She couldn’t help but kiss his sweet, filthy mouth, when it produced words like those. She kissed him and kissed him and kissed him, and he kept stroking her in a way that made her thoughts swirl. Her body felt languid and electric all at once. Maybe minutes passed, or maybe it was an hour; she had no idea, because for once, she wasn’t counting. She wasn’t hyperconscious of exactly how long it was taking her to come, because… well, she wasn’t going to come. She didn’t have to. She didn’t need to. And apparently, that was okay.
Their kisses went from slow and slick and teasing to unapologetically deep, his tongue thrusting into her mouth as his fingers thrust into her pussy. At some point, he laid back on the wet grass and pulled her on top of him, his free hand running over every inch of her body as if he couldn’t get enough. She didn’t think about the gentling of the downpour around them, the way rain slid over her bared skin like a caress. She didn’t think about the soft earth they lay on, and she certainly didn’t think about the passage of time.
Because he kissed her so hungrily, and breathed her in, and touched her like he needed her. And then, all of a sudden, she felt an impossible tightening between her thighs, as if something sweet and ripe were about to burst.
“Nate,” she murmured into his mouth. “I—”
“Relax. Just relax. Kiss me.”
So she did. And he kept touching her, everywhere, and then the tightening happened again, and again, until…
Until she released this long, low, rolling moan that echoed the rich, deep pleasure rushing through her, taking over her body in the best way possible. As if her arousal was a river that had just burst its banks, overflowing into every nerve ending until she was limp and tingling and absolutely astonished.
Hannah forced her heavy eyes open to find Nate watching her with obvious satisfaction. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “You okay?”
“I… you made me come.”
“Eh. I think it was a team effort.” He kissed her again. “God, you’re beautiful. You know that, don’t you? You must know that.” His lips found her cheek, her jaw, her temple. His hands cupped her arse, kneading absently while his mouth moved on to her ears. He was kissing her ears. Even worse, she was thoroughly enjoying it. She felt wonderful. Fantastic. She could do this a thousand times over.
Which was the problem, really. Because she couldn’t.
“Well,” Hannah said, once she was sure her voice would work properly. “Thank you very much.”
He laughed. “You’re thanking me? Really?”
“Yes. That was extremely well done. We should be fine now.”
He froze, as she’d worried he might. And then, after a pause, he pulled back slightly to look at her. “Oh, yeah. That’s right. Because this was supposed to… cure us.”
“Inoculate us,” she corrected. “Or me. And fulfil your—” Then she remembered how angry he’d been, when she’d suggested he had some kind of nanny fetish. “Well, it’s done now, is what I mean.”
“Yep,” he said. “It’s definitely done now.” He wasn’t holding on to her anymore. He certainly wasn’t kissing her anymore.
But he looked pleasant enough, reasonable enough. He was always reasonable, really—unlike most people. It was one of the reasons she liked him so much.
Platonically.
And now she’d be free to feel that platonic liking without having the waters muddied by her rampant libido or her half-dead crush. And he’d be free to platonically like her back, and eventually get over his unfortunate attraction.
She scrambled off of his lap, because sitting there suddenly felt strange—which was probably an indication that her plan was already working. The grass beneath her felt colder than it had before, more like mud than some romantic earthy cushion. Which made sense, since there was nothing romantic about grass. Or rain. Or Nate.
He stood, woefully naked, and she tried very hard not to look. “So,” he said. “We’re just, ah… back to normal.”
“That’s correct.”
“Employer and employee.” He winced slightly as he said those words.
“Yes indeed.”
He studied her for a moment, and she felt her cheeks heat. If he questioned her, even slightly, she’d crumble. She knew it. She’d lose her head and start waffling on about feelings and connections and a load of other nonsense that she didn’t want to examine too closely.
But in the end, that didn’t happen. Because Nate nodded slowly, and murmured, “Well, I better go. I