Chapter 14
Archer
I”ll definitely ripher underwear again.
I stare at Hazel, her lips parted, a look of surprise in her pretty eyes like she”s registering what I said. She enters my private bathroom to freshen up. Soon after she’s done, her phone rings at a distance, an annoying reminder of reality. I have a jam-packed schedule today, and she knows that.
”I”ll go get that,” she says.
”Of course.”
She leaves without looking back, and I hear her talking to the operations manager. I go to the bathroom, compose myself, wash my hands, and splash cold water on my face. When I look at my reflection in passing, I catch the glint in my eyes.
I’m experiencing the high I usually get when I close a coveted business deal. But we had sex, and it”s still here.
Damn it.
I dry my hands and return to my office. My cell phone rings, but I mute it without looking at the screen.
What”s happening to me?
I”m completely hooked on Hazel. The way she felt, so tight, so ready for me…, and the way she kissed me.
I want more. I want it again. I want her.
My gut clenches. Relax, man. I”m probably still coming down from a post-sex high. I might think differently in an hour. Yes, that”s right. An hour should be enough to come down from a sex high, given my enormous experience in the subject.
I go to my phone and I set my timer for an hour.
Sixty minutes.
A lot can be done in sixty minutes, and maybe I”ll learn what”s happening. I”ll be calmer and think more realistically. If in one hour I still feel the same way, then I”m fucked.
So I open my inbox and go to the folder that Hazel has curated for me. Every day, she goes through my endless emails and prioritizes the ones I should read—not the ones she can reply to in my name. It”s a sound system. A system I should protect with every shred of common sense. If I lose her as an assistant, will it take months to find someone suitable again?
Worst of all, I don”t want to lose her… as an assistant or anything else. No, I want to bathe in her scent, to be wrapped in her warmth.
I glance at the timer.
Forty minutes. In forty minutes, rationality will return.
I go back to work, tweaking proposals and calling my legal team to double-check clauses. I even polish the business deal I want to present to Sugar Silk—one I hope to get the chance to present.
”Mr. Cromwell,” Hazel says, walking into my office. ”In thirty minutes, you have that meeting with the tech team in the conference room.”
I raise my gaze from the screen to her.
Mr. Cromwell?I just fucked her. I look at her, standing in the middle of my office. Damn. A few strands of hair stray from her ponytail, and that flush from our encounter is still in her cheeks. She must have put a gloss on her lips because they look ready to be kissed. I wonder what they”d feel like around my cock.
The idea sends an insurmountable amount of adrenaline through my veins.
The timer goes off, and the frustrating sound travels around me.
”Is that your timer?” she asks, curious.
I reach for my phone and turn it off. ”Yes. I was checking something.”
Checking that it”ll take me a whole lot longer than an hour to get over Hazel Dillon. Probably a lifetime.
”Also, Sarah Harrington called earlier. She was looking for you,” I say.
”Really?” She sits across from me. ”What did she want?”
”To invite us to her birthday party. She must have liked you.”
She smiles. ”Cool. Look at me, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous of Dallas.”
”Yes. Look at you,” I say, and our gazes meet and hold.
Time stretches between us like a worn-out rubber band. We”re caught in each other”s stare. I deep dive into the hazel ocean of her eyes and don”t come up for air.
Hell, yes, I”m looking. She moves first, shifting in the chair, her gaze swinging around the room until it returns to me. ”Anything else?”
”Are you busy tonight?”
”Sorta. I want to keep an eye on my dad to make sure he behaves. Moonshine can”t make him take his meds, unfortunately.”
Shit. Of course. Her father still needs some supervision. And here I am, being my usual selfish self. ”Let me know if you change your mind about him needing anything else.”
”Great. Why did you ask? If I was busy?”
I pop my knuckles. I can’t tell her now that while she’s freshly fucked, I’m already planning on spending more time with her. ”Small talk.”
She lifts her eyebrow, then her expression softens. ”Are you well? You never small talk.”
I”m far from well.I glance at her. ”There”s a lot about me you don”t know.”
She surges to her feet. ”So it seems. Don”t forget about that meeting soon.”