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"Is there a boyfriend, Jewell?"
"No."
His open mouth covered hers, and her body reacted intensely and immediately. There was no prelude to the kiss. No slow overture to its intensity. Benjamin's hands held her face, and each time his lips moved over hers, their bodies swayed closer together. Jewell had no option, no choice, but to give in to its power without restraint. Their tongues met as a conduit, and thunder arched her body against him.
Jewell wrapped her arms around him, flattening her fingers against the firm muscles of his shoulders, drawing him closer. Benjamin's hands held her head in place with a gentle massage as his tongue parted her lips and plunged inside. His fingers pressed into her scalp. A low purr reverberated in her throat and her stomach tumbled.
The kiss was hungry. Jewell never realized how desperately she craved this, and there was no doubt in the way he held her, and the way his lips demanded her response, that Benjamin had wanted this just as much as she had. All consequences vanished. All logical thought disappeared. He took a hand from her face to grip her hip and yank her hard against him. She couldn't help the small sound that roughened her throat and felt Benjamin's tight moan against her mouth. Jewell heard the scrape of desktop objects across the wooden top as he tipped her back, reclining onto the desk surface.
A soft tap sounded at the door as Benjamin's mouth moved to her throat, just below her jawline. His mouth tugged gently at her skin, and she gasped. Her eyes fluttered, and she threaded her fingers into his hair, holding him against her skin. Then the knock came again, yanking her hard from the moment. With a groan born of frustration, she ran her hands from his shoulders down his arms, and with overpowering regret, curled her fingers around his wrists and pulled back from his touch. His gaze settled on her mouth, his lips open, his breathing as rapid as her own, and his eyes were an even deeper mahogany. Jewell curled her fingers into his shirt, wanting more than anything to pull him back to her.
The knock came again. Benjamin moved to kiss her, and her hand shot up.
"Someone is knocking on my door," she signed.
Benjamin sighed and closed his eyes, letting his forehead rest against hers. He swallowed hard. The pad of his thumb ran across her lower lip, now swollen by the strength of their kiss.
The knock came a third time. "Jewell?" April's voice called through the wood. She sounded miles away through the blood pounding in Jewell's ears.
"April," Jewell mouthed, and Benjamin laid his thumb on her lip as she spoke. He smiled, which immediately made her smile, too. "I'm in Mr. Roth's office," she called out. Her voice cracked and she quickly cleared it. "Come in."
Benjamin stepped back just in time to avoid April seeing him standing so close as she came in through the other office. Jewell ran a quaking hand over her mouth before turning to face the woman, giving her skirt a firm tug. Not daring to look down, she hoped her clothing wasn't mussed and twisted beyond explanation. He sat down in his chair and moved close to the desk.
"What's up, April?" she asked, thankful that her voice didn't give away the jumbling chaos in her stomach and the twittering sensation under her skin. "Sorry, I didn't hear you."
"You left your phone on my desk and you got a call.”
"Thank you."
Jewell took the phone April held out and looked at the notifications on the locked screen. Missed call from Garnett. She took a step away from Benjamin’s desk, slid her thumb to unlock the phone, and tapped the notification to call him back. He answered before she heard the ringtone.
"Hey, kiddo," her older brother said, already sounding apologetic. "I'm sorry to call you while you’re at work, but Mom asked me to find out if you're coming to that family fun night thing at Pearl's school tonight."
"Is that tonight?" Jewell mumbled, still trying to focus on anything but the way she still felt Benjamin touching her, even though he sat several feet away. April had walked around the other side of Benjamin's desk to show him some paperwork, and she spoke in soft tones to keep from interrupting Jewell's conversation. Didn't matter, her attention was miles away from the family fun night.
"Hey, Juls! You there?"
Jewell jumped when her brother shouted her name, and drew both Benjamin's and April's attention. April arched her eyebrows, but Benjamin looked concerned. She shook her head and focused on the conversation. "I'm sorry. I'm distracted. Yes, tell Mama I'll be there. She wanted us at the house for five-thirty, right?"
He hummed in the affirmative. "Ruby is here already. She asked me to pick her up after class because she figured you'd be staying late at work. Has your boss been working you hard?"
Jewell smirked and slid her gaze to Benjamin again. He focused again on what April had to say, so his attention was on her and not Jewell. She cleared her throat. "No, not really. I'll be there on time."
"Okay, Sis. Love you."
"Love you, too."
A snippet of April's conversation with Benjamin reached her as she disconnected the call. "—Mr. Burke. That's all he said," April ended with a shrug and a smile back to Jewell.
In one stuttered beat of her heart, Jewell's smile slipped, and a cold flush swept up her neck to her cheeks. Logically, she knew she had done nothing wrong when it came to Kevin Burke—but logical thinking didn't prevent the sudden ball of lead in her stomach. Burke had made a single point that voided her logical mind—who would people be more likely to believe? Benjamin's eyes shifted from April to her, and he pushed back from his desk, standing. Stepping around April, he came around to where she stood, his gaze never leaving her.
"Traynor wants to talk with me for a bit. It'll give you a chance to catch up on what you missed this morning," he said with a small smirk she knew he meant to be sexy and dismissive of the lead ball in her stomach. "Emails. Memos," he said, but his hands moved in small motions between them. "A large coffee with three extra shots.”
It worked because she couldn't help her smile. His smirk spread into a warm smile and he turned back to April, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Tell Mr. Traynor I'm available when he is."
April nodded and headed for the office door. Before Jewell could step away, Benjamin's long fingers wrapped around her wrist. A warm tingle of awareness danced up her arm, and she drew in a metered breath before raising her chin and looking into his face. He smiled slow, making her heart dance.
"We'll pick this up later."
