His hands swept up and cupped her breasts as his hips rolled against her, stroking her with an erection that was so hard, so distinct, she didn’t know whether he’d taken his pants off. Her skirt didn’t last long, Edward taking advantage as she arched up to his mouth to release the back fastening and do away with it.

Her stockings followed suit.

And then her panties.

And then his mouth left her breasts … and went other places.

The orgasm was so strong, her head knocked into the hard table, but she didn’t care. Throwing her palms out, they squeaked against polished wood as she called his name freely.

There was no one to know.

Nobody to hear.

And after stitching herself up at corporate headquarters all day long, after resolutely shutting down the worried daughter she was for the professional she wanted and needed to be at the office … after denying her feelings for Edward for so long … she wasn’t going to hold anything back.

“Oh, God … look at you …”

As she heard him talk, she lifted her head. He was staring at her, his eyes full of lust, his hands locking on her breasts.

And then, as if he knew exactly what she wanted, he reared up and went for the fly of his khakis.

Reaching out, she went for his shirt, her hands fumbling with—

“No, no, that has to stay on.”

She wanted to argue. But then she felt the blunt head of his stroking at her … and then penetrating.

Sutton cried out again and then Edward was on her, the sex fast and furious, the driving thrusts threatening to slide her down the table. Locking her legs around his lower body, she held them together.

She hated the shirt he’d left on. Hated the reason for it. Wanted him to be as free as she was.

But she would take what he gave her. And knew better than to ask for any more.

Soon, Edward’s orgasm was as loud as hers had been, the harsh sounds of his breath in her ear, his curses, the gritted way he said her name, helping her find another release.

It seemed like forever and not nearly long enough before he was still.

And it was then she was reminded for the first time since he took her hand and brought her to the business center … that he wasn’t as strong as he had once been.

As he collapsed against her, he did not weigh very much, and his breath was ragged for quite some time.

Unlatching her legs, she wrapped her arms around him and held him as she closed her eyes.

And it felt like the most natural thing in the world to open her heart even as she kept her mouth shut: As good as this had been, there was an unmistakable stolen quality to it, and sooner or later, she was going to have to put her defenses back on along with her clothes—

He whispered something in her ear that she didn’t catch.

“What?” she said.

“Nothing.”

Edward stopped her from asking again by kissing her some more. And then he was moving inside of her, his erection still hard, his hips still strong, his need still for her.

For some reason, her eyes watered. “Why does this feel like you’re saying good-bye?”

“Shhhh …” he said before kissing her again.

THIRTY-THREE

“My car has never broken down like this. Like, ever.”

As Beth spoke to Mack, the rain started to fall, the drops hitting the back of his suit jacket as he popped the hood and looked into the hissing engine.

“It’s all right,” he said. “These things happen. So listen, make my day … and tell me that you have some bottled water with you.”

“I think so—hold on.”

Waving his arms, he cleared away the clouds of hot, oil-smelling vapor while, overhead, thunder rolled through the sky like a bowling ball.

“Here,” Beth said. “Got it.”

Taking off his jacket, he covered his hand with a sleeve and bent down to the radiator. “Stand back.”

“No, wait! You’ll ruin your—”

As he loosened the cap, the pressure exploded and he got nailed with a razor-sharp burn on the bottom of his arm. “Sonofabitch!”

“Mack, are you crazy?”

Trying to be a man about having been stupid, he dropped the damn jacket and flapped things around. “Give me the water,” he gritted when he wasn’t seeing double anymore.

A flash of lightning provided him with a first-class view under the hood, and the clap of thunder that immediately followed meant the storm was coming in fast and had good aim.

“Get back in the car, okay?”

“What about your arm?”

“We’ll look at it when this thing isn’t overheating. G’on.”

A deluge of rain cut the argument off, and Beth ran around and got behind the wheel again. The wet rush was cool, which helped on a lot of levels, especially as a stiff gust threw a wash of the stuff onto the engine. And what do you know, filling up the radiator went better than the captastrophe—and then he was shutting the hood and heading back for shotgun.

“Well, that was fun.” He yanked his door shut and pushed his wet hair back. “You want to give the ignition a shot?”

“How’s your arm?”

“Still attached. Let’s see if we can get going.”

Beth was muttering and shaking her head as she cranked the key. “I don’t know anything about cars, and after this, I’m really looking to keeping things that way.”

But the engine started up like a champ, and as she looked over with a smile, Mack almost forgot the pain in his arm.

“Don’t be too impressed,” he robin-breasted. “All men with names like Mack or Joe are constitutionally required to be able to fix situations like this.”

Unfortunately, the respite didn’t last. As rain pelted the front windshield and more lightning disco-balled the sky, the pain from the burn got back to business and he found himself cursing and not wanting to look at the damage.

Grinding his teeth, he started to take off his tie because of the nausea.

“I think we should go to the emergency room,” she said.

“Let me see how bad it is.”

When all he could do was fumble, Beth pushed his hands out of the way. “I’ll do it.”

The tie knot she had done for him dissolved under her deft fingertips, and then he tilted his head back so she could get at the top button of his collar.