Page 19 of Reluctantly You

“Do you own this building?” he asks, and I swallow again, an obnoxious click making its way to my ears. “Yeah, didn’t thinkso. But then again, I can see how you’d think you have a right to this space, just like you did at your father’s company.”

I feel my cheeks flush angrily, and I take a threatening step toward him. He doesn’t back down though. He just seems to grow larger.

A few people push past us, and for a moment, I wonder what the hell I’m doing facing off with him. I usually win, I’m bigger than most, but I don’t think I will with him. I don’t think I stand a chance.

“Do you really want to do that, Mitchell?” he asks lowly. “I won’t be cowed by you.”

“You don’t know anything about what I want,” I say roughly.

We’re two feet apart now and I can smell the scent of him, masculine, hot. It’s overwhelming.

“I do. I know exactly what you are.”

I blink up at him, hating that he stands a few inches taller than me.

“And what am I?” I ask, slightly panicked.

Fuck. He can’t know. He can’t.

“You’re a spoiled brat.”

The way he says that last word sends shock waves through my system, and I feel my cock start to plump up in my athletic shorts.

I hate that I’m having this reaction to him. He’s far too big, too manly. He’s not anything that I want. And yet still, my body responds to him in ways I can’t explain.

“You’re wrong.”

He lets out a dark chuckle and then leans a little closer to me. It’s almost hard to breathe. “I amneverwrong.”

He pushes past me, and I can’t help but let my eyes settle on his ass as he walks.

Before I can glance away, he peers over his shoulder and catches me. My cheeks turn crimson, just like a school girl.

“I expect to see you in my office tomorrow, right when you arrive.”

“Fuck you,” I whisper as he disappears around the corner, heading toward the pool. I run a hand across my face, trying to collect my thoughts and my breath when I hear a cheerful greeting to my left.

“Hey! Hi!”

My head hangs when I glimpse Emery waving frantically at me. He has a smoothie in his hand and a lollipop in the other. He approaches me and waggles his cup around.

“Did you know there’s a smoothie bar here?”

“Yeah,” I reply, still breathless from the encounter with Gideon, not that Emery seems to notice. He’s too focused on his smoothie.

He slurps on the straw. “It’s green, but it doesn’t taste like baby poop. Just looks like it. Not that I’ve ever tried baby poop…”

I stare at him and shake my head, moving toward the weights, unable to lose Emery in the process. He just trails after me and settles on the bench near the weights, watching as I pick a couple up.

I shouldn’t engage. I shouldn’t, but my mouth just blurts, “Have you worked out yet?”

Emery freezes, the straw hanging out of his mouth.

“Oh. Me? No. I came in here and some lady told me there was a smoothie bar in the back. So I just went there. They have a gigantic selection. Took me ages to decide what I wanted.”

He grins at me, and I see a seed stuck in his front tooth.

I point at it and he sighs, leaning toward the mirror and picking it out. “My teeth love to collect these things. It’s a problem. What’s even worse is my man won’t tell me if there’s something stuck up in there. He’s too nice.”

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