SWEET SPOT

LIA

On any other night, I loved living alone.

Fucking loved it.

Pants were optional and bras were such an afterthought they might as well not exist. On some days, they were shed at the door and flung onto the couch where they'd hang out for a couple hours while I showered with the door open and walked around naked for no reason.

Ninety percent of the time, in my little 18th Street apartment, I was in some state of undress – in a T-shirt and panties or just panties. Sometimes a robe left untied. Sweats and a bra, perhaps?

Or maybe nothing at all.

It was my personal retaliation for having gone my first twenty-five years without my own bedroom – without my own voice or taste or tiny lick of independence.

Thanks to that late start, I loved the freedom of living alone like a normal person loved their mother or spouse.

But tonight was one of those nights that made me kind of itch for a roommate.

Mostly because I didn't want to be the one to get up and investigate the bumping and thumping outside in the hall. It was almost 10:30PM – all I wanted at this hour was to play some Sia, pour some wine and risk the safety of my iPad as I read it in the bath.

I wanted to paint my toes in Essie's Chinchilly, sleep by midnight and wake up early to start the custom order of truffles that had to be shipped to a Long Island wedding by Tuesday.

So while it was selfish and vaguely bitchy, I pretended not to hear my neighbor struggling out in the hall. More often than not, it was her finicky lock giving her trouble, and generally, I was the one who came to the rescue.

But not tonight.

"You'll figure it out, Tess," I whispered as I finally let myself close my eyes and breathe in the lavender steam.

I sighed as I leaned slowly back in the hot water, soaking in the Epsom salts and feeling them start to buzz against my skin.

But the second my head touched my bath pillow, a loud noise sounded outside.

My eyes flew back open as I waited to hear it again. I breathed out when several seconds of silence passed – even waited another few to be safe. Once I ruled that the coast was clear, I grabbed my glass of wine and relaxed once more.

But my back had barely hit the tub before the sound came back louder.

Thump!

"Tess!" I groaned to myself, sitting up and staring out my bathroom door. I waited to hear a strike three but instead of a thump this time, it was a splintering crash.

"Shit!" Water sloshed onto the floor as I immediately jumped up and grabbed my robe, my heart beating fast as I imagined Tess bleeding on the floor in the hall, surrounded by a million shards of glass all because I wouldn't get out of my bath.

Shit, shit, shit. I cursed myself as my feet tracked water all throughout the house till I breathlessly reached the door, my fingers unlatching all three locks at lightning speed before gripping the knob and swinging it wide open.

And once the door was open, I stared. Then I stared some more.

Holy... what.

It wasn't Tess. I knew that because my eyes hit chest first – wide, hard chest stretching the soft cotton of a heather grey V-neck.

I could practically hear my jaw creaking open as my gaze then traveled north to broad shoulders, sculpted collarbones, and a square jaw boasting the kind of dark, trimmed stubble that made my fingers twitch with the need to touch.

Shit. I had to catch my breath when our eyes finally locked, feeling legitimately smacked in the face with this stranger's gorgeousness.

He was an absolute wall of muscle and beauty with thick, dark hair and light green eyes and for a moment I forgot where I was, because in what world did a man who looked like this end up at my door?

"Hi," he said with a faint smile. "Lia, right?"

My head tilted. And in what world did he somehow know my name?

"I..." I failed to sort through all the questions at the tip of my tongue.

"Hi," I finally said, letting go of my mission to magically figure out what was happening.

Instead, I waited for him to introduce himself and tell me who he was – whether he had in fact been plucked from the cover of Men's Health or maybe some steamy billboard for Calvin Klein.

But instead he stood there a moment, brows up as his gaze dipped down to my body – and only then did I realize what I barely had on.

"Shit," I hissed, grabbing my robe and wondering how much of me he'd seen before I remembered to actually tie the thing shut.

"I should probably be looking away, right?" the stranger asked.

With a laugh. I shot daggers at him as I struggled to fix my indecency.

"Yes?" I answered brusquely, my cheeks burning as I cinched the sash around my waist. I stared at the stranger as he faced away from me now, chewing a wicked grin back as he palmed that ridiculously square jaw.

