Page 18 of Just This Once

To make her feel proud of me.

After she comes on my mouth and dick eighteen times in a row.

We reach the end of the hall, and Taryn turns to face me, her expression serious. “Listen. I need to make something clear.”

At the sharp sting in her voice, I put my hands behind my back like a good little boy. “Okay?”

“What happened between us the other night… It can’t happen again. I mean it. We need to keep things strictly professional.”

I can’t help the grin, even as I nod in agreement. “Understood.”

She narrows her eyes at me, clearly not convinced. “I’m serious, Dante. No flirting, no innuendos, no…anything. We have to work together, and I can’t have any distractions.”

I hold up my hands in surrender. “Hey, I get it. You’re the boss. Whatever you say goes.”

She scrutinizes me for a moment, as if trying to gauge my sincerity. Then she nods, satisfied. “Good. Now, let’s get back to work.”

As we head downstairs, I bite back a smile. I know she thinks we have to pretend I didn’t fuck her good and raw, butshe won’t be able to. I’ll make sure of it. So that when she does eventually give in, she’ll know I’m serious when I say I got her.

For now, though, I’ll play by her rules. I’ll be the perfect gentleman, the consummate professional. But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the view or the occasional stolen glance.

Because even if she won’t admit it, I know she feels the same spark I do. And I’m not one to back down from a challenge.

As we reach the bottom of the stairs, Taryn’s back to business. “All right, so what’s the next step? What do you need from me?”

I flip through my notes, scanning the list of tasks ahead of us. “First things first, I’ll get a crew in here to start demo on the kitchen. That’s gonna be the biggest job, so we might as well tackle it head on. In the meantime, I’ll start sourcing materials and getting quotes from suppliers.”

Taryn nods, taking it all in. “Sounds good. And what about the guest rooms? When can we start on those?”

I shrug. “Depends on how quickly we can get the materials in. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure we have everything completed by your date. December third, right?”

She nods. “I want to do a relaunch for Christmas. I already have the rooms booked. I can’t mess this up.”

“I’ll get it done for you. Eight weeks,” I say, extending my hand.

“Eight weeks,” she reiterates, placing her palm against mine, her long fingers wrapping around my hand, shaking it. The boss.

Except she doesn’t release my hold immediately. In fact, she lets me tug her a few centimeters closer to me. “Happy to be working with you.”

“Mm-hmm. Yep.” She drops my hand and takes a big step back.

I don’t bother hiding my amusement at her babbling. “Mm-hmm. Yep.” Then I show myself out, stopping with the door open. “Guess those are your new famous last words.”

She rolls her eyes. “You are exasperating.”

“And I know you wouldn’t want it any other way.” I wink and pivot around to Taryn’s mumbled, “I hate you.”

Because I know she doesn’t hate me at all.

Not one bit.

Chapter 6

Taryn

I’ve been meeting my brothers for coffee every other week for the last…ten years or so. Ever since that one random afternoon when I dissolved into a puddle of tears at Griffin’s feet. He stopped at my house back when I was married and miserable and needed help. He asked me “What’s up?” and I completely broke down. Ian took it upon himself then to make sure nothing like that ever happened again, so here we are.

Ian’s already seated when I enter Cuppa Jo. He nods at me from our regular booth with my regular order of full caf, lots of sugar and milk. When I sit opposite him, he tilts his head, and I cut off the question before he can speak. “No. Let’s wait. I’m not going to explain it twice.”

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