My heart sank. I don’t like being hated, and I couldn’t imagine why Tess would have any feelings about me at all. Yes, I was madly in love with her husband, but she didn’t know that. And I might be guilty of coveting what she had, but I would never try to take it from her. Whenever we crossed paths she was polite to me, and I thought she was the luckiest—most ungrateful—woman in the world, but I was always nice to her, too.

Turning my face away, I said, “That’s… it doesn’t matter. I can’t do this.”

His lips tilted up in a cruel little smile. “Please. You’ve been parading this pussy around my office for years just waiting for me to want it, and now suddenly you can’t do it?”

Ouch.

I sucked in a breath, feeling as if he’d gut punched me.

I wasn’t surprised he had picked up on my attraction to him, but to be so crass about it. To imply I was trying to tempt him when I’d gone out of my way not to.

If I really wanted his dick, I would’ve made a play for it instead of dating every other man in Manhattan trying to find someone—anyone—to take my mind off him.

“That’s a horrible thing to say,” I informed him.

He didn’t seem to care. He unbuttoned his pants and dropped them just enough to get his cock out. I struggled in earnest as he lifted me up and pinned me to the wall, my heart rate kicking up as I feared he might not stop. I knew he wouldn’t normally act that way, but he was drunk and angry; maybe he would do something he would swiftly regret.

“Get off me,” I demanded, shoving against his muscled chest.

Still, he ignored me. I shoved at him and tried to put distance between our pelvises, but he was so much stronger than I was. He hadn’t taken my panties down yet, but his cock was free. He used one hand to grip it and shove it between my legs. I gasped when the smooth tip grazed my thigh as he guided it to my entrance and pushed my panties aside.

I was out of time.

If he penetrated me, everything changed, and not for the better.

There were a lot of threats I could have made right then, but when I opened my mouth, I said the only one that was true.

“If you do this, I’ll quit.”

He paused. I could feel his bare skin pressed against mine, but he wasn’t inside me. Not yet.

My heart skipped several beats.