Alpha CEO

“Get out of my face!” She shoved me, but I didn’t move an inch.

“Be careful what you wish for. For years you wanted my attention— well, now you have it. You’re my sole focus, sweetheart. Is it everything you ever wanted?”

“You’re ten years too late.”

“I gave you my attention back then in my own way.”

“Yeah, which usually involved your dick inside of me.”

I growled, “Don’t degrade what we have.”

“What we had.”

“What we have going on right now is fucking foreplay.”

“I didn’t know foreplay involved my knee to your balls.” She lifted her knee, but I blocked her advance.

“I’m not into that. How about we begin with your mouth instead?”

“Only if you intend on me biting it off.”

“The only thing you’ll be biting is your lip when I make you come.” I narrowed my eyes at her, arching an eyebrow and trying to keep my temper at bay.

“I didn’t know you were going to lie to the world.”

“That’s pretty damn clear.”

“You’re being unreasonable.”

“Which part of me is unreasonable, Autumn? What’s unreasonable about me saying something that I should have been saying a long time ago? What’s unreasonable about me claiming what has been, and always will be, mine?”

“You can’t do this to me. Ten years, Julian! Ten! I waited for you to come back and apologize. What do you want from me? I can’t forget about what you did to me. I can’t just let it go like you expect me to. It’s so fucking easy for you. I didn’t leave you. I didn’t fuck you over. I did nothing but love you. I’m trying to remain calm and be professional with you, but you’re making it really damn hard to not hate you.”

“I can’t apologize any more than I already have.”

“You haven’t apologized at all.”

I stepped back. “I see you didn’t read the article.”

“You apologized to me in an article?” She pushed me again. “What the hell kind of apology is that?”

“Autumn, I know I fucked up, and I have to live with the repercussions, but I lost you too. You weren’t the only one grieving the loss of our love. I lost everything that ever mattered to me. Including the only family I’ve ever known. Do you not realize that?”

Bing.

Her cell phone dinged with a text message.

“Oh, don’t mind that. It’s more than likely another text from my brother. You wanted the whole world to know about our history, and not for one fucking second did you think about the consequences. You’re so selfish you didn’t think about my brother or my parents and what they would think and say about your interview. We spent years denying and hiding our relationship, or whatever the fuck you want to call it, and you just openly confess it to the entire world without even running it by me first. Now, once again, I have to deal with the fallout. How the hell am I supposed to explain to them when I barely understand it myself?”

“Do you honestly think I’m that much of a heartless bastard? You don’t think it killed me to leave you? To leave all of you? Kid, I lost my best friend because of us—the only family I ever knew, ever had.”

“As a matter a fact, I do!”

“I’ve never stopped being yours!”

“You were never mine!”

I needed to catch my bearings and compose my thoughts, having to step away from the situation before it escalated to the point of no return. I couldn’t control my temper when it came to her, and it was why she loved to provoke me in the first place. I didn’t know what else I could do to make this right.

I was out of answers.

Out of options.

I couldn’t fucking think straight when she was glaring at me with so much hatred. I despised not being in control, so I did the only thing I could in this situation.

I unbuckled my belt.

Preparing for more of her bullshit.

Chapter TWELVE

—Autumn—

“What are you doing?” I questioned, caught off guard.

He unbuttoned his pants. “I’m getting ready for you.”

“Excuse me?” I jerked back. “Have you lost your mind? Do you actually think I’m going to have sex with you right now?”

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” he called out.

“Mr. Locke,” Erin greeted, walking in with a garment bag in her arms. “Here is the suit you requested.”

He nodded, unbuttoning his shirt.

I was grateful she’d interrupted us when she did, giving me a chance to calm down and see some sort of reason. What I didn’t expect was Julian’s tense body catching my attention. From his chiseled physique to every sleek muscle on his chest, arms, and back. His abs contracted, highlighting his six-pack and the V right above his happy trail.

The man was almost thirty-five-years-old and looked better than he did when he was twenty-four. His back muscles flexed as he removed the dress shirt he was wearing to the black one Erin was taking out of the garment bag.