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  His fingers sliding out of me is what brings me down from wherever I was flying. The loss of him makes me whimper. I look down to find him gazing up at me reverently, the gloss of his eyes filled with purpose and pleasure. Cradling his face in my hands, I stroke his cheek and he closes his eyes, leaning in to my touch.

  I study him. The cut of the muscles on his back carving light and shade amongst the tattoos, his well-worn jeans sitting so low on his hips I see a glimpse of dimples above his firm ass. He’s perfect, even though perfection is a contradiction to the look he so artfully has going on. It’s all rough and worn, his hair and his ink and the way he dresses make him look hard and wild. It all had me assuming he would be hard and wild in every way. And while I’m sure he could be, nothing about him gave away the idea that he could be so reverent or tender. I hadn’t expected worship when I jumped him in the foyer.

  My insides clench at their emptiness recalling his fingers there only moments ago and a surge of need has me tugging him upward.

  “I can’t wait any longer,” I plead.

  I need to be filled with Rhys. He’s in my thoughts, my heart and I need him in my body. I’m losing myself to him and I know it. He chuckles at my impatience but I know he’s feeling the same heated rush as he gets to his feet and drops his jeans and boxers in a flash. I gulp as he kicks them aside and his length sways from the motion. How will I take him when it’s been so long? Hell even if it had been yesterday, Henry had nothing on him. Rhys is going to be a challenge and while I fear it might break me, I never shy away from a challenge.

  I see the hunger in his eyes and prepare for things to turn frantic again, but it doesn’t. He’s calm as he steps forward, brushing his knuckles tenderly down the side of my face. He’s a juxtaposition of untamed passion and control. I lean into his touch then turn and place a kiss on his retreating hand.

  “I could spend all night looking at you. You’re fucking beautiful,” he says, devouring me with his eyes. He trails his knuckles down my body, grazing my nipples and then dipping even lower.

  Standing before him completely naked, I feel as beautiful as he says. It’s empowering. I take a step closer, bringing my hands up to trace the tattoos that cover his biceps on each side. I follow the lines until I reach his waist, then I sink down on my knees before him, ready to worship him as he worshipped me.

  I look up at him and watch as he strokes his hand over his length slowly back and forth. It’s mesmerizing. I gaze back up and lick my lips. Rhys groans in appreciation and I open my mouth to him. He guides his head to my waiting tongue and I close my lips around him and swirl my tongue around his head.

  “Fuck, kitten,” he says between clenched teeth.

  I love the power that I have right now, it’s a heady feeling controlling his pleasure. He cradles my face and then grips my hair with his other hand, the tight sting on my scalp turning me on even more. He tentatively works himself deeper and I accept as much of him as I can. I pull back and sink down again, taking him a fraction more on each pass. I find my rhythm and work on giving him the kind of pleasure he gave me, when he pulls out suddenly and pulls me to my feet, his hand still twisted in my hair.

  He takes my mouth with a searing kiss, his tongue demanding as he works me into a heated flush, then he releases me. I can visibly see his labored breathing.

  “Not like this,” he breathes. “I want to come while I’m deep inside you.”

  “Now,” I pant. “Please."

  He chuckles deep and I swear I feel it in the pit of my belly. I place my hands on his chest and give him a push. He wasn’t expecting it, I can tell by the shocked look on his face as he falls back on the bed. I crawl up his body leaving wet kisses as he laughs, pulling me up over him until I’m straddling his hips.

  I smile down on him and suck in my lower lip, fuck he’s beautiful.

  He places a hand on my mound and slightly lifts me, his other hand guides his cock to my opening. I stare down at him, poised at my entrance and look back up at him as he removes his hands and places them on my hips ready to push me down. Despite the lust surging through me, I resist the urge to hurry and have him fill me and instead, slowly sink down on his length.

  “Ohh…” I moan as my back arches and my head falls back. My heart is pounding and my body is burning with need. I follow the beat and start to move on him, taking full control of the rhythm and depth. He lets me lead, only guiding my hips to keep my motions fluid and soon I’m lost in the roll of our bodies moving together. Then I feel his legs rise behind me and with a jerk of his hips he is even deeper in me. I close my eyes and cry out loudly.

