Surge: (#7 The Beat and The Pulse) by Amity Cross Page B

murmured, closing the distance between us. “I’m sorry. I didn’t handle it well. You said it yourself. I’m fucking stupid. I don’t know how to do this shit.”
    “You don’t need to apologize,” she said stiffly. “I took a risk, and it didn’t pay off. That’s life. It happens all the time.”
    I raised my hand to touch her, to pull her back from whatever conclusion she’d jumped to, but she took a step back. Then I took a step forward, my gaze flickering to her mouth. My dick began to thicken as her tongue darted out and ran along her bottom lip, the motion punctuated by her teeth dragging against her damp skin.
    “Jo…”
    She shook her head, her eyes pleading. Did she want me to take her because I would…right against the window, or did she want me to stop?
    “Tell me what you want,” I murmured.
    “I…”
    I was a hair’s breadth from finishing what she’d started the other morning when her mobile phone started to ring shrilly in the silence.
    Josie snapped to attention, and I moved away, whatever was about to happen dissipating as the storm broke over the beach below. Rain pounded over the sand in waves until it doused the city around us, thumping against the glass.
    “This can’t…” she began, picking up her phone and checking the screen.
    I scowled, fisting my hand through my rumpled hair. “If you say so.”
    “Dean…” The phone stopped ringing, and she sighed, sliding it back onto the desk.
    “You’re telling me you didn’t feel that?” I asked, jabbing a finger in the air between us.
    “It’s probably for the best,” she said. “What happened the other morning was a lapse in judgment.”
    “Which I seem to have all the time, apparently.”
    “It’s for the best,” she added, ignoring my self-absorbed barb.
    Snorting at the irony of the entire situation, I stormed out into the gym, slamming her office door closed behind me. The sound was echoed by a crash of thunder right above the building, the shock wave making the windows rattle.
    Grabbing a set of dumbbells, I sat on the bench facing the view of the storm, placed my right elbow on my knee, and began lifting. Lightning raced across the sky as my frustration grew, doing nothing but supercharging my need to fuck Josie up against the window.
    The outside door opened, letting in a blast of damp air, and my brother appeared, looking like a drowned rat.
    “Hey,” Linc said, his tone way too cheery after the scene that had played out in Josie’s office.
    I grunted and switched to my left arm.
    “What’s up your ass?” he asked. “You got a feather up there tickling your balls or something?”
    “Jo’s back,” I said, nodding toward the far corner where I knew she was sitting, probably cursing the day the egg split in my mother’s womb and created two of us.
    Lincoln groaned and slapped me on the back of the head. “Don’t tell me you’ve pissed her off already?”
    “She left without telling anyone,” I replied. “I was worried about her. Turned out she didn’t need worrying over.”
    “Wow.” His mouth fell open.
    “Shut the hell up,” I snapped. “You tell me to take more notice and I still fuck it up. I’m just keeping my mouth shut from now on. It’s for the best .” I echoed Josie’s words and felt the bile burn the back of my throat.
    I could still feel him lingering beside me, and I knew he was about to ask another dumb question.
    “What’s going on with you two?”
    I ground my teeth together, focusing on my repetitions. There was no way in hell I was telling him or anybody about what happened the other morning. Josie in my lap, grinding against my hard-on, her lips brushing against mine… That moment was between Jo and me. No one else.
    “I was trying to make good,” I replied. “Turned out the only thing I needed to do was tone down the inappropriate public appearances.”
    He laughed and backed away toward the little kitchenette. “Well, keep it in mind. I know you’re still sore