Page 17 of His Wild Seduction

CHAPTER SIX

MEREDITH

The sterile, unmistakable scent of hospital stung my nostrils.

Oh my God! I fainted!

I was so embarrassed. I couldn’t believe I did that.

Maybe it was the shock of learning about Franklin’s death.

Or maybe it was seeing Josef for the first time in years.

Or maybe it was having him threaten to fire thousands of people from their jobs because of some stupid loan Franklin had taken out all for the sake of petty revenge.

Or maybe it was the combination of all those things.

Yeah. That was it.

I wished I could lie and say I was out cold the entire time, but that wasn’t true. At some point, I started to come to, and it was soon after I realized I was being held by someone.

Someone warm and strong who smelled delicious, like spicy cologne and man.

My long dead libido came flaring to life, and it was all I could do not to moan and squeeze my thighs together to ease the sudden unbidden ache between my legs.

I knew I didn’t owe anyone any explanations, but the facts were the facts. Once I ran away from home, after the whole ordeal that happened after I gave my virginity to Josef, I’d never been able to be intimate with anyone else.

I just couldn’t. And that was completely my choice. My decision. And no, I didn’t care what anyone else said.

The idea of a man touching me, someone I wasn’t in love with, was just not something I could do. I wasn’t judging anyone else.

I mean, I tried. A couple of times. But something always held me back. Something always had me putting the brakes on things.

Sure, that usually led to whatever guy I was dating to break things off with me. And that was fine.

But suffice it to say, I’d become an expert at self-pleasure. I was not ashamed of my toy drawer. In fact, my stash of rechargeable fuck buddies had gotten me through the last fifteen years,

But none of them could compare to the electric jolt I’d gotten just sitting on Josef’s lap.

Holy sexual awareness, Batman!

It wasn’t something I’d planned on feeling. Or something I even wanted to acknowledge.

Lucky for me, this whole thing would be over soon. I’d sign whatever papers Josef needed me to sign, and I would try to live with myself knowing I was the last word on putting thousands out of work.

Fuck. Me.

I just wished there was another way.

CHAPTER SEVEN

JOSEF

Ifrowned as I stepped through the doorway to Meredith’s hospital room.

She’d woken up shortly after arriving and had sobbed uncontrollably until the doctor gave her a mild sedative. I wondered why she cried so hard for a stepfather she barely saw anymore by her own admission.

Nothing was making sense to me. Not her reactions. Not my feelings.

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