He laughs, and I pull his hand away from my face but he’s quick, and in a split second he’s got hold of my wrist, gripping it tight. “The rules have changed, Lola. Okay? They’ve changed.”
“So, you’re, what? Going to keep me prisoner up here? Stop me from seeing my friends, having a life outside of you?”
“No one’s keeping anyone prisoner. I’m just trying to help you out.”
“I’m not seeing the benefits on my part.”
He lets go of my wrist and sweeps an arm across the terrace, turning a full three-sixty degrees as he does so. “Are you telling me you don’t want to wake up to this every day? Come home to it every night?”
“Not under the circumstances you’re stipulating, no. Evan, I…”
His arm circles my waist and he pulls me against him, so we touch this time, and the second his body crashes against mine I feel myself weaken, and I hate that I do that. I hate that I allow myself to do that, but he’s kissing me, and my hand’s around the back of his neck, pushing him down onto me, and we both know how this is going to end. But I can’t stay here, not like he wants me to. I can’t.
“You need space. Don’t you?” he murmurs, his fingers winding in my hair, his forehead resting against mine. “Away from the confusion Mike coming back has caused. Away from people who are too close to him; to what you both shared. You need space.”
I do. I need space, he’s right. Jesus, am I that easily sucked in? But I don’t know how long I can fight this, I don’t. I need to be free of Mike and everything we once had and, yeah. I’m not sure that can happen if I’ve got Kat and Eric on at me every spare second, talking me into giving Mike a second chance when I can’t do that. I don’t want to do that. Maybe under different circumstances; if the timing had been different it might have been an option, but now – now there’s Evan.
“I need space,” I whisper, and he smiles, and his thumb lightly strokes my cheek and I know he’s got me. He’s got me good.
“Then you’ll stay here, and you’ll have all the space you need. I’m just your very generous boss helping you out. Remember?”
“Evan…”
“I don’t share, Lola. And I’m not sharing you. I told you you belonged to me, and then I asked if you still wanted to work for me, and you said yes. You said yes.”
“I know.”
“Do you want to change your answer? You can walk away, I won’t stop you…”
“But you’ll fire me.”
He looks at me, and his thumb’s still stroking my cheek, his body still so close to mine. “If I can’t have you, like this, then I don’t know if I can be around you, Lola.”
“You’re backing me into a corner, Evan, and I’m scared…”
I shut up, I stop talking, I’ve said way too much now. Given him too much. I’ve left myself wide open and I shouldn’t have done that. Whatever this is – whatever it was it isn’t that anymore. I don’t know what it is. But, yeah. I’m scared.
He smiles, a warm smile. A genuine smile, and all that does is confuse me. “You don’t want to walk away, Lola. You don’t want to give me up or leave this alone. You don’t.”
He stares deep into my eyes and I feel another shiver wrack my body. And then he kisses me again, but I pull away. I need a minute, I can’t do this right now.
“Lola…”
I walk back inside and I pour myself another drink, knocking it back in one mouthful, closing my eyes as the whiskey settles in my stomach, filling me with a calming warmth.
“Do you think I’m finding this easy, Lola?”
I open my eyes and he’s standing there, all arrogance and attitude and I don’t know what to do. I don’t.
“Maybe walking away is for the best, Evan. Maybe I got in too deep. Maybe I’m out of my depth here.”
He moves a little closer, but keeps some distance between us. “He came back, and he confused you, that’s understandable. But if you really want him back…”
“I don’t. Evan, I don’t, but this… I agreed to everything you threw at me because I needed to forget Mike, and I still do, I need that more than ever now, but… I don’t know what this is anymore.”
“It’s what it’s always been, Lola. You fuck me to forget, I fuck you because I can. Because I want to.”
I laugh quietly, and I shake my head and step back from him. “You really are one arrogant asshole.”
“And you’re a whiter than white princess, hey, sweetheart, here’s the news – neither of us is perfect.”
