liquor. The spread was to die for and half way through our meals my guests were beyond loose.

“We’ve had a variety of high-profile clients, Ms. Turner, but never one who is as particular as you are about every facet of this remodel.” Mr. Langwater raised his glass of red in my direction, toasting with a smile and shake of his head.

I arched an eyebrow. “The design is critical to maintaining full-functionality and convenience for who I hire to run the shelter. It’s vital we account for every need and anticipated need of the people who will be staying there. This isn’t about control, Mr. Langwater. It’s about ensuring I produce the best possible product for those who will use it.”

“Well said.” He nodded, as did the others at the table, and I figured now was the perfect moment to get down to brass tacks.

I flipped open the iPads and drew up the documents on each screen, pushing them toward the men on the opposite side of the table. “As you can see here, everything we’ve discussed is in the contract. I will have paper copies sent to your offices as well if you’d like after we’ve each signed.”

Mr. Langwater pulled out a pair of gold-rimmed reading glasses, and his partner and lawyers leaned in closer to look at each as well.

I made sure not to stare them down as they read over the fine print—though they were well-versed in the terms because I’d sent them a boilerplate contract last week. I glanced up as I took a sip of my water and caught two electric blue eyes that shook me to my core.

Rory raised his eyebrows from where he sat at the bar, completely inconspicuous in a cap, polo, and slacks combo. He could’ve been any man stopping for a drink after eighteen-holes, but I’d never overlook him. An urge to race across the restaurant and kiss him shot through my core. I held onto the table to steady myself as my heart raced. I couldn’t be his version of Paige right now; I had my business face on.

But then he flashed me that damned smirk of his, the one that melted my insides while setting them on fire at the same time. He motioned behind him, where the hallway to the restrooms were.

I swallowed hard, noting the lawyers were still engrossed in the contracts. I scooted back from the table, drawing their attention. “Please excuse me, gentlemen. I’ll give you a few moments in private to look over the paperwork.”

“Of course.” Mr. Langwater nodded and went back to reading.

It took everything in me not to sprint to the bathroom. A shock ran through me when I didn’t find him waiting patiently outside them, and I froze in the hallway. I gasped, my brain catching up with the only reason he would’ve suggested I come this way. It wasn’t to wait on him to take a piss before we chatted in hushed tones in a damned hallway. Nope. This was number one on my list, a number I’d told him about a few days ago.

I pushed through the lady’s room door, my heart in my throat and my fingers trembling. My heels clicked against the tiled floor as I slowly walked to the only occupied stall. I pulled the door open, and Rory instantly yanked me inside, slamming and locking it behind me. He pressed me against the door, claiming my mouth with his, and I gasped between his lips. The first deep breath I’d taken all day came to me as his tongue slipped in my mouth.

Good God, I’d missed him, and it had only been a few days since I’d last seen him. I giggled against his lips, knocking his cap off his head. “What are we doing?” I asked, breathless and giddy.

He smirked, nibbling at my lower lip as his hands cupped my butt. “Number one plus number seven equals a fucking ten.”

I laughed again, then gasped as he sucked my tongue into his mouth. Adrenaline pulsed in my veins, shaking every inch of my body as the fear of getting caught mixed with the pure unshakable need I had for Rory. I shoved my hands under his shirt, needing to feel his skin under my fingertips. Knowing we didn’t have a second to waste for me to get my nerves under control, I dove right in and unbuckled his belt and jerked his slacks down, pushing his abdomen until he fell backward and onto the closed lid of the toilet.

I didn’t think about how I had a luncheon full of guests waiting for me to return or about how thankful I was that Jeannine didn’t skimp on the luxury bathrooms—instead I hiked up my dress and shimmied my panties down, shocked the lacy thong didn’t simply disintegrate the second his blue eyes had found mine.

Only breaking our kiss for a moment, I straddled him, rubbing my already wet center over his gorgeously hard cock.

“Fuck, Red,” Rory hissed, gripping my hips as he looked up at me. “I missed you.”

A tiny moan escaped my lips, the only intelligible response I had for him when he was teasing me.

“Me too.” I drug the words out, shamelessly rocking forward and back against him, teasing him as much as he did me.

His fingers clutched my hips, picking up my pace and then slowing it down. I ached, but with each attempt to get him inside me, he prevented it.

“Rory, please don’t do this to me.” I dug my nails into his shoulder and pressed my breasts into his chest.

He sucked my lip into his mouth before grinning at me deviously. “You might want to keep it down, Red. Never know who could walk in at any moment.”

I gasped as he hefted me against him, his hard cock pressing against my clit before he moved me away again. I clamped my mouth shut; the concentration took an effort I’d never experienced before.

