Page 102 of Twisted Knight

He leans forward and tugs on my bottom lip with his teeth but doesn’t touch me in any other way. And that’s almost worse. Feeling the heat of his body but not touching it. Smelling the mint on his breath but not tasting it. I fight back an involuntary groan.

“What’s wrong? I’m only following your rules.”

“Rules?” I whisper.

“No touching. No dirty talk from office to office on the phone while everyone else thinks we’re diligently working away at our desks. No foreplay beneath the desk despite the very naughty thoughts I had today of crawling beneath yours and licking you until you came. How hard would it be for you to remain silent? To not draw attention to yourself while I licked and sucked and fucked you with my tongue. Do you think you could be quiet? Do you think someone would figure it out? Hmm. Food for thought.”

“I don’t believe we discussed any of that.” I try to sound unaffected, professional, but hell if my body isn’t reacting to his words.

“Oh, so we can do all of the above then?”

“No,” I bark out.

“Tell me. Did you think of me? Did you touch yourself as you did? Did you get mad at yourself for doing both?”

My pulse races wildly and it beats so loud I swear he can hear it.

Desperate and embarrassingly needy, I duck under his arm and slam my hand against the stop button so that the elevator starts again.

Holden’s laugh rings out, and it takes only seconds before the car stops at the next floor. And when it opens, I don’t care what floor it’s on, I’m getting off.

No pun intended.

The car dings and I walk off as others walk on. I turn to face Holden, standing in the back of the elevator, his head above almost everyone else’s and his eyes fixed on me.

Just as the doors begin to shut, I finally respond to him. “Yes. I did, in fact.” I grin. “You were magnificent.”

The last thing I see before the doors close is the flare of his nostrils and the widening of his eyes.

Jesus.

It’s only been two days and that’s how he greets me? Hungry. Flirty. Devastating.

How’s it going to be after more days have passed?

THIRTY-ONE

Rowan

“You said yes. We were shocked and made bets that you still wouldn’t show. So cheers to you actually coming out with us and socializing for a bit.” Caroline lifts her glass of wine, as do Sloane and the fourth friend in our quartet, Victoria.

I level all three of them with a look before I join my glass to theirs. When I do, a cheer goes up that has me rolling my eyes.

“C’mon. I’m not that bad,” I say. They all glance at each other and burst out laughing. “Well, maybe I am.”

“Quick. Someone write that down,” Caroline says loudly, motioning generally to the bar’s crowd.

And it is crowded for a weeknight. Country music plays and the after-work crowd chatters animatedly. The line at the bar is a few people thick and there isn’t an open seat at any of the tables.

“Excuse me, ladies,” our waiter says.

“Yes?” Sloane asks.

“This round has been paid for,” he says as we all glance at each other, confused. He sets fresh drinks in front of us and I look up, searching the crowd for Holden, half expecting him to be sitting at the bar, much like he was when I was on my date with Gregory.

But he’s nowhere to be found. Just as I’m about to give up, I meet Chad’s eyes. He smiles and tips his glass to me as my own smile falters.

“Compliments of that gentleman over there,” he says, nodding in Chad’s direction.