I rarely saw Earl leave his office during the work day. If he wasn't typing away at his computer, yelling at somebody on the phone, or napping on his couch, he was usually out grabbing food or schmoozing. But neither food nor schmooze was what brought him to my tiny office on Friday afternoon, only an hour before I was due to finish for the day. I could tell it wasn't the usual because he seemed to be in an extraordinarily good mood. His dark eyes were bright and full of glee as his head popped into my doorway, and his hands were noticeably free from food of any kind.

“Briana, my favorite hostess. How are you, darling?”

I pushed back from my desk and smiled warmly. “Hey, Earl. I'm good, how are you?”

I'd seen him only an hour before when I said hello to him on my way in from escorting some guests around the hotel, but the fact that he was starting off with idle chitchat told me he was feeling particularly chipper today.

“I'm splendid, doll. You look extra yummy today. Looking to score with some of the guests?” He winked.

I rolled my eyes. He was one of those older middle-aged men who'd never really understood why this sort of teasing and crude talk could ever be taken as sexual harassment. He never truly crossed the line, and he never treated women like they were stupid. As long as he never expected me to join in, I was fine with deflection and ignoring him.

“Nope, this is just what I wanted to wear to work,” I said with a mild laugh. “What can I do for you?”

He leaned against the wall and folded his arms over his chest. “I've got to hand it to you, kid. You've done even better than I hoped.”

“Thanks.” A genuine smile crossed my lips. I had a feeling this conversation was going somewhere that would be good for me.

“After the holiday rush,” he continued, “I'd like you to start preparing to take over the VP position officially. I've told Isa, and she's told me in no uncertain terms that you were her top choice. Since the promotion isn't official yet, I can't have you start screaming it from the rafters, but that being said, you can safely start taking measurements for her office.”

My whole body felt like an electric current was running just under my skin. I'd been expecting the promotion, but actually hearing the words come from his mouth was something different entirely.

“Thank you!” While those two words seemed inadequate for what I felt, I repressed the urge to jump up from my desk. If I did, I was afraid he might try to hug me or something. That would be a surefire way to put a damper on things.

He tipped an imaginary hat to me and winked again. “I want to be clear that this was something I'd been considering even before this afternoon.”

I frowned. “What happened this afternoon?”

As far as I knew, there hadn't been anything extraordinary about the guests I'd assisted today. I'd taken a difficult call from a dissatisfied guest I'd managed to bring around with the offer of a complimentary night's stay, but that was hardly groundbreaking in terms of hostessing, much less the VP job.

He laughed one of those belly shaking laughs that had always made me think of Santa Claus. “As if you didn't know that Dorian Gianelli checked back in this afternoon.”

With that, he turned and left my office, his implication hanging in the air between us. Earl thought I'd slept with Dorian. I mean, I had slept with Dorian, but that was beside the point...

Wait – Dorian was back?

The news hit me like a fist to the chest.

Dorian was back.

My entire body flushed with anticipation, my heart skipping a beat, and I immediately snatched my phone from my purse. No texts. No missed calls.

Feeling dumb, I tossed my phone back into my purse. Of course, there were no texts or missed calls from Dorian. What was I thinking? What happened between us was business at the least, a friendly fling at the most. We’d had a nice time together, but that was that. And it didn’t matter that he was here now.

I had work to do. He probably had work to do. That was why he was here. It was enough that he'd kept his word about staying here the next time he was in the city. I just had to remind myself of that. If he was here for me, he would have already gotten in touch with me...wouldn’t he?

I put my head down and got back to work. I couldn’t spend the rest of my day waiting by the phone for Dorian Gianelli to waltz back into my life. I had far more important things to think about. Like the job I'd be moving up to soon. Being a good mother. Being a good friend.

Twenty minutes later, my phone rang. I nearly jumped out of my seat at the sound, then nearly dropped the damn thing fumbling it out of my bag. I expected that after all that fuss it would turn out to be a survey or something equally benign. But when I saw that the number on the screen was blocked, my heart skipped a beat. It couldn’t be him, could it?

“Hello?” I tried to sound calm, like my heart wasn’t racing twenty million miles a minute.

“Hey,” said a smooth, male voice. Dorian’s voice. “Miss me?”

More than I care to admit, I pictured myself saying. I’ve been thinking about you almost nonstop. It’s really become quite a problem.

But what I actually said was, “Miss who?”

Dorian may not have been able to see the mischievous grin on my face, but he undoubtedly heard the teasing tone of my voice.

“Oh, my apologies. I must have the wrong number. I’ll hang up now.”

“No!” I shouted, thrusting my hand out in the air as if it could actually stop him from hanging up. I knew he was joking, but that didn’t temper my nerves any.

His deep laugh sent tendrils of warmth to my core. “You were doing so well for a moment there. You nearly had me.”

“And you me,” I replied. “I heard you’d checked back in. What brings you back to our little one-horse town?” Before he could answer – or I could make a bigger fool of myself with another cliché – I added, “And is there something I can get for you?”

I didn’t want him to think I was reading something into the call that wasn't there. I figured it was best to put a professional foot forward, in light of the fact that we hadn’t spoken since that day in the airplane. I told myself that he was just being friendly. Just like anyone else would be.

“I’m in the penthouse,” he replied. “Can you come up?”

I noticed he chose not to answer either of my questions.

I glanced over at my emails. All but one had been answered. It would only take me another few minutes to reply to it, but my feet were already itching to get out the door. I needed to see him. Technically, my shift ended shortly, but knowing that I was getting the VP position, I needed to show flexibility.

“I can head up now,” I said.

“Good. See you soon.”

It only took a few minutes to shut things down in my office and send off a text to Tiffany asking if she could watch Mikala a little longer. I was already in the elevator when I got her response, and while it should have given me one less thing to worry about, all it did was make me call into question whether or not I was doing this for work...or for me.

Then I was knocking on the door to the hotel’s one penthouse suite.

But as soon as he appeared in the doorway, all my worries and insecurities fell away like a well-worn coat. Even though I'd memorized his face, I felt like I was seeing him again for the first time. I hadn’t, however, forgotten the way his smile made me feel like my insides were composed of lava.

He opened the door wordlessly and gestured for me to come inside. I did, trying to steady my breathing when all my lungs wanted to do was hyperventilate and not stop until I passed out.

I turned to him as he closed the door, mouth open to ask why he wanted to meet me. But I didn’t get the chance. The second the door closed, Dorian had me in his arms. He tugged me tightly against his chest and slammed his mouth down on mine, until I was surrounded by his heat and scent. I didn’t just lean into him, I melted. My body sought out his, molding to it, my breasts flattened against his muscular chest. His tongue coaxed my lips open, and when they did, he claimed my mouth with the sort of urgency that left me breathless.

I was dizzy from lust and a lack of oxygen, but I could still think.

Somewhat.

I knew I should pull away. I knew that giving in to Dorian and the demands of my body wasn’t what I’d come up there to do. Not consciously, anyway. I'd come here to talk to him professionally, see what it was he wanted. But all that fell away as he slid his hand between my legs, pushing my skirt up with it. I shuddered at his touch, moaning as he bit my bottom lip.

Fuck it.

To hell with professional.