After slamming the door of my car shut, I organized the receipts and stuffed them in my portfolio. I had paid the contractors that fixed the broken pipe and checked on the work myself to make sure it was done. On the new job end, I was rocking it.

On the man front, I was rocking it, too.

On the family front, I was drowning like a kid without a floaty.

The next few days I spent with Cade, I ignored the world around me. My mother had called me, and we spoke like everything was normal, and that was how I knew that they didn't know that Roland and I had broken up. So, I continued to live in the alternate universe, because in this world, I was happy, and I was living for myself. It was as if I was on my own little planet, just Cade and me. And it was a hella happy bubble of joy.

Tene knew something was up, though. She had texted last night, asking me to call her and saying that it was important. I'd promised myself that today would be the day I told her the truth about my relationship status because, out of everyone, she’d understand.

After checking on the rest of my downtown tenants, I strolled into Allswell during my lunch break. Kristy stared at me like I needed to ask permission to even be here.

She cared for him. I knew this. But what she didn't realize was that I cared for him, too. She didn't know what was happening with Cade and me. She just didn't know, nor was it really any of her business.

The scent of tomatoes and fresh basil and spices filled my senses when I stepped into the kitchen. The staff was at the peak of their afternoon rush. Multiple dishes adorned with garnishes spread along the metal center table. The cooks in their white aprons scurried about in every corner of the kitchen. I scanned the area, but Cade was nowhere to be seen.

Tamara, Cade's head chef, was directing the others when she noticed my arrival. "He's in his office," she said with a smile.

I turned the corner and entered Cade's office. His back was toward the door as he shuffled through the papers on his desk. I paused to admire the view, taking in all of him. The way his fitted T-shirt hugged his body, outlining the defined muscles on his back. The way the ink on his arm traveled up, stopping at his sleeve but then continuing up his neck. I was lucky enough to know that the beautiful art spanned his whole arm, and into most of his upper chest.

When I shut the door behind me, he flipped around.

His eyes zoned in on mine. Locked, lustful, and loaded. The connection between us was like the click of a gun. Instant. Deadly.

His gray eyes smoldered as he took me in from the top of my dark brown hair to my button-down silk blouse to my fitted black work slacks. His stance screamed authority and possessiveness and need. He stalked toward me, stealthy like a cat, and with every single step in my direction, my body became more feverish.

I opened my mouth to speak, but he didn't even allow me to get a word out before he slammed his mouth against mine. His tongue intertwined with mine; it suckled and teased. With one hand on my hip and the other at the base of my neck, he brought me closer. We were chest to chest, pelvis to pelvis, and my temperature went from feverish to holy hell hot.

Will it always be like this? Is it only like this because it’s new or because it’s us?

I had so many questions because I had come to realize, even though I had been in a serious relationship for years, I’d never felt like this. Never this passion. Never this insatiable lust. Never this deep need that I would wither if he walked away from me.

I wanted to believe it was just us, how we were together.

Every touch prickled my skin with goose bumps and awareness, and my every pore radiated with sensitivity.

When he pushed his arousal against my stomach and his mouth devoured mine, my nipples pebbled and everything inside me screamed for him to take me.

"I missed your mouth." He peppered kisses along my neck as my fingers threaded through his hair.

"You just had my mouth," I moaned back. "If I remember correctly, it was on your dick." I rubbed at his hard ridge between us for emphasis.

He groaned. "Why do we have to work?"

I sighed, fully agreeing. "I wish we didn't." We'd be locked up in his bedroom if it were up to us, forgetting responsibility, forgetting everything.

The back of my knees hit the desk behind me, stopping me from moving farther. When he lowered me onto my back, I stilled. "Cade," I lifted my head and glanced toward the door, "it's the middle of the lunch rush."

He unbuttoned my slacks—his hands, his demeanor functioning with hot-blooded purpose. “Yeah. And I'm hungry." The guttural sound he made at the back of his throat had my panties soaking wet.

He ushered my slacks down my legs and onto the floor. When his fingers went to the waistband of my panties, my hands gripped his. "We can't. They'll hear us." My voice was hoarse, hot, and horny.

"Then try to keep it down, will ya?"

The devilish gleam in his eye had my back arching for him to take me. The ache between my legs was almost unbearable. The live wire that was my body was ready for him to release the tension.

"Be quiet." He pushed my panties to the side and slipped a finger in me. I gasped at the pleasure of his touch.

"That's impossible with your skills," I panted.

He threw me a crooked smile, and then I knew I was done for as he slipped my panties off and flung them to the floor.

When he cupped my sex and slipped another finger inside me, my head flew back, and my eyes shut tight. My body arched, and my hard nipples pointed toward the ceiling as he pumped his fingers in and out of me.

"Shit. Angel." He unbuttoned my shirt with one hand while the other hand continually and seductively teased at my clit. He cupped my breast with his free hand and then trailed kisses against my stomach. "You're so wet."

I bit my lip as his mouth went lower, nipping tiny bites down my inner thigh, then lower.

My hands ran through his hair, and my breathing labored. His tongue dragged down my inner thigh until he reached my center, and I bit my tongue instead of screaming. "Cade," I drew out as quietly as I could, "you have to stop."

My man was an oral genius. He had a master's degree in oral sex, and I was the recipient of this gift. He knew where to find the G-Glorious spot, and it was glorious.

"Cade," I moaned, my hips bucking forward, the steamy sizzle between us heightening.

I shivered against his hold, as his mouth continued to feed on me. "Angel, I love the taste of you."

My moans increased with each flick of his tongue, and it didn't take long for the pinch at the pit of my belly and the tingling in my toes to begin.

I breathed hard, pulling at the end of his hair. His movements were electrifying and erotic as he fed on me with new fervor. "Please." My back arched against his desk and then I decided I didn't care. I didn't care about anything else but his hands and his mouth on me and the inevitable orgasm that was coming. "I'm close … Ahh.” I tried to stifle the moans leaving my mouth, but it felt oh so good. Too good. I forgot about every single thing around me. The whole restaurant could’ve been burning down, but I wouldn't have cared.

I gripped his hair, pushing him lower, closer, and he suckled my clit, working it over and over. When I shifted, he steadied me with his hands, increasing the flick and push and pull and magic of his tongue, while my body wriggled and bucked above him.

I felt a familiar tug in the deepest part of my belly, and I knew I was close. So close that I bit my lip to minimize my cries of ecstasy.

"Don't stop, Cade." Forget it. Forget them outside. Forget everyone else but us in this moment. "Don't stop, baby. Don't st—"

"Omigod. Please stop." A familiar voice brought me from the edge, my orgasm robbed as horror instantly overcame me. The door slammed shut, and I jerked up to see Tene staring directly at me, fully exposed.