I wanted him, and now that I knew that he wanted me there was no putting that genie back in the bottle. The intense attraction I’d kept buried under lock and key for years had been unleashed here in Dallas. I’d worked it all out in my head after that night I’d ground my ass on his dick for two hours while we pretended to watch My Little Pony.

I could do this with Theo. He wasn’t my boss anymore. Sure, he was a colleague, but no matter what we got up to in this penthouse, when the show was over we’d each go back to our own lives. Him to New York, me...well, I hadn’t figured that out yet. But the important part was that I could let this happen now. Get it all out of my system. It’d just be a fun way to relieve some stress. An interstitial between chapters of my life.

I just needed to keep my boundaries. Work and play didn’t mix. This could be something I did in the evenings. Like a self-care moment, but with orgasms...that I didn’t give myself.

“So where are you going for José’s birthday?” His voice startled me and I almost fell into the pool. I was so on edge—and him asking questions about José’s birthday was not what I expected after all the eye-fucking we’d been doing.

“How did you know about that?”

“Dani mentioned it when you were gallivanting all over Dallas.”

“What kind of thirty-two-year-old man uses the word gallivanting, anyway?” My mouth had zero brakes when it came to Theo, but he just laughed it off and reached for my float, tugging me closer to him.

“The kind that makes you wet, that’s who.”

Jesus. He was looking at me like he was going to tear me apart, those massive muscles bunching and flexing as he pulled me to him. “You don’t want me tagging along to your party, Alba Serena?”

What was wrong with me that I was now disappointed when he called me by my correct name? Also why weren’t we making out?

“It’s a girls’ night out, Theo, you’re not invited.” Why did he have to lick his lips like that? He didn’t take my bait though, just ran the tip of that pink tongue over that generous mouth, one eyebrow, which I noticed was starting to grow its little peak for real, hiked high on his brow. Meanwhile I was squeezing my thighs so hard I was going to sprain something.

“Besides, I don’t want to talk about my friends,” I told him as I took a last sip of my seltzer.

His eyes zeroed in on my mouth as I did my best to fellate the straw. “What do you want to talk about?” His voice was rough and I wanted this man to utterly destroy me.