Heated: A Billionaire Enemies to Lovers Romance (Pathways Book 2)

by Krista Carleson

  Our lips molded perfectly, moving against each other in sync, and all worries or doubts didn’t matter as the heat spread through our bodies and fuelled our passion. He’d been trembling, but now that we were kissing, I could feel him unwinding, his hands tracing my back tenderly.

  “Thank you for this,” he murmured into my lips, holding my gaze. Our fingers intertwined.

  I giggled. “Does it help?”

  “Definitely. Your kisses are the best cure.”

  He kissed me again, lacing his fingers through my hair. My pussy responded immediately to the slow strokes of his tongue, reminding me that I wasn’t as nearly as satiated, even after the “wild” night with him.

  “I’ll call you later,” he said when we separated.

  “Call me later as in—really call you later, or call me later as in—you’re nice and all, but we won’t see each other again?”

  He burst into a laugh, shaking his head at me.

  “Sorry. That probably sounded pushy. But it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve heard those words and never seen the guy again.” I raised my hands in the air, grinning. “Not that I’m saying you would do that or anything.”

  He snorted, running his hand across my cheek. “We men are something else, aren’t we?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “To your defense, women aren’t any better when it comes to that. So...”

  “I like spending time with you, Claire. So that’s definitely a ‘really call you later’ call you later.” His thumb grazed my lip, and I bit into it. His pupils dilated instantly, and a growl left his lips. “Careful, Claire. I’m afraid I don’t have time to act upon what I feel right now, but that doesn’t mean I won’t rip your clothes apart and fuck you hard tonight.”

  His crude words set my mound on fire, and a blush came to my cheeks. “And what if I wait for you naked? You won’t have anything to rip apart then?”

  “Fuck, Claire.” He bit into my lip before he pulled it into his mouth and tugged at it. “I’ll rip your pussy apart anyway. Now go because I can do something really irresponsible any minute.”

  Completely flushed, I winked at him and got out of the car, needing a cold shower fast.

  Alison had come to my office as soon as my last appointment had finished. We were chewing the fat, but my thoughts kept drifting to Jared and his problem at work. Was he okay?

  “Okay, spit it out,” Alison said, leaning in her chair with her arms connected behind her head. “I see there is something bothering you.”

  I was fiddling with my thumbs. “I need your advice. As I told you, last night blew my mind.”

  Her grin could easily be used for a toothpaste commercial. It was that white and big. “Jared, the sex god?”

  I chuckled. “The absolute sex god. And believe me when I say that he really knows what he’s doing.”

  “I bet he does. Ugh, I wish I could find a sex god, too. Some of the guys I’ve hooked up with were a total disaster.”

  I tilted my head to one side. “Define disaster.”

  Her lips curled inward. “Like, they kept losing their erection in the middle of sex.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah. Ouch. Imagine what a blow to my ego that was. Then there are those who finish in a record time as if they’re chasing a Guinness Record for the quickest fuck.”

  “Double ouch.”

  “So Jared is like an extinct species.”

  We erupted into fits of laughter at the same time. “More like endangered. There are a few of them, but they are pretty rare...”

  “Yeah. Totally.” She ran her hand through her hair, switching her snarl for a smile. “Anyway, we’ve gone off topic. Why do you need my advice?”

  “Right. So, last night was perfect. And this morning too. But then Jared received a phone call from his company, and apparently, something serious has happened. He became furious and he couldn’t ease up. I’ve sent him a text, but he didn’t respond, so I’m worried he’s in big trouble.”

  She slid her index finger across her upper lip, musing about something as she studied me. “You really like him, do you?”

  I broke into a warm smile. I was pretty sure my eyes were twinkling. “Yes. A lot. Which is bordering on hilarious or weird—however you wanna call it—since we were like cats and dogs the first time we saw each other, but now I really like him. And I want to help him. So what do you think I can do?”

  “Hmm, well, maybe you can surprise him at his work and bring him some lunch. That is definitely something I’d do for someone I was head over heels for.”

  Suddenly, the fog in my mind had cleared. I jumped up to my feet. “Now, that’s a great idea!” I went around my desk and kissed her cheek. “You’re a genius, sweetie!”

  “I know I am. And you know what’s even better? You can have sex in his office.” She sent me a wink. “Mmm, now that’s a hot fantasy. He can tie you up with his tie to his leather chair, or maybe he can blindfold you and then... Ah. I envy you.”

  “Kinky, are we?”

  “Oh, hush! You’re the same.”

  “Absolutely. Okay. I can do that. I just have to google his name to find the name and address of his company.”

  I typed his name in Google’s search bar, suddenly feeling like a schoolgirl stalking her crush. Butterflies settled in my stomach at what I might find, but then everything froze in me when I read the top ad that had popped out right beneath the search bar.

  Real Estate Silver.

  “Ali?”

  “Hm?”

  “Was the name of the developer who wants to tear down our building Real Estate Silver?” I asked, wanting to confirm, dread spreading through me.

  “Yep. Why?”

  I clicked on the website, my hands going cold. There it was. At the top of the page.

  Jared Holmes—the CEO.

  What kind of a sick joke was this?

