Thirteen

by Scarlett Finn

  Shit. How was he supposed to drive when her hair was trailing over his thigh like that and her scent… Whatever fucking perfume she’d used mixed with her potent natural pheromones and in the tight confines of this car, he couldn’t make his eyes focus past it.

  After she punched something into the GPS, his car spouted out instructions and Evie finally sat up to fasten her seatbelt.

  Right. Ok. Take the lady home. He could do this.

  Oak found the gear and got the car moving. They’d been driving for five minutes and she hadn’t said anything. She was just sitting there with her arms and legs crossed, her upturned nose pointed at her side window.

  “So, you like Washington?” he asked, that’s what she’d said in the meeting and given that they were stuck together for the duration of this journey, he figured he’d give getting to know her better a shot.

  “Don’t talk to me.”

  Ok. That was going to make getting to know her harder. “We go to Washington a couple of times a year,” he said. “We travel all over the US and all over the world. We should talk about you sticking with us, after your contract is—”

  “I told you not to talk to me.”

  “Evie, look, I’m sorry, ok? But I checked out that guy’s profile and he wasn’t your type. You’d have eaten him up. He wouldn’t have been a challenge for you. You need a challenge.”

  “Don’t. Talk. To. Me.”

  Why had she waited for him to exit the building and gotten into his car if she didn’t want to talk? Maybe this was some kind of punishment. Maybe playing silent cab driver would be his role in her life while she had him in the doghouse.

  But after another couple of blocks, he couldn’t stay quiet anymore. “You’re a great match with MatchMate. Everybody at the company loves you. We’re lacking real management in the HR team; you should consider staying with the company full-time—”

  “I’m freelance,” she said.

  Good, they were negotiating. “And you could stay freelance,” he said. “We’ll take you on as a contractor. You’d still be self-employed, and we could factor in time for you to take on other jobs as and when you needed them.”

  “No thanks.”

  “No? You haven’t heard my terms yet, we pay well and—”

  “I don’t do commitment.”

  In any area of her life. Yeah, she’d said that before, but he figured if she tried it, she might like it. Evie was more suited to routine than she admitted, even her work was structured, and a dynamic company like MatchMate was perfect for her.

  “There are opportunities for you to work all over. You don’t have to stay in head-office fifty-two weeks a year. We could allow you to work from home too and—”

  “Oak,” she said, casting her frosty eyes to him.

  “Yeah?”

  “Don’t talk to me.”

  Her attention went back to her window and he tightened his grip on the wheel. Damn. She was so infuriating. And beautiful. And vibrant. And vivacious, and… Recognizing the building on the corner, his thoughts stopped. Looking one way and then the other, he glanced down at the GPS as it told him his destination was on the right.

  “This is my building,” he said.

  “Yep.”

  He pulled into the parking garage and into his space. “What are we doing in my building? Do you live in my building?”

  Of all the things he’d done, memorizing her address hadn’t been one of them. But he’d like to think he’d have recognized his building address even if he’d just glanced over it on her records when he was checking out her name and occupation. She could’ve moved recently. But into his building? That would be a hell of a coincidence.

  “Nope,” she said, unfastening her seatbelt and climbing out of the vehicle.

  Oak was racing to catch up to her and almost forgot to lock the car, but he caught her just as she stepped into the elevator and selected his floor. Ok, she’d said that she would know everything about every employee; he guessed that meant learning his address too.

  “Ev—”

  “Nope,” she said.

  Lifting a finger to silence him and watched the numbers above the door light up until they got to his floor.

  When the doors opened, she paced forward and went straight to his apartment. Stepping aside, she gestured at it and waited, patiently, while he fumbled with his keys and unlocked the door.

  No woman had ever made him feel as out of control as she did. He had no idea what the hell was going on or what the fuck was in her head. Oak was literally chasing after her, following orders, doing as he was told, and waiting for scraps. But damn, he loved it, she was incredible and now, for some reason known only to her, she was striding into his apartment.

  The long space of his living room had the kitchen laid out to the left with a dining and den area beyond.

  He closed the door and flicked on the light. “Do you want a drink? I think I have Martini in—”

  “Where’s the bedroom?” she called over her shoulder as she strode away from the door and past the kitchen.

  “Uh, straight ahead, but uh…”

  She wasn’t even waiting, she kept walking, stepping out of one shoe and then the other. Oh, fuck, was she here for…

  But she’d said that she wasn’t going to sleep with him.

  Picking up the hem of her loose skirt, she reached underneath and two seconds later, her panties slid down her legs. She plucked them off to drop them onto the floor just before she pushed open his bedroom door.

  Ok. They were doing this.

  Hurrying forward, he pulled off his jacket and tie. He was struggling to free his cufflinks when he crossed into the bedroom to see her high on her knees in the middle of the bed.

  “Sit down,” she said, pointing at the headboard.

  “Evie,” he said, climbing onto the bed.

  Oak reached for her waist, but she shuffled aside and pointed at the headboard. “I told you not to talk to me, Oak. If you say one more word, I’m out of here. Now, sit.”

