Page 61 of When Glitter Meets Gold

Before I can say something sarcastic like,yes, you’re rich, I get it, my breath hitches in my throat when I feel Jack’s leg brush against mine. I force my body to remain collected, stifling the flinch that would make it obvious that the contact affected me. Instead, I subtly squeeze my thighs together.

He continues, “As a result of the variety of cuisine we offer, we end up with a lot of left over ingredients. Some of it goes to shelters and charities, while the rest goes to waste. I want you to help me with that. I don’t want a single grain of rice to see the inside of a garbage can.” He pulls a document from the inside of his suit jacket, and as he’s leaning to pass it to me, I’m hit by the fragrance I can’t get enough of. The same leathery notes from the sweater that embarrassingly still lives on the coat stand in my apartment.

What the hell does he think he’s doing here? Smelling so good and talking business with the same mouth that kissed me a couple of days ago. He knows nothing can happen here, why is he teasing me like this? Why am I this turned on? And why do my eyes keep flicking to the bulge in his pants?

“These are the figures of food waste.” He leans closer tome as I take the document. “You think you can do something about this?”

Our heads angle to survey the figures, my eyes dragging down the page and lifting every so often to look at Jack who’s waiting in anticipation for my answer. Seconds pass as I consider. I look from the numbers to his face, tracking the corner of his mouth and the curve of his upper lip, then back to the numbers again.

I swallow, focusing for long enough to realize, yes. Yes, I can help him. Because this is the pitch I’ve been working on since I got back from Maine. Bring restaurants on board, expand our services. It’s literally what I was trying to highlight to Walter earlier, when he wouldn’t listen. Only, now he would. Now that a company as prestigious as the Vandenberg Group wanted to collaborate. Nobody was dumb enough to turn down this kind of business.

“It’s something I could take a look at,” I say softly, almost in disbelief of what I’m about to agree to. “I’d need time to work out the details, and talk to my boss, but…yes, I think I could help.” I shrug, contemplating how good it would look for my interview if I were the one who began a partnership with the Vandenberg Group.

His mouth tightens at one side, tugging upwards. Our heads are inches apart. “Really? You like the idea?”

“I do.” And then I’m frowning, my eyes flicking to his lips again. “It’s just…”

Jack leans forward by a millimeter but he might as well have closed the gap entirely because my whole body is heating, my mind racing back to the kiss…

“Just what?” he whispers. And then I realize why I’m getting so warm. I don’t know when it happened, but my knees are pushing into his, so much that his hands are resting against the sides of my legs because I’ve completelyinvaded his space. An immediate ache forms between my legs as I glance down at his hands.

He follows my gaze, a look of surprise lining his handsome features, like he didn’t even realize we were touching, like contact between us is as natural as breathing, something that didn’t require thought. I feel him tense as he attempts to take his hands away.

I latch onto him quickly, keeping his hands in place, because I’m not ready to break our connection.

“I feel like…I know everything and nothing about you.” Our noses almost touch, our breaths becoming shallower. My voice is just above a whisper, “I started to get to know Jack, the one during the storm. But this new person, I don’t know him…” I trail off as his face almost grazes mine and my eyelids flutter to absorb his proximity. “But I want to…”

I can feel my body giving in as I lean closer to him. The gray ring that wraps around his irises appears deeper, darker somehow. Piercing tones of charcoal and blue stare back at me, tracking my every move. I could stop this. Ishouldstop this. Anyone could walk in…

“Then work with me,” he says, gripping the sides of my legs a little tighter. “Just because I go by a different name, doesn’t mean I’m not the person you met. The suit, the bars, the company.” His voice drops. “I’m still the same person you spent a night with…” He leans in closer still. “The same person who held you when you couldn’t fall asleep.” He brushes my hand with his, and the memory of that night in the tent ignites around me like charged stardust. “The same person who gave you his sweater…and hasn’t been able to get the image of you wearing that and nothing else, from his mind…”

My heart begins to race, my head tilts up a fraction, myeyelashes grazing his cheek. Then my body won’t allow me to do anything else other than press my lips to his.

He groans in approval as I suck at his bottom lip, dragging it between my teeth before I slip my tongue into his mouth.

Jack holds me tighter as we fall deeper into the kiss. Our mouths mould together, devouring each other fiercely. Then he’s drawing breath and his body stiffens as he appears to steady himself. “There’s nothing wrong with reinventing yourself when your old life stops serving you,” he says against my mouth. “Starting over brought me opportunity and success.” His thumbs press against my inner thighs, hands sliding higher and higher as my legs shamelessly part. “It led me to this moment right here.”

I move my hands from his, only to hold the sides of his face as my body demands more of him.

“It makes sense…but there’s one problem,” I whisper in the space between kisses. “If we work together…we can’t do…” I kiss him harder. “This.” I pant against him as I slide my hands into his hair and scrape my nails through his scalp.

Jack smirks against my lips. “Guess I didn’t quite think this through.” His mouth works against mine, and all I can think about is the irony of my words while I allow his knees to slowly nudge mine open. “I guess we should stop.”

“Mhmm,” I moan without slowing down. “Wehaveto stop.” More kisses. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not curious about you.”

I feel him grin against my lips. “Curious how?” His hands sink beneath my skirt. My pussy clenches.

I exhale a long breath, my fingers gripping him tighter. “About the way you’d feel…”

Jack strokes at the apex of my thighs before his thumbsreach the soft skin next to my panties. Something stirs in my lower belly as I feel myself become wet.

“The way I’d feel,”—he grazes his thumb against the seam of my panties—“doing this?”

A gasp sneaks out of me. “Yes.”

“Curious to know what I’d feel like stroking your pussy, Sara?” His thumb brushes right over my center.

“Oh my god,” I whisper into his mouth before resting my forehead against his, our breaths in synchronicity. “Jack…” It’s both a warning and an invitation as I allow my legs to open an inch wider.

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