18

Marin headed back to her building, resolve in her step. This thing with Donovan needed to be staked and turned to dust. She couldn’t focus on her job if this thing was hovering over her, whispering temptation in her ear, draining her of her good sense. Sure, she needed to learn some things. Her blushing problem was an ongoing issue, for one. But beyond that, she just really, really needed to get laid. It was time to step into the adult world and break out of this purgatory state she’d been in for all these years.

But she didn’t need to do that with Donovan as a training exercise. She wanted someone to want her simply because he was attracted to her, not because she was safe or there was some task list to check off. She didn’t need a relationship right now, but she craved something real, something raw. Untempered chemistry. Something like she’d had that first time when it was all desire and attraction and desperation. She didn’t want to be someone’s student. She wanted to be someone’s indulgence. She wanted to be that girl in Donovan’s recordings, the woman someone hungered for.

So she would talk to Donovan after the sex addiction group this afternoon and put the whole offer to rest. Cut and dried. Uncomplicated. Smart.

She was good at being smart. Smart had kept her afloat all these years.

She walked down the hallway of the X-wing, her heels clicking sharply against the polished floors. Ysabel and Donovan hadn’t returned from lunch yet, so Marin detoured to her office to get some things together for group. But when she stepped inside, she stopped so suddenly she almost turned an ankle.

The room was dark, the curtains drawn. But there was enough light from the doorway to see what was in front of her. A half-naked woman bent over Marin’s desk. A man behind her, grunting and pumping his hips hard.

Marin’s mouth dropped open at the sight, but no sound came out. So the couple she’d caught in action didn’t notice they weren’t alone anymore. They just kept at it. The woman was bared from the waist down, her skirt pushed up and her panties around her ankles. The man behind her had only shoved his jeans to his hips and his muscular ass was flexing hard as he thrust into the woman and told her how fucking hot she felt around his cock.

Marin was marble in the doorway—unable to move, unable to look away. She had no idea who these two people were, but the ferocity of their coupling had her in thrall. Her heavy desk was shifting out of place with every violent thrust, the legs scraping against the wood floor. And the woman was begging for more, harder. Her knuckles were white against the edge of the desk like she’d fly apart if she let go. Marin’s blood went hot and her mouth dry.

“Marin, I—”

She jolted, the voice like ice water over her head.

Donovan ground to a halt next to her, catching sight of the tableau. “What the hell?”

The man in her office let out a curse but didn’t stop the rhythm of his hips. Slap. Slap. Slap. Naked skin colliding. “Just give us a sec, doc.”

Donovan jostled Marin as he moved past her and flicked on the lights. The woman’s hand went up to block her eyes, and sounds of protest came from them both. Yet, their movements didn’t abate. The slick, lewd soundtrack of sex filled the room.

“You have ten seconds to put yourselves together or I’m calling security to take you out of here,” Donovan said, his tone brooking no argument and his expression revealing nothing.

But the man was already too far gone. His head tilted back, and he groaned long and loud. His shaggy blond hair slid away from his face. Only then did Marin get a good look at him—the hard angles of his jaw, the perfectly executed stubble. All the breath whooshed out of her. Holy shit. She’d seen that face and chiseled jaw before—in movies and on magazines and just about everywhere lately. Eli Harding had become a big deal a few years ago when he’d played a superhero in a summer blockbuster. Now the man that most of the female population would give anything to see naked was in front of Marin with his ass bared and his dick buried in a woman. A woman who had just tipped over into a loud orgasm.

Marin’s life had officially entered crazytown.

Donovan peered her way as the couple finished, his jaw tight and something unreadable in his eyes. Their gazes held, neither looking away, and her breathing stalled. Burning blue eyes. The rigid stance of his body. The way his hands flexed. All of it was too much. And not enough at the same time. There was something both wrong and ridiculously intense about sharing a look while two other people were getting off right next to them. Sexy sounds. Sweaty bodies. Naked skin. Something hot and wicked crept along her spine, moved downward, pulsed. Her tongue pressed to the back of her teeth.

