My lips were still buzzing, and it had been hours since he’d kissed me.

It wasn’t a surprise.

I’d felt like mini aftershocks had rocked my body for hours after I left his bed.

Maybe he’d meant to scare me away with that cryptic comment about how I wouldn’t like where things would go, but I wasn’t scared. More, I was starting to think I wouldn’t just like it – I wanted it like I wanted my next breath.

Lukas had been rough with me, but not careless. I suspected he could get rougher, but he’d done something that Aaron had rarely bothered to do – he’d put me first, making sure I came each time.

And he’d wanted me.

Half the time with Aaron, I felt like I was just an available body.

And he definitely wanted one of those, I thought bitterly.

“Are you ready?” Breanna lingered at the entrance to my cubicle, and I glanced up, surprised to realize the day had slipped away.

I checked the progress of my work and discovered I’d gotten more done than I’d expected. Most of the day had passed in a weird fog of want and frustration. I was still frustrated too.

That was what decided the matter for me.

“You go on,” I told Breanna. “I want to wrap up what I’m doing. I’ll grab an Uber or something. I might do some shopping on the way home too.”

She hesitated. “Are you sure? You’ve been really quiet today. I thought we could go out for dinner, maybe get ice cream and bad mouth guys.”

“No.” I grinned at her. “Rain check?” Especially if the next few minutes didn’t go as planned.

“Sure.” She waggled her fingers at me and left. It wasn’t long before I was the only one left downstairs, and I eased back from the desk, eyeing the steps that led to the upper level with more than a little trepidation.

Was I really going to do this?

I didn’t know if it was panic or anticipation that had my belly fluttering, but I’d made up my mind, so I slid out from behind my desk, lingering just long enough to make sure my purse was locked up.

The stairs looked like they went on for a mile, and I found myself breathing hard after just a few of them, although it was all from nerves, not exertion.

Most of the lights upstairs were off although I saw a door open at the far end of the hall, the opposite direction from Lukas’s office. I resisted the urge to plunge back down the stairs and hurry after Breanna.

Screw that.

The door to Lukas’s office was closed.

But I knew he was in there.

Knocking, I held my breath as I waited for an answer.

It didn’t take long.

“Yes?” The word came through the door muffled but curt.

I turned the knob and slid inside, shutting the door at my back. For good measure, I turned the lock.

Lukas stood beside his desk, and he had his tie in one hand.

The top button of his shirt was undone, and I could see the skin bared there. Recalling him in the heavy flannels he’d worn on the mountain, then the bare skin that had rubbed against mine back at the lodge, I realized I hadn’t really had the chance to appreciate that wide, muscled tattooed chest without anything barring my view.

He’d taken his shirt off when we had sex, but I’d been…distracted.

I wanted to strip him bare and study him, from the top of his head straight on down.

And he just might laugh if I said it.

So, instead, I asked, “What exactly would happen if we kept it up, Lukas? What is it that I wouldn’t want?”

His lids flickered. A muscle pulsed in his jaw. But he looked away instead of responding. “I’m not in the mood to play games with curious girls, Stella. Just remember what I said.”

“I’m not in the mood to play either.” Inclining my chin, I challenged him. “What did you mean?”

I had a feeling I knew.

Sex with him had taken on an edge that was wild and erotic, almost dark, and it had thrilled me. I might not have thought much of it, but I remembered those few, brief seconds where I’d seen him in the shed back at his cabin on the mountain, and I had speculations now.

Did he mean what I thought he might mean?

“You need to be careful,” he said, finally sliding his gaze back my way. “I’m not your safe little boyfriend, sweetheart.”

“I thought I told you?” I asked mildly. “He’s not my boyfriend anymore. Not after I interrupted him and Terri in the sauna. I moved out as soon as I got back to town yesterday.”

His lids did that mad little flicker again like he wanted desperately to shield his gaze from me, but at the same time, he didn’t want to not look at me.

“So…what is this thing I won’t like, Lukas?” I pushed away from the door, pacing closer.

He met me halfway. “There are some things that once you start them, there’s no going back. You should leave…now. Go on home, have a glass of wine and come back in to work tomorrow. We’ll forget all about today.”

“I don’t want to.”

Seconds ticked by.

Ice flashed in his gaze.

I didn’t look away.

Abruptly, he moved, hauling me to him. His brow pressed to mine, but he didn’t kiss me. “You really want to know, sweetheart?”

“Yes.” It came out on a ragged sigh.

One big hard hand came up, cupped my ass, and I braced myself, but he held still, rigidly so. “You dressed up so fucking sexy today. Was it all for me?” His eyes bore into mine. “Or was it because of the dickhead?”

I flushed. “What does that matter?”

“Answer the question or leave.”

It was such an arrogant demand, I almost did leave. I didn’t know what compelled me to stay, but something did, and I found myself opening my mouth to speak before I’d even made a conscious decision to do so. “Both.” Inclining my chin, I met his gaze levelly. “If Aaron would rather have that bitch, then fine. But I’m not above rubbing his face in what he missed out on. And…yes, some part of me wondered if you’d notice.”