“You know nothing about me, okay? Nothing.”
“I know enough.”
“Because you’ve been spying on me? Digging up my past? Finding out just what kind of woman I really am? This isn’t me, Evan. This is everything I’m not, everything I shouldn’t be…”
He’s pulled me into his arms before I can get another word out, and his mouth crashes down onto mine, his kiss hard and forceful and I fight it this time. I struggle and I try to break free but all that does is make him hold me tighter, kiss me harder, until I have no choice but to fall against him. He’s won. I want him to hold me, he makes me this way, because I let him. And that thought restarts the anger, and I resume the fight, finally managing to pull myself away from him.
“Forget him, Lola. You don’t want him to hurt you again…”
“Don’t do this, Evan. Please.”
“Stay here. For as long as you want, it’s yours. And I promise you, I’m not gonna turn up, unannounced, whenever I want. That isn’t what this is. I just need you to…” He pushes a hand through his hair and briefly drops his gaze. “I just need you, to be here, Lola.”
“And if I say no? If I put the brakes on this whole, fucked up situation, you’re really going to fire me?”
He raises his head and his eyes meet mine, and I know he isn’t lying. He isn’t. “No. I’m not gonna fire you. You’re good at your job, you’re an asset to the firm, and I need you, at work. But I want you, like this. And I know you want me, too.”
“Again, so arrogant.”
I don’t move away as he comes toward me, I stay rooted to the spot. “Okay. Go back to Mike. Resume that relationship, give it another go, I won’t stop you. I can’t stop you, if that’s what you want. But I don’t share, Lola. I won’t share, not with him, not with anybody. We do this, we carry on, with this, and you’re mine, exclusively. You work for me, you sleep with me – you belong to me, and there are no negotiations. You belong, to me.”
I lean back against the wall, and I take a sharp, deep breath but I keep my eyes fixed on his. “Then come take what’s yours, Mr. King.”
One corner of his mouth twists up into a smirk, and I take another deep breath as he walks toward me; I exhale slowly as he reaches out to cup my cheek and when he kisses me I feel all kinds of crazy. I’m still confused and hurt over Mike’s sudden reappearance in my life but I know – I know I can’t go back there. It’s too late. Evan King got to me. I met him. I fucked him. And from that second onwards he owned me, I know that now.
He owned me.
Nobody else stood a chance…
Fifteen
Evan
I leave her sleeping and I get dressed, pour myself a coffee and order some breakfast, just in case she’s hungry when she wakes up. And she’ll be awake soon, she likes to be at her desk by eight, half an hour after me. Just over a week of working together and we already have our routine.
I slip on my jacket and call Frank, my driver. He can take me to the office then come back for Lola. I need to be there just a little bit earlier today, to make sure everything’s ready for the meeting with Jackson Gray. There’s a lot Dana wants to go over before he arrives this afternoon, and I like to be prepared.
“Sloping off without saying goodbye? Is this how it’s going to be now, huh?”
I feel her arms wrap around me from behind and I take her hand and bring it to my mouth, kissing it lightly. “Dana wants an early meeting.”
“Jackson Gray?”
I turn around and pull her naked body against me, sliding my hands over the curve of her waist, kissing her slightly open mouth. “I’ll see you at work, beautiful.”
She smiles, and she laughs a low, husky laugh and I know I’m not going anywhere yet. So when she reaches down and unzips me; when she pushes me down onto the couch, straddles me, lowers herself down onto my now completely helpless cock, I don’t fight it. I can’t, she’s got me in a vice-like grip, her muscles grasping me tight, keeping me inside her.
“I thought you might’ve wanted a lie in,” I murmur, my fingers digging into her thighs as she gyrates against me. And she leans over and kisses me, her tongue lightly tracing the roof of my mouth and I pull her down onto me harder. I need to feel her, deep inside, now she’s forced me to fuck her. Jesus, I’m one lucky son-of-a-bitch!
