Chapter 12 #3
“Both Omar and John are incredibly savvy and industrious men. They’re the owners of JV Plastics, and I am thrilled Blackwood Industries has finally joined forces with them,” I said jovially…or at least I tried. Once contracts were signed, I could drop the polite facade.
“Oh…” Eliza’s voice dropped as if I’d just told her to cut off her hand. “JV Plastics.”
There was something interesting in the way she said it that made my head tilt. There was no way she had heard of JV Plastics before this moment.
“You’ve heard of us,” Omar said, sounding very proud, obviously not picking up on the way her voice had dropped.
Leah and Katya brought out our first course, and as they fluttered around the table, I was careful to keep my ears pinned and ready, needing to hear the answer from Eliza as to how she knew JV Plastics.
I had asked her to this dinner to help entertain my guests but found myself wanting to force them to leave so I could talk to her.
Eliza looked down at her plate with a squint and inspected the tiny piece of smoked salmon as if she’d never seen a plate of food before. “Oh, yes, I’m unfortunately quite familiar with your company.”
I felt like I was watching her reveal herself to be a spy as she sat across from me, which didn’t seem that far-fetched when my eyes dragged over her toned arms and her body in that tight black dress.
I don’t know why; I obviously didn’t know everything there was to know about her, or really anything past what her background checks had shown, but for some reason, it felt like I had come to know Eliza the botanist, and this new version pulled at my intrigue in a dangerously enticing way.
“And how is it that you’ve heard of our company?” asked John with his brows raised so high that they almost touched his hairline.
“It’s smoked salmon. Do you not like smoked salmon? If not, I can get you something else,” I said, cutting off John’s question as I watched the peculiar way she looked at her food.
She looked up, and her cheeks were pink. Immediately I wondered if she wore that same pretty shade of pink on any other parts of her.
“It’s just… Well, I’ve never actually had fish,” she said, still looking at the little square of salmon, not with disgust, I realized now, but curiosity.
I leaned back in my chair and peered through the doorway, catching Leah’s gaze, nodding for her to come to the table.
“Leah will get you something else,” I said to her. I’d invited her to this bore-fest; the least I could do was feed her something she would eat.
“Oh, no, no, no, this is fine,” she replied enthusiastically, smiling at Leah conspiratorially and politely shooing her away.
“So—” John tried again.
“Eliza, do not eat that fish for the convenience of this meal unless it is something that you want. Whatever you choose, choose it for you and no one else,” I stated more harshly than intended.
For some reason, it thoroughly irritated me to think of her doing something she didn’t want to do.
I liked when she perked up and talked back to me with fire in her eyes.
This whole time I’d thought she might be a fun toy to break, but every once in a while, when she pulled down the mask, I realized she’d be a hell of a lot harder to break than I’d initially thought.
I wondered what she was like in bed—if she kept the controlled exterior, rigid and quiet, or if she let her demons come out to play.
Behind closed doors was when the demons had the most fun in my experience…
For a moment, she looked at me as if my words had startled her or sparked something truly thought-provoking in her mind, and I silently begged to know what it was. She thanked Leah and sent her on her way.
“I have always wanted to try fish, thank you,” she replied with a warm smile as she carefully pressed her fork into the small piece of salmon.
I didn’t take my eyes off her mouth for a long time after she smiled. The rosy-pink hue made my mind go to places that were giving me a very inconvenient reaction under the table.
“Do it, then,” I said as I leaned back in my chair. “Put it in your mouth, Eliza.”
The room fell silent except for a small sound Eliza made as she cleared her throat and looked back at me nervously.
A playful, lazy grin passed over my face.
I liked telling her what to do—I’d known that already—but what I didn’t know was how much she’d take before she pushed back, especially in front of an audience.
Her pretty mouth fell open in surprise, but only for a split second, before she recovered.
Her eyes sparked with their own flare of heat, and I had to bite my lower lip to stop from commanding her to crawl across the table to me.
That vision certainly wasn’t helping my situation under the table.
