31. CHAPTER 28 #3
The word stole the air from my lungs. He must have seen it in my face because a laugh rumbled from his chest, reverberating against me as he closed the gap
He didn’t give me time to recover from his words. He closed in and took my mouth in a kiss that started soft and ignited fast. I moaned into him, a raw, and needy sound escaping before I could catch it.
His tongue swept in, tasting of mint and hunger, while his hands came up to frame my face, tilting my head exactly where he wanted me.
He broke away only to start trailing kisses along my jaw, nipping delicately at the sensitive line of my neck, then sucking where my pulse raced. Heat pooled low in my belly; my body arched toward him on instinct.
Then he dropped to his knees between my legs, and I gasped, the shift in power slamming into me.
He looked obscene like this: sharp jaw, dark eyes burning up at me. The man everyone feared kneeling before me, with his palms spreading over my thighs. My pulse kicked wild from how powerful it made me feel.
His fingers moved underneath my skirt, pushing it higher until the cool air brushed my bare skin.
“Lift your hips,” he grated.
I obeyed without thinking. He curled his fingers into the lace at my hips and guided my panties lower, his gaze locked on mine the whole time.
The air breezing over my pussy—already slick—made me shiver.
“I’ll make you forget your worries,” he promised, tucking the damp lace into his pocket.
That line should’ve been mine. I’d come here to check on him, to ease the grief still clinging to him from last night. Instead, I sat there trembling on his desk while he rewrote the script.
I flicked my eyes toward the door. “What if your mother—or anyone—walks in?”
He gave a dark chuckle, his hands urging my knees wider. “I’ll touch my wife wherever I like in my house. This is my wing. If anyone comes in uninvited, they have their eyes to blame.”
My breathing faltered. He sounded dead serious.
The possessiveness in his tone sent a shiver straight through me, equal parts warning and thrill.
He pulled me closer to the edge and lowered his head, pressing open-mouthed kisses along the inside of my thighs. His teeth grazed the soft skin there, and I bit down on my lip, fighting the moan building in my throat.
Grabbing the edge of the desk, my fingers clutched the polished surface, hard. Then his mouth found me.
I sucked in a sharp breath, my hips jerking as his tongue parted me—slow and almost lazy at first, then deeper, more deliberate, lapping in long, devastating strokes that made my stomach clench.
“Orion.” His name broke on a gasp.
He hummed into my clit, giving his approval. The vibration shot straight through me, invading every vein. I shivered.
A moment later his fingers joined in, two sliding into my pussy, stretching me with a slow, claiming thrust. My breath stuttered. His tongue closed over my clit at the same time, sucking gently… then harder, finding a rhythm so cruel I could barely stay upright. I tightened my grip on the desk.
He withdrew almost fully, then pushed back in, deeper. His curl was exact and filthy, pressing against the spot inside me that made my vision spark.
“Oh—” I choked out, my thighs trembling.
His thumb replaced his mouth on my clit, pressing in firm, unrelenting circles while his tongue moved lower, licking greedily around his own fingers as they fucked me deeper, scissoring, building the pressure until it flirted with pain.
Wet sounds filled the room. Mine. His. The slick, shameless noise of how much I wanted him.
I couldn’t think. I wasn't even sure I was breathing. The orgasm tore through me before I could brace for it, brutal and consuming. I clenched around his fingers in tight, rhythmic waves, my body shaking, his name spilling out of me in broken pieces.
“Orion…oh…o—”
He didn’t stop there. He licked me through it, his tongue still working me, drawing out every aftershock until I was shaking from overstimulation.
Only then did he ease his fingers out and press several slow kiss between my thighs before pushing to his feet.
He rose over me, his mouth glistening, his brown eyes molten. Then he bent and kissed me.
It was hot and searing and unapologetic. I tasted myself on his tongue—salty, musky, intoxicating—and it only stoked the fire higher. The ache he’d lit between my legs spiked, clenching around nothing; I wanted him inside me, finishing what he’d started.
His hands roamed my back, hauling me flush against him. I felt how hard he was from the inside of my thigh—thick and straining, but he still kept that last invisible line between us.
He tore his mouth from mine, breathing hard, his eyes still dark with hunger.
“Breathe, Léa,” he murmured. “I’m not going to take what you don’t offer.”
“That’s not—” I swallowed, my throat constricted. It wasn’t fear, not exactly. “I didn’t come here to… I just wanted to check on you, and bring breakfast.”
