by Anna Antonia
Dizzyingly intense. We’d make love for hours, stopping only to catch our breath before beginning again. Gabriel could take me on his desk, floor, and wall and it still wouldn’t be enough for me.
Lust sank deep. I wanted to tangle my fingers in the hair curling sweetly at his nape. I wanted to rise up on tip-toe and feather my lips across his, teasing and tempting him to take what I feared to give.
Gabriel whispered my name, yanking me away from my seductive, self-destructive side. Flushed with suppressed passion, I shook my head. Once again I could barely remember what he had asked. “I don’t know.”
“Here’s a scenario—they’ll fire you.”
“Why would you even want that?” Gabriel’s unrepentant grin sent a shiver through me.
“So you’ll be free to work for me.”
“Well, they wouldn’t fire me and even if they did, I still wouldn’t work for you.”
Gabriel stepped back and crossed his arms. He looked at me so long that I had to fight the urge to fidget. “Challenge it is.”
I looked around and noticed Gabriel’s assistant. I was embarrassed to realize I’d forgotten all about him in the last minute. “Is your boss always like this?” I asked him in exasperation, expecting to receive a discreet eye-roll.
Instead, the older man removed his attention from the ceiling, looked me straight in the eye, and emphatically answered “Never.”
Oh. Awkward didn’t even cover it.
Gabriel called over his shoulder “Rick, go on without me. I’ll be up after seeing Ms. Adams to her floor.”
“Sure thing, Gabriel.”
“I don’t need you to see me—”
“Hush, Emma.” He erased the distance between us until his shoes touched mine. Keeping his muscular body firmly in the way between me and the still-open door, he stated, “We’re in negotiations.”
“No, we’re not.”
“Rick?”
Rick paused just inside the elevator. “Yes?”
“I still have my plus one for tonight, correct?”
“Of course.”
“It’s just been filled.”
“I see. I’ll call ahead and have her put on the list.”
“Have who put on the list?” I asked Gabriel, already knowing the answer but unable to believe the audacity.
“Why you, silly.”
“You’ve got to be joking!” Things were moving too quickly. I couldn’t keep my bearings straight.
Gabriel shook his head gravely. “I never joke when it comes to you, Emma.”
My gaze once again darted over his broad shoulder to catch Rick’s attention. Unfortunately, he’d already exited the elevator, holding his hand up when a couple tried to get on. “I’m sorry but this one isn’t going down.”
“We’re going up.”
“Ah, so am I. We’ll just catch a ride on this one over here.”
The doors closed, leaving me alone with Gabriel. He turned away from me and inserted a key into the panel. The elevator remained on my floor. Gabriel looked up at the ceiling and made a motion across his neck with his hand. He then sauntered back to my spot in the corner and smiled.
“Now where were we?”
“Who were you signaling?”
“Security.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want Security gawking at us.” The expression on my face made him laugh long and hard. “Don’t worry, Emma. I’m not going to molest you in the elevator. Yet.”
Oh my God!
I was left tongue-tied, much like I was in school when Gabriel would say something outrageous. “Why did you have your assistant leave?” I managed to ask in a terse whisper.
“Because I wanted to talk to you in private,” he mimicked.
Now he wanted to talk to me in private? “About?”
“About you.” Gabriel studied my mouth, fixating on it like he had the night of our first kiss. “Only about you.”
I blinked quickly, feeling overwhelmed by his presence and my delicious memories. “Gabriel?”
“Yes, Emma?”
God, how I always loved the way he said my name! Warmth drizzled over me. “Where are you going with this?”
“As far as I can go. And then further than that.”
I have to admit my heart skipped more than a few beats. Still, I had to ask. “Why? You didn’t even know I was here until a few minutes ago.”
“Yes, a terrible shame that. You should’ve come up to see me on your first day instead of hiding.”
I wanted to squawk that I hadn’t been hiding but we’d both know it for a lie.
“I would never have done that, Gabriel.”
“I know.” He reached out and played with ends of my hair.
“Do you do this with every girl from your past you come across?”
“No.”
“Then why me?”
“I’ve spent enough time living with regret over you, Emma. I don’t fancy spending any more time with it.” Bringing a heavy lock up to his nose, Gabriel inhaled deeply. “Your hair smells wonderful.”
I didn’t know what to say. Ten minutes ago all I could think of was the data import scheduled for three. Now Gabriel stood before me and neatly decimated my understanding of the world and apparently also liked my shampoo.
“Gabriel…I…what the hell!”
“Well, that’s a promising start,” he teased. Gabriel flicked his chin with my hair before releasing it. “Now onto the negotiations.”
“You’re serious?”
“Absolutely.” He leaned against the wall across from me and put his hands in his pockets. His casual position was at complete odds with the steel running through his words. “I’m going to see you everyday. You can either work for me to facilitate that or you can eat at least once a day with me. Your choice.”
“Everyday?” I had no intention of leaving my job to satisfy his whims, nor did I eat lunch out everyday, so why was I even indulging him?
