Page 62 of Never To Be Mine

The climax hit hard, crashing over me in one powerful wave. I clenched around him, crying out his name as pleasure flooded every nerve.

He followed seconds later, groaning into my shoulder, his body shuddering against mine. He dropped his head to my shoulder. We were both breathing hard.

Slowly, he eased back but not far. His hands still framed my hips, gentle now. “That was intense. You okay?” he asked, voice hoarse.

I nodded, still catching my breath, a smile tugging at my lips despite the mess we’d just made of every rule we’d set. “Better than okay.”

He smiled back, that cocky grin softened by something warmer. “Good.”

I felt my smile falter as reality crept back in. What the hell had we just done?

Hollis must have sensed the shift because his hands tightened slightly on my hips. “Hey. Where’d you go?”

“Nowhere. I’m right here.” I tried to sound casual, but my voice came out strained.

He studied my face, those blue eyes seeing way too much. “Oh, no. You’re already regretting this.”

I grimaced and considered telling him it was all good. But lying seemed pointless when I was still sitting naked on his desk with him between my legs. “This was unprofessional.”

He laughed. “You think?”

“It’s not funny.”

I pushed gently at his chest, needing space. He stepped back, giving it to me immediately. I slid off the desk, suddenly very aware of my nakedness. My clothes were scattered across his office like evidence of a crime.

“No one is going to know.” Hollis bent to grab his boxers, pulling them on, and then disposed of the condom in the trash.

I fumbled with my bra, my fingers shaking. “It’s not about people finding out. I shouldn’t have done it at all.”

“Man, that post-nut clarity hits you hard, huh?” He grinned and shook his head. “Think of it this way. Clearly, we needed to get that tension out. To get it out of our systems. Now we can go back to being perfectly professional.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“It is if we make it that simple.” He handed me my blouse, and I snatched it from him, turning away to put it on. “Juno, look at me.”

I didn’t want to. Looking at him made everything confusing. But I turned anyway.

He’d pulled his jeans back up but hadn’t bothered with his shirt yet. That chest was still on full display, a distraction I didn’t need. His expression was serious, with none of that cocky confidence I’d grown accustomed to.

“We’re both adults,” he said. “We can separate business from personal. People do it all the time.”

“Do they?” I buttoned my blouse with jerky movements. “Because in my experience, mixing the two is how careers get destroyed.”

“Your career isn’t going to be destroyed because we had amazing sex.”

“Amazing?” I scoffed. “Someone has a high opinion of his performance.”

“I was talking about you,” he said with a grin.

I found my skirt and stepped into it, yanking the zipper up. “You don’t know what it’s like being a woman in this industry. Being the boss’s daughter. Everyone already assumes I didn’t earn my position. If they find out I slept with a potential partner? I’ll be a fucking joke.”

“You’re right. I don’t know what that’s like. But I do know you earned your position. I’ve looked into some of the other companies you brought in to work with Young at Heart. All quality. You’re good at what you do.”

The compliment felt way too good. I finished dressing and finally looked at him again. “We still shouldn’t have done that.”

“For what it’s worth, I don’t regret it,” he said. “Not for a second. But I will back off. And I won’t tell anyone.”

Despite the panic currently shredding my insides, I didn’t regret it either. Not completely. If not for the impact it could have on my reputation, I wouldn’t have regretted it at all. Hollis was a damn fine man.