And that was just one of the many issues we'd had since he'd brought me on the team. I understood completely now why everyone else—the contractors, the electrical crew, the plumbers, even the damn painters—avoided Elias Kole like the harbinger of a viral plague.
For the most part, the only ones of us stuck dealing with Kole himself was me and the main contractor, a man by the name of Crete who was every bit as grumpy and arrogant and opinionated as Elias, so he didn't mind the interactions as much. And Elias seemed to respect Crete's words more than mine.
I wanted to believe it was for something other than sexist reasons, but I couldn't put a finger on any other reason for why I got condescension and constant undermining of my work while Crete got a free pass to do whatever he wanted.
Elias looked over at me, his lips twitching up at the side in a way that spoke of amusement. But whether that was at your expense or not was never clear.
"I'm sure you do, Miss Welch," he said, nodding. "I was merely going to point out that it might open the space up more if the set was moved to the other side of the room. Closer to the door where the room service cart would come in."
Damn him.
He was right.
That was possibly the most frustrating part about him.
He was usually right.
I mean, I was too.
The original designs were amazing.
But after he fought with me for some adjustment, it made it perfect.
At this point, I wasn't even sure why he'd bothered to hire me when he had such a good eye himself.
No.
I wasn't going to let myself think that, let old insecurities creep in. I was good at what I did. Exceptional, even. And, soon, everyone in the city in the market for an interior designer would see that as well.
"Miss Welch?"
"Right. I'm making a note," I told him, reaching to do so, mostly to cover the fact that I had been lost in my own mind there for a moment, since there was no way I was going to unsee the wrong placement of that dining set now. "Okay. The bedroom."
"Yes, Miss Welch," he agreed, falling into step beside me. "The bedroom," he added, and I swear his voice slithered over my skin.
Surely, he didn't mean for that to sound as sexy as it did, as darkly promising? Yes, this man managed to promise things... darkly. Apparently, being wealthy, gorgeous, and cocky made you capable of things us mere mortals could only dream of.
Elias had been particular about the suites, knowing that the ultra-rich would not settle for anything less than grand. Which was what the contractors had been around doing. Transforming the eight normal suites into four massive ones.
So the bedrooms were twice the size as they used to be. It was useless space, of course, since there was no reason to have so much space around the king-sized bed, but Elias was going for impressive, not practical.
"See? It works," I told him, waving toward the bed.
I was seriously considering doing something similar in my own bedroom, I liked the finished product so much.
Maybe I'd do less black.
Though, I had to admit, the all black bedding and the black tufted headboard gave the space a sleek, sexy, upscale look.
I wanted to fall into it and sleep for a week.
I'd earned it for dealing with Elias Kole for so long.
"Hm," he said, walking over toward the bed, grabbing the top of the headboard, trying to jiggle it.
"It doesn't give," I told him. "It's screwed to the wall," I added.
"The wood would work as well," he insisted.
"No, it wouldn't."
"And why is that?"
"Because wood is impractical. It scratches and gouges and loses its sheen. It shows its wear quickly. And that is the last thing you want your guests to see."
"I imagine you are worried the wood might... break," he said, making my brows pinch.
"Break? No. I don't imagine you will have many guests trying to break your headboards in half."
"Not trying to break the headboards, no," he agreed.
"Then I don't know what you mean," I said, shaking my hand.
"Want me to show you?" he asked, turning slightly to look down at me. "Miss Welch?" he added, tone going even more silky than usual.
An actual shiver moved through me at the sound.
And not one of the internal ones.
Oh, no.
Nope.
It was one of those out-and-proud, no mistaking it ones.
And this bastard had obsessive attention to detail; He never missed a thing.
He saw it.
And I swear a strange rumbling noise moved through his chest in response.
"Show me what, Mr. Kole?" I asked, when I damn well knew the smart move was to turn and walk a few feet away, get out of the bedroom as a whole.
Nothing good could come of me and Elias Kole in a room with a bed.
Not when my body had all sorts of ideas that my head was starting to think might not be completely terrible.
I mean, if a man could bring shivers with a voice, imagine what he could do with his tongue? With his cock?
"Show you why you might be right after all," he clarified, the look in those eyes of his making my stomach wobble.
