Page 58 of Filthy Hot Billionaire
I wanted to call him a liar since never once had Priya or Siobhan mentioned Knox as an owner, but then it all made perfect sense. The invitation on my birthday, the personal greeting at the door. Everything about tonight had been geared toward me personally, and there was no way Kieran O’Rourke would’ve been responsible for that. Knox was.
The embarrassment was doused by anger.
I shifted so that I wasn’t touching either man. Not willingly. Granted, Kieran’s hand was still on my thigh and Knox’s chest was pressed against my arm, so I wasn’t free of them by any means.
“Did you tell her happy birthday?” Kieran prompted.
“I haven’t had the opportunity yet,” Knox answered.
“And you won’t get it either,” I hissed. “I need to be going. Please move.”
This time when Knox said my name, there was a softness to his tone. One that I would usually associate with apology. Too bad I wasn’t interested in an apology from him. In fact, I wasn’t interested in anything.
I turned to look at him fully. “No. You don’t get to be nice to me,” I snapped. “Youusedme, Knox.”
I glared at him, daring him to argue. I should’ve known he would.
His eyes took on an amused gleam. “Did I?”
“That night,” I reminded him. “In the hot tub.”
His expression shifted, holding an edge of heat now. “If I recall correctly, you were begging for more.”
I hated him then. No, that wasn’t even a strong enough word. I despised him. Partly because he was right but mostly because he had walked away from me that night, treating me like I was some idiotic child who had no idea what she was doing.
I held my ground though, refusing to let him belittle me again. “You had the audacity to steal everything from me, Knox. My father’s house, his company … you stole it right out from under us.”
Knox’s expression shifted to stone, his eyes darkening, lips forming a hard, thin line, but he didn’t say a word.
“That’s guilt,” I bit out. “Guilt makes a man close himself down like that.” I took a deep breath for composure. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I never want to see you again.”
When he didn’t move, I turned to Kieran, nudging him so I could get out of the booth.
Thankfully, Kieran stood, allowing me a semi-graceful exit. However, in my fury, I forgot I was wearing the blasted heels, and no sooner had I stormed up the first step to escape than my ankle twisted at an awkward angle and I fell to my knees, swallowing a pained cry.
“Em!” Knox shouted, instantly at my side.
When he reached to help me, I shoved at him, not wanting him to see the tears that were dangerously close to escaping. I tried to get to my feet once more only to cry out when I put weight on my leg, the pain in my ankle stealing my breath.
The next thing I knew, I was being swung up into Knox’s muscular arms, pressed against his rock-solid chest, carried up the steps.
“Put me down,” I demanded, shoving at whatever part of him I could touch: arm, chest, shoulder.
“You want to fall on your ass?” he bit back, his voice so low only I could hear it. “Or do you want me to throw you over my shoulder and let all these people see your sweet little ass get carried out of here?”
Since I really didn’t care for either of those options, I stopped shoving at him, resigning myself to his care.
For now.
Our destination turned out to be a small office on the third floor. The walls were painted the same matte black as other areas. The floor was stained concrete. Although it was free of clutter and smelled like it had recently been cleaned, it didn’t appear to be used all that often. On one side of the room was a burgundy leather couch with a small end table; the other side held a table that could pass as a desk with a matching wooden chair. In the corner was a rolled rug that looked as though it was being stored in there.
Knox lowered me onto the couch with my back in the corner so he could put my legs out in front of me. Once I was out of his arms, his attention turned to my ankle, which didn’t appear to be swelling but hurt like the devil.
“It’s fine,” I told him to get him to stop touching me. “I’ll find my friends and they can take me back to the dorms and I can pretend this night never happened.”
Knox peered up at me and the look in his eyes said I was insane if I thought that was going to happen.
“You win. They can take me to the emergency clinic.”
