Page 50 of Square Deal

The click of my heels echoed down the empty hallway. I unlocked my office door and sunk down into my desk chair.

I only needed to make it through a few more weddings this year, then I would get a much-needed break before engaged couples flooded my email inbox in January.

I wiggled the computer mouse until my screen turned on, and clicked through a few emails. Satisfied that no fires needed extinguishing, I shut my computer off and yanked open my desk drawer.

I frowned. There was champagne, but it wasn’t the bottle of LaMarca I stashed away earlier.

It was a bottle of Dom Pérignon.

And a room key.

I trailed my finger along the edge of the cardboard room key sleeve that had503written on it. I didn’t have to look at the hallway signs to know which room that was.

It was the largest suite in the inn. No expenses were spared. No question in my mind who would book it on a whim.

It was also the room we had christened the night of Maddie and Luca’s wedding.

I gathered my things, hiding the bottle of Dom underneath the winter coat I draped over my arm. Cautiously, I made my way through the inn. Thankfully, there weren’t many people milling around past midnight, and the overnight staff was bare bones.

I got off the elevator on the fifth floor and walked down to the end of the hallway.Was I supposed to text him and tell him I was there? Did I knock?Finally, I decided to just let myself in.

The electronic box on the door handle let out a quick chirp as I pushed it open.

Isaac’s back was to me as he stood facing the balcony.

His navy blue suit was impeccably tailored. His lacquered brown wingtips reflected the glow of the floor lamp.

He had gotten a trim since I saw him a week ago. His blond hair was short on the back of his neck and messily styled on top. His shoulders rose and fell with tension radiating off them as he sipped on a glass of something outrageously expensive like he was trying to drink away whatever was weighing on him.

As soon as the door shut behind me, Isaac turned around.

“Hi,” I said quietly, though I didn’t know why. There was no one else in this wing of the inn that would wake up if they overheard me.

Isaac gave me an up and down assessment, and I took it—standing rooted to my spot in the entryway as he studied me with an exacting eye.

I considered making a run for it. His deal was a stupid idea anyway. I mean, who comes up with something like that?

He had a thin layer of sandy stubble that glistened against his skin. Blue eyes bore into me, his brow furrowing into deep grooves.The intensity drummed up the butterflies inside of me. It had me wanting to turn and make a run for it.

I held the key card in my hand, lifting it pathetically. “I think they need to change the locks to the admin wing. Do I even want to know how you got in there tonight?”

“Does it matter?” he growled.

I stepped back. Whatever had him on edge was more than I could handle.

Isaac set his half-empty glass on a side table and prowled toward me. “Are you sober, Hannah?”

I nodded.

He raised an eyebrow. “Did you drink the champagne?”

I shook my head and lifted the bottle, the seal intact.

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, but as quickly as it showed up, it left. “I need you to tell me that you agree to this,” he stated. “I won’t accept consent that was given a week ago, over a phone call, six hundred miles away. I need to hear it from you right now. No hard feelings if you walk out that door, but know that if you stay, I’m going to fuck you until you can’t walk without feeling the ache in your cunt for days.”

My mouth gaped open.

Isaac stood a mere twelve inches away from me. I could smell his cologne. I could see the cords in his neck flexing as he restrained himself, disciplined like a soldier. If I reached out, I could touch him.

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