You must’ve woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning—or, rather, inside the wrong bed.

The feeling is sudden and it’s sticking within you. Even as you’re rushing through your morning routine as usual, sliding on your tight-fitted jeans and buttoning up your three quarter-sleeve dress shirt, you can’t help thinking about them coming right back off. You’ve even decided on wearing your best matching set, hopeful that the black lace still remains concealed underneath the purple hue of your shirt. Though, you wouldn’t mind a certain pair of eyes noticing.

You blink a few times, shaking your head. No, you chastise yourself. You can’t give in. You can’t do this.

But you know the truth. You can’t resist anymore. You need Javier fucking Peña just as badly as he needs his cigarettes.

You’ve been trying to avoid this for so long. Coming to work in Colombia wasn’t supposed to mean pining after one of your new partners, but almost as soon as you acquainted yourself with Javier, you were a sucker. His charm, his wit, and his goddamn sex appeal were just too much to resist. It only got worse when you actually learned more about him, joining him and Steve on after-work ventures either to a bar or just a restaurant to get away from the stress of work. You’ve discovered that he’s extremely protective, quite caring, and very passionate—and that just makes you want him more. In multiple ways.

Today, a certain way seems to be making itself very known as your mind can barely focus on whatever you’re doing. When you’re brushing your fingers through your hair and adjusting it to your usual style, you imagine his fingers running through it, tugging on it, even panting into it. When you’re applying your light lipstick, you picture the way his lips would look after crashing against yours, taking some of the color onto his own but caring less in the heat of desire. Even when you’re grabbing your keys and getting into your car, you imagine yourself trapped between the seat and him, hands exploring each other with absolutely no destination in mind.

You try to think about anything else, but you can’t. You continually curse to yourself under your breath. If you can’t get rid of these thoughts, then work’s going to be a shitshow, considering you have to stare at Javier’s face the entire day whenever you’re at your desk. With absolutely no interesting information on Escobar, you know you’re bound to another day full of paperwork at your desk with Javier sitting just a few feet away—which means you’re in deep shit if you can’t get your frustrations under control.

Once you get to the office, you park and take a deep breath, looking at yourself in the rearview mirror and flashing a confident smile. That look falters when you notice Javier’s car pulling in from behind you, and your head turns to see him pulling up right next to you. Swallowing hard, you instantly look back to the wheel. Calm down, you tell yourself. It’s fine. You’ve worked here everyday with this man for months now. It won’t be any different today.

But then he gets out of his car flaunting a bright red shirt, and damn, does red look good on him. You find yourself biting the corner of your lip as you practically undress him with your eyes, studying the usual way he leaves a few buttons undone. You’re lucky he never notices as he strolls inside, especially since your eyes fell to his ass quite a few moments ago. With yet another shake of your head, you curse and slam your hands against the wheel, squeezing your eyes shut tightly.

When you manage to at least fool yourself into thinking you’re composed, you finally step out of your car and start to head inside. Your mind goes blank as your eyes watch the tile floor underneath your feet, and you only look up when you know you’re coming upon your cluster of desks. Steve and Javier are both there, and Javier’s already on his first cigarette as you toss your keys onto your desk and pull out your chair.

“You’re later than usual,” Steve observes, looking at you with a raised brow. “Usually Javi’s the one I gotta worry about.”

“Oh, fuck off, Murphy,” Javier jokes, scoffing as he takes a drag of his cigarette. You sit down slowly as you watch his action more closely than usual, seeing the way his lips close around the cigarette and then separate ever so slightly to let the smoke escape.

No, fuck me.

Your eyes widen at your own thoughts, your eyes darting away from Javier quickly as you instead look blankly at the files already awaiting you on your desk. You almost think you’ve somehow managed to get away with your strange behavior until Steve speaks again. “You good over there?” You look up, seeing Steve looking at you through narrowed eyes. “You look like you’ve seen a goddamn ghost or something’.”

