He cocked his head. “Why not?”
His infuriatingly kind yet astute eyes bored into me, mining for answers whether I wanted to give them or not. I turned away. “I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do, Olivia. You haven’t told her because just being in the same room with me feels like you’re doing something wrong.” He stepped forward. “And you’re going to tell me that doesn’t mean something?”
Itshouldn’t. I was married—and David? I had a feeling he’d meant something to half of Chicago’s female population at one point or another. I balled my fists and faced him. “I’m going to tell you that it doesn’tmatterwhat it means. There’s no scenario in which I sacrifice a perfect marriage for a playboy I met five minutes ago.”
I went to go around him, but he took my arm, pulling me close. “A perfect marriage?” He chuckled something dark. “Now I know you’re living in a fantasy.”
I whipped my gaze to meet his, a spark igniting between us. “You don’t know anything about my life.”
“Wrong. A perfect marriage doesn’t exist. My parents are the happiest couple I know, and even they have flaws. If you think yours is perfect, it’s because you’ve crafted it that way. Molded it. But just because you ignore the cracks doesn’t mean they don’t exist. This foundation you’re standing on? I had to repair it because the previous owner ignored the cracks too long and did extensive damage.”
My heart raced as he unfurled the truth before my eyes. It wasn’t as if that was some huge revelation, though. “I’m not some project of yours. This is my life. A life I put together because it’s the life I want. Ichosethis.”
“Well, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to stand here and play a fucking role in that act like everyone else,” he said. “You’ve surrounded yourself with people who let you get away with it, including your husband. It sounds to me like he lets you walk all over him. That’s not me, Olivia.”
I nearly vibrated. Bill had chosen this, too. I didnotwalk all over him. But the way Bill and I were—I knew instinctively that David would never put up with it. “And it never will be.”
“If you’re determined to live a lie, then no, it won’t,” he said. “What’s happening between us is real. You can run away, but that won’t change anything.”
I jerked my arm, but he held it just firmly enough to keep me from fleeing. “Let me go.”
“We’re not finished here,” he said. “Walk across the room. Get on the elevator. We’re going up to the roof to finish our interview.”
I sucked in a breath as my knees weakened with his commands. It wasn’t only indignation reverberating through me, but also arousal for the way he spoke to me. The waynobodyspoke to me. My brain fought my body’s urges to obey. To do anything he said, to please him, to relinquish the control I’d held so tightly for so long.
God, I’d foughtdamnhard to gain and keep control in every aspect of my life—how could I possibly want to give it all up to David in this moment? And how did he know I needed that?
He released my arm, looking me over. “Go.”
He expected me to do exactly as I was told. Dared me to find out what would happen if I refused.
I turned and walked through the scaffolding and over to the hoist, my breath coming fast, excited.
He met me there and handed me a conspicuous red hardhat.
I wrinkled my nose at it and then looked up at him in full pout mode. My hair didn’t need another reason to act out.
But with his stern expression, and the thrilling demands he’d just made of me echoing through my mind, I placed it on my head.
I stepped in the cage, testing the sturdiness of it. He followed a second later, and it jolted to life, carrying us up.
David leaned down and spoke near my ear. “And if you call me a playboy one more time, Olivia—I’m going to put you over my knee.”
Desire exploded in my stomach, my heart pounding. He would . . . he wouldspankme? I was certain I’d never been more turned on than I was in that moment. But why? I’d never fantasized about being spanked.
“You wouldn’t,” I breathed, barely recognizing my breathy voice.
“Try me.”
When the car stopped, David sauntered onto the rooftop with complete aplomb, as if he hadn’t just turned my world upside down and lit a fire in me without so much as a touch.
My feet followed him, my mind too stunned to protest. I tried to focus on what he was saying.
“This outdoor space will be accessible to the guests in the penthouse suite,” he explained. A breeze passed over us, and I stepped into sunshine for warmth. “This gutted area, next to the deck, will be a private infinity pool. It has a glass bottom so you can see into it from the suite.”
I followed the line to the edge. A small part of the pool would jut out from the building, hanging over the side.