  7

  There were only two times in my life when I felt betrayed, terrified, and livid at the same time. The first time was when I was twelve and my parents decided to get a divorce. All of a sudden, my shiny world was covered with darkness, and I couldn’t comprehend how two people I loved the most—my role models—could do that to me, especially when I heard that my mother had cheated on my father for a long time.

  The second time was when I was fifteen, and my first boyfriend—my first love—cheated on me with my best friend. Are you seeing a pattern here? I’d already had serious trust issues, but my first boyfriend was the one who destroyed all the chances of me trusting someone ever again.

  These two instances taught me to tread through life carefully and pay extra attention to who I trusted.

  This was the third time, and I wanted to slap myself for being that stupid. I’d actually let him get under my skin. I’d let him affect me so much that I was now beside myself with anger. How could I have relaxed even for a moment? He was clearly a douchebag—from the first moment we laid eyes on each other—yet... Yet I’d trusted him.

  This was on me. This was definitely on me. If I’d been smarter, I wouldn’t be involved with that lying piece of... Yeah.

  If I’d been smarter, I wouldn’t be on my way to his company to confront him about this now, terribly disturbed because he had been hiding something like this from me. I wouldn’t feel the need to punch him, which was everything I was against since violence and I were like oil and water.

  Was that all part of his plan? Did he want to use me as a plaything until he got bored of me and I was left without my job?

  For Christ’s sake, Marissa even talked to him and tried to make him change his mind, but the bastard didn’t want to even consider it. If she’d only mentioned the name... If only. Then I wouldn’t be this emotional mess that couldn’t stop thinking about last night and those soft eyes that had gazed at me as if they truly cared.

  “Happy thoughts, Claire,” I muttered to myself when I stomped into the lobby of Real Estate Silver. “Think happy thoughts and don’t do something that will send
you straight to jail and make you the subject of tomorrow’s front page headline.”

  The receptionist was a sweet older lady, who was polite enough to give me the directions to his office. His secretary, however, wasn’t nearly as well-mannered as the receptionist, refusing to let me enter Jared’s office under the pretext that he was “extremely busy”.

  “Look, Miss Whoever-You-Are, I don’t care if he’s busy or not. I need to talk to that lying bastard.” Wow. Since when was I this explosive? Jared’s anger issues must have rubbed off on me.

  I marched over to his door and entered his office before his secretary aka the bodyguard could stop me.

  “Hey, you can’t—” she started complaining, hoping to stop me, but I slammed the door in her face and locked it before I turned to face Jared.

  He stood up from his chair, frowning in confusion. “Claire? What are you doing here? What’s wrong?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and approached his desk, reminding myself to keep my anger in check. As much as possible, at least.

  “So now you’re playing dumb? You worked behind my back, Jared. You betrayed me.”

  His frowned deepened, his eyes flashing with confusion and anger. “What do you mean? I didn’t betray you—”

  “Still playing dumb? I know you’re the CEO of the company that wants to demolish my clinic.” This robbed his features of all emotions, his shoulders turning rigid. “You slept with me, Jared! You’ve acted like you really liked me, but all that time you were hiding the truth from me! Did you do that on purpose? Did you seduce me as a part of some twisted plan?”

  “What? No. That’s—”

  “You’re lying.” I slammed my hands on his desk, leaning toward him. “How can I believe you when you betrayed me? I can’t believe anything you say now.”

  “No. Please, Claire, let me—”

  “No. I’m done with you. I actually trusted you.”

  “Please, that’s not how it is. I—”

  “Sure. That’s what they all say. ‘That’s not how it is’, but then they—”

  “Fuck!” he roared and hit his fists against his desk, getting into my face. “Stop interrupting me! Will you fucking let me explain?!”

  Both of us were breathing heavily, our warm breaths mixing with each other in between our faces. Even now, when I was so furious with him, all I wanted was to erase the few inches of distance between our lips and kiss him. How stupid was I?

  I stepped back from his desk, crossing my arms. “Fine. Explain. Not that it will make any difference.”

  He ran his hand through his hair and went over to the floor-to-ceiling windows behind his desk. His face became taut as he scanned the glass buildings surrounding his company in the distance.

  “Yes. I hid the truth from you, but you have no idea how much I regret it. I regret hiding it from you. The fact that my company is behind the plan to demolish Pathways is bringing me a lot of conflict and tension, and I tried—I’m trying—my hardest to convince the board to give up on Pathways’ building and focus on some properties nearby. That area is a real gold mine for real estate developers, but Pathways’ building has the top spot. So they don’t want to let go of it just like that. They were even ready to offer a really big amount of money to the owner just so they could secure the purchase.”

  “I don’t care why they are so stuck on that building or how you felt about it. This doesn’t change a single thing. If you really regretted it, you would have told me from the start.”

  He came to me, his strides long and hurried, and reached out for me, but I backed away, refusing to let him touch me. He clenched his fist, tightening his jaw. “I’m sorry, Claire. I know it doesn’t mean anything to you, but I’m so sorry. Try to put yourself in my shoes. I was torn between my family and duty and you and doing what is right. I wanted to tell you, but I just never got a good enough opportunity.”

