Page 21 of In Charge

“Sorry, I wasn’t feeling well.” I moved from the door and took a couple steps forward. God, I wanted to run to her, scoop her up into my arms, and kiss her. Oh, my God, the things I wanted to do to her were killing me. To taste her, feel every part of her body connected with mine. But I couldn’t. I had to restrain my desire until I found out if she would still accept me after what I did.

“I really could’ve used your help today. We’ve been in crisis mode, and I’ve no idea where your father is.” She took her glasses off and folded them in her hand. Now if she’d only take down that hair. Ever since seeing her at dinner with her long black curls hugged around her chest, I couldn’t stop imagining seeing her naked breasts hidden behind those curls.

“Dad left town for a few days. Said you could handle this crisis without him.” I didn’t know why I’d said that. It would only lead to more questions and pointing the finger directly at me.

“So he knows?” She snorted. “That bastard. Of course he knows. And he just disappears and leaves me to clean up his shit storm. Typical.”

“I’m sorry, Maya.” Fuck it. I needed to tell her now. It would sound better coming from me rather than to wait for her to find out another way. There was no reason to hide behind my deceit and lies any longer. I tried to open my mouth to speak, but nothing happened. So, I just stared at her, fighting to find my nerve.

Her eyes narrowed as she studied me. She didn’t look angry or mad, and I still couldn’t read her expression. “Why did you do it?”

And there were the words I didn’t want to hear. “Does it matter?” I could’ve told her why. I could’ve given her a million and one reasons why I hated my dad enough to do what I did, but in the end, it didn’t matter. It hurt her, and I was the asshole responsible.

“Robbie, do you have any idea what kind of day I’ve had?” There was a hint of frustration in her voice, but she was remarkably calm.

“I can imagine.” I didn’t know what else to say. I hadn’t been here for her. Shit, I created this mess for her.

“How could you possibly imagine?” I flinched at her raised voice. “Do you have any idea the level of backlash I could’ve experienced because of this. You risked losing every client this company handles. Do you even know how many people we employ? How many jobs could’ve been lost had this gone differently?”

“No.” I swallowed hard and squeezed my eyes closed. I hadn’t thought about any of that. I had only considered my own selfish need to hurt my father the way he’d hurt his children.

Wait. What did she mean by ‘gone differently?’ I opened my eyes and when I met her gaze, her expression had softened.

She shook her head and sighed. “Well, what’s done is done, I suppose.”

“How can I help?” I was a real bastard for leaving her to deal with my mess while I hid out in my apartment. I created this shit storm, I should’ve been man enough to face the consequences, too.

“No need.” She smirked. She actually fucking smirked and it was the sexiest smirk I’d ever seen. “I took care of it. Your father’s going to have to step down sooner than he planned, but I saved the clients, got all of them to agree to keep quiet and not point the blame on us.”

“You did all that for him?” I did not deserve this woman, but if I got another chance with her, I’d cherish every single day she graced me with her presence. A part of me couldn’t believe she was still talking to me. But as long as she was talking, I was staying.

“I didn’t do it for him.” She stood, and with her high heels, her eyes were level with mine. “Fuck him. I did it for me.”

I let out a low laugh. God, this woman is killing me. “Maya,” I whispered, but couldn’t think of anything else to say to make it up to her.

“Robbie, please stop looking at me like that. I want to be mad at you right now.”

“You have every right to hate me.”

“I don’t hate you. I want to, but I don’t.” She grabbed hold of my hand, and I sucked in a breath. “I don’t understand the reasons why you did this, but I see the pain in your eyes. I don’t like it. What did he do to you to make you do this?”

“The list is long.” I could give her any number of reasons why I hated dad so much, but would she even understand? Would any of it matter in comparison to what I did? “Just tell me what to do to fix this between us and I’ll do it. Anything you ask.”

She sighed and cupped her hand across my cheek. “We’re okay, Robbie.” I let out a long husky breath, relieved by her words.

“When you say ‘we,’ you mean ...” I couldn’t finish that sentence for fear she meant something else entirely.

“Us. You and me.” She gave me a slight nod and sighed.

I couldn’t wait any longer to hold her, so I pulled her close and slid my arm around her waist. Her eyes danced at my touch, sending a jolt through my body. “I’m gonna kiss you now.”

“No, you’re not,” The corner of her lips turned up slightly. She slipped her hands around my neck and pulled me close. “I’m gonna kiss you.”

Her lips crashed into mine. She spread her fingers through my hair, making me moan. I started to pull back. I wanted to see the desire and want in her eyes, but she slipped her tongue into my mouth and brushed it against mine. Her kiss was fierce and passionate, greedy for more of me—all of me.

Oh, my God, her hands. My skin tingled as her hands slid down my back and squeezed my ass pressing my cock into her hip. There was way too much clothing between us, and I desperately wanted everything off, but I was too drunk on her kiss to pull away long enough to rip off her sweater. She felt too damn good next to me.

A low growl escaped my lips when her hand slipped around to my crotch and rubbed the length of my cock through my pants. I couldn’t believe this was happening. She was supposed to be mad at me—possibly even hate me—for what I did and yet here she was in my arms stroking me. I couldn’t take it anymore. I reached below her ass and picked her up, sitting her on her desk, and pulled away. I searched her eyes and all I saw was raw lust. “Are you sure about this?”

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