Page 47 of Seal My Fate

Chapter12

Tessa

“Out of the question.”

Saint doesn’t even think about it, he just stalks out of the dressing room, leaving me to scramble into my showstopper of a dress. Really, it’s a costume to match his as we stroll past the Ashford Pharma guards, because there’s no way I’m staying home tonight.

I squeeze into the tight red silk, and struggle to zip up the back. I can’t reach. “Can you please get this?” I ask, emerging into the bedroom and presenting my bare back to Saint.

“Take it off.”

His voice is curt, and when I turn to face him, I see that his handsome face is marred with a frown. “I thought you said that there was no time to waste,” I reply with a smirk. “But if you want to squeeze in a quick workout before we leave…”

“Don’t be cute. You know what I mean,” Saint warns me, pulling on his jacket.

“I’m afraid cute is just a natural state for me,” I reply, still teasing. “Fine. I’ll zip it up myself.”

I reach, wriggling, until I finally manage to yank it up. “There. Do you think I look like a future duke’s trophy girlfriend?” I ask, fluffing out my hair.

“Tessa…” Saint’s voice is like steel. “You’re not coming.”

I arch my eyebrow. “Well, that would be a first with you.”

“Tessa!” he exclaims, frustrated. “This isn’t a game!”

“You think I don’t know that?” I put my hands on my hips and glare. “I’m the one who was stalked through the woods last night, shot at, and barely escaped with my life.”

“Which is why you’re not coming anywhere near Ashford!” Saint yells, his voice ringing out with frustration. “I’m not putting you in harm’s way again!”

I pause. Clearly, I’m going to need a different tactic.

“You want to leave me here alone?” I ask. “You just said it wasn’t safe enough for Wren to stay.”

Saint frowns deeper. “That’s not what I meant.”

“But it’s true,” I move closer, and run my hands up his lapels. “The safest place in the world for me is right by your side.”

I kiss his neck, running my lips softly over his skin; feeling his body tense, his cock hardening against me.

“What was that rule you made?” Saint sighs, but he’s already sliding his hands around my waist and drawing me closer. “About not using sex as a weapon…”

I smile. “If I remember right, you broke that ruleallthe time.”

Saint makes a noise of lustful frustration. He kisses me, hard enough to make my knees weak and my head spin, then draws back. “If we’re doing this, we do this my way,” he warns me. “You do exactly what I say, there’s no room for error, or arguing once we’re in that building. Understand?”

I nod eagerly. “Understood.”

“I mean it, Tessa.” Saint keeps hold of me. “You know what they did to Valerie. What they nearly did to you and Wren last night. If we make one wrong move…”

“I understand, Saint,” I promise. “We get in, copy the drive, and get out.”

“And if I tell you to walk away, you get the hell out of there,” he adds. “As fast as you can.”

“Which, in these shoes…” I give him a smirk, and he flicks his eyes to the heavens in a rueful plea.

“Did I say this was taking ten years off my life? Make it fifteen.”

We waituntil after ten p.m., when Saint says the offices will be pretty much empty, then take a cab over the Ashford HQ. My nerves twists tighter with every mile. I know I was making light of it back at the house, but I know how important the next few hours are: They’re everything. Without proof of Ashford’s wrongdoing and fraud, there’s nothing we can do to stop the drug launch and all the damage it will do.

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