Page 22 of Guarding the Billionaire

I hadn’t meant to say that, but now that I had, I could feel the truth of those words.

Flora gave me a small smile, then she was in motion, sliding up and leaning over to give me a kiss. I stayed still, content to let her lead. Her soft lips pressed against mine for a few seconds, her hand coming up to cup the side of my face. She nipped at my lower lip and I opened, letting her tongue swoop in to tangle with mine.

Just like when we kissed in her office, everything in my body was immediately on alert. I could feel my nipples harden, and heat rushed to my core as my inner demon cried out, begging me to flip her over and sink our fangs into her neck to make her ours forever. But it was too soon. My mate was a human, andwhile she knew a little bit about the supernatural world, humans needed more time to adjust to being mates than we did.

Not to mention the fact that even though I’d decided to stop fighting against having Flora as my mate, we would still have a lot of complications to work out, like who was trying to kill her and why.

When Flora pulled away to catch her breath, I gave her a small smile.

“We should probably get ready for work, yeah?”

Her eyes clouded over for a moment before she caught herself.

“Yeah, I have an early meeting.”

“I’ll clean up and go make us some coffee then,” I promised, hopping out of bed. I pulled my shirt down to cover my underwear and hightailed it out of the room, wondering how I was going to protect Flora when I couldn’t even protect my own heart.

Flora came down about forty-five minutes later, looking like Corporate Barbie, although for some reason I didn’t find that annoying anymore. I found it adorable. After watching her in action at work yesterday, I had a feeling that the fancy clothes and perfect hair and make-up were her uniform, a kind of an armor for her more than anything.

“I brought you another blazer,” she said, handing me one that was gray with little flecks of white in the fabric. It was nothing I would ever buy for myself, but it looked fine with my all black ensemble. Maybe Flora wasn’t the only one who like to wear a uniform to work.

“I made you breakfast, have something to eat,” I said, pointing at the table where I’d left her a bowl of yogurt and fruit and a cup of coffee.

“I don’t --.”

I held up a hand. “Quit arguing and eat.”

She made an annoyed huffing noise but sat down and ate her breakfast while I sipped a cup of warm blood. When I placed the cup on the table, Flora’s eyes widened.

“Oh. I, uh, forgot about the blood.”

I studied her. “Does it bother you? It’s basically like medicine for us. We get sick if we don’t take blood.”

Flora shook her head. “No, it’s just… well, it’s not something I’m used to. But then again, some people probably think it’s weird that I drink coffee.”

She held up her cup to emphasize her point.

“Don’t worry, I like coffee better,” I confided. “Blood is medicine, but coffee is life.”

She gave me a radiant smile, then glanced at her phone.

“The driver is here.”

“Okay, let’s go watch you take over the beauty world.”

I stacked our dishes in the sink for the housekeeper, then grabbed my laptop bag and followed her to the door. I held her back so I could walk out first, watching for danger, then walking around the car so I could subtly scan the vehicle for explosive. The driver stared at me like I was nuts, but I couldn’t care less. Once I’d circled the town car and determined it was safe, I opened the door for Flora and slid in behind her.

Today when we arrived Amy wasn’t at the front desk. We soon learned why. As Flora entered her office we could hear an irritated male voice.

“Where is she?” the man boomed in a voice filled with irritation. “She’s usually here by eight-thirty.”

“I’m sure Miss Meyer will be here soon, Mr. Richardson.”

Next to me, Flora stiffened her spine, her expression turning cold as she walked into her office.

“David. Did we have an appointment that I forgot about?”

Ah so this was David Richardson, the chief financial officer at Meyer Beauty and the man who thought he should be the CEO instead of Flora. He was an older guy, probably mid to late fifties, with gray and black hair and an unfortunate comb-over trying to hide his impending baldness. He was a few inches over six feet tall and wearing a designer suit that did little to hold his rounded gut. He looked soft. He looked like a prick.

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