“Task completed.” A voice spoke into the room and alerted me that I was done with task three. I walked to the door slowly, not even bothering to wipe my eyes. I was done here. I couldn’t deal with this. At the end of the day, I was still me and I couldn’t deal with this. I was going to leave and then call Katie and tell her everything. I opened the door and stepped into the corridor quickly and jumped when I saw Greyson standing outside the door.

“Hey.” He smiled at me, his mouth curling up slightly as he looked at me.

“Hi.” I spoke back to him curtly, unable to make myself smile. My heart skipped a beat as we made eye contact, but I refused to allow myself to be happy at his presence.

“What’s wrong?” He walked over to me with a concerned look on his face.

“Nothing?” I shook my head and looked away from him.

“It’s not nothing.” His finger reached up and rubbed my wet cheeks. “You’ve been crying.”

“No.” I looked down.

“Yes.” His voice was angry. “Don’t lie to me. Why were you crying?”

“I wasn’t crying,” I lied, and looked up at him. He was staring at me and my breath caught as I saw the concern in his eyes.

“Meg, what’s wrong?” His tone was softer now. “It wasn’t the test, was it? You only had filing to do. That shouldn’t make you cry.”

“How do you know I had filing?” I looked at him suspiciously.

“Because I put you in that room and I made sure your next task was filing.” He smiled at me gently and grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped my eyes.

“Oh.”

“I thought I’d surprise you after the test.”

“You didn’t come in.”

“I told you that I wouldn’t be able to stop myself if I came into the next room with you.”

“But you waited outside for me?” I spoke as if I were in a daze, which I was.

“I wanted to see your face.” His fingers lightly traced my lips. “I wanted to get a kiss before you went to your next test.”

“Why?” I questioned him and stared into his deep blue eyes. “Why did you want to see my face?”

“Do I have to have a reason?” He raised an eyebrow. “Can’t I just want to see it?”

“Yeah, you should have a reason. Most people would have a reason.” My voice was sharp and he stepped away from me.

“Are you mad at me because I didn’t come into the room?” There was a hint of a smile on his lips and I glared at him.

“Really? You really think that’s why I was crying?”

“I don’t know. You girls are strange creatures.”

“I know you think you’re God’s gift to women, but you’re not God’s gift to me.”

“Pity.” He laughed. “I’d quite like to give my gift to you.”

“What gift?” I asked him confused again.

“This one.” He grabbed my hand and placed it on the front of his pants. “I’ve been told by many that it’s the best gift they’ve ever received.”

“Is that meant to be funny or cute?” I yanked my hand away from him and tried not to think of the hard package I’d just been holding. “Because it’s neither.”

“What’s got you this way?” He frowned and looked at me seriously.

“I’m just fed up.” I shrugged. “I’m here doing stupid tests for a job I know nothing about, and it seems like I’m no closer to knowing.”

“Do you really want to know?” He walked toward me again and this time he didn’t stop. I took a few steps back to get away from him, but found myself up against the wall. He walked until he couldn’t walk anymore. His body was pressed against mine and the warmth of his chest heated me up.

“Yes.” I nodded, wide-eyed. This was it, then: he was finally going to tell me what went on here.

“You’re training to be my personal stripper.” He smiled as he leaned in to kiss me. “That’s why I’m taking a very personal interest in your training.” He kissed me lightly on the lips and I groaned as his tongue entered my mouth and I kissed him back eagerly. Stop it, Meg. I screamed at myself. Stop it. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop my hands from reaching up and grabbing his golden tresses. I couldn’t stop myself from sucking on his tongue and adjusting my position against the door, so that I could feel his hardness pressed against my lower stomach.

“I want to make love to you,” he whispered against my lips.

“I thought you wanted to f**k me,” I said in a blasé tone.

“I want to f**k you and then make love to you.” He grinned and kissed my cheeks. “I’m glad you’re not crying anymore.”

“You don’t really care.”

“So you know me, then?” He chuckled, but his eyes looked sad as he gazed at me. “I do have a heart, you know, despite everything that I’ve said.”

“Really? I thought it was frozen. Or maybe it was taken out.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if my heart was taken out at some point.” He gave me a wry smile. “Maybe when I started high school.”

“Maybe at the same time you realized that you’d never be a comedian?”

“Yeah, maybe.” His eyes lit up and he stared at me for a few seconds. “You really listen, don’t you?”