“She’s not going to fire you.” He looked amused. “If she was, she would’ve done it after the gala after she heard me practically say we were fucking.” His hand moved down to my waist. “But now that you’ve brought that up, we need to be far more careful. There was a video of us kissing in the hallway via security camera.”

My eyes widened. “Do you not hear yourself, Jake? Is that not the perfect reason to end this?”

“No, and I’m still waiting for you to give me an acceptable one. Are you finished?”

I was silent for a few seconds. “I’m not attracted to you anymore.”

“A reason that doesn’t insult my intelligence.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Tell me the truth.”

“I like you.”

He blinked.

“And I feel like you don’t and won’t ever feel the same, so on top of the threats from my supervisor, I’d rather cut my losses now.” I stepped back. “That way, I won’t ever be tempted to say the words ‘us’ ‘more’ or—”

“Relationships.” He finished my sentence and grabbed my wrist, pulling me back to him. “I remember.”

“So,” I said, looking into his eyes. “I think that’s the end of this.” I waited for him to leave, but he didn’t. Instead, he stood staring at me, his gaze pinning me to the spot.

“Are you sure you’re not simply confusing infatuation with our sex for liking me?” He slipped an arm around my waist, strumming his fingers against my hips. “That could be the problem.”

“That’s not the problem.” My voice was a whisper. “I think, regardless of what we agreed to, that you’re going to end up hurting my feelings in the future.”

“You’re not a fortune-teller, Gillian,” he said. “You have no idea what either of us is going to do, and since you would have to know me to like me, I think it’s just a temporary crush.” He snapped my lips shut with his fingers before I could say something. “A mutual, temporary crush.”

Without saying anything else, he clasped my hand and pulled me over to the bed. He started running his fingers through my hair with his other hand, looking as if he was going to kiss me, but I shook my head.

“I don’t have a temporary crush on you, Jake,” I said. “I like you, I actually fucking like you, and I don’t need you to try and convince me that I don’t. As good as sex with you is, I’m not going to continue risking my job over it, or let my feelings get hurt by someone who doesn’t like me back. So, I think you should leave. Now.”

A confused look etched across his face, but he didn’t say anything. He just stared at me.

“Why are you here anyway?” I pulled my hand away from him. “You’re supposed to be in Hawaii.”

“I thought I wanted to see you.” He shook his head. “But now that you’ve once again decided that you can literally make even the most pointless conversations ten times more pointless, I’ve come to my senses. See you Friday in New York. E4.” He headed toward the door.

“Did you not hear any of what I said?” I scoffed. “We’re over. Done. I won’t be there.”

“Jesus, Gillian.” He groaned, still walking. “I get the goddamn point. Can I leave the room before you say anything else?”

“You’ll regret this someday...” I muttered under my breath, but he turned around.

“The only thing I regret is that I never got the chance to see your talkative-ass-mouth swallow something other than words.”

My jaw dropped.

“Yes.” He looked me up and down before slamming the door. “Yes, I really fucking said that.”

I stared at the door seconds after it shut.

Upset that he’d gotten the last word, I rushed over to open it, to hurl one last zinger at him as he left, but when I opened the door, he wasn’t walking to the elevators. He was standing right in front of me.

His mouth immediately latched onto mine and he picked me up, forcing me to wrap my legs around him. The door slammed behind us both and our lips fought for control, he growled against my mouth.

“You talk so fucking much, Gillian...So fucking much...” He tore his mouth away from mine and tossed me onto the bed.

My bath towel fell off, exposing my body and he pulled his shirt over his head—revealing abs that still made me bite my lip whenever I saw them.

Still glaring at me, he began to unbuckle his pants, but I moved closer to the edge of the bed and grabbed his wrist.

“Let me,” I said, my voice more demanding than normal.

He raised his eyebrow at my tone, but he moved his hand away.

Pulling his belt through the loops, I let it fall to the floor and unzipped his pants. I slowly pushed his briefs down a bit, letting his hardened cock free, and without hesitating another second, I slowly covered the head of it with my mouth.

He groaned, grabbing a fistful of my hair as I slowly sucked his cock deeper into my mouth, as I let it hit the back of my throat. I moved my mouth up and down his length, darting my tongue against his tip each time I pulled back.

“Fuck, Gillian...” He looked down at me, his eyes glazed over, his lips parted.

Relishing the control I had over him, I gripped the base of his cock with my hand and teased him with the pressure as his muscles tensed.

My mouth continued to move over his cock, my saliva coating every inch of skin, and both his hands were in my hair—gently attempting to control my rhythm.