"I am always interested in being proven right," I told him, taking a deep breath, feeling it shake on my exhale as he moved a step closer still, his body brushing me he was so close.
"Yeah?" he asked, ducking his head a bit.
"Yes," I agreed, putting down the notebooks I'd been carrying.
I don't know what I expected.
I guess for his lips to land on mine.
But when his head lowered, his lips pressed into the slope of my neck where it met my shoulder.
It shouldn't have been as hot.
And it wasn't.
It was hotter.
I could feel the scrape of his teeth, the tip of his tongue.
His hands were impatient, reaching down to snag the hem of my dress, dragging it upward inch by delicious inch, his fingertips brushing the sides of my thighs as he went.
I went from interested to dripping wet in ten seconds time.
My hands rose, slipping his jacket button free, then reaching up to push the material free.
His hands left my skirt just long enough to remove the jacket completely, then moved back, yanking the tight skirt up around my waist.
His hand was between my thighs before I could even draw in a breath, his fingers pressing against the material between my things, finding and rubbing over my clit.
"Fucking drenched," he growled, finger sliding under the material of my panties to trace up my cleft, working over my clit without the barrier for a long moment. Until my breath was heaving, my heartbeat slamming, my little mewling noises became ragged moans.
On a growl, his hand moved up, grabbing my panties in his hand, pulling until I heard a rip, a sound that sent a white-hot stab of desire through my core.
There was no time to process the pure, raw, animal heat I felt at having him literally rip off the only barrier keeping him from the most private part of me.
Because the next second, his hands were grabbing my hips, lifting, then tossing me onto the bed.
I landed somewhere in the middle. And when Elias moved to the foot of the bed, his hands snagged my ankles, dragged me down toward him as he lowered, his tongue tracing up my cleft, circling around my clit.
My hands slapped down on the back of his head, holding him against me as he licked and sucked, driving me up hard and fast, having absolutely no intention to draw it out, make me beg, just taking me to that edge, before thrusting two fingers inside me, fingers curling, raking over my G-spot, then pushing me right over that edge, sending me crashing down into a screaming orgasm, making me leg-lock him in place as the waves crashed.
He took advantage of being stuck, licking, finger-fucking, letting me come down and driving me back up almost in the same breath.
As soon as he was free, Elias lifted u
p, reaching to undo his buttons, pushing off his shirt.
Of course that stupidly good-looking thing extended to his body. One he clearly punished with several workouts each week, trimming away any fat, etching delicious indents in his stomach, creating an intoxicating V that disappeared into the waistband of his slacks.
Following my gaze, his hands went down, undoing his belt, his button and zip, dropping his slacks, then reaching to remove his boxer briefs.
It took a low, sexy chuckle for me to realize that the groan that I thought was in my head was actually external, filling the silent space.
I wasn't even embarrassed.
Because, yes, that perfection slapped all over the rest of him extended to his cock as well.
Like the rest of him, it was huge, hard, impressive.
His hand went to his shaft, stroking it down to the base before ducking down, finding his wallet, retrieving a condom, and slipping it on.
I should have put an end to it now.
That was the power move, wasn't it?
Let him go down on me, then pull my skirt back down, move on with my life like nothing happened.
That was a boss bitch move.
But my poor, too-long-untouched body refused to feel satisfied until I got that cock inside me, felt it stretch me, move inside me.
Finished, Elias reached down, grabbed my legs, yanked them up straight, resting them against his shoulder.
I barely got a chance to register his thickness pressing against me before he was slamming inside me, making a moan escape me, my back arching, my thighs clenching.
"Fucking tight," he growled, jerking his hips up, creating a little pinch that shouldn't have felt good, but somehow did.
"You're so big," I shot back, my walls clenching around him.
On another rumbling noise, he started fucking me.
Hard.
Fast.
Relentless.
My body jolted with each thrust, sending me further up on the bed.
Elias dropped my legs, spreading my thighs wide on the bed, body coming over mine, starting to fuck me even harder, even faster, sending both of us traveling up the bed, my head banging off the tufted headboard as his hand moved between my thighs, working my clit, driving me up as my moans echoed off the walls, ricocheted through the suite.
