Page 88 of Bargaining

“You’re wicked.” He collapsed and pressed a kiss to my temple. “I’ll make it up to you.”

“No one’s keeping score. We already have a serious orgasm deficit. I owe you.”

His brooding gaze met mine, and he pulled me protectively into his arms. We held each other, breathing heavily.

“You owe me nothing. I love giving you orgasms. It’s my favorite pastime,” he said.

“I thought work was your only pastime. Mr. Big Shot CEO has a hobby?”

“Yes, it’s making you scream my name.” His expert fingers slipped between my thighs, and he pushed his wetness leaking from me back up inside. “Mine,” he whispered against my throat.

His fingers found my swollen clit, and pleasure sparked at my core as he rubbed. I pressed my face into the damp hollow of his neck, smothering my moans against his cool skin. My harsh gasps punctuated the stillness.

“I always dreamed about this. I dreamed about the two of us together. Me and you,” he whispered.

His soft kisses on my cheeks were enough to undo me. Pleasure sparked at my core, and my spine arched off the bed. I was already so high today. High on the beauty and the quiet revelations in my heart, but Cole pushed me higher. All that mattered was this moment together. No past. No future. I fell apart, chanting his name as he kissed every scrap of skin on my throat, my shoulders, and my breasts. When he’d wrung every drop of pleasure from me, I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

I always dreamed of this, too.

Chapter 40

Cole

“Tell me about your previous boyfriends.” I took Charlotte’s hand as we walked down the stairs to dinner.

Her eyes widened. “Why do you want to know? Jealous?”

“Extremely. It’s helpful if I can put some names to the imaginary men I’m kicking the shit out of in my head.”

“There’s only been a couple. None of them were ever serious. You don’t have to be jealous.” She swung her hand in mine as we stepped into the lobby and flashed me a dry smile. “For a start, none of them ever made me sign a confidentiality clause or asked me to fake marry them.”

I met her teasing eyes. “Slackers.”

We walked together, our joined hands swinging between us, through the cool hotel foyer. A familiar cold voice drifted to my ears, and my heart stopped beating. A tall silver-haired man stood at the reception desk. He pointed a berating finger and spat out impatient words at another recognizable face. Reuben stood quiet and still at my father’s side, eyes on his flashy tennis shoes, his shoulders hunched with mortification.

For a moment it was me. My father was screaming and shouting at me for some perceived slight.Spit it out, you stuttering fool.Panic curdled in my stomach. Words clogged my mouth, but I couldn’t speak. My father had told me over and over again that I was nothing. His vicious words had become a backing track on a loop in my head. He’d made me believe that he was right. That he knew me in a way that others didn’t and those cruel eyes of his saw everything lacking in me.

Shame dripped down my spine, and I was a powerless boy again. Coming across him when I was unprepared made me feel like I was sinking, like I’d landed on a snake in a game of snakes and ladders and slid right back to the beginning of the board. He’d made my life a living hell as a child, but that hadn’t been enough for him. He’d still had to trap me by his side as a teenager. Just when I’d had my whole life ahead of me.

A wave of sympathy washed over me for Reuben. I knew how it was to be on the receiving end of my father’s anger. Reuben wasn’t my favorite person in the world. He was annoying as fuck, and I swear he was trying to get in my wife’s pants. But who could blame him? Who wouldn’t want to fuck my wife? It was hard to see Reuben with fear glittering in his eyes when he was usually bouncy and carefree like a big overgrown Labrador.

The next couple of seconds happened too fast. My father raised his hand, ready to slap Reuben. But I intercepted, grabbing his arm and holding him still. I shouldn’t have stepped in. The last thing I wanted was to attract Philip’s attention. My father’s mean gaze drifted from me to Charlotte. A fire ignited under my skin.Don’t look at her. Don’t you fucking dare.

My father ripped his arm from my grip. My mind reeled, but I stood tall.Get it together. You have to, for Charlotte.I wasn’t a powerless kid anymore. I was a man. A husband with a wife to protect.My father didn’t get to make me tremble. He got to behold the strength I’d forged to survive him.

“You.” He looked me up and down with a cold appraisal. “I knew you’d be here.”

I believed him. He’d probably found out I was here from a listening device in one of my offices. Theo’s moral compass might lead us away from corporate espionage, but this man’s moral compass was set to “relentlessly awful” mode.

My father’s lips thinned. “Meeting with Gabe?”

I fought to maintain some stillness and composure. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

My father’s eyes flicked to Charlotte. Realization dawned on her pretty face as she understood who this was. My stomach dropped.Shit.

“Hi,” Reuben mouthed at her awkwardly.

She gave him a strained smile and a quiet “Hello.”