I snuggled into Grayson more and moaned. His hand came up to me. “You okay?”

I yawned as I tried to find a comfortable spot. I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was just after six in the morning. One hour. One hour of sleep was all I got. Or, maybe I should say, all Grayson allowed me, as he took me over and over again. “I feel like I ran a marathon, and I’m sore all over,” I groaned, trying to move again, but he held me close. I was hot and unbelievably sticky. We both were. Grayson made sure he spread his cum not only in me, but all over me, as well. “Branding what’s mine,” he’d said.

He peered over to check the baby monitor. Emersyn was still asleep. He got up, pulling me with him. “Come on, let’s shower.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Fine, but just a shower.”

He pulled me into the bathroom with him and smirked. “Of course, just a shower.”

Turns out, that was a lie. We emerged almost a full hour later, and I felt even more drained and worn out than before. I stood as Grayson slowly dried me off, making it as erotic as he could. “What happened to just a shower?”

He peered up at me, as he ran the towel up and down my legs. “It was. It just so happened to involve taking you two more times.” I rolled my eyes, and he stood up, pulling me to him with a sigh. “I know you’re thinking that none of this makes up for what has been going on this week, and we still need to talk - we will do that. I just need you to know that you have me a hundred percent. I’m not going anywhere, and I’ll do everything to make it right.”

I nodded wanting to believe him. We quickly got dressed, and by then Emersyn had woken up and Grayson, helped her get ready, since Magda was coming to pick her up for a play date with Gwen’s twins. I would finally be able to get some much-needed work done since I was behind.

At lunch, I took a break, needing to stretch my legs. I was able to go out the back entrance without being seen and took a stroll to the nearest park with a cup of vegetable soup. I was just finishing when someone sat down next to me. I felt my blood go cold, and not just because it was cold outside.

“Emmalin. I’ve been wanting to speak with you, I hope you don’t mind me being here.” Yes. Yes, I did fucking mind. Claudia turned more toward me and looked me up and down as if she was assessing me.

“What do you want?”

“I figured this was the perfect opportunity to chat about the indiscretions with our guy.” I narrowed my eyes at the way she said “our guy”.

I cleared my throat. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage, Claudia. For one, you’re thinking that my husband belongs to you.”

She lightly laughed. “Grayson and I have been seeing each other since I came on board. I mean, why else would he hire me as Chief Marketing Officer and it wasn’t my skill set?” She flicked back her hair. “We weren’t just coworkers- we have something.”

“Or maybe you’re just a delusional bitch,” I countered back with a smile.

She tsked. “Jealousy isn’t a becoming trait for you.” She stood up. “You need to let him go, otherwise things will get worse for you.” She paused. “And for that gorgeous little girl of yours, or maybe I should claim her.”

Before she finished her sentence, I stood up, and somehow, my hand “accidentally” glided across her face, knocking her sunglasses off the top of her big ass head. She stumbled back a bit. Before I could say anything else, a flash interrupted my thoughts. Several cameras in fact.

“You’ll pay for that,” she seethed. She turned to the cameras. “Did you see that? The desperate little house wife, attacking her husband’s girlfriend. Maybe she’s the one with the anger issues.” She kept her hand on her cheek and walked away as if I basically hit her with a car. I wish I had.

I got up with the intention to go after her. “Mrs. Mandrake.”

I stopped at the calling of my name and looked behind me. Hawkins was making his way to me, but I didn’t care. I kept going. “Claudia!” She didn’t slow down her gait as I ran after her. I was just about to grab her long white blonde hair, when I was grabbed from behind and jerked back and basically restrained.

“What are you doing?! Let me go, Hawkins!”

“What are you doing?” he growled in my ear. “You were given direct orders not to go anywhere without security and here you are doing it again.”

I finally shrugged out of his arms and turned to face him. “Leave me the fuck alone! I don’t answer to you, and I sure as fuck don’t answer to your boss.” I seethed out, storming past him as I tried to ignore the cameras circling around us.

I wrapped my arms around myself, making my way back to the condo and keeping my head down, ignoring everything and everyone around me. By the time I got inside, I had ten missed calls from Grayson, as well as a few texts. I ignored every single one of them.

I remained just standing in the middle of the room. Next thing I knew, the elevator opened and Grayson walked out. His eyes were dark as he took me in. Before he could speak, I held up my hand.

“Stop! I don’t want to hear your shit right now, Grayson.”

He took off his suit jacket and started rolling up his sleeves. “Emmalin, I told you not to go out there…”

“Without someone. Yes, I know.”

His eyes narrowed. “Then why the fuck are you disobeying me?”

As he moved closer, I took the keys I still held in my hand and threw them at him. He almost didn’t have time to duck as they flew right past his head into the wall. He looked back at me completely stunned.

“She approached me, Grayson! Me! I was minding my own damn business, and she approached me.” I felt myself tearing up, but I couldn’t deal with that. Not here, not yet. “She told me things.” I whispered.

“Don’t listen to anything she tells you. She’s only…”

“Did you hire her, even though she wasn’t qualified for the job? You gave her the CMO position, right?”

His eyes left mine briefly. “She wasn’t exactly qualified no, but with her resume and with her previous work experience, she was given the job.”

We were interrupted by Grayson’s phone ringing. I turned my back, shaking my head as I sat on the couch. With my eyes on Grayson and his mood instantly changing to anger, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on.

“Send them to me!” I sat listening to the one-sided phone conversation. “I don’t give a fuck, I want to see them!”

He hung up, pacing with the occasional glance to me. Finally, his phone dinged, and he looked at it. After a few minutes, he held his phone up. “There’s a nice video of you slapping Claudia leaking online as I speak.” I smirked. I didn’t give a shit. In fact, I should download it, and play it over and over again.

He studied his phone and frowned. “Hawkins found you.”

He didn’t ask it as a question. He clearly knew Hawkins found me. I stood up. “I have work to do. Feel free to leave anytime.”

“What is that supposed to mean.”

I stopped at the door but didn’t turn around to face him. “It means, we should talk on Saturday like we agreed.”