My ears rang, and my body hummed with unreleased energy. It was a high so much better than drinking, and I hadn't felt this way in years.
I uncorked the bottle and brought it to my lips, but the smell of it burned my nostrils.
It stole Veda from me, walled her sweet perfume off from my senses so I couldn’t find it and smell her anymore, and I pulled the bottle away from my face quickly.
It wasn't what I wanted right now.
What I wanted was to sit here and enjoy the sweet smell of our sex and her perfume and remember how she made my heart race and how incredible it felt to dump into her and feel my sex drain out around her body and down her thighs.
Over the past eighteen months, after I returned to work following Emma's death, I had chewed through at least a dozen interns—or what Clayton sent my way, anyway.
Some of them weren't even on my team. Some of them reported to Robert or Clayton himself, and all of them left abruptly after one tongue lashing from me.
Not only had Veda not left the company after my explosions, but she'd stood her ground and stood up to me in front of my board and my brother. She'd made me a laughingstock and her sassiness pushed me to my limits.
But it was her compassion, seeing past my monster, that turned me on.
I looked at her and I saw Emma, the only other woman in the world who could rein in the beast and calm me until I was eating out of her hand, and I snapped.
I broke like a twig under a hunter's foot and I remembered what it felt like to crave something more in life.
Veda Porter was dangerous to me, a fire to burn me, a salve to heal me and a chemical so addicting, I was going to lose myself if I wasn't careful.
It scared me how easily this woman had waltzed into my world and unraveled the shell I'd lived in for years.
And in the same breath, it had me awestruck.
Was she just that amazing? Or had I become that weak?
Stumped, but still not really feeling the pull toward the drink, I corked the bottle and stood, walking back to the cupboard to put it away.
My coffee had gone cold, but I noticed my headache was gone, thanks, again, to Veda for seeing what I'd been too prideful to notice.
I could get used to someone taking care of me again, though I was smart enough to realize that getting messed up with one of my employees wasn't a smart idea.
I hid the whiskey in the cupboard and no more than turned and the door swished open.
I expected to see Veda returning, but Penny's bright smile met my gaze as she announced, "Sir, the board has rescheduled for three this afternoon, but the CEO of Vance is on the line. He'd like a status update."
I scowled, frustrated with myself for ending that meeting so abruptly.
I'd told the man I'd have some updates for him about the potential buyout of Vance LTD and because of my own foolish outburst, I had nothing to give him.
It wasn’t a good look for me, and this time, I'd made that mistake completely sober.
"Can you put him off?" I asked, stalking toward the door. If I could get him to wait until four to do a call, I'd have the info I needed from the board.
"No, sir. He's going out of town by noon. He wants to speak with you now." Penny turned as I approached and preceded me out the door.
I followed, now stewing but still not nearly as agitated as I'd been before that interaction with Veda. Penny kept talking but now my eyes were sweeping the halls, looking for my little babysitter.
Wouldn’t Clayton have a fit if he knew I'd had sex with her?
It was probably what he wanted, to make me look like a fool and show the rest of the board how out of control I'd become.
And until now, I never realized any of it. I’d been so foolish thinking I was fine, and it took two days of having someone in my life who challenged me to realize I'd lost it months ago.
"Sir?" Penny said, and I snapped to attention, meeting her eyes.
