Confused by the subject change, I moved to step back, lowering my hand, but Rhys caught my wrist and pulled me against him. I uttered a little gasp, one hand falling against his abs while he kept the other imprisoned against his chest.

“Rhys?”

“Why?” he growled.

I didn’t understand why I was the object of his anger. It wasn’t that he was transferring his frustration with Fairchild to me; I realized that Rhys had been visibly annoyed with me almost from the moment we’d arrived. What was more alarming, however, was the current of sexual heat that accompanied that annoyance.

I didn’t understand it.

Rhys kept telling me this was just a job to him.

Yet he was looking at me now like he wanted to devour me.

“Rhys?”

“Why?”

My nerves were stretched taut by this point and my patience snapped. “I don’t care what these people think!”

“Bullshit!”

My chin jerked back at his vehemence. “Not bullshit.”

Rhys’s eyes widened marginally at my cursing.

Defiant, aggravated, turned on, confused, I tried to pull away again, but his other arm wrapped around my waist, imprisoning me against him. “Let go.”

“Why do you care what these people think?”

“I don’t care what they think! I care what my parents think!”

To my utter confusion, Rhys’s beautiful eyes darkened with fury. His grip on me tightened, pulling me up onto my tiptoes, and he bent his head so our noses were almost touching. “You’re fucking thirty years old,” he seethed. “Time to get your head out of your ass and start living for yourself.”

“Oh, you hypocrite—”

His mouth crushed down over mine, and he released my wrist. I knew I should push him away, stop a kiss that had nothing to do with our pretense, but I didn’t want to. I loved the way he kissed. Demanding and hungry. No one had ever kissed me like Rhys. My skin had been hot from our inexplicable animosity but now it was burning. I clutched at his body, trying to press deeper, and Rhys let out a little growl of frustration that rumbled sexily in my mouth.

Suddenly I was off the ground, Rhys’s hands under my armpits, lifting me up as he continued to kiss me. Instinctively I realized it was uncomfortable for him to bend down to me, so I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, my legs around his waist, and felt him stumble back against the door.

One of his hands slid under my dress to cup my ass while his other curled around my nape. Unbelievably, the kiss grew more voracious. Everything disappeared in that moment. Everything but Rhys and how my body could fit to his. I found myself rocking my hips, and Rhys broke the kiss to mutter “Fuck” against my mouth before capturing it again.

I was aware of us moving as we kissed, and a few seconds later, our lips disconnected as something soft hit my back. Rhys came down over me, not giving me a chance to react to the fact that I was now sprawled on the sofa.

His hips fell between mine, and I gasped into his mouth as I felt him nudge between my legs. Oh my God, he was hard. A lick of lightning heat scored down my spine, and my thighs closed around his hips, my fingernails biting into his shoulders to pull him closer.

His lips trailed away from my mouth, whispering hotly across my skin, as he lightly tasted his way down my throat. I whispered his name, tilting my hips, needing to feel more of him, and trembled as his hand glided up my inner thigh.

My eyes flew open as his lips followed a path down my chest, while his fingers slipped beneath my underwear. Two thick fingers suddenly pushed inside me, and I whimpered and arched my back into his touch. His grip on my hip turned bruising, and I heard him murmur hoarsely, “So tight.”

Rhys’s head came up, and I caught a flash of undiluted desire in his eyes before he crushed his mouth down over mine again. He drank in my moans as his fingers played and pushed me toward climax. I’d never felt anything like it. Such desperate need.

“Oh, Jesus Christ, sorry!”

We froze at the unexpected voice, and Rhys lifted his head to meet my devastated gaze.

No!

I was so close!

The muscle in his jaw flexed as he turned his head toward the doorway. I reluctantly followed suit and saw my sister standing there, lips trembling with laughter, eyes averted.

Oh my God, someone kill me now.

“Uh, your boss and Fairchild are looking for you. I’ll tell them”—laughter bubbled in her words—“you’ll be out in a few minutes.”

The door closed behind her and with it a cold, hard splash of reality.

I saw it on Rhys’s face.

“Shit.” He pulled away from me in every way, and my body protested at the deeply empty, unfulfilled feeling. “Oh fuck.”

Hurt by the raw regret on his face as he got off me, I scrambled to push the hem of my dress down. I lowered my gaze as I swung my legs off the sofa, unable to meet his eyes.

“That shouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry. I was pissed at Fairchild and you were acting—”

He cut off when I scowled up at him. “Acting like what?” I said.

Rhys glowered. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know how you were acting.”

“I don’t know how I was acting. Enlighten me.” I stood and crossed my arms over my chest, feeling the burn of unsatisfied lust heat my temper.

“You know how you were acting.” He dragged his gaze down my body and back up again in a way I did not like. “But you certainly forget all about that when I put my hands on you. Fuck, sweetheart, you light up so hot, I was just along for the ride. You like that for your society boys, or does slumming it get you off?”

Pain flared in my chest, an ache so deep I stumbled back from him, ignoring his flinch.

“Parker—”

I held up a trembling hand, glaring at him so hard, it was a wonder his head didn’t explode from the power of my angry, angry mind. In fact, I was so furious and so hurt, I couldn’t speak. I strode past him, sliding my hands down my dress to smooth it, before turning my attention to combing my hair into some semblance of order.

“Tinker Bell—”

I whirled around just before I got to the door, not caring at the remorse I saw written all over his face. “Go fuck yourself, Rhys.”

Instead of the surprise I thought I’d see on his face, I saw something else. A glitter of light in his eyes as he moved toward the steps that would lead him up to me. “I think we both know I’d rather fuck you.”

Ignoring the thrill that shot through me, I held onto what he’d said, to the derision in his voice just a few seconds ago. “So you can add me to all the notches on your belt? I’m not a challenge. I’m not an opponent. And I—” Stupid tears burned my eyes that I determinedly tried to blink back.

“Tink …” Rhys made to move toward me.

“Don’t.” I lowered my gaze so he couldn’t see how much he’d hurt me. “This is done. I’ll pay you for the month, but this is done.” Tears successfully pushed back, I lifted my chin, my expression flat. “No job is worth someone making you feel this badly about yourself.”

He scowled. “Yeah, you’re right, it isn’t. Pot meet fucking kettle.”

Confusion momentarily subdued my anger. “What—”