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all…something. There was a big word for it. Suzi would know. They groveled too much. Tessa never groveled. Every time he was near her, her electric surge jolted him.
    He opened his pants. So what if he was just a stand in? This was a great place to be standing.
    Tessa slid the condom over him and untied the belt of her robe. Brett lifted her off the floor and thrust into her. Three long strokes and she clenched around him, crying out as she wrung his climax from him.
    For a long moment, all Brett could do was lean on her, breathing her scent. She was amazing. Everything he needed and too much for him at the same time. The taste of her skin and feel of her body.
    “Brett, you need to put me down before my legs seize up and you have to carry me upstairs.”
    That wouldn’t be a bad option. A little tricky with his jeans halfway down his thighs though. But he was meat to her, just like the girls at the bar were to him, and she wouldn’t want him inside her house. He shifted away from her so he could put her down. “Not bad for second best, huh?” As soon as he said it, he wished he hadn’t. Second best. She didn’t even have to remind him. He’d do it for her.
    “What?” Tessa blinked. Then she closed her robe and tied it. “Oh. I’m sorry about that. I was just discombobulated from having you in my office.”
    If discombobulated meant bitchy then, yeah, she had been. “I think it was more like I had you.” He dropped the condom in a wastebasket by the door and got himself back into his pants. “Well, I guess we’re done here.”
    “What?”
    “Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow.” He opened the door.
    “Wait, you don’t have to go.”
    “Yeah, I do. You have plans.” He stepped outside. “Thanks for not calling the cops on me.” He pulled the door closed behind him, got into his car, and drove away.
    It hadn’t been the victory he’d wanted. He’d much rather be cuddled up in her bed, convincing her to cancel her plans. What was she doing tomorrow? Maybe she had a date.
With who? Probably the fucker she’d talked to when she was trying to get to Jerry Eland for him. She’d said she had plans when they were on the phone. Had she called and told him her plans fell through when he hadn’t shown up?
    Dumbass, dumbass, dumbass. By not picking her up when he was supposed to, he’d opened the door for some other guy. Next time he showed up at her door at two in the morning, a guy might answer.
     
     

Chapter 4
     
    “Will you be having any dessert today?” the waiter asked, as if he expected to be turned down. He started picking up their empty plates.
    “Yes.” Tessa folded her hands in her lap. “Can you bring me the menu?”
    The waiter blinked. “Certainly.”
    “Okay, what is going on?” Candy threw her napkin on the table as the waiter hurried away in search of the dessert menu. “You call me last night in a lather about needing something to do today, and can I have lunch with you? You eat meatloaf and mashed potatoes. You clean your plate. And now you’re having dessert? Either you’re pregnant or you’ve just been dumped, and you’re not saying, so I have to ask in a loud voice or you won’t tell me.”
    Tessa smoothed her napkin in her lap. At seven last night when Brett hadn’t arrived, she’d given up on the idea that he was just late and unpacked her overnight bag. By seven-thirty, she’d been in tears because he’d dumped her and hadn’t even bothered to tell her. Around eight, she’d realized he couldn’t dump her because she was a booty call and didn’t even rate an official dumping. At eight-fifteen, she’d called Candy to ask her to have lunch. If Candy hadn’t been able to make it, she’d have probably broken down and called Frank, which wouldn’t have been fair to him. After she’d gotten off the phone, she’d opened up her email and printed out all the contracts that had been sent to her so she could read them over, but hadn’t. At nine-thirty, she’d run