Page 6 of Accidental Encounters

I clutched my sides as the laughter rippled through me. Karter was also fighting a smile that threatened to break through his faux-wicked demeanor. A moment later, however, my fit of mirth turned into coughs. Bending my knees, I half-squatted, wheezing and spluttering.

So undignified.

Karter came up beside me and gently placed a hand on my back. “May I?”

I nodded in a jerky motion. What is with me? I might be tiny, but I could hold my liquor better than this. And an itty-bitty flute of bubbles wasn’t something that would make me feel so off.

Meanwhile, Karter was running the palm of his hand over my spine in a soothing motion. I focused on that and letting the room right itself.

Lulled into a stupor, I might have hummed a little at the attention.

“But seriously, are y’all setting up an office here?”

“Yeah, just off Broadway,” I murmured, before thinking better of it. Snapping straight up to glower at the man was a mistake.

“Hey, easy there, short stuff,” Karter held up both his hands. “I’m not torturing you for state secrets. All I wanted to know—because it has to do with you and I couldn’t find the answer when I Googled you—was whether you work for Capitoline Foods or if you are an emissary from Cirillo.”

I weighed the wisdom of telling him. Or I should have weighed the wisdom. Instead, the words were slipping out, because in my suddenly drunken state I apparently had no filter. “I was hired by Capitoline Foods as a Chief Innovation Officer, but my direct superior is the CEO of Cirillo INC.”

“Your father.”

I sighed in confirmation.

“I would have given anything not to have been in that room with Xavier when you walked in.” His raw admission was more intoxicating than my drink. I reached for his arms and held on.

“You would have found out eventually,” I added and watched him nod, his sad eyes agreeing with me. My tongue was feeling thick in my throat and my eyes were all blurry. But the one thought I had been suppressing all week came bubbling up to the surface and before I could stop myself, I blurted out, “I wish you weren’t one of them. I was going to ask you to dinner—get to know you better.” I punctuated the you with my finger on his chest. The room began to sway ever so slightly around the edges. “Then I found out who you belong to…and it’s killed me. All week.”

“Why?” his voice was low, sultry and enticing—like he was barely holding back his emotions from roaring out and claiming me.

“Because,” I whispered, bringing my eyes up to his. “I don’t sleep with random guys. So if I got to know you, I could take you back to my room.”

Karter’s next breath was a sharp hiss.

I grabbed two fistfuls of his tux and wrenched him closer. When his lips came down to mine, I snaked a hold around his neck. He was tall, yet I fit snuggly into his curves and ridges. My mind was too fuzzy so instinct was telling me this was the right thing to do—the only thing to do.

His startled body jerked in a tense surprise, but soon melted to my bidding. Groaning deep in his throat, he backed me into the wall. Although my dress didn’t allow for my legs to wrap around him, Karter had no problem lifting me up and pressing our bodies together.

Why shouldn’t we be doing this? That persistent question was nagging somewhere in my mind, but it just seemed so silly. A giggle erupted from my chest and as I tickled his lips with it, his roaming hands froze.

“How much have you had to drink, Rhea?” those stormy eyes were searching mine.

“I’m a one-drink kinda gal,” I tried to fake a southern accent and the effort was hysterical.

Karter pressed his forehead into mine. “Something is off.”

But I wouldn’t accept it. I wanted Karter Livingston with every fiber of my being. The war between the families be damned.

To show him just how much, I rubbed my body against what was clearly hard and eager in his dress pants.

“Rhea,” Karter moaned. “You’ve got to stop. I’m not the animal you think I am—I would never take advantage of you. But if you keep teasing me, I’m not going to be able to hold back the bestial side that is craving you—has been craving you all week.”

“I’ve wanted you too.” I admitted. But something didn’t feel right in my tummy. It was hard to focus on the words. “I shouldn’t. I should hate you—because I’m supposed to. But in the shower….with the lights off…it was you who I thought of…when I touched myself.”

His eyes were wide, staring at me and showing pure lust. I angled up for another kiss, and his heavy lids fell, closing off the sight of his desire.

“We can’t do this. Not now—not like this.” Karter pushed away from me. His muscles strained as if it had been a great effort to do so. “I have to go, before we do something you’ll regret.”

My exclamation of indignation was only followed by a roiling sensation in my stomach. I had to reach out and find the wall to steady myself. After taking a few shallow breaths, I looked around and saw that the fuzzy outline of the hall was empty of any other humans.

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