  “Look at me, kitten,” he commands gruffly.

  I look down at him and he nods his approval. His tattoos dance with their strain, veins popping out as he begins to thrust hard up into me. I’m so close to losing myself, but I fear he’s going to finish before I’m able to get there again. I trail my hand down my body. His eyes watch my every move. I press a finger to my clit and moan, but he takes my hand away and I almost sob.

  “Your pleasure is mine to give,” he growls, thrusting hard. His hand replaces mine and he doesn’t let up on his thrusts as he matches his pace with his circling thumb. I shatter into a million pieces around him, my pussy clenching him so hard he curses. His rhythm doesn’t falter though and he grabs my hips thrusting harder, deeper, raising his hips up so as be as deep inside me as he can get. His ab muscles strain, glistening with sweat, then I see them twitch and tighten and he follows me into bliss, crying out his curses.

  It’s beautiful.

  He pulls me down so I’m laying on top of him. We’re both breathing heavy, trying and failing to catch our breath.

  Wow. That is the only thing I can think.

  “Wow is right, kitten,” he laughs.

  Shit, did I say that out loud?

  Rhys lifts up off the bed, my legs still wrapped around his waist, his still hard cock pressing between us and stands as if he doesn’t have my substantial weight in his arms.

  “What are you doing, Rhys?” I don’t recognize my own voice, it has a sleepy sultry sound to it.

  “Shower,” he says simply and carries me into my bathroom and right into the walk-in shower. He lowers me down out of the reach of the jet and turns on the water. I’m a bit off kilter, Henry was never part of the clean up after sex. My arms come up to cover my breasts.

  “A little late to be shy, kitten,” Rhys says with an amused grin.

  My face heats and I make myself lower my arms, looking at him with a challenge in my eyes.

  “Good girl,” he murmurs, testing the water before dragging me under the spray with him. He takes the soap, lathering it between his strong hands and washes me gently, while I stand dumbfounded letting it happen.

  Those words shouldn’t have this effect on me, I never thought of myself as the type to relish being called a good girl. I’m a strong woman, not subservient, but there it is. A good girl I must be, because I feel the goose pimples rise on my arms. He pinches a nipple and my eyes close with pleasure.

  “Turn,” he instructs, his accent thick and sexy. I follow the command.

  He washes my back and then pays extra attention to the cheeks of my ass, cleaning everything a little too much. That easily I need him again and I arch into his hand.

  “Put your hands up on the wall.”

  I brace myself as I’m told and he rinses the soap off me, then he urges my stance wider. He steps close and I feel his still hard length resting between the round globes of my ass and I groan.

  “You’re so fucking beautiful.” His breath on my neck makes me shiver even in the steaming shower. He places an open kiss where my shoulder and neck meet, as his hand dives between my legs. His other hand comes around me and cups my breast, while his fingers drive me fucking crazy between my legs.

  He pulls back for a second and then his cock fills me with one thrust.

  Heaven, that’s where he’s taking me to. He wraps his arms around me, his chest flush
with my back. His hips keep thrusting, taking me higher and higher.

  My senses are in overload. I try to stand straighter, to turn maybe? Something, anything to slow down this out of control ride I'm taking before I die from pleasure. But he holds me in place. Then he plays dirty and presses a finger to my clit, whispering, "Fly, kitten.”

  Thank fuck he’s holding me up, because I come immediately. So hard that I think I black out for a second. He groans into my ear as he too reaches his release.

  I’m spent. Ruined even. My boneless legs can’t fully support me any more than my addled brain can feel ashamed of the fact. How he is still standing is beyond me. Clearly sexual stamina is something you have to work at because I am out of shape and he…yeah, I’m not going to wonder how often he ‘works out’. I just let him wash me again and come down from my high as gracefully as I can manage.

