Every inch of my body ignited, and being so close to him set off every pleasure point I had. Now that I had him again, my awareness of what he could do seemed to make me constantly ready and willing. Staying away just became so much harder. My head fell back and rested against his shoulder, and the tension taking over my body vanished. Josh placed his hand over mine, tangling our fingers together, and with slow, delicate movements, took over mixing the eggs. The movement of his hands became mechanical, structured, and mindless, while his attention fell squarely onto my neck as his mouth tasted and feasted on my sensitive skin. I sighed and felt heat soaring in my panties, as his tongue swept from my collarbone to my ear.

“I’ll never stop chasing you, Ashy. I will never stop wanting you. I will never stop craving you, and you will never stop tempting me. You need to stop with the thoughts that I know are in your head, because I am not him. His fuck up will be my greatest reward.”

My heart hammered in my chest. How could he read me so well? Lachlan was a constant reminder of why relationships and I would never work. It was like he was sitting on my shoulder, ready to dispel any thoughts I had of Josh.

“I can’t think like that,” I said, practically whimpering under the intensity of his words. “I have no regrets about last night, but I’m too scared of it happening again.”

“I’ll never make the same mistakes again.” His voice vibrated off my skin. “Five fucking years.”

I spun around in his arms and suddenly all inhibitions were lost, never to be found again. What did he mean? We were chest to chest, two hearts frantically beating and joining as one while I pressed hard into him. We stared at each other in silent communication, speaking the words that should be said but were held in a vortex of silence. There was so much I wanted to say to him. I wanted him to know everything that I was thinking. I was scared, I was panicked, but I was intrigued. I wanted him to know that he could take what he wanted, whenever he wanted, and I would never stop him as long as he never took my heart.

“I’ll never stop chasing, Ash, because now that I’ve had you again, I’ll be picking up the pace. What I want, I always get.”

Lightly, his lips touched the side of my mouth, missing my lips entirely, but leaving a lasting impression. The thought of him chasing me caused a shiver to run down my spine. Josh was ruthless. He was overly confident, and stubborn to boot, so I knew I was in for the ride of my life. I hadn’t realized I was gripping his shirt until he attempted to step away. I quickly let go and put some distance between us, then crossed my arms over my chest in fear that I’d reach out for him. His eyes traced my body, and a smirk flittered over his lips.

“My shirt looks good on you,” he said, and nodded in approval. “Really fucking good.”

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “I’m keeping it.”

A smirk took over his handsome features, and with another roaming look over my body, he moved to me. “Last night was incredible, Ashy. No regrets, okay? It would destroy me if you had any regrets.”

“How can I regret something that made me feel so alive?”

Softness greeted his eyes and, without saying another word, he brushed his lips gently against mine, then left my apartment.

Three days later, I walked into the reception of Bangs and Beats with determination in my step, ready for a meeting with Ky. After a morning spent prepping myself for this visit and far too many cups of coffee, I felt like I could handle seeing Josh. For the past three days, I had been locked away from the world, working my ass off on the blog and putting in eighteen hour days. During those three days, I was also hiding from the reality of wanting him again. The ridiculous rules I made up seemed to be taunting me, because all I wanted to do was sneak into his apartment, pull down his sweatpants, and ride his cock like a cowgirl.

I was a hot mess of re-engaged hormones, sexually-stimulating orgasms, and a man who seemed determined to unravel me at a wickedly-insane rate.

It had been three days since he rocked my world, and there was still the slightest reminder of where he had been. It would seem that sometime during my begging for him to fuck me harder and faster, he had imprinted himself. Now if I moved a certain way, my body would scream “Josh was here.” I was ruined. Completely and utterly ruined. Trying to concentrate when all my mind wanted to do was replay the single, most erotic moment of my life—the image of Josh marking me when he unloaded his come onto my breasts, then claiming me with a grunt and the words “You’re mine, Ash”—was beautifully hellish.

I tore myself from going down memory lane for what seemed like the hundredth time, then stepped out of the elevator when I reached the fourteenth floor and headed straight for Ky’s office. After knocking once, I opened the door and stepped into his overly-large corner office, with views that made me constantly green with envy.

He was sitting behind his desk, tapping away mindlessly on his laptop, and his head snapped up at the intrusion. The narrowing of his eyes disbanded when his gaze locked onto mine.

“You’re early,” he announced happily, and rose from his desk. With two large strides, he was in front of me and pulling me in for a side hug.

“Want to grab some lunch before the meeting?” I asked, returning his hug.

“Sounds great. Let me finish this email, and then I’m all yours.”

He returned to his desk and started tapping away, while I headed for the visitors couch near his floor-to-ceiling windows. I pulled my phone from my purse, and started mindlessly flicking through Facebook to waste time. The usual whining and complaining, beautiful baby announcements, and photos from people’s weekend shenanigans filled my timeline.

What the fuck?

I inhaled sharply and stalled when a photo appeared and was linked to Josh’s wall. There I was, fast asleep, with a content smile playing on my lips. I was curled up, hugging a pillow, with a navy blue comforter covering my body.

With shaking hands, I scrolled down and looked at the comments.

Mitch Edwards: Is this your new girl? Fuck me, how do you get so lucky?

Angela South: Why haven’t I seen you lately? I miss your hands and mouth.

Samuel Decker: I’d love a piece of that ass. Why are you taking photos, you should be fucking her.

Mel Brown: She isn’t even that pretty. Call me soon babe.

My focus centered on the comments of the girls who’d obviously had a piece of Josh. At least I had something in common with them; we were all notches on Josh’s belt. The final comment under the photo caused my heart to hammer like crazy in my chest.

Josh Crawford: Prettiest girl in the world and all mine.

There was that word again: mine.

I hastily clicked out of Facebook and locked my phone. Josh couldn’t creep into my mind while I was having lunch and a meeting with Ky. What was Josh thinking? Why would he post a photo like that when we both knew Eden was just as addicted to Facebook as I was?

“What was that?” Ky asked beside me, his eyes locked firmly on the screen of my phone.

I had to think quickly. How could I possibly explain why his brother had a photo of me on his Facebook, asleep, and with an epic sex haze covering my face? Oh god, now I was thinking about sex with Josh. Shut up, hormones. “It was your brother being an idiot. Let’s go and get sushi,” I finally said, cringing at the weakness of my response.

Anxiously, I watched Ky process what I said. After what felt like an eternity, Ky swallowed my words as truth and I unleashed the breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

“Let’s go.”