“Okay,” she breathed. “Why?”

“Are you serious?” His laughter was strained. “You deep throated me twice. All while grinding this tight—God, it’s so tight—waxed pussy on my mouth. I’ve never had to concentrate so hard on not coming in my fucking life. Don’t. Move.”

Her entire body was trembling with the need for friction, but she bit down hard on her lip, held tight to his shoulders and tried to stay still. “The waxing m-makes it easier for costumes,” she said, in an attempt to distract them both. “Was I really grinding it?”

“This isn’t helping.”

“Sorry.”

Although, she kind of loved this. Having him poised right on the edge, that hard appendage pulsing inside of her as it could erupt at the slightest movement. She wanted to give him that. Wanted to drive him crazy. Give him the same kind of pleasure he’d just given her. Feeling feminine and maybe, possibly, a little evil, Reese squeezed the delicate muscles of her core around him, gratified when his eyes rolled back in his head. “Christ oh Christ oh Christ.”

There was no waiting after that. Leo shot up into a sitting position, gripped her bottom and jerked her into a gallop. With their mouths fused together, she rode him hard, throwing her hips back and slapping them forward, flesh to flesh, Reese crying out in the direction of the ceiling over the sheer carnality of the act. Fingernails dug into muscle, bed springs squeaked, sweat appeared on skin, and faster and faster they went, her vocal cords aching with throaty renditions of his name.

“That’s right, sweetheart,” Leo growled in her ear, his palm cracking down on her butt cheek. “Let everyone in the building know you’re getting that good dick.”

That command set off a telltale clench. “Oh my God. It’s…again. Now happening.”

“Fuuuuck, me too. I’m there. Can’t stop it.” When her head fell back on a moan, he raked his open mouth up the curve of her neck, across her shoulder. One of his hands left her backside, finding the wildly sensitive nub of flesh between her legs, rubbing it gently at first, then with firmer pressure. “Come on, Reese. Let me feel it,” he rasped. “Bet when you come, this pussy gets even tighter than your pretty little throat.” With that, his teeth sank lightly into the body part in question, just above the hollow, trapping her in a prison of lust.

And she spun, inundated with wave after wave of release.

It shook her, rattled her bones, and she was lifted higher into the atmosphere when Leo’s hips spasmed beneath her, her name leaving his mouth as a base, guttural sound. The second time he said it—Reese—his tone had been laced with awe, that hearty body of his rolling beneath her, wringing out every ounce of what they’d done. She dropped her forehead onto his shoulder, licking the salt from his skin, and let him manhandle her through his climax, his hands pressing her down into his lap, shifting her, bouncing and jerking her until finally the tension left him and they fell backward together into the pillows.

For long moments, there was nothing but the sound of their labored breathing in the dim room. Here they were. The point where, in the past, Reese started to feel awkward, wondering what came next. There was none of that with Leo, though.

No, they only looked at each other across the pillows, content in the silence.

Content to…be together.

“Holy shit, Leo,” she said, finally. “That was…”

“Yeah.” He disposed of the condom and fell back against the pillows, his chest rising and falling. “The only phrase coming to mind is thank you. Because…Christ.” He shook his head. “Just…Christ. I’m supposed to just go back outside now in the regular world and walk around like everything is normal?”

She giggled, scooting closer to him, sighing over the way he lifted his arm automatically to let her into the warmth of his side, lifting the comforter over them both. With her head resting on his shoulder, their legs twining together in a tangle, Leo and Reese finally got their nap. With her body so deeply sated and the comfort Leo provided wrapped around her, Reese slept more deeply than she could ever remember, waking up with no idea of the time, a lopsided bun on her head and deliciously sore muscles.

Reluctantly disengaging from Leo, she sat up and stretched her arms up over her head, purring in her throat, when Leo lifted a hand, trailing his fingertips down the center of her bare breast, perking the nipple right up.

“We’ve either been asleep five minutes,” she said around a yawn. “Or five years.”

He hummed, his palm skimming down over her belly. “What time is your curtain call tonight?”

Thank God she wasn’t facing Leo or he would have witnessed the blood draining from her face. The pulse in her neck started hammering a million miles an hour, guilt and alarm colliding in her belly. “Um…” Weeknight. Shows are at seven. “Six o’clock.”

When Leo stiffened beside her, Reese assumed her answer must have been implausible. Good. She was caught. Part of her was relieved. How could she share such perfect intimacy with someone while being a total fraud? “Reese…” Leo started, sitting up. “It’s five-forty-nine.”

In other words, she was late for her fake job.

This is why lies were poisonous. It was never just one. One was only the beginning.

Reese looked around Leo’s cozy apartment. Through the door, she could see his perfect, grown-up kitchen. Just down the street, he had his own successful business. Knew exactly who he was, what he wanted, how to get it. Meanwhile, she’d reached for her dreams over and over, failing—just look at this afternoon—and the humiliation scrabbled up her spine.

She couldn’t make herself turn to him and admit she was an unemployed dancer. That their meeting hadn’t been random. That she was actually in New York on a shoestring budget, taking one final shot at glory. The odds of her succeeding were so precarious, she couldn’t even talk about it out loud, lest they topple completely. Lest someone say to her, out loud, what a ridiculous idea it had been to stay. To try at all.

Well if she wasn’t woman enough to tell Leo the truth, then…right here, right now, is where she needed to break it off. Right? She’d gotten in too deep, never expected to…to bond with him so quickly and completely. Meaning, the longer she waited, the harder this would be.

With her heart lodged in her throat, Reese pushed out of bed, trying to remember where she’d put her clothes. Right. They were in her bag. “Whoops.” She swallowed hard and left the bedroom, beelining for her duffel. “Good thing we’re not too far away.”