His fingers flexed on my leg. “I know.”
He dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the lace he’d stolen, dangling my panties between two fingers, a faint smirk playing at his mouth. “I’m keeping these to get me through the day.”
Heat rushed up my neck, heating up my face. My body still felt loose and shaky; my mind was several steps behind, trying to reassemble itself around what he’d just done to me on his desk.
When I finally forced myself to really look at him, the usual polished front was nowhere to be found. He looked tired, really tired.
The strain from last night was still visible. Faint lines underneath his eyes, the tension in his frame. Hunger still lived there, yes, but a heaviness sat behind it. Like whatever he carried had been there long before me, and before last night.
“You had a bad night,” I said, the statement hanging between us with the weight of a guilty plea.
His jaw ticked, the only sign of the battle he was fighting internally.
“My father’s charts aren't looking great,” he said after a long silence. “They tried to switch the protocol. It isn’t working the way they'd hoped.”
I searched his face. “Is he in pain?”
“Not in a way he can tell us,” he said. His gaze dropped briefly to my mouth, then back up. “But I can see it. And I’m very tired of watching men who claim to be experts shrug and say ‘there’s nothing we can do’ as if that’s what I’m paying them for.”
His voice was flat, but the anger underneath pulsed with a fury that made sense of the broken sound I’d heard through his door last night.
I lifted my hand before I could overthink it, my fingers brushing his cheekbone, my thumb skimming the faint hollow under his eye.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
His lashes dropped briefly, as if the touch had physically winded him.
“Eat,” I added, nodding toward the tray. “Then call Gérard and bully him into submission. You’ll think better on a full stomach.”
A heavy breath left him, and a faint smile returned that made my pulse stutter.
“Do you always get this bossy when you’re worried?” he asked, his voice worn.
“It depends on the degree of the crisis,” I clarified. I couldn't tell him the truth—that I hated seeing him look so fractured. “Someone in this marriage has to be hands-on.”
He caught my wrist before I could retreat, pulling my hand back until my knuckles grazed his mouth. He pressed a light, lingering kiss there, entirely devastating to my composure.
“Noted,” he whispered, his eyes locking onto mine. “Now it’s my turn to be hands-on.”
I frowned, trying to ignore the heat climbing my arm. “How is any of this being hands-on?”
“I can’t fix my father,” he said, his thumb stroking the sensitive skin of my wrist where he’d just kissed.
“But I can make a supplier remember who they answer to, and I can make my wife forget about a delay she didn’t cause.
” A trace of dark mischief made his mouth twitch.
“Both are an excellent use of my time and resources.”
I tried not to smile, but failed miserably.
“I thought the great Orion Kade didn’t believe in distractions.”
His eyes darkened, sweeping over me, still perched on his desk, still flushed from his hands and his mouth. “I’m adjusting my strategies.”
Warmth pooled low in my belly again at his gaze.
He stepped back finally, his palms sliding off my legs reluctantly, giving me space to adjust my skirt and steal a breath.
“Go before I change my mind and keep you here all morning,” he said, his voice more strained than before. “If you stay, neither of us will get any work done.”
“As opposed to now,” I muttered under my breath.
I was certain he’d heard it when I saw a real smile break out this time, startling and devastating in equal measure.
He helped me off the desk, steadying me as my legs wobbled, then smoothed my skirt down gently. A light tap on my ass followed, playful yet commanding. “Go on.”
The light tap sent a jolt of electricity straight to my spine. I stumbled forward a step, regaining my balance and turning to find him watching me with a dark, satisfied glint in his eyes.
“Is this how you dismiss all your business partners?” I asked, breathless, adjusting my blouse, to avoid his eyes.
“Only the ones I’ve been on my knees for,” he replied, his voice a seductive, wicked growl.
My pulse picked up faster at his tone. He was a problem—a massive, arrogant problem—and I was failing thoroughly at being annoyed by it.
I retreated toward the door, my legs finally remembering how to function. “There’s coffee on the tray,” I called back, pointing a finger at him. “Try not to ignore that part of the offering.”
“I’ll drink it,” he promised. His expression shifted, the hunger in his eyes giving way to a weary, genuine gratitude. “Thank you, Léa.”
He didn’t mention last night. I didn’t either.
For now, that felt like our unspoken agreement: I wouldn’t prod at the cracks in his protective shield, and he wouldn’t pretend not to see the ones in mine.