Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
When we get to the penthouse, she quickly changes into my T-shirt and nothing else, then joins me on the couch. Her finger traces little circles on my chest—lines like she’s writing secret messages on my skin.
The hem of the shirt rides up, showing me the smooth curve of her thigh, the seductive slope where her waist dips, and the lines leading down to her pink slit, hidden in shadow.
But I know it’s ready for me. She’s ready.
The most beautiful woman in the world, and she chose to be here with me.
Except she didn’t choose. I made the choice for her. I trapped her in a contract and made it feel like opportunity.
“I still can’t believe we found each other,” she murmurs against my chest. Her voice is sleepy and at ease. The voice of a girl who feels safe. “What are the odds I’d send a resume to a hedge fund and actually get hired?”
Yeah, what are the odds…?
My chest tightens. A crack forms, and guilt comes pouring out. Yeah, Marcus is right. She has to know. I can’t keep lying to her.
“Hazel…” My voice is weak.
“Hmmm?”
Using my thumb, I lift her chin and bring her eyes to mine. Hazel, just like her name. So sweet, filled with a trust I haven’t earned. Her brow furrows as she searches my face. She knows me well by now, and she knows something’s up.
“I need to tell you something, angel.”
She sits up and faces me, causing the T-shirt to drift off one shoulder. My desire rises up inside me. I want to press my teeth against her exposed skin and kiss her all over. Devour her.
She’s mine. MINE!
But not right now. Not until I’ve given her my confession.
“I’ve never said this to anyone before.” My voice sounds like rough gravel being poured over steel. “In thirty-four-years. Not to a woman or a friend. I didn’t think I was capable of feeling it. I thought…I was built wrong. The night before you applied to the position, I sat in my bedroom alone. Alone like I’ve been for years.” My stomach clenches. I drag my tongue across my teeth.
These emotions…they’re so foreign to me.
“I thought, this is it. This is how the rest of my life will be. Work and nothing else. An empty penthouse with a dead woman’s photo on the bookcase.”
Concern floods her eyes. She finds my hand and grasps it tightly.
“Dominic—”
“And then I saw your face.” My thumb traces over her fingers. “And I knew I would do anything to have you, Hazel. To keep you. Things I should be ashamed of. Things…you would run away from me if you knew.”
Her lips make a line. “What do you mean?” I’m teetering on the edge of a full confession. The background check, how I gave her the contract with the intention of trapping her. “Dominic, you’re scaring me. What do you mean?”
I’m right on the edge of a full confession. The financial background check, the rent problems—all of it. It’s right there on the tip of my tongue. I just have to let it go.
But her eyes are so bright and vulnerable. She’s wearing my shirt, and her hand is gripping mine like I’m the only solid thing in her world.
It’s time to speak the truth.
“I love you, Hazel.”
Words that have never left my mouth before.
I feel awkward saying them. Clumsy, like a man trying to sew with a hammer.
I hang there in the silence, waiting for her to respond, my heart racing in my chest. Finally, her face crumples. But not from sadness—from the overwhelming emotions of my confession. An admission she didn’t think she deserved.
Tears slide down her cheeks as she presses her forehead against mine.
“I love you too, Dominic,” she whispers. “So much it scares me.”
I kiss the salty tears from her face one at a time and lay her down beneath me.
This isn’t the way I normally take her. No commands, no orders, no hands pinning her down. I simply lower her down onto the pillows and stretch my body over hers, caging her in with my arms, staring down at her face.
I really look at her. At the freckles across her nose, the tiny scar on her chin from when she was a kid, and the way her lips are trembling like she’s feeling too much inside.
Unzipping my pants, I slide inside her slowly, one inch at a time. Her mouth falls open, but her eyes remain locked on mine. The feeling of her body accepting mine is pure bliss.
That’s right. That pussy stretches to fit me.
I roll my hips in with no roughness or urgency. Just a linking depth that causes her to gasp. She wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me closer until our chests are touching and I can feel her heartbeat against mine—fast, strong, and synced with the rhythm of my body against hers.