Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Linc stood and she followed suit, gathering the papers and pushing them into the briefcase. “Thank you, gentlemen, for your time. We look forward to seeing you this evening.”
He escorted her from the room, his hand a solid presence on her back as well as a comforting one. She didn’t speak until they were in the town car.
“Is that it?” Her blurted question surprised her and she slapped a hand over her mouth even as Linc laughed.
“What were you expecting?”
“More.” She shrugged. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t polite, but after all those boring hours of listening to different men ask you the same questions in a different way, like that meant it was something new, I don’t know. I guess I expected something.”
He tugged her closer to him. “You thought they would say yes right then?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I mean, your presentation was fucking brilliant. What more do they need to think about?”
“All part of the game, Freckles.” He threaded his fingers in her hair.
Wait. When had he taken it out of the updo it had been in? And why didn’t she care?
Right, because his fingers feel incredible in my hair.
“The game is stupid.” She inched closer. “They should just say yes and carry on.”
He nibbled along the shell of her ear. “But they can’t make me sweat if they don’t do it this way.”
She gave an indignant sniff. “Like you say, there are better ways to get sweaty.”
A low rumble escaped his chest and Emma bit the inside of her cheek to keep her answering moan contained. His large palm curved around her neck and he held her close.
“Emma.”
One word. Her name. Yet she felt it directly on her clit.
All she had to do was say yes and he would touch her like she dreamed. She longed to have the courage to say it, but she couldn’t push the word past her lips. And Linc didn’t try to change her mind.
When the car got them to the hotel, she wouldn’t meet his gaze as he helped her out. Linc wouldn’t release her hand. The moment they were in the room, he caged her in his arms, her back to the door.
“I’m going to work out,” he murmured, lips feathering over her forehead.
“Shower.”
“Is that an offer?” Dark and decadent, his words slid over her skin, heating her further.
Her legs weakened like the tide removing a sandcastle, bit by bit. “I need a shower.”
He stepped back and immediately loosened his tie before tossing it on the bed. Emma didn’t, or couldn’t, move until Linc strode in view, wearing nothing but a pair of workout shorts.
“Keep looking at me like that, Emma, and I’m going to lift you and fuck you against that door.”
“Shower,” she gasped.
He stalked her. “Yes. God, yes. There too.”
God his cock was hard and his shorts did a shit job of hiding it. He paused mere inches from her, chest heaving with each breath.
“Move, Emma.”
She dragged her gaze from his tattoos and up to his face. “What?”
“You need to move. I have one fucking tiny thread of control and it’s gone if I touch you right now. I see your nipples pushing through your dress and I can smell your arousal. Christ, Emma. Step aside and let me go work this off.”
She did as he asked and didn’t turn to watch him leave. Instead, she went to shower, alone, and shore up her weak defenses to this man. All she’d wanted was to give him permission to touch her and get his to return the favor.
“But no, here I am, by myself. Talking to myself in a shower while the man I’m in love with goes somewhere else.”
Dinner was going to suck. But then so was sleeping with him one more night in this hotel.
Chapter Fourteen
Linc frowned as his phone vibrated in his pocket. Lifting his hips off the couch, he dug it free and looked at the screen. Emma. His heart began to pound. Did she need him? Did Greer? She’d asked for the day off from the center after they’d gotten back from San Antonio and he’d not had a problem giving her the time. Sure, he’d missed her like hell, but she and Greer had been off doing something for the two of them.
He wasn’t sure they were still good. After their thing by the hotel door, she’d been pulling away. He’d not wanted to scare her but damn it, he only had so much control. She’d even fallen asleep on the couch, but he’d refused to sleep away from her and had carried her to bed where he endured a night of hell when she curved into him, moaning his name on those damn soft sighs.
“Freckles? Everything okay?”
“Linc. It’s Greer.” She had a quiet voice but at this moment it was softer than usual.
Heart thundering, he swung his feet to the floor and was striding to the door. While he didn’t know why she was calling, he needed to be there for her. For them. “What’s going on, kid? Your mom okay?”