I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here.

I borrowed a dress from Beth, and shoes too. And this is not me.

A slim, butt-skimming black dress with a low-cut neck and a gold necklace hanging between my breasts. Tall, black patent leather heels. And she gave me a blow-out so my hair falls in waves down my back.

So I look like some sex vixen and I’m standing in this building I don’t belong in, with no idea how to get up to the apartment I have no business being in to begin with.

And now, here comes Dan, and it’s like he’s walking toward me in slow motion as my heart stops and my breathing speeds up. I’m panting like a whimpering dog, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

“Julie. Please, come upstairs with me.”

We make our way over to the elevators, him striding confidently and me barely able to walk in my borrowed heels.

I shoot a sidelong glance over to him. Of course, he’s got his eyes squarely on my chest, and in his eyes he looks like a hungry beast.

Perfect. I’ll just get it over with and leave and never see him again. That’s fine. I’ll find a different bank to go to. Not a big deal at all.

“Boss? You okay?” he asks me, stepping onto the sleek, modern elevator when it arrives.

“Me? Oh, yeah.”

I laugh like a moron and get onto the elevator.

“I have to say, I like a woman who is so forward.”

The doors of the elevator close and he erases the distance between us with a single step.

What’s with me and him getting stuck together inside small spaces, and why does he always get so close?

And most importantly, why can’t I keep my hands to myself when he does it?

“Me? Forward?” I ask as he slips a hand through my hair and onto the back of my neck. “That’s something I’ve never been called before.”

Everything inside me is on fire, and I can feel my face getting white as a ghost. I’m light-headed, I’m weak-kneed, and I want to stand up on my tiptoes to get face to face with him so he can capture my mouth with those sexy lips of his.

“You are. That’s not what I thought of you at first. But now?” His fingers wrap around the back of my neck as his lips graze against my collarbone. “Now I see that you’re a woman who know what she wants. The way you just invited yourself over here like this? It’s so fucking hot.”

His lips trace up my neck, planting sweet kisses as he goes. And then, he reaches my mouth, parting my lips with his, catching my bottom lip with his teeth and slipping his tongue between mine. His mouth devours mine, his tongue searching mine recklessly as his hands move over my body.

It’s the first time I’ve ever had someone kiss me like this.

It’s the second time a guy has touched me.

On my neck like this? First time I’ve had fingertips graze over my collarbone as gently as can be.

My breasts? The way his fingertips graze across my hard nipples through my dress and my bra...I can feel it inside me, heat storming between my legs.

And there...the second time I’ve had a man’s hand slide up between my thighs and stop just at my pussy, stroke the inside of my leg.

And go higher.

I’m about to combust.

“Aren’t you?” he breathes into me.

“Aren’t I what?” I gasp.

“A girl who knows what she wants?”

His fingers work up and around my panties and he sinks one finger between my legs, up past my folds.

I can’t believe how wet I am. It’s unreal, and I can’t help but let out a little whimper. I’ve never been filled like this. With a touch. His touch.

“Yes,” I say.

“Yes what, boss?” he growls.

“Yes” I moan. “I’m a girl who knows what she wants.”

He moves his lips away from mine and pierces me with his deep green eyes, reaching farther and deeper inside me, pulling hot lust from deep inside.

“And what is it that you want?” he asks, fingering me and keeping his eyes on mine. “Tell me what you want. You’re the boss.”

“I...I want you.”

“I’ll give you anything you want, baby,” he moans, taking his hand away from me as I groan. It’s almost cruel the way he takes that away from me, but he sends a jolt right through me as he brings his fingers to his mouth and licks them. “You’re beautiful. And you taste so fucking good.”

The elevator dings and our mouths crash together. We step off the elevator, a frenzied tangle of tongues and fingers.

Keep going, Jules. This is it. This is perfect. This is the perfect guy to do this with.

