hands. I started trembling. “You kissed me last night. Do you remember that?”
I swallowed. “No?” Flashes of Vaughn calling Adam and me leaning on him flickered across my mind.
He stood up and pulled me to a standing position before yanking me closer. I collided with his chest and looked up at him, my mouth parted in confusion and shock. “What are you—”
Vaughn’s lips slammed to mine. He grabbed my hips, and years of yearning flooded me. He tasted like coffee, his hard, forceful mouth demanding everything I had. I threaded my hands through his hair, moaning as he grabbed my hips and lifted me up onto the conference table. “I’ve wanted this for so long,” he panted between kisses. He cupped my cheeks as he kissed me, his tongue thrusting past my lips and tangling with mine.
Wait. He’d wanted this too?
His lips found my jaw. My neck. My collarbone. He unbuttoned my top as he went, and my fuzzy mind tried to make sense of what was happening and what he had said. “Wait. Wait!” I said as his hands kneaded my breast.
“I can’t wait. You can’t leave me. Jet Times needs you—”
His words were like a bucket of cold water on my senses. I pushed him away. “Is this some weird way to get me to stay? You found out I’ve had a crush on you all these years, so you thought making out with me in a conference room would convince me not to go to San Francisco? That’s low, Vaughn.”
My words made him smile. “You’ve had a crush on me for years?” My eyes thinned to slits as I stared at him.
“Don’t act like you didn’t know,” I argued. After last night, I was certain that my affections were painfully obvious.
Vaughn sauntered closer and grabbed me by the hips before pressing his forehead to mine. “I was going to quit so I could do freelance journalism, Sena. You know I’d rather be out there instead of behind a desk. Last night, I was going to announce my replacement. I wanted to hire you.”
My heart stopped. “You were going to hire me?” Holy shit. I really fucked this up. “Why?”
Vaughn kissed me tenderly before speaking again. “Because we’ve been working together for years. Because I know you are the right fit for this job. Because six months ago, I realized I’m irrevocably in love with you.”
My eyes started watering. “You did?”
“At the mafia banquet. You wore a red dress. You asked me to dance so we could get closer to one of the targets and overhear what they were saying. I don’t know. I held you close, and I realized that you were it for me, baby. Maybe I’ve always known.”
I shook my head. I’d wanted Vaughn for years. And he loved me back? It felt like I was dropped into an alternate universe. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“You and I both know the company has huge rules against workplace relationships. I knew that if I wanted you, I’d have to finally tell my mother the truth—that I wanted to be a journalist and not the one running the paper. It took me a little while, but you’re worth the wait. I also wanted to make sure I could give you everything you wanted—everything you worked so fucking hard to earn. They wanted my brother to have a high-ranking job, which I was forced to agree to. I didn’t want a single person to think I promoted you because I was in love with you. Mom hasn’t been taking the news well, but--”
“Say that again,” I croaked.
His face softened. “I’m in love with you, Sena. I wanted to tell you last night.”
I grabbed him by the lapels of his suit jacket and kissed him hard. His fingers furiously unclasped my bra, and my breasts spilled out of the lacy cups the moment he did. My skirt rolled up, and his hand found the heat between my thighs. Our teeth clashed in fiery passion as my back arched. I ached to be closer. After all this time. Finally. My fantasies were nothing compared to the feel of his hot mouth on mine.
I worked quickly to remove his suit, relishing in the sight of every dip and groove in his torso. I nipped at his smooth skin, and it wasn’t long before teeth marks covered his chest. We’d been building up to this for ages. I didn’t care that we were in a conference room. I didn’t care that we