You chuckle, hoping it doesn’t sound as shaky as it feels as you open up your first file. “I’m fine,” you assure him. “Let’s just say I had a rough night.”

Steve whistles, and Javier sets his cigarette onto the ashtray as he looks over at you with a single raised brow. You try to ignore the way your entire body practically hums at his attention. “Who was it?” Javier asks, the simple sound of his roughened voice practically making you beg for him right then and there.

Yet, still confused by his question, you tilt your head at him. “What?”

“Who’d you fuck?” Javier’s voice is casual, but with all the thoughts that have been swimming through your mind so far today, you nearly choke upon hearing the words. You manage to grit your teeth before you can get the words I wish it was you out of your mouth.

“Jack Daniels,” you confess, impressed with the way you’ve lied so effortlessly. Steve chuckles, and Javier’s mouth makes an “o” in understanding as he turns back to his work. The action still makes you bite your lip, and you start to bury yourself into your work before your mind can think up more things to drive you absolutely crazy.

After at least an hour spent in silence while the three of you shuffle through paperwork and try to ignore the fact you’re bored out of your minds, Steve breaks it. “I can already feel this damn heatwave,” he mutters, starting to fan himself with an empty folder.

“Heatwave?” you echo, looking up from your paperwork curiously.

“Yeah,” Steve responds. “It’s supposed to be hot as hell tonight. I was trying to get Connie to cancel our date because of it, but she’s a stubborn one. You didn’t hear about it?”

You let out a huff. “No, I must’ve missed it somehow.” You curse to yourself, suddenly feeling the intensified heat as you adjust yourself in your chair.

“I’m surprised,” Javier’s voice suddenly joins in, and you look over to see him giving you an amused expression. You practically melt into your chair upon seeing the way his dark gaze glitters at you. “You’re always on top of things.”

I’d like to be on top of you. Your mind thinks the words without hesitation, and you nearly spit them out before you manage to catch yourself again. “Like I said before, rough night.”

Javier lets out a low chuckle, a sound that practically radiates from your head down to your very toes. “Sounds like it.” He pauses for a moment, flipping open a file and looking at you briefly between his lashes. “Should’ve invited me.”

You nearly gasp upon hearing his words, instead managing to keep it cool as you shrug. “Next time.”

Javier offers you a small smile, returning to his work shortly thereafter. You know that on any other occasion, that whole exchange would’ve been fine—but now, with your mind running in such an intense direction, you feel as if you’re about to explode on the spot. The rising temperature of the building doesn’t help, and soon you’re joining Steve in the attempt to fan yourself with a nearby folder.

Things only worsen as the day continues. The heat’s getting unbearable, and the three of you are now visibly being affected by it. Your sinful gaze, of course, continually glances towards Javier, and you shrink a bit in your seat when you observe the bead of sweat that falls from his temple. It moves slowly against his tanned skin, as if mocking you for being unable to touch his skin in such a manner, and dips over his jaw to his neck. You lick your lips as you watch it travel down the length of his throat, finally pooling into the notch of his jugular and joining the rest of the perspiration on his glowing, exposed chest.

Damn.

You have to drop the pen that’s been in your hand and rest your elbow against the desk, pinching the bridge of your nose as you squeeze your eyes shut. The fact that this is affecting your work is making it dangerous, but you can’t help it. You need him. It’s so overwhelming that it’s practically suffocating you—but you can’t give in. It’ll be like giving oxygen to a raging fire. You have to keep it concealed.

Willing the strength to do just that, you take a deep breath, opening your eyes again and letting your arm fall from the desk. You use your hand to release a few of the buttons on your shirt, needing to let your chest breathe in the midst of this heat. It would’ve been fine had you not felt a burning gaze coming from the same direction you’ve been looking in all day, and when your eyes raise to view him again, you notice him watching you from his peripherals. Thinking he likely hasn’t noticed you’ve caught him, you see his eyes explore whatever he can of your exposed chest, and his Adam’s apple bounces as he swallows hard and looks back to his own files.

