The Departed

of her co-workers expected.
    He never let it show, though.
    Until now. That steel curtain, for just a moment, parted. Fluttered. Just beyond that curtain, she saw pain, misery, and guilt…and something else that stole the breath from her lungs.
    Molten, burning, scalding heat…
    The sight of that heat did something to her low, low inside her belly. Her heart skipped a few beats, then settled into a quick, rapid rhythm—a thousand butterflies trapped inside her chest. Butterflies with wings dipped in some seriously strong sort of aphrodisiac, too. Lust, hot and heavy, moved through her, and before Dez knew what she was doing, she had her hand on Taylor’s cheek. “I’m okay, you know. I’m tougher than I look. Hell, I feel almost normal already. No surprise, considering you made them keep me several days longer than needed.”
    Then, tortured by the unexpected misery she saw in those steely blue eyes, taunted by unadulterated heat, she bussed his mouth lightly with hers. “I’m alive…and I’m alive because you were there, Taylor. So stop kicking yourself, okay?”
    * * *
     
    THE feel of her mouth against his was a delight he had never expected to feel, one he knew he didn’t deserve…and one he knew he wasn’t strong enough to turn away from.
    When she would have pulled away, he reached up, cupped his hand over the back of her head.
    He thought she’d pull away.
    Was sure of it, even.
    She was just trying to assuage his guilt, and it didn’t surprise him. She was cocky, sarcastic, and very often full of attitude, but she had the gentlest, kindest heart…and he didn’t deserve that kindness. She didn’t pull away, though.
    And when her mouth opened under his, it wasn’t the sort of soft, pitying kiss he might have expected.
    The heat, the hunger in that kiss might have laid him low…if he hadn’t already been so starved for her. If he hadn’t spent so many fucking nights dreaming of her. If he hadn’t been half blind with need and guilt and desperation and too many other emotions he couldn’t even begin to describe.
    Slanting his mouth more firmly against hers, Taylor stared at her from under his lashes and was startled to realize she was looking back at him. Swearing, he jerked back and muttered, “Damn it. This is insane.”
    One slim, ringless hand came up, toyed with the placket of his shirt. “I always thought it was insane not to do something you really, really want…” Dez’s gaze shifted up to meet his and his body tensed, whip tight, as she murmured, “And I’ve wanted this a very, very long time.”
    That elegant, long-fingered hand stroked down the front of his shirt. The smile that curled her lips was so smug, so sexy and female—if he hadn’t already been rock hard and aching…fuck, he could have gone to his knees and begged just then.
    And when her fingers closed around him, stroked him through his trousers, he almost did. The smile on her mouth widened. “Taylor, you want me, too. So, tell me…why is this insane?”
    There was a reason. No. Not reason . Reasons. Lots of them. He knew it. But as those fingers stroked up, then down, he couldn’t think of them, not a single one.
    Staring into her sloe eyes, he dredged up a couple of those reasons. “You work for me. I’m your boss—this is a bad fucking idea.”
    “Then I guess maybe we shouldn’t tell anybody.”
    Yes, that’s a good idea… Shit. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t.
    * * *
     
    DEZ could see the war being waged in his eyes and if she had any sense at all, she’d back off. She already knew she’d have a hard time facing him when she went back to work—hell, five minutes from now when the fog cleared from her brain—but she couldn’t back off. She needed this, needed him. The ache was a constant, pulsing emptiness inside her and it grew worse and worse with every passing second.
    Instead of backing away as common sense demanded, she teased the line of his mouth with her tongue and delighted as she felt him tremble against her. The subtle power in that lean body had always amazed her…and she could make him tremble.
    It was a drug.
    That would explain why her brain suddenly went beyond haywire, why every last nerve ending started to buzz and jitter and vibrate. Fisting her free hand in his shirtfront, she pulled him closer and sank her teeth into his lower lip. “Tell me something, Taylor…you ever turn that brain of yours off?”
    He swore.
    And she could almost hear it as the