“I noticed.” The hand on my ass tightened. “But you wasted your time on the dick. He doesn’t even know what he’s throwing away.” He traced one finger along the line of my panties as he murmured, “But I noticed. Every time I saw you bent over your desk…and you bent over it a lot…I noticed. You’ve got one last chance to walk out of here, Stella.”

Heat flooded me, staining my cheeks red at his confession. “I don’t want to walk.”

“You may well change your mind.” He spun me around, and in an instant, I found myself bent over his desk, and the rasping sound of my zipper sounded in the room. Was it always that loud? My heart thudded in my ears, in my throat as he dragged the skirt down. It pooled around my ankles. I could feel the fabric. I was almost painfully aware of everything in that moment.

“Know what I wanted to do every time I saw you bent over that desk?” he murmured, leaning forward and bracing one hand near my head.

“No.”

“This.”

I expected him to pull my panties down.

He didn’t.

The hard, stinging blow from his hand was a shock I couldn’t prepare for. Yelping, I jerked upright, but he had braced one hand on the small of my back, holding me steady.

“Now are you ready to walk?” he asked, voice still calm.

“I…” My head was spinning. My ass felt stung where he’d struck me, but while there was a minor pain, I didn’t really hurt. Gulping for air, I answered in a raspy voice, “I don’t know.”

“You better decide.” He spanked me a second time.

A rush of wetness between my thighs caught me off-guard, the punch of arousal so visceral, I didn’t know how to process it.

The hand on the small of my back slid up to tangle in my hair as he held me in place and spanked me a third, then a fourth time. After that, he slid his fingers down between my thighs and tested me. “You’re wet. But that doesn’t mean you want this. Are you ready to walk?”

I knew the answer.

“No.”

He spanked me again, and I shuddered, realized I’d lifted up for that blow. After a seventh then eighth swat, a fine sweat broke out over my body. He stopped at the tenth and pulled me up, staring down into my face. “Kneel.”

The word came out clipped and tight, and it never occurred to me not to do it.

“Unzip me. I want that mouth on me. You’re going to swallow my cock.”

I moaned, and my hands shook as I obeyed his orders. He was bigger, thicker than Aaron, and I had to stretch my mouth wide to take him. He didn’t immediately grab my head and try to ram himself straight down my throat. He let me learn him, and in turn, he learned me, one hand fisted in my hair, guiding me until he found my natural rhythm, then he fell into it, fucking my mouth as surely as he’d fucked my body the last time.

“Play with yourself,” he ordered, the command coming as if from a distance.

But again, the thought of not obeying just didn’t occur to me.

I slipped my fingers inside my panties to find liquid wetness, my flesh swollen and slick. Just the feel of myself so aroused was another turn-on, and I had to stop for a second, pulling away from him and resting my head on his thigh.

He didn’t say anything, waiting for me to come back to him, and there was no question – I was going back.

The head of his cock was thick and round, angled off to the side just the slightest. I’d had that penis inside me. He’d made me come harder than I’d ever come before.

I raked my teeth across him.

He shuddered.

Sliding one finger inside my pussy, I gasped around his cock at the intense sensation. It hadn’t ever felt this good while masturbating.

“Keep it up…make me come. Make yourself come, Stella,” Lukas said. He gripped both sides of my head now, rocking to meet me, shuttling his cock back and forth past my lips.

I swallowed the head just the slightest, and another faint shake rocked him.

The first liquid drops of precum seeped free, and I licked them away before moving faster on him. I would have begged for more, desperate for the climax now, but I was in control. Or so I thought. I caught his balls, squeezed.

He reached down, covering my hand with his and adding pressure, more and more until my grasp was so tight, it had to hurt.

A growl escaped him.

He thrust deeper and held still, the head of his cock at the very back of my throat. My eyes watered. Under the ministrations of my thumb, my clit was stiff, pulsing.

I rocked against my hand one last time, and it was all over.

I came apart just as he started to come, flooding my mouth with his release. I would have pulled away, desperate for air, but the fist in my hair held me steady, forced me to take more, and more.

The need for air, the need to moan out the rhythm of my climax rose inside me and then I was free, still kneeling in front of him, my head pressed to his thigh as the aftershocks of my climax pulsed.

Wow, I mouthed to myself.

But I didn’t say anything out loud.

I was a little afraid to.

* * *

Lukas had slid down to sit in front of his desk next to me.

Without conscious thought, I slumped over and rested my head on his thigh.

He tensed, but after a moment, he reached up and combed his fingers through my hair. “You still glad you stayed?” he asked after what felt like an eternity.

“Yes.” Rolling my head around so I could look up at him, I said softly, “I’m glad I stayed…and I want more. More of this, and I’m not just talking about us having another go against the desk once my knees are working again.”

A faint smile quirked his lips up, but he didn’t answer right away.

His gaze slid away, and he stared out at nothing for what felt like an eternity. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Stella.”

“Why not?” I cocked a brow at him as I met his gaze.

“I just…” He stopped and shook his head, still not looking at me. Finally, after a moment, he said, “I’d have to think about it.”

And something told me he meant that in the very real sense of the word.