JC didn’t press. I was surprised he’d asked for any information at all. The funny thing was that, now that I’d started talking, I actually wanted to keep on talking. I never talked about the past. But now, if he asked, I would have told him everything.

But he didn’t ask. So I didn’t tell. I moved up to the bench to sit beside him. “Play me something else.”

His hands perched on the keys, but he didn’t play yet. “More Philip Glass?”

Since we weren’t going to talk about her, I didn’t want to think about her anymore either. “No. Anything but that.”

I recognized the piece he performed next but couldn’t name the composer. It had the same haunting, hollow feeling of the Glass piece. It wasn’t as simple—his hands danced nimbly across the notes, his arms stretching past me to reach the higher end of the instrument.

He played beautifully. Exquisitely. Incredibly. I was lost in the sound. Lost in the movement. It occurred to me he was telling me more about himself without words during the course of playing that song than he had the entire time I’d known him.

When he finished with the movement, he shut the cover to the piano and stood up.

I followed him to a standing position. “Show’s over, I guess.”

“Yeah. Show’s over.” He stepped away from the bench and turned away from me as he shook out his hands, and I wondered what it was that he was hiding from me. What he didn’t want me to see on his face.

It wasn’t my place to pry. But maybe he wanted me to ask, just as I’d wanted him to ask. I opened my mouth to do that, not quite sure what I’d say, when I heard a noise coming from the far side of the meeting room. Or more accurately, on the other side of the wall on the far side of the room.

JC cocked his head. “It’s the cleaning crew,” he said. “They vacuum on Thursdays for the weekend.”

“That’s our cue to go.”

I started toward the door, but when I turned back to see if JC was following, I found he hadn’t moved. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before we’re caught.”

He took a step in my direction, his head cocked. “I don’t think so.”

“What? You’re joking. We have to go.” I laughed, but it was a nervous laugh. He was teasing me. I was sure of it. And I didn’t like to be teased.

He met my giggle with a somber expression. “I think, Gwen, that this is a perfect opportunity to try something else. Push your boundaries, as you said earlier.”

“JC, I’m serious.” But the shiver that ran through me was as much excited as scared.

“So am I. Come here.”

I went to him because, hell, that’s what I did. I came when I was called. When I was close enough, he reached out, wrapped his hands in my robe and tugged me up against him. Hovering his mouth above mine, he whispered, “How quiet can you be?”

After he’d taught me to be loud? “Not that quiet,” I whispered back. “Besides, if you’re suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, I’m not interested.”

“I haven’t suggested anything yet. And I think that you’re wrong. I think you’ll be very interested.” He licked my lower lip, teasing me with his tongue.

Suddenly, he drew back and picked me up. He carried me over to the piano and set me down on the closed lid. “Lean back,” he said, at the same time pushing me gently until I lay flat on the piano. The instrument was solid and cold, even through my robe. It was a stark contrast to my jittery nerves and the heat that pulsed through my veins. I knew where this was going. I knew I’d soon be stripped and fondled. I knew that we could be caught.

Yet, I did nothing to stop him.

I didn’t protest as he pulled my panties down and dropped them on the bench behind him. I let him pull me forward so my ass was directly at the edge of the instrument. When he bent my legs to prop my feet on either side of me, I didn’t fight. I was opened wide for him, my pussy exposed. And I did nothing to cover myself.

JC sat on the bench. I could feel his scorching gaze on my sex. “Perfect height,” he said, his tone coarse and strained.

The vacuum started up in the next room, reminding me we weren’t alone. I panicked and sat up enough to prop myself on my elbows.

“No, Gwen. Lay still.” His voice was hot and chocolaty. It melted over my apprehension, covering it in sweet luxury that made it almost impossible to remember what I’d been concerned about to begin with.

Almost.

I didn’t lie back down, but I stopped trying to get up.

“They make you nervous.” JC nodded toward the cleaning crew. Then he trailed a finger down the seam of my sex. “But let me worry about them. Let me worry about you.”

“And what will I worry about?”

“You’ll worry about trying not to scream.” He bent forward and swiped his tongue across my clit.

I bit my lip trying not to cry out.

Even with all the nights we’d spent together, JC had never once gone down on me. He’d mentioned it that first day in the hotel room, said that one day he’d suck me off, but after that, he seemed to lose interest. It was the same with blowjobs. Once, when I’d moved to put his cock in my mouth, he’d subtly directed me elsewhere. I’d gotten the hint. Oral was out, for whatever reason. I’d assumed it was too intimate. Or maybe it just wasn’t his thing.

Tonight, he’d changed his mind. Tonight, he seemed to want to make due on his promise.

He swirled his tongue again around my nub, massaging it with light strokes followed by a long, lush lick. He repeated his pattern, his tongue seeming to move in the opposite direction—I couldn’t be sure. I was too consumed with how good he was making me feel to really be able to discern.

Besides being overwhelmed by the physical sensation, I was also lost in the visual one. I was enrapt. Watching him like this, with his head between my legs, his eyes glued to mine as he cherished my most private parts with his tongue—it was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

He glided his tongue down farther this time, playing at my entrance. “Do you like watching?” He grazed his teeth across my sensitive flesh.

“Yes,” I said on an inhale.

“I’ve been saving this, did you know?”

I shook my head. I had no words.

“I’ve wanted to please you like this for so long.” He was so close to my cunt, I could feel his breath skate across my moist flesh. “Wanted to suck on you and lick you. Wanted to taste you. Do you know why?”