LITMIR.BIZ

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was going into her hall of fame.

      She stroked a cautious hand down his back and shivered as he thrust into her a little. He was still half-hard, which had her glancing at the clock and doing a quick calculation to how much time was really left in this one-night stand. More than enough. It doesn’t really end until the sun rises, right?

      Aaron kissed her neck again and then took her mouth. There was no other way to describe his mouth claiming hers, his way of controlling the kiss that made her head spin. He thrust again, and she clenched her legs tighter around him. “More. I need more. Again.”

      He set his teeth to her bottom lip, but just when she thought he’d give her exactly what she wanted, he cursed and retreated. “We’re going to have to go back to my place for that nightcap. I have exactly one condom on me, and we just used it.”

      Disappointment threatened to sour her good mood, but she shoved it aside. What would it hurt to catch a cab back to his place and keep this thing going for a few more hours? He’d already more than proven he could give it to her better than ninety percent of the guys she’d hooked up with in the past. Letting a tiny technicality get in the way of more orgasms wasn’t her style.

      Becka reluctantly uncrossed her ankles so he could move. “I suppose you’ll make it worth my while if I suffer through a cab ride.”

      “You know it.” Her heart skipped a beat at his answering grin. His buttoned-up attitude hadn’t lasted past their first kiss, but there was such mirth in that expression she couldn’t stop herself from grinning in response.

      Aaron pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “Let me clean up and we’ll get out of here.” He slid off her...and froze. “Fuck.”

      “What?” She scrambled back, her stomach doing a slow flip at the sight of the broken condom. Fuck, indeed. “Shit.”

      “I’m clean.”

      It was too much on top of everything else that had happened that day. Becka shook her head and edged around him to get off the bed. “Thanks for the memo.” She believed him, even though she had no right to take his word for anything at this point. She reached the edge of the bed and hesitated. Think, Becka. Don’t be a jackass. “I’m clean, too. I get tested regularly.” He deserved to know that, at least.

      She pushed her hair back, hating that his face had immediately fallen back into the cold lines he’d worn when she first caught sight of him. This was never going to work. Get out now before it gets even more awkward.

      “Becka—”

      Becka. Not minx.

      She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I’m on birth control. If you’re clean—”

      “I am.”

      “Then there’s nothing to worry about.” She grabbed her dress from the floor and tugged it on. “This has been fun, but I need to go home now.”

      He disappeared into the bathroom for a few seconds, and then he was back, unabashedly naked and stalking across the room to her. “We need to talk about this.”

      “Actually, we don’t. Clean.” She pointed at him. “Clean.” She pointed at herself. “Birth control. End of story. This has been fun, but it’s over now.” Becka didn’t see her panties, but she wasn’t about to stick around to search for them. Instead, she grabbed her shoes and ducked under Aaron’s arm.

      “I’d like to see you again.”

      She reached the door and paused. It had been fun. A lot of fun, right up until that shitty ending. Becka closed her eyes, letting herself picture—just for a moment—what it would be like if she said yes. Maybe he was talking about just sex, and they’d spend a prolonged one-night stand blowing each other’s minds until he got tired of her and decided to try to let her down easy, bruising her in the process. Or maybe he’d try to take her out on a date, and they’d end up fucking again, and it would end exactly the same. Even if things did work for a while, eventually they would explode in her face, just like every other relationship she’d been in.

      Historically, men looked at her appearance and assumed one of two things.

      They figured that she was some kind of manic pixie dream girl who would help them find themselves. Or, more often, they assumed that she was a kinky sex fiend who’d be down for everything and anything and not be bothered by days gone by without communication as long as the sex was on point.

      Becka wasn’t about to play prop to a man, and she might like sex, but she had more respect for herself than to be some guy’s one A.M. booty call while he was trying to date other women. As a result, every single time she’d tried to actually date someone, it had gone down in flames sooner rather than later.

       Like mother, like daughter.

      She straightened her spine, but she couldn’t look at him. If she met those gray-blue eyes, she was a goner. “It’s been fun. Really fun. But let’s leave this on a high note. I want to be a fond memory, something that will never get a chance to lose its shine.”

      His bitter laugh made her stomach drop. “Sounds like you already have the narrative set.”

      Better me setting the narrative than playing supporting role in someone else’s. “I do.” She forced her hand to turn the doorknob and open the door, because if she didn’t move right then, she’d go back to him and let him spin whatever pretty fantasy until she actually believed it. It wasn’t the truth. She knew that, even if he wasn’t willing to admit it. “Have a nice life, Aaron.”

      Becka walked out the door without looking back.

       CHAPTER THREE

       Twelve weeks later

      “THAT ABOUT SUMS it up. The new account didn’t request anything fancy, but we’d be assholes if we left them exposed. Better to just go the extra mile.” Aaron slid the file across the table to his business partner, Cameron O’Clery. “You want to handle this one, or should I?” Their security business focused heavily on all things tech related, and this new account was no different. Once they got the initial cybersecurity laid down, they would maintain it for as long as their retainer was paid, but it took time to figure out exactly what the client needed—and often enough, it wasn’t what the client thought they needed.

      Cameron flipped through it. “You usually don’t ask me—you just dole out the clients.”

      Aaron tensed, but it was the truth. He tended to be the client-facing part of the company, and he picked and chose which ones he passed to Cameron because Cameron...wasn’t particularly patient with people he considered too stupid to live. Unfortunately for any prospective business-client relationships, Cameron found ninety percent of the world too stupid to live. Some clients could handle his attitude because he was the best cybersecurity expert in the city, and some couldn’t. Part of Aaron’s job was figuring that out. “We’re partners.”

      “Never said we weren’t.” Cameron sat back and laced his fingers behind his head. He was a big fucker, his white T-shirt stretched tight against his dark skin. He narrowed brown eyes at Aaron. “You’re off your game—have been for weeks. I didn’t ask, but if it’s going to affect the job, maybe it’s time to.”

      “It’s nothing.” Just a blue-haired woman he couldn’t seem to scrub from his mind. He hadn’t tracked Becka down after she’d left so abruptly because she couldn’t have been clearer in wanting nothing to do with him. If he was smart, he would have left what happened between them in that room behind as easily as she had.

      But she haunted his dreams.

      He kept waking up and reaching for her, only to find himself alone in bed. It didn’t make a damn bit of sense. It had been sex—outstanding,

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