Page 9 of GDL

I tip my chin up and aim my sultriest smile at him. "The part where I'm ridiculously hot."

He draws in a sharp breath, lowers his burger to his plate, and wipes his hands on a napkin. "About that. And about what happened in the car before."

My chest constricts. Shit. I've blown it. My attempt at redirecting the conversation to more flirty terrain is about to backfire on me. I can hear it in his clipped tone.

"I apologize for my inappropriate behavior. We've been brought together in a professional capacity, and I intend on honoring that. I'm sorry if I've said or done anything to make you uncomfortable. It won't happen again."

My stomach sinks, and I push my plate away and stare out the window at the busy road. That's the thing. He hasn't said or done anything to make me uncomfortable at all. If anything, I wish we hadn't got cut off in the car because I really wanted to kiss him.

And I still do.

"What's wrong?" Sawyer asks after a few moments of silence.

I turn my head back to face him. His green eyes are lasered in on me, and as much as I'd like to think he's worried about me, he's probably just concerned he's messed up in a 'professional capacity.'

"Nothing. I'm fine," I say, lifting my soda fountain glass filled with chocolate milkshake. "To professional boundaries."

My toast doesn't seem to make him happy, though. His lips remain pressed in a hard line. I don't get it. This is what he wants, isn't it? To keep things between us strictly business.

He lifts his glass and meets my gaze, his normally sharp eyes dimmed slightly. "To professional boundaries," he repeats with literally zero enthusiasm.

We keep thingsprofessionalfor the rest of the meal, mainly talking about BBA and how it all came about. We didn't cover any new territory he wouldn't already have discovered in his research, but he managed to look interested nonetheless.

I had a host of questions I wanted to ask him but decided not to, since I figured asking him about his sons or his dating life wouldn't go well in light of our recent commitment to professionalism.

"I need to use the restroom," he says as we get out of the booth once we've finished our meal.

"Same."

He smiles.

I smile back.

He waves for me to go first.

I bow my head in thanks.

We're totally killing this whole professional thing.

I step into the small restroom, holding the door open for him behind me.

"Thank you."

"Oh, crap." I step out of the way and point to the Out of Order sign on the cubicle door.

Both our heads turn to the two side-by-side urinals at the same time. When I look over at Sawyer, he's running a hand through his thick mane.

"You go first," he says, averting his gaze. "I'll wait here."

I roll my eyes and grab him by the wrist. "We can pee at the same time. It's no big deal. Come on."

He moves heavily but doesn't fight me on it. I unzip my pants and take my dick out. A few seconds later, I hear Sawyer unzip his pants.

Which means… he must be holding his dick, too.

And suddenly, I understand his reluctance. I've never thought about how awkward this could be before, because I've never pissed next to a guy I'm attracted to before.

With my pulse starting to race, I tilt my head downannndslightly to the right as slowly as I can. Guys check each other out all the time. Happens in locker rooms, gym showers, even urinals. It doesn't mean anything. It's totally normal.

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