After dressing, he brewed a pot of coffee, then turned on his Bluetooth to check voicemails and email. Standing by the table in the main cabin, his mind and body were consumed with the feel of her, the taste of her. The last thing he wanted was to stand out here while she was in his bed. Wickedly, his brain—and body—told him that he had time, just enough time if he got back in there with her right now, to touch and kiss her all over again.
His phone rang just as he was about to give in to the irresistible urge to stride back to the onboard bedroom. Daniel Spencer’s name flashed on the screen.
Lyssa’s overprotective older brother was calling.
Cal’s stomach twisted into a million tiny knots.
Jesus. The thoughts he’d had about this man’s sister. The things he’d done to her in his bed. The things he had been about to do with her again before landing.
Every second with Lyssa had been glorious. Beyond glorious.
And yet Cal knew it was all so wrong, the two of them together. So damned wrong.
What the hell had he been thinking?
That was the problem. He hadn’t been thinking at all. He’d acted on every impulse. He’d launched himself out of control.
He still felt completely out of control. Every time he thought about her. Just knowing she was still in his bed, naked and warm.
And still, the phone rang.
No matter how badly he wanted to let it go to voicemail, that wasn’t the answer. He couldn’t avoid Daniel forever. Barely twenty-four hours, actually, given how many ventures they worked on together.
Cal swiped his finger across the screen. “Daniel, what’s up?” Did his voice sound strangled? It did, but he hoped his friend and business partner wouldn’t guess why.
“I was just talking to Gideon about the new donor.” Lyssa and Cal had debriefed Gideon yesterday after talking to Dane Harrington. “Pretty damned cool he was also the guy who bought the painting.”
Cal could barely find his voice. He’d had breathless, sweaty, mind-blowing sex with this man’s sister. He’d slept with his employee. He’d crossed two decades of age boundaries.
He’d done the unthinkable, the irretrievable, the unacceptable.
The unforgettable.
He felt disgusted with himself. Turned out he was a chip off the old block, just like his good old dad, after all.
“Hey, are you okay?” Daniel asked.
Cal had to say something. “Yeah, it was pretty amazing.”
Amazing, that’s what Lyssa was. And he never should have touched her. No matter how irresistible she was.
“You must’ve done your damnedest to get the guy to cough up more money after already forking over sixty million.” Daniel chuckled. “You the man, just like I always knew you were.”
Cal couldn’t take credit. “It was Lyssa. She reached Harrington right away and brought tears to the man’s eyes, telling him Gideon’s story. Every word was from her heart, and Harrington knew it. She’s why he signed on.”
Then Cal had pulled her into his lap, and kissed her, and—
With the sound of Daniel’s voice in his ear, he felt physically sick. If her brother ever found out what Cal had done, he’d surely be ready to commit murder.
Cal closed his eyes and ran his hand over them. If only Daniel had called earlier, back in London, then maybe Cal could have stopped himself—
“She’s a pretty amazing kid.” Daniel said.
“She’s not a kid.” The words almost exploded out of Cal. And it wasn’t just about the ways he’d touched her or the things she made him feel. It was how smart and funny and brilliant she was. “She’s a damned fine accountant, and the foundation is lucky to have her.”
“Wow. She really impressed you, didn’t she?”
Cal felt a sudden, undeniable urge to stand up for Lyssa, and it wasn’t because they’d slept together. “She impresses everyone who meets her.”
“Of course she does,” Daniel said. “She’s always impressed me. But she’s my little sister, and of course I’ll always see her that way.”
Cal almost told Daniel he needed to show Lyssa more often how impressed he was with her. But Cal clamped down, knowing Lyssa wouldn’t appreciate him sticking his nose into their family business. Plus, he was worried he’d sound like a besotted fool.
Which he was. Completely.
“Where are you guys?” Daniel asked.
“We’ll be landing in San Francisco in half an hour.”
“Hey, let me talk to Lyssa, would you?”
Cal’s heart dropped like a stone, falling thirty thousand feet to splat on the ground. He couldn’t tell Daniel, No can do, she’s still sleeping after we spent the entire flight home in my bed.
Instead, he opted for, “She’s in the powder room. I’ll have her call you.”
“No need, I can talk to her later. I just wanted to say hi if she was around.”
Once they hung up, Cal turned his phone off, threw it on the table, and turned to find Lyssa standing by the galley door. She’d put on her clothes, and he didn’t think she’d taken the time to shower any more than he had.
“Thank you.”
He felt sick. “For what?”
“For telling Daniel how well I did with Dane Harrington. I appreciate that.”
Did she appreciate more than just what he’d said to her brother? Was she glad that he’d appreciated every inch of her beautiful body with his hands and mouth and—
He clamped down on the rest of his wayward thoughts, even as he had to face the truth that he’d do it all over again if there was the smallest chance he could.
He was out of control. Completely out of control.
The only way to fix it was to remove himself from temptation.
* * *
Tingles coursed through Lyssa’s body. It wasn’t just the things they’d done together in the bed and bathtub. It was what he’d said to her brother, praising her, every word ringing with sincerity.
Cal believed in her. And that meant the world to her.
He shrugged off her thanks. “It’s the truth. You’re a major asset to the foundation.”
As he spoke, color crept up his neck as if he were embarrassed she’d overheard his conversation. In fact, he was having trouble making eye contact with her.
Oh no. Was he embarrassed about what they’d done? Did he regret it? Did he wish it had never happened?
“I made coffee, if you’d like any.” He waved a hand at the galley, still not looking at her. Even his voice sounded off, each word too precise, his movements a little robotic.
He was acting as if he hadn’t touched her, kissed her, taken her again and again. As if they were strangers. As if he’d become her boss again…and nothing but her boss.
Even though it felt like her insides were shattering into a million pieces, she tried to reply in a perfectly normal tone. “I’d love some, thanks. You want me to pour one for you?”
He shook his head, still staring out the window at the clouds they were descending through. “I’ll get my own in a minute.”
“It’s okay. I can pour two.”
A few moments later, he took the coffee from her, making a point not to brush his fingers against hers as he did so. “Thank you.”