Page 29 of Forbidden Sins

“And what’s that?”

Covertly, he looked over his shoulder. “I want you to come home with me tonight.”

“And then what?”

He leaned in. “I’m going to rip that dress right off you later, my darling wife,” he whispered in her ear before pulling back.

“Is that right?” she asked, when she found her voice, shocked by Gabe’s quiet, but bold declaration. She looked over Gabe’s shoulder and saw another man approach them.

Gabe turned, and she saw the briefest flicker of a frown before he covered it with a polite smile. “Ian.”

“Gabe,” Ian said. “Who is this lovely young lady? Is this Charles’s daughter?”

“Yes. Ellie, this is Ian. Ian, Ellie,” Gabe introduced them.

She offered her hand to him, and he gripped it almost too hard, as if exerting his dominance, and Ellie watched him give her a once-over. She instinctively backed up a little. But he didn’t release her hand, and she knew at that moment that she didn’t like Ian. And even though she was standing next to Gabe, she didn’t feel safe with this other man anywhere near her. She cast a look at Gabe, who was also watching the interaction, his eyes narrowed and trained on Ian.

“Ian, how are you doing?” Gabe physically put himself between her and the other man, and offered his own hand, knowing that, per the social contract, Ian would have to release her and shake it. Jarred from the interaction, Ellie stood back farther from the conversation and drank her coffee, completely rattled from the seemingly innocent interaction. Ian ignored her, but Gabe kept his eyes on her until he saw that her cup was empty, and then he reached out to her. “Why don’t we get you another coffee, and I can introduce you to some people you haven’t met.”

With Gabe’s broad, warm palm spanning the width of her lower back, she finally felt safe. His touch wasn’t cold, threatening, like Ian’s. “I saw the way he looked at you,” he whispered, his voice tinged by anger. “Are you okay?”

Ellie nodded. “Thanks for getting me out of there, though. That guy really creeped me out.”

“Yeah. Your instincts were correct. I’ve heard some of the stories, and he isn’t a good guy. A real asshole.” He grimaced, but then turned on a charming smile to greet his colleagues as they walked by.

“Can we get out of here?” she asked.

“Yeah. I can’t wait to make good on my promise to you.”

“Gabe!” she heard someone shout. It was her father; he was quickly approaching and didn’t look happy. Gabe quickly removed his hand from Ellie’s lower back. She was already humming with anticipation of another night with Gabe. Desire pooled between her thighs. They were almost out—so close to the door to freedom, and more than likely, more orgasms than she could count.

“Sir,” Gabe greeted him. “Great turnout this time.”

“Yes, everyone’s been working so hard lately. Which is why I’m sorry to have to do this to you tonight. I just got off the phone. There’s a problem with the Hong Kong takeover you’ve been working on.”

“What is it?”

Charles went into a long, drawn-out explanation about a spooked board of directors, and dissension among their ranks. He needed Gabe to assist them and provide counsel to help them come up with a better deal, and renegotiate the terms of their acquisition. Ellie knew those sorts of things could go on for days, weeks, and from the many details she knew about the deal already, Ellie knew that Gabe had already worked his ass off on it.

“They know you, and trust you. You need to take care of it. Ellie, you know some of what is going on. Give Gabe a hand. Help him with anything he needs.”

“I can do that,” she promised. So much for the sex-filled night she’d planned on. Her hopes were now deflated as she knew that she would be spending the night not in Gabe’s bed, with her ripped-up dress on the floor, but in the office. She would still be with Gabe, but he had turned back immediately into the diligent, serious partner-to-be. Gabe was already on his cell phone. She smiled at her father, but he was already turning around and moving on to the next cluster of people.

“There’s an empty conference room down the hall,” Gabe told her. “It might be better for us to spread out over there. Go get what you need from your office.” He blew out a heavy breath, and she knew that he was just as frustrated as she was. “It’s going to be a long night.”

Ellie nodded, and left the conference room to head to her office. If she and Gabe weren’t able to sneak away for a night at his place, maybe the night wouldn’t be a complete bust. Maybe Gabe was on to something when he said they couldspread outin the conference room.

And as she promised her father, she would give Gabe a hand with anything he needed...

A few hours later, Ellie found herself sequestered with Gabe in one of the firm’s conference rooms to deal with the problems happening in Hong Kong. Ellie watched in awe as Gabe spoke in Cantonese with his client—the CEO of the tech company that was embroiled in the takeover drama. They’d spent their time making international calls, and researching and brainstorming with people around the globe. Normally, a company like that would have in-house counsel but Gabe had explained that he’d known the CEO and founder, now one of the world’s richest men, since he started out. That was why the task of smoothing out the takeover fell to two young Americans half a world away.

Ellie released the pins and elastic that had been holding her bun in place. She shook her head, and her dark hair fell to her shoulders. Gabe watched her, then disconnected the call, put down his phone and rubbed his eyes with his fingertips. “What a clusterfuck,” he said.

“No luck changing the board’s minds?”

“Not yet. They don’t believe the takeover is in the best interest of the firm, nothing that we’ve presented is changing their minds and Tsai is ready to go ahead with it anyway, the opinions of others and consequences be damned.”

Ellie rolled her chair closer to him. “You did your best. We both did. You provided counsel, guidance. And we’ll go ahead and file whatever papers your client needs us to.” She put her hand on his thigh. “I didn’t know you spoke Cantonese.”

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