about their children, and took in dogs, and had undeniably welcomed him into their house without comment. “Okay,” he murmured, hoping that the word was carried away by the wind, and that he hadn’t just committed himself to some weird-ass family for hire nonsense. Rowan leaned away from him, released his hand, and then stood up, brushing snow from his pants and frowning down at the seat as if it had personally decided to make his ass damp.
Rowan looked…windblown, sexy…but now was not the time to give in to admiring his thoughtful, gorgeous, annoying, sexy PA. Gideon stood up, but when he looked at Rowan, he was staring at him, which caused him to pause before putting his gloves back on. They were standing too close, the sound of the ocean and the gusts of cold snowy wind a backdrop to whatever was happening here.
Rowan took a step nearer, and they were as close as they could be without touching.
“Gideon?” Rowan whispered, and that was all he said. He didn’t invite Gideon to cup his face or to tug him that final short distance, but that’s what Gideon did. He didn’t ask to be kissed, but if Gideon stopped now they might never kiss at all. It was the right moment, the perfect time, when they were alone, away from the office and family and friends. It was now or never.
Gideon’s hands still cradled Rowan’s face, and for a moment, they paused as Gideon looked into Rowan’s dark eyes.
“What am I doing?” he said, but Rowan didn’t answer. Instead, they met in the middle with a gentle sweet touch of lips before separating.
Gideon’s heart beat hard, every exposed inch of skin tingled, and they stared at each other. This was wrong, this was a boss taking advantage, this would ruin everything they had between them, he had to stop it now when they could still laugh this off as nothing. This time there was no alcohol, no post-wedding aura. Was there really a way to excuse them sharing a kiss this time?
“We should—”
Rowan didn’t give Gideon a chance to talk. He took the initiative, and it was his turn to begin a kiss. Wrapping his hands around Gideon’s neck, he kissed him. From a gentle exploration, it soon became more. A desperate need to taste that overtook Gideon in a frenzy. He wanted to feel Rowan against him, wanted to press him to a wall, take his fill of these needy kisses. Somehow, he managed to move them so that Rowan was cradled between the wall of the shelter and Gideon. The powerful anticipation of taking care of Rowan was nearly too much, but the gusts of snow reminding them they were in public was enough to keep Gideon from having his hands all over Rowan.
Their coats were too bulky for Gideon to really feel Rowan, but if Rowan was half as hard as he was right now…they could get off here. They could grind against each other, and deepen the kiss, and…
Rowan pulled back and away, a finger to his lips, and he looked dazed. “Oh,” he muttered, and Gideon winced when he imagined that Rowan’s next words would be a denial of what they’d done or a comment about work relationships. “That was…” For a moment, he stood there, and Gideon waited for more. Then in a quick move he had an armful of Rowan, and they were kissing again, a hundred kinds of frantic and needy.
So much for work relationships being ruined—this was all about lust.
The next time they separated Rowan was grinning, but he didn’t go back in for more kisses. Instead, he put on his gloves, fixed his coat, and picked up the plastic tub. “We should…yeah…maybe get going.”
Gideon took a moment to rearrange himself and caught Rowan staring at him with a hungry gaze. He so nearly dragged Rowan toward him for more kissing. They made it all the way to the van, and even though it wasn’t far, it was enough time for Gideon to begin second guessing himself. He glanced at Rowan and wondered if he was having similar thoughts.
“Stop it,” Rowan warned and then smiled. “That was inevitable. It’s been building since the day you hired me.”
“It has?”
Rowan laughed then, and the sound of it made Gideon smile. He added a shimmy, and a turn, and then pointed at himself. “Plus who can resist all of this?”
“I have resisted,” Gideon reminded him.
“In your dreams,” Rowan replied. “Wedding?”
“I think you instigated then.”
“You