  After drying me off, Rhys lifts me and carries me back into the bedroom and lays me down. I begin to worry when he crawls toward me, but relax when he simply wraps me in his arms. I’m going to need a little sleep before I can handle him again. He strokes me lazily and I can feel his body relax against mine. I don’t think it will be long before sleep takes us both. I’m drifting off when the buzzing of a cell phone breaks the silence.

  “That’s not mine,” I grumble. “Mine’s on silent and abandoned in my purse out by the front door.”

  He kisses my shoulder. “You were in a hurry to get me in bed.”

  “I wasn’t alone in that endeavor.” I turn in his arms and look at him. “Are you going to answer that?”

  He shakes his head. “Too comfy. They can leave a message. It will stop in a second.”

  The buzzing stops.

  “See?” He nods in satisfaction.

  It promptly starts back up.

  “See?” I fire back with a smirk.

  “Shit,” he curses and unwraps himself from me. “Sorry, I’ll take care of it.” He walks naked and unashamed across the room and digs the phone out of his pants. “Yes?” he barks into the phone.

  Laying on my side, my head propped up on my arm, I watch his back stiffen.

  “I’ve already told you—” he begins, obviously cut off by whoever is on the other end. “That’s not my problem.” There is a long pause, before he rakes his fingers through his hair. “Motherfucker!” he snarls and looks at the screen of his phone before snatching up his jeans.

  He turns toward me, buttoning them quickly. He didn’t even put his boxers on first. The light from the bathroom show the firm lines on his face. “I have to go.”

  “Oh.” I swallow, sitting up with the sheet held to my chest. “Okay…”

  “I’m sorry, something came up. It won’t take long. I can come back.” He says it more as a question than a statement.

  I frown, the regrets I worried about having all rearing their ugly heads at once. “I’m really tired, I’ll probably be asleep. Don’t trouble yourself. I’ll uhhh see you around.”

  He reaches the side of the bed with two long strides and sits down. “This isn’t the way I wanted to end our night together, kitten. Leave the door unlocked and I will be back.” He doesn’t wait for me to reply. He leans in and steals a kiss, then cursing he breaks away and rushes out the door.

  The second I hear the click of the front door I throw off the sheets. Yanking a shirt over my head, I stomp down the hall. What was I thinking? The soreness between my legs reminds me that I wasn’t thinking. I let him in and he made me lose my head. The man just fucked me twice and ran out the door. Nice, real nice. I go directly to the front door and lock it. Then I turn off all the lights and march back to bed.

  My heart is beating so loud I can hear it pounding in my ears.

  It’s about an hour after he left that I hear the door handle turn. It rattles a little, then he softly knocks. I hold my breath, afraid he will know I’m awake.

  “Charlotte?” His voice is muffled but I can tell he’s being quiet so he doesn’t wake the neighbors. Which is perfect because I can say I didn’t hear him.

  I bite the sheets to keep from calling back. The temptation to have him back in my bed even though he ran out on me is too strong and I am too weak.

  He curses then I hear his hand slide down the door, and then…silence.

  As tired as I am, I don’t fall back to sleep. I’m too angry and too sad. Because no matter what he says tomorrow, I know the voice on the other end of the phone was female and I’d bet my last dollar I know who it was.

  Fourteen

  I arrive at my desk the next morning to find a sticky note stuck to my keyboard. New login details for the system. I frown, picking it up and heading back out to Jo’s desk.

  “What’s this?”

  “We’ve all got them.” She holds up hers to prove it. “Some kind of huge security breech last night. IT wiped all login rights and had to issue new ones. I don’t know any more than that, sorry. Oh,” she says as an afterthought. “They said we should change them, but it can’t be the same as your past login.”

  “Great,” I mumble. “I’d only just memorized that one.”

  “I know, it sucks.”

  I return to my office, sticking the note to my desk until I have a chance to get on and personalize my ID, then I hang my purse on the hook and take my notebook and phone out.

  I notice another message from Rhys. The third since I woke up.

  The first was another apology for running out on me last night and letting me know that he did try to come back, but I must have been asleep because he knocked and I didn’t let him in.

