Forbidden Lust

“Like bait. Revise the contract tonight and send it off for their signatures. The sooner we stitch this up, the sooner I can go back to Manhattan.”

“Why the rush? It’s beautiful out here. When’s the last time you had a break?”

“Oh, darling. That's so sweet you care about me like that.” I rolled my eyes. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” I said.

“Of course, you will.” I followed his gaze to the entrance windows.

A group of gorgeous women passed by, entering the bar attached to the hotel. Black hair. That was Pepper. Copper hair. Wasn’t that Grace? Two men walked beside them. I craned my neck to see if anyone was behind them. What the fuck?

Dressed in a low-cut dress with a high slit, Lourde was my brand of elixir. Was she doing this to kill me? She hadn’t noticed me as she draped her leg over a bar stool, but everyone in this hotel noticed her. She was a single girl and easy prey for predators. She came across as easy. Innocent.

I pushed my chair out. It caught on the carpet. “Excuse me.”

“Where are you going? Do you know them, Barrett? Shit, of course, you do,” he mumbled.

“Get that contract to them asap, Tobias, and charter the next plane out of here to your pregnant wife.”

Whatever he said, I didn’t hear. I didn’t care. I’d already left the table, steamrolling toward her like a derailed freight train.

Why was she wearing that after I explicitly said not to? She looked fucking amazing. Sin-worthy, amazing. Couldn’t she see she attracted the eyes of all sorts? She couldn’t be in the public eye like that. Heck, she was my responsibility. My vein ticked in my neck, and I ran my finger across my jaw between my neck and my collar, loosening it.

Why was I letting her affect me this way? It was just a dress, Barrett.

“The sexy grinch is here,” Pepper said in a not-so-subtle whisper.

“Pepper, Grace.” I smiled. “Lourde.” My smile vanished.

She stepped off the bar stool and strutted past me like I wasn’t even there. I walked behind her, then pulled at her wrist. “Where are you going?”

She wriggled from my grasp. “It’s my turn to pay,” she said, walking off and leaving me to watch her pert ass as it swished from side to side.

If she knew I was here, she didn’t care.

“Sit down, Barrett.” I turned around, and Pepper pointed to an empty stool. “Let me introduce you to my boyfriend, Jake.”

Reluctantly, I pulled my gaze away from my elixir and sat down. The last thing I wanted to do was to meet her friends’ boyfriends. I’d avoided doing that at my own party. Even when I saw Connor talking with Pepper and him, I'd avoided it.

“Hey, man, great to meet you. I saw your photo in the paper. Did you really just make four hundred million on 21 Park?”

I narrowed my eyes. Jesus, fuck, who asks that?

“Jaaake! Don’t be so rude!”

“It’s okay, Pepper. Something like that, Jake.”

“I’m Dane, and can I just say, well the fuck done.” I laughed and shook Dane’s extended hand.

“Champagne is here,” Lourde said, setting down a tray of pale yellow-filled glasses. What was she, the help now?

After Jake toasted to something fucking stupid, I took her to the side and held my face down to her ear. She shuddered suddenly at my closeness. “Just so you know, you’re not going anywhere like that, dollface.”

“Oh, yes, I am. We’re getting a pre-drink here before the party up on Lane Street.” She straightened, and her perfume mixed with her defiance made my dick twitch. Why was she defying me like that? And why the fuck did I want to spank that defiance right out of her?

Again, she swatted me away. The others chatted, oblivious to our exchange.

My chest rose and fell. “Don’t play with me, Lourde.”

“Or what, Barret. What will you do to me?”

She stood at the bar and tilted her head to the side, an inch from me. Her black, sultry cat-like eyes fixed on mine.

I glared at her, a silent plea not to tempt me, and after a beat, she sat back down. If she was daring me, I couldn’t bite. I had to stay in control for both of us.

I watched her sip her champagne, laughing, carefree, and happy. Every now and then, she’d catch me doing so. I let her. As I politely engaged in conversation about construction and Manhattan politicians, she handed me a Peroni. How she knew I drank Peroni was a mystery. Regardless, I sipped on it, listening to Jake and Dane name-drop and swing their little dicks around in front of their girlfriends. If it weren’t so pathetic, it would’ve been cute. Plus, it was no skin off my nose.

The girls grabbed their belongings. “So, will you be coming with us, Barrett?” Pepper asked.

I looked at Lourde, and she stared back at me. I couldn’t let her go out on her own, could I? No.

“For a drink, sure,” I said.

“Wicked!” Dane said, walking out with Grace.

“Well, take that damn suit off then and let your hair down,” Lourde said, her hands finding their way to my tie.

The others moved outside, and we remained. I let her untie it and undo my top two buttons. Watching her up close, her smooth skin, a hint of blush on her cheeks, long black eyelashes fan out, and her scent of vanilla hit my nostrils. I pushed away the image of fucking her on my bed as quickly as it came.

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