I was almost fully hard just from telling her to stuff a bit of salmon in her mouth.
I definitely needed to stay far away from her… after this dinner.
She gave a polite smile as she put the piece of fish on her fork.
You’d have thought she was about to be poisoned by the way the three of us men stared at her, waiting to see what would happen next. She lifted the large bite of salmon to her mouth, smiling at the other men for a beat, before her smile dropped and her eyes locked on mine.
“Slower,” I commanded, still pushing her. She stilled the fork and gave me a small, curious look. “I don’t want to miss anything,” I drawled cooly.
“It’s just a bite of fish. I’m sure it’s not all that interesting,” she returned politely before raising the fork back up to her mouth.
“You really think you can handle all of that?” I added just as it went past her lips.
She nodded with a grin and quickly glanced at the others and then back to me with cheeks puffed out slightly from the large bite. Honestly, I was impressed with the size of the bite. It was easy to see this was something she had clearly wanted to try for a long time. How curious.
Just before the fork passed her lips, she realized all of the eyes were on her and blushed with a small laugh, setting the fork back onto her plate with a tink.
“Well, what do you think?” John pressed.
“It most definitely was too big of a bite.” She grinned. “It was pretty good, but I almost choked.” She and John chuckled.
I didn’t smile. I didn’t laugh. I just watched her—slow, deliberate as my eyes tracked the delicate curve of her throat and imagined her swallowing something else entirely.
I spoke quiet and low, only for her, even though the whole room could hear.
“Shame,” I murmured. “I bet you’re beautiful when you choke.
” My gaze lingered at the base of her neck.
“Some women are.” She would be. I let loose a cheeky grin, lifting the right corner of my mouth before turning my focus to the uptight man beside me.
This dinner was most definitely turning out to be more entertaining than I had expected.
Realizing that we were behaving like a bunch of prehistoric humans, Omar picked back up where the conversation had left off.
“I’m dying to know how a botanist from…” He waited for her to answer.
“Pinehurst,” she answered, covering her mouth from view as she continued to eat, doing a phenomenal job of not unraveling for as much as I was trying.
I found myself unable to focus on anything else in the room but her as I sat back, trying to dissect what exactly it was that was so interesting about this woman. Why was she getting to me in such a way?
“I’m dying to know how a botanist from Pinehurst has heard of JV Plastics.”
“Me too,” I added, catching a stray look from her.
She picked up her wineglass with an odd expression and took a big drink before scrunching her face together, obviously disliking the wine, which made me snort out a laugh before regaining control.
Her eyes opened with an embarrassed look, then she grinned discreetly after realizing I wasn’t taking a shot at her. “It’s salty,” she said to me quietly before turning her focus back to John and Omar.
I raised a cocky eyebrow at her, and she shifted her eyes away from me with a small grin.
It was stupid, and only for a second, but I felt like I was in on some sort of joke, that I was a part of something secretive with just her, like we were a team at the table that the other two bozos weren’t a part of. It was silly but…nice.
“Yes, both of my parents work for EcoSphere,” she said somewhat timidly.
Interesting. I noticed she talked softer anytime she spoke about her family.
It seemed so different from the nervous, fiery, challenging woman I had come to know.
I found myself wanting to dissect her like a bug, needing to see which parts made her push back and which made her tremble with fear. I liked how she looked trembling.
I remembered the way she had flinched from my gestures when I’d moved too quickly that first day in my office.
I felt my brows pinch together, unable to hide my dislike of the resurfaced memory.
I enjoyed provoking her fear, but there was something in the thought of someone else hurting her that felt a bit like acid shooting through my bloodstream.
I made a mental note to take her out back to the shooting range before she left the manor.
Next time someone tried to hurt her, she’d be able to protect herself.
Silence filled the dining room, except for the clack and clatter of plates and silverware. It was like she had just dropped a bomb in the room.
“Ah,” Omar said, suddenly looking uncomfortable.
I knew I had heard of EcoSphere but couldn’t quite remember what it was.
“EcoSphere?” I asked, breaking the quiet.