Page 23 of Close to the Edge

“Um, about that kiss...”

The memory of it blazed a path through me. “Yeah?”

“It was out of line. I’m sorry.”

“I’m...not.”

She stiffened. “What?”

I tossed out an offhand shrug, despite the wide pit ofwhat-the-fuck-are-you-doingyawning before me. “Technically, I didn’t break my rules.Yougot me hard as fuck on the plane.Youkissed me in the pool.”

Her eyes widened. “And that makes it okay?”

“That makes me...okay with not losing any sleep over it.” In fact, the more I thought about it the more I grew okay with it.

“Is that how you usually give yourself a pass?” she asked, her face tightening.

“Since you’re the only client I’ve allowed to...handle me like that, I’ll say no.”

Lily’s mouth dropped open.

My answering smile felt tense as thoughts of Kirsten flared up. With her, I did all the chasing, right into the trap she set for me. Since her, my personal encounters had been kept strictly sexual, with a time limit of no more than two months. I’d discovered that was when nesting behavior began cropping up.

One or two women had called me a cold bastard. I’d learned to live with it. I could probably live with Lily’s brand of shutting me up, too, although I was a little unnerved that I was inviting her to smudge the lines. “So if the urge takes you, feel free to go with it.”

She gasped. “Are you serious?”

I shrugged.

“Well, it won’t,” she said briskly. “Are we done here?”

Disappointment cut sharp but I brushed it off. “For now. My team will be here at nine to finish setting up inside. What are your plans for today?”

“I’m going to the office in a couple of hours. It’s quieter on the weekend. I get a lot more done there.”

“We’ll go together.”

She nodded and walked over to the sink with her cup. After rinsing it, she bent over to place it in the dishwasher. I ogled her heart-shaped ass for a cock-hardening few seconds before redirecting my gaze.

“I’ll have the list ready for you in half an hour,” she said as she walked out.

I leaned against the counter after she was gone, willing my hard-on to subside even as I tossed around the rationale I’d given her for bypassing my rules.

Would she take it? Did I really want her to?

Hell, yes!

The powerful need behind the thought propelled me from the kitchen in search of something else to occupy my mind.

For the next hour I explored the two acres attached to the house, assessing possible weak points and compiling a list for the security team to tackle.

In the garage I found a gleaming black single-rider motorcycle with chrome detailing next to a compact Mini. Both were characteristically diverse, but somehow encompassed Lily Gracen’s personality perfectly.

Smiling, I finished the check and returned to the house. I set myself up in the dining room and sent emails to Maggie and the security team. Then I logged on to the security feed, played it through until I reached the moments from the pool.

The cameras displayed shots from different angles, but the one placed in the pergola perfectly captured the moment I reached Lily. It showed the tight expression in both our faces as we talked. Her shock at finding me naked. The moment she pulled my head down for that memorable kiss. The perfect arch of her spine and ass as she rose from the water two feet from me, and my blatant hunger as I stared.

I selected the seven-minute frame and moved my finger to the delete button. Only to pause at the point when she glanced over at me after I came out of the pool. Her gaze didn’t linger for more than a few seconds, but the effect of watching her watch me pull on my pants was an extreme turn-on. Like a testosterone-filled sucker, I hit Rewind. Watched the kiss. And again. Until my balls screamed under the pressure I was putting on them. Until my dick roared with the need to fuck.

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