Ultimate Passage: New Beginnings: Box Set ( Books 1-4) by Elle Thorne Page A

hands on her knees, closed her legs, and helped her off the counter.
    Asazi curses and damnation! This was hard, walking away from her, from her scent, taste, feel. He battled to control his lust.
    With a gentle kiss on his mind, he placed his lips on hers. Her mouth parted, and his tongue acted of its own volition, entering, exploring, reaching, doing all the things it had wanted to do below.
    He cupped her breast, his thumb twirling the hardened button, rolling it between his thumb and finger, amazed by the instant response. Her breast swelled in his palm. Her chest rose and fell at a rapid rate.
    He took a half-step back, retrieved her sheet and reluctantly wrapped it around her. “You go get dressed, I’ll clean the kitchen up, and we’ll go to breakfast. My treat. What else do you have to do? You have two days off. You may as well enjoy one of them. Who knows, I may be able to help you solve a problem or two.”
    Her laugh was wry, but she stood and headed down the hall, sheet bunched in her fist, covering all of the parts he’d love to see in greater detail—explore, taste, savor.

Chapter 23
    W hat was wrong with her ? Marissa closed the door to her bedroom, leaned against it, knees weak. She could taste her flavor on his mouth. She licked her lips, the desire to be with him refusing to subside.
    She didn’t need to be going to breakfast with him. She needed to be—
    Needed to be what? It wasn’t like she could do what she normally did. Her life trajectory had suddenly tangented in a whole new direction. Yeah, a direction that sucks. No job, no nothing. Her father would be very disappointed in her, that she was losing Two West Two.
    As if you haven’t wanted to leave it for the last few years. As if you weren’t tired of the restaurant business. Okay, that was true. She was tired of it. She’d wanted to quit and sell the place a few years ago. And when she’d told Dad about it, he’d said, “Sell it. Get out of there. Go be happy.”
    Her response to her father had been that she felt an obligation to the community to keep it around. That it was the oldest restaurant in the area, and she couldn’t just sell it. What if the new owners didn’t care as much?
    Her father had replied, “That’s not your problem. Your customers are busy making themselves happy. You should do the same.”
    Yet some screwed-up sense of obligation had kept her there. For years. She wadded and threw the sheet on the bed, disgusted with herself. But there was a part of her, a secret part, that wanted to rejoice. She now could walk away from Two West Two and not feel guilty. She’d done her best, and circumstances outside of her control had put an end to this part of her life, an end to Two West Two . An end to obligation.
    Responsible, duty-bound Marissa could relax and look into pursuing the things in life she’d wanted, but still she felt like she was being bad. What the hell is wrong with me?
    Her stomach rumbled. Okay, okay, I get the hint. She grabbed a pair of jeans and a top and slipped into them. A puff of powder on her face, a touch of lip gloss, a couple of strokes of blush. That should do it.
    Shit. Her hair. She shook it out, finger-styled it. Mentally proclaimed What the hell and went with it. She switched the lights off and headed back to the kitchen to make sure that sexy hunk of a man called Finn wasn’t burning anything down.
    Finn. Why had she done what she’d done with him? Why was she going to breakfast with him? Why was she doing anything with him? Why wasn’t she doing something productive? Marissa, relax, jeez, for once stop and smell the roses.
    The kitchen was immaculate, the towels rinsed and laid out across the backs of the stools to air dry. Finn was leaning against the counter, arms folded across his chest, looking more like a Roman gladiator than a talent scout.
    Talent scout. She definitely needed to explore that. If he was truly a headhunter for restaurants and hospitality-oriented