Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 130(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 130(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
"I remember everything." He turns toward me, his eyes locked on mine. "I never forgot either. You were the light in the dark."
I swallow hard.
He takes a step toward me.
"Seriously, Alaric, I can't eat that," I protest, backing away as he advances on me with a sexy smirk on his face and the square of peanut butter fudge between his thumb and forefinger.
"Just one bite, sweet girl," he says, trapping me up against a prep station. "You know you want it."
I groan, my stomach turning somersaults as my eyes tangle with his. I get sucked into a maelstrom of onyx and gold. My lips part, accepting the small bite of fudge.
"Fuck," he growls, pressing me deeper into the table as my lips close around his fingers and I moan.
The fudge melts on my tongue, but it's his taste that wrecks me. It's him that addicts me. I don't know why I do it, but I scrape my teeth along the pad of his thumb, caught in a net of lust that only tangles tighter the more I fight against it.
"Delicious," I whisper, swallowing the fudge.
Alaric growls, a deep, rumbling sound I feel in my bones. His mouth slants down on mine, his kiss hot and hungry. He kisses me like he's starving, one hand wrapped around my throat to keep me close. An onslaught of sensations rip through me, stunning my senses.
My lips part beneath his. He takes the invitation, sweeping his tongue into my mouth to steal my soul. I give it to him willingly, clinging to his shoulders as he annihilates any chance I had of resisting him. He's so commanding, so confident as he knocks my world out of orbit and sets it to spinning.
I whine in protest when he breaks the kiss, breathing hard.
"Keep teasing me," he rasps, his eyes hot and wild. "And you'll be getting that spanking tonight, temptress."
I want that so damn badly.
Why am I fighting so hard to keep my secret when he already knows the truth? I don’t know. At first, I was afraid he would find out the truth and tell Cory or fire me. But it's been four days. Despite the fact that I've been a disaster of an employee for the last four days because I've been too anxious to focus, he hasn't fired me. And he hasn't called Cory either. He's playing along.
That means something. So does the heat surging between us.
"Alaric, I..."
"What do you think?"
I jump as the caterer, a short battle-axe of a woman with her hair in a net and a starched white uniform, bustles into the room.
Alaric holds my gaze for a moment before slowly releasing me. "Everything is fantastic," he says. "The peanut butter fudge is particularly delicious."
My womb clenches.
I'm in so much trouble with this man.
"I brought you a dress," Jillian hisses, peeking out of the driver's side window of her BMW.
I bite my lip, trying not to laugh at her. She's wearing an oversized hat, sunglasses, and a scarf. The only part of her face that's visible is her nose. She looks exactly like she's trying to avoid notice.
I hurry across the parking garage to her, grateful beyond words for her anyway. By the time Alaric and I made it back upstairs, the entire design floor was in chaos. Blaze convinced Georgia, one of the models, to play an elf at the party, leaving the design team a matter of hours to put together a costume worthy of a fashion house of this caliber.
It took all afternoon to finish it, and we still have to fit her. There's no way I'm going to have time to run back home to get ready before the party. So I'm getting ready here. It's not ideal, but it's the price of fashion.
Luckily, this place has everything you could possibly need to get ready on the fly. Except for my dress. There's no way I trust myself to wear one of the dresses in the closet here. Knowing my luck, I'd destroy it in five minutes.
"You're a lifesaver," I say, taking the garment bag as Jillian shoves it out the window toward me. "Thank you."
"You can thank me by telling me every single detail when you get home." She giggles. "I'm not sure if I'm happy for you or insane with jealousy right now. I hope you have a great time while I'm eating Ramen in our tiny apartment."
"You love Ramen, and our apartment," I remind her.
"Semantics."
I laugh quietly, glancing over my shoulder at the building. "I better get back in there."
"Go. Shoo," she says. "And don't worry about anything, December. Dad has some boring business dinner tonight. He doesn't have a clue that you're the one interning in my place."
"Alaric does," I whisper.
Jillian scrapes her glasses down her face, staring at me in wide-eyed shock. "He knows?"