You nearly collapse from your chair on the spot. Holy fuck.

Staying concealed is suddenly a lost cause. The temperature feels as if it’s risen by tenfold, and you find yourself brushing away a bead of sweat from your forehead as you try your very best to focus on your work. Things are muffled, but you manage to make some progress for another hour until you notice Javier staring again. This time, though, he’s truly looking at whatever you’re reading, as if he’s studying the words on the page. His gaze then looks up to yours, and it’s almost as if you see a light bulb go off over his head.

“Hey, do you mind if I take that for a second?” Javier asks you, gesturing to the file you have opened.

How about you take me right here, right now, on this desk? You make a valiant effort to swallow the words back. “Yeah, of course,” you answer, handing the file over to him. Javier gives you a nod in thanks, and you simply manage your best smile as you watch him look between the file you’ve given him and the papers on his desk. His eyes widen, and soon he’s standing up to walk over to your desk. He places the papers side-by-side in front of you, one of his hands leaning on your desk as the other rests on the back of your chair. You nearly freeze, squeezing your legs together at his sudden close presence.

“See this?” Javier questions, looking over to see if you’re following where he’s now pointing his finger. You nod—knowing your brain’s in a complete fog and you’re definitely not going to process anything he says next—and you resist the urge to completely breathe in the smell of his fading cologne and smoke. Javier goes on to point out some kind of consistency between the two files, but all you can do is focus on the heat that radiates from him and nod as if you understand. It gets especially difficult when he brings one of his hands to his forehead, wiping away some of the sweat that’s gathered there. You bite your lip, trying harder than ever to focus on the papers.

But you just can’t. I can’t fucking take it anymore.

You’re about to whisper something dangerous into his ear when he suddenly pulls away, taking the files from your desk. “I’ll type something up,” he tells you, returning to his desk as he reaches for his typewriter.

“That’ll be great, Javier,” you say, earning a nod as he focuses in on typing whatever the hell he’d been trying to tell you earlier. You let out a huff, trying to ignore the way your hands are shaking from the brief interaction.

This man’s going to be the end of you.

It’s nearing the end of the work day, and Javier’s still typing away vigorously. You’ve noticed that he’s been sweating a lot more just from taking up a slightly more demanding task, and you’ve tried to stop watching the beads of sweat fall down his face—but it’s not to much avail. At one point, though, he stops typing, leaning his head back and squeezing his eyes shut. His mouth opens just a bit, and you bite the inside of your cheek hard to try to keep your mind from running. Yet, it’s already taken off. You’re suddenly wishing you could be under his desk.

“It’s so fucking hot,” Javier grumbles, wiping his hands over his face and wiping them on his thighs. He looks over at you, gesturing to the longer sleeves on your shirt. “I don’t know how the hell you do it.”

You shrug, trying to get words through your tightened throat. “You get used to it.”

“You’d think she’s the one that’s been living here longer,” Steve jokes, standing up from his desk and collecting his things as he speaks. He looks up to see Javier giving him the finger, causing him to snort. “I’ll see you two tomorrow. Let’s hope I don’t burn to death on this date.”

“I hope you do!” Javier calls after him.

“Fuck you, Peña!” Steve remarks without looking back.

“Gladly!” Javier exclaims, laughing to himself before he returns to his typing.

It’s finally your chance to escape the hell that’s been today’s torture. You stand up and get your belongings together, watching to see if Javier looks your way. He doesn’t, as he’s already focused back in to his work. “I’m headed home,” you inform him. You successfully draw his attention, almost falling to your knees when you catch his gaze looking you up and down momentarily. “Don’t stay here all night, Javi.”

Javier chuckles and gives you a reassuring smile. “I’ll try not to.”

You try to return his look, beginning to turn and walk out. You stall, however, when Javier calls out your name quickly. Your head turns to face him, and you see his brow lifted in concern.

