My skin vibrated like a live wire as I struggled to keep myself from pressing back against him. If I stood on my toes, I could press my ass directly to his groin. Would I find him hard? Would he stop me?
I was so lost in my fantasy that I almost jumped when his breath tickled against my neck. I closed my eyes, questioning if I was imagining it all—if I was making more out of it than it was. Maybe he wasn’t as close as I thought. Maybe he just breathed really hard.
But then my hair shifted, and his heat pressed against my back even though he wasn’t touching me. It emanated from him—reached for me. I swayed back but still didn’t press to him. I just wanted to be closer.
A small moan crept from my panting lips when his beard gently scraped against the tender skin of my neck. And then a whimper when I heard him suck in a deep breath.
“Cupcakes,” he whispered, his deep voice like gravel. “You still smell like the sweetest cupcakes.”
I was about to give in, press myself fully against him, dig my fingers in his hair and pull him down so I could turn and kiss him. Only a breath away from snapping.
“Mr. Kent,” Vivian called.
Kent stepped away, and a rush of cool air raced to replace his heat, causing chills to spread down my body. I took a moment to collect myself before turning and seeing the expression on Vivian’s face. If she saw anything, would she tell Daniel? The idea of Daniel knowing I was practically throwing myself at his best friend, sent a shudder down my spine. I didn’t want to see how he’d look at me knowing that. But when I looked over at her, she was walking from around the corner, eyes glued to the papers in her hand. She looked up and gave me the same warm smile she’d given me all day.
“Hey, Olivia. If you’re done looking, you’re free to go. You’ve more than met your hours for the day.”
“Okay. Thank you so much for all your help.” I only briefly let my eyes flick to Kent’s, expecting him to be looking away but was instead staring right at me. My glance was too fast to assess what hid in the dark depths, but now wasn’t the time to stare no matter how much I wanted to.
“How’d she do today?” Kent asked Vivian.
“Fantastic. You may have to put her on payroll if she keeps helping.” I smiled at her wink.
“We’ll see what we can do.”
And that was the last they acknowledged me, turning to face each other and go over whatever was in Vivian’s hand. I took that as my cue to leave and grabbed my belongings from the back offices.
Everyone said their goodbyes and made sure I was coming back again. I had to admit it was nice to feel so accepted.
It also felt nice that as I was walking out, I turned to take one last look at Kent to find him staring at my ass. I stopped, and he looked up to find out he was caught. I wiggled my fingers goodbye and bit my lip to keep from smiling at his tight jaw and twitching mouth.
When I began my exit again, I made sure to add an extra sway to my hips, hoping he enjoyed the show.
No, Kent and I weren’t going to have a repeat of our night together, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy myself flirting and torturing him with memories.
6 Olivia
“If you use the blue painting, it’s more calming,” I said to Vivian. We were currently staring at a slew of canvases leaned up against one of the lobby walls. “Make sure to place it vertical, it will help draw the eye up, and the room appear bigger. And you know what they say, bigger is better.”
I nudged her with my shoulder and waggled my eyebrows, making her laugh.
“I don’t know,” a deep voice rumbled behind us. “I hear the motion of the ocean is more important.”
His voice washed over me, tightening every muscle on its way down to my core. I was on week two of my internship, and I hadn’t seen Kent again after our…I didn’t even know what it was. Apparently, he’d been in New York with other business.
Forcing the trapped air out of my lungs, I slowly turned. He stared down at me with his dark eyes alight with laughter and a smirk on his lips. I wanted to step into his space and make a seductive joke back and was about to until Vivian playfully slapped his shoulder, reminding me of her presence.
“Stop, Alex. You’re going to scare the poor child.”
Vivian’s attention was on Kent, preventing her from seeing my annoyed side-eye. But Kent saw it, and that devious smirk lifted to a full-on smile. I transferred my glare to him, and his chest shook with a quiet laugh.
“I doubt much could scare Olivia.”
Vivian shook her head like Kent was an errant child she had to accept would never change. “How was New York?”
“Productive. We’ll have to set up a time to meet later, and I’ll go over some of the details.”
“We can go now,” she suggested. “I’m going to make note of the painting and head to lunch.”
“I was actually going to take Olivia to lunch.”
My eyebrows slowly rose, confused by the invite.
“James told me she’d been here more than necessary this past week, and I figured I could treat her. Take some time to answer any questions she had.” He must have seen the direction my mind was going as I thought of all the dirty questions I could ask, because he quickly added, “For her project.”
“Okay. You two have fun, and I’ll catch up with you later. Thanks for your help, Olivia.” And then she was gone.
“What if I don’t want to go to lunch with you?”
“Don’t lie, Olivia. You’re not good at it.”
“You could have at least asked,” I muttered.
“Why bother when I know you’d accept anyway?”
He had a point. I was being stubborn because I could and decided to let it go, even if I was having fun bickering with him. “Where are you taking me?”
“It’s a surprise.”
The perpetual playful tilt of his lips was in place as he stretched his arm out, gesturing for me to walk ahead. Wanting to get back at him for laughing earlier, I walked too close and stopped when my shoulder brushed his chest. Looking up, I put my own smirk in place and spoke in my best Marilyn Monroe voice. “Welcome back, Mr. Kent.”
His jaw ticked, and his chest expanded, pressing harder into my shoulder. “Careful,” was all he said.
“Never.”
And then I walked to the door, biting my bottom lip, trying to hold back the full smile when I heard his growl behind me.
“Who orders just cheese on their pizza?”
“Who orders mushrooms?” Kent shot back. “They’re a fungus.”
I shrugged and made a scene of taking a bite of my pizza, humming.
He shook his head with a laugh and dug into his own food. We’d been able to walk to the restaurant from the hotel, and it had been silent the entire way. Not that it was bad. It was comfortable as we walked through the streets of downtown, letting the passing cars and people talking fill the silence between us.
“How have you liked the hotel so far?”
“It’s good. Better than I thought I’d like it.”
His head cocked to the side. “Why didn’t you think you’d enjoy it?”
“I don’t know. There hasn’t been a business that enticed me enough to be excited about it.”