Page 100 of Twisted Knight

“With owners and contacts?” he asks.

“Yes. Many are LLCs who are using real estate brokers.”

“If there is a property that looks worthwhile, we’ll do a deep dive on the LLCs and their history. I don’t like going into business or buying something substantial without knowing every deep, dark secret that might come to light later.”

I stare at Holden and chuckle uncomfortably. “Should I be worried that you did the same to us? I promise my deep, dark secrets are rather benign.”

“I know. I’ve seen them,” he says and then laughs, but the thought lingers.

“Funny.”

“I try.” He flashes a smile that holds warmth for the first time since he walked into this room. Our eyes hold a beat too long before he turns to my brother. “Should I be worried about your secrets, Rhett?”

My brother chuckles, but there’s a strain to it.

Here go the games again, and as if perfectly on cue to get me out of their uncomfortable tension, my cell rings. “I’ve got to take this,” I say, holding up my phone and ducking out of the room without waiting for a response.

I welcome the distraction of a simple question from my new graphic designer and hesitate to go back into the conference room until they’re both gone. It’s hard enough to concentrate in this place lately, and it’s even harder to do so when you’re worried that your brother is going to pick up on some ridiculously subtle nuance that you slept with your soon-to-be boss.

So when the call comes in about an issue down in the warehouse, I know it’s out of my realm, but I gladly go to take it.

A little fresh air and a quick walk across the grounds from the office building to our warehouse across the street will give me a break from all this testosterone.

I step into the elevator and seconds after I push the button for the ground floor, I hear, “Rothschild. Hold up.”

I momentarily debate pushing the doors-open button but think better of it. Me. Holden. Alone in a small space like an elevator?

Not the best decision for my sanity.

But of course, just as the doors begin to shut, Holden slips between them. “You’re not trying to avoid me, are you, Sunshine?”

I keep my back against the wall and don’t turn to face him or even give him a welcoming vibe. “Nope. Not at all. Just heading down to the warehouse. Justin needed someone to sign off on something so I volunteered to go.”

“I wasn’t aware ‘signing off’ on warehouse things is part of your job description.”

“Neither is looking for property to buy, but I’m doing it, right?”

Our eyes hold as the elevator begins to make its descent. I can’t decipher what his are saying but when he reaches out to push the stop button on the elevator, it jolts. We’re face-to-face, body to body.

I suck in a quick hiss of a breath. My body is already imagining leaning in and taking another taste of his lips. My mind is saying otherwise.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Excuse me,” Holden says with a mischievous glint to his eyes. To his smile. To the tone of his voice. “I didn’t mean to bump into you … but that’s completely okay because us touching doesn’t make you feel anything. Want anything. Resisting me is easy, right?”

“I can. It is,” I say with a nod, trying to look anywhere but his eyes, and that’s pretty hard when he’s standing right in front of me.

“Right. Yes. That’s why when I was talking to your brother you kept staring at my hands.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“You were imagining my palms running over you, my fingers pushing into you, my tongue … doing tongue things to you.”

“Tongue things?” My own tongue feels thick in my mouth despite my chuckle.

“Would you like me to elaborate? Tongue things. Like what mine plans on doing next time. Licking that sweet pussy of yours. Sucking those pink nipples. If you’re more of a show-and-not-tell kind of girl, I can show you what I mean right here.”

“No. Oh my god. You’re insane.” I push against his chest, but he doesn’t budge and neither does the ache that’s burning sweetly between my thighs.

Holden leans in and whispers in that deep tenor of his that has chills chasing over my skin, “Fear of getting caught heightens the intensity of orgasms.”