my entire body the moment I tasted Allie.
She was so damned small in my arms, all slight curves and soft skin. Her lemon scent wrapped around me like a fist, reaching deep into my lungs and twisting my chest with something I didn’t recognize.
Cupping the back of her skull, I angled her mouth against mine, taking her more deeply, roughly, the way I wanted to from the moment I saw her in that exhibition hall. My other hand grabbed her ass, gripping so hard it had to hurt.
How do you do it?
I wanted to show her how exactly.
The way I seduced my women, talking dirty to them and making them wet and wild before I even got their clothes off. The way I fucked them hard, making them scream as they begged me to let them come.
This wasn’t what was happening.
I was kissing Allie as if it was my life that depended on it, when it was supposed to be the other way round.
I shoved Allie back against the wall, my urgent hands roaming across her ass, her waist, squeezing her small, firm breasts. My cock thrust automatically against her and she moaned, digging her short nails into my shoulders. Her head tilted back, letting me take from her as much as I wanted.
And fuck me, but I wanted.
Her body fit against mine perfectly, soft curves against hardness. I groaned at her weight in my arms, mindlessly grinding against her before I could stop myself.
It felt so damned good that it almost hurt, and yet I couldn't get enough. I wanted more of her taste, wanted to be inside her in every way.
How do you do it?
This wasn’t how I did it.
I whispered Allie’s name hoarsely, rubbing my raging erection against her like a fucking schoolboy.
“Yes,” she gasped, parting her legs to give me access. “Right there.”
So fucking hot.
My hands found her hips and I roughly yanked her against me, making her ride the bulge of my erection. I wanted to punish her for her naïveté, for trusting me when all I wanted was to bend her over and fuck her raw.
Allie only hung on to my neck and wrapped her legs around my waist, and clinging on tighter to me.
“Goddamn you.” I ground my hips against her again and again, pleasuring my aching cock. “God fucking damn you.”
Allie moaned again, dropping her head back. I moved to suck on the sensitive skin at her neck, feeling her racing pulse under my lips, while my hand went to unbutton her top.
I almost ripped it open.
Allie’s hands left my hair to undo the rest of her buttons herself, spreading her blouse wide.
And Christ, her bra fastened at the front. A harsh groan escaped me when Allie undid the clasp, baring her breasts for me.
They were small but firm, tipped with rosy nipples that begged me to suck them.
Perfect.
I bent to take one in my mouth, suckling at the stiff bud.
It tasted so damned good I nearly came right there.
“Oh yes. Mm…” Allie clutched my head and arched her breast into my mouth. That dragged her pussy against me, sending pleasure shooting through my cock.
“Shit.”
I clutched her ass and walked her to the closet island, sitting her down and spreading her legs wide.
Her white cotton panties were already soaked through.
Groaning, I ground my erection right against her center, pretending there was nothing between us, pretending it was my cock slipping against her bare pussy.
Allie gasped, her head falling back in surrender, her lips parted in bliss.
“Oh, Ryland…”
I kissed her again, loving the sound of my name on her lips. It reminded me of me, that under the layers of the carefully constructed facade that was Wyatt, I was still there.
Allie wrapped her legs around my waist, erasing all the distance between us. She began moving on me, rubbing her pussy over and over the bulge of my cock. I could feel the heat through the layers of fabric.
“Fuck yeah,” I groaned into her mouth. “Use it.”
Allie didn’t hear me. Her eyes were glazed as she worked her pussy on me, pleasuring herself on my erection.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes.”
I held on to her ass, jerking my hips, ready to come just like that.
How do you do it?
I stayed in control, that’s how.
I kept my women at arm’s length, that’s how.
I put on my pants the moment I got my load off and walked away, that’s how.
And that’s exactly what I was going to do to Allie.
“Let me fuck you,” I growled in her ear, dry thrusting against her.
Allie panted, her eyes closed in pleasure.
Then she licked her lips. “I can’t.”
“Yeah, you can,” I gritted. “We’re already doing it.”
To drive my point, I reached down and fondled her clit through her wet panties. She moaned.
“Let me fuck you,” I rasped again. It was getting too close to begging, but screw that. I needed this.
She needed this.
But instead of giving in like I expected, Allie blinked hard several times, trying to clear the lust-haze.
I stared in disbelief.
Was she actually trying to resist?
“Don’t fight this, Allie cat,” I growled. “We both know you’ll be in my bed by the end of the month, so let’s skip the bullshit and get down to it.”
