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  His eyes hit my lips. A flash of longing stole his features as he picked up the pace, pushing into me with heady thrusts. He lowered, kissing my cheek and my jaw, my neck—everything but my lips.

  The pace picked up. My legs and arms tightened around him, the sensations overwhelming me. “Yes, Hunter!” My eyes fluttered as my body wound up, his ends hitting off mine.

  I turned my face until my lips glanced off his. I gave a light kiss to the corner of his mouth.

  He groaned. His thrusts became manic. Desperate. He entwined his fingers within mine. “Give in to me, Olivia. I need you.”

  “Yes, Hunter,” I moaned, letting go just that little bit more. Opening up to the sensations.

  He labored, pounding into me, forcing out moan after endless moan as my core tightened. “Please, Hunter,” I said, unable to take the sharp pleasure any longer. Needing release. Striving for the end.

  “I need more of you, Olivia,” he said in a low voice, rising up so he could work harder. He pulled my knees higher, at his waist now, and bore down. His large cock dove deeper, hitting new sensations. Driving me higher.

  “No,” I said, fingers digging into his shoulders. Nails bit flesh. “No, please,” I begged, feeling the tension tug at me. The emotion he was pulling out sucking from deep inside of me.

  He pushed harder, his delicious body shiny with moisture. Mine sleek and slippery. My legs wrapped around his middle as my body hit a new high. I gasped in ecstasy.

  He ran his hand down my chest, stopping on my breast. He pinched a nipple, making me moan in delight.

  The bed was squeaking now, keeping our pace. I groaned with each thrust at my end. My core was so tight. My body so sensitive.

  “God, you feel so good. I don’t want this to end.” Hunter laid his whole body on me, his movements deep and forceful. The demand in his movements unmistakable.

  I felt a little more of me erode away. I gave just that bit more, unable to help it. Wanting him to take me all the way.

  And then he said, “Come with me, baby.”

  With two last, hard thrusts, I screamed out my orgasm. My whole body quaked with the exquisite release. Hunter shook over me, groaning into my neck. My body convulsed, milking his release.

  As we calmed down, he rose up on his elbows and looked down on me. His eyes were so open. He bent and softly kissed the middle of my forehead.

  “That felt good,” I said as my eyes drifted closed.

  He chuckled softly. “I have a suspicion my car has gone.”

  “Sorry,” I whispered. “I’d offer to pay, but you have more money than me.”

  He rolled me to my side and snuggled in behind me. “I took advantage after my big speech about being better than that. And in your room, no less.”

  “Better than the stairwell—we would’ve had peepers with how loud you made me scream.”

  I felt his light kiss on my neck. “I’ll stay for a while longer, but then I have to go.”

  “I know,” I said softly, sleep tugging on me. “This was my doing. I’ll deal with it in the morning. You’re blameless. I pulled out the tears. That’s never fair.”

  “Listen, Olivia, tomorrow, when you wake, remember that I’m as screwed up as they come. I’m incapable of things normal people find so easy. These faults are mine—they have no bearing on you. If I was a better man, I wouldn’t chase you. I would accept ‘no’ and leave you to your life in peace. But something in you calls me, and I can’t walk away. I want you too much. There is a special place in hell for people like me. You’ll move on from this one day, and you’ll see that nothing I did was a reflection on you, except for my inability to walk away. I’m sorry—for this…for everything. Please remember all that tomorrow.”

  My eyes drifted closed as the words filtered in, but I didn’t take much meaning in them. Before I knew it, I let sleep tug me down into the abyss with his heat wrapped around me.

  Chapter Eleven

  I walked in to work the next day not knowing what to think. Hunter had saved me from a bit of a pickle. He’d stopped whatever he was doing to rip me out of Jonathan’s greedy clutches. Jonathan was a mistake I did not need to make. Thanks to Hunter, I hadn’t.

  Cue next mistake—I’d all but forced myself on Hunter. He hadn’t wanted to have sex with me, but I’d pushed him into it. By crying. To a man, that was like slipping him a drug.

