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“I do care. You’re a good friend. But I feared sex would screw everything up. Turns out I was right.”

“Friend? Yeah, I’m sure that’s what you were feeling every time your pussy gripped my cock like a vise and you came.” His eyes narrow. “What we have is more than friendship. If it wasn’t, why did you start dressing sexier on days you knew we’d be together in the office? Why did you wear that perfume you know drives me wild? Was that all for Gary in accounting? I used to believe that, but you know what? I think now you did that to get my attention. You wanted me to think of you sexually.”

Oh, hell. He noticed my attempts to dress for him? He did a damn fine job of pretending oblivion. “Did I dress sexier? I don’t recall that.”

“Yeah, so fucking sexy I could hardly look at you without salivating and attacking. And you just told lie number two.”

He’s right. I try not to squirm under his direct stare. But that wintery gaze tells me that if I keep dodging the truth, I won’t like the consequences. It also tells me that he wants me again.

Grabbing the sheet, I draw it up to my neck and cover myself completely. Noah, on the other hand, stands beside the bed without a stitch on—and it’s distracting the hell out of me. Every time he moves, golden skin and heavy ropes of muscles move in fluid harmony. Hell, even when he takes a breath, those corrugated abs of his undulate. And the longer my eyes stay on his body, the more his cock engorges and rises until he’s nearly at full staff.

Damn! All this mooning… it has to stop. But I can’t deny that I want him again, that my body warms and aches at the thought of inviting Noah deep inside me again.

No, no, no. Bad girl! Noah is a friend, my boss.

Yeah, and the man who knows every square inch of your body and can make you scream in unbridled pleasure. Even if you're afraid he'll crush your heart, he's the man you love.

Not a helpful realization.

Noah edges closer. “You dressed sexy for me. Admit it.”

Reluctantly, I nod. “A mistake on my part. Being attracted to you doesn’t make having a relationship a good idea, however.”

He merely grunts at that. “Just attracted? Tonight, you made love with me, not some pretend stranger. Me. You’re not the kind of woman to respond with such abandon to someone you don’t care about.”

Oh, hell. He’s on to me. “Noah⁠—”

He moves so fast, he’s like a blur, suddenly on the bed, in my personal space, pinning me to the headboard in the cage of his arms. “Look at me.”

I do, right into those blue eyes that always captivate me. There I see worry and pain and a growing edge of anger. I can’t look away for anything.

“Tell me you don’t care about me as more than a boss, more than a friend. Tell me you don’t love me.”

I open my mouth but can’t say it. I can’t look at him and lie. But admitting my love would only throw open the door to my heart and let in pain I can only imagine.

“Noah…”

“C’mon, you’re on this honesty kick. I honestly love you. I have for years. I wanted you the first time I saw you. I was honestly willing to do whatever it took to make you mine.”

“So, the end justifies the means?”

“Yeah. Don’t change the subject. Look at me and tell me you don’t love me.”

Oh, I want to. It would save me heartache and sanity. But I’m not sure it’s possible.

With a cry, I push against his chest and try to shove out of his embrace so I can escape to the bathroom. He grabs my shoulders and holds firm, pinning me to the headboard.

“Answer me.” His gaze caresses my mouth in a hungry stare. Blood flows through my body, engorging my nipples. The slightest look in my direction and I get hot for him. Bad sign. Very bad. My only consolation is that his cock swells as well, rising full staff and ready.

When he meets my stare, he growls, “You get me hard. Just one look. And every time, I’m ready in an instant. You do that to me. Only you. Because I love you.”

That choked-up note in his voice makes me tremble. God, it would be so easy to just give in and admit I love him, too. But if I do, I’ll only be opening myself up to the kind of pain I’ll never recover from.

“You say that…” I frown, trying to keep tears at bay.

“I mean that.” He shakes me, glowers, intent and determined.

“But soon, your wandering eyes will follow someone shiny and new.”