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.” He pressed the heel of his palm to her pussy and leaned into the contact.“But I do.” Her white-knuckled grip didn’t lessen.“Not going to repeat past mistakes.”“What?” Oliver froze.The floor was hard beneath his knees, sending tendrils of pain through his legs.The discomfort rose until it took root in his chest, squeezing his heart.You were a mistake, Oliver.“I…”A horrible mistake.Best thing I ever did was run and get as far from you as I could.Beth snapped her mouth shut as her gaze shifted to the door.He didn’t need to look to know Josh was standing there.He could feel the change in the air, the scent of the other man reaching him across the room.“Don’t let me interrupt.The show was just getting good.”This time when Beth squirmed, Oliver did nothing to stop her.Too shell-shocked to care, he didn’t move a muscle.“Sorry, Josh,” he said, hating how dead his voice sounded.“I told you I didn’t mind as long as the club isn’t open.Oliver, you’re a hard temptation to pass up, especially when you’re on your knees.”Fuck, what the hell is wrong with me? Beth moved away, rejecting his touch, rejecting him.Josh, someone he shouldn’t be attracted to, moved in close.The brush of his fingers down the back of Oliver’s neck dragged reactions from his body he should be ashamed of.When had the world gotten so fucked up?Right around the time Mallory had walked out on him.No, before then.Back when he realized the pain from the tattoos turned him on, when he loved the way Brandon would boss him around while he was inking him up.It wasn’t normal.There must be something wrong with his brain for him to get off on stuff like this.It wasn’t the way things should be.“Beth, it’s okay.You two are beautiful together.I’d never ask you to stop if it was something you wanted.” Josh held out his hand for her even as he squeezed the back of Oliver’s neck.The touch did nothing to calm Oliver’s rising panic.Just the opposite.But he couldn’t move, needing to see Beth, watch her reaction.For a moment, Oliver thought she was going to listen to him.Her gaze bounced between them—Josh standing imposingly above him, Oliver half panting with a lust that brought his guilt to another level.Beth’s smile was barely a twitch of her lips and certainly didn’t come anywhere close to reaching her eyes.“Josh, I can’t.Not here in the office.” Her voice wavered as she spoke, the sound going straight through Oliver’s heart.“This isn’t the coffee shop.Sex is part of the deal in this environment.”“It’s not that.” She bit down on her bottom lip.“You know that’s not the problem.”“I thought you didn’t regret what we did?” The question left Oliver before it had fully formed in his brain.Not that he was sorry he asked.If things were going to go tits up, he wanted to know sooner than later.Beth stiffened.“Oliver, this actually has nothing to do with you.”That didn’t exactly make things better.He should have known better than to push for this.While he knew Beth was attracted to him, it took more than that for a relationship to work.Getting to his feet, Oliver ignored Josh’s firm touch to the small of his back.This was about Beth.The few feet that separated them was a chasm he wasn’t ready to breach.Instead he smiled and shoved his hands in his pockets.“This is why I hesitated.” He shrugged at her frown.“I didn’t want to risk our friendship with sex.I thought—” God, what was the point.He spun on his heel and strode away.“Don’t you dare leave.”Josh’s booming voice stopped Oliver dead in his tracks.He couldn’t turn around to face them.Oliver knew he was being irrational.He’d learned to recognize the signs of his brain beginning to spiral down into loathing months ago, but he didn’t know how to yank himself back from the brink.“The last thing I wanted to do was ruin things by acting on my desires.” He managed to keep his voice even.“Beth said ‘Stop,’ and I did.If I stay…” He squeezed his hands into fists.“I just need some time to cool off.I’ll be fine and things can go back to how they were before.”Josh moved behind him, standing close without touching.“Running away won’t make this better.We need to talk about what happened.”“I’m not running.Just taking a breather.I’m not a coward, but I need…I just need some space.” Chancing a glance over his shoulder, Oliver met Josh’s concerned gaze.“Sorry.What did Kingston want?”“He’s a lawyer for Allison.Wanted to see if I was going to press charges, and apparently wanted to try and rile me up about the club being vandalized.Totally irrelevant to our current conversation.”“Ah.Are you going to? Press charges?”“No.”Oliver stepped away but couldn’t quite bring himself to leave.“I’ll be down in the freezer finishing the inventory.”The entire time Beth hadn’t said a word.Whatever he’d done to upset her, she wasn’t about to share with him.Better to put distance between them.Any man would be a better choice over you, Ollie [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]