Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
I took her hand in mine, and she turned to look at me, warring emotions flickering in her eyes. Much as I wanted to take her up to my bed, I couldn’t. Not when she’d had so much to drink. Not when she wasn’t sure.
Instead, I stepped closer to her, cupping her cheek and looking down into her eyes.
“You’re incredible,” I murmured against her lips. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you’re anything less than the most spectacular woman who ever walked this earth.”
She exhaled softly, put a palm on my side and slid it around to my back. I lowered my lips to hers, something inside me igniting the moment I kissed her. She was soft and sweet, melting against me as I pulled her closer.
I deepened the kiss, needing to explore every inch of her. When she moved her hands and slid them inside my jacket and around to my back, gripping me, it was all I could do not to tear her dress off.
I didn’t just want more; I needed it. I groaned, grabbing a handful of the skirt of her dress and hiking it up. She sank her nails into my back, moaning into my mouth.
At the sound of the “ding” that preceded the opening of the elevator doors, she jumped back, her skirt falling into place. She put her fingertips over her lips, her chest rising and falling hard as two couples stepped off of the elevator.
Our eyes stayed lock as a male voice said, “Hey, how’s it going?”
“Good, thanks,” I answered automatically.
They got into a vehicle and Elle bent to pick up the purse she’d apparently dropped. She practically ran to the elevator, frantically pushing the call button.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked. “Was that not okay?”
She met my gaze as the elevator doors opened. “It was more than okay. And I can’t—”
She put a hand up as I started to step onto the elevator. “Can I please ride up alone? I don’t trust myself right now.”
“Of course.”
I stepped out of the elevator, confused.
“Sorry,” she said as she went inside the elevator and pressed a button.
She had nothing to be sorry for, but instead of telling her that, I just nodded. Clearly, she didn’t want to talk right now.
I waited a couple of minutes to make sure she had time to get into her apartment before I took the elevator up, taking my tie off and slinging it over my shoulder.
What the fuck had just happened? I’d assumed we’d make out the entire way up to her apartment door before reluctantly parting, but instead she’d run away.
We both knew the only place she really wanted to run was straight to my bed. And I knew we’d eventually get there. I also knew the wait was going to drive me insane.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Elle
I could see why people found Mila Pavlova intimidating. Not only was she young and stunningly beautiful, but her father was also a Russian billionaire with a reputation for getting what he wanted by whatever means necessary.
And she’d perfected the art of the glare. I was sitting along a wall in a conference room at the Chronicle while she presented to our editorial board, and she’d directed her icy gaze at me several times.
“These economic impact numbers are, quite frankly, exciting,” she said brightly. “Commercial construction has been down since the pandemic, and we’ll be investing at least four hundred million in the project.”
Who was we? This was a presentation for her to try to sway the editorial board with a polished presentation prepared by a PR firm, and the board would be able to ask questions later. I was just here to observe, but I really hoped someone would ask her who was backing this project, because I was pretty sure her father was putting up a lot, if not all, of the money.
Mila had money of her own from her father, and a lot of it. But why spend her own when her father pretty much had bottomless pockets and loved owning high-end real estate in America?
“This area will be a memorial garden,” she said, pointing to a spot on the map. “To honor the twenty-two people we lost that day.”
She seemed sincere. I couldn’t figure out where the bullshit ended and the real woman began, and usually I was good at that.
“I think I’ve covered anything,” she said. “I’m open to questions now, and of course your own Eleanor Lawrence has a close liaison on the team now if questions come up in the future.”
Wow. Every head at the conference table swiveled in my direction. I kept my cool, smiling at Mila. She was trying to get me in trouble with my bosses.
“I wouldn’t call us close,” I said smoothly. “I moved to a new apartment recently and a Coyotes player is my next-door neighbor.”