"Come, Juliet," he demanded, voice rough.
And just like that, I did.
Crying out his name.
Then losing my voice completely, the orgasm ripping violently through my system.
"Fuck," Elias growled, burying deep inside me, letting out a roaring noise as he came.
It took about point-two seconds after the orgasm subsided to see what a huge, epic, monumental freaking mistake I'd just made.
There went every goddamn ounce of my credibility that I had worked so hard for.
Shit.
Shitshitshitshit.
Was there any way to save myself here? To come out on top?
Walking away first.
That was the only way, right?
Act like it was no big deal, that things like this meant nothing to me.
I'd rather be seen as a bit of a whore than someone weak and affected by a casual sexual encounter.
With that thought, I slid off the bed, yanking down my skirt, gathering my notebooks,
"Think you're forgetting something," Elias said, making me turn back, finding him already off the bed, pulling up his pants.
Taking a deep breath, forcing my shoulders back and my chin up, I moved toward him, snatching the panties, watching his gaze go victorious as he reached to grab his shirt.
"You know what, Mr. Kole?" I said, stepping closer. "Keep them," I said, shoving them down into his front pant pocket, getting a hiss out of him, then turning and walking away.
Victorious.
At least for the moment.
Who knew what the future held.
But just this once, I was pretty sure I got the better of Elias Kole.
Moving inside the elevator, I watched the doors start to close, seeing a shadow move in the corner before it closed, oddly coming from the wrong direction from where I'd left Elias.
I shook off the strange feeling inside at that, reaching up to flatten my hair, feeling my lips curve up as my hand met the top of my head. A place that would have had a concussion if not for that tufted headboard.
It turned out I was right about those damn headboards after all.
That was two wins in one day.
Even if I knew, eventually, Elias Kole was going to come back with a checkmate.
I was going to enjoy my short-lived victory.
And the delicious ache between my thighs.
xx
ALSO BY JESSICA GADZIALA
If you liked this book, check out these other series and titles in the NAVESINK BANK UNIVERSE:
The Henchmen MC
Reign
Cash
Wolf
Repo
Duke
Renny
Lazarus
Pagan
Cyrus
Edison
Reeve
Sugar
The Fall of V
Adler
Roderick
Virgin
Roan
Camden
West
Colson
The Savages
Monster
Killer
Savior
Mallick Brothers
For A Good Time, Call
Shane
Ryan
Mark
Eli
Charlie & Helen: Back to the Beginning
Investigators
367 Days
14 Weeks
4 Months
Dark
Dark Mysteries
Dark Secrets
Dark Horse
Professionals
The Fixer
The Ghost
The Messenger
The General
The Babysitter
The Negotiator
The Client
Rivers Brothers
Lift You Up
Lock You Down
Pull You In
STANDALONES WITHIN NAVESINK BANK:
Vigilante
Grudge Match
The Rise of Ferryn
Counterfeit Love
OTHER SERIES AND STANDALONES:
Stars Landing
What The Heart Needs
What The Heart Wants
What The Heart Finds
What The Heart Knows
The Stars Landing Deviant
What The Heart Learns
Surrogate
The Sex Surrogate
Dr. Chase Hudson
The Green Series
Into the Green
Escape from the Green
DEBT
Dissent
Stuffed: A Thanksgiving Romance
Unwrapped
Peace, Love, & Macarons
A Navesink Bank Christmas
Don't Come
Fix It Up
N.Y.E.
faire l'amour
The Woman at the Docks
The Woman in the Trunk
The Sacrifice
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jessica Gadziala is a full-time writer, parrot enthusiast, and coffee drinker who enjoys short rides to the bookstore, sad songs, and cold weather, and who had developed an unhealthy obsession with acquiring houseplants. She lives in New Jersey with a bunch dogs, seven parrots, and a whole flock of chickens.
She is a strong believer in snark, strong secondary characters, and badass women.
STALK HER!
Connect with Jessica:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaGadziala/
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/314540025563403/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13800950.Jessica_Gadziala
Goodreads Group: https://www.goodreads.com/grou
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Twitter: @JessicaGadziala
JessicaGadziala.com
<3/ Jessica
Pull You In (Rivers Brothers Book 3) Page 21
