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“Employees aren’t allowed to fraternize with guests. If management finds out, they’re gone, no ifs ands or buts. Please move, Mr. Hawthorne, I need to get back down to the front desk.”
He doesn’t move, only shakes his head. “Two years, two years of lies from you. Where was he last time? Los Angeles, updating the systems at an oil company you said. Before he was in Atlanta, a conference. Last year he was in England.” He’s moving now, stalking me across the room.
“Employees aren’t allowed to fraternize with guests.” I repeat haltingly, “I’m sorry, but I need this job. What you want, you can get anywhere.” I accuse.
“Do you think I haven’t tried? Believe me, I’ve tried. Two years of cold showers and sleepless nights. Every time I left here I promised myself I’d take the first woman who looked my way. Only none of them, none of them looked at me like you do. As if I was everything they wanted but couldn’t have, with hunger making your soft brown eyes go almost black. None of them smelled like you, none of them had the soft curves that tremblSed when I came near. None of them made me want them the
way I want you. Kissing them, I wondered what you tasted like. Holding them
against me, I knew they didn’t fit me as well as you would. Two years, of
apologies as my dick wouldn’t get hard because they weren’t you.”
His words hurt, the
idea of him with other women. I tried not to think of him away from the hotel.
It didn’t mean I succeeded, in bed when I was alone, I thought of him. I
wondered who he was with, what they looked like. Then I heard what he was
really saying. I’m shaking my head, no. This can’t happen, no matter how badly
I want him. He’s blunt, he’s demanding and he doesn’t care about the rules because
rules didn’t pertain to men like Drake Hawthorne. He’d take what he wanted and
when he had his fill, he’d move on. Then I’d be left jobless and broken-hearted.
If it were just me, then maybe I would take the chance. It’s not an option
though, I have Justin to think of and I can’t, I just can’t.
I’m still shaking my
head when his hands come down on my hips and he pulls me to him. I barely have
time to take in the feel of him against me when his lips come down on mine. His
beautiful full and thick lips are as soft as I always knew they would be. One
taste, I promise myself and open my lips to him. The velvet slide of his tongue
is a welcome invasion and I’m as hungry to learn the taste of him as he is of
me. In seconds, hunger becomes devouring and we both go up in flames. My arms
are up around his neck and he pulls me tighter, as if he can’t get enough. I
feel like my whole body has been lit on fire and only he can soothe the burn. Deeper,
more, I need more. I’m fighting for air when he finally pulls away, his eyes
have gone sapphire dark.
His voice is deep and
husky, “Marry me.” It’s a command, he’s not asking.
Shock hits me, he
can’t have said what I thought he said. He nods, as if I’ve spoken. “Marry me.
For two years, I’ve wanted no one and nothing as badly as I’ve wanted you.
Every time I looked at the gold band on your finger, I wanted to yank it off
and beat the hell out of the man who’d gotten to you before me. I hated this
unknown man as much as I hated myself for burning and wanting another man’s
wife. Crazy thoughts of wanting to know everything about him then the next
moment knowing I didn’t dare. I wouldn’t stop myself from destroying him simply
for having you when I couldn’t.
Marriage isn’t
something I ever thought I would do again. I’ve grown to the idea of my ring on
your finger. My ring telling all other men you’re mine and they can’t touch
you. I don’t want one night with you, I want your days and everything else I
can get.
There will have to be
a prenup, I won’t be stingy. When it ends, I’ll make sure you’ll be provided
for.”
He had me, I can’t
believe I was about to open my mouth to say yes. How the fuck could I say yes
to a command like that? Still, I was going to. Hearing him confess to the long
nights of desperate need, I understood all too well had me melting. Until he
mentioned the prenup and it being over. It wasn’t the prenup, men as rich as
Drake Hawthorne aren’t stupid enough to marry without a prenup, especially
after how badly his last marriage ended. It was understandable he’d want one
considered airtight the second time around. I would have willingly signed on the
dotted line to have him. Knowing he was already seeing the end before we even
began is what has me pulling away and he lets me go. His smile is satisfied, he
thinks he’s going to get his way. Men like him always get their way. A tiny
kick of pleasure at denying someone as powerful as him gives me the backbone I
need. I straighten and look him in the eye, “Thank you for the offer, Mr.
Hawthorne, I’m going to decline. If you need anything further, please ring the
desk.”
He’s surprised,
giving me the time I need to escape his room. Drake catches up to me at the
elevator. His hand on my wrist is almost punishing, I flinch. He lets go when
he sees it. “What the hell did you just say to me?”
I don’t dare look at
him, keeping my eyes on the progress of the elevator. “I said, no. If you need
anything further, please ring the desk.”
He yanks me around to
face him. “Explain that, no, after you kissed me like you wanted to fuck me for
days.”
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