Page 25 of Million Dollar High

“Wait,” he growled. Pulling a sticky note from the glove compartment, he scribbled on it. “This is my PA’s number. Call her early tomorrow and arrange to drop off my T-shirt. She’ll also let you know if you left your phone at my place.”

She took the note and stared at the information. She’d googled King’s Ransom in a moment of weakness and knew exactly where his offices were located. She could probably deliver his T-shirt personally after her meeting?—

“Something wrong?” he demanded.

“Umm… no.”

“Then get the hell out of my car.”

8

Noah’s concentration was shot to hell, and he wasn’t even pissed off about it anymore. He’d passed pissed off at around ten this morning when one of his directors had fucked up a business deal and Ashley had left the tenth message for him to call her.

It was now gone midday, and he hadn’t heard from Leia. Obviously his instruction for her to call early hadn’t been explicit enough.

Or maybe she relished goading him to the point where he lost control like he had last night. He hadn’t been able to stop himself from giving her the punishment they both craved. And fuck, she had come apart like a firecracker. The detonation still reverberated through him.

God.

His breath shuddered out as the scene replayed in his mind like a damned stuck record. The noises she’d made as he’d taken his belt to her, the power and satisfaction that’d surged through him as he welted her ass good. As he dropped to his knees and worshiped her pussy, the sheer fucking sweetness of her. That look of helplesssurrender and ballsy defiance in her eyes when they were done. Images crowded his brain, leaching away any hope of concentration he had left. He could’ve fucked her hard and fast, right there and then on the hood of his car, and she would’ve let him.

So why the hell hadn’t he? His cock certainly didn’t understand that insufferable decision one little bit—not when he’d been erasing the security tapes of them in Red’s office, nor breathing in her incredible scent during the tense ride home.

He’d been rock hard for hours afterward. Rubbing one out hadn’t helped. Thinking of Leia just made him harder. He’d eventually taken an ice pack to his groin for a full hour before his erection had abated.

Hell, he’d delayed shaving until the last possible moment this morning because he hadn’t wanted to wash the scent of her pussy off his face. Even now, licking his lips, the memory of her taste lingered. One hand stroked his chin and played over his lips as the other passed over his re-energized hard-on. He groaned out loud as another shudder rammed him. Foolishly, he pressed his flesh. Stars exploded behind his eyelids. He was halfway to unzipping his trousers and stroking himself back to sanity when his private phone rang.

For several seconds, he stared blankly at the phone. Then he shook his head.

Jesus, he was losing his mind.

“Yes!”

“Whoa. Down boy. Who the hell pissed in your porridge?”

“I’ll give you one guess.” There were two but he wasn’t about to admit it to his best friend.

Gabriel cursed. “What the hell did Ashley want?”

Noah was about to tell him, but he hesitated. When he’d woken this morning, the first thing he’d felt was raw anger fusedwith anguish when he thought of Leia. The second emotion had been much more surprising.

Forced to think about having a child of his own, he hadn’t been able to stem the mixture of elation and despair. As much as he hated Ashley, she carried a part of him inside of her. She was a bitch through and through, but she was a bitch carrying his child. There were no adequate words to relay that information to his friend.

“Christ, if you can’t talk about it, then it must be worse than I thought. She hasn’t framed you for murder, has she? Or did she give you a disease before you bailed out of NYC two years ago? Either way, I’ll have your back if you want to send a hit squad after her?—”

“You back in town?” Noah interrupted him.

“Yeah,” Gabe said. “Got back late last night. Minus my possibly-soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend, I might add. And hell no, I don’t want to talk about it. Drinks on Wednesday night at The Sphere? I’ll round up the guys.”

A refusal dangled on the tip of his tongue, then Noah mentally shrugged. He had to tell them soon enough. If not, his friends would snoop and harass until they found out what was going on. “Sure. Usual time.”

“So you going to tell me what Ashley wanted?” his friend pressed.

“It can wait till we meet.” Noah eyed the clock on his computer, a burning need to find out where the hell Leia was suddenly clawing through him. “I have to go.”

He hung up and dialed La Carezza Inc. When he was informed that Miss Michaels was unavailable, his temperature spiked higher. He couldn’t reach her by cellphone because hers was sitting on his desk.

Slamming down the phone, he called another number.

---