He let me continue struggling until he finally grasped my forearms and pinned them to the wall either side of my head.

“That’s your plan, isn’t it? You think that you can provoke me into marrying you off quickly.”

Shit.

Clearly, I had not been as cunning as I had thought. I looked away guiltily.

He shook his head, letting out a quiet chuckle.

“You’re going to have to come up with something better than that.” An amused smile played on his lips as he straightened up finally, leaning away from me and freeing my arms.

Now I’m pissed.

I followed him, closing the distance between us once more. Close enough now that I was standing between his legs. I stood on my tiptoes and moved as close to him as I dared.

I tried to ignore how his warm breath brushed against my skin as our faces neared.

“Fuck. You.” I said venomously. “Fuck you for taking me. Fuck you for keeping me here, and fuck you for ruining my life.”

I turned to walk away, but once again found myself shoved firmly against the wall. His forearm pressed along the front of my chest and the contact between our skin temporarily dampened my anger.

“Iwillhave respect.” His voice took on a brutal edge as his eyes commanded mine.

“Then you’rereallytalking to the wrong person.”

For fucks sake, shut up Adalyn!

His freehand immediately slammed against the wall beside my head, the thud so loud it made my earache.

“You’re playing with fire.”

His words were dark, but his eyes were alight with something else I couldn’t place, and I panicked, thinking I had pushed him too far…until his gaze dropped to my lips.

My unease was contorted into something else entirely when I felt his hand slide down the wall behind me. His warm skin coming to rest on the small of my back. The heat of it radiated to other, moresinfulparts of my body and I tried to ignore the confusing feelings he was eliciting.

It was no use. His fingertip began tracing against the exposed sliver of skin above my pants, and I surprisingly didn’t flinch away from his touch like I normally would have. Like I always did when a man touched my naked skin. This time instead of trying to get away from his touch, I found myself leaning into it.

The heat rising in my stomach immediately ached and pooled. My body urging me to close the distance between us and I sunk my teeth into my lip trying to thwart the sudden desire that rose within me. His eyes snagged on the motion, and his jaw twitched in response, as if he too were trying to restrain himself.

But just as my body started to give in to the irresistible pull between us and his finger dipped beneath the material at my hip, the study door swung open, and Benny waltzed into the room.

He paused mid-step when he noticed our precarious position against the wall.

“Excuse me, Boss. It’s urgent.” The older man said gruffly, diverting his gaze.

Marco didn’t move, as if contemplating whether there was an option that didn’t involve dealing with Benny’s interruption.

One second. Two… Eventually he released me, turning back toward his desk. I shook my head slightly and took the opportunity to leave, promptly heading in the direction of the study door while Marco’s back remained turned toward me.

I didn’t dare look at Benny as I passed him, and I didn’t dare stop until I was halfway down the hall, hidden behind a section of wall.

My heartbeat thundered in my ears.

Well that definitely wasn’t part of the plan.

CHAPTER

TEN