Oliver chuckled, swirling the liquid in his glass. He sat in the settee diagonal to me while Caine sat in the seat beside me. “Take a breath, brother, she’s just a cunt. There’s more thanenough out there to find you another one.” He waved his cell phone. “I can call up hundreds of them if you want an orgy.”
Caine sighed.
I lunged at Oliver, gripped the front of his skewed tie and socked him. Blood ruptured from his lip and he grunted. I released him, shoving him so he smacked against the backing of his chair. He winced, rubbing the back of his scalp.
“Caine,” I spat. “Shut his mouth or I’ll break his teeth.”
Oliver lifted both hands, a shit-eating grin spreading across his lips.
“I can’t deny I’m also rather concerned, Samuel. It looks like you haven’t slept. You ended the planning with Claire. Months of hard work flushed down the drain. You even endangered the merger with Singapore.” I didn’t bother pouring anymore and grabbed the neck of the bottle resting on the mahogany side table.
Everyone just needed to shut the fuck up. I swigged the bottle back.
Chapter Ten
“Bunny,” a low, muffled mumble reached me in my sleep. I groaned and turned in bed to peek at my digital clock. The blazing red numbers informed me it was two in the morning. “Nina.” The call served to yank me fully out of sleep. The doorknob jiggled. “Please, open it.”
Disorientation muddled my brain, and I rubbed my eyes.
What was Samuel doing here so late?
He mumbled nonsensically again. I scooted off my bed with my phone in hand and shuffled my feet into my slippers. I could call the cops . . . but I didn’t want him in trouble. Caine, I could call him . . . but I didn’t know his number. I scowled down at the additional fifty phone calls I’d received since I’d fallen asleep.
“Bunny.” He begged.
My heart clenched and I closed my eyes.
“Nina,” he mumbled.
Ugh. Gosh. I clicked my nightstand lamp on and rushed to the door.
Upon opening it, a heavy mass fell forward, and his entire weight wrapped around me. His large biceps squeezed my shoulders. I staggered under his weight, shoving at his muscled abdomen.
“You need to leave,” I whispered, peeking out into the carpeted hallway, only illuminated by a single bulb buzzing in the middle of the hall ceiling. He lowered his head, arms moving down my back until his nose nuzzled into my neck.
“I’ll never lie to you again. I promise. On everything I believe in. I will never fucking keep something from you again.”
I shuddered, cinching my eyes tightly closed. I didn’t realize how desperately I needed that promise. My throat made it difficult to swallow. “Nina.”
“Samuel,” I breathed. “Stop.”
“I’ll never lie,” he repeated, slurring. I sighed and wrapped my fingers into the edge of his suit jacket to force him closer to me. It took a few attempts of tugging to get him to step to the side, but even then, he didn’t release me. Balancing on one foot, I kicked the door shut.
“Follow me.” I wiggled his coat to tug him after me. After a few stumbling steps with him clinging to me, I got him sitting on the end of my bed. “Samuel, let me go.”
“No,” he snapped, clutching onto me tighter and pulling me down into his lap until my torso was flush to some part of his body and my spine curved toward him.
“Just for a moment,” I said exasperated. His shoulder muscles rippled. In the reflection of the mirror leaning against the wall beside my bed, his cheek pressed onto the top of my head. His golden head of hair didn’t seem to have any product in it with how it flopped carelessly.
“No.” Stubborn. I sighed.
“We can’t stay like this forever.”
“Why not?” The slurred words caused my chest to squeeze.
I sighed. “Because you can’t sleep here.”
“Why?”