“I can’t,” she panted, easing away. “This is a bad idea.”
I begged to differ. This was the best fucking idea I ever had, and I didn’t get why Allie didn’t see it.
She just stayed stubbornly silent, fighting me even though her arousal was making her tremble in my arms like a wet kitten.
Our labored breathing was loud in the silence of the closet, a damning echo of how far we’d gone.
How close I had come to having her.
I watched in pissed silence as Allie got her bearings and carefully slid off the island.
She yanked down her skirt and quickly fastened her bra and shirt, as if to protect herself from me.
My gaze followed her movements hungrily.
She was right to be scared. She looked so damned fuckable that I was tempted to grab her again, taking it all the way this time.
My jaw tightened as I subtly adjusted my pants. My cock felt ready to blow at any second.
This shit wouldn’t happen again. Now that I knew exactly how skittish Allie could get, next time I’d be ready for her.
Next time, she’d beg me to fuck her.
And after I did, I would walk away without a backward glance.
“That was a mistake—” she began.
“No,” I clipped. “You don't get to run from this, Allie cat. You wanted this.”
Allie didn't deny it, keeping her eyes downcast as she arranged her wrinkled clothing and hair with stiff fingers.
I clenched my fists, my breathing coming harder than it was supposed to.
“Now that we’ve started this, we're going to finish it. This is your first and only warning. You can run all you want, but I will hunt you down. And when I catch you again… You won't stand a chance.”
Allie's fingers twisted and worked themselves into a knot, but she kept her gaze straight at my chest, refusing to look up at me.
“And the next time you enter my office without my permission,” I said in a low voice, “I'll take it that you want a repeat of what just happened.”
Allie nodded wordlessly.
I pushed the door open. “Go.”
I watched as she fled like her feet were on fire.
***
Every first Saturday morning of the month, I met with the CFO and the Directors of the various departments at the VIP meeting room for a meeting. In those two hours, decisions were made that steered the course of not only our organization but also the events in the industry and the country.
I was presently seated at the head of the table in such a meeting, but for the past hour, I'd absorbed jackshit.
I hadn’t heard Murray's updates on the Beijing development project.
I hadn't heard Dumont's news on our latest acquisition of Goldstein Land.
Instead, I found my attention straying towards Allie like a wild dog on a leash.
It had already been a week, but for some damned reason, I couldn't get her scent out of my head, or the feel of her body in my arms.
Jerking myself off like a loser didn’t work either.
Yeah, I’d tried that.
I wasn’t proud, but damn it, I was desperate.
For the first two nights after that afternoon, I’d lain in bed and grabbed my cock in my own hand, all the while aware that Allie was sleeping right below me, ten floors down.
Then I’d looked at her portrait across my bedroom.
I’d pretended it was her hands pumping my cock, her moans that I heard, her urging me on with “Oh, fuck yeah,” and “That’s it, baby.”
And I came.
Again, and again, and again.
On the third night I just turned the portrait around to face the wall.
That shit was just making things worse, and it made me feel pathetic as fuck.
Avoiding Allie wasn’t working either, but it was that, or act like a damned idiot around her.
Naturally I continued to communicate my instructions to her purely via email, and whenever I passed her desk outside my office, I just kept my gaze straight ahead.
From my peripheral vision, Allie did the same, but she actually looked like she genuinely didn’t give two shits.
What happened in my office had made both of us lose our minds, but apparently Allie had no problems ignoring me after that.
It was fucking San Juan all over again.
Narrowing my eyes, I spun a pen in my fingers, only half aware of Johnson's droning voice in the background.
Women had never been an issue for me. They were, in a single word, available, and the fact that my brain and cock had decided to fixate a particular one was disturbing as hell.
I refused to think that something as corny as Allie making me drop my guards was the cause of this. It had to be something else.
A dry spell, probably. The last time I’d had a woman was days before meeting Allie, so that put it at over two weeks.
Yeah, that had to be it. Now all I needed to do was look for another woman to screw, and Allie would be out of my system.
For some reason, my scowl deepened at that idea.
“Any thoughts on the matter, Ryland?” My father turned to me suddenly, his sharp gaze scrutinizing me.
My attention snapped back to the meeting, and only then did I notice that all of the Directors were watching me with expectant eyes.
Shit.