"What did you see?" I demanded hotly. "Did you see anything?"

"I saw a lot. It depends on what your definition of anything is."

"It's – " My lips parted but snapped shut. I meant nipple but I wasn't about to say it. He laughed.

"If you mean nipple, my answer is no."

My mouth fell open.

"Unless you count what I can see through that wet thing you're wearing."

I stared down at myself and hastily fanned my hair over my breasts. I wanted to call him out but I couldn't find my words so glaring back up, I simply snapped, "Who are you?"

"Lukas Hendricks. I'm Tess's brother."

I gaped at him as he turned back to me.

"Really?" It was hard to imagine.

He looked about a foot taller and wider than her, and I could already tell he shared none of her manners or humility. Fuming, I craned my neck to see past his broad frame, finally spotting the shattered remains of the floor vase that once sat at the end of the hall between our doors. "What just happened?"

He peered over his shoulder, letting out a short breath of annoyance.

"Right. I was having some trouble with the key. Might've swung my bag into the vase and knocked it over."

I stared at the tiny shards of ceramic all over the floor, sobered quickly by the sight of Tess's prized possession.

"That was her favorite vase."

"She'll forgive me."

I flicked my eyes back to him, doing little to mask my distaste for his nonchalance.

"Right. Well, what can I help you with right now?" I asked. His crooked smile acknowledged my irritation.

"She said if I had trouble with the lock, I could ask her neighbor."

"Fine," I said, eager to get on with my night.

I thought briefly about getting changed before I helped with the door, but that meant that my bath was over and that my night had gone officially off-course, and I stubbornly refused to entertain that notion.

So grabbing my phone off the kitchen counter, I stepped back out in the hall and closed the door, saying nothing to Lukas as I shot Tess a quick message.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

I took my time to reply.

"Confirming with Tess that you're her brother," I said. "And not some guy who wants to loot her apartment."

Lukas's smile was slight, but it teased me something fierce.

"Do I look like a robber to you?"

No. But I still took the opportunity to check him out. On second glance, he was built much more like an athlete than a model. Maybe a football player or some kind of fighter.

The knots of muscle in his arms and shoulders were visible under his shirt, and his dark-wash jeans fit well enough to give me an idea of rock-like thighs under there. My eyes were still on him when I heard him laugh.

"It was a rhetorical question but by all means, keep looking."

My cheeks burned but I still managed to shoot him a look. "Are you usually this unpleasant with people you've just met?"

"How was I being unpleasant?" he challenged.

"I just figured if you mentally undressed me, we could call it even for what I saw when you opened the door."

I flashed him another look. "I thought you said you didn't see any – "

Nope. I cut myself off, refusing to give him the chance to say the word nipple again since clearly, he enjoyed the hell out of making me blush.

So clenching my jaw, I muttered, "Never mind," and faced away again, avoiding his eye even as he tilted his head to try and catch mine.

"Hey." His voice was gentler now but I didn't look up. "I'm sorry if we got off on the wrong foot."

"It's fine."

"I know it's late."

"It is. And I have an early meeting tomorrow." Petty detail to add but whatever.

"I promise I'll be out of your hair soon," Lukas murmured. A beat of silence passed as he continued watching me. "And at some point, you'll let me know how to make this night up to you."

I sucked in my bottom lip while pretending to text. Maybe it was the pause or the way he dropped his voice, but his offer somehow sent my mind straight into the gutter.

My dormant libido rarely pictured anything racier than a kiss, but tonight it was giving me the image of Lukas making it up to me shirtless, doing things to me in bed I was always too scared to ask for.

Ohhh-kay, wow, Lia. No more of that, I scolded myself, touching the hot back of my neck while hastily muttering, "Don't worry about it."

"Then at least let me buy you a drink."

"Thanks, but I don't really drink."

"Hence the wine key I saw on your counter."

"That wasn't mine."

"Are we really playing this game?"

"We might be."

"Coffee then?"

"I make my own."

"Christ," he laughed under his breath. "Fine. Nothing I can do then?" When I shook my head, he breathed out in surrender.

