Chapter 9
“Did you not hear what I just said? There’s no chance in hell of that happening. Ever,” Leia snapped, but her pupils dilated before she stalked to the window. After a handful of seconds, she turned. “Besides, didn’t you tell me last night I’d never feel your cock inside me again?”
He smiled grimly. “Yeah, I was kinda hoping you’d forget that part. My cock certainly chewed me out for laying down that insane gauntlet.”
“I told you I don’t do angry sex. I especially don’t do angry sex with exes. So if you don’t want to part friends, I… I hope at least you don’t hate me forever.” Bruised eyes connected with his and held.
Shit. She really fucking meant it.
Noah sagged back onto the edge of his desk, his thoughts roiling.
“You really want me to leave you alone?” His voice didn’t sound normal. And his hands were growing numb from gripping his desk .
She bit her lip and remained silent for so long, Noah’s heart soared.
“Yes, I do,” she said.
The words dropped like acid onto his skin. He swallowed and nodded. “Do two things for me before you leave, would you?”
“W… what?”
“First of all, promise me you won’t pay the fifty million until you hear from me. And don’t worry, I’ll only contact you by phone if that’s what you want.”
“Umm… okay. I promise,” she said softly, confusion in her eyes.
“Good.”
“And the second thing?”
“I want you to turn around and lift up your skirt.”
“What? Noah…” She bit her lip, eyeing him warily at her slip.
But while the sound of his name on her lips sent a bolt of longing through him, it didn’t stop him from demanding what he needed. “Those are my terms. Do it, and you’ll be free to go.”
She shook her head in bewilderment.
He stared back at her.
Dropping her bag on the floor, she slowly turned around, faced the door and grabbed the hem of her skirt. The moment her lace-topped stockings ended and her naked flesh was exposed, he stopped breathing.
The garter belt was the same dark leather as the belt he’d branded her with last night. “Is that one of your creations?” he croaked.
She shook her head. “N… no.”
“Keep going,” he instructed hoarsely.
The skirt crept all the way up, and he bolted upright. “Tell me you haven’t been walking around attending meetings with no fucking panties on?”
The look she sent him held a mixture of defiance and embarrassment. “I couldn’t. The welts were too painful even with a thong.”
His gaze dropped to her ass. He let out a groan.
Long red welts covered her from her lower back to the top of her thighs.
He’d been excruciatingly careful not to break her gorgeous skin, but some of the streaks were raw enough to make him uncomfortable.
Fuck, he hadn’t been careful enough. Regret coated his mouth.
He was about to apologize when he caught the look in her eyes.
Raw, filthy, hunger.
“Jesus, you love being fucking sore, don’t you?”
She stared back unapologetically. “You woke something inside of me. I don’t see the point in denying what this does to me.”
He released his grip on the edge of his desk, reached blindly behind him until his fingers closed over what he wanted. He fumbled with his phone until he found the right app. At the sound of the camera clicking, she spun around, shock widening her eyes.
“Oh God, you took a photo of me?”
“Specifically of your ass, yes.” He turned the camera and showed it to her.
She stumbled toward him. “Noah, please delete it.”
“It doesn’t show your face. No one would know it was—” His insides froze. “Tell me you don’t think I’d ever violate your privacy like that asshole did.”
Her eyes squeezed shut for a second and shook her head. “The way you feel about me right now, I don’t know what you’ll do next. That’s my honest answer. ”
Noah forced himself to keep breathing until he had himself under control. “Come here.”
He made space between his legs, and she stopped a few inches from him. Having her this close, her skirt around her waist and her sweet pussy within touching distance, was fucking torture. But he resisted the urge to slide his fingers between her thighs.
Shifting his position, he adjusted the pressure on his cock and angled his phone toward her.
“For the last six months, I’ve been working with a couple of grad students from MIT with a view to King’s Ransom backing them.
Without going into technical and confidential detail, they’ve developed hack-proof software that can be used to store sensitive data. ”
“No software is hack-proof.”
“It is if it’s developed by two of the world’s best hackers. It’s triple-password protected and encrypted. No one will see this picture but me. But let me ask you this—if you had a compromising picture of me, would I be able to trust you with it?”
She bit her lip. “Yes.”
He nodded, then gave up trying to resist touching her. He slid his thumb over her lips and nearly groaned when she parted them. “Do you want me to delete it?”
“Not if you’re sure… No.”
He stared at her, saw the unadulterated need in her face and quickly made up his mind. Jesus, if she wanted him even half as much as he wanted her, surely they could find a way? He slid one hand into her hair and the other gently over her ass. “Does it hurt when I touch you?”
“A little but… Noah?—”
“Shhh, just let me soothe you for a minute.” For reasons he hadn’t yet been able to fathom, she wanted him but was denying herself the chance to be with him. He wasn’t ashamed to use sex to sway her. What they had was too powerful, too potent, to let it go.
Sexy mewling sounds purred from her throat as he petted her. Her eyelids drooped and she stepped closer.
He leaned forward to kiss her… and cursed when a loud noise buzzed from his desk.
Letting her go, he stabbed the intercom.
“Maddie, I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed.”
“I know, Mr. King, and I’m sorry, but your private line has been flashing for a while and I answered it. It’s… it’s the specialist, confirming that he’s able to see you and Miss Maitland first thing tomorrow for the DNA test. Shall I tell him it’s okay?”
Jaw clenching, he looked up and saw the pale horror on Leia’s face. He half expected her to clamp her hands over her ears to block out the conversation.
Any hope he’d been harboring about how she felt about him died a painful death.
Jerking away from her, he spoke into the intercom. “Yes, confirm it.”
He hung up and faced Leia. Her skirt was back in place, her handbag on her shoulder. “Do you hate kids? Is that it?” he asked.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m trying hard to understand what’s going on in your head.
You say you can’t be with me, but less than a minute ago you were purring in my arms, a millimeter away from being fucked.
So it can’t be the sex. And I know it’s not Ashley because you know damn well how I feel about her. So the game changer has to be the kid.”
Her mouth worked for several seconds. “No, I don’t hate kids.”
“Then what the fuck is it? ”
She glanced past him to that damn window again. Collected herself and gave a shrug so fake, he wanted to shake it off her.
“I’m twenty-three years old. Is it so wrong to believe that I don’t want to be saddled with a kid by proxy just yet?”
He called himself ten kinds of fool for allowing the words to rip into him. When the hell was he going to learn his lesson? Give up on her and move on?
Right fucking now was good.
“Understood. Goodbye, Leia.”
Bunching his fists, he shoved them into his pockets and strode to the window. She barely made a sound, but he knew the moment she left.
Ragged breaths chased through his chest as he collapsed into his chair. Almost against his will, he reached for the T-shirt and brought the cotton to his nose. He caught the faint scent of her perfume and crushed the material into his face.
With an angry curse, he yanked open his desk drawer but still he couldn’t let go. Not until her words crashed into his head one more time…
I don’t want to be saddled with a kid by proxy …
Promoting his status to three dozen kinds of fool, he tossed the T-shirt in the drawer and kicked it shut.