Stopping outside her office, Rebecca closed her eyes, her hand hovering over the handle. "Today is going to be a normal day," she said under her breath. "A regular, normal, not-weird day." Taking a deep breath in, she opened her eyes and stepped into the room.

And stopped again when she saw Nathaniel sitting behind his desk, watching her. He raised his eyebrows when he saw that she'd noticed him. "I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to come in," he said mildly.

Because of course he'd been watching her psych herself up for the day. Swallowing down the lump in her throat, Rebecca walked over to her desk and put her bag down. "I didn't realise you'd be in yet," she said nonchalantly.

Nathaniel looked up at her skeptically. "You do realise that I'm here before you every day, right?"

"Yeah, well... yeah."

Slowly, she sat down at her desk, and after a long moment opened her laptop. She logged in, opened her emails, glanced up at Nathaniel - and found his eyes still on her. She looked away quickly, unable to stop her mind from turning to the last time they'd been in this room together. In his chair together. All over his desk together –

"Nope, this is too weird," she said, closing her laptop screen pushing back from her desk. "I can't do this without coffee."

"Rebecca, wait," he started but she ignored him, practically running to the break room. Not running from him, no. Just needing coffee. Yep, that was all it was.

There was only so much time she could spend making coffee, however. As much as she would normally be totally on board with the idea of avoiding both Nathaniel and work at the same time, she had a new responsibility as the senior partner of the firm to, you know, actually do some work.

That would be easier if she hadn't decided to make his office their office.

He put down the file he was holding when she walked back into their shared room, shutting down her hope that they could just ignore each other. Sighing heavily, she trudged over to her desk and sat back down, opening her laptop again and making a show of pressing a lot of keys. "I have a lot of important work to do," she said matter-of-factly.

"Well that's a first," he said, then tossed the file onto the desk, leaning back in his chair. "Look, Rebecca. I'm not going to sit across from you every day and be awkward about this. We did it, sure, but we agreed last night that it's never going to happen again. So...?"

The memories from last night tried to force themselves on her again - it was right there that - nope, she wasn't going to think about it. Taking a deep breath, she put her hands on the desk and made herself look at him directly. "It's not going to happen again," she said firmly. "And it doesn't have to be awkward." He smiled at her faintly, and she felt herself relax. "You're in a happy relationship, I'm working on myself, and we're absolutely not going to do it again. Here or anywhere else," she said, glancing at his desk where, just a few hours ago, she'd been riding him like her life had depended on it, his hands holding her so tightly that she could still feel the bruises his fingers had left on her thighs if she shifted in her seat too much.

Fuck.

She looked up at him again and saw his eyes on the same space she'd just been staring, his Adam's apple moving up and down, and she suppressed a shiver at the distracted look on his face, his mouth slightly open. After a moment he gave himself a shake and she looked away, knowing she'd be entirely screwed if she met his eyes just then. "It's going to be fine," he said, clearing his throat and shuffling around the papers on his desk.

Yeah. Totally fine.

Groaning loudly, Rebecca pulled her pillow over her head as the knocking at her door grew louder and more incessant. She could sleep through it, she knew she could, whoever it was would give up soon –

"Rebecca! I know you're in there!"

Because who else would show up at her house and try to knock her damn door down? At least he was knocking at her front door and not her bedroom. Boundaries, right?

Pushing down an urge to kill, Rebecca forced herself from the bed and threw the pillow down onto it. Knowing that she had no chance of getting back to sleep now, she scrubbed at her face with her hands to wake herself up more fully as she strode to the door.

The moment she had it open Nathaniel stormed in, pushing past her into the house. "Care to tell me why the hell no one is at work right now?"

Rolling her eyes, Rebecca closed the door and turned to face him. "Um, because it's a Saturday."

His eyebrows shot up, his eyes widened. "You know I told everyone that they had to work today!"

"Yes, but it's Tim's birthday, and everyone's going to Raging Waters and - oh." She grimaced. "Are you upset that no one invited you? We all thought you'd had your fill of the place in those ten germ-filled minutes you were there last time, but if you liked it that much I'm sure they won't mind if you go."