“I just wanted to ask, are you sure you’re okay?” Javier’s dark gaze is sparkling with hope—hope that you’ll tell the truth. You swallow hard. “You just don’t seem like yourself today.”

You want to melt upon receiving his tender care, especially when you hear the sincerity in his tone. Yet, you know you can’t tell him the truth, and so you give him a nod. “I’m alright, Javi. Just succumbing to this goddamn heatwave.”

Javier exhales and widens his eyes for a moment. “Understandable.” He nods once. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

You simply choose to give him yet another nod, turning back around and nearly speed-walking to your car. Once inside, you let out a heavy breath, running your hands down your face. You can’t believe you’ve managed to make it through the day, and you can only hope that you get your act together. Still, you can feel yourself wishing you’d gotten what you needed, but you push back the feeling as you head back to your apartment.

Once inside, all you can think about is the heatwave. The air conditioning unit in your apartment does a relatively good job at keeping you cool, but it’s still much hotter than usual, and you find yourself quickly exchanging your work clothes for a simple pair of cloth shorts and a V-neck as you prepare yourself a small dinner. By the time you finish, Javier’s completely left your mind for the first time today, and all you can think about is drowning yourself in the glass of condensing water you have in your hand.

Suddenly, a knock sounds at your door. You put down the glass and furrow your brow, walking over to it and checking the peephole. You’re in disbelief when you see who it is, and you open the door quickly to see a disgruntled Javier standing there.

“I’m sorry to… uh, interrupt.” You watch as his gaze temporarily falls from your eyes to your chest, and you look down to see part of the lace from your bra peaking out from the collar of the shirt. Your cheeks heat up, and when you look back up at Javier, you see that his gaze has returned to yours. He clears his throat. “I just—my air conditioner’s a piece of shit, and it just broke. I was wondering if I could crash here until I cools down later tonight.” He holds up the bottle he has in his hand. “I brought some whiskey.”

You laugh, stepping aside to make room for him. “Of course, Javi.” He walks through the door, and you close and secure it behind him, taking a deep breath as you close your eyes. Keep yourself together, you tell yourself. You can’t think like you did earlier. Yet, as soon as you turn back around, you notice that Javier’s now unbuttoned practically half of his red shirt, exposing a much larger amount of his chest to the cooler air of your apartment.

Well, fuck.

You stroll over to where Javier’s sitting at your kitchen island, grabbing two clean glasses from the cupboard and letting Javier distribute some of the whiskey into them. You start to sip at yours, completely unable to think of anything rational to say. All you want to do is admit that you’d rather taste his lips than the whiskey, but you know you can’t, and so you continue to let the alcohol burn down your throat. You watch as Javier observes this, soon letting a low chuckle rumble from his chest.

“You know, it’s real funny to me,” Javier suddenly says, letting out a sigh as he leans back in his chair. He takes a swig of his whiskey, and you raise an eyebrow in confusion. “I just can’t believe you’re standing here right now, not mentioning anything about today.”

You swallow hard, slowly resting the glass of whiskey onto the counter as your gaze with him never breaks. “What do you mean? The files?”

Javier shakes his head, a smirk stuck on his lips as he also rests his glass onto the countertop. “No, not the goddamn files.” He raises his eyebrow back at you. “The eye-fucking.”

Your eyes nearly double in size at his words. “Javi, what the hell are you talking about?”

Javier sighs as he stands from his chair, slowly making his way over to you. “You really thought I didn’t notice all of that?” He lets out another chuckle, shaking his head as he looks down at you. “You were practically in a daze, hermosa. I’d recognize that look anywhere.” Your gaze falls to the floor, embarrassment pulsing through you as you stand dumbfounded at the counter. You see his feet stop just in front of you. “I thought maybe you’d tell me earlier, but you’re a tough one to crack.”