Because you like it. Because you want him to chase you again. Because you’ve always missed him since saying goodbye.
“Unless I have an appointment. In that case, you’ll join me for dinner.”
“And if I have plans?”
“Work or personal?”
“Either.”
“Work is unavoidable until you’re under my employ. Personal will have to be cancelled unless there is a very good reason not to. Any other questions?”
His bossiness ruffled my feathers, probably as intended. “That’s pretty damned arrogant of you, Gabriel.”
“We already established that personal trait, Emma.”
“Yes, but you still take it as a compliment when it’s not.”
He preened, polishing his nails on his lapel. “So what’s your answer?”
I sighed. “Okay, one lunch and maybe one dinner.”
Gabriel shook his head. “Unacceptable. I want all your lunches and dinners.”
My hands found their way to my hips. Damnable pride reared up to cause me more problems. “My significant other would have a problem with that, Gabriel.” I didn’t know why I said it, especially considering I’d never really had a significant other, but now it was too late to backtrack.
Damnit, damnit, damnit!
“I’m sure he would…if he existed.”
“Excuse me?” Heat crept up my neck. Was I just that bad of a liar or did Gabriel think it was impossible for me to find a boyfriend? Either option didn’t feel all that great.
“You heard me. You. Don’t. Have. One.” He smirked. Smirked! “I checked your ringer finger, Emma. Beautifully bare. As far as anything less serious than a husband, if you did happen to have a special guy, it would’ve been one of the first things you said to me. And if by chance you actually do have one, I doubt you’ll keep him for long now that you’ve reconnected with me.”
The nerve of this man! I bristled because it was true. Most of it. A lot of it. Enough of it. Defeated, I tipped my chin up and attempted to cobble together
a veneer of dignity. “Fine, there is no significant other.”
“Yes, I know.”
“Could you please not rub it in, Gabriel?”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. Now, an answer please.”
I re-crossed my arms. “For how long?”
Gabriel inhaled deeply, looking over my head as if he were seriously considering the question. The tiny grin playing about the corners of his mouth let me know he already had an answer long before I asked the question.
“How about for a month?”
“A month.”
“Too short? Very well—two months.”
“I didn’t say it was—”
“Too late. Two months of lunch and/or dinner.” When I remained silent, Gabriel cajoled, “Come on, Emma. Say yes. You know you want to.”
“That’s hardly going to make me say it, Gabriel.”
“Ah, I forgot. Your pride is so damned prickly. Let go about it another way then.”
I lowered my brows and glared at him. Gabriel only laughed.
“It’s just two months, right? If it makes a difference, see it as a friendly reconciliation of two friends.”
“We weren’t friends,” I pointed out softly, unable to stop myself. “How could we be? You were you and I was me.”
“Really?” Gabriel shrugged and admitted, “I always thought of you as the only real friend I made back then.”
It felt as if the floor was crumbling beneath my feet. I never even considered he thought of me as anything other than the one irritating girl that turned him down. The conversation had suddenly taken a sharp turn into territory I wasn’t ready to visit.
Gabriel continued as if I hadn’t inadvertently insulted him. “Scratch friendly reconciliation. Think of it as two acquaintances attempting to be friends. Or maybe—”
“Stop. Okay.”
“Okay to my terms?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel straightened. “Okay it is.”
Why was I giving in so quickly? Because I wanted to. Because I always wanted to give in and now I finally could. I wasn’t a young girl on the brink of forging her own path away from near-poverty. I was my own woman and the woman I was wanted this. At least for a little while. I never realized how much I would come to miss his presence when I turned him away seven years before. This was my way of making up for lost time.
“Now onto the next point, Emma…”
I held my hands up. “No. You’ve won the food issue. Now, I really have to get back to work. I’m five minutes late as it is.”
He sighed, pouted, and then shrugged. “It’s postponed then.”
“Not postponed. Done.”
“Not a chance!” Gabriel reinserted his key into the panel. He pressed a button on the doors promptly slid open. “You’re my next campaign, Emma. I won’t give up until you say ‘yes’.”
“Yes to what?”
“To everything. Now, shall we go?” Gabriel held out his arm and waited.
It was then I realized once and for all that nothing had really changed. My heart still yearned for the one thing she could never really have. Loving him was like trying to love the sun—I was destined to burn.
I reached out and linked my arm with his. I winced as if scalded.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
Gabriel’s smile simultaneously soothed my wound while making it ache.
CHAPTER THREE
“Emma, how much longer are you going to make me wait? You’re taking forever and everyone’s already gone. Emma? Emma?”
I stared at the computer screen, intent on scanning the spreadsheet and ignoring the lounging man who was taking up almost all the space in my miniscule cubical.
Several moments passed in expectant silence.
“Emma?”
I felt my chair rock forward. He kicked the base of it with his foot! I sat up straight and drew forth all the patience in my soul. “What is it, Gabriel?” I was very proud of how calm I sounded when all I wanted to do was smack his leg. Hard.
