My notebook falls to the floor as I dig my fingers into his thick, dark hair, yanking hard. Frustrated with myself for being so easy to give in to him. Angry that there’s so much going on in my head, I can’t think straight. Pissed that I’m trapped in a situation and the only way I can think to fix it is to tell the truth but I’m being stopped from doing so.
‘Home. Now.’
With one hard grind of his hips against mine, I’m groaning agreement into his mouth and desperate for him to fuck me. Hard. Rough. Ferocious. The way I’m feeling.
‘Not here,’ he says, although his length pressed up against me tells me he’s as ready as I am.
He separates us, leaving me pining and furious. He retrieves my notebook from the floor and watches me pack away my files as he taps his phone screen and holds it to his ear. ‘We’re ready now,’ he snaps.
His eyes are darker than ever.
We leave the meeting room feigning good ethics, walking side by side but not so close that passing staff would suspect our relationship is anything other than CEO and legal advisor. Kenneth opens the rear door of the Mercedes and I crawl inside. Gregory slips into the other side and pins Kenneth through the rear-view mirror until he rolls up the partition between the front and back of the car. It’s a look that tells me I’m not alone in needing to vent what’s pent-up inside.
‘I never thought I’d actuallyneedJackson to come back,’ Gregory says.
‘How’s Kenneth supposed to know your demanding ways after a few days?’
He turns his head on his headrest to face me as the car is maneuvered into traffic. ‘My demanding ways?’
I move across the seat, hitching my skirt to straddle his hips, pinning his shoulders to the leather. ‘Your isms,’ I say, biting his lobe. ‘Your quirks.’ I dig my teeth into his neck. ‘Your obsessive ways.’
He pulls my chin and holds it where my eyes are level with his, his grip too tight. ‘There’s only one thing I’m obsessed with right now.’ He kisses me chastely and pulls the back of my thighs, pressing me tighter to him, letting me feel him grow beneath me. ‘You have no idea what you do to me. I can’t stand seeing you like I did today. Knowing what I’ve brought on you. I need you to talk to me andlistento me.’
‘You’ve got to stop seeing this as your problem, Gregory. It’sourproblem. And I do listen to you. We’re doing all of this your way, not mine.’
He drags his fingers through my hair. ‘You shouldn’t have gone to work today.’
If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have introduced Dubai, yet another dilemma, to my presently screwed-up life. ‘What do you want me to do? Let Pearson ruin another life? He’s already doing a good enough job as it is without me losing my career too.’
‘Don’t say that, Scarlett. I won’t let him taint you. I won’t let my past spoil who you are.’
‘He murdered my dad, and I killed him for it. I’d say I’m already spoiled.’
He tugs harder on my hair and bites down on my lip, hurting me in a way I want. ‘No,’ he growls into my mouth.
My legs part further, drawing me down onto his crotch.
‘Keep talking to me, baby, please. I need to know how you’re feeling. I need you to be okay. I have to protect you.’
I roll my pelvis against him, desperate to feel him, for us to connect in a way that lets me know he wants me. ‘Why? Why do you need to protect me?’Tell me. Please. Say those three words.
The Mercedes jerks to a stop and Kenneth drops us at the front entrance to the Shard. The interruption fuels the raging fire inside me. Gregory tells Kenneth to take my files to the apartment once the car is parked then offers a firm hand to help me out. The same hand drags me frantically through the doors of the Shard. The sooner we reach the apartment, the better. As we wait, Gregory glances from me to the lift repeatedly. Eyes dark. Jaw set. The chatter of suits entertaining and tourists making their way up to the viewing platform surrounds us.
‘Gregory, I thought that was you.’
The voice belongs to a balding, upper-middle-class suit with a hearty tummy and the scent of wine already on his breath.
‘Francis, it’s been a while,’ Gregory offers in a less than friendly tone.
‘How are you, old boy?’
‘Well. And you?’
‘Fair to middling, fairtomiddling.’
Awkward silence descends and Francis flicks his head in my direction.
‘Francis, allow me to introduce you to Scarlett Heath.’ Gregory steps to one side and places a possessive hand on my lower back as I shake Francis’s hand.
