The roaring in my ears starts to quiet, my forehead now back against Leary’s as we both try to catch our breath. My legs are so weak from that orgasm that I have to lock them so I don’t drop to the floor with her in my arms.

Lifting my head, I give Leary a silent but deep kiss of satisfaction. When I pull away, she’s smiling at me.

“Nice,” we both hear from outside the stall.

And then another voice. “Fucking hot.”

Leary snickers and then we’re rewarded with the sound of the door opening and footsteps receding.

“I think you broke me,” I mutter. “I have to put you down before I fall down.”

Leary loosens her legs and I slip out of her, still quite hard, actually, even though I think I just emptied about a gallon into the condom. I lower her and when her feet hit the floor, I pull the condom off and throw it in the toilet.

We’re both silent while we get dressed, rearrange our clothes, and take a few deep breaths to even ourselves out. I grab my wallet from the floor and carefully open the door to peek out, ensuring no one else is in the bathroom.

Motioning for Leary to wait a moment, I open the main door and take a quick look around. No one is in the immediate area, so I wave my hand at her, and she walks casually out of the men’s bathroom, right past me and down the hall.

I catch up to her, grabbing on to her elbow. “Want to have another drink with me?”

“Can’t,” she says crisply. “Have a huge day tomorrow and I need to get some sleep.”

She pulls against me and tries to turn away, but I don’t let her go. Instead, I reel her back to me, grabbing on to her hips with both hands. Leaning in close to her, I ask, “So, are we just going to pretend this didn’t happen?”

“Of course not,” she says, but her voice still remains aloof. “But tonight, we’re done.”

I stare at her, intrigued by her cool demeanor when just moments ago she was writhing for release. She’s utterly fascinating, completely intoxicating.

Rubbing my thumbs against her hip bones, I lean in a bit closer. “You know, you started something in that elevator. Your intention then might not have been for what just happened, but you did intend to arouse my sexual interest. And you, Leary Michaels, have no idea the beast you’ve awoken with your antics. You’ve invited me to come out and play, and now I’m ready to play.”

“We just played,” she murmurs, and I’m happy to see the aloof reserve has lifted from her gaze.

“And we’ll play again, no doubt,” I tell her with a smile. “I just don’t want you to think that this is over.”

Leary raises a hand, lays it over my chest, and gives me a humoring pat. “This is just sex.”

“Damn right it is,” I tell her gruffly, pulling her hips into mine. “But it’s not just onetime sex.”

“But it’s not a relationship, either,” she clarifies, dropping her hand from my chest. “No strings. It’s just physical.”

“That’s fine by me,” I tell her, because I’m always down with the pleasures of fucking and the avoidance of commitment.

“And this cannot interfere with the case,” she says sternly.

I make an X pattern over my chest. “Cross my heart. No case pillow talk.”

“Then fine,” she says in agreement. “We’ll be fuck buddies.”

I throw my head back and laugh, level it back to her when I hear her own chuckles. “Fuck buddies? I’ve never had one before.”

“Well, I have,” she says tartly. “So remember . . . it’s just sex.”

“Was Ford a fuck buddy?” I ask suddenly, with no clue why I’ve opened myself up to a truth I might not want to hear.

“Yes,” she says simply, holding her gaze level with mine.

“Is he still a fuck buddy?” I ask carefully, holding my breath for the answer, because I honestly don’t think I can share.

“No, he’s not. We’re just friends.”

And one last question so I can breathe easier. “And might you have other fuck buddies?”

She gives me a wry smile. “Um . . . no. I don’t have time to juggle men.”

This makes me very happy for some reason and smacks of my need to avoid jealousy, which doesn’t sound very no-strings to me, but I mentally shrug that thought away.

“I don’t care if you have other fuck buddies, though,” Leary says as an afterthought. “Just keep it wrapped . . . you know . . . for your own safety.”

I stare at her, trying to figure out if she’s joking or not. She doesn’t smile and there’s no mischief in her eyes. So that means she’s dead fucking serious.

She absolutely does not care if I fuck other women.

This is intriguing to me as well as a bit appalling. I’ve never come up against a woman who is so sure of her own sexual identity and what she wants. It should feel liberating, but it makes me feel slightly displaced.

Reaching a hand up, I grip her by the back of her neck and pull her to my lips. My mouth closes over hers and I give her a slow kiss of understanding. When I release her, I say, “I think you might be all the woman I can handle for right now, but I appreciate your flexibility.”

Leary gives me a nod of her head and then pulls away from me. “Good, we’ve just entered fuck buddy–dom. May the odds be ever in our favor.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Nothing,” she says with a snicker. “I’ll see you next week for Jenna’s deposition.”

I watch her ass a moment as she walks away from me before I call out, “So I won’t see you before then?”

“Nope,” she says as she turns around but keeps walking backward so we can maintain eye contact. “Too busy.”

Fuck, I think to myself as she walks out of my line of sight.

I don’t think I can go a week without seeing her.

I thought the whole point of being fuck buddies was to actually do some fucking.

CHAPTER 7

LEARY

I should have given in to Reeve’s demands over the last week. Instead, I ignored call after call in which he all but commanded me to get together with him. The more I ignored him, the more insistent he became.

Except for the last two days. I haven’t heard a peep out of him, and I’m wondering if he’s no longer interested.

I hope that’s not the case, because I didn’t ignore him because I wasn’t interested. I ignored him because I was too interested.

All week, my thoughts have been almost obsessively consumed with Reeve. I keep replaying every single interaction we’ve had over and over, ultimately realizing it was a slow, sensual buildup to an explosive outcome.

What we did in that bathroom was beyond explosive, actually. I’ve never in my entire life given in to abandon that way. I gave up absolute control to him and the surrounding environment. I gave not one whit about my career if I were to get caught. I didn’t give a shit that two strangers listened to us.

I cared about none of it because for the first time in my life, when a man was lodged deep inside me, I was absolutely consumed by him. There was simply no room for anything else.

And that bothered me.

Bothered me to the extent that I practically rushed out of the Marriott after hastily agreeing to be his fuck buddy.

Fuck buddy?

Who in the hell says they have a fuck buddy? Maybe a college freshman, but not a twenty-nine-year-old professional woman who’s a partner in a prestigious law firm.

At any rate, when these obsessive thoughts didn’t wane, but instead increased, I felt the need to try to put some distance between Reeve and me. Thus, I ignored his calls, hoping this insatiable desire for him would just go away.