Heat

by Steele, C. M.

  My eyes move to his chest again, knowing I’m to blame. It’s my fault he’s shirtless and in pain and yet, he’s still holding me. “Oh, sorry about that.”

  He kisses my hand. “Don’t be sorry. I just need to make sure you’re okay.”

  “Yeah because she’s going to try and sue you later, Micah. Buttering her up isn’t going to work.” I feel him tense around me.

  He extends his arm and presses a button. “Winston, when we arrive at the hospital, have a cab ready for Ms. Jones to be escorted to the hotel and then airport.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I thought we were going to the meeting together,” she exclaims. I sense a meltdown coming. Something about her makes me think she’s unaware of the precarious situation she’s in. Micah, as she called him, tightens his hold on me, tension radiating as he glares at her.

  “I’m not going to any meeting, and you’re fired,” he bites out. Did he just fire her while I’m on his lap? Oh shit, he’s hard everywhere, including the bulge under my ass. I try to adjust myself, but he gives me a gentle squeeze, keeping me in place.

  “What? You can’t fire me. I’ll sue you for sexual assault. Look you have your shirt off and—” She grabs the top of her dress and rips it. This bitch is crazy.

  “Ha. You are not only stupid and incompetent but fucking evil too. There’s a camera right there. I always have it recording when anyone other than me is in the vehicle. Nice try.”

  She lets out a ridiculous scream just as we pull into the hospital. Micah doesn’t wait for his driver before he carries me out of the limo. “I really can walk.”

  “We can’t be sure.” God, I’m so glad he can’t feel how wet he’s making me. My buff, shirtless man candy carries me through the ER.

  “Um sir. What’s going on?” the guard at the entrance asks. I’m trying to remain unbothered, but I’m completely embarrassed.

  “My limo accidentally hit her,” he grumbles, hating the words coming out of his mouth as if he’d rather be chewing glass.

  I pat his chest unconsciously while saying, “I told him I’m fine, but he doesn’t listen.”

  “Actually, he’s right to bring you in. This way,” a doctor steps into the conversation. Micah carries me like a warrior with his spoils. The doctor leads us to an open bed. “Set her down there.”

  A frown crosses Micah’s face as he follows the doctor’s request. Without being in his arms, I can finally see his complete chest again, and I’m practically panting like a cat in heat. My hips rock, catching both men’s attention. I stop immediately, losing count of how many times I’ve managed to make a fool of myself today.

  The doctor gives Micah a strange look and says. “Nice physique, but this is a hospital not a porn set. Do you have a shirt?”

  “Sorry. Shit I completely forgot. The accident caused hot coffee to spill on me. I couldn’t get the damn clothes off fast enough.” The doctor leans in to inspect his chest.

  I try to keep my eyes off it, but damn, I can’t stop from stealing a peek. He’s got a light smattering of hair right at his pecs, that thins down to his abs. I want to brush my hands over him again, but that’s totally nuts. I don’t know him, and I’m in a freaking hospital instead of on my way to work.

  Shit. I’m going to be late to work—something I can’t afford to do.

  “Actually, now I see it. You do have a burn on your chest. Nothing a little cream won’t fix. Let me bring in someone to bandage it and get you something to wear.” The doctor claps his shoulder and steps out of the room.

  As he exits, a woman in her thirties comes in with a smile. “Hello. I’m Nurse Rachael. I’m here to take your information and vitals.” I go over my personal information which Micah focuses on.

  He whispers my name gently, “Violet.” The action goes straight to my heart which the damn monitor picks up. She doesn’t say anything, but she gives me a wink.

  “I don’t have any insurance at the moment. I can’t afford it,” I mutter under my breath. Number two-hundred and two on the fool checklist. This day hopefully won’t get any worse. Maybe I can still make it to work and pull a late night.

  “Don’t worry about that. It’s my fault for it all.” He runs his fingers down my arm, trying to get me to go with his command.

  My body heats up so quickly, my pulse is on fire. It takes me a moment to point out that I’m the one to blame for it all even if I can’t afford the medical bills. “I ran into the street.”