“There’s plenty of time to sleep,” she whispers, and her mouth twists up into a dirty smile that just makes me want to hold her and keep her right where she is.
“You know we’re gonna be very, very busy today so, you better have your mind on the job, Ms. Burrows.”
“When I’m at my desk my mind will be right where it needs to be, Mr. King.” She kisses me again, and I dig my fingers deeper into her flesh as her teeth gently nip my lower lip. “But we’re not at the office right now. Are we?” She leans back and arches her body and I feel myself slide even deeper into her. And when she reaches down and touches herself; brings herself to an all-consuming climax that rocks both our bodies, causing me to come hard and fast, so fast I actually feel dizzy, I know I can’t let her go. Last night she agreed to be mine, in a way so wrong and messed up but it’s all I can give her. And she told me it’s all she wants, too; she doesn’t want to leave herself open to heartache, she doesn’t want to be hurt again. This is all I can give her. This is all she wants. We’re good. It’s settled.
She leans forward again, takes my face in her hands and she kisses me slowly, and I’m still inside her. She’s warm and wet and I don’t really want to be anywhere else, but I need to go. So I take hold of her hips and lift her up, reluctantly pulling out of her, and she gets the message. We’re done now.
She climbs off me but makes no attempt to cover her nakedness, and I’m really not going to complain about that. I could look at her all day, naked and beautiful but I’ve really got to stop thinking about her in that way now. I need to get down to my car, grab a coffee on the way into the office, and get my mind on today’s meeting.
I watch as she slips the shirt I was wearing last night over that shit-hot body of hers, picks up the mug of coffee I’d poured for myself and walks out onto the terrace, throwing me a small smile over her shoulder. I keep my expression stoic, but she knows the score now. She knows the rules. And it would seem that, now, she’s willing to play by them.
Lola
He falls into step beside me, almost as if he’d been waiting for me to come out of the elevator. Which may well be true, I don’t know.
“Do you need something, Mike?”
“Where were you last night?”
“I was with Evan, bagging a new client, you knew that.”
“You didn’t come home.”
I hold up my left hand as I walk. “There’s nothing on any of those fingers now, Mike. Which means how long I stay out has absolutely nothing to do with you.”
“Kat said you were staying over at the hotel.”
“So, if you know where I was what’s the point of this conversation?”
“Were you with him?”
“I just said I was.”
“I don’t mean like that. I mean, did he stay over at the hotel, too?”
I stop walking and turn to face him. “What are you doing, Mike?”
“Evan King has a reputation, Lola.”
“Yeah, people keep telling me that like I’m completely oblivious to it.”
“Did he hit on you? Last night?”
“How old are you?”
“Did he?”
“Y’know, just because we slept together it doesn’t suddenly give you the right to keep tabs on me.”
“Did you stay with him, Lola?”
“We were working, Mike. And Evan just thought it would be nice for me, as a thank you for my help, to spend the night at the hotel. On him. Call it a little bonus from my boss. And I shouldn’t have to explain myself to you.”
I start walking again but he’s going nowhere. “He’s paying for you to spend nights at hotels now?”
“Can you keep your voice down, please?”
“Why? You got something to hide?”
I stop walking again, and when I look at him this time my expression’s a little colder. “What is this, Mike?”
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Lola.”
“And I can handle Evan King.”
“What happens when he starts asking you to do shit that’s above and beyond your everyday duties, huh?”
“I don’t have time for this crap.”
I start to walk away again, but he grabs my wrist and stops me, and I swing around and glare at him. I really don’t need this. I don’t. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I love you, Lola.”
“And I wish you’d been more certain of that three months ago. I’m not doing this here, I should be at my desk…”
“I love you, and I’m sorry, okay? For what I did…”
“And I just can’t get past it. I can’t, Mike, so I’m sorry too.”
“Do you still love me, Lola? Is there any part of you that still feels something for me?”