"Alright. I'd just rather not have you angry with me if I'm going to be your new neighbor."

I paused in the midst of typing and looked up. "Come again?"

He smirked at my reaction. "Tess didn't tell you about France?"

"She said something about a trip, but I thought it'd be brief."

"We all thought that, but seems she decided to extend her leave," Lukas said. "By at least a couple weeks. And I happen to be renovating my apartment for the next month, so I'll be staying here in the meantime."

I raised my eyebrows. I wanted to ask more about Tess but there was a much more pressing matter.

"So you're saying... you'll be living across the hall from me. Instead of Tess. For the next month."

"Give or take," he replied, looking amused with whatever expression I had on my face. "Problem?"

"No," I said, though I could already think of a dozen problems off the top of my head, starting with the noise that came with the personal life of a guy who looked like that. Lukas laughed.

"You're lying. And assuming things about me."

I meant to deny it, but my tongue betrayed me. "Fine, I am."

"Figured." He folded his arms, treating me to the view of biceps that bulged against the sleeves of his shirt. "Why?"

"Because." I mirrored him with my arms crossed over my chest. "Your sister deliberately rented the two other units in her building to single women who prefer quiet and privacy. We don't bring parties home at the end of the night and we're respectful of the fact that this townhouse was built in 1901. The floors creak, the walls are thin and we can easily hear each other if the volume goes above a certain level. That's why we don't wear shoes in the house, we don't slam doors, we don't have guests past a certain hour and we make sure to be quiet after 10PM."

"Christ." Lukas's brows ascended. "Is this a dorm?"

"It's a private home in a quiet neighborhood, and I guess it's a lifestyle you'll have to adapt to if you're staying here."

"Right." His smooth lips twisted slowly up in a wry smile. "Thing is, this building was actually erected in 1910, and it's gone through four renovations since, so the floors will probably survive multiple guests and shoes worn in the house. I know that because I own this place. I bought it five years ago, I paid for two of the renovations and I intend to live in it however I see fit, whether or not that includes a certain volume past whatever hour I please." His wolfish gaze bore into me, dipping only to stare with satisfaction at my parting lips.

"I hope that's alright with you," he said. "Because it's going to have to be."

I stared at him.

Well, fuck.

The force with which I thought the word made it echo in my head as I blinked vacantly at Lukas, paralyzed in shock.

This isn't happening. This isn't actually happening.

I couldn't process it and I had no response for him. My only move was to stand there in the hall, jaw slack and dripping wet as I gaped at the man who'd waltzed into my life five minutes ago, who'd taken less than that amount of time to threaten the perfect routine I'd carved out and lived blissfully for the past two-and-a-half years. Blood roared in my ears as he gazed with infuriating leisure at me. He was relaxed. I was enraged. He had a smile on his lips.

And I had nothing.

The silence stretched on till three loud pings sounded from my phone.

TESS: Ahh shoot Lia yes that's my brother. I'm sorry I didn't let u know

TESS: I'll be staying in Lyon longer than I thought... Not sure till when but will keep u posted

TESS: Luke's the best though so don't worry about him at all. He shouldn't be any trouble.

I read the texts with a mounting fury and a feeling of total helplessness. I didn't realize how hard my jaw had clenched till I heard my molars squeak against each other.

"Got your little confirmation?"

Four words and I could hear how thoroughly entertained Lukas was by all of this. God, he was such a prick. Just for sticking that condescending "little" in there, I hated him. Quite possibly despised him.

And because of that, I hurried my ass up to help him.

I wanted Lukas gone ASAP – out of my sight and out of mind. So with some kind of grunt of a noise, I paced past him, hand out and going to work the second he slapped his key in my palm.

Shoving it into the door, I used my other hand to grip the knob, wiggling and jiggling both at once the way I'd learned over the years, as hard as I possibly could till the door finally popped open.

Then snatching my robe shut again, I glared up at my new neighbor and despite wanting badly to just flush it down the toilet, I returned his key in his hand.

"All good then?"

He peeled his eyes off my chest. "Just about."

"Well, I can't help you with anything beyond your lock." I stalked past him and reached for my door.

"Come in for a minute."