This had to be the worst possible time to be distracted, not only because I was surrounded by the some of the sharpest minds in the country, but also because my father was seated by my right. The old bastard still refused to relinquish his control of the company even after stepping down and insisted on being present at every meeting.
I rubbed my jaw as I eyed the charts on the TV screen, pulling up from my subconscious the critical points of what Johnson had been saying. He had been presenting the numbers from our acquisition of Goldstein.
After a moment, I spoke.
“Streamline their departments. Specifically, their heads.”
Johnson frowned. “That could upset the leadership dynamic.”
“That leadership dynamic was what got them to near bankruptcy in the first place.” I clasped my hands over my abs. “The numbers aren’t looking as good as we’d projected, but from what I found in my meetings last week, it’s not their revenue that’s the problem, it’s their operating costs. Goldstein employs half the staff we do, and yet their employee expenses are almost double. Their Directors will either have to take cuts, or they will be replaced with people matching Wyatt Corp’s caliber.”
My Directors sat up straighter, and a round of head-nodding swept through the room. My father's eyes narrowed, but even he didn’t disagree.
“Start looking to see where we can cut,” I addressed Johnson again. “And start from the top.”
The CFO nodded. “I'll oversee it personally.”
The rest of the group turned their attention back to Johnson's presentation, but my father kept his glower on me.
So for the next half hour, I had to restrain my thoughts about Allie and the way she tasted. The attempt was pathetic at best, but what was new?
I could only be thankful that Cam and Gabriel didn’t know what was up. I’d never live it down if they did.
The meeting carried on for the next hour without further incident, but just before it concluded, my father rapped his knuckles on the table.
“I’m sure you haven't forgotten the Berling Charity Gala this evening,” he said. “All our competition and our partners will be there, so I’ll expect to see every one of you in attendance.”
Shit. I closed my eyes wearily.
With my mind on Allie, I'd completely forgotten about the black-tie gala at Lancaster Hotel.
Everyone who was anyone in the country had been invited to the event, from government officials and CEOs to celebrities and heirs, and since dinners like these were more social obligations than charitable events, turning it down meant bad PR.
The Directors nodded their agreements, and my father turned to me with a calculating look.
I resisted the urge to swear again.
Now what?
“I'd heard about your new assistant, Ryland,” he said with a cold smile. “Apparently, she's slipping into her role quite well.”
The fuck did he mean by that?
I kept my expression carefully blank. “She’s got a quick mind, so it's not surprising.”
“Does she? I haven't had the chance to meet her. I'm sure the rest of the team is also looking forward to that.” My father smiled wider, looking directly at me. “I've personally gotten hold of an invitation for her to the gala. Bring her along with you tonight.”
My molars ground against each other, and around us, the Directors exchanged looks.
This.
This was exactly the kind of game my father liked to play. I'd refused to fire Allie, so naturally he would do everything he could to make things ugly.
No matter what I told myself about being in control, I couldn’t back down from my father's challenge any more than I could cut off my own arm. I knew without a doubt that the bastard was planning to pull another stunt during the gala, but that didn’t make a difference.
He’d already predicted what my response would be when he pulled this shit, and he was right.
Here I was, walking right into the trap.
“Sure,” I said in a steady tone, even though inside I was disgusted at both my father and myself.
I managed to keep my temper in until I got to my office. It was good thing that it was a Saturday and Allie wasn’t here, because once my door was closed, I swore out loud.
“Fuck!”
Striding to my liquor cabinet, I unstoppered the whiskey and poured a full glass.
I downed that in one go, then poured another.
The idea of playing into my father's hands made me physically sick. This shit between us was like a disease, a tumor I could never get rid of. I hated everything he stood for, but at the same time I couldn’t break free, because I stood for the same things.
So what the fuck was I supposed to do?
Striding to my chair, I dropped into it wearily and let my head fall back.
Not just that, but this meant that I would have to spend an entire night with Allie tomorrow.
Hours with her beside me, looking hot and touchable and smelling like lemons. It would be one hell of a challenge keeping my eyes off her with hundreds of people looking on.
Then I frowned.
Or maybe this was what I needed. The chance to prove just how dispensable Allie was.
If I cared, I would pick her up and take her to the party.
If I cared, I would even buy her a new dress.
And if I cared, I would talk and flirt with her, make it the kind of night that women dreamed about.
Now all I had to do was not do any of that. It was too damned simple.
Feeling more at ease for the first time that week, I picked my phone up to call Allie and inform her of her impending duty as my walking, non-talking arm ornament.