  “Stop arguing with me. It’s pointless because you’re not going to win.” Fuck, I want to throw my hands in his and let him take care of me, but I’m afraid of how much I want more of this man. I’ve never depended on a soul in my life; now I want to let him take control and take stress away from me.

  What other control would I like him to have? Thoughts of his lips on mine, dance in my head as he gives the nurse his personal information. He’s from Chicago. Damn, so my dream man is genuinely on business. He’ll probably be gone tomorrow, and I’ll be spending the next week trying to fix the damage this day has brought.

  “Fine.” I cross my arms and wince, hitting a nice bruise on my forearm.

  “You’re going to need x-rays,” he snarls.

  “I doubt that.” I protest even though I’m not sure. Honestly, being in his arms made all the pain disappear. Now it’s as if the aches are all back. How can that be? I’m not a hypochondriac or a soft person. I’ve been through too much to not be made of tougher stuff.

  “We’ll have to wait and see. So far you seem clear headed, so it’ll be up to the physician after a thorough exam.”

  “I don’t want you to hesitate to run the tests,” he informs her.

  Another nurse enters, pushing the curtain partition aside to bandage Micah’s chest, and I feel a pang of jealousy at the sight. She’s moving mechanically as if she’s unaffected by him, but the slight blush on her face says otherwise. She hands him a hospital gown to wear.

  “Damn, it doesn’t match,” he teases the nurse.

  “Sorry we’re clear out of plain white dress shirts for your size.” She taps his arm and then looks back at me. “The doctor will be back shortly. Ms. Flowers, please change into this. And I need to ask. Is there a chance you could be pregnant?” I turn completely red and shake my head.

  Under his breath, I swear I hear him say, “Not yet.” My body heats up and I clench my legs closed.

  “Is this necessary?” I ask, pointing to the gown.

  “I’m sorry, but it is.” The nurse gives me a remorseful nod.

  My eyes close shut, hating that haste makes waste as they say. I’m going to lose my job because of this. My asshole boss doesn’t look for much when it comes to canning someone but eagerly demands perfection.

  The second they leave us alone, I tell Micah, “I really need to go to work.”

  “Sorry, sweetheart. It’s not happening.” He looks down at my tee, tapping the little logo at the top of my breasts. “You work at a bar?”

  “Yes. It’s not the best job, but it’s the only one I have, and I can’t afford to lose it.”

  “How do you feel about the cold?”

  “What? Why?”

  He narrows his brows, tilting his sexy face. “I asked you a question, Violet.”

  I shrug, thinking about his question. “I’ve never really experienced it. Now do you want to tell me why?”

  “Because I have every intention of taking you back to Chicago with me.” My head snaps back in shock. Not an inch of his face suggests he’s joking. I can’t get over how sexy this cocky bastard is. I want to run my hands over his jaw, using my nails to scratch his scruff.

  I don’t know what he wants, but I hope it’s the same thing I do. Did I hit my head harder than I thought because I feel so damn horny that my pussy soaked my panties and shorts? I’ll blame it on the heat outside, not the one burning through me. “Why? I’m not going to sue you. It’s my fault and you’re paying for the hospital bill.”

  He shakes his he
ad, staring at me with lust and power in those sexy eyes of his. Growling, he cups my cheek and says, “Because I get the things I want. I want you and now that means you’re mine.”

  “Do I get a choice in it?” A part of me has already said yes. Still I have to try to resist him because we don’t even know each other.

  “Sure. You can spend the week with me on vacation before we get married or we can go back home now and get married.”

  “Did anyone tell you that you’re crazy?” It’s supposed to come out with a biting sting, but my voice is soft and just above a whisper as his lips inch closer to mine.

  A cocky smile spreads across his face. “If they’re smart, not to my face.” He taps my nose with his lips and then takes a step back giving me some breathing room.

  “If you plan to get what you want, I need to change. So could you please leave or turn around?” The man already makes me feel naked the way his eyes stare into my soul.