Rory went silent, too, but pinned me with his gaze and the motions of his hands. He knew just how to move me, just where to angle me to wind me up, and then when I was sure I’d come from the pressure he had on my clit alone, he’d release it, and I’d come down—wetter and more frustrated than I knew possible.

His eyes darkened at another failed attempt by me to get him inside, and I tilted my head back, sucking in slow breaths that if we were not in a public bathroom would be begging screams.

His strong hand at the back of my neck had me face to face with him, and he licked his lips, the blue in his eyes sparking. He kissed me instead of giving in to my silent demands, and while it was hot as hell, I wanted more.

Finally, I fought the guidance of his teasing hands. I forced myself to freeze, unable to take the torture for one more second. Still, the feel of his hard cock simply being under me was enough to make me pulse.

Rory tightened his grip on my hips and tried to move me, but I shook my head. “Please, I can’t take anymore.”

He kissed my neck, my collarbone, and trailed his tongue along the shell of my ear before trying to move me again. “God, you smell like bottled sunshine. I’ll never get enough of this—of you,” he said as I resisted, my thighs trembling from the strain. He gave me a light smack on my butt, just enough to sting, and I bucked against him. His cock plunged inside me, the friction so sweet I almost instantly came. I rocked against him, hard and fast, meeting each one of his pumps as they came. I took him in. Took as much as he’d give me.

The throbbing knots within me tightened to an all-time high before Rory gave one final thrust and sent me over the edge again, forcing me to fly apart in his arms. He held me close as I came so hard I shook against him, and he swallowed my moans with his mouth claiming mine.

After a few moments of collecting our breath, he smoothed my hair over my face. The look in his eyes was so open and genuine—or maybe it was just the high from the cosmic orgasm he’d just delivered me—but I couldn’t hold my tongue back a second longer, not with what he’d just said to me. Sure, maybe it was the heat of passion, but he’d said never get enough.

“I want this to be real, Rory.” I blurted the words out as if I was a champagne bottle and he had just popped my verbal cork.

His eyes widened, the crease I knew all too well forming between his eyes

“I know I shouldn’t,” I whispered, my eyes dropping to his chest.

He tilted my chin up, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips before he kissed me gently. “This is as real as it gets, Red.”

The breath stalled in my lungs as his eyes searched mine. “Truly?”

He nodded. “You don’t need a fucking contract to tell you I’m yours. I have been since the night I took you to my loft. Maybe before that.”

Tears bit the backs of my eyes, but I locked it up and kissed him frantically. After a few blissful moments where my heart soared with all the things I never thought I’d get to have, the fear of the stakes that came with a relationship like ours battled the happiness filling my heart.

I rose off of him as gently as I could, and the second my heels clicked on the tiled floor, reality crashed on top of me. The luncheon. My contractors! Good Lord, Rory was capable of making me forget everything.

I straightened myself, pulling my panties up only to have Rory’s hand dart out before I got them all the way up. He stroked me for a few seconds, just enough to properly rile me up again and to soak his hand in the scent of us. After he pulled it back, he inhaled long and deep.

Oh God, if I didn’t go right this minute, I’d have him on this bathroom counter.

“I’m sorry to rush out...”

“Don’t be. Go.” He grinned, motioning toward the door.

I turned and opened it, checking the mirror to make sure I didn’t look too just-been-fucked and was satisfied only my flushed skin gave me away. I glanced back in the mirror, noticing a playful smirk shaped Rory’s lips.

I washed my hands quickly and darted out the door and back to my table.

Mr. Langwater and his partners had set the iPads down and were selecting samples off of dessert trays that Jeannine had prepared for the lunch. Thank God for chocolate and Jeannine.

“I apologize, gentlemen. I’m close with the owner and got caught up in a chat.” The lie was rough coming out, and I prayed Jeannine hadn’t personally delivered the tray of sweets or I’d look like an asshole.

“I wish I had friends like you do.” Mr. Langwater popped a chocolate truffle in his mouth and pushed the still-opened iPads toward me and my two lawyers that had joined in on the dessert fest. “We’ve signed. Everything is in perfect working order, as we expected no less. You truly are a remarkable business woman, Ms. Turner.”

I smiled as I scooped up the iPads, signing the portions left blank for my signature with the stylus. “Thank you, Mr. Langwater. I’m thrilled to be working with a firm as prestigious as your own. I know you’ll make this dream of mine a reality.” I instantly emailed a copy of the contracts and forms to his office as soon as I’d signed, slightly mystified I could close a big-business deal right after Rory had made me come in the bathroom minutes ago. My cheeks flushed at the thought, and I shifted in my seat.

