He’s glancing around the room, a polite but disinterested smile on his face as he nods to each new hire in turn. Until he reaches me. Then he stops, stutters. It’s just for a second, but it’s a long enough pause to let me know that he sees me. He realizes what it means that I’m here.
And I’m gratified to realize that he didn’t expect this either, at least. He seems just as stunned as I am.
But it doesn’t stop the slow, self-satisfied grin that spreads across his face as he keeps his gaze locked onto mine. The sea of people around us seems to vanish, and for a split second, it’s just the two of us in this room. He looks like he’s just won a damn medal. Like his whole body is bursting with the need to tell me I knew you couldn’t stay away.
And the worst part is, as I watch him now, I’m afraid he’s right.
How the hell am I going to stay away from him now?
4
John
The moment I walk into the conference room on Monday morning, it’s like I can sense her. Like the rest of the room fades away and all I can focus on is Mara.
My new wife.
But why is she here, of all places? Sitting in the orientation session for Pitfire’s newest hires. I don’t remember hiring anyone named Mara Greene—I kept our marriage certificate close, so I’d be able to look her up and reach out to her if she stood me up for breakfast yesterday. Which she did. A predictable move.
This, on the other hand… This, I didn’t see coming. Which is probably why it makes me grin so much.
That, and it’s just a natural reaction to the sensation of my cock stiffening at the sight of her. It’s not my fault. One glimpse and I’m back in that hotel room, watching her on all fours in front of me, begging me to put my cock in her mouth, to fuck her from behind on the shag carpet, to spread-eagle her across the bed and have my way with her.
And oh, how I did. Every way I could think of, and yet here I am, still craving more. There aren’t many—no, correction, there are no women who have done this to me before. Not even my most recent ex, who I’d thought at the time was pretty decent in the sack.
She was nothing compared to Mara. Nobody has been. Which was why I was feeling pretty damn lucky that she’s the one who wound up with my mother’s vintage ring on her finger. I carry it for sentimental reasons mostly, after my mother foisted it on me years ago, insisting that I find someone to marry and carry on the family name. I’d only really considered putting it on someone’s finger once, and every tabloid in America has reported on how well that idea turned out.
But Mara was different. With Mara, after one night I wanted to give her the world.
Then the next morning, she woke up a different person. Acting like I was dirt, some random nobody who tricked her into a marriage she didn’t want. As if it hadn’t been her idea in the first place.
But something about that reaction, her anger and even her annoyance that I wouldn’t just end the marriage after a single night, made me even more certain that I wanted her. Because it told me she wasn’t faking. Mara Greene had no idea who I was.
It’s written all over her face now too, as she watches me, stunned in shock. She didn’t know I was the CEO of the company she’d just joined. She didn’t know I’m worth billions. It’s not only refreshing, it’s reassuring, too. Because she couldn’t be a gold-digger, coming after me for my money, trying to drain away my hard-earned work, if she didn’t even know I had any money.
Well. The ring was probably a clue that I had some, but still.
One glance down, and my grin widens. Mara realizes her mistake and jerks her hand off the table a second later, flipping the diamond around under her palm, but it’s too late. I saw it.
She’s still wearing the ring.
That has to mean something, doesn’t it?
And now, as much as she hates me—as much as she clearly wanted nothing more to do with me after our night together—here she is. Forced to work under me. I already know from what I got to know of her last weekend that work for Mara is everything: it’s her first and last priority, and all the rest in between. She won’t quit this job. She’d see it as a point of pride to stick it out.
Which means I’ve got her at my whim. My smile turns possessive, eager.
Oh, I’ll have fun with this. I’ll make her wait until she’s the one begging me again. Just remembering the sound of her voice as she pleaded with me to let her come again is enough to make my cock inch toward dangerously hard while I’m standing at the front of a room full of employees.