You look back up but continue to avoid his gaze. “I’m so sorry, Javi, I don’t know what got into me today. I just—.”

You stop when you feel Javier’s fingers touch your chin, forcing you to look back into his eyes. His gaze is even darker than usual, and your stomach twists in pleasant knots when you study his expression further. “What you didn’t realize was that I was doing the same exact thing back to you.” His hand brushes up along your jaw, his fingertips sending shivers through your spine as he tucks your hair behind your ear. He leans forward so that his lips are brushing against your ear. “Were you also imagining those different scenarios? Sneaking away to the car, or just being taken right there on the desk?” Javier pauses to chuckle lightly. “You were driving me crazy.”

Unable to believe it’s actually happening, you let out a struggled breath, watching Javier’s gaze only darken more at the sight of your pure instability at his words and touches. He pulls himself completely away from you, raising his brow at you once again.

“Is that what you want? Do you want me, hermosa?”

You’re so close to just flinging yourself onto him, but you try to retain some sort of self-control, swallowing hard as you finally get the words out. “Please,” you manage, your voice barely a whisper.

“What was that?” Javier teases, stepping even closer to you. You’re eye-level with his glistening chest now, and you’re absolutely certain you’re going to fall apart at the seams.

“Pretty please,” you nearly whimper, unable to hold yourself back any longer.

“Since you asked so kindly,” Javier assures you, and no later does his arm wrap around your waist as he pulls your body flush against his. Within seconds, his mouth’s on yours, and you drown in the taste of whiskey and cigarettes on his breath as you press your tongue against his. You nearly melt at the relieving feeling of his touch, especially as his hands glide over your ass and touch the bare skin of your thighs. He lifts you so that your legs wrap around his waist, allowing you to deepen the kiss as your hands—once unable to leave his face—start trying to unbutton the rest of his shirt. Javier stops the kiss to laugh against your lips, starting to make his way towards your bedroom. “At least wait until we get somewhere, hermosa.”

You let out a curt laugh before reattaching your lips to his, unable to get enough of the feeling. As soon as you’re inside your bedroom and Javier’s eased your back onto the bed, all clothing’s strewn to the floor and you’re sure you’re not helping Javier with the situation of trying to stay cool. Your lips are already swollen when he pulls away to rest his sweating forehead against yours, looking deep in your eyes for a moment.

“Before we go any further,” Javier starts breathlessly, “I need you to know that I haven’t been wanting you like this just because of your body, like you might think.” Javier pauses, as if he’s searching for the right words to say. “I’ve wanted you in this way and many more for a long time now. I—.”

“This is all really sweet, Javi, and I’d love to hear more,” you cut him off. “But please, I’ve been waiting for this for way too fucking long, so please wait to tell me the rest after.”

Javier chuckles at your desperation, giving you a reassuring nod as he reconnects his lips with yours. The next few minutes feel like heaven on earth, even if the temperature represents something more like hell. Your bodies together create a heat that rivals the wave spreading throughout Medellín, and even hotter are the words you share with each other. The confessions, the utterances, the way you say each other’s names—it’s enough to turn this heaven into something much more sinful. Everything that’s been building up for so long is seeking release, and you can feel the opportunity approaching the faster things start to go. With your fingers practically embedded into his slick back and his holding you in place beneath him, Javier urges you to finally follow through with what you’ve been waiting for so relentlessly. His mouth covers yours just in time to muffle your voice, and he’s not too far behind from getting that same relief before he rests beside you. He looks over at you, laughing a bit as his fingers brush over your cheek.

“Was it worth the wait?” Javier questions, and you giggle as you let your face fall into his slick neck.

“Hell yeah,” you admit, feeling his throat vibrate against your lips as he chuckles. You close your eyes as you absorb the euphoric feeling you’re drowning in. “So, can I hear the rest of that speech now?”

Javier runs a hand through your messy hair. “What’s the magic word?”

You smile against his neck. “Pretty please?”