Something flickered over Donovan’s expression, but he dragged his attention back to the offenders when it was clear they had reached their finish line. His voice was gruff when he spoke. “Go to the restrooms and put yourselves back together. When you’re done, I need you both in my office. This kind of behavior is not going to fly here.”

Eli pulled out of the woman and drew her skirt down to cover her, offering her some semblance of modesty. He gave her hip a pat. “You can get up now, babe.”

He stepped back and slipped off the condom, not making any attempts to hide himself. Of course, Marin’s gaze naturally went there. Even going soft, his cock was enormous in that big palm of his. She yanked her attention back upward, but Eli was already smirking her way like he’d enjoyed her checking him out. He tied off the condom and tossed it into her trash can with a flick of the wrist.

“Jesus, Eli,” Donovan said, his tone sharp. “Have some respect. This is Dr. Rush’s office.”

“So I’ll buy her a new trash can.” He swiped a wet spot from the polished wood surface they’d been sprawled across. “And desk. No big deal.”

The woman was up by then, straightening her clothes and setting herself back to rights. She looked more ashamed at being caught, her gaze sliding away from Marin’s when she looked her way. “Sorry, Dr. West.”

Donovan shook his head. “We’ll discuss all of this once you two put yourselves back together. Go.”

Eli casually tucked himself into his pants and zipped up, leaving the top button open. The two headed toward the door, and Marin stepped to the side. When Eli passed her, he smiled. “Nice to meet you, Dr. Rush. Sorry about the mess but hope you enjoyed the show.”

The smug tone made her teeth clench. Yes, she’d watched. Maybe he’d noticed. But she wasn’t going to give this guy the satisfaction of knowing he’d affected her. “The bathroom is down the hall on the right.”

He gave her one last lazy smile and led the woman out. Marin shut the door behind them and sagged against the door. “What. The. Hell?”

She hated that her pulse was thumping so hard, hated that even though she wanted to punch that guy, not sleep with him, that her body had gone warm and hyperaware.

Donovan folded his arms and let out a long breath. “I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not. Eli is a new addition to the sex addiction group since he’s filming a movie down here and his regular therapist is in L.A. Laura’s been in it awhile and has had slipups, but this is a big setback for her. Both have serious exhibitionist streaks, which would be okay if they weren’t so reckless and impulsive about it. Laura’s lost custody of her daughter over her behavior.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. And Eli’s on his way to disaster. His publicity team put him in the program because he’s almost gotten caught on camera a few times, which could ruin his career. No one wants a guy who has kids’ action figures modeled after him to be caught on tape screwing women all over town.”

“He seems like a real handful.” The words were barely out of her mouth when they registered. She cringed.

Donovan smirked. “Insert: That’s what she said here.”

“Ugh. I can’t believe I looked.”

“I would’ve been surprised if you hadn’t. He basically held it out on a platter for your perusal. He wanted you to ogle. He’s very proud of his superhero penis.”

She tapped the back of her head against the door. “I should’ve been a professional about it though, turned around or something. Not rewarded the bad behavior.”

Donovan pressed his hands to the back of her desk chair. “How long were you standing there before I showed up?”

She sighed. “I don’t know. I think I was too stunned to process what was happening. I wasn’t sure who it was or how to handle it. I should’ve left and found you. But I froze.”

He gave a little shrug. “Don’t beat yourself up too much about it. Not too many people would look away from catching Hollywood’s hottest star doing the deed on their desk. But hey—this is a bit of a victory. You didn’t seem embarrassed when it all went down. I’m almost glad that you gave him a good perusal. It’s a bolder move than shrinking away. In fact, when he caught you checking out what he had on offer, you gave him this look that seemed to say ‘oh, get over yourself.’ It was kind of brilliant.”

She laughed and pushed up from the door. “Yeah?”

