“Oh, that!” I reply, forcing out the fakest laugh ever. “Yeah, just a little burn from the curling iron.”
“You curled your hair?” she asks, sounding skeptical.Just leave me alone, Fran!
“I was going to. But as you can see, things didn’t go so well.”
A thought leaps into my mind, and I quickly reach into my purse and pull out a red and white envelope, covered in tiny little snowflakes. “Oh, by the way, Fran. Just a little Christmas bonus.”
Her eyes light up, and she quickly opens it, finding a check inside. Her jaw drops when she sees the amount. “Kathryn…you shouldn’t have. This is like…three months’ rent.”
There’s an odd tone to her voice, but she’s probably just shocked. I give her a hug and head into my office.
As I’m setting down my things, I see movement by the elevators, and my heart leaps as Blake enters. Somehow, he looks even hotter than he did yesterday.
He walks over to his desk without even looking at me. His fierce eyes remain hidden, and a flood of jealousy grips me, causing my chest to tighten.
Look at me, I plead silently, desperate for any kind of approval from him.
This thing of ours—it’s progressed from a kinky little game into something more. Something important. Something I truly need.
I’ve never been this dependent upon anything in my life, and to feel this desperate need is new to me entirely.
He slips out of his outdoor coat, and I get a good look at him. He may be wearing office clothes, but I know what he looks like underneath. And even in them, I can see the severe lines of his taut, muscular body.
Just his height and the width of his shoulders get me going, let alone the thought of his flawless abs under his shirt…
…or the ache between my legs when I remember him stretching me with his monster.
“Would you like a coffee?” Francesca asks, interrupting my daydream.
“Hmm? Oh, no. Thank you, Francesca. That’s all for now.”
She nods politely and excuses herself, leaving me alone in my office—now perfectly tidied up—staring at Blake, seeking some sign from him to let me know he remembers I exist.
But it doesn’t come. Not for a while.
In fact, he turns his back on me as he goes into the kitchen to get a coffee. I know it only takes a few minutes, but it feels like forever, and as I sit in my chair, my thighs begin to tingle.
When he comes out, he still doesn’t look at me.
Um, hello!?
I get it—he’s trying not to spill his coffee as he walks. But like…I’mright here!
Finally, once he takes a seat, unlocks his computer, and starts moving the mouse around, his eyes look up and lock on to me.
And it’s like the whole world starts spinning.
It’s like I’ve been tumbling around in outer space, with nothing for me to hold on to. But then Blake arrived and became my anchor point. My gravity. My solid ground.
His expression is stony, solid. He looks at me like we’ve never even met before, and my stomach twists.
My face is doing something it shouldn’t be doing, but I can’t control it. I can’t stop myself from doing whatever my body wants to do.
My heart is aching, my skin is tingling, and there’s a desperate want just pulsing between my thighs.
There’s a tiny, almost imperceptible twitch in his eyes, and I realize he’s looking at the hickey he left on me.
“I’ve got to let the world know you belong to me now.”
