Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 94546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“Meeting?’ He bites my neck while guiding my leg around his waist. “What meeting?”
It is hard to speak through the fire roaring in my stomach when I feel him thick and heavy beneath me, but I manage—somewhat. “The meeting you had to attend this morning. The one that wouldn’t allow you to spend the night.”
I don’t know if he softens over my interrogation or he doesn’t feel as thick because he leans back to lie directly to my face. “It was good. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“You didn’t have a meeting, did you?” When another gleam of deceit darts through his eyes, I lower my leg from his waist then shove him away from me. “Don’t lie to me, Jack.” Needing distance, I splay my back onto the glass wall before asking, “Is that why you were photographed with another woman last night? Did you leave me to visit her?”
When he runs his fingers through his hair while cursing under his breath, I feel sick. Incredibly and undoubtedly ill.
“Who is she? Is she your wife?” I throw my hand over my mouth before mumbling through the cracks in my fingers, “Is that why you want to keep your work life and home life separate? Because I’m not a part of your private life? I’m just your work plaything?”
His eyes snap to mine. They’re as dark as death. “Jesus, Octavia. No. That isn’t the case.”
There’s nothing but honesty in his tone, but I can’t help but ask, “Did you know who I was? When you helped me, did you know I worked here?”
“No.” His back molars smash together when I spot his lie from a mile out. “Not entirely.” He stuffs his hand into his pocket before admitting, “I had an inkling you may work here, but simply because the race was a private event. No ordinary spectators were invited.”
Now the huge expense makes sense, but it doesn’t settle my queasy stomach in the slightest. “Then why didn’t you tell me who you were?”
When he locks his eyes with mine, nothing but unbridled truth reflects from them. “Because I like the way you look at me. That you see me. Jack. Not a media mogul or whatever the fucking ridiculous name they’ve been circulating through the press the past few days.”
My shoulders slump a little. I like Hotshot Boss. It suits him, although I’d rather he remain solely my hotshot boss.
My unrequired jealousy is pushed aside for something far more emotional when Jack confesses, “And I like the way you make me feel.” He removes his hand from his pocket before curling it around my jaw. “You drive me fucking crazy, but I can’t seem to get enough.”
He isn’t the only one going mad.
Instead of repelling away from him, I fist his suit jacket and tug him closer.
“Christ, Tivy,” he murmurs when a surge of electricity rockets through us. “It’s only been days, but I already know I won’t survive us.” He kisses the edge of my mouth, my jaw, and my collarbone, and that is all it takes for my anger to evaporate and for lust to take over.
Unfortunately, it is also the time it takes for the elevator to arrive at the top floor.
“Lunch?” Jack breathes against my neck, his low tone exposing his disappointment. “I can’t wait ten hours to taste your lips again. It will kill me.”
“I can’t,” I murmur back, my voice as reserved as his. “I promised Jess we’d do lunch.”
I call myself an idiot before attempting to offer for him to come with us, but before I can, he suggests, “Dinner then? I’ll cook at your place, then perhaps I might have the chance to win Caleb over.”
“Caleb—”
Like a tick I can’t shake, Jess bounds into the elevator like a kid who had too much sugar. “Can you believe this space, Tivy? It’s massive.” She drags me into an area I once avoided like the plague, dropping my jaw more with each step she forces. “No more cubicles. We have walls... actual walls.” She taps on the wall next to a door marked with my name before spinning me around and showing me her office. It is half the size of mine and minus a floor-to-ceiling window that showcases downtown Seattle in all its glory, but she acts as if it is the flashiest office she’s ever seen. “I’m thinking I should place my desk here.” She spreads her hands over a stretch of carpet in the middle of the space. “That way no one can sneak up on me like they did in my cubicle. I’ll see them coming and have a letter opener at the ready…”
As she continues telling me her grand plans for her new space, I shift my eyes to Jack. He’s discussing semantics with Elaine and a man I’ve yet to meet, but the instant he feels my eyes on him, they lift from the blueprints in front of him and lock with mine.