Chapter 4
AVERY
Asudden noise outside had us breaking apart like teenagers caught making out behind the bleachers.
My lips were swollen, my hair was a mess, and Kyle’s shirt was wrinkled where I’d been gripping it like a lifeline. We stared at each other, both breathing hard, and reality came crashing back.
Glass door. Office building. My workplace.
“We should—” I started.
“Yeah.” Kyle stepped back, running a hand through his hair. It only made him look more disheveled. More kissable. “We should.”
But neither of us moved toward the door.
He adjusted his tie, his eyes never leaving mine. “Come home with me.”
It wasn’t a question. Not really. But the way he said it—rough, almost desperate—made it feel like one. Like I had a choice. Like he’d respect whatever I decided.
I should’ve said no. Should’ve suggested we cool off, think this through, maybe grab coffee sometime and talk about what this meant for the patent dispute, for our companies, for our professional reputations.
Instead, I nodded. “Okay.”
Something flared in his eyes—heat, possession, maybe even relief—and he grabbed his briefcase with one hand and reached for mine with the other. “Let’s go.”
We tried to look normal walking through Ultra Bright’s office. I smoothed my hair, Kyle straightened his jacket, and we kept a professional distance between us. But my hand was still tingling from where he’d held it, and I was hyperaware of every step he took beside me.
The elevator ride down to the parking garage was torture. We stepped in alone, and the doors had barely closed before Kyle moved closer. Not touching, but close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off him.
“Avery.”
My name sounded like a prayer. Or a curse.
“Mmm?”
“If you’ve changed your mind—”
“I haven’t.”
The elevator dinged. Third floor. The doors opened, and a woman from accounting stepped in, giving us a polite smile. Kyle and I moved to opposite corners like we were strangers, and I focused very hard on the floor numbers ticking down.
Two.
One.
Parking garage.
The doors opened, and Kyle’s hand found the small of my back, warm and possessive through the thin fabric of my blouse.
He guided me toward the guest parking section, where luxury vehicles gleamed under the fluorescent lights.
He stopped in front of a massive black Range Rover with windows so dark, I couldn’t see inside.
“This is you?” I asked because apparently I needed to fill the silence before I combusted.
“This is me.” He clicked the key fob, and the locks disengaged with a soft thunk.
He opened the passenger door, and I moved to climb in, but he caught my wrist, pulling me back against him. His mouth found mine again—hungrier this time, less controlled—and I melted into him, my hands sliding up his chest to his shoulders.
“Kyle,” I breathed against his lips.
“I know. Ten minutes.” He pulled back, jaw tight. “I can wait ten minutes.”
But when I looked up at him, I saw the same desperate need I was feeling reflected in his eyes.
“Can you?” I whispered.
His gaze dropped to my mouth, then lower, and I watched him wage some internal battle. Professional Kyle versus the man who’d just kissed me senseless in a conference room.
The man won.
He reached past me and opened the back door instead. “Get in.”
My heart hammered against my ribs. “Here?”
“The windows are tinted. No one can see.” His voice was rough, barely controlled. “And I really, really can’t wait ten minutes, Avery.”
I should’ve been scandalized. Should’ve insisted we go back to his penthouse like responsible adults. Instead, I climbed into the back seat, my body humming in anticipation.
The interior was all black leather and luxury, spacious enough that I didn’t feel cramped. Kyle followed me in, closing the door behind him, and suddenly the world outside disappeared. It was just us, cocooned in darkness and possibility.
“Come here,” he said.
I went to him, the leather seat cool against my knees as I climbed into his lap.
His hands gripped my hips, steadying me, and then he kissed me again—harder this time.
There was nothing careful about it. It wasn’t like the kiss in the conference room.
This one felt hungry, like he’d been holding back and finally decided not to.
My fingers clutched at his shirt, feeling the solid weight of him underneath. Every shift of his body made my pulse jump. I moved without really thinking, pressing closer, and felt him hard against me. The sound he made—low and rough—went straight through me, tightening everything inside.
I had to tell him.
The thought was a splash of cold reality in the rising inferno. Yes, I had to tell him now. Before this went any further.
It took every ounce of willpower I possessed to break the kiss, pulling back just enough to speak. Our ragged breaths mingled in the small, heated space between us.
“Kyle, wait,” I panted. “I have to tell you something.”
He kissed his way to the sensitive spot just below my ear, his voice a husky murmur. “Don’t worry. I have a condom in my wallet.”
He started to shift, reaching back to retrieve his wallet from his pants pocket. Panic, sharp and sudden, lanced through me.
I caught his wrist. “No, that’s not—I’m on the pill, but that’s not it.”
He stilled, his dark eyes searching mine, the haze of lust receding just enough to show a flicker of confusion and concern. “Then what is it, Avery?”
I took a shaky breath, my gaze dropping to where my fingers were still wrapped around his powerful forearm. The words felt foreign and heavy on my tongue.
“I’m… I’m a virgin.”
The silence that followed was absolute and terrifying. He didn’t pull away, but he didn’t move either. He just stared at me, his expression unreadable. The only sound was the frantic thudding of my own heart.
I’d done it. I’d broken the spell. I’d scared him away.
Just as the first tendrils of humiliation began to curl in my stomach, he gave a slow, deliberate nod. “Okay,” he said in a tone that was low and impossibly calm. “Okay. We should go back to my place. Your first time shouldn’t be here.”
The care in his words—the sudden, sober chivalry—squeezed my heart. A slow smile touched my lips. I leaned in, brushing my mouth against his in a soft, promising kiss.
“Kyle,” I whispered against his lips. “First times in the back seats of cars are a time-honored tradition. They’re not unusual at all.”
A reluctant, sexy grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I can’t argue with that.”
It was all the permission I needed. I closed the small distance between us, reclaiming his mouth with a fervor that surprised us both.
His resolve shattered. His hands came up to cradle my face, then slid down my back, pulling me flush against him.
I settled more firmly onto his lap, straddling him, the position feeling both brazen and perfectly right.
His hands roamed over my skirt, gathering the fabric in his fists before shoving it up around my waist. The cool air hit my bare thighs.
Then his fingers hooked into the lace of my panties, and with a slow, deliberate slide, he dragged them down to my thighs.
I shifted, wriggling just enough to get one leg free, the scrap of lace tangled around one knee.
I was bared to him, exposed and utterly vulnerable.
He watched my face, his eyes dark and intense as his hand slid between us. The pad of his thumb found my clit, and he began to stroke, a slow, circling pressure that made my eyes flutter shut.
I gave myself over to him, my head falling back as a wave of sensation, hot and sharp and sweet, crashed over me.
It was like nothing I had ever felt—a coiling, tightening pleasure that spread through my entire body, centering where his touch guided me.
I could feel his gaze on my face, watching every flicker of pleasure, every hitched breath.
I climbed higher and higher, my fingers digging into his shoulders. The world narrowed to the rough pad of his thumb, the sound of his breathing, the building pressure that was about to shatter me.
And then it did. I came with a sharp, keening cry that I was sure echoed through the entire parking garage. My entire body trembled as my pussy clenched, his movements not letting up until I slumped against him, boneless and breathless, my face buried in the crook of his neck.
After a long moment, I lifted my head, meeting his heated gaze. My voice was hoarse but steady, filled with a new, bold confidence.
“Now,” I said, my fingers trailing down his chest to the waistband of his slacks. “Unzip your pants. I want to see your cock.”