Page 35 of Negotiation Tactics

Okay, I concur. Maybe snooping around wasn’t my brightest idea, but I do have an alibi. Thanks, Brady.

Schooling away the shock of being found out as best as I can, I lick my dry lips. “I, uh. Jaime. I was looking for Jaime. Brady said he was upstairs.”

Alistair doesn’t move from his spot, just quirks an eyebrow, watching me like a hawk as I circle the desk. “Really, Joshua? You were looking for Jaimein my room?”

When he puts in that way… “Now, I know this sounds a bit… But, uh, I really was! I didn’t want to wait until the cake-cutting to meet the star of the party after you sent me so many pictures of him.” Surely, Alistair knows that I must’ve come across Jaime if I checked the rooms in order, but maybe I can still convince him otherwise somehow.

Alistair’s stern expression vanishes, replaced by something worse as his lips lift on one side in a predatorysmirk that sends my heart rate through the roof. “Anything but the first floor is off-limits to guests.”

“I didn’t know?” I try weakly, playing the fool.

The way he shakes his head tells me my excuse won’t fly. “There are red ribbons with a very obnoxious no-entry sign. Or did you somehow miss those? Is that what you are saying?”

I gasp, pressing my palm to heart and batting my eyelashes. “What red ribbons?”

He chuckles, shaking his head again as he slowly marches across the room. Yep, he’s not convinced, but no matter how hard I try to come up with another argument, I kind of blank out with each step he takes in my direction. The air thins, making my breathing harsher, and prickles cover my skin as my eyes feast on the man that’s now quickly approaching me. Every second makes me even more aware of him, of his height, of the width of his chest and shoulders hiding beneath the luxurious red shirt, of his sculpted legs under the dark-gray pants.

He looks even sexier in the dim light, its warm tones accentuating the golden gleam of his tanned skin, the cut of his jaw, the flicker of danger in his otherworldly eyes. The intent pouring off him is palpable, enveloping me like invisible spiderweb until I can no longer move my own legs. The edge of the desk digs into my back, and the instinct to flee mounts within me. To get away, to run and never come back here.

But I am entranced, a paralyzed victim waiting for his demise.

I order my body to cooperate, try to force myself to move, but it’s futile. He’s already reached me.

“Joshua,” he says, the lilt of his deep voice dragging me even deeper. He’s mere inches away now, both too close and too far.

Electricity zaps me, waking up nerve-endings I didn’t know I had. Heat pools in my stomach, skewing my breathing and exasperating the tightness in my chest.

“Oh, Joshua,” he purrs, making me tingle all over. A fiery need to taste him overtakes me, to touch him, to make him go crazy like he did on the night we hooked up. “Were you snooping around for blackmail material, hmm?” He leans in, grazing my ear with his lips. “How naughty of you.”

“Yes, and? So what if I was?” I challenge, the words leaving my mouth definitely not what I’d meant to say.

I need to deny here, to stick to my story and convince him that it was a misunderstanding. But I can’t help the urge to oppose him, to rile him up and see what he does.

He chuckles and wraps one hand around my neck. “Naughty brats deserve to be punished.”

Then he kisses me.

I don’t think. I can’t. I am completely at his mercy even as my brain screams for my body to fight him, to not give into his touch. But it’s too late, my mouth opening as he forces his way in. He tastes forbidden, like something I shouldn’t have but can’t help but want.

I thought I had things under control, that I could resist him and play this mutual game of seduction. But fuck, clearly I don’t, because no matter what mental gymnastics I try, I still can’t convince myself to move, to push him away and get back on track with my plan.

He pulls back a little as I dig my fingers into his arms. Those blue eyes are on fire when they meet mine again. Hispupils are blown out and his arousal engulfs me even if our only point of contact is his fingers still clutching my neck.

“You drive me crazy,” he says, claiming my mouth again.

Oh god, this is wrong. On so many levels. I am betraying the people who are counting on me, myself too, but I also can’t stop it. I want him. To do things to me, to remind me who is in charge.

His erection presses against mine, hard and demanding attention. I cry out in pleasure, rocking my hips, but he grabs my left leg with his free hand and halts me. It’s torture in the best way, making me even hornier.

“Greedy, aren’t we?” He squeezes my chin and forces me to look at him. “I’m still waiting for an apology. It’s not very nice to snoop around other people’s houses, Josh. Where are your manners?”

I bare my teeth. “Fuck you. I told you I was only looking for Jaime.”

He grasps my cock suddenly through my clothes. “Sure you were.”

I hiss, then growl, stuck between annoyance and arousal. I can’t think, it’s too much, his touch and his smile.

“I see that I need to teach you another lesson. Clearly, the first one wasn’t enough, was it, brat?”

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