  The second followed thirty minutes later, where, after no reply to the first, he simply ignored my silence and cheerfully asked if he could cook me dinner tonight.

  Now it’s just three words. “Ignoring me, kitten?” Three innocuous words which should irritate me further, but instead have me imagining the kind of punishment a man like him might concoct for such a crime. Sweet Jesus, do I have no willpower? He fucked the sense out of me, then only minutes later he goes running back to Lisa the moment she demands. And here I am trying to ease the aches he left both between my legs and in my chest. Pathetic, Charlotte. Completely pathetic.

  The click clack of Jo’s shoes alerts me that she is two seconds away from entering my office. I silently thank her for her arrival, I need the distraction, before I’m tempted to answer him. Or worse.

  “Charlotte?” she says, nudging in through the partially open door.

  “Come on in.”

  She’s carrying a heavy looking file box and she uses her foot to kick the door shut as she crosses the room.

  “Here are the files you wanted printed. It’s all here. Everything back to 2014,” she huffs and drops it onto my desk.

  “Holy crap.”

  “I know, I worked up quite a sweat in the copy room yesterday.” She wipes her brow. “Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?” she asks nervously.

  “Yes, if I don’t present all these documents to Mr. McAllister so he can see the full extent, then I am not doing the job he pays me for. What he chooses to do about it is on him.”

  “Okay.” She nods. “In that case, I’ve checked with Mr. Tesi’s assistant and she confirmed that Mr. McAllister has a meeting with Mr. Tesi in the conference room at ten. If you want to barge in, that’s your chance.”

  I glance at the clock on my office wall, I have thirty minutes to prepare. “Thank you, Jo. For everything.”

  “No problem. Is there anything else?”

  “Not right now.”

  “Just buzz me if you need me.” She opens the door and returns to work.

  I stare at the box. Proof of every penny that Elisabeth King stole from the company during her employment here. I plan on crashing their meeting because Mr. McAllister is an ocean wave. I can’t pin him down. I have a hunch that his elusiveness has something to do with what he knows I’ve found in the finances. Maybe he’s embarrassed that it’s obvious he was banging her and she was stealing from h
im? Whatever his reasons, it isn’t going to go away unless he sees how real this is. I’m afraid he will just keep on ignoring the problem. I just hope I still have a job after such a rude introduction.

  I breathe to calm myself and without giving myself permission, I look at my phone again. Nothing more from Rhys. I decide to text my confidant, Michael. I feel like I have so much to fill him in on today, but I can do that later. I just want to tell someone I’m potentially about to get myself fired and since he has supported me through the whole thing, it seems right that it’s him.

  Me: I’m crashing McAllister’s ten o’clock. I may get fired. Wish me luck.

  He doesn’t reply, but he’s working so that’s to be expected. I just wanted to share. Knowing he will root for me when he reads it is all the encouragement I need. Now I just need to get prepared for the show.

  Thirty minutes later, I gather the files and place the lid back on the box, holding my head high as I march out of my office and along to the conference room. I never wanted this to be the subject of our first meeting and I’m concerned for the impression I’m about to make, but hopefully he can look past the abrupt entrance I’m about to make and see that I’m actually not just the new pushy American. I’m great at my job and I’ve put an end to him being screwed out of so much money.

  I stalk down the corridor. He should worry less about his first impression of me and more about what kind of leader he’s coming off as. I’ve been here long enough that I am starting to wonder how much he even cares about this company. I was given the impression that the owner was an active partner, who took the role seriously, but I have yet to see evidence of that.

  Maybe I won’t give him the chance to fire me, if it comes to it, maybe I’ll quit.

  Squaring my shoulders, I reach the conference room and find the door open and no one around. I stand staring in disbelief at the empty space. What is going on with this guy? I know they should be here right now, it’s on both of their schedules. Determined now to get to the root of the issue, I turn on my heel and head for John’s office. I march past his assistant, box still in hand and reach out my knuckle to knock sharply on his door.