"And what's your excuse then?" he asked, looking her up and down pointedly. She felt suddenly self-conscious in the oversized shirt that she wore to bed, but she certainly wasn't going to show him that. He didn't need to know that she wasn't wearing any underwear right now. Except the idea of him knowing that she wasn't wearing any underwear made her feel suddenly hot all over. "Why aren't you at work?"

She wasn't going to let him get to her. Rebecca put her hands on her hips. "Well first of all, you're not the boss of me, like figuratively or literally, so you don't really get to ask me that. And secondly, I was going to go to Raging Waters because, obviously, but I woke up with a headache so I stayed in bed." She cocked her head, taking stock of herself. No headache, only frustration and irritation. And Raging Waters would be the best fix for that. "But now that I think about it I'm actually feeling a lot better so maybe I will -"

Nathaniel groaned loudly, interrupting her and aggravating her further. "And what about that brief that everyone is supposed to be working on today?"

"We'll get that done on Monday."

"It's due on Monday!"

Rebecca scoffed. "Yeah, Monday afternoon. I could do it myself on Monday. It will be done on Monday."

Nathaniel shook his head, pulling his phone from his pocket. "No, it will be done today. I don't care where they are – they're going in to work today, and so are you."

"No – no –" Rebecca reached out and grabbed his phone, jumping out of his grasp when he reached after her. "You can't do that!" She was backing away from him, keeping his phone from him, but stopped and squared off against him when she realised what she was doing. She was going to stand her ground, damn it. How dare he think he could keep ruining these people's plans and weekends and birthdays? "You can't just keep contradicting me and… and undermining me in front of my staff!"

"Me?" He laughed, but his voice was filled with bitterness and sarcasm. "Me, undermining you? You're the one who went behind my back and undermined my orders for today."

His orders? She screwed her face up. "Yeah, because I'm the boss and I can do that, Mr Minority Owner."

"Oh yeah, real nice," he said, stepping up close to her. She had to crane her neck to meet his eye, and she scowled up at him, cursing his height. "Rub it in my face how you stole the firm out from under me, sure."

"Yeah, after you stole it from Darryl!" She threw her hands up in exasperation, then snatched them back when he reached for his phone, twisting her body to keep her hand out of his reach.

"This is not about Darryl," he snarled. He followed her smoothly, remaining just a few inches away from her. She could practically feel the frustration radiating from him.

"Oh yeah? Then what –"

She cut off with a gasp – or was cut off, when Nathaniel surged toward her and covered her mouth with his, pressing his lips hard against hers and suddenly she was unable to think of anything else but the way he tasted, the way his lips and tongue moved with hers. She kissed him back without even thinking about it, without even hesitating, dropping his phone to wrap around the back of his neck, pulling him down and further into her. His hands settled on her hips, his thumbs digging into her sides as he pulled her body close and she pressed against him obligingly, unnaturally turned on at the thought of him standing there, fully dressed in his suit while she wore only her long, thin shirt and nothing else.

Even so, she pushed his jacket off his shoulders, wanting to be closer to him that his stupid jacket allowed. He slid one arm around her waist, holding her tightly to him while the other smoothed over her hip, down over her ass, and when he tugged up her skirt and palmed her bare ass she grabbed onto his tie and pulled him back down to her, smothering his groan with her mouth. He shifted his grip on her and lifted her up, her legs going around his waist automatically, and suddenly there was nothing but his hands, his mouth, and the evidence of his want pressing right up against her between her legs.

Somehow they made it across the room, and then the kitchen counter was cold and hard on her bare skin. He tried to move back but she tightened her legs around him, rolling her hips against him and she leaned back to catch the way his eyes fluttered closed as she rubbed herself against him, his stuttered moan sending a shiver through her. He ground himself against her then pulled his hips away suddenly, his brow furrowing. "Fuck… you," he said between breaths, pushing his hand between her legs, his fingers slipping between her folds and no, she didn't miss the way his jaw clenched when his fingers slid so easily inside of her. She didn't care that she was so wet, or what that said for the two of them or their stupid argument, all she could focus on was the slow, steady movement of his fingers inside of her.

Leaning back on the counter, she angled her hips up, desperate to get as much friction as she could, moaning when his thumb pressed against her clit and rubbed in slow, infuriating circles. "Fuck you," she gasped, throwing back her head and riding his hand as best she could.

