39
The same scent that I’d sucked off my fingers after they were inside her cunt.
The same scent I’d smelled all day in court while she sat directly behind me.
As she laughed at something Dominick had said, I took a quick glance at her profile. Her smooth, beautiful cheek, etched with a faint line from her stunning smile. Penny-shaped eyes, lips that were so perfectly pouty.
She was a vision, almost impossible to look away from.
But I forced myself to and instantly caught Dominick’s stare.
Ah hell.
That motherfucker was no fool. Somehow, he’d seen right through me.
Our conversation was a warning all right.
I needed to fight these feelings. These urges. The thoughts of her that were consuming me more and more each day.
“Let’s go grab a refill,” Kendall said to Dominick, wrapping her arm around his. “Our waitress is slammed; it’s going to take her forever to return.” She looked at me and then at Hannah. “Refills?”
“Yes,” I replied.
Hannah nodded.
“Be right back,” Kendall said, and the couple left.
Once we were alone, I felt Hannah’s stare.
But I didn’t look at her. I focused on my drink, which was almost empty.
“I haven’t had a chance to congratulate you,” she said. “What you did at that trial was nothing short of amazing.”
I had to give it to her. She could certainly separate business from pleasure.
“It’s what I’m good at.”
I finally looked at her, instantly knowing it was a mistake.
I shoved my hands into my lap, squeezing my fingers together so I didn’t reach out and grab her.
“No, Declan … there are many things you’re good at.” She licked her lips. “I need to ask you something. Something that’s been eating at me.” She quieted, as though Dominick were still at the table. “Why wouldn’t you kiss me?”
She was going there?
Now?
After a week had passed and I hadn’t so much as tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.
“Hannah, it doesn’t matter.”
Because it wasn’t going to happen again.
Yet all I could think about was grabbing her face and slamming our mouths together.
I needed to control myself.
I needed to get this girl out of my fucking head.
She traced the rim of her glass. “If you’re not going to give me anything, at least give me that.”
I tried not to read into the words she’d chosen.
How her desire to have something between us had clearly been spelled out in that single sentence.
“It’s too intimate,” I blurted out. “It’s just not something I do.”
That was a lie.
Hannah had been the exception.
Of course, she didn’t remember.
Thank fucking God.
“You mean, you’ve never put your lips on a woman’s mouth? And there’s no exception to that?”
She looked confused.
I didn’t know why.
What I had said was simple to understand.
“No exceptions. Not ever.”
“Not even with me?”
I drained the rest of my scotch. “What would make you think you were any different, Hannah?” I checked Dominick’s placement, and he was still standing at the bar. “Because you’re a Dalton? My intern? Because you happen to be more than just a pretty face?” I paused. “None of that earns you a pass.”Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.
It was like a bee had landed on her arm and stung her, the pain in her face getting sharper by the second.
“You’re nothing to me. Just another number.”
I wanted her angry.
Disgusted.
I wanted to make sure she stayed the fuck away from me.
I wanted to be the most hated man in her world.
“I see.” She huffed out an exhale of air. “I just wish I had known you were this much of an asshole before I made the biggest mistake of my life.”
“That’s why they’re called mistakes, Hannah.” I lowered my voice, almost roaring, “They’re things we learn from.”
Dominick could see through me, but I had the same capabilities when it came to Hannah.
I didn’t believe a thing she was saying because, even now, as she stared at me with a cuff of betrayal wrapped around her throat, I could see how badly she wanted me. How she would do anything to have me fucking her pussy again.
“They’re things we never do again … like coming a fourth time against the window in the conference room.”
I’d slipped in the reminder, just to see if there was a change in her eyes.
The flame was there.
One that smoldered as low as her cheeks before she made it disappear.
I leaned into her ear, watching her chest freeze, hearing her breath hitch. “How many days were you sore? Can you still feel me, or is that ache long gone?”
God, I was a mean motherfucker.
She pulled away, putting several inches between us.
But that didn’t stop me from saying, “What a feeling it must be to know you’ve had the best and there isn’t another man out there who will ever make you feel like me.”
She shook her head. “You’re vile and so full of yourself.”
“And?”
“And I’m repulsed by you.”
I smiled. “Good. Then, we can both agree that we just need to survive this internship. You stay the fuck out of my hair, out of my office, and off my tip.” I pushed my back against the seat, grabbing her dirty martini and shooting back what was left of it. “Do we have an understanding?”
“Oh”-she ground her teeth together-“we absolutely do.”
HANNAH
“I
appreciate you coming over to babysit tonight,” Ford said as I sifted flour into a huge bowl.
Little Miss Eve was standing next to me, kneeling on a stool, holding a wooden spoon, ready to mix the food dye I was going to drop in next.
Not only were we dyeing the vanilla-based cupcakes pink, but we were also going to decorate them with rainbow frosting.