Darkly (Follow Me 4)

“Journalists don’t have to reveal their sources.”

“This isn’t journalism, Braden. It’s gossip. Fabricated gossip.”

“Potato, po-tah-to, as far as the courts are concerned. Besides, look at the facts. We are dating. We did sit together at the MADD event. We are going to the Opera Guild Gala. And we’ve pretty much been inseparable since we met.”

“Except they make me sound like a lovesick schoolgirl who’s after Addie’s job. She’s going to have a field day with this.”

“Maybe she won’t see it,” I say.

Skye laughs, and I can’t tell whether it’s real or forced. Probably a combination of both.

“Addie won’t see it? The woman thrives on attention. She googles her name all the time. How will she not see it?”

I don’t reply.

“I’m nothing like Addison,” she says indignantly.

“If you were anything like Addison, do you think I’d have the slightest interest in you?”

“Honestly? I don’t know, Braden, because you won’t tell me what happened between you two.”

“Skye, you do try my patience.” I stand, pull her out of the chair, and into my body.

She parts her lips.

“Fuck, you’re so sexy.”

That’s all I say. What I don’t say is that the article in the Babbler doesn’t upset me nearly as much as it should. What I also don’t say is how, twelve hours ago, I vowed to distance myself from this woman because I was afraid I might be falling in love.

So much for distance.

I kiss her. Hard.

Everything else vanishes. The engagements Claire just put on my calendar. The article in the Babbler. Skye’s contract and how she manipulated her way into my office.

It’s all gone.

Only our kiss exists.

Only my lips sliding against hers, my tongue probing between them, the groans coming from her throat, my erection pushing into her belly.

I break the kiss and inhale deeply. “God, what you do to me.” I whip my tie off my neck and finger the fabric.

She gasps sharply.

Good. She knows what I’m thinking.

“Silk isn’t the best for binding,” I say. “The knots are sometimes too tight, which can be a problem if I need to untie you quickly.”

She lifts her eyebrows, raising them in challenge.

&nb

sp; Too late for that.

I’m binding her with this silk tie, and I’m doing it now.

“However, it’s all I have at the moment.” I unbutton my shirt and remove it. I stand in a white tank. “Take off your clothes, Skye.”