“Why…”

Josie’s voice is almost a whine, trailing off into a sigh. The first time she says it, I’m halfway through writing an email to Adam. Julia can scold me via email as much as she wants, but the situation in Italy has become a different beast that’s going to require a delicate touch. The last thing I need to do now is ghost the conversation and end up with a bigger mess on my hands. 

She sighs again, heavily. “Why?”

“Why what?” 

Things changed after last night. I feel close to her in a way that I’ve never felt with anyone, but that closeness certainly comes with its costs. For one thing, I’m noticing things about her that I hadn’t noticed before. One of those things is that Josie can be highly irritating when she’s not getting her way.

She’s silent for long enough that I realize she’s staring at me, and I peek at her over my sunglasses.

We’re relaxing on the beach in two lounge chairs, under an umbrella. I have my laptop so that I can stay on top of this while spending as much time with Josie as possible. She even bought a paperback at the resort’s gift shop. It’s dangling from her fingertips right now, only the cover folded back. She hasn’t even made it into chapter one.

“Josie...”

“I just want to know why you’re sending emails when there’s an ocean we could be frolicking in.”

“We did that earlier. You said it was too cold.”

“It was fucking freezing.” She smiles, and it twists at my heart.

“If you want my attention,” I tease, “you could ask for it.”

“I want your attention.”

“I didn’t hear the magic word.”

She reaches out and slaps me lightly on the shoulder, then makes a show of going back to her book.

I type out the last few lines of my email and hit send.

It’s not thirty seconds before my phone starts to ring.

“Oh, for God’s sake.” I pick it up. “Adam, I sent you an email. Five seconds ago. Wait for it to arrive, and—”

“I can smooth this over,” he says, and I can tell from the din in the background that he’s got to be in a restaurant or club of some kind. “I’m winning this guy over.”

I put my hand to my eyes. “I don’t know how it became a matter of winning over a man who works for us and our biggest rival.”

“That was my fault,” he shouts. “But we really do want this guy in the business. He knows what he’s doing, and I—”

“And you got in the way, didn’t you? God, Adam. You have to stop and think before you—”

“Charlie...” Josie sings the word from her chair, only a couple of feet away.

“Give me a minute,” I tell her. “Adam, this bullshit is taking over my life. Stay out of it. Don’t do anything else to—”

“Charlie...” Josie says it again, and now she stands up, coming over to my chair. It’s hard to ignore it, because she looks so unbelievably sexy in her bikini that I want to watch her hips sway while she crosses the sand forever. Adam is saying something into my ear, but how can I process what he’s saying when my mind can’t take in anything but Josie’s curves, the fullness of her breasts, the white bikini against her tan skin, begging to be torn off...

She’s doing this on purpose, and it pisses me off.

It also turns me on. 

“Adam, I—”

He keeps talking, barreling on, no doubt explaining why his interference is going to be better for business in the long run.

Josie straddles me then, rocking her hips against my cock straight through my shorts. It’s not hard to find. I’m harder than I think I’ve ever been. For a split second, I consider the view from the resort. The umbrella is tilted low, almost to the sand, to create a tent, so nobody should be able to see us —

She bends down and kisses me, slowly at first, nipping at my lip, then harder. I slip one hand onto her waist on instinct. I shouldn’t be doing this. We’re on the beach, in plain view of anyone who might walk by. I’m not the kind of person who does shit like this. I’m just not.

But in this moment...

“Adam,” I say, trying to get his attention. I turn my head to escape Josie’s kiss, but she’s not having it. She puts her hand on my chin and turns me back toward her. I break the kiss again, a hot irritation flaring in my chest. I give her a narrow-eyed glare. She only grins back. “Adam, you have to—”

I fend her off, my hand pushing back against her collarbone. “I can’t quite hear you,” Adam says, as if I’m the one in a crowded restaurant and not him.

“Listen,” I say. That’s when Josie reaches out and plucks the phone out of my hand, swipes her finger across the screen to hang up the call, and drops it into her bag, which rests between our chairs on the sand.

“Josie, what the fuck are you thinking?” I growl, tugging her closer. “I’m working.”

Her eyes gleam. She bites her lip. “I’m not sorry.”

“You are fucking unbelievable,” I tell her, and the heat of my anger is becoming another kind of heat. “How dare you interrupt me like that? Jesus, you must be the most spoiled, self-centered person I’ve ever met—”

Josie lowers her head to my chest and bites, just hard enough to leave a mark.

“That’s it.” I reach down and shove my shorts out of the way, then yank the crotch of her bikini to the side, stroking her hard with my fingers. She’s soaking wet. “You want this? Right now?”

“Yes,” she says, and there’s a hint of shame in her voice. It’s so hot I almost lose my load right there.

“Then that’s what you’re going to get.” I take her hips in my hands and move her, pulling her down hard as I thrust into her, other people on the beach be damned. “Hold on tight.”