Page 40 of Just a Little Tempted

Eventually, he shifted, withdrawing carefully before rolling onto his back beside me. His arm curled around my waist,pulling me against his side, and I let myself be drawn in, my head finding the hollow of his shoulder like it belonged there.

Silence settled over us, warm and comfortable, but my mind was already churning.That was incredible. Simon is incredible. But where do we go from here?

I didn’t voice the question. Part of me was afraid of the answer. We’d crossed a line tonight that couldn’t be uncrossed, complicated an already impossible situation beyond repair. He was still my boss. We were still fake dating for Alexander. And now we’d slept together.

What did that make us?

I stared at the ceiling, lost in thought, trying to sort through the tangle of emotions knotted in my chest. The warmth of Simon’s body beside me was reassuring, but it couldn’t quiet the doubts circling in my head.

“I’d like to stay,” Simon said softly, breaking the silence. “If that’s okay with you?”

I looked up at him, searching his face in the dim light.Who is this man?He wasn’t the same person I’d met that first day in his office—cold and demanding and impossible to please. There was something softer in his expression now, something almost vulnerable in the way he watched me, waiting for my answer.

I didn’t know what to make of it.

I didn’t want him to go. That much was certain. But I also knew I needed to be careful. Simon hadn’t made me any promises. For all I knew, this was just a hookup to him—a convenient release of the tension that had been building between us for weeks.

I’d given my heart away before. To Eli. And I remembered all too well how it felt when that had fallen apart. I couldn’t let that happen again, and certainly not with my boss.

We’d already complicated things by sleeping together. That was something we’d have to address eventually—the messyintersection of our working relationship and whatever this was becoming. But not tonight. Tonight, I wanted to enjoy this. Enjoyhim. And just… be smart about it.

Could I separate the emotional from the physical? Keep my heart protected while still allowing myself this pleasure? I wasn’t sure. My feelings for Simon had already evolved past anything simple or casual. But I could try. I could guard myself while still seeing where this led.

“Yes,” I said quietly, giving him a soft smile. “I’d like you to stay.”

His arm tightened around me, and he pressed a kiss to my forehead—it felt both tender and meaningful. I closed my eyes and let myself drift, wrapped in his warmth, refusing to think about tomorrow.

Tonight, this was enough.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Simon

Iwoke toan empty bed and the scent of something savory drifting through the apartment.

Raina had slipped away a while ago—I’d felt the mattress shift when she got up, heard the bathroom door close and the shower run. For a moment, I’d considered joining her, imagining the water streaming down her body, the surprised gasp she’d make when I stepped in behind her.

But I’d been socontent.

That was the word for it, wasn’t it? Content in a way that felt foreign to me, almost unrecognizable. I never stayed the night after sex. Never allowed myself to linger in a woman’s bed, wrapped in her sheets, breathing in her scent. I always left before things could become complicated—before expectations could form.

Yet I’d drifted back to sleep in Raina’s bed like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Now, fully awake, I heard movement in the kitchen. The clatter of dishes. The soft thud of an oven door closing. My stomach growled in response to the delicious smells permeating the air.

I got up and took a quick shower, pulling on my jeans afterward but leaving my shirt behind. Barefoot, I padded down the hallway toward the kitchen and stopped in the doorway.

Raina stood at the counter with her back to me, now pulling a casserole dish from the oven. She was wearing a well-worn sleep shirt that hit mid-thigh, her legs bare beneath it, her hair piledin a messy bun on top of her head. She wasn’t trying to impress anyone. She was just… wonderfully, perfectlyher.

My heart did something strange in my chest—a twist, a flutter, something I couldn’t quite name.

These feelings weren’t something I was used to navigating. I’d spent years compartmentalizing relationships with women, keeping things strictly physical, maintaining clear boundaries. I didn’t ask to spend the night. I didn’t linger for breakfast. I left before intimacy could deepen into anything more complicated than mutual satisfaction.

But now that I’d had Raina, now that I knew what it felt like to hold her, taste her, fall asleep with her body curved against mine, I couldn’t imagine letting her go. Couldn’t imagine lettingthisgo, whatever it was becoming.

I sensed walls with her, though. Understandable, given our working relationship. She was being careful, protecting herself, and I couldn’t blame her for that. Whatever happened between us going forward would need to be navigated delicately.

Especially since I was still trying to make sense of my own feelings—feelings that were entirely new to me.