Vic’s laugh derailed her train of thought. “I hadn’t intended the room’s content to be the focus, so much as the room itself . . . or perhaps the door to the room, which happens to have a lock.”

“A lock?”

“If you step inside, I’ll demonstrate.”

The connection snapped into place, and her whole body warmed with a mix of embarrassment that it had taken her so long to understand, and arousal at any number of possibilities in store for her if she allowed Vic to flip that lock.

No, she internally scolded herself. She was a professional, she needed to start acting like one. “Damn it, Vic, this is my place of work.”

Vic grinned. “What a twist of fortune. It happens to be mine as well.”

“I don’t mix business with pleasure.”

“Nor have I . . . yet.”

Sophia stared at her. Who was this woman, and more importantly, why couldn’t she bring herself to walk away? She’d never had any trouble calling Vic on her entitlement. Then again, it had never come with such blatant sex appeal before now. “We need to talk about boundaries.”

“Shall we talk about them inside? Or out here, where any member of your cast or crew could leak the details to the press?”

“Fuck,” she muttered. The press, the crew, of course Vic would be aware of those things, and honestly, she usually was, too. She stepped inside quickly while Vic both closed and locked the door behind her.

Then Vic’s mouth was on hers. She didn’t have time to think or brace herself, not that either of those things could’ve helped her process a kiss like that. There was only one response to having Vic’s mouth pressed against her own, and that was to lean into it. They were up against the door, the shelves, the saddles, as they clutched each other and stumbled about. She had her hands in Vic hair and her teeth on Vic’s lower lip. Where had all this energy been moments ago when she’d barely been able to form a complete sentence? Now she felt like she could run a marathon if only Vic would never stop kissing her.

And yet, that’s exactly what happened.

As quickly as it had begun, Vic stepped back and with a cocky grin said, “So, you wanted to talk about boundaries?”

Sophia gaped at her, too shocked and winded to speak.

“Sorry.” Vic didn’t sound sorry at all. “I didn’t mean to undercut the seriousness of the conversation, but we were both so hazy and hurried this morning I didn’t get to give you a proper kiss goodbye.”

“That was not a kiss goodbye.”

“Oh?” Vic shrugged. “I’m quite out of practice. What kind of kiss was that? A hello kiss?”

She shook her head.

“A good morning kiss?”

“Try again.”

“A thank you for a lovely evening kiss?”