Page 156 of Square Deal

“No,” I snapped. “We’re going to have this out right here, right now. I’m all in. So if you walk away, you have to live with that. It’ll be on you this time, not me.”

Her nostrils flared as her temper spiked. She jabbed a finger into my chest. “Don’t act like you’re the one riding in on a white horse to save the day when you’re the one who took a wrecking ball to it in the first place. This isn’t on me.”

I crowded her space and backed her against the wall. Hannah lifted her chin and stared me down. She raised a cocky eyebrow. “Are you gonna call my bluff, or are you going to get out of my face?”

“Bullshit,” I sneered. “You say what happened in your driveway is on me, but we both know you only want a relationship where you have the high ground. You’re so afraid of getting hurt that you want to settle for someone who doesn’t challenge you. I hate to break it to you, Princess, but relationships aren’t eighty-twenty. Hell, they’re not even fifty-fifty. It’s gotta be one hundred percent on both sides. You have to be all in.”

She shoved my chest, and I stumbled back. “You walked away because you couldn’t be all in.”

“Yeah, and that was a mistake. I’m man enough to admit when I’m wrong.” I grabbed the front of her blouse and yanked her in, crashing her lips against mine. I fisted her hair as she kissed meback with a strange mixture of desire and loathing. I hoisted her skirt up, grabbed her ass, and pinned her against the wall. She wrapped her arms and legs around me and took control, sliding her tongue against mine and digging her nails into my scalp.

The pinch of pain was welcomed. I knew I wasn’t dreaming.

She let out a shaky breath when I blazed a trail of burning kisses down her throat. “Don’t let your mouth write checks that your ass can’t cash, Lawson.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Princess. Understand? You and me, Hannah Jane. Do we have a deal?”

Hannah froze and narrowed her eyes. “If this is you proposing…”

“I’m not proposing,” I laughed, trailing my knuckles along her silky cheek. “I’m just coming to my senses.”

Backing off the wall, I lowered the two of us down in her desk chair. Hannah settled on my lap, her pussy nestled against the hardened length of my cock.

“Where’s your head at?” I asked.

She shrugged and laid her arms on my shoulders, gently playing with the short hair at the back of my neck. “I just… when I walked in, and you were in here…” She sighed. “You caught me off guard. You always do. I was angry and hurt, but it wasn’t because I didn’t love you. I never stopped loving you. I was angry at myself for being so damn stubborn.”

“It’s not wrong to want to feel safe, Han,” I said gently. “But I think you do just fine keeping yourself safe. You need someone to push you to be a little reckless.”

“Would you consider me storming into your office in New York as reckless?” she asked.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “What?”

Hannah smiled sheepishly. “I was going to fly to New York when you got back from Tokyo and give you a piece of my mind. I had this whole speech planned and everything.”

“Let me guess,” I said, stopping her for just a moment. “You were going to use a lot of thinly veiled insults, so everyone else would think you were being polite.”

“Ignoring that.”

I motioned for her to continue.

“I was going to tell you how much it meant to me to hear you stand up for me. To know that you were on my side when my father tried to back you into a corner. I was going to tell you how much it hurt to hear that even though you love me, it’s not enough to want me the way I want you.” Her voice trailed off.

“Anything else?”

Hannah’s smile was sad. “I was going to tell you that I was foolish that day. You may have been the one to walk away, but I was the one who let you. I should have asked you to stay and fight.” She sucked in a deep breath. “So, I was going to come to you and make one hell of a scene until you heard me out.”

I tucked her hair behind her ears and cradled her cheeks. “You were going to come after me? That’s not how it works in the movies, Princess.”

“Fuck the movies.” Hannah smiled against my chin. I drew her in and bit down on her bottom lip before soothing it with a kiss.

“I gotta say. It would’ve been pretty fucking hilarious for me to have to bail you out when you went ape shit on my building’s security.”

She smirked. “What a way to come out as a couple, right?”

“Just don’t trash my office, alright?” I chuckled. “I’m kind of particular about how it looks.”

Hannah clung to me like a spider monkey and rested her head on my chest. “Once I got through yelling at you, I was gonna tell you that I’d rather have you part-time than not at all.”

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