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When it was finished, she fell back against the bed, her breasts rising and falling like twin peaks as she caught her breath. Luke climbed to his feet, retrieving a condom from the drawer next to his bed before joining her. Lydia turned to look at him, her face a mask of contentment and bliss.
“More fun than running thirteen miles?” he asked, enjoying the way the sunlight spilled across her skin.
“Much more enjoyable.” She sat up on her elbows, eyeing his erection. “What are you waiting for?”
“Just wanted to give you a second to recover. I know that was probably pretty mind-blowing.”
Lydia smirked, rolling their bodies until she was sitting on his hips. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’ve been working out a lot lately, so I’m a lean, mean endurance machine.”
“Oh, really?”
Lydia bent forward, one hand on his chest, the other reaching between their bodies to guide him to her entrance. He groaned when she sank down on his length. “I could probably do this all day.”
He chuckled, catching her hips before she could go any further. “Let me just set some reasonable expectations here.”
Lydia laughed and that sound surged through him. These feelings he was developing...it couldn’t just be him, right? They should have waited until they were no longer working together, but if Luke stripped all that away, the fact was that Lydia was here, with him. She’d chosen to confide in him, and that had to meansomething.
What about Jack?his thoughts whispered. He reached up, letting his fingers tangle in strands of her hair. Jack was old news. He was the crush who’d disappointed her. But this, what was happening between him and Lydia, felt real.
And if Jackwasn’told news? If Lydia didn’t feel the way he did? He’d end up getting hurt if they carried on like this. He couldn’t let this happen again while they were still working together, he shouldn’t, but he also had no clue how to stop.
“Don’t worry,” Lydia was whispering in his ear. “I’ll let you break for snacks and water so you don’t embarrass yourself.”
He waited for her to lean down and kiss him. “That’s all I ask.”
Fifteen
Lydia
“Ican’t believe you forgot you were supposed to be here today,” Erik mumbled under his breath as crowds of prospective architects wandered around the Hilton hotel reception room. “I told you, first week of September. Put it on your calendar.”
“I didn’t forget,” Lydia said, adjusting their poster board. “I was late.”
“Because you forgot.”
“Maybe I got distracted again wallowing about my youth center proposal and it slipped my mind. You can’t just expect me to remember to show up to these sorts of things on a random Thursday.”
Erik looked at her pointedly. “I sent you an email reminder. And I also told you we could talk about the proposal if you’re still upset.”
“I’m not upset.” Lydia smiled politely at a young woman who stopped by their table to pick up a pamphlet. “It’s been two weeks. Why would I still be upset?”
“Is this what having a daughter is like? Passive-aggressiveness? Glaring at me from across the room?”
“Yes.” In truth, the rejected proposal wasn’t bothering her as much as the fact that Jack had also turned up to represent Poletti’s today. No offense to the Future Architects of New York, but if she’d known he would be here, she probably would have tried to get out of the mixer. She glanced across the room to where Jack was busy mingling and networking, handing out business cards and Poletti’s pamphlets.
“You know I was as out of the loop on that decision as you were,” Erik said.
“It’s not justthisproposal, Erik.” Lydia sighed. “It’s every other rejected proposal I’ve found on my desk lately. Is this why? Nobody gets to climb the ladder or sit center stage until the leadership is done showing off for Marco?”
“I’m gonna talk to Marco about what’s been going on.”
“No, don’t do that,” Lydia said. “I don’t want to be the girl who whined to the boss because she didn’t get picked.”
“That’s not what’s happening here.”
“But that’s how everyone will see it. All they’ll see is me. Stepping on toes.” That’s the last thing she wanted—to be the office tattletale. “The decision’s already been made. I’ll just have to do better keeping up with the office politics next time.” She looked away from him, no longer capable of enduring that pitying gaze, and organized the pamphlets on their table for the fiftieth time since arriving. Someone, likely Kirsten, had gone out of their way to plaster the poster board and the pamphlets with pictures of Poletti’s best contract builds. On one tiny image in the corner of the poster was an eco-friendly residential building design Lydia had helped create a couple years ago.
“Well,” Erik said. “If you change your mind about that, I’ll be making the rounds.”
