Page 55 of Handle Me

“Yep,” I agreed.

“Someone probably got a picture.”

“Also true.”

“And they’re going to sell it for a lot of money.”

“Look,” I stopped her. Grabbing ahold of her shoulders, I forced her to look me in the eye. “I meant it earlier. Being seen with you is only going to help my reputation.”

“Don’t you mean fucked by you?”

I tensed my jaw. She had me there. “Yes. No. Anything to do with you only makes me look better.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you’re pretty much the strongest, smartest, sexiest woman I’ve ever met,” I blurted out, “and I would be fucking honored for people to think you’re mine.”

And then she did the last thing I expected.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

LOLA

I kissed him.

I wasn’t planning to. In fact, I’d been hellbent on putting a stop to whatever was going on between us. But then he’d had to go and say that. If it was a play, I’d fallen hard for it. But it didn’t feel insincere. It felt like the most genuine compliment anyone had ever paid me.

So, I kissed him—and kept kissing him.

A sort of growl vibrated in his chest as Anders caught on to what was happening. A second later, he had me against the glass window of a shop. Its lights were off. It must be hours past closing time, but I didn’t care. He could have hoisted me up in broad daylight and had me while the shopkeepers watched.

I snaked my arm around his neck, trying to drag him closer. He chuckled, his mouth brushing over mine, unwilling to reduce contact even though we were both breathless.

“What was that for, boss?” he murmured, moving his lips to nibble at my neck.

A wave of delicious shivers rolled across my skin from the foreplay. “You know what it was for.”

“This could get complicated,” he said softly.

I knew what he meant. Sex wasn’t complicated. It was just…sex. Insert A into B until C! Whatever was going on between us wasn’t that simple. We both knew it. Anders was giving me an out or maybe buying enough time for one of us to come to our senses. The trouble was that I didn’t want to come to my senses. Not one little bit. I wanted to lose control entirely.

“I can handle complicated,” I purred, letting my free hand slip to the bulge straining against his jeans.

“Is there anything you can’t handle?” he asked in a strained voice as I stroked my palm over his erection.

“No.”

Anders narrowed his eyes, studying me for a second. “I’m not sure you’re ready for everything I want to do to you.”

Fuck.

I practically felt my knickers dampen at the suggestion in his words. So far, he’d displayed an impressive oeuvre of sexual talents. I couldn’t imagine how he could top some of them. I was certain I wanted to find out. “Try me.”

“Are you sure?” His tone took on a husky, smoky darkness that sent a different kind of thrill racing through me. “You seemed scandalized when I wanted to spank you earlier.”

I caught my breath, hanging off his every word, as he began to paint a picture of exactly what he wanted to do to me.

“Because I want to take you home and pull up that shitty excuse for a dress and bend you over the nearest flat surface. And then, do you know what I’m going to do?”