Page 95 of Can't Get Enough

“Regrets already?” I ask.

The answer is in her drawn brows and tight jaw and thinned lips, in the panic coloring her eyes. But I hope she won’t say it because the only thing I regret is that we didn’t have a bed.

“We can’t do this,” she says succinctly, stepping into the shapewear and wrenching the dress in place. “This was a mistake.”

Her refusal stings. At this stage of my life, I’m not used to being turned down, to not getting what I want; but that’s not what scrapes across my nerves. It’s that webothwant this and neither of us is getting what we desire because Zere might not want us to?

“We are adults,” I tell her, struggling to tamp down my impatience.

“And as an adult,” she replies, twisting one arm behind her to reach the zipper, “I’m saying this can’t happen again.”

“Let me,” I grit out and turn her gently by the shoulder until her back is to me. I force myself to pull it up and tug the dress into place. She moves to step away, but I link my arm around her waist and hold her to me. She stiffens, but after a moment, sinks her back into my chest with a sigh. I caress her arm, dragging my touch down the smooth skin until I reach her hand and thread our fingers together. Her head drops back to my shoulder, and she flicks a sideways glance up to meet mine.

“You feel guilty about what we did, but do you know what’s happening when this party’s over?” I ask. “Zere’s gonna be getting hers with Charles, not thinking about me, and my ass’ll be at home in bed by myself jerking off and thinking about these.”

I slide my hands from her waist to cup her breasts. My mouth waters again and I draw a sharp breath through my nose. Her nipples tighten and go hard under my stroking fingertips.

“Mav,” Hendrix whispers.

“And will you be back at your hotel thinking about me? Thinking about how good we are together?” I kiss behind her ear and whisper. “Not just the sex, Hendrix, but how good we wouldbetogether.”

A forced-air breath whooshes across her lips. “Zere is not even fifty feet away and we fucked at her birthday party.”

“That’s none of her business anymore.”

“Easy for you to say. You don’t have to work with her. You have nothing to lose.”

She turns and walks swiftly out of my reach and around the privacy screen. I step out, too, just in time to see her snatch up her clutch from the table.

“You’re wrong. About me having nothing to lose,” I say. “I could lose you.”

She glances up at me over her shoulder and says, “You’d have to have me first.”

Before I can respond, she strides to the door, jerks it open, and is gone.

CHAPTER 30

HENDRIX

This apartment has always been my haven, a place I can count on to retreat from the world when things get hard. But there’s no escaping the voice in my head calling me a fool. And no escaping the memory of last night in New York. The ghost of Maverick’s touch haunts me everywhere—kisses along my shoulders and tender brushes of his lips at the curve of my neck. His fingers threaded with mine while he made a mess of our kiss. Sloppy, greedy feasting; eating each other like a buffet.

As vivid as the memories of Maverick’s lovemaking are, they don’t eclipse the guilt I woke up with this morning.

Fucking a friend’s ex on her fortieth birthday? At her party?

But… are we really friends… per se? More like business associates. Acquaintances, even.

Didn’t she call you a friend last night? Are you saying that to rationalize your reckless, thot-ish actions in that coatroom?

I hate my inner voice sometimes. She’s such a bitch. Don’t let me get away with nothing.

But itistrue that Zere and I are primarily business associates. Itistrue that I haven’t known herthatlong. And I have no doubt that Maverick was right and Zere and Charles probably screwed till the break of dawn.

Meanwhile, I’m here alone when there’s a magnificent, once-in-a-lifetime specimen of a man who wants me. A stunning billionairemotherfucker who donates millions to HBCUs, invests in Black businesses, and surfs.

Surfboardin my Beyoncé voice.

I flop back onto my bed and stare up at the ceiling. I caught an earlier flight out of New York. I hadn’t told Maverick where I was staying, but I didn’t think that information was beyond his reach. I didn’t put it past him to chase me down, so I got out of the city on the first thing smoking back to the A.

---