“There’s something between us that we’re going to have to deal with if we expect to work together for the next twelve months.”

Eleven months and 29 days, she amended silently, but who was counting?

She gulped another swallow of the strong coffee, hoping desperately for something to rescue her from this conversation. Once they got to the office, it would be okay, she promised herself. She’d be distracted by work, be concentrating on her job, and Cole’s magnetic draw would fade into the background.

She hoped.

The man was a temptation she wasn’t certain she could resist. It was like being offered ice cream on a blazing hot day. But she was the one who was melting, drifting into a sense of mindless need that was becoming very hard to ignore.

She couldn’t allow herself to fall for him, couldn’t become any more attached to him than she already was. Because he was going to leave her again. He’d made that clear right from the start of their strange relationship.

She took another gulp of coffee, sloshing the hot brew down the front of her bathrobe. “Ouch!” She brushed at the hot liquid, holding the scalding material away from her skin.

Cole grabbed a towel and knelt in front of her to blot at the stain spreading across her chest. His movements slowed, and his gaze slowly drifted upward to meet hers. The hand holding the towel halted, and she felt the heat of his gaze burn through her.

Her tongue darted out to lick suddenly dry lips, and his eyes carefully watched the slight movement. He leaned a fraction closer, his gaze riveted on her mouth, and she knew she had to stop him. She didn’t want to; she needed to feel his mouth against hers again, but she wasn’t certain she had the strength to halt what his kiss would surely lead to.

“You’re going to leave me, too.”

Cole jerked back, his eyes slowly refocusing. With a tortured sigh, he leaned back, still kneeling on the floor in front of her. “Are you all right?”

“I think so. But you’re going to leave me, too, aren’t you?” She needed to hear him say it again, needed to drill the idea into her head until she was repeating it in her sleep. Maybe then her body would get the message and quit responding to him with such mind-shattering intensity.

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I have to, Darci.”

“Why?”

“Because we made a deal.”

“Deals can, and are, broken.”

He frowned at her, and she would have given a lot to see into his thoughts at that moment.