  Either this was going to be the hottest experience of his life or he was going to learn a hard lesson. But she was here, in his bed, no show, no audience or bell signaling that their time was up. Just a man and a woman who shared an intense sexual connection.

  Crawling to the headboard, he sat down, propping himself against it as he started to think of all the things he wanted to do to her. If she wanted to take control, he’d let her. He didn’t want to be spanked, but he’d be happy to turn her over his knee if that’s what she wanted.

  Gathering her skirt, she straddled his knees and produced a condom from her cleavage. Wow, had that been there the whole time? While he’d been clueless, she’d known exactly where they were going and how this night was going to end. One of the best things about his Evie was her conviction; he’d never have to worry about her doing anything she didn’t want to do.

  She unbuckled his belt, then tugged at his waistband. Answering her unspoken request, he lifted his ass to let her pull his pants down, but she didn’t pull them all the way off, just lowered them enough that she could grab hold of his dick. With a tight fist, she tugged on him, but the motion seemed more mechanical than instinctive.

  Something was wrong here.

  But his dick didn’t care that her brows were tight and that she wouldn’t look at him. It reacted for her as it always did and as soon as he was hard, she slid the condom on. Still, she hadn’t looked at him.

  “Evi—”

  “Don’t talk to me,” she said, something firmer about her voice this time but was that… was she nervous? No. Not Evie. He’d just got through telling himself that she was assured.

  Crawling higher on his legs, she held him in her firm fist and lowered herself onto him. Holy fuck. She closed her eyes and let out a long breath that flooded his face and made his dick throb inside the tightness that he was struggling to fit into. She wasn’t wet, she was soft, but there was serious resistance to her body accepting his and her sharp inhales soun
ded pained, not pleasured at all.

  But he could do something about that. Leaning in, he tried to kiss her neck, but she planted a hand on his forehead and thrust it back, thumping it on the headboard. “No.”

  “No?” he asked but got no response to the question.

  So, she didn’t want neck kissing, ok, he had other ideas. Sliding his hands onto her waist, he intended to pull down her dress, to kiss her breasts, to make love with her.

  Instead, she grabbed his wrists and pushed them against the headboard. “Don’t touch me,” she gasped in a whisper, her eyes shut tight.

  She was still pushing down onto him and although it was dark, he saw moonlight reflect on a streak of moisture as it slid down her face.

  “Evie,” he said, hit with the searing burn of panic.

  “Shh,” she said, “don’t… don’t talk to me.”

  Gritting her teeth, she swore at herself and thrust her hips down onto his, and when she cried out, all he heard was agony. No, this wasn’t right. He wasn’t doing this. No fucking way. But when her eyes opened and met his, there was a determination in them that stunned him.

  But the connection didn’t last, she covered his eyes with her hand and began to rise and fall on him. Her pace got faster as her natural juice began to seep around their joining.

  “Yes,” she whispered, and her head landed on his, her hand still over his eyes between them.

  Her body was loosening around his; her breathing was getting more frantic. Pleasure bled into her moans and his body reacted. It was impossible not to feel the need for release with her bouncing on him like this.

  She felt good, snug as a vise around his dick that wanted to make its home inside this woman who was proving to be far more complex than he’d thought. She was no whore. Not that he’d ever really thought that she was, but she wasn’t as sexually experienced as she’d implied. She sure wasn’t screwing a different guy every night, unless this was how she did it with all of them, but he doubted it.

  Oak tried again to touch her, but she pushed his hand away from her body. A few seconds later, she squeezed him within her and let her nails curl into his shoulder. There was no big shout, no exclamation of joy or screaming of his name.

  The pulse of her body around his and the friction of their rhythm forced his pelvis up. He hissed out her name and came in the woman he’d been dreaming about fucking since the moment they met.

  She stayed on top of him for half a beat. She didn’t relax or let her hand leave his eyes, not until she rose higher on her knees and freed him from inside her. Climbing from his lap, Evie didn’t even sit on the edge of the bed, she was on her feet and on her way to the door before he’d even blinked the room into focus.

  “Evie,” he called, but she walked out of the bedroom.

  If she thought it was going to be that easy, she was mistaken. Leaping off the bed, Oak trashed the condom and darted after her. Hauling his pants up with one hand, he managed to close the button as he crossed into the living room where he found her wriggling back into her panties.

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “We’re never going to talk about this again,” she said, fixing her skirt and tossing her hair out of her face. “Not with anyone else, not with each other. Never. It’s done.”

  “Done,” he said, stumbling forward a few steps. “I don’t even know what just happened. What was that?”

  She picked up her shoes. “It was what you wanted,” she said, heading for the door. “You’ve had me. Now you can get over it. We both can.”

  Get over it? How could he get over it when it had been so… he didn’t even know what it was, but it was far from typical and far from what he’d expected it would be.

  “Evie,” he said when she pulled open his front door.

  “Enough, Oak!” she snapped and made eye contact with him for the first time since before she’d covered his eyes in bed. The pain, the misery, the devastation behind that angry gaze took his breath. “No more, Oak. You understand me? No more. I’m done with you.”

