Page 25 of Jack Frost, CEO

“You’re right, Maisie. I should’ve included you. I messed up, and I’m sorry.” I pull her close again after removing my tie, just in case. I hold her against me and can hear her sniffling.

“Sorry’s not enough, Jack. I need to know you see me as an equal partner in this, not just someone you can shuffle off to the side when it suits you. I know it’s my fault we’re playing this charade. And I know that, in the long run, I’m no one to you, but I am someone when it comes to this deal. I deserved to be there.”

“I do see you. I promise it won’t happen again.” Her hair is soft as silk under my chin, and I take a deep breath, enjoying her lavender and mint scent.

“It better not. Next time, we will handle things together. No more surprises.” Maisie holds up a pinkie.

I return the gesture and chuckle. “Agreed. Together from now on.”

She steps back, gazing up into my eyes. Whatever she sees there seems to reassure her. “Good. Now, let’s figure out how to proceed with this deal.”

Maisie walks into the kitchen, snags a candy cane from the side table, and pulls down the hot chocolate. Shaking my head, I follow along while catching her up on what Marcus and I discussed while she was at the theater.

In true Maisie fashion, she has her steno out and takes copious notes. She wrinkles her nose when she has an idea, causing the light sprinkling of freckles to disappear. When she thinks, she chews on her eraser. And I quickly realize that watching Maisie could become a habit I don’t want to give up.

“What do you think?” she mutters to herself and flips through the contract. Then she shakes her head and picks up a highlighter. “Based on the talks you’ve had today, I believe this paragraph will be troublesome.” Maisie turns the contract around, and I find that she’s highlighted the sections on profit sharing and intellectual rights.

“Why?” I have a gut feeling I know why Marcus might want to revise the profit-sharing paragraph, but the intellectual rights paragraph gives me pause.

Maisie taps her pen against her steno in a rhythmic pattern while staring into the distance. “Well, Marcus isn’t going into this looking at profit. Not initially. He has more money than Croesus as is. He’s looking at how and when the profits are divided. His employees benefit from profit sharing at his company, so taking the capital we require away from the company will reduce the amount disbursed to his employees. He’ll want to know when this will be recouped. He’ll need to get it approved by his board of trustees anyway.”

She pauses to take a breath.

“Secondly, in the intellectual rights clause, we have it mentioned as being mutually exclusive, which initially made sense. However, with all the changes you’ve made, I’m almost positive he’s going to want a buy-out option. If the partnership were to dissolve, he’ll want a clean break. Like he did with his brother’s company five years ago. They had a falling out over how his brother ran things, mainly because he ran it into the ground. There were also rumors that he was cheating on his wife with the female employees and then paying them off. Simon had to amass a large chunk of change to buy Marcus out of the rights.”

The tapping of Maisie’s pen on the steno stops, and I have to shake myself out of the trance the metronome tapping caused. “You got all that from one conversation I summarized and another read-through of the contract?” I’m shocked and can’t keep it out of my voice. I always knew that Maisie was brilliant, but this is next level, so imagine my surprise when she shakes her head.

“No, I got that from the conversation you summarized, a reread of the contract, and the intel I gathered after researching Marcus when we initially approached him. Seeing that he’d been in business with his brother before ending their partnership abruptly had me looking deeper into the company and why Marcus may have wanted an escape route. I will acknowledge that much of what I found is gossip and conjecture. Still, my mom always said that if you look closely enough, there’s a kernel of truth in the gossip, no matter how small. It was just a logical conclusion for me.” Maisie shrugs.

Standing, I cup her jaw and pull her up against me. “I’m in awe of you,” I whisper before my mouth covers hers and I card my fingers through her hair to cup the back of her head.

Maisie gasps, and I take that chance to deepen our kiss. I never meant for it to go this far, but now that it has, I don’t think I can stop. Maisie makes mewling sounds in the back of her throat, and I groan in response. I back her up until her rear hits the cabinet. Picking her up, I deposit her onto the counter and push my way between her legs, causing her dress to ride up even higher.

Her arms wrap around my neck, pressing her body closer to mine, and I feel my throbbing cock notched at her core. I groan at the growing heat between us, and she rubs against me mindlessly, her eyes closed in pleasure. I slide my hands up her ribs, gripping her breast. I cup, feeling her peaked nipple against my palm.

“Tell me to stop.” I wrench my mouth away. Panting as I try to form words. “Tell me to stop, and I will.” I rest my forehead against hers, my eyes closed and every fiber of my being begging her not to say it. Not to stop this.

“Don’t stop.” Her voice is breathless.

I growl and band my arms under her ass, scooping her up and heading for the stairs. “Oh, darling. You did it now.” I take the steps two at a time, thankful for my workout routine.

I make it to my room in record time, gently tossing her onto the bed. Maisie bounces and laughs until she catches my eyes. I can only assume I look wild. I’m desperate to get my hands on her. I start unbuttoning my shirt, and Maisie tugs at her boots. I wrench the material down my shoulders and throw it behind me as I stalk forward and climb over her. I nip at her chin, nose, and earlobe.

“There is still time, sweet Maisie.” I pause before continuing. “You can walk away now. No harm, no foul. Nothing would change between us. However, if you stay, my sweet Maisie, everything will change. Are you sure that’s what you want?” I know my grin is feral, but I can’t help it. I hold my breath, waiting for her answer.

Chapter 19

Maisie

Ican’t think. I can’t breathe. All I want is for Jack to keep touching me. When he kissed me in the kitchen, shock tore through my every nerve ending. But then that kiss ignited something. And now, if he doesn’t finish what he started, I may very well scream.

“Touch me, Jack. I need you!” I wrap an arm around his neck and pull him back to whisper in his ear. “I need you to fuck me, please.”

Jack growls. “Oh, sweet, sweet Maisie. You’re mine now.”

His hands slide up my thighs to the waistband of my leggings, and he rips them down. Hooking my knees, he shoves them up, baring my silk-covered pussy. Jack moans before burying his face between my legs, licking over the silver material of my bodysuit. I may not be a virgin, but in all my twenty-four years, I have never had anything happen to me that was as hot as what Jack is doing right now. He licks and sucks at me. My hips arch as I rub myself against his face.

I hear a noise and can’t figure out what it is until I realize the little keens and moans are coming from my own mouth. “Jack, please, I’m so close.”

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