  A snort that left my lips was a perfect prelude to my next words. “Yeah, right. Like that makes any sense.”

  “Believe it or not, that’s how it was. I couldn’t even imagine I’d feel the way I feel with you. It happened too quickly and too suddenly, but now all I want is to sort things out with you and be with you.”

  I ignored the flip of my stomach when he said he wanted to be with me. It didn’t matter.

  “I can’t believe what I’m hearing right now. Oh, so if you hadn’t liked me, you wouldn’t have cared that you were demolishing my clinic behind my back?”

  “No, that’s not what I wanted to say.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look. I’m really sorry. I planned to tell you this eventually. I did. The phone call I received this morning was about Pathways. They were pressuring me to speed up the process, which was why I was hot under the collar in the car. This whole day I was trying to come up with the best way to tell you the truth because I don’t want to lie or hide things from you.”

  He crossed the last step that had separated us and brushed his knuckles against my cheek. I swallowed hard, disturbed that my body wanted nothing more than to lean into his touch. “It’s true. Please, Claire, believe me. I was a jerk for not telling you this right away, but I regret it so much. I just want to be with you with no obstacles or secrets separating us. Is that possible?”

  I wasn’t going to cry, despite feeling like I wanted to cry buckets.

  “Of course, not,” I snapped, hoping my words sounded as sharply as I’d wanted them to be. “Whatever you say now doesn’t change the fact that you were screwing me while knowing the truth. You knew all along you would be the one who would destroy everything I and my friends have worked hard for. And it doesn’t change the fact that you are going to destroy everything, and there is no way I could get over that. No half-assed apology can compensate for something like that.”

  By the end of my rant, I was already as far away from him as possible, flush against the door that would lead me out of his life for good. My breathing was heavy and uneven, my eyes burning with unshed tears I refused to let out.

  “I don’t want to see you ever again, Jared. Whatever we had ends here.”

  He moved toward me. “Claire, don’t go. Just wait—”

  I spun on my heel before he could reach me and finish that sentence, unlocking the door. I was out of his office in no time, rushing across the carpeted hallway as his shouted pleas followed me.

  “Give me a second chance!” he yelled, despite having all the eyes of his colleagues on us. This was just great. There was nothing better than making a spectacle in front of all these people.

  I rushed down the stairs because waiting for the elevator would enable him to catch me, quickly losing a battle with my tears, devastated.

  I didn’t care about the sad look in his eyes before I left. I didn’t care about his side of the story. And I certainly didn’t care about giving him a second chance. I’d already given him a chance after that disaster of our first meeting one month ago, and this was what I got. His horrible behavior during our session was a red flag already, but I’d had to go against my better judgment and allow him to get into my good graces.

  My phone rang just as I darted out of the building, and my throat constricted at seeing his name on my screen, the first tears spilling out.

  No. I turned off my phone, refusing to waste even a second more of my time on him.

  I was done with that lying rat. No more.

  8

  I wasn’t one of those people who were crazy about sweets and chocolate. It wasn’t like I had the need to drown myself in that sugary heaven and eat like there was no tomorrow. And I certainly didn’t need chocolate to pull me out of the depths of stress and sorrow.

  But these last few days all I’d been doing was trading half-eaten Hershey's bars for new ones—as if I was searching for the Holy Grail among chocolate bars. Not even Alison and Marissa could pull me out of my depression. We’d had a chick flick marathon yesterday, stuffing ourselves with copious quantities of junk food, and while I loved spending time with
them, this whole treacherous-Jared situation was killing the inner optimist in me.

  I was like a deflated balloon, void of that cheerfulness that carried me through life, and no amount of self-help advice could bring a genuine smile to my face that just wouldn’t die the next second.

  I’d been rejecting Jared’s calls and avoiding him when he’d suddenly shown up at Pathways. I barely managed to steer clear of him that afternoon, hoping he would just give up and never come back.

  He hadn’t come back, but he continued calling, and I hated how with each new call, my heart crumbled more, begging my mind to reconsider and at least let me answer his call.

  I told my best friends I was over Jared, claiming I’d be back in the dating scene in no time, but the truth was, of course, miles and miles away from that. I was feeling down—mildly putting it—relying on my work to help me drown out my negative thoughts.

  The sessions with my clients were the only thing that helped me take my mind off Jared, which was why I was working a lot these days. This led to over-exhaustion and accumulated stress that prevented me from sleeping well, which was why I was like a walking zombie today in the office.

  “Okay, honey. That’s enough,” Marissa told me earlier. “You aren’t helping anyone this way. I know you need to lose yourself in work because of that asshole Jared, but this is bad for your health. Go home and get some rest.”

  I’d started to argue, telling her I was perfectly fine, but then Alison sided with Marissa, and there was no way I could stay at work with the two of them pressuring me to go home.

  So, I’d finally threw in the towel and headed home, planning to crash earlier, but my plan failed when I reached the entrance of my building and I spotted Jared standing in front of it. What the hell?

  My eyes widening, I swiveled in the hopes of escaping him before he noticed me, but it was too damn late. He was quick, grabbing my arm and keeping me in place no matter how hard I yanked against him.