I turned to flash him an incredulous look. "What?"

"For a drink," he laughed. "Just one so I can smooth things over. The way we started doesn't have to be the way we end, right?"

"Sorry," I answered curtly. "It's late and I should get back to sleep."

"You were sleeping just now?"

"Yes," I lied. "Soundly till you came along."

He nodded and smirked for a moment, his gaze dipping again. "Pretty wet for someone who was just sleeping."

My cheeks burned.

Goddammit.

I had no comeback but at this point, I also had no interest in further conversation with Lukas Hendricks aside from perhaps calling him out for the arrogant asshole he was, especially as he leaned back all relaxed, head tilted up to show off that perfect jaw.

God, he so deserved to be cursed out. But that reaction would only serve to amuse him and I refused to let him win again so breathing deep, I kept it as classy as I could.

"Goodnight, Lukas," I bit out as I turned and pushed open my door – rather, I tried.

But the knob refused to turn.

I was locked out.

LIA

So this is happening.

This is a real thing that is happening.

My head spun as I tried to process the turn of events. I'd met Lukas ten minutes ago and started hating him shortly after.

He'd casually announced his plans to ruin the peace of my home life and I'd shot him a variety of death looks to refrain from cussing him out. In short, we'd gotten off to a rocky start.

Yet here I was.

Alone with him in his apartment at 11PM, wearing nothing but a soaked robe that still refused to unglue itself from my skin.

"You know what you should do? You should hate-fuck him."

"Sara!" I pounced on my phone, which I'd set at the foot of the bed in the upstairs guest room. "You're on speakerphone because I'm changing, so don't say anything crazy!" I hissed, lowering the volume even more.

Since Tess was no longer answering texts and I had no clue where she kept my spare key, I'd gone with plan B, which was to borrow her clothes, call a car and rush to Sara's while the key situation was being resolved – because considering my pulse had not stopped racing since I first laid eyes on him, there was no way in hell that I could survive another ten minutes with Lukas, let alone a fucking sleepover with him.

"Why not though?" Sara asked.

"Is this a serious question?" I whispered furiously as I yanked on the brand new sweater and leggings taken from Tess's guest room closet.

I was relieved to hear that everything inside was set for donation – not so relieved to discover that nothing was bigger than a size four.

"Shit, woman, you might need to come here and drop off a hoodie and sweats. I don't have a bra or panties and I'm pretty sure I'm stretching everything see-through!"

"Good. Walk downstairs, do a twirl, ask him how you look. You'll be having sex in minutes."

"Sara – " I snatched my phone up and jabbed it promptly off speaker.

"Hi. Can I talk to my best friend, please? The one who knows that I don't do that sort of thing? Like – ever?"

"Yes, hi, it's me. I know you don't do that sort of thing – in fact, I know for how long you haven't done that sort of thing," Sara mused. "But you said literally yesterday and the day before that you need to get back into the dating game at some point or you'll never have a family."

"I only said that because of the cute baby clothes at H&M!"

"And because you keep getting orders for weddings of brides who are several years younger than you."

"Damn, woman. Take it easy."

"I'm quoting you," Sara laughed. "So all I'm saying is you gotta start somewhere and if there were any night to break the dry spell, wouldn't it be tonight? You were literally dripping wet when you met this alleged babe and ten minutes later, you're getting conveniently naked in his apartment. Also, in the three years that I've known you, I've heard you describe a man as 'crazy hot' like, three times tops and two of those times we were watching a movie."

"Inception," I murmured. "All those tailored suits."

"Exactly. And that still averages to like, once a year," Sara pointed out. "Yet in the past eight texts and two minutes of conversation with me you've dropped 'crazy hot' at least three times and there was also mention of..." She trailed off while undoubtedly scrolling through our texts. "'Pecs the size of my face.' So... maybe all this is a sign? I mean it really feels like God's dropping some major hints tonight."

I snorted as I went over to the mirror and stared at my reflection.

"First off, leave God out of this mess. Second, getting back into the dating game and having sex with my womanizing prick of a neighbor are two very different things."

"How do you know he's a womanizer?"

"I looked at him, Sara. And then I heard him talk."

