My head was a mess. Each day, I went home, berating myself for letting his behavior continue, telling myself I’d say something to stop him the following day. Then I’d feel his fingertips casually brush the skin of my neck to “tuck the tag in the back of my shirt” and I’d crumble, needy for those illicit touches.

Two weeks of this.

Two weeks!

I was going insane. I’d never needed to get laid so badly in my entire life. But I could not allow myself to have the one man I wanted. There would be no coming back from that, I knew it deep down in my gut. There was no defense strong enough to handle what he was capable of doing if I caved completely. Rowan Locklaine could wreck me, I just knew it.

“How does this look?” Rowan asked as he stepped into the kitchen, pulling me from my lust-filled musings. Turning from the coffee maker, I nearly swallowed my tongue at the sight of him. I’d seen Rowan casual, I’d seen him semi-dressed up—hell, I’d even seen the guy naked! But in a three-piece suit? I was pretty sure my panties just went up in flames.

“Navie?”

“Huh?” I shook my head to clear it of all the dirty thoughts and picked my jaw up off the floor. The way Rowan’s full lips tilted up in a smirk told me he knew where my head had just been.

“The suit. Does it look okay?”

Swallowing loudly, I gave a jerky nod. “Y-yeah. It looks fantastic… I mean good! It looks good.”

Jesus, Navie! Get your shit together!

“Just good?” That smirk of his turned into a full-blown, knowing smile. “You sure it’s just good?”

With a roll of my eyes, I turned back to doctor up my coffee and pour him a mug. “You already have a big enough ego, no need to fish for compliments.” I hoped my flippant comment would diffuse some of the tension in the room but when I spun back to face him, Rowan had managed to move from the doorway to right behind me without making a sound.

Like a sexy ninja.

I was practically caged against the counter. “I wouldn’t have to fish for compliments if you’d give them willingly,” he said in a low, seductive voice as his fingers came up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “Here, follow my lead. Navie, you look beautiful today.”

I felt those words all the way down to my bones… right before they turned to mush. If I hadn’t been pressed against the counter, I was sure I’d have melted into a puddle on the floor.

“Now it’s your turn,” he coaxed, standing way too close for my own good.

“Y-you look very handsome,” I offered in an embarrassingly breathy voice.

“See?” He chuckled, finally taking a step back. “That wasn’t so hard, now was it?”

“I really don’t like you sometimes.”

“Ah, baby,” he crooned, picking up his mug and bringing it to his lips. “You like me all the time. You just won’t admit it.”

Snatching the mug from his hands, I dumped the rest of his coffee into the sink before gracing him with a smug grin of my own.

“Hey! I was drinking that!”

“Sorry.” I shrugged innocently. “I thought you were finished.” Stepping past him, I called over my shoulder as I left the kitchen. “The photographer will be here any minute. I just saved you from having coffee-stained teeth in front of all the readers of Modern Woman magazine. You’re welcome.”

With that, I left him grumbling as I headed for his office to make sure everything was set up for the shoot.

So, it was pretty safe to say my plan to wear Navie down wasn’t going as quickly as I’d hoped. It had been two weeks, and despite the want shining back at me from those dark blue eyes, she was still holding strong to her resolve.

I was horny. And pissed. Not a good combination. Something needed to happen, and it needed to happen fast. Or my balls were liable to explode from too much build-up.

Then, like an answer from the gods, my solution came in the form of a buxom brunette photographer with no qualms about flirting in a professional setting. It couldn’t have been more perfectly timed, really. I’d been putting my best moves on Navie with no success, but the moment I saw her staring daggers at the photographer the magazine had hired for the shoot, a light bulb went off. I was going to make her jealous.

And if there was one thing I’d learned in my life, it was that a jealous woman always fought for what she wanted. I was a fucking genius.

We’d been at it for almost an hour. Annie (I think that was her name) posed me in a million and one different positions—in front of the window, leaning against my desk with my arms crossed, sitting behind my desk—there wasn’t a space of my office I hadn’t been photographed in. And she flirted the entire time, a suggestive comment here, a sultry look there. All the while, Navie stood off to the side, watching the whole thing. The woman’s desire for me was blatantly obvious, and I used it to my benefit.

“I have to say,” Annie spoke as the camera continued to click, “you’re a natural in front of the camera.”

I gave her my signature sexy smile, making sure to watch Navie from the corner of my eye as I leaned back into my chair, my ankle resting on the opposite knee, my chin in the palm of my hand. “Is that right?”

She lowered the camera and grinned at me, licking her glossy lips. “Oh, most definitely. Your sex appeal is off the charts. Our readers are going to go crazy when they see this spread.”

“Just the readers?” I flirted back, ignoring the gagging sounds coming from my assistant’s direction.

“Mmm,” Annie hummed seductively, running her eyes up and down my body. “Definitely not just the readers.”

I ran my finger across my bottom lip as I regarded the brunette in front of me. I had absolutely no desire to fuck her, but Navie had spent the past hour fuming, so I needed to lay it on just a little thicker. “You know, I’m starving. What do you say we grab a bite to eat after this? That is, if you’re not too busy.”

“I’m not busy at all,” Annie answered. “Just a few more shots and I think we can call it a day. We could go somewhere, or maybe… order in?” she finished with a wink, not so subtly letting me know she was a sure thing. Oh, she was just playing right into the palm of my hand. I was ecstatic—that was, until Navie cleared her throat.

“You know, if you’re almost finished here, I think I’ll head out a little early.”

My gaze quickly darted from the woman I didn’t want to the one I did. What the ever loving hell? “Early?” I asked dumbly, trying to understand what was happening. She was no longer staring at Annie like she wanted to gut her like a fish. Oh, no, all that hate in her eyes was focused solely on me, along with something else. Something that looked an awful lot like pain. My gut plummeted.

“Yeah. I mean, you obviously don’t need me here, right?”

“I think we’re good, just the two of us,” Annie answered before I had a chance to speak.

I needed to fix things fast. “You’re not joining us for dinner?” My question earned a confused look from Annie and a scowl from Navie. It was at that very moment I realized my mistake… my huge fucking mistake. Navie wasn’t like any other woman I’d ever been with. She didn’t play games, didn’t manipulate. She was honest to a fault. I was an idiot for thinking for one second that making her jealous would pull her closer to me. All I’d managed to do in the span of an hour was push her even further away.

Standing from my chair, I started in her direction, needing to touch her with a desperation I hadn’t felt in years. A desperation I was so sure I’d never feel again after what Bree had put me through. But seeing my intentions, she quickly skittered toward the open door. “I’ll pass on dinner,” she sneered. “I’m sure you’ll have your hands full anyway. You won’t even notice I’m not there.”