Treading Water by Marie Force

asked if you’d
consider coming back some time.”
    “ To work on the hotel?” she
asked with a coy smile.
    Exasperated, he said, “You’re enjoying this
far too much.”
    “ I’m sorry.” He watched her
make a futile attempt to curb her amusement. “You were
saying?”
    “ Would you? Consider coming
back? To, um, see me? If you were unattached.
Hypothetically.”
    Taking the final step to close the distance
between them, she reached up to caress his face.
    “ Andi…”
    “ Yes, Jack?”
    Suddenly, he couldn’t seem to get air to his
lungs. “What’re you doing?”
    She wound her arms around his neck to draw
him down to her. “This.”
    At the instant his lips connected with hers,
he was lost.
    The sensation of her tongue caressing his
made Jack feel light-headed and empowered at the same time. Leaning
back against the door, he put his arms around her and lifted her
for a better angle. “This is so crazy, but I can’t resist you.” He
tipped his head and went back for more, nearly imploding from the
heat of the sensual kiss.
    In desperate need of air and searching for
sanity, he nuzzled her neck, breathing in the scent that was so
uniquely hers.
    “ Jack—”
    “ Come back,” he whispered.
“Not for work but because you want to see me. Come back,
Andi.”
    “ When?” She sounded as
breathless as he felt.
    “ Soon. Next
weekend?”
    “ I don’t know.” Her hands
moved to his chest. “I’ll have to see what’s going on at
home.”
    “ I want to see you
again.”
    A knock on the door startled them.
    “ Ready to go, boss?” Andi’s
colleague, Michael, asked from the hallway.
    She rubbed a trembling hand over her swollen
lips. “I’ll be right there.” Looking up at Jack, she studied him
for a long moment. “I need to think about it.”
    “ Okay.” Jack rested his
hand on the doorknob while she collected her briefcase and
belongings. All the while, he watched her, memorizing every
detail.
    As he was about to open the door, she
stopped him. Going up on tiptoes, she pressed her lips to his
cheek. “I’ve never kissed him,” she whispered.
    Somehow he managed to open the door. Somehow
he managed to let her walk away. Somehow he managed to start
breathing again.
     
    Jack thought endlessly about that kiss. He
replayed every nuance of his last minutes with her. When he was
supposed to be working, he thought about the kiss. When he was
supposed to be paying attention in meetings, he replayed the kiss
and pondered the meaning of her parting words. When he was supposed
to be sleeping, he thought about how it had felt to hold her. He’d
kissed his share of women, but no other encounter had ever rocked
his world quite the way this one had—a realization that filled him
with giddy hope and crushing guilt. What was wrong with him that he
was thinking so much about another woman while his wife lay
comatose and helpless?
    Quinn stepped into the office and cleared
her throat to get his attention.
    “ Hey,” he said. “What’s
up?”
    “ I might ask you the same
thing. Where the heck are you this week?”
    “ Nowhere. Here.”
    “ Is something wrong? Is it
Clare?”
    “ No,” he said, once again
filled with guilt. No, he wasn’t obsessing
over his sick wife—not anymore . “Nothing’s
wrong.”
    She studied him for a second or two and then
handed him several files. “The weekly conference call with Infinity
is in twenty minutes. Do you want me to reschedule?”
    His heart beat faster at the reminder that
he’d get to speak to Andi again. Soon. “No need.”
    “ All righty, then. I’ll let
you get to it.”
    “ Thanks.”
    In preparation for the meeting, Jack forced
himself to take note of the files Quinn had given him, while trying
to stop thinking about Andi and THE KISS. That damned kiss! By the
time he dialed into the call, he was almost mad with her for
twisting him into knots and then leaving him hanging without a word
for two days.
    But then he heard her voice on the