  “I’ll turn around, but I’m afraid to leave your ass alone. I’m sure I’m freaking you out, but I think you’ll see it my way in time.”

  “Just turn around already.” I make quick work of my clothes, having years of practice to change without someone walking in on me. “You can turn around now.” I tuck all the clothes onto the bed under the sheet. I don’t want him to see my soaked panties and shorts.

  “Holy shit, that’s fast as hell.”

  “Thanks. That’s what happens when you have to share a small space growing up.”

  He raises his brow as if wanting more information, but I’m not sure what to divulge. He and I come from two completely different worlds. “Tell me more about you, Violet.” I shrug, thinking of something to tell him. He inches closer, invading my space and all I can think about is how his lips will feel on mine. “A boyfriend, husband waiting to be notified?”

  “Shit. I need to contact my boss.” I reach for my phone inside my purse which I’m surprised I still have. I watch his expression to my shattered phone. “I’m going to get fired.”

  “You need a new phone.” He’s right my phone won’t even turn on now.

  “Does it have a SIM card?”

  “Yes.”

  He grabbed his own cell phone and tapped on the screen twice. With the phone to his ear, he asked me. “Carrier?”

  “AT&T”

  “Okay.” He puts his hand up as someone answers the other end. “Winston, the latest Samsung Android for Violet.”

  “No, and a pretty violet case please. Okay.”

  He ends the call and I grimace. “You don’t have to do all that you know.”

  “I broke your phone.”

  “Well, it was already cracked.”

  He takes it from me and shakes his head. “Yes but cracked still works for most. This baby is obviously ruined.”

  “Thank you. I can’t afford a new one for a while.” A nurse comes in and stops him from saying whatever he has on his mind. Now I’m curious about what he wanted to say.

  Chapter Four

  Micah

  Marry me and you can afford whatever your little heart desires. I almost tell Violet. Seriously, I’m losing it. I want to drop down on my knees and kiss her scraped kneecaps and work my way up to between her thighs, licking her pussy until she agrees to anything I say.

  The way she rolled her hips after staring at my chest nearly caused me to nut in my pants. The doc saw it too. I wanted to jam my fingers in his eyes, blinding the bastard for seeing my woman in heat. Her eyes were so full of lust that I want for me—only me.

  The doctor comes back in to start his examination. “Can you give us a few minutes for me to examine Ms. Flowers?” I look to her and she gives me a silent ‘please go’ look.

  “Fine. I’ll be just out here. If you try any funny business, I’ll drop your ass.”

  “Understood.” He puts his hands up in surrender.

  I step out and begin making the necessary calls, including one to the director at Initial. It takes ten minutes before the doc comes out of the room, but I’m still on the phone and I walk in talking to my mom. “Okay, mom. I’ll call you later. I promise. I love you too.”

  “Sorry. She can talk my ear off.” I smile and shrug.

  I see a look of sadness in her eyes. “It’s fine.”

  I’m going to find out what it means later, but for now I change the subject. Not everyone of us has a good relationship with our mothers. Clapping my hands together, I ask, “So what’s the diagnosis?”

  She twists her lips to the side. “Nothing yet. They’re taking me for a scan in a minute, but everything takes time.”

  I brush a strand of hair that’s fallen over her eye and tuck it behind her ear. “Good. How are you feeling?”

  I make her nervous. I may not know a lot about women, but in the boardroom, I know how easily I intimidate people. “A little stiff and sore, but surprisingly, I’m okay.”

  I run my eyes down her body, inventorying any visible injuries, stopping up at her bandaged knees. “It looks like they cleaned up your knees.”

  “Yes. I feel like I’m seven and I’ve fallen off my bike.” A blush steals across her face. Despite the sun kissed tan on her skin, the pinking of her cheeks is hard to miss.

  The need to touch her is too damn strong to simply ignore. I take her hand in mine, intertwining our fingers. The electricity runs through me, striking my soul and causing my heart to beat out of control. “I’m so sorry about the accident.”

