Chapter 19
JUNO
The moment the words left his mouth, I stepped forward, fisted my hands in his T-shirt, and yanked him down to meet me. My lips crashed against his, hungry and impatient. I’d spent days telling myself this was a mistake, and now I was done pretending.
Hollis growled and answered immediately. His hands landed on my waist, fingers digging in as he pulled me flush against him. The heat of his body burned through my clothes. I tilted my head and opened for him. His tongue slid against mine. He tasted of mint, like he’d just brushed his teeth.
His kiss made my knees weak.
I walked him backward until his legs hit the edge of his desk.
He sat, and I stepped between his legs, never breaking the kiss.
My hands roamed over his chest, feeling the hard muscle beneath the cotton, and then higher to his strong shoulders.
I could feel his heart hammering. Good. I wasn’t the only one swept up in this moment.
He gripped the back of my neck with one hand and angled my head exactly where he wanted it, deepening the kiss until I was dizzy.
His other hand slid down to my ass, squeezing, hauling me tighter against the hard line of his erection.
The contact sent a jolt straight through me.
I rubbed myself against that glorious steel between his legs.
“Fuck, Juno,” he breathed against my mouth. The words were ragged.
I swallowed them and kissed him harder, teeth grazing his lower lip before I sucked on it. He tasted like everything I wasn’t supposed to want. I nipped at his jaw, then soothed the spot with my tongue.
His hands were everywhere, sliding under the hem of my blouse, palms hot against my skin, thumbs brushing the underside of my breasts through my bra. I arched into the touch and gasped when his thumbs found my nipples and circled.
The office door was open but we were alone. The ache between my legs grew. I pressed closer, chasing the friction, chasing the way he groaned when I rocked against him again.
Hollis broke the kiss just long enough to drag his mouth down my throat. “You sure?” he asked, voice rough, lips brushing my pulse.
I answered by grabbing his face and pulling him back to my mouth. “Shut up and keep kissing me.”
He laughed once and obeyed. The kiss turned filthy, promising everything else would be just as good. My blouse was half untucked. His T-shirt was pushed up under my hands. I wanted skin. I wanted to feel every inch of the body I’d spent weeks pretending not to notice.
My hands went to his belt, yanking it open with more force than finesse.
Hollis made a low sound in his throat, something between a laugh and a growl.
He stood up from the desk and helped me shove his jeans and boxers down.
He was already hard, thick and hot against my palm when I wrapped my fingers around him.
My. God.
I reached for his shirt, yanking it up and over his head in one impatient tug. He helped, tossing it aside, and for a moment I just stared. Broad shoulders, defined chest, abs that looked carved from all that running and yoga he bragged about indirectly through his brand.
His body made my mouth dry and my core wet.
Hollis didn’t give me long to enjoy the view. His hands went to my blouse, fingers making quick work of the buttons until it slipped off my shoulders. I reached behind me to unhook my bra, but the moment my arms came up, doubt crept in.
The fluorescent lights left zero room to hide.
I wasn’t the lithe yoga-pants-and-sports-bra type that crowded his booth at the expo.
I had hips. A belly that wasn’t flat. Breasts that spilled over my hands when I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to hide what LA had spent years telling me should be smaller, tighter, less.
Hollis caught both my wrists in one of his big hands and pulled them gently away. “Oh hell no,” he said, voice low and rough. His eyes dragged over me like. The heat in them burned away the urge to shrink back. “Don’t you dare hide from me, Juno. Not when you’ve been driving me crazy for weeks.”
He let go, but only so his hands could settle on my waist, thumbs stroking over the soft skin there. The way he looked at me like I was exactly what he wanted chased away my inhibitions. He stepped closer, chest brushing mine, and kissed me again. It was much slower this time.
I let my hands explore him in return, tracing the ridges of muscle, feeling the way his breath hitched when my fingers dipped lower. I’d had my look, and now I wanted more. I wanted to feel him, taste him, lose myself in the way he made me forget every professional line I’d drawn.
He unzipped my skirt and slid it down along with my panties in one smooth motion, leaving me bare. The air-conditioned air felt cool against my skin until he pulled me close. His heat pressed against me, making me shiver.
His mouth moved to my neck and then my collarbone. Every kiss chased the last of my self-consciousness away. In his eyes I wasn’t too much or not enough. I was wanted. Desired. Beautiful in a way that had nothing to do with magazine covers and everything to do with the raw need in his gaze.
I reached between us again, stroking him. He groaned against my skin.
“Juno, you make me crazy,” he breathed. His hands gripped my hips, lifting me easily onto the edge of his desk.
I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him closer, surrendering to the heat that had been building since the first time I’d yelled at him across a crowded expo floor.
He slipped his hand between my legs. “Oh, Juno,” he murmured. “You’re so wet for me.”
My head dropped back as his fingers slipped inside me.
“I knew you would be,” he whispered. “I’ve been thinking about you like this for too long.”
I moaned in response. His magic fingers worked inside me, taking me right to the edge of ecstasy.
“Condom,” I managed, breathless. “Now.”
He reached past me, fumbling in a desk drawer without breaking the kiss. The rip of foil was loud in the quiet office.
I wasn’t surprised a man like him was prepared. He rolled it on and I practically salivated at the sight of his hand sliding down his own length.
Stepping forward, Hollis lined his cock up with my entrance. Both of us hesitated for a brief second, breathless. And then he slid inside me inch by slow inch.
The stretch burned in the best way. I bit my lip hard to keep from moaning too loud. His hands gripped my hips like he was afraid I’d vanish.
“Fuck, Juno,” he breathed. “You feel incredible.”
I didn’t answer with words. My hands slid down his back. His muscles rippled under my palms. He buried his face in my neck. His mouth was hot, teeth scraping just enough to make me melt.
I gasped as he thrust deeper, my nails digging into his back.
The desk creaked beneath us with every movement, but there was no one around to hear us.
His rhythm built slowly at first, then harder.
Each stroke sent sparks racing through my body.
I wrapped my legs tighter around him, pulling him in, meeting him thrust for thrust. Heat coiled low in my belly, tightening with every slide of his delicious cock.
“Don’t stop,” I moaned, arching into him.
His mouth found mine again, swallowing the sound, his tongue mirroring the rhythm below.
One of his hands slid between us, fingers finding that perfect spot above where we joined.
His thumb circled with just enough pressure to make me cry out.
My head fell back with a long moan dragging across my lips.
He took the opportunity to kiss down my throat, teeth grazing the sensitive skin there.
I felt the tension build fast. My hands roamed over every inch of him I could reach—those broad shoulders, the flex of muscle in his arms as he held me steady, the way his abs tightened with each movement. He was beautiful, and he was mine in this moment, focused entirely on me.
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.
“I should go,” I said.
He walked me to the door of his office. “You don’t have to.”
“I just need some time to think. I’m never this impulsive.”
“Fair enough.” He leaned against the doorframe, and I hated how good he looked even now, rumpled and post-sex gorgeous. “I promise I’ll keep things professional from here on out.”
“You promised me that like a half hour ago, and we saw how well that worked out.” I sighed. “You’re a bad influence.”
He chuckled and his eyes sparkled with humor. “I don’t mean to be.”
I forced myself to move, walking through the warehouse toward the exit. I could feel his eyes on me the entire way.
I made it to my car before I had a mini panic attack. What had I done? What had we done?
The worst part was that I wanted to do it again. Wanted to march back in there and demand a repeat performance. My body still hummed with the afterglow, every nerve ending alive in a way I hadn’t felt in years.
But wanting something didn’t make it right. And it certainly didn’t make it smart.
I started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, refusing to look back.