I hadn’t thought about Moon for months, but a year later, I still felt the disappointment I’d felt that next morning. I should have gotten her name, her number, something. Anything. But now she was here, and I was supposed to be her friend for her family’s sake . . . and keep myself at a distance. My dick throbbed painfully, and I reached down to grab it, a moan building in my chest when I did.
The images I’d been seeing since Friday afternoon played through my mind as I moved my hand up and down, building up speed as I remembered her moans, whimpers, and the way she’d shattered around me with every orgasm. I gripped myself harder as I got closer to my release, and shut my eyes, welcoming the memories of her as I came.
Getting out of the bed, I walked into the bathroom and started the shower to clean up, hating that I still felt no relief. I was hard again by the time I stepped under the hot spray, but refused to do anything about it this time. There was a possibility that she was the twin with the boyfriend back in Florida. There was an even bigger possibility that she wouldn’t remember me at all. Giving in to every memory of her would just make it harder to stay away from her if she wanted nothing to do with me now.
I continued to get more aggravated as the morning went on, and by the time I was walking into my office, I refused to acknowledge anyone I passed or who had called out my name. After locking the door behind me, I walked over and fell into my chair—letting my head drop into my hands as I tried to focus on what I needed to do.
I needed to work. I needed to tell Eli that he didn’t want me to be around his nieces. I needed to stop being such a bitch and get over the fact that Moon was somewhere near me, and I needed to distance myself. I needed to stop thinking about her at all. I fucking needed Cecily for an hour . . . but at the same time, Cecily was the last thing I needed, seeing as I couldn’t even picture her face at the moment.
Seeing Moon had messed with me all weekend. I’d holed myself up in my apartment and thought of everything I wanted to ask her—only to go through it all again the next hour and the next until I was getting frustrated over what her possible answers would be. When the hell had I turned into the kind of guy who let a single girl make him hide out for two and a half days so he could drive himself crazy thinking about her?
I’d already wasted more than an hour making this worse for myself, and had just decided to go home since I would be useless for the day when my office phone rang. I glared at it and the screen that flashed Eli’s last name, and hesitantly answered it.
“Yeah?”
“My office . . . now. I don’t care if you’re hungover.”
“I’m no—” I cut off when I heard the distinctive click, and groaned as I set the phone down.
I didn’t need a pissed-off Eli right now. Not when I was driving myself crazy, and definitely not when I was afraid I would shout out that I’d fucked his niece as soon as I saw him.
I was still avoiding everyone as I walked down the halls, and knew I needed to do something soon to get out of this funk. I knew I was only making it worse, but it was damn hard to stop it. I didn’t even glance at Eli’s secretary as I passed her desk and walked right into his office, ready for whatever this meeting would bring.
“I’m not hungover,” I said as soon as I was stepping through his door. Shutting it behind me, I walked over and fell into one of the chairs closest to me.
Eli’s eyebrows rose up high and a corner of his mouth tilted up. “You sure about that?”
“Seeing as how I haven’t even had a beer for a week . . . yeah, I’m fucking sure.”
“Someone’s having a great morning, then,” he mumbled sarcastically, and came around his desk to sit in the chair near me. “I had a handful of employees stop me on my way to my office this morning, and every one of them wanted to know what had happened to you.”
“Suddenly my moods are their business?”
Eli was still trying to conceal a smile, but he wasn’t doing a great job. “Cecily seemed more than happy and was quick to let me know how qualified she was for your position.”
“I bet she did,” I said on a sigh, and leaned my head back until I was staring at the ceiling. Maybe Eli was right. I felt hungover, only without the benefit of the fun night and need for greasy food this morning.
“You know I’m not mad at you—”
“Mad at me?” I asked, cutting him off. He just kept talking.
“—I actually called you in here to thank you.”
“Thank me? For what?”
“Kira and Kennedy got the jobs. Whether or not that had to do with you, I needed to thank you for at least giving them the opportunity to interview. As for this weekend, I know how much pressure I put on you when it came to them, so I don’t blame you for not wanting the girls wherever you were.”