Lola

HE DIDN’T EVEN hesitate in answering. “I think I’ve made it quite clear what I want from you, Lola.”

Those electrified, reinforced walls I’d built to protect my heart from being trampled on ever again started to shake and buckle under the weight of his penetrating gaze. I had to stand strong or I’d risk being hurt. It was pathetic to think that I made a living giving other women relationship advice yet was too much of a coward to go after something of my own, but that was just my reality. Fool me once, shame on you and all that… but to have been fooled as many times as I’d been was my own damn fault. I wouldn’t go there again.

“If this is about getting in my panties, I have to tell you, there are easier ways.” The words came out biting, angry. The uncertainty of everything I was feeling caused me to lash out.

“You really think that’s what I’m after?” he asked in a low, ominous voice as he leaned over the table.

“Isn’t it? Isn’t that all men are really looking for, a woman who’ll put up a challenge just long enough to be fun? But once it’s over—” I shrugged. “—what then? You don’t really expect me to believe you’re interested in me for more than a couple of fun rolls in the hay, do you?”

“Jesus Christ.” He let out a perplexed laugh but his features held no animosity, no frustration at my stubborn refusal to believe it was anything more. “What happened to make you so goddamned cynical?”

“Life.” I shrugged again, picking up my water and taking a huge gulp to alleviate the dryness in my throat. “Life happened.”

I shouldn’t have said it. I really shouldn’t have. Because I’d just given him the ammunition he needed to continue pushing.

The waiter quietly dropped off our orders as Grayson and I studied each other like specimens under a microscope. Once we were left to our meal, he insisted on knowing all the dirty details. “Tell me. Who caused you to be so pessimistic?”

“It wasn’t just one person, Gray,” I answered honestly. “Believe it or not, I used to believe in happy ever afters and all that naïve bullshit. Even when my father cheated on my mom over and over again and I’d lie in bed at night listening to her cry. I should’ve learned my lesson then, but I guess I’m too hardheaded.” I twirled strands of angel hair pasta with my fork and let out a self-deprecating laugh as I continued. “It took me a while, but after dating cheaters, liars, and one closeted homosexual, I finally started to see men for what they really are.”

“And what’s that?” he asked as I took a bite of my food. The question wasn’t ridiculing or sarcastic in the slightest. He really seemed genuinely curious about what I had to say.

I swallowed and wiped my lips with the impeccably clean cloth napkin. “That monogamy and commitment are a joke. And before you accuse me of being disenchanted because of a few bad experiences, let me just tell you, it wasn’t only my own bad experiences that made me this way. It was watching the people I love go through it too. Daphne was crushed when her fiancé broke off their engagement a month before the wedding. I sat with her for days while she cried her eyes out, trying to figure out what went wrong, only to find out the son of a bitch had been screwing her own mother for a year. Sophia was head over heels in love with my brother, thought the sun rose and set with him. She was convinced he was the one until she walked in on him banging the receptionist where he worked in their bed.”

He sat and stared at me for so long I began to feel like I was being examined. “So, because of what you, your mother, and your friends went through, you’ve convinced yourself that we’re all cut from the same cloth. Is that it?”

I took another bite while I considered his question. “No, I don’t honestly believe that all men are cheaters and users. I just think that the percentage of them that are out there is too high to warrant taking a risk. It’s not worth it, not when there are no guarantees.”

“Well, that’s going to be a problem.”

My heart dropped into my stomach as dread set in. Despite everything I’d just said, everything I truly believed, I was still overcome with fear that my negativity might just prove to be too much for Grayson to deal with.

“Oh? How’s that?” I asked, surprised I could emit a carefree tone. I was shocked that my voice hadn’t broken. Outside, I was the picture of calm, but my insides raged like a sea during a thunderstorm.

He set his fork down and clasped his hands on the table in front of him. The unaffected coolness he’d been radiating just seconds before gave way to the fierce determination that took its place. “The problem is I’m a very determined man. I see what I want and I bust my ass to get it. I don’t give up — ever. Not until I have what I want. And despite what you may think, what I want from you is more than just a quick, meaningless fuck.”

I wanted to believe him. Desperately. But experience had proven that words couldn’t be trusted. I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling, and when I focused on Grayson once again, he still regarded me with such conviction that the breath froze in my lungs.

“Don’t mistake me, Lola. I want to fuck you. I’m dying for it. But I also want to know you. I want to know what makes you tick. I want to know what your childhood was like, how you were as a teenager. I want to discover all the ways I can make you laugh and smile. I want to know what I have to do to make you take a chance on me.”

My chest ached with the need to draw in air, but I couldn’t seem to get my body to behave.

“I might want what’s in your panties, but I also want what’s in your head. You fascinate me. Everything about you is enchanting to me. And that’s where the problem lies, because you’re too stubborn to believe me, but I’m too stubborn to give up.”

By the time he finished, my mouth was hanging open in shock. I snapped it closed as I struggled to put my tumultuous feelings into words, but all I could manage was a disconcerting sputter. “I… you… what the… what?”

