“Close enough for me. The bottom line is, you’re not committed.”
“What if I promised to behave? It’s only six weeks. I can behave for six weeks.”
“None of this matters now. I told you yesterday, I don’t sleep with my clients. It’s too late to go backward.”
“I wasn’t your client last night,” he blurted without thinking. Because if she stayed, he would be her client. And that really messed up his more-smokin’-hot-sex plans. “I understand why you have that rule, but you’re right. We can’t go back. We already slept together, and I wouldn’t take it back even if I could.”
“Neither would I,” she said softly.
“Then don’t let some arbitrary rule you made up at some arbitrary time in the past ruin what we could have now.”
“You don’t get it.” She slapped her hands against her thighs. “I can’t work with you. We have freaking crazy chemistry. We’re going to want to sleep together again.”
“And again. And again. Already there. Was there when I woke up to a pack of unexpected guys at my door. Would pull over and do you right now—just say the word.”
“It’s unprofessional,” she cried, cutting a quick glance at him, then away as if she couldn’t hold his gaze. “I’m trying to build my career, not destroy it.”
Noah pulled into the bakery far too soon. And he was feeling a little frantic with the thought of her driving out of his life right now. That only rose when he saw the tow truck already there, hooking up her Audi.
“Oh good,” she breathed, gripping the door handle even before he’d stopped the car.
He braked and grabbed her arm so she didn’t jump out. “Julia, what you did with Guru today won’t last. As soon as they find out you’re not here anymore, I’m going to end up with the same problem again.”
“I have a list of therapists. They’re good. I’ll send it to Drake. If you’re hell-bent on not healing the right way, I imagine one of them would take you up on the offer of a charade. You’ll be fine.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Good-bye, Noah.”
She pulled from his hold and jumped from the car.
When the door slammed, Noah hit the steering wheel. “Goddammit.”
r /> She pulled her bags from the back, and Noah watched her rush toward the tow driver, trying to understand why he even cared that she wouldn’t stay.
“Just let her go,” he muttered. “You don’t need that kind of headache.”
Only he didn’t have a headache today. He barely had any aches and pains at all. She’d treated him to a four a.m. full-body massage, focusing on his bad ankle and foot…until she’d become obsessed with his cock and balls. Then she’d had him begging for release before climbing on top of him and riding them both to exquisite pleasure. The simple memory had him squirming in his seat.
Julia stood back while the tow truck driver lifted the back wheels of the Audi off the ground and drew it from beneath three feet of snow, then stopped when the front end faced the street. Then they met up again to finish paperwork.
Noah pulled his phone from his pocket and pressed speed dial.
“Where are you?” Drake answered.
“At the bakery where her car got snowed in. Get down here, man, I’m losing her. You’re going to have to pull a rabbit out of your ass.”
Sitting across from Drake at the bakery, Julia was seriously out of sorts as she toyed with her teabag in the silver tea pot. He’d insisted they meet before she returned to San Francisco, and since he did have important contacts that would benefit her in the long run, she’d agreed.
Their waitress, a cute young thing named Sarah, gave Drake her biggest, brightest, double-dimpled smile when she set down his coffee. “Are you sure I can’t get you anything else?” she asked.
Drake declined and thanked her. And when she walked away, Julia said, “Come on, D, make the girl’s day and let her get you a BJ.”
He sputtered in the middle of taking a sip of coffee and pulled the cup from his mouth, grabbing a napkin. “A day with Hunt, and you’re talking, and thinking, like a guy.”
“This started years ago. It’s not Hunt.”
“About Noah—”
“I’m not staying. You’re right about him—underneath, he is a good guy, but he’s got some serious baggage, not to mention Rushmore on his shoulder. He’s impossibly close-minded. Wants everything his own way. Thinks he knows best. And above all, he doesn’t want help. I can’t force him to cooperate. I told you that before I ever got here, and I’m more than a little pissed at you for the way you handled this. I quit my job, for God’s sake.”
“You know they’ll take you back in a heartbeat.”