  I ran my hand across my face as I waited for the elevator. I had wanted to stay away from Hunter sexually. Instead, I had pounced on the guy.

  I jabbed the “up” button a few more times. What is taking this thing so long?

  The man waiting beside me took a step away.

  Hunter was being a good guy last night. He’d not only felt bad for Saturday, something he probably wasn’t used to doing, he then tried to make it up to me by doing the right thing. That failing, since I was hanging off him like a groupie, he’d tried to compromise. The man was a saint last night, no two ways about it.

  I marched into the elevator in a cloud of frustration. There were so many facets to this issue.

  My mind recalled his look of raw fear every time he thought I might kiss him. It wasn’t my breath—something had happened to him once upon a time, and he had an issue with that form of intimacy. Real intimacy. He could shut off with the physical stuff, like a hooker, but with kissing, something tugged at him.

  I slammed my index finger into the floor button. The person who’d gotten in behind me shifted uncomfortably.

  Why had I gone and confused this situation even more?

  I felt the ghost of his body moving against me, entering me in a haze of passion. My body heated up and a wave of perspiration broke out across my forehead. I started fanning myself in the elevator.

  Ah, yes. That was why. The man was a god in bed. A. God! The way he touched me, and how he moved—there wasn’t one in a million like him.

  I wanted to do it again. Right or wrong, I wanted him with a fervor I didn’t understand and couldn’t control. Right now, next to a nerdy man with a comb-over, I was having an arousal hot flash to rival all hot flashes across the globe. My sex was swollen and my nipples were so hard they threatened to cut through my bra. I wanted to march into Hunter’s office and rip his clothes off.

  “Oh Lord, I’m in trouble.” I started fanning myself harder.

  “What was that?” the man asked. I could hear the uncomfortable tremor in his voice. He thought I was crazy.

  He was right. Hunter made me this way.

  The memory of Hunter’s words as I was drifting to sleep resurfaced. My chest tightened up with emotion.

  He thought he was fucked up. He knew what he had done to me Saturday, he was worried he’d do it again, and he hated it. He hadn’t rejected me that first time, he’d protected himself. Like he always did. He shut off and dove back into business. The two were incredibly different.

  I’d landed myself in some mess. I really had. Because I didn’t want just sex from Hunter, and I definitely didn’t want to walk away. I wanted to get to know him. I wanted to know why he thought he was fucked up, why he was afraid of intimacy, and the big one…if he could love. Because I could love. I knew I could. And I worried with all that was in me that I could very easily love him. Last night had clenched it.

  I turned to the man in the elevator. “I am in a world of trouble, my friend. Bear witness.”

  His eyes widened. He clutched his lunch bag to his chest but didn’t speak. A moment later, the elevator chimed and he hustled from the confined space.

  Hunter really was making me crazy.

  When I hit my floor, I slunk into my desk area, looking around with shifty eyes. I wasn’t sure how I would handle Hunter yet. He’d be shut off, and I was worried it would hurt me. In this case, logic and emotion were completely at war.

  “Olivia, are we going to have a problem?”

  I froze with my handbag halfway to the drawer.

  Brenda stalked toward me with a scowl and two cups of coffee. She put one cup
on the desk and then balled her fist and jammed it into her hip.

  I stopped my hand from jerking toward the red welts Hunter had left on my neck last night. My high-necked sweater should’ve been covering them. Calling attention to his love bites would announce my guilty conscience.

  I continued lowering my bag into the drawer, nice and slow. As I straightened, I used a light, musical voice as I said, “What’s that, now?”

  It was clear that espionage would not be a career option for me.

  “You know that I review the credit card transactions, right?” she asked.

  “Yes…”

  Brenda pursed her lips. “And are you not under strict orders to take the car service, or a cab, instead of the bus?”

  The exhale left my lungs in a whoosh. Thank God—she wasn’t onto me. “Yes, but I was running late today and didn’t have time to wait for the car.”

  “Mr. Ramous was waiting for your call. When he didn’t get it, he called Mr. Carlisle. Mr. Carlisle then had to call me and ask that I check up on your spending habits. I do not like getting a call from Mr. Carlisle on my personal line. It really ruins my morning. I swear, Olivia, you are the only person I have to scold for not spending.”