“It’s too late, okay? It’s too late.”
“So you’re just giving up?”
“No, Mike, I think you’ll find you were the one who gave up. On us.”
He lets go of my wrist and I walk away, and he doesn’t follow this time. But by the time I get to my desk I’m more than a little flustered. I could’ve done without that. And I can’t let Evan see that a conversation with Mike has affected me in any way, so I try to breathe in deep and let it go. I try to forget how easily those lies tripped off my tongue there.
“You okay?”
I turn around and he’s there in his office doorway, hands in his pockets, eyes staring right into me. “I’m fine.”
“Good. Dana says thank you, by the way. I told her what an asset you were last night, and she’s impressed.”
“I’m glad I could be of help.”
“You were more than that.”
His eyes stay fixed on mine for a couple more beats before he breaks the stare and steps out front of my cubicle.
“I’ll get Frank to come pick you up tonight, from Kat’s. You’ll need to pack some things, I take it? Before you move into the loft?”
I nod as I switch on my computer and sift through the pile of mail on my desk.
“Have you told Kat? That you’re moving out?”
“I haven’t had time. Besides, I thought I’d save that snippet of information for later. When I’ve got a bit more time to deal with her reaction.”
“Are you having second thoughts?”
“I don’t think this is the time or the place to talk about this, do you?”
“No one else needs to know where you’re staying, Lola. It’s no one else’s business.”
“No. It isn’t. But people talk, Evan. Gossip gets out.”
“And I can control gossip. When it concerns things people don’t need to know.”
I look up, and his eyes fix on mine for a couple of loaded beats before I drop my gaze and go back to sifting through the mail.
“You should be aware, however, that your relationship – your past relationship – with Mike Carrington is now common knowledge within Cavendish King.”
My head shoots back up and I look at him again. “It is?” I’m a touch surprised by that, because I certainly didn’t make it common knowledge. I haven’t said a thing, and I know Jess wouldn’t have said anything either.
“I think he took it upon
himself to make sure people knew, Lola. Maybe it’s just another attempt of his to try and win you round.”
“He shouldn’t have done that.”
“People were gonna find out eventually. Nothing stays secret around here for long.”
I narrow my eyes and I frown slightly, but he just smiles that smile.
“Unless I’m in charge of that secret. I’ll be in conference room three if anyone needs me.”
I watch him walk away before I take his mail into his office and lay it down on his desk.
“Lola? Can I have a word?”
I turn around to see Dana Cavendish standing in the doorway. “Yeah. Yeah, of course.”
She walks into Evan’s office and closes the door behind her. “I hear you and Mike Carrington have history.”
“It appears to be today’s news but, yes. We have history.”
She looks at me, her expression telling me to expand on that.
“We were engaged. He stood me up on our wedding day.”
She raises a surprised eyebrow. “Does Evan know?”
“Yes. He does.”
“Did he know before now?”
“He’s known for a few days.”
“And he didn’t tell me…”
“I’m sorry, Dana, I didn’t know if…”
“It’s not your fault, Lola. Evan does what Evan wants and he doesn’t always include me in his thought process.”
“Is it going to be a problem? Me and Mike working so closely together?”
“Is it going to be a problem for you?”
“No. It isn’t.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear that. I’d hate to lose either of you.” She walks a little further into the room, perching herself down on the arm of Evan’s couch. “I don’t frown upon personal relationships between staff, Lola, God help me I’ve been there. Just – don’t let them get in the way. I’ve been there, too.” She stands up and makes to go, and I’m slightly confused by her comments. It’s the first time I’ve seen the steely Dana Cavendish’s mask slip a little. And then she turns around and that mask is back in place as she throws me a small smile. But it’s reached her eyes, so it’s genuine. “Oh, and did Evan tell you how grateful I am for your help in securing Jackson Gray last night?”
Lawfully His (A Dirty Business Novel Book 1) Page 13