"Maybe he's not as bad as you think."

"I think I'm going to spend the next month listening to him take a new girl home every night."

"Because you're a pessimist when it comes to men and relationships and all that jazz. But you are attracted to him, right?"

"Physically." I trudged toward the bed and plopped myself down.

"But I feel like I had no choice in the matter. He's like... aggressively good-looking. I swear every single muscle on his body is an attention whore. They keep flexing and rippling when all he's doing is standing there and crossing his arms. It's stupid."

"Well, it still counts," Sara laughed. "So I say try and end this night on a positive note. I mean if he's related to Tess, there's gotta be a nice guy somewhere under there."

"I wouldn't count on it."

"Well, I would. Matter of fact – I'll bet you your cab ride that if you stick around and talk it out with him, you'll find there's actually a decent person under all that sexy muscle," Sara said, ever the optimist. "It beats hating your home life for the next four weeks, right? You know I'm right."

"Yeah, yeah, fair enough. I'm calling a car in about five, okay? See you soon," I sighed before hanging up, taking in a deep breath and heading for the door.

But I was barely halfway down the stairs when I stifled a gasp and ducked behind the wall.

Because standing at the front door with Lukas was a beautiful blonde – in a trench coat pulled open to show off her bright, red lingerie.

"What the fuck?" I whispered under my breath, stumbling backward and contorting my face over the fact that I was right.

I was fucking right! I'd barely just hung up with Sara and I'd already proved the different-woman-a-night theory true.

Crouched at the top of the steps, I clasped a hand over my mouth, leaning against the wall to listen to the murmured conversation.

I was expecting the filthiest of dirty talk but to my surprise, when I heard Lukas speak, his voice was steely – tinged with more than a hint of annoyance.

"I told you not to come."

"You also told me you wouldn't open the door if I did, yet here we are."

"Noelle, go home."

"But Nadia and I wanted to give you a housewarming gift. She'll be here in a couple minutes – and she'll be wearing your favorite little red thing. You always prefer us in matching colors, right?"

No fucking way.

And just like that, my different-woman-a-night-theory became the two-different-women-a-night-at-the-same-time theory.

Oh my God. Fuck my life, I cursed as I pictured a month of waking up to rowdy sex parties and choruses of orgasmic moans.

"Lukie..."

"This is not a drill, Noelle. I need you to go home."

"What the fuck, Lukas. Do not embarrass me tonight," the woman hissed, though she promptly softened her voice.

"I need your cock now. I've been wet for you all day and we might as well take advantage of poor Tessie being gone, right?" she simpered mockingly. "You know how much she whines and bitches when you fuck her friends."

I peeked past the wall in time to see Lukas clenching his jaw at her remark.

"Goodnight," he said, closing the door. She pushed it back open with surprising force.

"Lukas – "

"I have someone over," he said.

My eyebrows jumped high as I watched Noelle stop and stare with hurt. But she recovered quickly.

"Well... if I don't hear her she must not be very much fun," she scoffed. "And if you haven't taken your dick out yet, she must not be all that cute."

Lukas's laugh was curt.

"Oh, but she's actually one of those rare finds that pulls off cute and sexy at the same time," he said low, barely loud enough for me to hear. "And trust me, my cock's been hard as a rock since the second I laid eyes on her tonight but I'm trying out the gentleman thing for once," he added, his voice an irritated rasp. "That enough detail for you to head home now or would you like to hear about how fucking perfect her tits are? 'Cause I could go on and on."

My jaw fell into my lap. And in seconds, Noelle was gone, her angry heels clacking audibly down the hall even after Lukas closed the door.

My heart hammering, I waited another ten seconds, giving Noelle time to exit the building before I got up and flew downstairs, making a beeline for the door that Lukas leaned tiredly against. He exhaled a breath that was half-groan upon spotting me.

"Something tells me you're displeased."

I meant to ignore his dry remark but I couldn't help myself.

"Yeah – sorry I'm not completely charmed that you went into pretend-detail about having sex with me just to get rid of some poor girl."

"Poor girl she is not, but do enlighten me on how I went into detail about having sex with you. If I recall correctly, I admitted to my dick being in my pants all night."

