She shakes her head.
“Yes,” I insist.“Hell, I’d buy as many billion-dollar companies as it took to be with you, baby doll,” I vow.
“Why?So you can own me?Boss me around?Humiliate me?”
“No.So I can protect you.”
She jerks as though I slapped her.
“Fuck you, Brennan,” she hisses and starts toward the door.
I intercept her, placing my bulk between her and the hall, and for a moment, I realize how easily I could break her.She’s tiny.Delicate.Fragile.Her strength is no match for mine.I tower over her like a giant.
My heart aches at the terror in her eyes even as she swings like the true warrior she’s always been.
I catch her wrist and press it to the small of her back as I block her other blow with my forearm.
She may not stand a chance against me, but she’s no damsel in distress either.Her accuracy and the force behind her swings are impressive for a slender little doll like her.
I cup her nape and tug her closer but stop before her breasts press against me.
“Go ahead, baby doll.Fuck me.Anywhere.Anytime.”I lean down and whisper in her ear.“I’m yours.Always have been.Always will be,” I declare.
Her stuttered breath gusts against the bruised side of my face.I lean back and bite my swollen lip to stop my groan from escaping.She’s gorgeous with flushed cheeks and hungry eyes.
She blinks.Every ounce of arousal disappears from her expression.Her lower lip trembles.
Horror clenches my chest as tears shimmer in her green eyes.
I pushed her too far.
With a growl at my own foolishness, I release her, pull the flash drive out of my inner suit pocket, and press it onto her palm before turning toward the door.
“Put this on the main projector, please, Ms.Tripp,” I command.
I step into the hall and turn to close the door behind me, hoping my hasty retreat will earn me a few brownie points even if I’m the one who brought her to tears.
The stapler near where Edgar had her pinned sits askew.Her words ring in my ears.
I didn’t want what was happening when you walked in any more than I want what you’re doing now.
She didn’t want Edgar.I misread the situation.She wasn’t enjoying a tryst with her boss, but I was too intoxicated with the feel of her curves pressed against me to hear her panic.
Sourness coats my tongue, and futile rage pounds through my veins.
She thinks I’m no better than that slime, Edgar Williams.
Once upon a time, she came to me when she was upset.She trusted me wholeheartedly and wouldn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around me or crawl into my lap.
But I’ve never ignored her or been the reason she cried before.
I stop in my tracks in the middle of the hall as reality smacks me upside the head.My cheek throbs with the heat of a thousand suns.
She hit with the force of thirteen years’ worth of pent-up rage and pain.
Today wasn’t the first time I made her cry.It was just the first time I saw it.
Fucking hell, she was right to call me a monster.
