“It is an emergency.” Gil never looked away from me while answering her coolly. “And she’s family. So it fits both criteria.”
I sucked in a breath.
Family.
I thought I was the only one who remembered that promise.
Family.
You’ve slept with this man.
Family.
You’ve loved this man.
Family.
Yet right now, you can’t understand this man.
“Okay, not a problem.” Shannon waved and tottered quickly away on her heels. The second she was gone, I repeated my question, my breath thin. “How does he know where I work, Gil?”
“Same way I do.” His body tensed. “Your contract with all your work info must’ve fallen out of your bag when he...when he tried to take you. He paid me a visit today...he showed me.”
So that’s where it went.
I’d looked highly incompetent when I’d arrived on my first day missing my signed contract.
My heart sank, two anchors of terror dragging it down. “He’ll know where I live too. My address was on there.”
He nodded.
Fear for myself was quickly overshadowed by fear for him. Placing a hand on his forearm, I did my best not to be hurt when he twitched and acted as if I’d stabbed him with my pen. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
His gaze snapped to mine. “I tell you I’ve put you in mortal danger and you still ask if I’m the one okay?” He backed away, rubbing his mouth with his hand. “Olin, you really need to stop caring about others and put yourself first. Your goddamn goodness is going to get you killed.”
“I’m sorry if my ethics annoy you.”
“They don’t annoy me, they’re just not wise. Worry about yourself for fuck’s sake.”
“Don’t you think it’s up to me who I worry about?”
“All I’m saying is, don’t waste your concern on me.”
“Ha!” I rolled my eyes. “I’ve literally worried about you my entire life.”
“Did I ask you to?” His temper thickened.
“No. It’s just what someone does when they care—”
“Stop.” He sighed heavily, torment cloudy in his gaze. “Shit...why are we fighting?” One hand opened and closed by his side, the other reached for me despite himself. Once again, he fought the familiar urge to touch, to connect, to bond. “I’m sorry for causing you stress, O. I—”
“It’s fine—”
“No.” He shook his head. “I never deserved you. Not even when I had you. I definitely don’t deserve your concern.”
His hand dropped.
He went to shove it into imprisoning pockets.
I reached out and stole it, wrapping our fingers together, binding us tight. Power ignited between us—something pure and transparent, honest and true. It hummed from his palm to mine, tingling and kissing its way up my arm and down my spine. “Just answer my question. Did he hurt you?”
Gil pulled away with a grimace. “No.”
That was a yes.
He glanced at the elevators, his desire to leave obvious. “Please...just trust me.” His eyes flickered with the past, with a younger Gil who I very much used to trust.
Before he’d broken my heart.
My questions and worry could wait.
“Okay.” Snatching my handbag, I logged off the work system and brushed past him with quick steps. He didn’t say a word, following me like a queen’s guard, waiting possessively close for the elevator to arrive.
My heart beat skipped and tripped having Gil so near. My body steadily betraying me, filling with desire, remembering what it was like to be with him, to kiss him, to have him inside me.
By the time the elevator scooped us up and swallowed us from the curious stares of employees, my knickers were damp and blouse far too tight.
I struggled to catch a proper breath.
I leaned forward to press the button for the ground level, but Gil beat me to it. Our fingers brushed on the button, sending a bolt of lust through my blood.
I didn’t know what it was about elevators, but it seemed all great romances had an epic kiss in the claustrophobic transportation. Our tale wasn’t exactly a romance, but Gil’s hand cupped my cheek, his thumb feathering over my bottom lip. “I’m sorry about the other night.”
I moaned under my breath as his thumb dipped into my mouth.
His emerald gaze darkened, his body pressing into mine until he crowded me against the mirrored wall. My spine crashed against the coolness, my breasts and belly tingling as he imprisoned me with his weight.
He trembled, his hips tight on mine, one arm braced on the mirror. “I’m sorry for being so rough with you. What I did...wasn’t right. I wasn’t...myself.”
My heart galloped as his voice caught with something dark and dismal.
My mind was useless, already drunk on his almost-kiss, but temper flared with coherency. “Wait...you’re apologising about having sex with me?”
He frowned, his stare fixated on my lips. “I was rough with you.”
“I liked it.”
“I fucked you like an animal.” His forehead furrowed as he shut his eyes. “I never wanted to treat you that way. I made a promise when I was younger to always treat you with—”
“With silk gloves?” I moved, trying to push his heavy weight off me. He didn’t let me, trapping me harder against the wall.
“With respect.” His eyes locked on mine. “Men are monsters, O. I learned that lesson right from childhood.”
The whorehouse of his youth.
The screams of sex.
The howls of men.
For the first time, comprehension bowled into me. “Is that why you never attempted to sleep with me when we were younger?” I didn’t know how I felt about that. In awe? In pain? Grateful? Frustrated? “You knew how much I wanted you, yet you never touched—”
“How could I touch you when I was that bastard’s son?” His mouth bracketed by strain. “I didn’t know if I could control myself, and judging by the other night, I was right to keep my dick in my pants.”
“Wow.” I went to push him away but wrapped my hands behind his neck instead. “You’re an idiot.” Jerking his head down, I kissed him.
He convulsed as my tongue broke the seam of his lips, tasting him, claiming him. His hands dove into my hair, holding me still as he opened his mouth and kissed me exquisitely hard.
The hushed world of the elevator, the weightlessness of falling—it became a tinderbox. A mirrored prison where lust was a scalpel and desire a blade. Need sliced at my skin, blood bubbled with want.
Our lips slipped and glided, our teeth clacked, our tongues tangled.
His hips thrust into mine. His hands dropped to my ass, squeezing me, massaging with animalistic paws, wrenching me against the hard steel in his jeans.
The elevator pinged.
The doors opened.
The architecturally light-drenched lobby ripped apart our hushed, erotic world.
Gil tore himself from me, stumbling backward with his hands shaking and lips wet. I swayed on my heels, swallowing hard, smoothing my skirt down with trembling fingers.
I managed to walk off the elevator and ignore the amused stares of two security guards, my body still clenching for Gil.