most passionate memories.
His hands on my bare skin, tracing the outlines of my tattoos. Kissing my face, not missing one single freckle. His teeth nipping at my lower lip. The way he filled me and the power behind each thrust.
I groaned and dug my fingers into the sheets as my body heated up all over again.
“Fuck!”
I shoved up out of bed and stalked off to my bathroom to take a—very cold—shower, desperate to scrub away the tingles all over my skin.
Two hours later, I was back in my cubicle, doing my best to keep Cooper as far from my mind as possible. This proved to be quite the challenge since my entire job currently revolved around him. Luckily, Bryce was in meetings all morning and no one else in the office would dare talk to me. About me seemed fine—but not directly to me.
I spent most of the morning on the internet, poking around and not really doing anything productive. My inbox was empty and around lunch time, I started to wonder what the point was. I was literally being paid to sit and play Sudoku on my phone. I know a lot of people who would love that gig. However, I found it really boring. When I worked at the coffee shop, I was always busy. There was always cleaning to do, restocking to take care of, product displays to fix. Never an idle moment. The days flew by and I went home tired from an honest day’s work.
This was just pathetic.
I checked my email again.
Nothing.
I debated going to refill my coffee but I didn’t want to risk running into the reception brat pack that usually congregated in the break room this time of day.
All I knew was that if I didn’t get something to occupy my brain soon, Cooper was going to take over again and I really couldn’t let that happen.
For the tenth time in the last twenty minutes, I hit refresh and frowned when no new messages pulled up. A flutter of disappointment flashed through me. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was wishing for him to send me something. Anything. Anything to prove that he actually cared about me, in some small way, and that I wasn’t just another conquest on his list. For all I knew, he could have a personal goal about banging every new associate under thirty-five, or something like that.
Even at the thought, I rolled my eyes. I knew better than that. I didn’t know what was happening between us, but somehow I knew it was more than that.
Wasn’t it?
I hit refresh again.
“Argh!” I pushed back from my desk, flinging my arms up in frustration.
Logically, I knew this unresolved feeling hanging over my head was my entire fault. I was the one who ran for cover at the first chance. I had spent the better part of a day trying to figure that whole thing out. I had been hit with a huge wave of anxiety over my appearance, my unapologetic need for this man I hardly even knew, the stress of him being tangled up with my company and causing unrest in my job security—and the job security of a friend. All the frazzled, half-baked thoughts rattled around my brain as I sat, like a complete loony, hitting refresh, wishing and hoping…for what? Was I waiting for a declaration of love and commitment? I decided that wasn’t the case, when the very idea sent a blast of nausea to my stomach. Did I just want him to be honest with me, for once, so I could stop feeling like such an idiot around him, like he always had the upper hand? Possibly. Or at least, that seemed more likely than the first idea.
I leaned back in my chair and lay my head back, shutting my eyes against the harsh light of the fluorescent lights above me.
A new idea popped in my head and I straightened up in my chair and scooted back to my computer. I clicked New, and started to furiously type. I kept it professional—well okay, ninety-nine percent professional—and wrote a convincing argument against BHA, inserting a long list of links to research at the bottom of the page.
Even if Cooper was done with me and never wanted to see me again, I still wanted to use my