Chapter 26
Idon’t sleep. And I can tell neither did he. He looks too intense the next morning, too focused on everything except the work in front of him.
We try pretending nothing changed. But the air between us crackles, pulling us in like magnets. By evening, most of the staff has gone home. I’m gathering my things when Knox appears in my doorway, his voice low, his eyes unreadable.
“Stay,” he says.
One word. My heart trips.
“Why?” I whisper.
His jaw tightens. “Because if you leave, I’ll go back to pretending I don’t want you.”
The world narrows. I stand. I move toward him, almost unconsciously. When I’m close enough to feel his breath, everything in me trembles.
“Knox…”
His hand lifts. I think he’s going to touch my cheek, but instead he presses his fingers gently to my chin, tilting my face up.
“You have no idea how long I’ve waited to do this.”
The kiss is slow at first, soft, warm, exploratory. Then something breaks loose in him, and he pulls me closer, deepening the kiss until my knees nearly buckle.
He lifts me onto the desk. Papers scatter. His hands slide up my thighs, gripping, claiming, careful but hungry.
“Tell me to stop,” he murmurs against my mouth.
I wrap my legs around him. “I won’t.”
The rest is heat and breath and need. Soft gasps. His hands everywhere. His mouth everywhere. The way he whispers my name like a prayer he’s been afraid to say out loud.
His pushes my skirt to my waist. I’m grateful the door to his office locks automatically. Spreads my legs wide, fishes out a condom, slides it on and with one go pushed into me.
I gasp when he doesn’t slow down. He fucks me hard. Like he really has been waiting to do this.
“Knox,” I moan.
His mouth is on my neck. “I love when you say my name, Lana. I don’t care if everyone in this fucking building hears it.”
He fucks me harder, my pussy leaking all over his desk. “I’m making a mess.”
“No, I am with this pussy. It’s mine.”
“Say it, Lana. Tell me you’re mine.”
I close my eyes, feeling his dick swell inside me. “I’m yours, Knox.”
“Fuck,” he groans, moving faster.
I grind my hips, my thighs slick against the surface of his desk letting him fuck me as hard as he wants.
When it’s over, he stays inside the circle of my legs, forehead resting against mine. He doesn’t rush away. Doesn’t pretend it meant nothing.
He holds me.
We’re supposed to be discreet. We’re supposed to be cautious.
But whatever this is doesn’t stay hidden.
Knox takes me to dinner again. A casual place this time, tucked away, quieter. He sits close. Too close. His fingers brush my thigh under the table, and I can’t focus on anything but him and his fingers fucking me underneath the table. Until I hear my name.
“Lana?”
My blood runs cold. Knox slips his hand out from between my thighs.
Sebastian stands at the entrance, his expression freezing when he sees Knox beside me. His gaze drops to where Knox’s hand rests near mine on the table. Then slowly sees the one sliding out underneath the table.
His jaw clenches. “You have to be kidding me.”
Knox straightens, calm but dangerous. “We’re having dinner.”
“With her? Is that all your having?” Sebastian scoffs. “Are you serious? You always wanted what was mine, didn’t you?”
I stiffen. “Sebastian, stop—”
Knox stands. The air shifts. Thickens.
“You knew how I felt about her,” Knox says, voice low and lethal. “You knew it in high school. And you still went after her.”
Sebastian laughs bitterly. “She chose me.”
I look between them. Shock running through my veins like a line of coke.
“No,” Knox says quietly. “She settled for you.”
Sebastian lunges forward, fist tightening, but Knox grabs his wrist mid-swing, stopping him cold.
“Leave her alone,” Knox growls. “For good.”
People are staring. The waiters are all staring with mouths agape. The manager is on the phone. Probably calling the cops.
I stand. “Knox,” I whisper, “please.”
He lets Sebastian go but steps in front of me protectively.
Sebastian’s eyes flick between us, anger, jealousy, something wounded. Then he spits, “You’ll regret this.”
And he storms out.
My knees almost give out the second he’s gone. Knox pulls me into his arms instantly.
“I’m sorry,” he murmurs into my hair. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper.”
I hold onto him, inhaling his scent, feeling his heartbeat against mine.
But beneath the fear, beneath the shock…something else settles in my chest.
Knox defended me.
Chose me.
Claimed me
And I’m terrified of how much that means.