Page 44 of Undeniable You

Fuck.

I opened my door and found her breathing hard as if she’d run up the stairs.

“I’m sorry for just showing up, but I had to talk to face-to-face,” she said, just pushing past me and coming inside. Okay then. This was happening. I tried not to throw up. Waves of ice cascaded over my skin as Larison looked around and then turned and faced me.

“You just left last night and didn’t give me any time to process anything you said. And you didn’t really tell me what you meant by having feelings. Because that can mean a lot of different things.”

I clenched my shaking fingers together and took a deep breath, my entire body trembling.

“I like you, Larison. I like you alot. I have from the first second I saw you. And I shouldn’t have taken the job knowing that, but I thought it would go away. I thought it would stop and then it got worse and I need this job.”

Larison listened to all of that, her brown eyes steady on my face.

“I’m not going to fire you, Josephine.”

Fucking hell. My name again.

I closed my eyes and when I opened them, she’d taken a silent step closer to me.

“Falling for someone isn’t a crime, Jo. And you’re not the only one who had feelings like that when we first met.” She licked her lips and then I couldn’t take my eyes away from her mouth.

What would kissing Larison be like? Life-altering, probably.

“You, um, like me?” I asked and made a face. I sounded like I was in middle school.

“Yeah, Jo. I do. And I did the same thing. Hoped it would stop or go away, but then you had to go and be wonderful to me and my daughter and I had no chance.” She laughed softly and I could smell her hair and I wanted to run my fingers through it and watch the colors change in the light. I also wanted to do less sweet things like drag my teeth down the side of her neck and kiss her until she moaned.

Both. I wanted both.

So distracted by all those thoughts, it took a second for her words to break through and make sense.

“Maybe, I mean…maybe you like me because you’re paying me to be nice to you.” That was a fear that was very real to me. That her gratitude for me coming in and helping her would get mistaken for desire.

Larison shook her head. “No. It’s not just that you’re good with Juniper. It’s those times when you stayed late and played with her hair and talked to me and the way you made dinner and just…you. It’s just you, Jo. Everything about you. I can’t stop thinking about you all the time. Wishing you’d walk back through the door.”

Oh. Well. That was a lot to process.

“Are you sure?” I asked, my voice croaking. I really needed her to be absolutely clear with me.

She laughed. “Yes, I’m sure, Jo. I’ve been very sure for a while, but I didn’t know if you felt the same way and I’d be a pretty disgusting human if I told you any of that while you were working for me. I would never want to pressure you into anything.”

“You wouldn’t,” I said immediately. “I know you wouldn’t.”

“Areyousure?”

Yes, I was really fucking sure, and this talking was starting to go in circles so I was going to do something about it.

She was here and she looked so good and she’d said that she liked me and all of that had gone directly to my head and my pussy and had clouded my judgment so was I really responsible for my actions right now?

Leaning forward and upward, I eliminated the space between us and kissed her. A gentle press of lips. A greeting. A question. A wish.

Her entire body jolted against mine. I’d surprised her. That movement made me pull back, worried I’d done the wrong thing. Misread all of her signals.

Her eyes stared into mine as her lips parted.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted.

“You didn’t have to stop.”