Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 83171 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83171 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
“You’re welcome. I got it free at a shoot, and of course I have no use for it.”
So that’s how she got it. She wasn’t so presumptuous as to go out and purchase a gift basket for my dog. It fell into her lap. I’m both relieved and disappointed.
“Nice of you to think of her,” I say.
“Why are you home so soon?”
“I was able to complete the business early.”
“In one day?”
“Does that seem implausible to you?”
It should. It’s damned implausible to me, and it’s also untrue. I didn’t complete the business. I delegated it.
She doesn’t reply right away. She twiddles her fingers together and darts her gaze around the room a few times.
She’s nervous.
“Braden”—she clears her throat—“I didn’t lose an earring.”
“Oh?” No surprise there. I can’t resist a tiny smile. “Why are you here, then?”
“Because I…” She draws in a deep breath and holds it a few seconds.
“Spit it out, Skye.”
A moment passes in silence before she pulls a crumpled envelope out of her purse then thrusts it at me. “To return this.”
I wrinkle my forehead and take the envelope. It’s from the Ames Hotel—a bid to host a past event.
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” she says. “I brought the stuff for Sasha, and then I went to the bathroom. I saw all the mail in the magazine rack, and I couldn’t help myself. When I saw the Ames Hotel envelope, I just… You won’t tell me about you and Addie, so I thought maybe…”
“Maybe you could figure it out from this?”
“I didn’t even look inside. I swear it. I felt terrible about it, and that’s why I came back. I was going to come back up here and replace it in the powder room so no one was the wiser. But now you’re here, and I…I don’t want to lie to you, Braden.”
I open the envelope, withdraw the paper inside, and hand it to her. “It’s a bid for an event my foundation hosted last year.”
She glances at the letter. It’s dated more than a year ago. A quick look at the postmark would have given her this clue.
“You see,” I say. “Nothing about Addison and me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Do you really think I’d leave anything important sitting in my powder room?” I ask.
“No. I…” She sighs. “I wasn’t thinking at all.”
Tension flows off her body. She’s waiting. Waiting for my reaction.
I’m angry. I’m amused. I’m perplexed—which seems to be my normal state around Skye.
And I’m turned on, which makes no sense at all.
She won’t let my past with Addison lie, and she must. I don’t talk about it for many reasons, none of which I’m ready to go into with Skye. Like most of my childhood, it’s better left in the past.
“I’m sorry,” she finally says. “I understand if you want to…”
I cock my head. “If I want to what?”
“Not see me anymore.”
I laugh. The boisterousness of it surprises even me. I cut my trip short, delegated important duties…and she thinks I’m going to refuse to see her?
Can she let me go that easily?
She seems willing.
And then this isn’t funny anymore. Not in the slightest.
“What’s so funny?” she demands.
I pull her against me, my lips pressing against her ear. “Nothing is funny about this.”
“Then why did you—”
“You want to know why I’m home early? Because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I wanted you in my bed. I almost sent you a plane ticket, but I knew you wouldn’t take off work with no notice. So I came home. I came home because I couldn’t wait five fucking days to see you again.”
She swallows. “So…you’re not angry with me?”
I meet her gaze with anger bubbling through me. “I didn’t say that.”
She swallows again. “Then you are angry?”
“Of course I’m angry. Who wouldn’t be?”
She stays silent.
“The question is, what do I do about it?”
Again, she has no response.
“I could end things with you, but I didn’t fly two hundred miles today to punish myself.”
Ending things with Skye is not an option. At least not yet.
“I could take you over my knee and give you a good spanking. It’s what you deserve.”
She walks backward, away from me, until her back hits the wall beside the elevator door. I close in on her.
“Your lips are parted in that sexy way,” I rasp. “I want to kiss you so hard that your knees give out.”
She inhales a slight gasp.
“That wouldn’t punish you, though.”
She stays silent and closes her eyes.
“So no kisses tonight. I’m going to spank your creamy ass, and then I’m going to take what I came all this way for. And you’re going to let me.”
Her bourbon eyes narrow slightly. She’s thinking. Thinking about how she can give in yet still maintain control. She wants this as much as I do. I can feel it in the pulse of her body. Already she’s wet. Ready for me.