He walked around her desk and tucked his hands in his pockets. “Yeah. And I won’t lie. Seeing you knock him down a peg was pretty entertaining. I shouldn’t enjoy that. The guy’s struggling with all kinds of shit that makes him act the way he does. But”—he lifted his shoulders and stepped closer—“I’m still a guy. And seeing you completely unimpressed with one of People’s Sexiest Men Alive feeds my Geeks Rule! Jocks Drool! heart.”

She crossed her arms over her chest but couldn’t help smiling. “Since when are you a geek?”

He gave her a surely-you-can’t-be-serious head tilt. “Please. The first time you met me, I had a hard-on while doing psychological research and wore shirts with Freud puns.”

“Okay, good point. Maybe I can’t recognize geekiness because I’m a member of the same club.”

He nodded sagely and reached out to tap her nose. “You definitely are, Rush. It’s one of your finer qualities.”

She pursed her lips and was about to come out with a teasing comeback but then she paused. This was flirting. They were flirting. Shit. This is exactly what she shouldn’t be doing. She’d made a decision. She couldn’t get sidetracked just because her hormones had kicked in after what she’d witnessed.

She stepped around him to go to her desk and pulled a notepad out of her drawer. “We better head to your office. If we leave them alone too long, they may christen your desk, too.”

Donovan frowned. “They better not. If anyone christens my desk, it sure as hell better be me.”

Marin sent him the side-eye as she headed toward the door. “Never went there with Dr. McCray?”

She wanted to take it back as soon as it came out, but there was no rewind button. She was stuck with it. Petty jealousy. Out in the open and waving around. Fantastic.

He stepped up next to her while they walked. “No, Dr. Rush. I’ve only taken one girl over a desk, and I’ve never done it again because I knew it couldn’t be topped.”

Marin’s breath caught and she halted her step. “Donovan, you can’t . . . say stuff like that.”

He turned to her. “I know. But it’s the truth. And if I can’t say stuff like that then you can’t look at me like you did while Eli and Laura were in here.”

She straightened. “And how was that?”

“Like you wished it was us on that desk instead.”

She closed her eyes, the words sending her back to their night together all those years ago. Was that how they’d looked? Like Eli and Laura had? She hadn’t seen it from that angle back then of course. But her imagination could fill in the blanks. What Donovan must’ve looked like pumping into her, how wanton and wild they must’ve seemed. Things tumbling to the floor, bodies joining. She wet her lips and peered up at him.

He stepped closer.

“You’re doing it again,” he said softly. His gaze skated over her face, her neck, lower. Her body prickled with awareness, her blood pounding through her and desire blotting out everything else. She had no doubt he could read every bit of it on her. She was breathing too fast, and her nipples were hard against her bra. She wanted him to touch her. Needed him to. “Donovan . . .”

The word was a pained plea. He reached up as if to stroke her face but then quickly lowered his arm and stepped back, a grimace tugging at his features and his Adam’s apple bobbing before he spoke. “We need to go. Group. Eli and Laura.”

The words were jagged in the quiet and ripped right through the haze that had worked its way around Marin. She cleared her throat twice before she could trust herself to speak. “Right. Yes. We should go.”

Part of her wished he’d meant go to her house, his bed, the damn janitorial closet down the hall. But instead he stepped out of her way and opened the door.

He wouldn’t make a move.

He’d promised her that.

The ball was firmly in her court, spinning around and taunting her. She was supposed to tell him today that this wasn’t going to happen. She needed to tell him. Losing her self-control like this was proof positive how dangerous this kind of arrangement would be. This man made her go stupid. Despite her best intentions, she’d almost begged Donovan to touch her right here in the office with clients down the hall and a group session about to start. Meanwhile, he could remain calm and detached—barely affected at all.

She needed to end this dance.

She would tell him. Later.

She walked past him, hoping he didn’t see the way she wobbled on her feet. This was going to be the longest group ever.