was even almost at the point of accepting that fate might be stating what we had was a one-time thing that would never become anything more. But my body wasn’t buying that lie — not when every time I did catch her eye, I felt that jolt of electricity snapping between us. It was a good surprise when I glanced into the break room as I walked back toward my office after tipping the Uber driver for delivering my lunch to find her standing before the open refrigerator and staring inside.
“Hey,” I said, walking forward and pushing the door closed before lifting the sack I was carrying. “Trust me, there is nothing in there that will match this. Come with me and I’ll share my lunch with you.”
“What is it?”
“You’ll have to join me to find out,” I said, bringing the sack to my nose and inhaling deeply before giving a long, exaggerated groan.
“You’re ridiculous,” she said, shaking her head, sending that sexy-as-shit ponytail swishing against a neck I remembered running my tongue along. I had to fight back an almost irresistible urge to nip at the spot where I could see her pulse ticking beneath pale skin.
In a flash, the past days without her vanished, and I saw her as I had that night, naked and writhing against me as we fucked on the middle of the stage. It had been crazy and spontaneous, which had been a bit surprising, but what had been absolutely mind blowing was how the sex had been so animalistic, taboo, and dirty. Fucking filthy.
“And hungry,” I said, grabbing her hand and hauling her unceremoniously out the door and not releasing it until we’d reached my office. I waved her toward a chair and continued around my desk. Sitting down, I reached into the bag and pulled out the thick turkey-on-rye sandwich. Unwrapping it, I said, “It’s good to see you. How have you been?”
“Good. Tired but good.”
True, it was an answer, and yet one that didn’t offer much in the way of information. Looking up, I met her eyes and had the thought that while I had loved every single moment we’d spent together that night, from the way Clara was acting now, I had to wonder if she regretted it. Neither one of us had been drunk or under the influence of any substances, so we couldn’t blame it on being impaired. We’d both been swept up in the moment. That really was all there was to it, but perhaps she was having second thoughts. If she was, it was up to me to change her mind as I sure as hell didn’t regret a single thing.
“Here, you look like you’ve lost weight,” I said, setting half the sandwich on a napkin and sliding it across the desk. When she didn’t make a move to take it, I stood and grabbed two bottles of water out of the mini fridge and opened one, setting it down beside the napkin. “Fine, just know you’re not gonna get a cookie unless you eat that first.”
“What kind of cookie?”
I grinned and moving behind her chair, pushed it closer to the desk. “That will remain a mystery until the last bite of your main course has disappeared.” I circled back behind the desk and dropped into my seat. “I know Yuri has been working everyone’s butts off, but considering I’m pretty fond of having my hands all over your ass, I’d rather not feel as if I’m grabbing nothing but skin and bones.” Lifting my half of the sandwich I said, “Bon appétit,” waiting until she’d lifted hers to take a bite. After chewing and watching her swallow the much smaller bite she’d taken from the corner of her sandwich, I asked, “Seriously, how are you?”
“I’m fine,” she said, but she looked the opposite of fine.
“Let’s try this again,” I said. “Besides not eating enough and looking like you’ve lost your best friend, how are you doing?”
“Really, I’m fine. It’s just been a very busy week.” She sighed deeply, which caused me to really take a closer look at her.
As soon as our eyes connected, I noticed the sadness behind her gaze, a look I hadn’t seen since that day she’d stood on the curb with her fist wrapped around a huge stack of mail whose white envelopes and metered postmarks flagged them as bills rather than invitations to parties or “just a note to say hi” cards.
“Clara, what’s wrong?” I asked, automatically reaching out to