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His eyes meet mine, and I can tell he means more than just his protectiveness. He means the sexual tension between us. The kiss, which we still haven’t talked about.
“You mean yesterday,” I say, and his thumbs trace over the backs of my hands, tingles rippling outward in the wake of his touch.
He lets out a low chuckle and licks his lips. “Yeah. Listen, Cate. I’m going to be really honest with you.” He exhales slowly and then meets my eyes again. “I don’t regret kissing you. Not for a second. I meant it when I said I’ve wanted to do that since I first laid eyes on you. I meant it when I said that I want you. But if we want this partnership to work, I think it’s best if we put anything romantic or sexual on the back burner.”
Hearing Alex say the word sexual does something to my insides, and I find myself shifting on my chair.
I nod slowly, digesting his words. If he can be honest, so can I. “That’s…understandable. But disappointing. Because I’ve never liked anyone the way I like you. I get that it could be complicated, but that doesn’t make me want it less. Want you less.” My heart is trembling frantically as the truth spills from my lips.
His chest heaves and his gaze drops to my mouth. “We can’t, Cate. I’m too old for you, and we could mess up a good thing. I want to win another world championship. I want to be on the podium at the next Olympics, and I think you and I can do that together. No, scratch that,” he says, shaking his head vehemently. “I know you and I can do that together. So it doesn’t matter that I think about you constantly, or that I want to kiss you right now, or that I have the worst, most depraved thoughts about what I’d do to you if you were mine.” He exhales, his nostrils flaring. “We have to find a way to manage this so that we don’t risk our professional future. Our goals. Dreams.”
“Right now, my dream is to hear about these depraved thoughts. In detail.”
He groans and drops his head back. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“But you did. Because you want me.”
“Fuck, yes, I do.”
“What if…” I bite my lip, hope and lust and lightness zipping through me when his eyes zero in on my mouth. “What if we could have both? I like you, Alex. A lot. We wouldn’t be the first pairs team to have a romantic relationship.”
He stands and shoves a hand through his thick hair, making me wish it was my fingers raking through it as he did some of those unnamed depraved things to me.
“There’s still the age difference,” he says after a moment.
“It doesn’t bother me,” I say. “I meant it when I said that I kinda like it.”
Silence falls between us, and the hope soaring inside me falters, making everything inside me constrict, an emotional bracing for impact.
“Unless…you’re not interested in dating me? Or don’t see a future for us? Romantically?” I feel as though I’m holding my entire heart in my hands, holding it out to him and hoping he doesn’t toss it carelessly in the trash.
He drops to his knees in front of my chair and his mouth is on mine, kissing me softly and gently. I moan against his mouth, and his tongue slides against mine, a gentle, almost reassuring caress. I thread my fingers through his hair, which is impossibly soft, holding him close as we kiss, slow and unhurried.
“How could you think I wouldn’t want to date you?” he asks, peppering kisses down my neck. I tilt my head, silently encouraging him. “I do, and that’s the problem. Because what I want and what I should do are two very different things.” His teeth scrape over my earlobe and I gasp, jerking against him. “I stroke my cock and think about you every fucking day, Cate. The things I think about you…they’re filthy.”
A lust more thrilling than anything I’ve ever experienced spirals through me, stealing my breath, making me forget about everything besides Alex and how badly I want him.
“Tell me,” I beg, fisting my hands in his hair and bringing his mouth back to mine. He kisses me deeply this time, his tongue licking into my mouth, his lips wet and soft.
“No,” he growls. The sound is lust tinged with anguish. “I shouldn’t even be kissing you right now.” He nips at my bottom lip and then kisses me again, long drugging sweeps of his tongue that have my clit throbbing. “You make me weak, Cate. So fucking weak for you.” He’s kissing my neck again, his hands sliding up my outer thighs to my hips. My pussy is aching, my heart is throbbing wildly, and all I know is that I need Alex right now like I need air.
“So be weak,” I manage, my voice high and reedy. Unrecognizable to my own ears. “I want you. I want this.”
“I’m twelve years older than you,” he says, kissing down my throat. “I shouldn’t be doing this. You’re so young and sweet and I’m a twisted bastard who wants to corrupt you in all the worst ways.”
His words set off a detonation somewhere deep in my belly, and I moan. “Do it. Corrupt me. Make me yours.”
He pulls away, chest heaving, eyes bright with lust. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.” He slides a hand into my hair and tugs, just hard enough to send sparks dancing across my scalp. “I’m intense, Cate. I’m already obsessed with you. If I fuck you, I’m never going to let you go, and you need to be sure that’s what you want.” He tugs on my hair again, and I moan. “Be sure, princess.”
And with that, he stands and leaves, shutting the door to the meeting room behind him, leaving my head spinning, my heart pounding, and my pussy throbbing.
Alex
Three days.
That’s how long it’s been since I showed Cate the real me—the man obsessed with her, who won’t be willing or able to let her go if things go further than they already have. The man whose obsession with her should scare her a little.
And maybe it does, because aside from a few smiles and professional chatter, she’s been quiet. Quieter than usual. No off-key belting of Taylor Swift while she jogs on the treadmill in the gym. No laughing or teasing during practice.