"Well, I didn't need to hear you talk so explicitly about everything else," I snapped.

"What did I say?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not going to repeat it just so you can hear me say bad words."

"'Bad words'? What are we, five?"

"Fine." I crossed my arms and stared in disbelief at him. "I didn't need to hear all about how hard you were or how... how..."

His lips turned up in a wicked grin. "How perfect I think your tits are?"

"Oh my God," I said in his face as I physically pushed him off the door to let myself out.

Holy shit. Mistake, I swallowed hard. Never ever touch his abs again, I scolded myself, dizzy over how absurdly hard his muscles just felt under my palms.

"Right, well, see you around," Lukas called humorously down the hall.

My heart slammed as I fought back the urge to respond or so much as look back. And I succeeded, but the second I was out the door of the townhouse, my fingers flew to send Sara the rare all-caps text.

ME: HE IS AS BAD AS I THOUGHT AND YOU OWE ME 10000 CABS!!! POUR TWO GLASSES OF WINE I'LL BE THERE IN 10!!!!

LUKAS

I leaned back in my chair, staring out the window into reception.

It's a two-way mirror, I wanted to tell the new girl.

It was her first day and my guess was that she'd yet to catch on to the architecture at the office, considering she checked her reflection in front of me repeatedly – everything from her teeth to her cleavage before knocking on my door with yet another question she could've Googled.

To be fair, I usually had patience for that kind of thing. There was generally nothing annoying about an attractive woman leaning over my desk to point at a memo she didn't actually want me to look at.

Eyes on tits – that was the sole purpose of those visits and I rarely minded playing along.

But my interest was low today.

Twelve hours later and I was still a fucking animal thinking about that painfully sexy neighbor of mine. I hadn't stopped since last night.

Her image was already seared into my brain, starting with the one I got when she first opened the door – dripping wet and barely fucking dressed.

I was lucky her brown eyes locked right onto mine or the first thing I'd have looked at were her tits. They were unreal even before they started bouncing for me as she jiggled that key in my door.

Fuck, what a view that was.

I couldn't get enough of that memory – Lia wrestling my lock with such fire and fury that she didn't care about her robe falling open again.

The girl hated me enough to nearly expose herself while trying to get rid of me.

Technically unfortunate but also the hottest thing I'd ever seen in my life. All I could think of as I watched her was pinning her body up on the wall, ripping that robe wide open and sucking on her nipples till she begged to be fucked.

"Christ," I groaned aloud. As if sensing my dick was hard, my assistant suddenly knocked.

"Everything okay in here?" Noelle asked, cocking her blonde head at me.

"Everything's fine," I answered as she sat her tight ass at the edge of my desk, crossing one long leg over the other.

She rarely ever came in without pulling that move and I rarely ever stopped myself from watching her skirt ride up her thighs. But as the case had been all morning, I had trouble keeping interest.

"Stressed out?" Noelle frowned. "You've seemed off all morning. Are you worried about Tess?"

I studied her, hoping she remembered nothing of last night so we could bypass that conversation.

"She's in good hands right now so, no. No more than usual."

"Good," Noelle murmured, her blue eyes drifting out my window.

She was a childhood friend of my sister's. It was the only reason I hired her. Three years and a hundred desk fucks later, I was beginning to regret it, though not enough to fire her.

It was my fault for repeatedly mixing business with pleasure and Noelle was a good asset to have when clients needed a pretty girl to coax them into putting down the offer, even if the house was a million or ten out of the budget.

Business-wise, she made perfect sense.

Of course more than that, I refused to let Cam poach anyone from my staff. I'd keep the most insubordinate and worthless intern if I knew my former partner was interested in hiring.

In fact, I'd buy or claim anything he so much as looked at. After what he'd pulled, I was eager to ensure the struggle of his everyday life. Julian wouldn't let me kill him, so it was the least I could do.

"Lukas..."

I blinked back into focus, fearing the way Noelle said my name because that trail-off always preceded some version of we need to talk.

"About last night."

I clicked my pen shut. "We don't need to discuss that. Is there anything work-related you want to address?"

