Aaron

---

“No.”

She said the word quietly, with almost no hint of inflection in her voice. But inflection wasn’t necessary, at least not when I looked at her face.

What I saw in her expression was the same certainty I had heard in her voice, the absolute unwillingness to compromise. And for the thousandth time today, I called on my reserve of patience and calm.

I paused for a moment, grinding my teeth so hard I was afraid they might crack.

“What do you mean?” I said, trying, and failing, to keep my voice even, not that Cree seemed to notice.

“‘No’ is a complete sentence. What don’t you understand?” she asked.

She blinked, her long lashes fluttering, making her statement only that much more annoying.

I stood, unable to stay seated for a moment longer, not with the anger that was threatening to overtake me.

We were in my office, and while the view overlooking the city usually calmed me, tonight it had no effect. We’d been at this for hours, Cree and I finally having reached an agreement to try to work together in the same space. It had been my idea, an attempt to squash some of the animosity between us that still roiled beneath the surface.

So far it had been a disaster.

I wasn’t surprised by that because I had known she was no more inclined to give up and give in than I was. I had expected confrontation, but expecting it and experiencing it were two different things.

This morning I started out so hopeful, even slightly optimistic that maybe, possibly we could reach some kind of consensus. I wouldn’t take it easy on her and didn’t expect her to take it easy on me, but I still wanted us to be able to share the same space without being at each other’s throats. In fact, I’d been sure we could do it. For the last fourteen hours, Cree had been going out of her way to prove me completely wrong.

There hadn’t been a suggestion, a statement, anything I did or said that she didn’t confront with an objection, a complaint, or, as she had just done, reject outright. And that included where we should order lunch from. To say that it was starting to wear on me would be an understatement.

I looked at her, saw that she had a knowing expression on her face, one that told me she knew exactly what she was doing. I’d told her I intended to stay close to push her and keep her from focusing, but she was turning the tables on me.

What little patience I had snapped.

“This isn’t going to work,” I said.

She quirked a brow, a soft smile lighting her face.

“What are you talking about, Aaron?” she asked.

Her voice sounded sincere, like she was actually concerned about what I meant and what I was talking about, but when I looked in her eyes, saw the near glee in them, I knew nothing could be further from the truth.

It occurred to me then exactly what she was doing, and she needed to know that that kind of thing wouldn’t work on me.

I stayed silent for a moment, piercing her with my most princely glare.

There was no way she could have missed it, but she gave no reaction at all. Instead she stood, silently walked over to the window in my office, and looked out.

It occurred to me then that I had never seen Cree look as content as she did now. It probably said something that her contentment was coming at my expense.

Still, I tried to keep a tight rein on my emotions, not allow Cree’s intentional goading to get to me.

I took a deep breath, another, then approached her.

I came to a stop next to her and looked out the window as she did, forcing myself to stay calm, to not lash out. That was exactly what she wanted, and I wouldn’t give it to her.

Finally, after several long moments of silence passed, I moved my gaze away from the window and looked at her.

There was nothing obviously different about her appearance, and for a moment, rather than speaking I studied her.

She was dressed conservatively as always, though the hours in the office had started to show.

Her white blouse had wrinkles on the back, and had come slightly untucked. Her usually immaculate ponytail was slightly askew.

I thought it looked good on her, gave her a touch of humanity that she often tried to hide.

It also made me hopeful.

As much of a problem as she might have with me, Cree was a normal person, a reasonable one, or she could be when she wanted to.

It was just up to me to make sure she wanted to.

“Cree,” I finally said.

She shifted and looked at me, her expression still serene.

For an instant that expression calmed me, but in the next breath, my anger returned full force.

Perhaps it was unreasonable, but it annoyed me that I had been here, twisting, suffering, and she looked no worse for the wear.

Pride alone demanded that I do something to get us back on even footing, though for the life of me, I couldn’t think of what.

“Cree,” I repeated, deciding to start again.

“Aaron,” she responded, her voice barely above a whisper, but the look in her eye telling me all I needed to know.

“You said yourself that this isn’t going to work,” I said.

“No,” she replied, shaking her head slightly. “If I recall, it was you who said that.”

She paused, looking at me as if waiting for me to refute her words.

I could have, wanted to remind her of one of our earlier conversations when she had made the same point, but I knew that getting sidetracked wouldn’t get me anywhere.

So, rather than take the bait she seemed so intent on throwing out, I kept focused.

“Fine,” I said a bit more tightly than I had intended. “Whatever you say. The point is we have to figure this out. If we keep going like this, neither one of us is going to get the promotion,” I said.

She blinked, looking innocent and momentarily confused, which was all the tip-off I needed.

