apparently wanting to cut right to the chase.
Color blooms across her neck. “No, Ethan.” She steps back. “No. We aren’t doing this, okay? You and I are—”
“What? What are we? I’ve tried to talk to you about it all day and you’ve blown me off.”
“We’re having sex.”
“Obviously.”
“And we care for each other.”
She’s doing a good job talking in circles, but I like to be a little more direct.
“We’re in a relationship,” I say definitively.
Her eyes widen.
“What? Do you expect me to say I’m fine with no strings? I’m not that guy, and I’d rather you not pretend that’s what you want.”
Her smile is squashed down as best as possible.
She wants to be in a relationship with me, even if she’s not quite ready to admit it.
She turns away and shakes her head. “It’s a terrible idea. I need this job, and I need the guys on the crew to respect me. I don’t want them talking about us like that.”
“I’ll fire anyone who so much as whispers about us.”
She glances back with a smirk before rolling her eyes. “Very heroic of you, but it’s human nature to be curious. They’ll all talk and soon you’ll have no crew left at all.”
I shrug. “So I’ll build the resort myself.”
Her laugh is tinged with annoyance. “Can’t you be serious? This isn’t a joke to me.”
I walk toward her, grip her hips, and turn her around so I can bring her right up against me. We’re a perfect fit.
“Tell me what you need then.”
“No favors.”
“Define a favor,” I say, tone laced with desire.
She groans. “Ethan.”
“Fine. No favors.”
“That means I get paid the same amount, on the same day as everyone else. No more talk about money. After everything we’ve been through, I don’t want that to be a part of our relationship.”
Her attention is on my chest as if she doesn’t quite have the courage to meet my eyes. She obviously still feels guilty about the incident in the bar.
“Fair enough. Next.”
“I don’t want the crew to know we’re dating.”
I drag in a deep breath, trying to cool my urge to argue with her. That’s going to be a problem, but for now, I’m willing to concede that point if she thinks it’s for the best.
“Fine. Anything else?”
“I don’t know,” she says, her attention sliding up to my mouth. “I could probably come up with another fifty things but I’d really like to kiss you right now, and would you please stop doing that?”
She’s talking about how my hands are working up the bottom of her shirt so I can slide my palms up around her waist.
“I listened to your demands,” I taunt, leaning down so my lips barely hover over hers. “Now I think you should listen to mine.”
“So you probably saw what happened last week when I asked Taylor out to dinner.”
I’m at my desk, trying to catch up on work. I have a million emails to read and respond to and I’m supposed to have a conference call with my partners in fifteen minutes.
“Hudson, I have work to do.”
“I know, I was just wondering, since you talked to Taylor right after I left…do you think she’s interested in me but just doesn’t want to make things complicated at work?”
Jesus Christ. If Taylor didn’t want to make things complicated at work, she’d let me tell everyone she’s off the market.
“You know what? I think you’re better off just focusing on the project. How’s that?”
He groans and turns back to his computer, temporarily silenced.
A few minutes later, Taylor comes in with my coffee and aims a warm smile at Hudson. “Hey Hudson! Did you have a good weekend?”
His eyes widen as he takes her in. She’s wearing jeans and her work boots. Her t-shirt shouldn’t be all that sexy, but it is. She has her hair pulled up in a wavy ponytail, making her feminine features shine. The guy has L-O-V-E written across his forehead in fat Sharpie.
“It was good. Yeah. Okay…well, honestly not all that exciting. Did you have a good weekend?”
A sweet little blush creeps up as her gaze sweeps over to me. “Yeah, it was really great.”
I arch a brow and accept my coffee, more than happy to listen to her describe her weekend to Hudson.
“Why don’t you tell him your favorite part?” I goad.
Sure, I have shit to do, but this beats the hell out of checking emails.
“Oh, well, I really liked swimming,” she says with a shy smile.
“Swimming?”
“Yes, swimming at night,” she continues, eyes on me.
“That’s dangerous,”