I can’t lose my career over this. Over him.

But, before I can respond, Smith takes another step toward me and, this time, I can see his face well enough to know this question irritates him.

“If he knows what?” he repeats, his voice a raspy drawl. I wonder if it’s from smoking or something else.

“Stop being coy, and just tell me. Do I have anything to worry about my job when it comes to your brother?”

The gravel shifts beneath his feet and he wraps one hand hard around my wrist. I gasp at the contact, preparing to wrench myself away from him, but Smith is far stronger and faster than I am. He flicks his cigarette away, then moves forward, steering me until my back is against the restaurant’s exterior wall.

“What do you think I told him?” he asks.

His voice is strained, but dripping with suggestion. He reaches up and drags two fingers along the side of my neck.

“Do you think I told him how your pulse flutters beneath this spot when you’re nervous?”

I swallow hard, then steel my gaze as best as I can.

“Smith . . .”

He ignores me, cocking his head a bit and staring into my eyes. In this light, the color of his irises is far closer to black than blue. I feel a little shiver run over my skin as I watch the muscles in his arms flex and tighten. His lips are moist and full, but he licks them for good measure and I can feel his touch everywhere—even in the places where he really shouldn’t touch me.

“Do you think I told him how, when I kiss beneath your ear, you make the prettiest little whimpers?”

His voice is intoxicating and I want to close my eyes.

“Do you think I told him how you may look angelic, but your tongue can do devilish things in a man’s mouth?”

He leans in so close, I feel his breath against my lips and I have no choice but to breathe it in. To breathe him in.

“Do you think I told him how you have the most beautiful body I’ve ever seen? Or how much I want to taste you?”

He moves a hand from my shoulder to my waist, then lets it coast slowly down toward my thigh.

“How I’m dying to feel how wet you are right now. How I want to slide my cock so deep inside you, you’ll feel me every time you move for a whole week after.”

I can’t help it.

I moan.

I moan in a way I should not be moaning, in a way that makes me want to clamp my hand over my mouth, which I would if Smith didn’t have me effectively pinned against him and the wall.

“Hyacinth,” he murmurs. His breath is coming in quick bursts, and he ducks his head to press his mouth against my collarbone. I feel the bristles of his hair along my jaw, and all I want to do is pull him closer.

“Please.”

The word is out of my mouth before I can stop it, and I don’t even have time to regret it before Smith pulls me harder against him. He slides his hand further up my inner thigh until he reaches the edge of my panties. He toys with the elastic with his fingers and I feel my eyes cross.

“Tell me what you want,” he whispers against my skin. I shake my head.

“I don’t know what I want. I don’t think . . .”

“You think too much,” Smith scolds, but his tone is gentle. Ever so slowly, he lets his fingers slide over the wet silk between my needy flesh and his confident touch.

“Fuck,” Smith mutters, trailing his hand along my dampness before moving my underwear aside. “You’re so wet for me.”

As his fingertips swirl through my wetness, one lands on my clit and makes a steady pulsing rhythm.

“Oh my God,” I whimper.

Smith chuckles at my words, then leans in to press his mouth against mine.

“Let me take you home tonight,” he says.

I swallow, glancing back at the grimy door of Dino’s.

“I need to take my dad back to Holly Fields.”

“After that, then.”

I open my mouth to say no at the exact same time as two of Smith’s fingers breach my tight opening. I literally have to force myself not to cry out.

The truth is that I want him inside me.

The truth is that I want to go home with him.

“I’ll make you feel so good, baby,” Smith is murmuring in my ear. He moves his fingers in an even faster rhythm, and I can feel my body involuntarily grinding down against his hand.

“I can’t wait to see your body spread out in front of me,” he whispers. “You’ll be wet and ready and throbbing and begging me to fuck you. But I won’t do it—not until I get my mouth on that hot pussy.”

He grazes my earlobe with his teeth, and I shiver at the slight pinch of pain when he bites lightly.

“I bet you like it hard and deep, don’t you, baby? I bet you want me to make you scream. Tell me how you like it—how we should start.”

He thrusts his fingers deeper and my legs almost collapse beneath me.

“You want to start pressed up against the wall?” He asks, his voice a low growl. “Or how about with you splayed across my kitchen table, your pussy poised right at one edge so I can fuck you while I’m still standing up?”

“God, yes,” I practically moan. I’m running out of words that aren’t expletives or basic animal grunts.

Smith chuckles deeply, then in one swift movement, spins me around so that my belly and breasts are flattened against the exterior wall. Before I can make a sound, he’s yanked my underwear down my legs and shoved his hand back between them, adding a third finger to where there were only two before.

“Maybe you’ll like it from behind,” he says, filling my wet channel over and over with the thrilling pulse and stretch of his thick fingers. “Maybe you’ll like it when I bend you over and hold you down.”

Oh holy fuck. Yes. I’ll do it. I’ll go home with him.

I open my mouth to say as much when a car swoops into the parking lot of Dino’s, its headlights piercing the night and our cover of darkness. Immediately, I jump and Smith curses under his breath, but it seems to be a bright, gravel-spitting wake-up call that I desperately needed.

I bat at Smith’s hands, then reach up and push him away by his shoulders. He meets my gaze, confused at first. When he finally backs away from me, he scrubs a hand over his hair and shakes his head. I can feel every part of my body trembling as Smith stares less at me and more through me.

“Smith?”

He focuses on me then, and his eyes are almost sorrowful.

“I better get back inside.”

And, without another word, he turns and heads for the restaurant door.

I watch from my shadowy position as the new customers get out of their car and head inside. Then, I wait for my legs to resolidify and for my heart to stop pounding so hard that it might actually be visible to others. When I’m finally capable of rational thoughts, I smooth a hand over my shirt and skirt, making sure they’re still in place. I feel a little numb and I know I can’t blame the cold. I want to be outraged and indignant, but mostly I’m still on fire.

Ever since the meeting in Mr. Weathersby’s office, every encounter I’ve had with Smith has seemed wrong. And, in the best and worst possible way, they’re all feeling way, way too right.

Chapter Ten

Security Breach

The rest of the week is surprisingly uneventful.

The rest of the week is disappointingly uneventful.

Both of these sentences are true, but I’m really trying my damnedest to only believe one of them.

After our run-in at Dino’s, Smith gives me a wide berth. I don’t know whether I’m grateful or offended, but I decide that, no matter how I feel, it’s for the best. I have four weeks left now, and I just need to make it through the rest of the year without turning it into a cluster-fuck of massive proportions. Other than Smith and everything that comes along with him, I think I’m in a safe place to pull through without incident.