Game of Temptation

on the wrong door. It

even-fifteen at night with my phone in my fist, a mess

o photographers have gained ac

er I wasn't drinking, and I had known the instant I finished that I was n

st lie I told my

that I wasn't

topped mid-thigh, hair twisted up in a clip, bare feet on the carpet, an

the service elevators. Security's on the way, but t

harp. The agent clicked on

direc

rwell

bbed her key sleeve off the dresser, then

ot dre

her a

shirt in the hallway at midnight, standing outside your roo

g. I put a hand on the door frame

walk the corridor

ow you straig

ead them som

heard it: the muted ping of the service elevator at the far end of

here wasn't a single

behind me, and caught her by the shoulders as a

" I wh

back to the entrance and pulled her in against my chest, one arm curved around her

an undertone I couldn't quite catch, "Is that them?"

dn't go

ck at the bottom of the door, wide-angle,

very

was pressed into

ould feel her heart going like a trapped bird against my ribs. Her hair smelled like hot

I breathed i

not m

oo

ce, the flat bark of "Sir, you cannot be on this floor." The photographers scattered with a clatter

med, an elevator chimed, and the silence that fell

d have

pposed to work. The danger w

s a step back, a joke, a shoulder bump, any of a dozen quick m

p back. Neit

roat. I lowered my arm from the wall and it came down, naturally, treacherously, t

Barely

e gone,

kno

can l

can

nst my wrist, the soft rhythm of her breathing slowing to match mine. I'd been touched by thousands of people in my

l like I was standing at the edge of

ted her

amp, her eyes were wide and

free hand to push it back, as I had on the harbor terrace

he line of her ja

meras in here,"

" she w

a plea, and the difference be

etween her mouth and mine was only a breath wide. I could

st, and she pushed. Gently. Firmly. The way

aragraph C," she

water. I stepped back, and the loss of

y voice came out r

hands were trembling. "It's about the fact that if I let this happen once, I won't be able to stop, and I will lose every

kno

yo

want something that can r

ing that line m

made me want to tear every contract in the building into

m," she said, in a smooth professional v

nt in the morning. Something about un

th in the hall to see

en

night,

ity officer stood just outsi

, because anything I said now would ha

pulse hammering in my ears. On the nightstand, my phone buzzed. Tessa's name, th

ed it

one bending over the other, one hand curved around a waist. The footage was grainy and dark and

HE HALLWAY MOMENT THE INTE

thread, a single message from a verifie

the Finals? Join us at 7 a.m. for a