  “It’s so stupid. Cabs are way more dangerous—I mean, I’d essentially be alone with a strange man. The bus has crazies, yes, but there are always plenty of witnesses.”

  Brenda smirked and moved toward her desk. “Just…make him happy, would you? Then he won’t have to hound me and cause a panic attack that I killed a multimillion-dollar deal by not seeing an email or something.”

  “Okay, okay.” I pushed the power button on my computer as I remembered his coffee. A wave of butterflies rolled through my stomach as I started toward his office. Despite myself, I really wanted to see him. In fact, I kind of wanted to sit in front of his desk, with my chin on my hand, and stare.

  “Oh, and I saw that you charged a large purchase yesterday at Wilshire—”

  “Oh crap!” I stopped and turned back to Brenda. “Those were the dresses. I forgot to bring them in today.”

  “Yes, I wondered, because you’re not wearing anything new. But I should let you know… Well, I’ll let him tell you.” She went back to her computer.

  Oh sure, good call—add explosives to the cauldron of crazy I was stirring.

  I took a deep breath and walked into Hunter’s office. He sat at his desk, showered in light from the bright windows behind him. His suit jacket was removed, showing his muscular shoulders through his light blue button-up shirt. I noticed the hint of pec, which I knew led down into a divine six-pack. I gazed at his handsome face as I drew near.

  I set the cup down on the corner of his desk with a shaking hand. He looked up and immediately those bedroom eyes sucked me in, moving something deep in my chest. Something that wasn’t sexual.

  “Hey,” I said in a release of breath. I pushed my hair out of my face, trying to play it cool.

  His gaze took me in for a moment, expressionless. Then he said, “Brenda sent me details of your spending. She then furnished me with your receipts. Like all my admins, your spending will have to be monitored. Unlike my other admins, you aren’t spending enough. We’ll be going shopping together at noon today.”

  My stomach flip-flopped. I didn’t care about shopping, but I was all for spending more time with him. “I forgot to bring the dresses.”

  His gaze snagged on the side of my neck where the bites must’ve peeked above my sweater. His eyes flashed with hunger. He clenched his jaw and clasped his hands on the desk, turning his eyes downward.

  He was fighting his desire. So was I. I hoped he was better at it than I was.

  Or do I…?

  I would punch myself right now if I acted on my lust. I would!

  “You only bought the three dresses, I take it?” he asked, his voice hard.

  “Well…” I adjusted the sweater. “Yeah. I mean…how many dresses does a girl need?“

  “Olivia—” His nostrils flared in anger. He turned back to his computer. “Noon.”

  At noon, Hunter appeared at my desk with hard eyes and a set jaw. “Let’s go.”

  I finished typing an email message, hit “send,” and grabbed my handbag. “Okey-dokey.”

  “The jewelry is coming this evening, as requested, sir.” Brenda didn’t even look up as she delivered the message.

  “Good. Do you need lunch?”

  She did look up then. “When will you be back?”

  Hunter gave me an assessing stare. His eyes traveled the length of my body, bringing a blush to my cheeks as heat pooled in my core. “We’ll probably be a couple hours.”

  Brenda glanced at her watch. “No thank you, sir. I’ll be famished. I’ll get something in a while.”

  He started walking to the elevator, not acknowledging her answer. I lurched to a start, following. I gave Brenda a wave she didn’t notice and met him as the elevator was opening.

  As we walked through the lobby a moment later, I couldn’t help it. I had to satisfy my curiosity. “Was your car still there?”

  He opened the glass door and guided me through with his hand on my lower back. Bert waited at the curb with the driver’s side, rear door open. Hunter didn’t answer me, just walked to the other side of the car and slid into the front seat.

  As I approached Bert, I said in a low voice, “Sorry about calling you! I was trying to call a cab.”

  He glanced at Hunter getting into the car before whispering, “Sorry about calling him.” Bert jerked his head toward Hunter. “But I didn’t want to just turn up.”

