“So now you never let yourself lose control?” His voice, a little husky, scrapes some long-forgotten place inside me.

“Never,” I say. He raises an eyebrow. “Rarely,” I amend. “What about you—do you lose control?”

“With the right motivation? Sure.”

He holds my gaze, and I imagine what that would be like—to be the one to make him lose control. His body, his strength, fully unleashed. I remember the moment I had his lanyard in my fist, the hunger in his eyes.

Heat creeps down my spine.

“You’ve already seen it,” he says, then clarifies: “I never yell. I never lose my cool—until recently. With you. I’m sorry about that, by the way. But you get under my skin in a way no one else has.”

I swallow. “I guess I could say the same about you.”

There’s more to it than the fact that we’re competing for the same job. From that first meeting, there’s been an undercurrent of electricity between us—and now it’s crackling to life.

Again, probably the champagne. Or the moonlight glinting on the waves, the pop and sizzle of fireworks in the distance. Or it could be the way he’s watching me, like he’s uncovering some long-buried artifact. My life back in Boston, our competition, feels like a distant memory. And I can’t stop staring at his mouth.

“My what?” Ryan asks.

I blink; the champagne has definitely gone to my head. “Hmmm?”

“You said something about my…mouth?” He sounds amused—and a touch confused.

I consider brushing it off, but instead I find myself lifting my eyes to his and saying, “It’s a very nice mouth.”

His eyes flick to my mouth, and it’s like an outside force takes control of my body as I lean in and press my lips to his.

I pull away, but his hand comes to my jaw, bringing me back to him, light presses of his lips against mine, warm and sweet and almost chaste. It’s the exact opposite of what I would’ve expected after our prior interactions, the sharp words and heated glances. This is like sinking into the softest feather bed. The world around me turns hazy, and when he slides his hand into my hair, I can’t hold back a sigh of pleasure.