Page 41 of Sky High Obsession

His jaw tightened.“What would it take, besides the obvious, to make you happy?”

She looked away and bit her tongue against the urge to ask why he hadn’t called her in the last day and half.She wasn’t that pathetic… yet.

“There’s nothing you can do, Zach.”

He sucked in a harsh breath as he steered her into the living room.“I refuse to accept that.Take your jacket off.”

Setting her case down, she shrugged out of her lightweight jacket, which matched her knee-length business dress, and looked around.It seemed important to at least pretend there was something else in the room that held her interest besides Zach.

The décor in his New York condo was a world removed from his Marrakech palace but no less decadent or jaw-dropping.Pieces of art that would make her mother gape in awe and envy graced the walls, including a painting she was willing to bet was an original Klimt.

Four large cream sofas were spread out over the vast floor, each large enough to almost double up as a day bed.Rugs warmed highly polished parquet floors, and a coffee table made of a solid slab of roughly carved white stone sat in the middle of the large sun-filled space.

She absorbed it all in seconds.Then her attention veered back to the man who’d stalked closer to stand behind her.His warm, masculine scent enveloped her, making her remember just how much she’d loved to breathe him in.She stood, frozen and completely captivated as light fingers brushed aside the hair she’d left loose and long down her neck.She could no more stop the full body electric shudder from cascading over her than she could stop her heart from beating.

Swallowing hard, she forced her brain to function.

What had he just said?

I refuse to accept that…

“You manipulated yourself back into my life when we agreed that I needed time.Don’t act surprised that I’m not playing ball, Zach.”

His sigh pushed a warm breath over her nape.“What would it take for you to play ball?”

“Nothing.”

His low growl was bitten off abruptly, and a hard kiss landed on her first vertebrae.She gasped and jerked around, but he was moving toward the drinks cabinet at the far side of the room.

“Wine spritzer?”he asked with a raised brow.

Her nod was clumsy and her fingers unsteady as she clawed them through her hair.She watched him fix her drink, his shoulders tense and unyielding.

Glass in hand, he walked back to her, grey eyes fixed on her in a way that made her throat dry.Silently, he held out her drink.

“Thank you.”

He stood, watching as she took a sip.She licked her lips and his eyes darkened, raw hunger tightening his features.

“Shall we get down to business?”she suggested into the strained atmosphere.

“Not yet.I’ll show you around first,” he replied.Tension still raked through his frame, and his watchfulness had ramped up another thousand degrees.

Bethany had seen that look the first time they’d met, in his office at Newark Airport.He’d proceeded to annihilate her senses in a way that she was still reeling from.

She wanted to refuse him.Wanted to set the glass down, grab her case and run out of there as fast as her shaky legs would carry her.

But she stayed put.Because Zach continued to captivate her.Because her feelings for him were as chaotic and as beautifully complicated as ever.And no matter what had happened since that momentous night in Marrakech, she knew she and Zach were far from over.

She also had a feeling she wouldn’t get more than a step before he nuked any plans she had to flee.

He slid an arm around her waist and propelled her toward the door.In the hallway, his hand tightened.

“You’ve seen the meeting room.Next to that is my office.”He opened the door, and she caught a glimpse of an imposing desk, bare except for the large laptop, Tiffany lamp and silver phone gracing its glossy surface.A large screen faced the desk and another immense leather sofa faced floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the spectacular view.

He tugged her down the hallway to the dining room, another breathtaking room decorated with top-of-the-line pieces, which blended comfort with unspeakable luxury.The tour of the kitchen was cursory, as was the extensive library.

Exiting the library, he led her to a door with a keypad fixed next to the handle.He keyed in a code and it swung open to reveal stairs leading upwards.

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