Only You (Sweet Torment 2)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jes Frolos and his son, Zander, were in the conference room with Kyros and Leo. The men exchanged pleasantries while I made a tray of coffee in the outer room. The meeting was about to kick off, and the final paperwork would be signed. I was excited. Not only to see this deal through, but after last night, I was certain things wouldn’t end between Leo and me, regardless of what happened with my job.

And that made me smile like a moron all morning.

“You’re chipper today,” Leo said, coming up behind me, his breath in my ear, as he snaked his hand around my stomach.

I shrugged. “A few orgasms will do that to a girl.”

He growled and kissed my earlobe soft and quick. “Wait til later and I’ll give you a few more.”

I looked over my shoulder at him. He had a wicked grin. “Promise?”

“Count on it, Red.” He looked at the tray of coffee. “You don’t need to do that.”

“I want to. Now quit talking to me and get in there.”

He smiled before going back in. I was so happy he was treating me like part of the team and part of his world. Treating me like I was . . . his.

The idea made me warm, and confident for the first time looking forward to the future. A future with him. Closing this deal and being a part of it really made me feel like I was worthwhile. And being in Leo’s bed, having his arms around me, made me feel warm and complete.

Ironically I hadn’t thought about my resume in a while. Mostly because the closer I came to leaving and my three months being up, which was next week, the less I thought about moving on to something else. I just thought about Leo.

One tiny detail was still hard to swallow though. He hadn’t said he loved me back. Not that I expected that. But that stupid twinge of hope was still pulsing. Because there was the way he looked at me. The way he held me. And something in his eyes made me hold on to that feeling. It was that same look that gave me strength. Enough to finally be done with a chapter in my life that had haunted me. My mother and my past.

He may not have said he loved me, but he said he needed me.

Just as I got four cups of coffee for the men onto the tray, a voice from behind me said, “You might want to make one more cup.”

I turned to find Colin. My temples pounded wildly from the shock.

“What are you doing here?”

He smiled. “There’s a meeting.”

“A closed meeting,” I said.

“A meeting I was invited to.” My mouth dropped. “Careful, Miss Levine, with that sweet mouth open like that, it might give a man the wrong idea. But that is what you’re known for, I suppose.”

“Excuse me?”

His evil smile turned sly. “Has the news from the US not gotten over here yet? Because it broke this morning that a certain assistant to Bill Vorse was leaked as being a person of interest in both the sex scandal and missing state money.”

My heart was going to explode and my knees shook. A sheen of sweat broke over my face and my skin chilled instantly. Colin pulled open his phone, then held out the article. I blinked several times to try to clear the haze in front of my eyes.

There, in big, black New York

Times letters, was my name and a whole story of speculations about my questionable actions.

“Davis?” Leo asked as he walked out toward us. “What is going on here?”

He cupped my shoulder and I couldn’t speak. I was on the brink of something I hadn’t felt since Frank snuck into my room.

Panic.

Fear.

Terror.