“Shit, you don’t have to be afraid of me.”
“I’m not afraid of you.” She wiped the tears away, not wanting the memory of their touch.
The bad thing was she wanted it so bad, but she refused. She wasn’t going to allow herself to cave to two men.
“Which one of you came up with the idea?” she asked.
“Tempe?”
“No. I wanted to be alone, and you’ve forced your way into this elevator.” She looked at him. “Well, tell me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want your apologies. I want to know what the hell you were both doing?” She kept her arms folded. “I heard everything. You were arranging my time. What I was going to being doing, and neither of you even gave a thought to ask me.”
“Do you want Jay?”
“No,” she said.
“Are you sure?”
She went to say yes, and stopped. Jay was her best friend.
He took a step toward her, and she backed away. The wall of the elevator stopped her from going anywhere else. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“I want you, Temperance. This thing between us, it has been building for some time. I also believe that you’ve got feelings for your best friend.”
“What does this have to do with anything?” She had put Jay in the best friend department. She didn’t want him that way, did she? No, it couldn’t be. He was a horn dog who treated women appallingly, yet she couldn’t deny the spark of arousal. Was that because of Richard though? “I care about Jay. I always have.”
“Are you in love with him?”
She paused, thinking about her feelings. “I don’t know.”
He captured her face. “You’ve been in my life for a long time, Tempe.”
“You’re my boss.” She couldn’t help but touch him, holding onto his sides.
“I want to be more.”
“You’re breaking your rules.”
“That I am. What I don’t want is for you to doubt what you want.”
Temperance stared at his chest, wondering what the hell he wanted from her.
The elevator door pinged open, and she turned to see Jay standing there, panting for breath. “Fuck me, I’m an accountant, I sit on my ass all day. I shouldn’t be forced to do this.”
She walked out of the elevator, already prepared to leave, but Richard caught her arm, stopping her.
“How about we go to breakfast and talk about this?”
“We could go back to our place,” Jay said.
“No,” she said. The last thing she wanted was to go back to her place as she would cave between the two of them. They would be naked in no time, and she wasn’t interested in getting naked just yet. “I’ll take breakfast. I’ve not eaten this morning.” She’d had every intention of no longer having a job at the end of the day. Richard had torn up her resignation.
“I want where we go to be safe where no one will be watching.” He pulled his cell phone out. “I’ve got the place, but I’m making sure I can take you two.”
Temperance frowned.
“Hey, Russ, how is Anna? Good, good. I’ve got to conduct a personal meeting in private, and I don’t want to risk the press catching sight of us. I wanted to make sure we didn’t have any security issues, or threats.”
She watched as he started to nod. Seconds later he hung up.
“We’re going to the club house. We can talk without the risk of being interrupted, and it offers us privacy.”
“A diner can do that.”
“Tempe, I’m a billionaire businessman surrounded by a lot of rumors. I’m not left alone.”
She’d never been to his clubhouse, and until recently she had kept her knowledge of his biking life a secret.
Richard grabbed her hand, and before she knew what was happening, she was in the passenger seat of his luxury car with Jay behind them. Richard was driving.
“Are you okay, Tempe?” Jay asked.
“Am I okay? Tell me, Jay, what do I have to be okay about?” She turned toward her best friend. “I heard you negotiated your terms of fucking use of me. How do you think I’m feeling? I’ll give you a clue. It’s far from okay.”
“I’m sorry,” Jay said.
“You’re feisty today,” Richard said.
“Don’t even start. I don’t want to talk to you.”
She never should have fucked her boss. That was the problem.
“You know most women are really happy to have two men chasing after them?”
Temperance laughed. “You’re not chasing after me though. You’re organizing when I’m allowed to spend time with you. You’re talking about sharing me, and even sharing me with both of you in the room. Do you know how absurd it sounds?”