“How much longer? It’s already six.”
I huffed and spun around in my chair. You would never guess this man was a mostly self-made billionaire by the amount of whining I’d had to listen to for the past ten minutes.
“I shouldn’t have let you walk me to my desk. In fact, I shouldn’t have let you walk me inside period.”
“Why not?”
“Then you wouldn’t be here right now and I’d be able to work in peace.”
“That’s not a nice thing to say,” he pointed out, wounded frown inexplicably tugging at my conscience. Before I could mutter an apology, a wicked grin made him out to be a naughty boy indeed. “Besides, you didn’t ‘let’ me do anything. I was coming in here regardless. I own the building, remember? I can go wherever I please.”
“Yes, but I still regret it nonetheless.”
Earlier, I gathered several curious stares from the females populating Med-Tech when we both walked in from lunch. A few recognized Gabriel and immediately looked between us in speculation. He took it all in stride, barely acknowledging the growing attention and instead focused on me. It was high school all over again.
When we reached my cubicle, he took one look at it and asked, “This is where you work?”
“Yes.” I was pretty proud of my space. I was the first person in my family to have an office job. My mom had crowed in delight when I mailed her the pictures of my new space. (She didn’t believe in digital photography, preferring I send her hard copies of any important images.) I also purposely neglected to tell her I was in the building of my prom companion.
Gabriel continued to study the space with a frown. “Look how ridiculously tiny it is! You can barely move. Prisoners have more room than this.”
“Gabriel! Ssh!” I lunged forward and covered his mouth with my hand. His warm mouth kissed my palm. I felt the imprint burn right through. I snatched it back, fully aware of the tingle spreading across my body. Lowering my voice, I whispered, “I work here and I happen to like it very much.”
His smirk promised it wouldn’t be for long. Not wanting to chance him bringing up the ridiculous job offer, I said, “Besides, I’m sure the cubicles on your floor are the same size.”
“No, they’re not. They’re at least twice as big.”
“Really? Are you sure?”
“Of course.”
Gabriel stayed for another minute before promising to come back for me by six. When I asked him why, he rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten? You’re my date tonight for a fundraiser.”
I had forgotten. Formal events didn’t rank high on my list of wonderful things to do. “I’m not sure, Gabriel. I don’t really like—”
“You’ll like this one.”
I tried another angle, one that he couldn’t be mean enough to deny. “I don’t have anything to wear.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
When I opened my mouth to argue some more, Gabriel tapped me on the lips and ordered, “Get to work, Emma. I’ll see you soon. Don’t try to sneak out of the building. I’ve got eyes everywhere you know.” He walked away with a jaunty whistle, leaving me stumped and wondering how I lost control of the situation.
That was barely four hours ago. Now all Gabriel wanted to do was get me to stop working.
“So, are you done yet?”
“No.”
“Emma, it’s practically empty around here. Nobody else is working.”
“You don’t have to stay, Gabriel.”
“But I want to.”
“Then please do it in silence.” I lifted an eyebrow and waited a beat before turning my chair back around.
As soon as I refocused on the computer screen, he complained, “You really haven’t changed, have you? You were always so damned fussy about your work in high school too. Every single time I tried to get you to cut class and join me for a better tasting lunch, you always said you couldn’t because of work.”
“And you weren’t fussy enough, Mr. I-Slept-in-Class-All-Four-Years.”
I imagined the self-satisfied grin plastered on his face when he casually remarked, “Oh, it was totally worth it. Trust me. Besides, I think I turned out alright.”
“Of course, you did. You already had a nice leg up in life, Gabriel. I can’t say the same and that’s why I have to work like a dog, understand?”
“I only came in with something like ten million or so. Barely a splash of cash. I made the other 997 million on my own,” he muttered under his breath.
“Come again? I didn’t quite catch that, Mr. Gordon.”
“Nothing.” Gabriel cleared his throat. “Can I ask one more thing?”
I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling. “Ask your one more thing and then let me work in peace, okay?”
“We really will need to leave within the next ten minutes. Can you do that for me?”
I sighed and spun back around in my chair. I glanced down at my watch, mentally calculating what I needed to finish and how long it would take. “I can be done with this in three but only if I have absolute silence.”
“Deal.” Gabriel zipped his lips shut, crossed one long leg over the other, and clasped his hands over his knee.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re such a little kid.”
“Only for you. Oops! I’ll be quiet now.”
Still chuckling, I returned to my work. I checked the final rows of figures, ensuring all the data had imported properly without any dropped fields. Everything had to be right because tomorrow I was going to take the mountains of data and translate it into a series of graphs that would showcase how each of the products had performed last quarter.
I loved numbers and so I truly enjoyed my work.
Just a few seconds short of three minutes, I saved and closed the file. “Done.”
Gabriel immediately shot out of his chair. “Ready?”
“Let me shut down the computer and then we can go.”
“Hurry.”
I had barely managed to turn off the monitor when Gabriel took hold of my arm. “Come on, Emma.”
