Page 46 of Flame True

Yeah, he knew she didn’t like being told what to do.

Tough, she’s the one who wanted to do it this way.

Nick adjusted his bow tie. The damn thing was choking him.

This woman was testing his patience. Nick wanted to tie her to his bedposts until they found whoever was behind the latest threat to her.

The latest threat, he snorted and clutched her arm harder.

She glanced at him with that shooting daggers look, and he kept his gaze straight ahead to the head table.

That sparkly blue dress accentuated her every curve.

He wanted to drop kisses down the little bit of cleavage that showed, tear that dress off her to see what was underneath. He wanted to kiss those lips until they were cleaned off the lipstick she had painted on. Not that it looked terrible. Nothing Mulberry put on her face could look bad. He wanted to lick her entire face until no makeup was left.

He placed a palm on the small of her back as he led her to the table.

Nick nodded to Yvette, his dad’s wife number four, and nodded to the Laurent Industries executives.

“Hey Nick, how’s it going?” Their V.P. of marketing shook his hand. Nick grinned and settled into a conversation with Giles that took them to the boring presentations.

Mulberry hardly looked at him through his father’s speech.

Nick listened to Henri drown about lightning-fast technology and Laurent Industries taking the marketplace into the future.

He held out those Earpods, and dammit, Nick felt a stirring of pride because he had written software on the navigation of those Earpods, and yeah, it was a big deal to him.

“Thank you, everyone, for coming and celebrating our launch in Vancouver! If you have any questions, you know how to get me!” Henri waved, and finally, they started to bring out plates.

He felt the eyes of others on him as he ate his dinner and sipped his sparkling water. He kept his hand on her thigh.

When the last course came out, before the desserts, Mulberry leaned over and said, “May I go to the bathroom, your royal protector highness?”

The sass made him grind his back teeth.

He abruptly threw his chair back, took her hand, and practically marched her to the bathroom door.

“What? You told me to ask.” Mulberry batted those impossibly long eyelashes at him, the slyest smile on her kissable mouth.

He crowded her space, putting his hands on her arms. “It’s how you asked.”

“Oh, I asked. You’re just mad you couldn’t tell me how.”

With a little wave over her shoulder, she followed the line of other women into the bathroom.

Nick leaned against the wall, waiting for her. Dammit, she was right. If they were in a scene, he’d correct that mouth.

It grated on his nerves like sandpaper, her unwillingness to follow orders.

Okay, she followed orders but not without protest, and he wanted to force her on her knees, her hands sliding up his legs as he fucked her face.

He undid the stupid bowtie, crumpled it up and put it in his pocket. He had to reel in those thoughts.

Mulberry was a charge, this was a job, and besides, she was too young, too happy for him, and there was no way his dark cravings matched sweet, innocent her.

A lump formed in his throat.

Mulberry wasn’t innocent, though, despite how she looked and her background.

---