“We can’t do this,” I said, gasping for breath.
His fingers trailed through my hair. “Why not?”
He pressed his lips against my mouth and we started kissing once again. His kiss was hungry, hot as hell, demanding, and intense.
I moaned as his tongue slid down my neck. “You know why.”
It was almost impossible to break off the addictive kiss, but I broke away.
“We can’t,” I said. “You know this will change everything. I’m madly attracted to you. I am. And I want to keep going...desperately. But I know we can’t.”
I could feel him hardening beneath me, but before things could go any further, we both abruptly stopped.
“I’m sorry,” he panted, “I’m sorry.”
I fought to catch my breath. I slipped quickly back to the roof, trying to catch my breath. “No, it’s okay. It’s just—”
“We can’t,” he finished. “I know we can’t.”
He took the words right out of my mouth, but I suddenly realized that I didn’t want to hear him say them, any more than I wanted him to stop. I wanted us to be right back up against the wall, picking up where we left off.
One look at his eyes told me he was thinking the same thing. But he restrained himself, summoning a strength of will instilled by nearly a decade of professionalism.
“I’ll take you home now.” He stared at me hungrily once more, before turning his back and opening the door to the elevator. “I’m sorry again—I never should have done that.”
“Don’t worry,” I tried to reassure him as I followed him inside. “We’ll just forget it. It’ll be like it never happened.”
But as the doors closed shut, locking the two of us in together, I felt suddenly certain.
There was no way in hell I could ever forget...
Chapter 8
The next day at work was terrible. And I mean...terrible.
It should have been fantastic—a huge milestone triumph. My coming out party into the world of financial business. I got to the office early, and with the utmost gravitas, solemnly placed my printed copy of the merger on Patti Macer’s desk. Her eyes widened as she picked it up and flipped through the first few pages.
“This has to be half an inch thick,” she exclaimed.
“It’s about three hundred pages.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “With a glossary and everything...?”
I stifled a smile. At the last possible moment, I had remembered the page Tom removed for our ‘work dinner’ last night, and slipped it back in. “Yep, it’s all there.”
She leaned back in her chair and actually took off her glasses, staring at me like she’d never quite seen me before. “Harks, I don’t know how you did it.”
I beamed with pride but contained myself with a casual shrug. “I had some help. Both Michael and Thomas pitched in over the weekend. It was really a group effort.”
Her eyebrows shot to her hair. If I had only said Michael’s name, I think there’d be a good chance that she’d shut the door and sit me down for an interrogation regarding inter-office relations. But Tom’s name was above repute. When I added it on, I saw her visibly relax. Then she picked up the merger and started smiling so hard, I thought it might split open her face.
“Jenna,” we both sat up a bit straighter as she said my name for the first time, “this is above and beyond all my expectations. I’ll be sending the California branch a letter of thanks immediately for all your hard work.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Don’t even mention it—I’m a New Yorker now. I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.”
Like, seriously, please don’t mention it.
Then, in true, awkward Macer style, she rose slowly from her chair and slowly extended both of her hands. I wasn’t sure what exactly was expected of me here, but I took them as gravely as I could and held on until she nodded finally and I was kindly dismissed. As the door shut behind me, I paused for a moment, wondering if I’d just been knighted.
I decided I loved the idea.
And so, riding high on a wave of adrenaline, I took off down the hall.
It was like a movie. People came out of their offices in slow motion, clapping and cheering me on. People I’d never seen before patted me on the back and offered me their congratulations. I shook my head like it was nothing, walking through their rows of applause, but I couldn’t help but throw a beauty pageant wave Jamie’s way as he peered outside to see what all the commotion was.