“I … it’s fine.”
Darius slammed his lips down on hers, and feeling his hard body press against hers, she relented, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close. She released a whimper as he pressed her up against the counter of sinks.
“Fuck, I need you so damn badly.”
“Not at work.”
“Do you think work is a problem?” He kissed down her neck. “Because I seem to remember how good this ass looked bent over my desk just last night.” Darius gave her ass a squeeze, and she couldn’t contain her moan.
Her pussy went slick. “Not in the bathroom.”
“Well, how about we go back up to my office, and I show you what I want to eat for my lunch.”
There were so many reasons not to agree, but at the same time, she was so aroused by him. Their sex life was intense. She wanted him. This was the problem. When she was in his company, nothing bothered her. She loved him, just as he loved her, and when she was with him, she could take on the world. It was when they were apart and she succumbed to reading the newspaper that her troubles began.
She hated the insecurity.
The self-doubt.
It had no place in her life, but she couldn’t seem to get it to stop, even though she wanted to so badly.
Darius kissed her again. “What do you say?”
“I like that,” she said.
He took her hand, and they stepped out of the bathroom together. No one was around, so she didn’t have to worry about being too embarrassed.
As they got to the elevator, Darius’s cell phone went off. Before she got a chance to see who was calling him, he hid the caller’s name, pressing his phone against his chest.
“I’ve got to take this. Be waiting for me.”
He let go of her hand, and the elevator doors chose that moment to open. She didn’t argue with him, stepping inside and watching him as the doors closed.
Slumping toward the back, she felt that horrible, gut-clenching sickness that had been getting worse since he announced to the world they were engaged.
It didn’t take long for the elevator doors to open, and as they did, she stepped out and made her way straight to Darius’s office.
She took a seat in the chair opposite his desk and stared at it.
Rose thought about how nervous she’d been when he offered her this job. She’d been so anxious. She had thought he was so handsome.
The phone on his table started to ring, the main office line, and she frowned. She couldn’t recall it ever going off when she’d been with Darius in this office. He always used his cell phone. She had started to figure that this one was for show.
Getting to her feet, she picked up the receiver.
“Darius Blackwood’s office, Rose speaking. How can I help?” she asked, sticking to what Ross had told her.
“Rose?” Ross asked.
****
Darius was pissed off.
He sent a quick text to Rose’s cell phone, letting her know he had a sudden meeting and that he would have to take a raincheck on lunch. The last place he wanted to go was to his father’s office, but he had just gotten a call from one of the newspaper outlets that his father intended to respond to the news of his son’s engagement, and it wasn’t a nice report. It was filled with lies that painted him as the bad guy, his father as the victim, and Rose as a gold-digging whore.
He had to do some serious damage control.
Climbing into his car, he turned over the ignition and was on his way out of the parking lot when a call came in, which he took, assuming it was Rose.
“Hey, big brother, so I was thinking, you, Rose, me, and Elliot tonight. What do you say? I’ll be making tacos?” His sister sounded so damn happy.
“Shit, I can’t tonight.”
There was silence. “Darius, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t talk right now.”
“I’ve known you all my life, and I know when something isn’t right. You haven’t called the wedding off have you?”
“I’m on my way to Dad’s.”
He heard her sharp inhale. “No!”
“Look, I’ve got to go. This is important.”
“How could you be going to that horrible man? He is an asshole. A jerk. A bastard. There are not enough words to call him for what he is.”
“I’ve got a friend at one of the newspapers, and he warned me that he’s going to print a story that is … bullshit. It tells a story of an abused old man whose kids have taken advantage of him. Who took from him, and used him to make their own way.” He went into the details.
“Darius, there is no reasoning with this man. He can tell the horrible story any way he wants to, but it doesn’t make it true.”
“People believe what is printed. Nobody cares about the truth anymore. I’m not going to let him tarnish Rose’s name.”