My pulse tripped. “This…doesn’t work for either of us. You’re the boss, I’m the manager of your hotel, it…”

“I know all of that, but I still feel this crazy tug.” His fingers circled around my palm and I shivered. “I know you feel it, too.”

I shook my head.

“Surely you aren’t lying to me, Ms. Ashford. You promised not to.”

“This is crazy. You’re…you. I’m me. You’re my boss.”

“Boss’ boss’ boss’ boss. Do you feel coerced?” Something flickered across his face. “I’d never force⁠—”

I gripped his hand. “I don’t feel coerced, Ro. God, we just both know this is a bad idea.”

He leaned closer, his gaze on my lips. “Does it feel bad?”

His scent wrapped around me. Tantalizing and pure temptation. I remembered everything he’d done to me on that stolen night at the masquerade. My fingers curled around his. “No. It feels too good.”

He groaned. “I know. I smell that green apple scent of yours and I go hard. I wonder if it’s your perfume, or shampoo.”

I swallowed. “It’s my moisturizer.”

He groaned. “Every time I see you…everything seems a little brighter, a little better.”

My chest filled with warmth. “Ro…”

We both moved. I cupped his stubbled cheeks, and his arm swept around me.

Our mouths touched and then…I lost my mind. I opened my mouth and kissed him.

The taste of him slammed into me. It was hot spice tangled with need. With a low groan, he pulled me closer, his tongue stroking mine.

Before I knew it, I was in his lap. I straddled him, my knees either side of his hips. I slid my hands into his hair. More. I needed more. As we kissed, everything felt magnified: every stroke, every caress, the hard press of his body. Electricity zapped through me and I felt it everywhere. From my lips to my toes.

His hands skated down my back, cupped my ass. Yes. I undulated against him. I wanted him to touch me everywhere. I wanted those hands on my bare skin, I wanted to tear his clothes off and touch that chest. I wanted him inside me again. Desperately.

Something fell off the table and clattered to the ground.

I jerked and yanked my mouth from his.

We both stared at each other.

“What do you want, Tessa?”

I licked my lips. I wasn’t fooling myself. Ignoring him, ignoring this attraction, wasn’t working.

I wanted him.

So much I ached.

“It’s your call,” he murmured.

I’d always been the good girl. I hadn’t wanted to add to Emily’s burden, so I’d done everything I could to get good grades, follow the rules, never step out of line. I was always solving everyone’s problems.

Why not take care of myself for once? Take something I wanted.