“Now that they’re signed, do we have to rush off? I’d really love to try as many of these marvelous desserts until I’m incapable of eating more.” Mr. Langwater smiled and reached for another truffle.

“Of course. I can always have Jeannine bring more if you feel up to the challenge.”

He laughed and waved his hands in defeat. “No, no no. I couldn’t possibly.”

I chuckled and took a much needed pull from my ice water, letting the cool liquid quench a thirst only Rory managed to create. I casually glanced around the restaurant as the men chatted amongst themselves between bites of chocolate, hunting for a pair of blue eyes that had the ability to see into my soul.

I found him by the door, readying to leave. He winked at me as he pressed his fingers against his lips. The fingers that I knew were enveloped in the scent unique to the two of us together, and a warm chill raked over my skin. He’d said what we had was real. He’d felt what I did. Maybe not love, but he was with me. And he was mine.

Another moment and he turned out of the door, leaving me with a pleasant ache between my thighs and a raw craving for more.

* * *

I hit up the local boutiques after the luncheon. A celebration/distraction trip that doubled as a time-killer until Jeannine closed up. After she’d locked the doors well after midnight, she poured us both drinks, and we sat at the bar.

“You did what in my bathroom?” She nearly spit out her club soda after I’d quickly confessed my sin of the day. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“I’m sorry?” I downed a gulp of scotch and soda.

She waved me off. “It’s already cleaned up by now.”

I laughed. “God, Jeannine we didn’t make a mess.”

“Sure, sure. You know I spent over a hundred grand on those bathrooms and you go and get your ladybits all over—”

“Jeannine!” I held my side from laughing so hard, her joining in as she shook her head.

“It’s all right. That’s another one off the list right?”

I nodded, unable to contain my smile.

“You’ve got it bad.”

“I’m afraid I do.” I took another gulp and turned to face her. “Now, tell me all the consequences of giving my heart to a notorious bad boy Shark. Tell me the risk of loving someone who is capable of ruining my public persona. Tell me all of it, Nine, because I’ve kept the thoughts at bay all day and now they’re consuming me.”

“Whoa,” Jeannine said, pouring me another drink and sliding it in front of me. “First, drink some more. Then take a damn breath.”

I obeyed, drinking and breathing and trying to shove every reason I knew I shouldn’t be with Rory in a box labeled save for later.

Jeannine studied me with weary eyes. “You said love.”

I nodded. “I don’t know if he loves me. I know that we have something…maybe I’m crazy.” I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Don’t belittle it,” she said. “You two have some serious chemistry working. Anyone can see it.”

“And that’s the problem, isn’t it? People who can see. Sure we’re doing okay in the media’s eyes now, but what if he slips? What if he gets arrested again? What if he goes back to bed-hopping and I’m left looking like the idiot girl who was swept away by a Shark?”

“He’s not stupid enough to do any of those things.”

“I hope you’re right, but my head…” I smacked my palm against my forehead. “My damn business head is telling me to run away now before I fall worse.”

“I know you’re required to think like that, but seriously? How can you turn your back on something like the two of you have? If I had a man who could distract me enough to make me forget I was in a restaurant bathroom, let alone a meeting? I’d put a death-grip and a ring on it.”

I laughed and finished the contents of my drink.

“What does your heart say?” Jeannine asked.

“That I’m in love with him.” I rested my forehead on the bar. “But he drives me insane.”

“I can see that.”

I tossed my head up. “No, you don’t get it. He makes me think terrible things.”

She arched an eyebrow at me. “Like what?”

I polished off my scotch. “Like maybe I don’t care what happens if I lose everything else, as long as I have him.”

She hissed and poured me another. “That’s the dirty-girl in you talking, and I’m beyond glad the list and Rory has brought her out in you, but you’ve got to find the balance between the brilliant woman you are—and all the responsibilities that go with her—and the girl who needs to cross off everything on that list.”

“I don’t care about the list anymore. I care about being out of control of my own choices.”

“You’re in control, Paige. You always are. You just need to figure out a way to manage both.” She placed her hand on my back.

“What if I can’t? What if the only thing I manage is to fuck everything up.”

Jeannine raised her glass to mine and clinked the rim. “You won’t.” After a good, long drink she set her glass on the bar and leaned on her elbows to get close to me. “But if you do I’m always hiring.”

I chuckled and rubbed my palms over my face. They still smelled like Rory’s skin and the ever-present craving for his presence wrenched in my core. I silenced it with a prayer that I could find the balance Jeannine spoke of. Find a way to be the woman the world and my company needed me to be, and the woman who loved Rory Jackson with her whole heart. Now I had to hope he wouldn’t crush it.