Sinner(129)

Not longer than a night, anyways.

There’s something refreshing about Serena though, as much as I know it’s a problem.

She laughs at something, her whole face lighting up as she leans and puts a hand on my arm.

Fuck.

It’s nothing intended, I know that. It’s just her laughing and having a good time. But it lingers for a second, blazing heat into the skin beneath her soft fingers. She moves back, still smiling and still seemingly oblivious to the effect she’s having on me - totally ignorant of the roaring storm of duty clashing with raw desire she’s shaking up inside of me.

She pushes her hair back from her face, and for a moment, I smell the jasmine and orange of her shampoo. Her full lips pull back in a smile - and however innocent she means it, there’s nothing innocent about its effect on me.

There’s nothing innocent about the way it gets my blood pumping and my cock throbbing within the confines of my suit pants.

We’re laughing, and having fun, and joking around, but there is nothing joking about the way this evening has taken a very sudden turn towards something deeper and something darker.

I want her.

I can’t, and I shouldn’t, but it’s there, lingering beneath the surface. It’s a thirst, a hunger, a raw need - the need to taste her skin again, to feel her writhe under me, to feel her breath hot on my neck and her lips soft against my own.

I blink, clenching my fist and shaking my head before quickly downing the rest of my drink.

I need to get ahold of myself. I need to get ahold of this, because this isn’t me.

****

“You really didn’t have to walk me here, you know.”

We’re standing outside the door to the lobby of Serena’s hotel. I shrug. “It’s fine, your hotel is on the way back to my car anyways.”

We stand like that, clearly neither of us knowing how to sign off from whatever this night was. Another non-date date.

“So, that wasn’t so bad, huh?”

I smile curiously at her. “What.”

“Actually letting loose and having some fun.” She winks at me. “See, we can have fun together.”

My pulse jumps.

I know we can have fun together, that’s the problem. The problem is, I can’t stop thinking about the fun we had together back in Houston. The problem is, I can’t seem to get any work done with her sitting ten feet away from me in that office, like this fiery, blazing reminder of that night.

The problem is “having fun” with Serena Roth is on my brain basically one hundred percent of the time I’m around her.

Including right now.

She looks up at me, blinking those big green eyes, and I’m falling before I know it. Before I can stop myself, I’m moving closer, my hand drifting to her hip.

She doesn’t stop me. I can feel my pulse pounding in my ears as I pull her against me, her hands falling against my chest. She gasps, and the sound of that little soft intake of breath across her lips makes my cock throb. She tilts her head up, her chest rising and falling against me as her eyes lock on mine.

This can’t happen.

Yes, I want to come upstairs. Yes, I want to come up and drink the kisses from her lips, the sweat from her skin and that honey from between her legs. I want to pull her on top of me and hold her by the hips while she rides my cock like she did before.

Except I don’t say any of that, because instead, reason takes over.

Remembering that we have a job to do takes over.

Remembering that making this complicated could seriously jeopardize everything I’ve worked for takes over.

“I don’t think this is a good idea.”

She swallows. “What’s not?”

“You know what.”

“Maybe I don’t,” she whispers.

“Serena-”

I shake my head as I look down and hold her eyes with mine. In another situation, this could be just teasing. If she wasn’t who she was and I wasn’t me, and we weren’t involved in this bizarre situation with the team, I might even be tempted to break my own rules.

But we are these people, and this is the situation. And this isn’t easy, flirty teasing, not when she’s this close and not when I’m this hard. Not when it’s taking everything in my power not to pull her against me and kiss her right here on the street.

“I don’t do repeats. I’m not looking for anything, and I actually mean that.”

She snorts out a laugh, stepping away from me. “And you think I am? Landon I ended an engagement barely a year ago.” She drags her teeth over her lip, her arms crossing over her chest. “What are you so afraid of, anyways?”

I stiffen. “I’m not afraid, Serena, I just know where this goes. I know where us doing what happened in Houston again goes.”