He had left his front door open and we burst through to his apartment. I never got to see the hallway because my eyes were closed tight. I let him guide me, I let him move me, I let myself be swept up in something I didn’t know how to navigate. So I never tried. I just went with it.

And now, here I am high above the city, in this near-stranger’s apartment, and as he pulls away from me and lets go of my hand, disentwining his fingers from mine and letting my arm fall limp at my side.

Everything else is on fire, but I’m acutely aware of my arm as it falls down at my side and I feel his body peel away from mine. And then freaking reality hits me.

A panoramic view of the park. Leather furniture.

It’s nice. It’s the penthouse.

It’s too nice.

“Red wine, boss? Let me guess,” he says from behind an expensive-looking counter in some stone material I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to spell in the open-concept kitchen, “you have very expensive tastes.”

“This is where you live?” I say, spinning around slowly to take everything in. “Is that a Lichtenstein?” I ask, pointing to a painting on one of the walls above a large wooden cabinet. “Why’s your TV curved?”

“Oh, no. I don’t live here. And that’s not my TV.”

“Oh.” I go over to the counter and take a seat on one of the high stools. “I was confused. This place is really nice. And I don’t really like rich guys.”

“I was teasing you,” he says, pouring a glass of wine and setting it on the counter in front of me. “This is my place. And if you don’t like rich guys, you’d better just get up and leave right now. But you won’t do that. You want me too badly.”

“Your place?” I take a sip of my wine but it doesn’t do anything to help my dry throat. I’m flabbergasted.

How’s this guy have a genuine Lichtenstein painting? How does he have this apartment?

“You seem confused. Didn’t think I had money?” he asks.

“Sorry. I guess not. Not like this.”

Is this guy for real right now?

“Well,” he says, taking a delicate sip of his wine and coming over to me. “I’m going to show you more things to surprise you.”

I swallow hard and bite my bottom lip to keep myself from whimpering. I can already guess what he has going on inside his pants - and I can’t wait to see it.

But suddenly, I feel guilty for being dishonest with him. I’m letting him think I’m some sex goddess, but that’s not me at all. I should tell him the truth.

Screw that! He didn’t tell me who he really is. I had to find that out on my own. And doesn’t the girl just have to kind of lie there and let the guy do all the work?

Gah! I’m freaking out on the inside, and the whole time, he’s looking at me and sipping his wine and making me crazy with his eyes and his lips.

Those lips. I want them all over me again. I want them where I’ve never been kissed, where I was just touched for the very first time a few hours ago.

“So, boss. You going to tell me what you want? You going to be the bad girl I know you are? Impress me with that dirty little mouth of yours?”

“I want...you,” I say, my voice shaky.

“Then tell me what you want me to do to you,” he says, slipping his thumb over my lips and inside the corner where they meet. I can feel that skin inside me, and I need it everywhere.

“I want...I…”

“What the matter, baby?” he asks, pulling his hand away and leaning against the counter.

“I...should tell you something.”

“Anything. That’s what I want. I want you to tell me. Anything. And I’ll do it.”

“This is…”

Crap. This is it. Now or never. I inhale sharply and take all the air I can into my lungs.

“...my first time.”

So now he’s going to kick me out of his apartment, right? He’s going to tell me he has some important meeting in the morning with some of the people who work at the bank, or he has to go out of the country, or he has to go to his secret vault and count his money.

But instead, a devilish smile spreads across his face and his eyes grow wide.

“A virgin? You’re a virgin?” he says, sipping his wine contemplatively.

“You mad at me? I’ll go.”

I start to step off my stool and grab my purse. But as I turn away from him, his hand wraps around my wrist and I whip my head around to him.

“Mad?” he says.

He looks down at me hungrily. Oh, god. What the hell have I gotten into?

“I’m the fucking opposite of mad. I’m thrilled. Honored. I get to show you everything for the first time?”

He pulls me to him and presses his body up against mine. I can feel his cock through our clothes, and it pressed hard up against me.

“I’ve never been so hard in my fucking life, baby. And it's all for you.”