  “No, it’s fine.” I waved Bert’s concern away. “He got me out of a tight spot, actually. An ex-boyfriend turned up. I wasn’t making great decisions about then.”

  “I can tell.” Bert winked as he tapped his neck. He thought Jonathan had given me those, not Hunter.

  As the heat colored my face, I slipped into the car. No way was I going to set the record straight.

  A short time later, Hunter and I walked into a store I hadn’t been to before. A saleslady strolled in our direction. As soon as her gaze hit Hunter, a flash of recognition widened her eyes. A smile spread across her face. “Hello, Mr. Carlisle! Lovely to see you.”

  “We’ll need to see your cocktail dress options, and a couple of business wear items,” Hunter answered in a bored voice.

  “Of course.” Her gaze shifted to me, quickly giving my outfit a once-over. “Anything for you?” she asked Hunter.

  “No, not today.”

  “Great.” The lady turned to the side and extended her hand toward the back of the store. “Right this way.”

  As we walked, the woman fell in beside Hunter instead of me. “What are you thinking for her? She has a great figure—I think accenting her bust and hips would be best.”

  “Yes. Something low cut, to accent the gracefulness of her neck, and either something short or with a slit, to show the definition in her legs.”

  “Oh yes, she has great legs,” the woman cooed.

  I crossed my arms. I felt like a prized pig being dressed up for the county fair.

  “Can I get you anything?” the lady asked, bending at the waist and smiling widely. She almost seemed like a stewardess. “Water, tea…”

  Hunter looked at me. “I’m fine,” I answered politely. He shook his head at the woman.

  “Okay, then.” She straightened up, smile still in place. “Go ahead and take a seat. I’ll just grab some things and see what we think.”

  When she was gone, Hunter crossed his ankle over his knee before saying, “My car was still there, yes. I was surprised.”

  I tapped my knees with my fingers. “I don’t have any regrets, just so you know. You’re in the clear.” It was a small lie, but he deserved it.

  “No, I’m not. Not by a long shot. But there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

  “Actually, there is. You can let me take credit for last night and stop being a know-it-all.”

  His
head jerked toward me but I ignored him. I just wasn’t in the mood today. My head was pounding.

  “Okay, shall we try some things on?” The saleslady gave me a beaming smile. If Hunter had planned to say something, he’d missed his opportunity.

  Thus began the dress-shopping marathon. Hunter looked at me with an analytical eye, noticing the cut, the style, the way it fit, and the fabric. He vetoed things for the smallest of reasons, like a wrinkle just under the breast. At one point I offered to stuff my bra, just to move on. That would be a terrible solution, if his scowl was anything to go by.

  The saleslady, animated at all times, brought me an endless stream of dress after dress. Red, blue, purple, striped, plain—she offered them all. Some were so atrocious I shook my head before I even grabbed the hanger. Horizontal stripes would do me no favors—I didn’t need to try the thing on to prove it! Unfortunately, I didn’t have the power of veto like Hunter did. He still made me try it, only to prove me right with a head shake.

  “Told you,” I’d mutter.

  Occasionally, when he really liked one, he’d tell me, “Slow down, Olivia, let me see.” His eyes would burn with pleasure, or desire. In response, my body would heat up, and make my movements more sensual.

  “Turn around again,” he might say, his voice deepening.

  My breath would get dense. My core would tingle in anticipation.

  And then he’d say yea or nay and send me back to the dressing room.

  After the third dress I had just turned off. What was the point? If he didn’t plan to rip the dress off and drag me into the dressing room, I was just getting worked up for nothing. And that was tiring.

  After two hours and what must’ve been fifty dresses, I was miserable. I would rather have gone to the office and given myself paper cuts.

  “How about this one?” The saleslady gave me that annoyingly bright smile as she held out a dress. She still looked fresh and vibrant, probably hearing the ding of the cash register with each dress she handed me.

  “Try it.” Hunter sipped an espresso.

  “Why even ask?” I said to the saleslady as I grabbed the dress. “You know he’ll tell me to put it on.” I shot Hunter a surly look. This was now beyond ridiculous. I doubted there were any dresses left in the store I hadn’t tried.