Page 61 of Restrained

He rolls to his side now, propped up on his elbow. “Lola, I've been hit for no reason many times in my life. I’ve been in a lot of fights where I deserved it. I know the difference, and last night I earned that punch.”

I hate thinking about how terrible his childhood was. Penelope has told me some things but is mostly quiet about that time of her life. My hand traces over a scar over his heart and the tattoo he has over his right pectoral muscle. “So, you’re going to hit me for lying to you?”

“Fuck no. I’ll never hit a woman.”

“That’s a little sexist, don’t you think?”

I’m smiling. I can’t stop smiling when I'm around him. “In that case, I'm fine with being a little sexist because no, I'll never hit you.” He rolls his body on top of mine, his hands grabbing mine and lifting them above my head. His knees resting next to my hips, caging me in. “Now if you need to be punished...”

His lips drag down my neck, and my body shudders beneath him, responding to him being so close.

“Oh, this is just fucking great!”

Our heads snap to the doorway where Gretchen stands, her arms crossed, one foot stuck out in front of the other in clear annoyance.

“What the fuck are you doing in my room?”

“I’m your assistant, remember? I was supposed to meet you in your office to go over some documents.”

One of Hayden’s hands releases me as he runs his fingers through his hair. “Fuck. I forgot.”

She scoffs, her eyes shooting daggers at me. “Yeah well, I can see you have a nice little distraction here. Should I wait for you to finish round two with your whore or just come back later?”

Now Hayden pushes off the bed, pulling on a pair of sweats and part of me hates the view she just had of his bare ass, but I suppose she’s seen it all before. “Do not ever call her that again.”

I don’t really need him to defend my honor, but I keep quiet as he walks to her. “You can have today off.”

“You asshole.”

Gretchen is seething. I’d feel bad for her if she weren’t so vapid. “Excuse me?” Hayden’s eyes darken, but he keeps his distance from her. “I’m your boss.”

“My boss who knows what my pussy feels like.”

I cringe at the image, and I think Hayden does too, but his tone softens. “I’m sorry I slept with you. I shouldn’t have.”

She looks hurt, her eyes creeping over to me again and back to Hayden. “How sweet. Maybe I'll include that little half ass apology in my meeting with my lawyer.”

I glare over at her now, pulling the sheet up, seeing the vindictiveness on her face. She wants him to pay for breaking her heart.

“You could sue. I’m your boss, and I slept with you in a moment of weakness. You can sue me, and I’ll pay up.” I hate thinking of him paying her off. He takes one step closer to her, still at a reasonable distance. “Or... you can keep this high paying job with flexible hours and good treatment, which will look damn good on a resume and accept my apology because we both know that you didn’t have to sleep with me. You knew it wasn’t something you had to do to get or keep this job.”

“And yet, you said it was wrong.”

“It was. It’s why I’d turned down your previous advances. I’m your boss, and it isn’t right or fair to have sex with you. It was unprofessional, and I'm sorry. It will not ever happen again.”

“Fine. Have a good day, Mr. West.”

She spins on one foot, exiting, and he comes back to the bed. His back is pulled tight with tension as he sits on the edge, and I crawl over to him, resting my chin on his shoulder. “She’s going to be a problem.”

He shrugs. “If she sues me, I'll pay. I meant what I said, I know I was in the wrong.”

“Except it was a completely mutual hookup. She wanted to have sex with you.”

“She’s a good assistant. Hopefully we can get past this, but if she quits, she quits.”

I wrap my arms around his neck from behind. “Come to dinner tonight at my house.”

He turns to look at me now, his face just as handsome with a black eye if not more so. “What?”

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