She blinked as if I'd just thrown a drink in her face. "No?"

"How's the new girl doing?"

"I'm training her to keep you as happy as I do," Noelle smiled, tilting her head. "Anything specific you'd like her to know? How hard you like your massages?"

I let my stare linger on her for another second before returning to my screen.

"Tell her that building security knows not to let Cam in, so if he calls and threatens to come by she doesn't have to keep bringing it to my attention."

Noelle bristled at the strictly work-related conversation.

"Fine. I'll let her know," she muttered, crossing her arms as she rose to her heeled feet. She stared in a hard silence at me for several moments but when I didn't look up at her, she broke.

"I'm horny, Lukas. Do you want to fuck me right now?"

"Have I given you any indication that I do?"

"Are you being this much of a prick because it's that time of the year?" she countered, going from zero to sixty as she was known to do. "For Christ's sake, Lukas, just go away for a month like Tess does. Don't make the rest of us miserable."

The blank stare I gave her masked how thoroughly pissed I was. "Go back to work, Noelle."

"Let me make you feel good."

"No."

She actually snarled in response. Like a cat. Still, she put on her best walk for me as she exited the office.

I knew because I heard her huff when she got to the door, presumably when she looked back to see me already on the phone, my attention rapt as I read the new text on my screen.

I didn't recognize the number it belonged to, but it didn't take much to figure it out.

Hi. I got your number from Tess. She said she told you where my key was this morning and that you brought it to work. If you leave it at reception and text me your office address, I'll be in and out quickly to pick it up. Thank you.

I smirked.

Lia's entire message was a thinly veiled way of saying that she preferred to do this exchange without seeing me, but I had no intention of leaving her key with Noelle so the reply I gave was simply that of my address.

And within twenty minutes, the new girl's voice sounded on my intercom.

"Mr. Hendricks? Lia Pope is here to see you?"

My eyes flew up and landed instantly on Lia as she stood at reception, enduring whatever interrogation she was getting from Noelle.

Damn. I dragged my hand down the lower half of my face. Wet and indecent had been an undeniably good look, but apparently dry and clothed was just as sexy on her.

She wore a loose sweater and jeans – nothing I'd never seen on other women but on her, I couldn't look away. The creamy color of her top brought out the sun-kissed glow of her skin and the snug fit of her jeans gave me the view of a perfectly round ass I hadn't fucking known to look at last night.

Christ. I tilted my head to take in the side view of her lithe but curvy body as she leaned over reception, her tits just resting on the counter and making me wish I was that very glass surface.

"Mr. Hendricks?"

"Yes, send her in," I finally said, watching Noelle glare as the new girl gave Lia the green light to enter. I willed my dick down as I got up to meet her.

"Nice receptionist you have," Lia greeted me sarcastically, arms crossed and staring straight ahead as I closed the door behind her.

I frowned.

"What'd she say?"

"Nothing overtly unfriendly but she was definitely very suspicious of my intentions here."

I glanced out at Noelle, who was still staring into my office with unmasked contempt.

I knew well what she was thinking – that I'd already stripped Lia naked, bent her over my desk and buried my cock deep inside her. Nothing I hadn't pictured myself but still deeply inaccurate.

"Apologies on her behalf." I resumed my seat behind my desk. "She shouldn't have been so unprofessional."

"Mm, well, I'm sure she's just following your lead."

"And what is it you're trying to say with that?"

Lia's arms remained crossed as she shrugged.

"Just that her unprofessionalism is most likely a reflection of yours."

"Is this about the fact that you saw her at my apartment last night?"

"Yes. And you told her that you had a woman over, which led her to be suspicious of me when I walked in here looking for you."

"Why do you care what she thinks?"

"Because I do."

"That's not a reason."

Lia glared. "Because." She clenched her teeth.

"I hate that once I get my key from you and leave, I have to do a walk of shame from your office to the elevator despite the fact that nothing went on in here. And don't pretend that's not the case, Lukas, it's crystal clear what your receptionists think is happening in this room as we speak. Clearly, it happens often enough around here."

My lip curled at her judgment.

