Page 10 of Unwanted
I jumped off the stool. He took a surprised step back but that didn’t stop me from advancing on him. “You’ll be a bloody idiot if you go with another company, and you know it.” I was right in his personal space now, and he was starting to look a little panicked. “You know I’m right. You know the project will suffer without us.” I poked him in the chest once, staring up into his beautiful dark eyes and he caught my finger in his large, warm, dry hand. His pupils dilated as he looked down at me and his expression went blank for a moment.
“You were always so bloody bossy,” he said before he closed the space between us and pressed his mouth against mine.
Chapter5
You were kind up until you weren’t
Harry
She sucked in a shocked breath, so her lips were slightly parted when my mouth met hers. If I’d been in my right mind I would never have kissed her, but having Verity in my kitchen on a Saturday morning, her beautiful dark hair falling about her shoulders and those gorgeous blue eyes flashing with fury as she stalked towards me was the recipe for my current insanity. Her light floral scent, that familiar freckle next to the corner of her mouth, everything just combined to bring my desire for her to boiling point. Plus the fact that she was claiming that she really had had a massive crush on me. My rational brain knew that this was a complete fiction, but rationality seemed to have gone out the window.
And now that I was kissing her the acute relief of finally being able to touch her was almost staggering. It was as though holding myself back from her during our last few interactions had been an unacknowledged strain which had now lifted. Alarm bells were ringing in the back of my mind, but they didn’t stop me from deepening the kiss, nor my arm from banding around her waist and pulling her into me, my hand delving into the unbelievable softness of her hair. Then the shrill sound of a phone ringing penetrated my Verity-scrambled brain, and I pulled back. She blinked up at me for a moment before glancing at the source of the obnoxious noise. Her phone was still sitting on the granite counter. The familiar face of her too-good-looking brother was lighting up the screen. Of course he was on a bloody boat in the photo – the picture of aristocratic glamour. Seeing her brother was like a cold bucket of water being thrown over me. This bloody family. If they couldn’t buy or bribe their way out of trouble, they’d do pretty much anything else to manipulate their way out of it, and I was not falling for it. Not again.
Verity leaned over to silence the call and then stared up at me. She looked dazed and vulnerable. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought the kiss had affected her just as much as me. But the Markhams were not to be trusted. I wasn’t getting sucked down that rabbit hole again.
“Wow, you’re good. I’ll give you that,” I said, and I was proud of the casual tone I’d affected when my heart felt like it was beating outside of my chest.
“W–what?” Verity whispered, reaching out to the counter as if to steady herself. She really was putting all her acting effort in here. It took all my willpower not to reach out and steady her.
“You know – coming here on a Saturday morning, forcing your way in, snogging me. Tell me, Verity, how far would you have taken this? Would you have gone as far as a quick fuck to get what you want? To have your design be the one for this project?”
Verity just stared at me and her mouth dropped open. The colour that had flooded her face after that kiss receded, leaving her looking unnaturally pale. She took a sudden step back and her hip collided hard with one of the kitchen stools. Her small wince of pain had me holding myself back again. She’s fine, I told myself. Don’t fall for it. Barbara, who normally hates everyone, took the opportunity to rub up against Verity’s shoulder. As if on automatic pilot, Verity’s hand reached up to stroke Barbara’s head, her eyes still trained on me. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited.
She cleared her throat and swallowed before she spoke. “You think I came here to sleep with you so that I could win a bid for my company?” she said. “That is your opinion of me?”
I rolled my eyes. “Please don’t give me the indignant how-dare-you-question-my-honour routine. I don’t like to play games, Verity.”
“Games?” Her voice broke over the word and she cleared her throat again. “You think I’m playing games?”
I shrugged. “I’ll admit to being curious. After all, I never got a proper snog out of you all those years ago. Just that bullshit closed-mouthed teenage crap you laid on me that last time in the library. May as well allow one now. Boring as it was.”
“Boring?” her eyebrows shot up and her face regained some of its colour. The Barbara stroking was more vigorous now. “It didn’t feel to me like you were particularly bored, Harry.” Her gaze flicked down to my crotch then back up again and I felt my own face heat. It took all my effort to affect a casual tone after that to drawl out the next sentence.
“Not going to deny it was fun at the time. But not quite worth a multi-million-pound contract, darling.” Then I smirked. It was the sexy-I’m-a-bit-of-a-shit-but-hot smirk that Toby had taught me at uni. Total opposite of my real personality, but it had its uses. Verity’s gaze dropped to the smirk, and she frowned.
“What happened to you?” she whispered. It took all I had to maintain the smirk.
“I grew up, Verity. Maybe you should try it too.”
She let out a short, humourless laugh which made my chest actually hurt.
“I grew upwaybefore we ever met, Harry,” she said, and it was my turn to frown in confusion, while Barbara took the opportunity to place her massive paws either side of Verity’s neck. Again Verity’s arms came up automatically to support Barbara’s bulk so that she was snuggled against her chest. Verity, now shaking with rage, barely seemed to notice. “I had to, or I wouldn’t have survived.” I had no idea what any of that meant. Verity had always led a charmed life as far as I was concerned. “So, Harry, you can shove your building and the bid for it right up your arse. Our design is no longer on the table.” I blinked. That was not what I had expected her to say. Not by a long shot. Even more shocking was the hurt in her expression. A kernel of doubt started to unfurl in my mind. When she spoke again her voice was so un-Verity-like that I felt my breath catch in my throat. “Y–you think I’m capable of that?” I uncrossed my arms and took a step towards her, but she held up her hand to ward me off. “You really havethatlow an opinion of me?” I swore I could see tears shimmer briefly in her eyes before she blinked to clear them, and I felt a twinge of alarm.
“Verity, I–”
“You actually think me capable of trying to sleep my way into a contract with your company?” her voice was rising now, and her colour was returning as real fury flashed in her still tear-filled eyes.
She really did look bloody furious at this suggestion. My mind also kept flashing back to that kiss. Could she really have been that good an actress? I opened my mouth to speak but she got in there before me.
“We wouldn’t touch your project with a barge pole even if you and the LSE doubled the fee. You can go with the other shitty, substandard designs you’ve been plugged and knock yourself out.”
I took another step towards her, but she took a corresponding one back, so I stopped and cleared my suddenly dry throat.
“Maybe we should talk,” I said slowly. Nothing about this interaction was making sense. What reason would Verity have to come here and let me kiss her if not to secure the deal? I was starting to feel a little sick. She flashed me another furious look and moved to step around me, but I moved with her to block her way.
“I will never speak to you, ever again,” she said through gritted teeth. “This istwicenow that you’ve made me feel like shit on your shoe, Harry. It took me long enough to get over it the first time. I’ll not have you knocking the wind out of my sails again. I’ve come too far since then to let you set me back.” I blinked. She was voicing all ofmythoughts when it came toher. Those weremyworries. What on earth was she talking about? How didIpossibly setherback? None of this made any sense. “Now, get out of my way.”
“Er… you’re still holding my cat.”
