Page 57 of Unspoken Promises

“Iwantto understand. You’re more than a means to an end. You are important. The hacks were more important than you think. Iwantyou here.” I step closer and swallow thickly. It’s not easy to be raw, but she deserves it.

I take her fingertips and feel the pads of her delicate fingers on mine. “Iwantyou here.”

My heart pounds like thunder. We’re chest to chest. She must feel it. She must feel how much it pains me to care about her and not know her at all. Losing control is a danger I worked harder than any other to avoid, yet I hang on to her fingertips like I’ll never let them go.

I run my knuckles down her cheek. “Yes, Scottie. I lied. I kept that from you. For one, I made a commitment to Rio. For two, I wanted you to find those hacks. You’re part of something bigger than you know.”

Bigger to GhostEye.

Big as this goddamn swelling heart in my chest.

I would have wanted to help anyone in need, but this is an all-consuming obsession. I need to know why she’s indanger. I know someone must be after her for her to hide here. I don’t just want to offer her escape from her own life, I want to offer her a new one.

It should scare me to feel this way. I know I’ll need time to hoist myself up from how far I’ve already fallen. But giving her my all feels as natural as the flutter of her eyelashes, the air heaving her breasts up and down.

Heat radiates between us, and more than just heat, too. An ache courses through my veins knowing I hurt her. Now I’ve put her trusting me at risk, and it kills. I know we’ll leave this room and she’ll continue to work on the hacks. Her curiosity compels her. Her need for truth as well.

But it might all end there. Maybe she’ll never let me help her now.

I grip her waist and her breath hitches.

“Yes, I lied, but I gave my word to my brother. We agreed we’d keep it between us. This whole company could fall if word of those hacks ever got out. The decision to tell someone else about them is huge. It could affect a hell of a lot of innocent people, their livelihoods, their families….”

I do believe she can help. It’s why I finally gave her access.

And I want to help her, too. Her trouble runs deep. I know she needs me. She alluded to it in the office. Why can’t she just tell me?

Every time I feel I know her, I remind myself I don’t. Conversations pass between us without one single word, but none of them tell the whole story.

I run my thumb along her hipbone. “Now why can’t you tell meyoursecret, Ava Scott?”

“I said I would. When I help you first. That’s why…” she holds my gaze with raw, wide eyes. “this hurts.”

But God, is she beautiful like this, flush with my body,wanting more from me… and I want to give it to her more than anything.

I put both hands on the door behind her, caging her in. “What am I going to do with you?”

We’re not talking about the hacks anymore.

I shouldn’t let myself stand so close. I shouldn’t let my hips fall flush with her stomach and pin her to the door. Her breath stills, and she raises her gaze to meet mine.

She needs to believe me.

“I haven’t been able to tell you everything.” The deepest part of myself speaks to her. “But I’d never let you down.”

Her pretty lips part, and she darts her gaze to my mouth. She eases her hips into me. Suddenly the temperature rises between us and the room is charged with electricity.

I can’t stop breathing in her smell, wanting to kiss her senseless. I was wrong to pin her to this wall. It isn’t my MO to allow a heated conversation with an employee turn into what I want from her right now. Ava is a game-changer because I’m losing control and it actually feels good.

She lowers her gaze and tugs at the seam of my t-shirt. “How am I supposed to help you if you don’t tell me everything?”

I still myself; the sumptuous feeling of her fingers fiddling with the hem of my shirt drives me mad. I made the first move. I put her underneath me like this… like I want a lot more than a conversation. I’m too unraveled for reason.

She creeps one finger underneath my shirt and draws a line along my skin. “Enzo…”

The way she says my name, with a softness and intention, has my entire body burning to ravage her. Everything inside me wants to lean in closer and hear her say it again. I don’t know if I’m a fool for being so close to her or a fool for not pulling away, but I brace myself against the door behindher, muscles taut with restraint. I shouldn’t touch her; she’s my employee. I shouldn’t kiss her because it will only make being professional harder. I’d never want to take advantage of her vulnerable situation.

I know these things in my head, but the rest of my body wants to drink in her lips like a man dying of thirst.

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