He sat back with a pleased smirk wreathing his face. “I’ll give that a chance to sink in. But there’s something else you need to know.” I could only imagine what that would be after the bomb he’d just dropped. “This charade, as you like to call it, is far from over. I’m going to milk this for everything it’s worth. I’m gonna take advantage of our situation so I can touch you and tease you and beat at those goddamned walls of yours until you have no other choice but to let me in. This is the only warning you’re going to get, so you better brace yourself. I’ll use my position as your boss, the media, I’m even willing to use your own friends if that’s what it takes. Once I’m done with you, I’ll have burrowed so far under your skin there won’t be a goddamned thing on this planet that could get me out. Is that clear enough for you, or do I need to explain what I want in greater detail?”

My mouth opened and closed a few times like a fish out of water. I was at a complete loss for words — something that had never happened in my life. Given no other choice, since my vocal cords seemed to be failing me, I nodded. I didn’t think I could possibly handle him going into even greater detail; if he did that I would probably spontaneously combust. As it was, I was struggling not to launch myself across the table and give my body everything it was craving, right there in the middle of a crowded restaurant.

Grayson picked up his fork and began cutting into his veal. “Good. I’m glad we got that taken care of. Now eat up. You’re going to need all your strength if you have any hope of fighting me off.”

Those walls around my heart groaned and quaked under Grayson’s pressure. There was no doubt about it — if this continued on much longer, they were going to come crashing to the ground.

I WAS NO less flustered by the time we arrived back at Hart Tower after lunch. My mind was racing a million miles a second, never settling on one thing long enough for me to process the brutal truths Grayson had laid down. I couldn’t seem to process a single thought.

It went something like this:

Want him.

He smells good.

I’m in big trouble.

I bet he tastes yummy.

…squirrel!

My body was on autopilot, letting Grayson lead me through the lobby to the elevator banks.

He hit the call button for the elevator and we waited in silence, standing side by side. “Hey. You okay?” he asked, pulling me from the jumbled mess inside my head.

“Uh… yeah. No.” I gave my head a brisk shake, hoping to piece my brain back together. “I mean I am. I’m just… a little overwhelmed.”

He took me by the shoulders and turned me so we were both face-to-face, leaving his hands on me as he hunched down to meet my gaze. “Because of me?”

I arched an eyebrow and fought the smile tugging at my lips as I replied, “Well, you are the only one driving me crazy at the moment.”

I hadn’t realized the double meaning of my answer until Grayson leaned in and whispered suggestively, “The feeling is definitely mutual.”

“I didn’t… I meant…. Argh! See? This is what I’m talking about right here! I can’t think when I’m around you.”

“Good,” he said in a hushed tone, stepping close, trailing one hand up my neck to my temple. He tucked my hair behind my ear, making my body — the hussy — shiver wantonly. His breath flittered over the shell of my ear as he whispered, “You think too much anyway.”

Then he kissed me… for the second time. And I melted into a needy puddle of goo… for the second time.

I was so lost in his kiss, so enveloped by all that was him, that I’d completely forgotten where we were. All I could think was want, crave, need, more as his tongue invaded my mouth and began warring with my own for dominance. My body responded, my hands diving into his silky hair and holding on tightly, as if scared he was going to pull away. In that moment, he was absolutely everything. Nothing else existed.

That was until the sound of someone’s throat clearing cut into our private little moment and shattered it to pieces.

My head jerked to the side to find Sophia and Daphne watching us with similar expressions of “Giiiirl, get you some” on their faces.

“Sorry to interrupt the public snog-fest, but you’re blocking the button.”

At Sophia’s words, I realized I hadn’t even noticed that the elevator had come and gone while Grayson and I were playing tonsil hockey in the middle of the lobby.

“Shit,” I hissed. I tried to take a step back, gain some much-needed space, but at some point during the kiss Grayson’s hands had slid to my hips. At my movement, he tightened his hold on me, refusing my escape.

“Sorry, ladies,” he said, not sounding sorry in the least. “Let me.”

One hand released me just long enough to hit the call button again before coming back and wrapping around my waist. In the back of my mind, I heard the elevator ding and the doors slide open. But I was too focused on the man staring down at me to give it much thought.

“Thanks for lunch,” he said, drawing my focus to his inviting mouth. “I’ll see you tonight.”

He abruptly let me go and stepped into the elevator. I missed his touch instantly, but losing it gave me the clarity to realize what he’d just said.

“Wait… tonight?”

“Yeah. Dinner at my place.”

“At your place?” I squeaked. “But—”

The doors began to slide closed before I could finish my argument. The last thing I saw was Grayson’s smirk, and the last thing I heard was his rich voice telling me, “I’ll send my driver to get you at seven. And don’t make me track you down, Lola.”

Then he was gone.

Daphne’s low whistle hit my ears. I turned and shot a glare at my two friends. “Someone’s getting lucky,” she singsonged.

Sophia laughed and hit the button for the elevator again.

I shot daggers at them as I declared, “I hate you both.”