Spotting Hal’s laptop—a slim, expensive-looking device—on the desk, I pick it up.
“No!” Hal yells. “Stella, for the love of god!”
“Money. Now.” I slowly set the laptop down.
Hal swallows hard. “Do you have your banking information?”
Hmm, no. No, I don’t have it. My lips curl back like a snarling dog, but now I’m angry with myself. Not only did I not answer my phone because one was off the hook and the other was dead, but I also caused quite a scene coming in here. I’m sure there were a few people who were frightened of the batshit crazy woman coming through here like a class five hurricane and then some. They’re probably calling the cops right at this very moment.
“I’ll get it. You’ll have approximately half an hour to do the transfer once I give it to you.”
“I’ll come with you. You can drive, so you know I’m not going anywhere. Anyway, your phone is dead, so how will you contact me when you get it?”
“Well, I could always come back here.”
Hal looks panicked at the idea. “No. Please. Do not.”
“Am I really that scary?” I slowly slide the remaining few elastic bands back into the top drawer.
Hal advances on me quickly. Whether he senses defeat or wants to secure the perimeter, I can’t really say. Then he shocks me by grasping both my hands in his. Yup, definitely securing me. I can’t reach out and swat him or grab him. No. No, I don’t want to grab him.
Except, okay, maybe I kind of do. Just a little. With like, my nipples. Because they’re doing this weird pointy stretching thing I’ve never known them to do before, and my body is kind of leaning into it—toward Hal. The heat of his hands is like a volcano about to erupt, but maybe that’s me.
“You are a blackguard,” I hiss. “Money or not.”
Hal has a red mark between his eyebrows where the elastic hit home. Maybe that’s what I want to reach out and rub, which is why my hands are tingling. Perhaps it’s why it feels like I’m being electrocuted by him, pumped full of high voltage nonsense, and why my whole body is vibrating madly.
Without warning, Hal drops my hands and presses me back by taking a step forward. I have nowhere to go, so I sit down firmly on his desk, right on top of the laptop I threatened to hurl. I wouldn’t have, just so we’re clear—absconded with it and held it hostage, maybe. I stare into Hal’s—not so handsome because I would never think of Hal as handsome (I know, I’m a liar, but I still refuse to acknowledge that face). It’s fierce with concentration and hard because it’s always been hard and chiseled and manly, and suffused with—holy pirates, is that desire? Lust? Burning passion? Sinful intent?
For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, I grab Hal’s cheeks, smush them under my palms with too much force and eagerness and drag his face to mine. His mouth crashes over mine, and he kisses me hungrily. I fight back with just as much hunger, and when Hal’s tongue slips into my mouth, there’s nothing forced about it. I welcome it eagerly, stroking it, tasting the very essence of him, inviting him inside of me. I part my legs, and he steps between them, thick, solid, manly, and undoubtedly right.
In fact, all of this feels so right.
I’m kissing the wizard blackguard, the asshat who keeps calling my bakery a cakery, my brother’s best friend, and a man I do not like and will never like, so help me, cupcakes. And apparently, all of that isn’t going to stop me from doing it.
CHAPTER 13
Hal
I kiss Stella with every bit of skill, longing, passion, desperation, and breath I have. And she kisses me back. Harder, longer, and just as desperate. She uses her hands to explore my arms, my shoulders, my upper body. I wish it were without the benefit of clothes, but alas, we’re in my office, and stripping down isn’t an option.
Stella whimpers against my lip, and then shockingly, her hands fly to her jeans, and she starts unbuttoning them. I freeze and tear my mouth from hers.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking off my pants,” she huffs as her hands stop. “Unless you’d rather I leave them on.”
I shake my head so rapidly that I can feel strands of hair dislodge from my usual man bun. “No. I mean, by all means. Continue. If that’s what you want.”
“What I want is for you to shut up and do your worst with me.”
I nearly choke on my own saliva. “That’s quite a way to put it.”
“Well, what other way is there to put it?”
“Stella, I…I didn’t plan this. I…if you don’t want—”
“Oh, I want it,” she replies as she rips her jeans down her long, lovely legs. Legs which are perfectly shaped with fine muscle, long bones, and creamy skin that I’d like to run my tongue over until I have every bit of her body memorized by taste.