He nodded. “Understood. Let’s just say that we’re even now.”
She rested a hand on her hips. Her night gown crawled up a bit. “No, I don’t think—see!You’re not even looking me in the eye!”
His gaze flashed back to hers. He’d been looking at that goddamn screen.
He really is one to hold a grudge.
Sighing she asked, “What’s it gonna to take? Do I have to get down on my knees and?—”
“Emily!” he shouted.
He stood up from his chair abruptly. It screeched at the force.
His outburst shocked her. Even more so when Nicolas took her by the shoulders and spun her around to face the door.
She felt his body bend as he said, “I’m sorry for the interruption, but let’s have a ten-minute break, shall we?”
Oh shit…shit shit shit. He’d been on a call with someone?
Emily caught it the moment she turned back around, even with Nicolas’s hand firmly on her arm. The computer screen lit up with the face of a middle-aged man. He was wide-eyed and flustered. His gaze had landed not on her face, but lower. Her cleavage through the lacy gown.
Nicolas stiffened beside her.
Her scream tore through the office. Her hands shuffled to cover herself just in time as he clicked the video call off.
There was a beat of silence.
“Were…were you talking to him this entire time?”
Nicolas’s dark eyes trailed over her. “Yes. I had a business call with the CEO of Black Corps. Obviously, it had to be cut short because of your little show.”
“S-show?” She coughed as she wrapped her thin clothes around her. It wasn’t like she’d done it on purpose. She’d always worn stuff like this to bed. Her drive to end their feudhad caused an oversight in changing. But why was he so angry anyway?
His eyes were like a lion’s. They fell momentarily onto the top of her breasts. His jaw clenched. And that was when she had an epiphany.
Nicolas was mad at her because of the early divorce thing, yes, but he seemed more upset that she’d unintentionally flashed his colleague.
She felt as if the world had tilted on its axis.
His jaw remained locked and his hands kept to themselves. But she saw his index finger twitch and for the first time, there was nothing she wanted more than to break down those walls of self-restraint. Emily didn’t want him hiding away. She’d made him mad, yes, but he did so to her too.
Every. Single. Day.
If only he knew how much simply living with him drove her manic. It was like constantly engaging in an eighteenth-century waltz. Nicolas would move toward her, hold her hands, then back off. Then he’d come back around, at his own pleasure, as smoothly and elegantly as one could under such heated circumstances.
She loathed his discipline.
“I didn’t mean to barge in like this. Especially not with you in a meeting.” Emily decided to take another route. “I just wanted to clear up the misunderstanding we had between us.”
Nicolas stared at her. “There’s no misunderstanding between us.”
She shook her head. “Yes, there is. I don?—”
“I know you want to end this marriage prematurely, Emily.” He cut her off like he’d been practicing for this talk too. “I’ve decided to not hold it against you.”
His tone was tired. Was that defeat she heard?
“Nicolas, I don’t.” She grappled for the right words to say as he watched her. “I don’t want to end this marriage…at least not right now. You were right about what you said, but that’s before I knew therealyou. The one who takes care of me like no one else does.”