I didn’t know enough about her to make a comment on her innocence, but one thing I knew for certain was that Cree was never, ever, confused. She was playing me, and I wasn’t going to let it stand.

“Really, Aaron, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

Were I a different person, I might have believed her. But I didn’t, and hearing her words only sent me into that much more of a tailspin.

“What game are you playing?” I asked.

My voice had taken an edge, one that Cree noticed. I saw it from the way her eyes widened slightly, but the reaction was short-lived. In the next breath she had returned to her formerly serene expression, looking at me as though I was insane.

“You really must be more specific, Aaron,” she said.

Something in her tone of voice, the syrupy sweetness, or maybe it was the way she batted her eyelashes, set her face in a mask of innocent confusion, sent me into a near rage.

“You think this is funny,” I said, my voice even more edged now.

“I’m not exactly sure what this even is,” she said, tilting her head, looking up at me with her eyelashes still fluttering.

Some part of me marveled at what she was doing.

I had known the woman for years and had never seen this kind of thing from her. She was clearly playing at something, and doing a pretty damn good job of it. It seemed strange that she could turn this on so easily, the innocent, doe-eyed, quiet, non-pushy part of her personality.

“Are you trying to drive me insane?”

She looked at me, eyelashes still fluttering, and then smiled.

“Your highness, you severely overestimate my abilities. I doubt I have the power to do any such thing,” she said.

She was completely wrong. She was currently driving me crazy, pushing me between rage and lust and back again. I didn’t know which was worse. The anger was familiar. The lust was throwing me for a serious loop. I couldn’t say it was completely out of left field. I’d spent too much time remembering her on all fours to pretend otherwise, but feeling it now as I struggled against the anger was almost too much. She added a bright smile, one of the biggest I had ever seen from her, to the end of that statement, and it was a shock that I didn’t explode with rage.

“Don’t do this,” I said.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but this was your idea, remember? If you’re finding something about this arrangement unsatisfactory, you can always end it or just quit,” she said.

And it was that sentence—in particular the way she said that last word—that spurred me into action.

Quit?

Quit.

Doing such a thing was not in my DNA. I never had, never would, certainly not because of her.

I stared at her a moment, my heart racing with emotion, anger deep, intense, something else I couldn’t quite give a name to warring for dominance.

I stared at her, saw another flutter of her eyelashes, a little smile turning her lips, and then I did the only thing I could.

I shuffled slightly, closing the foot of distance between us and then kissed her.

---

Cree

---

One moment, I was on top of the world, certain I had finally pierced Aaron’s arrogant facade.

The next, it was my world that was upended.

I hadn’t intended to goad him.

Well…that wasn’t entirely true.

Goading Aaron was something I looked forward to, and on those few opportunities when I had a chance to do so, I did it gleefully. But most of the time, my goading meant nothing.

For all of his arrogance, his expectations, his entitlement, Aaron was surprisingly resilient. He had the ability to brush me off as though I was nothing more than an annoyance.

But tonight had been different.

I wasn’t exactly sure why and was so busy enjoying myself that I hadn’t stopped to really consider it. But something about the way I was acting, perhaps it was the put-on sweetness, the syrupy kindness that was as false as anything, got to him. Whatever it was, I could almost instantly tell that I had been pushing Aaron’s buttons.

And being the reasonable person I was, the only thing I could do was continue to push them.

And then push them even harder.

I had seen his agitation rising, knew his annoyance would soon reach the breaking point.

Except, what I had thought of as the breaking point seemed to be completely different than what Aaron had in mind.

As I sat there, I envisioned him getting angry, storming off, maybe lacerating me with a few slicing words. He was more than capable, and for that, I was more than prepared.

But it would be an understatement to say that I was unprepared for what he actually did.

I’d stood at the window, watching the beautiful night skyline. I met his stormy eyes, the color a swirling amber green, his perfect features set in an expression of anger, irritation, one that to my surprise sent a shiver through me.

For a moment, I wondered why something like his anger would be enough to get a reaction from me, but in the next second I couldn’t wonder about anything.

Because in the blink of an eye, Aaron had moved.

I stood frozen, my mind unable to process what was happening, my body seeming to move of its own volition.

When his lips first grazed mine, I froze, the shock of the contact only outweighed by how pleasurable it was.

His lips against mine were soft, warm, but also firm, commanding.

My reaction was instant.

Before I could even fully process that thought, I leaned closer to him, rising up on tiptoe as if it were the most natural thing to do.

And at least in that moment, it felt that way.

Kissing Aaron back was the most perfect, the most obvious, and in fact the only thing I could do.

So I did.