"I can assure you it doesn't. Contrary to whatever assumption you're running with, my need to fuck can generally wait till I have time to step out of the office."

"At which point you go home and make your neighbors miserable?"

"You're really hung up on this idea of me, aren't you?"

"Well, just judging from the conversation I overheard last night, you host exactly the kind of... late-night activity I imagined you might. And we're all adults so that's fine. All I ask is for you to be considerate as far as the noise level goes, especially on the nights that you decide to take... multiple girls home."

"In all fairness, one can easily make as much noise as two. Just depends on the girl and the night."

"Wow. Thanks for sharing but I had no desire to know that."

"Why? Because the idea of sex makes you uncomfortable?"

Her eyebrows flashed. "No?" she said, instantly defensive. "What would make you say that?"

I leaned back. "Well, to start, you desperately avoid saying 'sex.' You think 'hard' is a bad word and you use weird euphemisms like 'late night activity' to keep your speech strictly non-sexual. As far as I'm concerned, that's some damning evidence."

"That means nothing."

"Then say it."

"Say what?"

"Sex."

Lia uncrossed her arms and slammed her hands onto her hips.

"Sex," she scoffed, throwing in a shrug to convey nonchalance. "There you have it. That work for you?"

"In a sentence."

"This is not an erotic spelling bee, Lukas."

I laughed. "Pretend it is."

"You're ridiculous."

"And you're the one who's bothered by what I said, so just do it, Lia. You know you want to."

She gaped at me, so visibly in awe of my nerve that I was sure she was about to turn on her prissy ballet flats and storm out of my office.

But instead, she surprised me, tapping her foot twice, inhaling deep then breathing out, "Fine. You want it in a sentence, then here it is: You. Have. Sex," she enunciated.

"You probably have a lot of sex. I suspect you're going to have more sex than I'm willing to hear every night. You love talking about sex – so much so that you're forcing me to talk about sex. Everything out of your mouth sounds like sex. Sex," Lia finished breathlessly, crossing her arms over her chest. "There. That was at least four sentences. You happy now?"

"That's certainly a way to put it."

"You did not just do that."

"Do what?"

"Grab your dick in front of me."

I raised my eyebrows.

"I wasn't grabbing it, I was adjusting it under my desk and you actually weren't supposed to see that, so apologies."

The groan she let out was curious. It sounded desperate with a tinge of something I couldn't interpret so I wasn't sure why it turned me the fuck on but it did.

Paired with the way she thrust her hands in her hair and I was an animal again. I wanted her. So badly that I was sure she could feel it as the silence stretched between us.

"Lukas, my key," she finally said, her voice sounding small and exhausted.

She muttered "thanks" when she took the envelope from my hand but upon ripping it open, she promptly dropped the key on the floor, tripping on nothing as she tried picking it up.

"I got it," she said quickly, flustered when I rounded my desk to help her up.

"Are you sure?" I laughed when I spotted the shoes she'd fallen out of. "Lia, those look at least two sizes too big for you."

"I borrowed them from a friend," she muttered in frustration. "I was barefoot when I left your house last night."

"Fuck, seriously? I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," she murmured softly, reluctantly accepting my hand for balance.

I was silent as I felt her soft skin in my palm and my pulse quickened as I watched her bend over to slip into her shoes. Her big eyes were at the level of my chest but slowly, they drifted south, shy but unwavering till her stare landed below my belt.

Right on my cock.

Whoa.

Her cheeks brightened but to my surprise, she didn't look away. In fact, her grip on my hand tightened just slightly as she swallowed and stared, so fucking irresistible with that hypnotized look on her face. Or maybe it was the other way around.

Maybe she had some spell cast on me because in seconds, I went from half-hard to rock solid and ready to just slam her against my body. But in a flash, she was back on her feet, lashes fluttering and chest heaving as she stammered.

"I, um – thanks for the key, Lukas," Lia stumbled breathlessly, a flurry of white sweater, blue jeans and honey locks as she rushed the hell out my door.

And just like that I was standing in the middle of my office, my cock throbbing out of control as I asked myself what the hell just happened. I had no goddamned clue.

But whatever it was, I wanted more of it.