  Backing out of the apartment, she slammed the door, and left him gaping into the ether. Who the hell was that woman and what had she done with his Evie? Where was the sexy siren? Hell, he’d have taken the simpering bimbo or the bitter spinster over seeing that incredible woman in so much pain.

  Enough? No. Who the hell did she think she was kidding? He was just getting started and he wouldn’t stop until he took down every single bastard who’d ever hurt her.

  six

  Oak found Evie in the breakroom the following morning and when she glanced up from the coffee machine, she smiled.

  Good.

  That was a good start.

  “You know, this doesn’t look like one of those big fancy coffee machines,” she said, taking her cup from under the spout. “But it makes really good coffee. Was it expensive?”

  The coffee machine? “You want to talk about the coffee machine? Really? That’s what you want to talk about this morning?”

  “I don’t want to have a conversation about it,” she said, rolling her eyes. “A yes or no would’ve sufficed… I like your coffee machine, so sue me. I was making small talk.”

  Something he had no interest in having with her. Striding past the couches, he didn’t even consider if he was too close or if his height would intimidate her. But she didn’t look up from stirring her sweetener into her drink.

  “Evie. We have to talk about—”

  The breakroom door opened. Evie glanced up and grinned. “Taylor,” she said, walking right past him to go to his sister who’d just come in. “Do you know how much the coffee machine cost? Your brother seems to think it’s some sort of corporate secret.”

  “Uh, no,” Taylor said. “But I can find out.”

  Evie put an arm through Taylor’s. “That’s a good response. You could learn a lot from your sister, Oakley. She’s much more polite than you are.” Checking out Taylor’s outfit, Evie sighed. “Orange. I never thought about orange. Quick vote, do we think this gorgeous color that Taylor is wearing is an earth tone?”

  “I think it is,” Taylor said.

  Oak shrugged, what the fuck did he know about colors and why was she always asking about earth tones? What the hell was an earth tone anyway?

  Tapping her stirrer on her lip, Evie stepped back. “You’re only a couple of inches shorter than me, it could work, can I borrow this dress?”

  “Sure you can,” Taylor said. “But your boobs are bigger than mine.”

  How could they be standing there talking about clothes like this was any other morning? Taylor had an excuse, she didn’t know what had happened last night. Evie was pissing him off.

  “I’ll strap them,” Evie said. “I won’t stretch it, I promise. And I have plenty of push-up bras, if I have to lift the girls a little higher and show more cleavage, I don’t mind.”

  “Or you could just buy your own dress,” Oak said.

  Evie considered the dress again with a frown. “I could, but the color is just perfect. Where did you get it?”

  “I can’t remember,” Taylor said, turning around to fumble with the back of the dress. “Read the label.”

  “Oh,” Evie said.

  Leading Taylor toward him, she shoved her coffee into his hands then pulled the zip of Taylor’s dress down. Taylor just laughed, but Oak turned his back. If they were going to start stripping each other, he was going to walk out… Except he had to talk to Evie.

  “Does the label help?” Taylor asked.

  “It’s not one I recognize, but I’ll look it up,” Evie said and reached around him to take her mug back. “Thanks, Taylor, honey… Oh, and I have back-to-back interviews today and tomorrow, so I can’t do lunch, I’m sorry.”

  “That’s ok,” Taylor said, and when Oak turned around again, he was pleased to see his sister was zipped in her dress. “We’ll do it in Washington.”

  Walking backward toward the door, Evie crossed her heart. “I promise,” she said.
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  “Evie,” he said, hoping she’d acknowledge that they had to talk.

  Instead, she scowled in a mocking pout. “You laughed at my coffee machine question, you get no lunch.”

  She left the room with her coffee, leaving the door swinging, wafting air to fuel the fire of his frustration.

  Taylor laughed. “I love her.” He couldn’t say he felt the same right now, but when his sister prodded him, Oak had to take his concentration from the door. “What’s wrong with you? You could be nicer to her, you know.”

  “Nicer?”

  How the hell was he supposed to do that short of signing over his corporation? She’d ridden his cock last night and disappeared from his apartment like she’d done him a favor when all she’d done was leave him with questions.

  “Yes,” Taylor said, setting about making her own coffee. “You were in a bad mood at the meeting last night and this morning you look like someone peed in your coffee, what’s the matter with you?”

  “Nothing,” he said. Taylor paid too much attention to his mood.

  His sister had told him that he spent too much time worrying about her, maybe he should be saying the same to her.

  “Whatever it is, don’t take it out on Evie, she’s just doing her job. You hired her. If you don’t like the way she’s doing it, talk to her, but be polite about it. I know I was surprised when you hired her, but I get it now, she’s good, and if she can help the company then I think it’s a good idea to have her around for a while.”

  For a while, but how long a while? As Taylor made her drink, Oak returned his focus to the door. He wanted to know more, wanted to know why Evie had left his place so quickly, why he hadn’t been allowed to touch her… why she looked so hurt when she closed the front door.

  It made no sense to him how she could be acting so normally this morning without an ounce of awkwardness or upset. She hadn’t missed a beat. It was like she had amnesia and had literally forgotten about everything that happened between them last night.