I pressed my lips against his slightly harder, and he seemed to take my gesture and run with it.

He deepened the kiss, almost to the point of bruising, his lips against mine no longer soft, but instead fully demanding, devouring my mouth.

In that caress I could feel all of his emotions. Anger chief among them. That should have scared me, at least have been enough to douse the intensity of the flame that his kiss had ignited.

It did no such thing.

It probably said a lot about me and the state of my life, that Aaron’s kiss, one that was undoubtedly fueled by anger, perhaps even a little hatred toward me, was more arousing, more passionate than any I had ever experienced.

I hated acknowledging it, hated even more that the truth of it was so obvious, but that hatred did nothing to change the fact of things.

And the fact was, I might despise Aaron, he might despise me, but the kiss we shared in that moment surpassed anything I could have dreamed.

I sealed my eyes shut, but on Aaron’s harsh, breathed-out growl, I lifted them halfway, again colliding with his darkening gaze.

I wanted to look away, but something wouldn’t let me.

I wasn’t sure if it was the emotion in his eyes, something so unfamiliar, something I had never seen. Or maybe it was simply my own, how surreal this moment was, the strength of my desire to let go making deeper thought impossible.

Whatever the reason, apparently Aaron was on the same page.

After that intense moment, one that seemed to drag but could only have been a millisecond, maybe less, he again closed the distance between us.

He captured my mouth again, this kiss deeper, one with a ferociousness, a passion, that hadn’t been there before.

I realized then that I hadn’t ever touched him, not really.

But I was touching him now.

He linked one strong arm around my waist, pulled my body flush against his.

I shuddered at the contact, the feeling of his strong body buffered by the layers of clothing between us an intense one, one that only heightened my desire for him.

Aaron deepened the kiss even further, pressing his tongue between my lips and devouring my mouth, leaving no portion of it untouched.

I was powerless to do anything but accept his kiss, didn’t want to do anything but accept even more of it.

I always tried to keep my distance, acknowledged that Aaron was handsome, but always looked at it from an abstract, objective perspective.

That objectivity, something I was starting to suspect had been more than paper-thin, was gone now.

His kiss was everything I had never allowed myself to imagine it would be, and as it ignited my body, it also refused to leave my mind unscathed.

I felt the walls I had built around Aaron in my head begin to crumble. His kiss, the reality of being here with him, touching him, wouldn’t allow anything else.

I was completely at his mercy, wanted to give him whatever he asked, take whatever he offered.

And I was happy about it.

Ding.

The sound of the elevator dinging was like an explosion in the room.

I jumped back, putting as much distance between Aaron and me as I could.

My body was a mix of emotions, desire, fear, embarrassment all among them.

I felt as though I have been doused with ice water, the aftermath of what I had just done unclear, but the escape, the magic, of those moments still present.

I listened to the familiar sound of the maintenance man rolling his cart off the elevator, grateful for the distraction, but also annoyed because it had ended something I hadn’t even been sure I wanted.

After a few seconds, when I had regained my composure, or regained enough to even dare look at him, I did.

Felt my stomach sink to my feet.

I could only imagine how I looked, prayed that it was nothing like I felt. Needy, desperate, out-of-control.

Because Aaron, perfect Prince Aaron, looked completely unbothered.

He had his shirt sleeves rolled up, the crisp, white linen still looking freshly pressed.

No surprise there, not really, and I had long ago given up trying to figure out how Aaron always managed to stay so perfect, while I could barely make it to lunchtime without appearing in some degree of disarray.

But I was used to that. The expression on his face…that wasn’t something I was used to at all.

Or rather, it wasn’t something I expected, not after that kiss.

If I went by Aaron’s expression, he and I had just been discussing the weather, some other banality that had never come up between us.

He looked as though he had been working late with a colleague, and not like he had just kissed me to the edge of sanity.

Again I cursed myself for losing control, knowing that I had given Aaron the upper hand, something I had been certain was mine, something I had surely been mistaken about.

I stayed where I was, looking at him, waiting for him to make the first move.

As the seconds ticked by, I knew he wouldn’t. I also knew that sometimes retreat was the best option.

I hated to admit it, but knew that given my state I was in no position to go against Aaron, knew that I would lose what little pride I’d managed to retain today.

So, my entire body burning, but this time with embarrassment and not passion, I moved, ignoring the shakiness of my legs, and began to gather my belongings.

I grabbed my briefcase and quickly tucked my books and papers inside.

Then, hand still tight on the strap, so worried that I might rip the heavy leather, I called over my shoulder, “We’ll pick this up tomorrow.”

Then, maintaining as much dignity as I could, I left.