Page 28 of Alluring

"Upstairs."

"Jack, it's late, I'm tired, and I have work in the morning."

He stopped walking and looked over his shoulder at her. "I'm aware."

Wow, he was really angry. WTF. She, unsuccessfully, tried to pull her hand from his. "This is not okay. I want to go home."

"We will discuss it upstairs," he threw over his shoulder.

They got on the elevator and when they reached the top he did something at the control panel and a red light started flashing.

"What's that?" Alexis asked, pointing to the light.

"I locked the elevator."

"So I'm a prisoner now?" she asked sarcastically.

"We need to talk. I don't want you running away until we're done."

Alexis walked to the couch, plopped down, crossed her arms, crossed her legs, and started kicking her foot. The perfect pissed-off pose. "You want to tell me why you're so angry and acting like a Neanderthal."

He jerked off his tie and jacket throwing both on a chair. He started pacing in front of her, rolling up his sleeves. He stopped directly in front of her, shoved his hands in his pockets, then looked down at his feet.

"I'm angry because I'm a possessive asshole."

"What?" Alexis said, uncrossing her arms and sitting up straighter on the couch.

He looked at her. He didn't look angry anymore. Guess having her where he wanted, with no means of escape, calmed him down. Good to know.

"I'm jealous." Her eyes widened at that. "I've never felt that emotion before, and I'm trying to control it." He started pacing again. "I hate when you're not near me. But, I think that's normal. It's just me missing you. I know you have a life and you can't be with me 24/7. I'm possessive not obsessive.

"But, when I know you're strutting around half naked and all those lecherous assholes are looking at you, knowing what they're thinking about you, I feel this blinding rage when I'm not around to watch over you, protect you.

"Every night, I have to force myself to stay away because I know it's not normal to be so jealous but it doesn't matter, I feel it anyway. And, when you said what you did in your text, even though I knew you were kidding, it still pissed me off because it was so close to what I was already thinking. You would have no problem finding someone toentertainyou, and you have no idea, how just the thought of that, makes me want to lock you up in this house and throw away the key." He stopped pacing again and speared his fingers through his hair making some of the ends stickup at odd angles.

"I was jealous, too. That's why I sent the text that I did," Alexis said, barely above a whisper.

But, Jack heard. He sat next to her on the couch and took her hand. "What could you have possibly been jealous about?"

"Were you really in a meeting tonight?"

"Of course, where else would I be?"

"The fourth-floor."

He looked away from her and shook his head speaking quietly under his breath. "People and their fucking big mouths." He looked back over at her and gave her hand a squeeze. "I have not been, nor have I wanted to go, to the fourth-floor since the first time I laid eyes on you. And by that, I mean, the very first time." He pulled her on his lap and cradled her in his arms. "It's only you and me, baby. You're all mine, and I'm all yours. I will not fuck around on you."

"Promise me, Jack. Promise that you'll walk away from me before you let that happen. And, I promise to let you go, no drama. Just please, don't betray my trust."

He caressed her cheek. "I promise, sweetheart. I would never betray your trust. It's precious to me. I will always tell you the truth, even if it's hard, I will never lie to you."

Alexis looked deep into his eyes and saw sincerity in their depths. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "I believe you, Jack. You don't know how big a step that is for me."

"I will treasure that, always." He kissed her lightly on the nose. "Stay with me tonight. I promise I'll get you to work on time in the morning. I just want to hold you while we sleep."

"Sleep huh, are you sure that's all you want from me Mr. Cole?"

Jack chuckled, "For tonight. My baby needs her sleep. You're only going to get about four hours as it is."

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