I hesitated on how much of my job to reveal before responding, “Um, our client is suing her ex for damages. You know, the usual.”

“Interesting. So what specifically are you working on?”

“I’m just doing research at this point. I’m reviewing the details so if this happens to go to court, we’re prepared for any curveballs. Reviewing prior cases to present examples to the court, you know that kind of thing.”

“And what do you think?”

“About what?”

“The curveballs? Are you prepared?”

“I’m still working some things out. Going over timelines and whatnot.” I didn’t want to say too much. Already, he had surprised me by his engaging conversation over my job. I stared at the folder close to me, willing it to unfurl some detail I’d missed. No matter how long I stayed sitting at this desk, reading over the same reports, something wasn’t right. It was an itch I couldn’t scratch.

“Thanks for the coffee by the way,” I said, picking the mug back up for another sip. Hot liquid rushed to my lips and spread across my tongue. The sweetness of the soy milk masked the bitterness of the coffee—just the way I liked it. I didn’t see him make coffee for himself yesterday, and now I wondered what filled his mug. Was he drinking coffee, too? Was it black? Creamer only? Or did he take it with a bit of sugar? I mentally chastised myself for caring. My intrigue of this man was not lost on me.

“I have my moments,” he said with a tilt of his shoulders. The casual shrug only seemed to define the bulge of his shoulders and arms as thick as my thighs—arms that I remembered flipping me on the bed last night like I was a coin to be tossed. Right now, I wanted those arms to pick me up from my chair and lay me out across the desk. I wanted to feel the heat of his body pressed into mine, juxtaposed with the coolness of the glass tabletop. The warring temperatures already had my body heightened to a level of awareness I’d never felt before. How could this man make me turn on myself that quickly? Was I stupid to think I would be the one woman capable of resisting this specimen of a man with his tempting smile and obvious comfortability in his own skin? Not that men express insecurities in the same way women do, but I had to admit, Joel was unusually confident even for someone of the opposite sex. Maybe that was the appeal though—his raw sex appeal was almost comical.

The moment felt charged while Joel’s eyes peered into me as if to unwrap all of my layers, to strip me down to my most basic urges, down to my quivering core that ached for him to incinerate my skin like hot coals on a fire. A similar need burned in him, too. Every vein in his body seemed to tighten and pulse as if the blood racing through his veins could barely be contained by the vessels inside him. I swear I could see his heart racing through the sprinkling of hair matting his chest.

“Fuck,” he snarled before whisking our mugs off the desk. I can’t remember who reached for whom first, but our hands and arms interloped as we moved to strip each other of what little clothing we dressed in that morning. Every scrap was ripped from my skin, each stripped layer awakening a newfound freedom in me. The way Joel looked at me with eyes as large as golf balls and nostrils flaring like a charging bull, I forgot all about the woman who looked back at me from the mirror every day. There were a million things I could say about that girl, most of them self-deprecating, but something about the desire filling the room—so full, our bodies could combust from the pressure—made me forget all about that girl and her insecurities.

“You should be forbidden to wear clothes for the rest of the storm, so then when I want to fuck you all I have to do is twist your little body to my heart’s content and sink in balls deep. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Being my little fuck toy for the indefinite future?”

“Joel.”

“Mmmm, say it again.” Lifting me up onto the desk by a firm grip on my ass, Joel attacked my mouth with caffeine kisses—all crushing lips and forceful tongue. I swallowed the growl escaping his mouth. His breath was warm and the taste of sweetened coffee still lingered on his tongue, mingling with the taste still residing in my own mouth. I let his body overcome mine as we both fell back onto the top of the desk. The tips of my toes barely reached the ground, but I was caged beneath him, safe from rolling off the edge of the desk.

He came up for air—gasping and panting like a man drowning in need.

“Joel. Please.” I didn’t want to drag this out—not like last night. The hunger was too visceral, too sharp, lancing through me with every rush of breath or touch of his hands. With a sobered mind and an ache realized, I no longer wanted playful touches and kisses that spiked my temperature. I was already peaked, primed, and ready to go. I wanted quick, dirty, and raw. Those distant memories of the first night lingered on the outskirts of my mind, and I knew that what I wanted now was only a fraction of what I had that night. A pure, unadulterated, unapologetic fuck that would make my vibrator pale in comparison. Every time I opened my nightstand for relief I wanted to remember this moment, where fevered skin and heated breath eclipsing crisp morning air was a true fantasy realized.

He laved my skin like a man possessed. A hand moved between my legs, not to get me off, but to coat himself in my sticky essence. He then dragged his hand up past my navel to my breast where he squeezed and licked and nibbled. The cold glass sharpened at my back as the heat of my body skyrocketed.

“You have such a pretty pussy, but you know what would make it look even better?”

I rocked my head back and forth, more from the need arcing through my body that I couldn’t contain, but answering his question nonetheless. I had no idea what he had in store this time, but if it was anything like the night before, I was in for quite a ride. His arms lifted, uncaging me. With uncertain eyes, I watched him standing between my legs, looking down my body like I was a buffet of dessert and he was deciding where to start first.

“You’d look better with my tongue between these lips. Wouldn’t you say?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, but I was sure the moan that dislodged from my throat was answer enough for what I thought of his suggestion. Joel wasted no time dropping to his knees. He was almost as wide as the edge of the desk and looked like if he wanted to he could lift this table with me still on it. Just as that thought swirled through my mind, Joel grabbed my legs and slid me down the table, prepping me like my ob/gyn ready to give me an exam. I slid my butt down to the edge of the desk and before I could settle into my new position Joel’s mouth was already planted between my legs.

Warm lips and a soft tongue spread me open and seared my core. My thighs clenched the sides of his head, but his tongue only sank deeper. Watching Joel with eyes closed as if savoring a delectable morsel while eating me voraciously was quite a sight, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to last long if my eyes stayed glued to this powerful man brought to his knees by the taste of me.

Joel’s tongue eased up into soft licks before he pulled back enough for his words to come out clear and crisp, yet still close enough to feel his voice penetrate my body, “I swear I only wanted a little taste, but shit I can’t get enough of you. You’re fucking addicting, Blaire.”

“Don’t stop. I’m close.”

“I couldn’t if I wanted to. You’re going to come all over my tongue, and I’m going to drink down every drop and then fuck you with the taste of you still on my tongue. Then you’re going to come all over my cock right here on your desk, aren’t you, Blaire?”

“Uh huh.”

He proved to be a man of his word as he closed the gap between his mouth and my cleft. The combination of soft and hard licks coupled with the way he sucked my clit between his lips made the fire licking through my body detonate in an explosion that would make C-4 look like a sparkler. My breath was still burning in my lungs when he shot up to his feet and hammered into me in one quick thrust forward. My back slid across the glass, but his arms gripped my legs, pulling me back into his pivoting hips.