Suddenly His

I’m a garish splash of red paint across the pristine canvas of Lincoln Headquarters, but I hold tight to my heart satchel and follow the driver across the floor, my chin up. After all, the man who owns this company owes me two million dollars, not the other way around.

We reach the back of the buzzing, expansive floor full of men in suits and the driver stops in front of a glass door. I’m trying to figure out how the door is made of glass if I can’t see through it, when the driver opens it, gesturing for me to go inside.

And there’s Jack, in a charcoal-gray suit, leaning on the corner of his desk with a phone pressed to his ear. Sexy in a way that halts me in my tracks and whips my temperature higher by several degrees. He was sinfully hot at the Creed estate Friday night, but this is another level of attractive. Whereas his dark hair was kind of damp and tousled last time I saw him, it’s perfectly styled now, his mouth in a sensual smirk, his tongue tucked into the corner of his lips.

Behind him, the jagged city skyline rises and drops on the other side of the floor to ceiling window. Although somehow it’s not as impressive as Jack himself.

Was I really intimate with this young, cocky man-god? Just standing there, he is almost rife with sexuality. Confidence. Power. His glacial blue eyes cut through the room and fixate on me, sweeping me head to toe and immediately bogging me down with yearning.

“I’m late for a meeting,” Jack says into the phone. “Email me the details.”

He hangs up and pushes off the desk. Without looking, he reaches down and hits a switch on the expensive furniture, bringing a shade down over the window, a low mechanical sound filing the room as it darkens, leaving only the lamplight and the illumination of the office behind me. For a moment, we just stare at each other across the office, though I jump when the glass door bumps closed behind me. I expect to find us in total privacy, but I can see through the glass now to the bustling office, where I couldn’t before.

“I can see out,” Jack says in a gruff voice. “They can’t see in.”

“Oh.” God, his voice alone is like warm fingertips stroking down my belly. “What is the purpose of that?”

“If there’s always a chance I’m watching, they’ll work harder.” He winks at me. “But they won’t know if I’m slacking off.” His throat flexes behind the knot of his burgundy tie. “It’s also helpful if I’m meeting with a beautiful girl I don’t want anyone else looking at.”

Unbelievably, jealous threatens. “Does that happen frequently?”

“No. It doesn’t, Maisy. In fact, it never happens.” Jack waits until I acknowledge his answer with a nod, then saunters toward me, a diamond flashing in his tie clip. “That’s quite an outfit.” Slowly, he circles around back of me, his warm breath ghosting over the nape of my neck, his fingertips tracing the hem of my dress, very subtly dragging it up my sensitive thighs. “Did you come to collect your money or try and double it?”

An exhale leaves me in a rush. “I just came to collect.”

“Uh-huh. Is that why you’re trembling?” He slows to a stop in front of me, tips my chin up with a single finger. “You ever come to my office again in a dress this short, I will spend the afternoon spanking that sweet teenager ass right here in front of the whole goddamn city, Maisy. So help me God.”

Heat goes off inside me like a smoke bomb, permeating every corner of my being until I can barely speak. His big hand, marking me, making me sting. Soothing me. Owning me. “Doesn’t matter. I won’t be coming here again.”

Jack’s answering laugh is tight. “Oh, you will.”

Something in his tone brings my eyes up. I wait for him to elaborate.

“Before we talk money…” There’s a flash of vulnerability in his face, but it’s gone so fast, I’m left wondering if I imagined it. “Agree to see me again. Soon. Tonight.” His eyes turn shuttered, unreadable. “Agree…voluntarily.”

Or what?

Doesn’t matter. I might be extremely attracted to Jack, but I can’t forgive what he did. The promise he broke. “No, I don’t agree.”

His jaw flexes. “I know I deserve your punishment, angel. And I meant what I said, I won’t…release. Not until you tell me I can.” He steps closer, placing his open mouth directly over the pulse on my neck. Inhaling, exhaling. “I haven’t come since Friday. You know how hard that’s been now that I know how tight that pussy is? Now that I’ve heard you moan?”

“Jack…” I breathe, powerless to do anything but gravitate toward his mouth. “Stop.”

“Say go, instead.” His erection meets my belly. “I’ll rip off that stupid dress and bang your fucking brains out on my desk.”