  “You have nothing to be sorry about. You weren’t the fool who jumped into the street because you were running late.”

  We stare at each other without saying a word because I’m trying to control the urge to kiss her. A knock on the wall, grabs our attention. “Come in.”

  A man in scrubs comes in with a radiology badge on. “Excuse me, but I’m here to take Ms. Flowers down to imaging. She will be back shortly,” he says, telling me I’m not welcome. That’s fine because I need some time to figure out my plans for this week and to claim Violet as mine.

  “I’ll be right here waiting for you.”

  “Thank you.” I bring her hand to my lips and kiss it before they leave. She blushes and smiles up at me.

  A fucked-up thought plays through my mind as I think of ways to make her mine for the rest of our lives.

  As I order a host of flowers to be delivered to my suite, I look for somewhere for us to eat. My HR manager sends me an email with the information I requested. I call her back after reading it. “Hello, Tori. Thanks for getting it to me quickly. I’m not in the mood to deal with Jones’s bullshit accusations.”

  “No problem. Jones was a con-artist for sure. You’re lucky you got rid of her when you did. Jones isn’t her maiden name. It’s Sullivan as in Brandon Sullivan the tech genius. He’s her father.”

  “Are you shitting me?”

  “No. I had it pulled and sent to your private email this morning so she couldn’t access it, but I guess you haven’t checked it. When the agency brought her in, all her marks were legitimate, but something bothered me, so I asked our lawyer to dig into her background harder. His spies caught her with Sullivan and after digging into his background her name popped up. They didn’t cover all their tracks.” My lawyer is going to have a field day with that.

  “Thank you, Tori. You’re an angel.”

  She laughs. “I’ll remind you of that at Christmas time. Do you want me to put in an ad for a new assistant?”

  “No. Hold off for at least twenty-four hours. I don’t want a female candidate hired unless she’s sixty or happily married. I know you can’t put it in the ad, but you know damn well that I can pick the one that works for me. Don’t pull an application if they are younger than you.” Tori’s forty years old and happily married to my VP. His assistant is a man. She can deny she had nothing to do with that, but I still don’t buy that lie.

  “Is there other qualifications or requirements or the same one as last time.”

  “I’m going to be staying in Miami fo
r at least the rest of the week as a vacation, and I’m not sure what I’m going to need.”

  “Are you finally ceding some of your power to your VP?” He’s been on my ass about making money hand over fist and I do all the work. I have a delegation issue that I’m suddenly willing to work on.

  “I’m not sure. I just need some time off.” My life has been nothing but trying to stay on top that I’d forgotten how to relax. I’m hoping that Violet can show me how.

  I can hear her typing away in the background. Once she finishes something, she sighs, “Okay. I’ve drafted an email, cancelled Ms. Jones access to the building and sent out a memo. Security will clear out her desk and bring it down to the door.”

  She’s fast and gifted. I suppose years of experience makes it easy. She files everything digitally and some things hard copies for safety reasons. “That’s fantastic. I need to contact my lawyer and make him aware that we might have a problem.”

  “We have everything on her file regarding the shower incident at the hotel as well if you’re looking for more ammo. The hotel sent us a bill because the shower head was intentionally broken.”

  I’ve known women to try a lot of things to get my attention, but that one is excessive. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes. It wasn’t the hotel’s fault, so it’s been added to your billing.”

  “Fine. Take care of it and make sure it’s in the report.”

  “I will. Have fun.” The evil cheerful goodbye makes me smile. Nothing feels as good as fixing a mistake before it becomes too costly.

  “Thanks.” I end the call and check my emails. For ten minutes, I work on anything I can, so I have more time for Violet. Pacing the small closed off space, I get bored and nosy. Spying her clothes that she tried to hide, I bring them up to my nose like a sick fuck that I am. Fuck, my dick throbs against the zipper of my expertly tailored slacks, nearly busting through the seams.

  It’s fucking freezing in the hospital, but I can’t tell because my body is so heated with lust for my little Violet. I brush them up against my nose one more time before I feel the tag. I decide to send Tori another message.