On our way to the conference room, she walked slightly ahead. If I hadn’t been irritated that her reason was so no one would suspect anything was going on between us, I would have thoroughly enjoyed watching her sexy ass and hips sway with every step.
We’d arrived early to prepare, and while I went to the head of the table to set up, Isabella walked around the table and placed a similar but thinner folder in each spot.
A knock on the door preceded a boy in a white shirt and black pants entering with a rolling cart.
“Hey, Izzy,” he said with a smile that was entirely too friendly. “I have your order.”
“Fantastic!” Isabella practically skipped over to him, and her tits bounced with every step. Something the kid didn’t miss either. I scowled at him, but he was too focused on my bombshell to notice that his life was in serious peril.
He took a silver tray from the cart and removed the domed lid to reveal a spread of pastries, cookies, and other baked treats.
Isabella immediately snatched up one of her favorite cookies and took a bite. She moaned in delight, but she jumped and dropped the sweet when I shot to my feet, causing my chair to crash against the wall behind me.
“Get. Out.” I gritted at the little shit staring at my woman like she was his favorite cookie.
One look at my face and he scrambled from the room so fast he nearly stumbled over his own feet.
“Well, that was rude,” Isabella huffed.
I rounded on her, my body vibrating with jealous tension. “And what do you call lusting after another man’s woman?”
She rolled her eyes as she picked up another cookie and took a bite. “He didn’t know.”
“And whose fault is that?” I snapped. I hadn’t meant to say it, but the accusation had slipped out among all the rioting emotions inside me.
Isabella’s eyes dropped to the floor, and she whispered morosely, “Mine.”
“Fuck,” I muttered as I closed the distance between us but stopped short of touching her. I fucking hated that I couldn’t take her in my arms right at that moment. “I’m so sorry, sweet girl. You have every right to want to wait. It was the logical choice. I’m just…I’m an asshole, and I hate that I can’t claim you in public. Tell everyone that you are mine. It kills me that I can’t touch you whenever I want. Or kiss you. Especially now that—”
“Izzy!” Ellis’s booming voice broke the spell around us. Izzy took two steps back, and I swallowed my desire to drag her close and tuck her into my body.
Instead, I pasted on a smile and turned around. “Ellis. Nice to see you.”
“Hey, Daddy,” Isabella greeted him sweetly as she walked into his open arms for a hug.
I gritted my teeth and trudged back over to the head of the table.
“Come sit by me,” Ellis said.
Isabella glanced at me, and I glared at her. “Um, I think I should be professional and sit by my boss,” she told her dad with a smile that would turn the hardest heart to sugar.
Ellis nodded and looked at her proudly. “Right.”
A few of the other partners had entered, and he turned to speak with them as my woman made her way over to me and sat in the seat on my left. She set out her laptop and booted up the program we used to take notes so that everyone could access them.
The meeting droned on for two hours before I spied Isabella stifling a yawn. I was about to order her to go lie down when someone called my name. It was Dana Pollock, a senior partner who’d been with the firm for over ten years.
“Did I hear correctly that we were let go by Derek Hilliard? And he is now suing us?”
“That’s one way to look at it,” I responded, my temper spiking at the name of that prick. I’d received the notice of his bullshit lawsuit a few days ago. One call to a judge, and it had disappeared.
Dana raised her brow. “And the other way would be?”
“I kicked his ass to the curb.”
Someone snickered, and we both looked toward the sound. George Dobson, a junior partner and an immature jackass, was grinning at me. “I heard you two were after the same woman. Must have been a hot piece of—”
“George!” Dana barked. “Not appropriate.”