Page 26 of Defensive Hero

I stomp to the door and swing it open for Wilson, and he looks pissed. He trails his eyes over my sweater and sleep shorts, and I watch as heat flashes in those icy blue eyes before they shift back to mine. “You left work in the middle of the day?” he accuses, and I gape at him. That’s what he is pissed about?

“I quit.”

“No, you don’t.”

My eyes narrow on his before I breathe out a resigned sigh as the urge to fight him fades. “I quit, Wilson. I can’t…I can’t go back to a workplace where people think I’m only sleeping with you for job security.”

“Who said that?”

“What, are you going to fire them?”

“I’ll do more than that, baby. Just give me a name.”

I laugh at the ridiculous man, running my fingers through my hair before walking back into the apartment, not botheringto close the door, knowing he will follow. Wilson walks in and shuts the door behind him.

I eye my bedroom, and it’s tempting to climb back into bed, pull the covers over my head, and wish my troubles away, but I don’t do that. Instead, I walk to the couch and sit down on it, staring at the wall blankly until Wilson walks over and crouches in front of me so we are on eye level.

“What are you so scared of?” he asks.

“What I am scared of has already happened,” I tell him, dropping my face to my open palms. “I know I haven’t been working for you for long, but everything I have done thus far will be overshadowed by the fact that I had sex with my boss.”

“Would it be more acceptable if you were married to him instead?”

I look up from my palms to glare at him. “You are not funny.”

“I wasn’t trying to be,” he says, pulling my hands completely from my face. “When you left, Martha stormed into my office and demanded to know what I was going to do to preserve your dignity.”

“She did what?”

“Aren’t you wondering why it took so long for me to get to you?” I’d imagined he had work to do. The man is married to the firm. “I had to make a pit stop to grab this.”

I watch him reach into the inside of his jacket with the hand that’s not holding mine and come out with…a ring. A shiny golden ring with an emerald stone. My eyes widen to saucers, springing between Wilson and the ring he’s holding in his hand.

Oh, he’s not kidding.

“Wilson…”

“I made a stop to get this,” he says again, his blue eyes watching me with something akin to anxiety. Something I never thought I would see in the self-assured man. “I want to marry you, Sandy.”

“You…I… Is it because of the rumor? You don’t need to—”

“Yes, I need to do this, and it has nothing to do with anyone else but us. You were it for me when you walked into my office with your ripped-open skirt.” I flush at the memory of that. “I love you, Sandy. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want that beautiful smile to be a part of my life, and I want to wake up to your body pressed tight against mine and your beautiful eyes trained on me.”

I try to act unaffected by his words, but my eyes fill up with tears. “I guess Annie is going to win the bet after all,” I whisper, letting the tears fall. Wilson’s brows arch in confusion, but I don’t bother explaining it to him, choosing instead to fling my arms around his shoulders and hug him close. “I’ll marry you. God, I love you, Wilson. You are it for me too.”

“Good,” he rasps into my hair, tightening his arms around me before pulling back to slide the ring onto my finger. It’s a perfect fit, and I am not exactly surprised that it is. He brings my ringed hand to his mouth before leaning in to kiss my lips. I can taste my tears in the kiss and what I imagine was meant to be a simple peck turns into something deeper when brings his hand to my nape.

Heat licks up my body, and the ache between my legs is back.

“Wilson,” I whimper, breaking the kiss to look at him—at my fiancé. “Y–you have a meeting soon.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he says, brushing his lips over mine.

“No, wait.” I moan when slides his hand up my naked thighs to my shorts before he grabs the waistband, ready to yank them down. I close my hand around his to stop him, my breathing labored as I try to rein in my desire. “Wilson, wait. You have a client coming in from out of town to see you. I don’t want to get in the way of your work.”

“You won’t,” he says, yanking down my shorts anyway. “I passed all my appointments for the day to someone else.”

“But…”

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