"Fuck." His hand came around the back of her neck and tightened in her hair, pulling her forward and then he was kissing her again and oh god, she never wanted this to end. When his hand moved from her head she wanted to stay close to him so she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her breasts firmly against his chest, wishing she could feel his bare skin against her bare skin but also still insanely turned on at the thought that he was still so fully dressed, so formal and proper. Well mostly – she ran her hand through his hair just to mess it up.

When he pulled his hand away from her and stepped back she was ready to protest, ready to fight, but the protest died on her lips when she saw him pulling a condom from his wallet. Leaning forward, she undid his belt and his pants while he opened the small packet, and couldn't help but grin when she put her hand into his underwear, wrapped it around his cock and felt him shudder all through his body. His throat was working as though he was trying to say something, but it was cut off by a moan when she tightened her fingers around him.

She laughed quietly under her breath at his reaction, and apparently that was too much for him. His hand grabbed her wrist and pulled hers away from him, pulling it behind her and forcing her to lean back on the counter, then both of his hands were on her hips, tugging her forward so she sat on the very edge of the cold bench. She spread her legs wider and then he was between them, pressing himself against her and then, oh, oh, yes.

He entered her slowly but that was her only respite, pulling back and then thrusting into her so quickly that she was soon breathless and struggling to keep up. But fuck it if she wasn't going to try. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she trusted his hands on her hips and her ass to keep her from falling off the bench and rocked against him, meeting him thrust for thrust and she was so worked up from his hands on her before that she was sure that she'd get off just from that alone if she needed to.

But of course she didn't need to, not with him. She hated how well he already knew her body. Tightening one arm around her, he brought the other hand between them and started to thumb gently at her clit, kissing her firmly as he did so until she thought her lungs would burst when the dam did. When he finally broke the kiss he offered her no respite, kissing his way along her jaw and to her neck, lips and tongue and teeth working the skin there as he worked her. And it… it was too much, all at once, his mouth and his fingers and his cock all too relentless and she… "Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh –"

"Yes," he groaned, wrapping his free arm around her again and the change of angle reached a new spot inside her that sent her over the edge, her legs twitching and tightening around him, her skin tingling and breaking into sweat all over, clutching onto him hopelessly as he fucked her through her orgasm.

She was still struggling to catch her breath when his movements became jerky and uneven, and she decided to return the favour and drive him a little crazy, tugging on his tie to bring his head down and closing her teeth gently over his earlobe. His moan was low and long, changing pitch with every thrust, and fuck, the way his face scrunched up when his hips stuttered against hers sent a new thrill through her.

Slowly, his hips stilled against her and she let her head fall against his chest, finally starting to catch her breath and feeling boneless and satisfied. Still breathing heavily, Nathaniel loosened his arms around her slightly but didn't let go entirely, dropping his head to rest against her shoulder, and somehow her hand found itself in his hair, holding him against her. It was nice, it was…

"Shit," he said eventually, between breaths, and Rebecca's eyes slid closed as reality came crashing down around her.

Leaning back, she pushed gently on his chest, keeping her face turned away from him. He stepped back without protest and she slipped down onto the floor, holding tightly to the kitchen counter since she didn't trust her legs not to give out on her. She still felt like jelly all over. Tugging her shirt down to cover herself, she risked a reluctant glance in his direction, but he wasn't looking directly at her either. "You need to go," she said, surprised when her voice came out only slightly unevenly.

He finished buckling his belt and then reached back to rub at the back of his neck. "This can't happen again," he said firmly.

Did he think she didn't know that? But all of the fight had gone out of her, for the moment anyway. She didn't want to fight with him. She wanted to be in his arms again, wanted to sigh into him and be warm and satisfied and together, but she was the one who had stepped away from that. Nothing had changed for her, and he'd moved on to someone else. Of course they couldn't do this again – it shouldn't have even happened this time. She shifted from one foot to the other, then made herself still when she felt her lingering wetness on her thighs. "This isn't going to happen again."

When he didn't reply after a few moments she looked up at him and saw his eyes on her, watching him swallow and take a breath. "I'll see you Monday."

"Yep."

She didn't watch him leave, instead turning and putting her elbows on the counter, burying her face in her hands and cursing her own stupidity at letting this happen. Again.