Page 45 of Hunted Temptation
“Sure,” I mutter, even though it doesn’t matter. I’m killing the son of a bitch anyway. He’s here, and he’s a goddamn threat.
ELODIE
As much asI want to walk around and snoop through the office, I decide against it. I don’t want to violate his space. He’s trusted me enough to stay in here alone. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to look into every single nook and cranny, because I really do.
Walking over to the window, I look down at the street, but there isn’t anything there. Just a sidewalk, an empty sidewalk. Stepping back from the window, I walk over to the small bookcase.
There are only a few books on one shelf. The rest are filled with little trinkets and items, such as a small globe and a decanter with amber liquid inside. But the books are what hold my attention.
The 50thLaw,The Obstacle is the Way,The Art of War,The Complete Gentleman, andNever Let Go, which looks like some kind of fitness book. I extend my finger and slide it across each book as I hear the door open.
Turning my head, I look over to the doorway and see him standing there, watching me. “You read,” I state.
“I do,” he murmurs.
He doesn’t move toward me. He stays where he is, his eyes focused on mine. Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I tug on the skin there before my hand falls from the books, and I turn toward him fully. I take one step forward, then another, stopping before I reach him.
“Is that okay?” he asks with a chuckle.
I close the distance between us silently, then place my palm in the center of his chest as I tilt my head backward. “I didn’t take you for a reader,” I whisper.
“Yeah?”
“I like that. I used to read a lot when I was able to borrow books from the school library.”
He wraps his fingers around the side of my neck, flexing them gently. When the pad of his thumb slides along my bottom lip, I have to press my thighs together in an effort to relieve the ache there.
“You able to meet my business partners and family?” he asks. “Or do you need me first?”
I need him first.
But I don’t say that.
“I would love to meet them,” I exhale.
He chuckles as if he finds me funny, maybe cute, or maybe both. He lowers his head to touch his lips to mine, his tongue slipping inside my mouth to taste me wholly. My body shifts forward, melting into his. I wish I could climb inside him and live there.
That way, he would never leave me. That way, I could be with him always. That way, he would keep me. He breaks the kiss and nibbles on my bottom lip a couple of times before he lifts his head. His eyes find mine, holding them before he murmurs,“You’ll meet them, then we’ll come back here, and I’ll make you come with my mouth before I fuck you hard against my desk.”
My thighs tremble. My body aches. My whole world spins.
“Okay.”
Chapter Eighteen
ELODIE
Three gorgeous knockoutwomen and five absolutely stunning men stare at me from around a long conference table. All eight of these people should be on the cover of some security business owners magazine or something, maybe even in a calendar. They’re absolutely breathtaking.
It’s almost as if they’re airbrushed, and they’re sitting here right in front of me, breathing the same air as I am. I want to reach out and touch them, check to see if they’re real. But as I’m introduced to them one by one, I realize that they are indeed real. I am so dumbfounded and overwhelmed that I don’t remember any of their names.
It’s almost as if I’m awestruck, but mostly it’s because I’m not used to being in a room with this many people, on top of the fact that it’s this many gorgeous people.
“Should we order some lunch?” one of the women calls out as she stands from her seat. I think her name is Lucille, but I can’t quite remember.
“Yeah, that sounds great,” one of the guys replies. Again, I have no clue who it is that’s just spoken.
Vaughn smiles, reaching out to wrap his fingers around mine, then squeezes them gently before he guides me over to an empty chair. Sinking down in the seat, I place my hands in my lap as I shift my gaze down to them, watching as my fingers twist together. I focus on breathing, in and out, in and out, and that is about all I can handle.
