I cringe. Good lord, won’t she stop cursing like a fucking sailor? I reach back and start to slowly ease her down my front, making sure every inch of her front slides across every inch of mine. With my arm wrapped around her waist, I hold her off the ground, our noses nearly touching, my raging erection pressed in her lower stomach. You feel that, baby? That’s for you, even if you don’t fucking deserve it right now.

She groans as my eyes dart across her face, drinking in every exquisite piece of her desire. I didn’t need this confirmation. But I wanted it. What game is she playing?

She swallows and looks across to her office window, wincing. Fuck them.

“Mouth,” I whisper, pulling her face back to mine. “You stood me up.” I kiss her chastely, and everything inside of me softens. My world stabilizes. My heart announces its presence. And as I stare at her, my life seems to tunnel into an oblivion of her. All her.

She looks away, as if she can’t stand the intensity of our eyes being locked. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs. I’m sorry too. I’m sorry she keeps ping-ponging between acceptance and denial. I’m sorry she can’t hack the whirlwind of our connection. I’m so fucking sorry. And frustrated. And lost. And, fuck me, dependent on what only she appears to be able to give me.

It’s a shitty situation to be in. For me, and for her. But it is what it is. I’ve accepted it. It’s time, once and for all, for her to stop fucking fighting it. Just feel it. All of it.

I slam my mouth to hers, swallowing her whole with my kiss, my passion, my need. She doesn’t deny me. She can’t possibly when we’re touching. A crowbar couldn’t pry us apart, so Ava fighting would be fruitless.

I push my groin into her stomach hard, showing her something else she does to me. The irrational reactions are out of my control. My craving. My obsession. My frustration. “What do you need time for?” I ask, and she sighs on a mild shake of her head.

“To think.”

Think? She needs to stop thinking. It’ll drive her nuts like it does me. “Don’t think, Ava,” I say sternly. “This is how it is. Accept it.” I force myself to break away, my dick aching, willing me to bury it inside her. Right fucking time, wrong fucking place. I reach out to steady her when she sways, my smile unstoppable. Go on, baby. Deny it now. Tell me I don’t turn your world upside down.

She hisses in pain, and I recoil.