“If they weren’t there at all I would push you up against the wall, and kiss from your lips down to your—”
“D…Declan,” she said softly.
“Just like that. You would call out my name just like that. There are ninety-eight floors in the building? I wonder if I could make you come before we reached the bottom. Would my hands be enough? Or better yet, my tongue?”
“Stop it,” she said, and I let go of her ass as I fixed my tie.
“Why? Is it because you were wondering the same thing?”
She didn’t answer. Instead she fixed her skirt. It funny how we both felt the need to fix our clothes even though we hadn’t done anything. Maybe it was because we were already fucking each other in our minds.
And in my mind, the elevator never reached the bottom.
CORALINE
“Absolon, nice choice,” he replied as he unfolded his napkin, and one of the waiters, upon noticing, came over and placed a one thousand dollar bottle wine on the ice in front of us before greeting him.
Damn it. I wanted this to be my moment to show him…to show him that I was a lot classier than a car screw in the park. But he seemed well at home, like he had been to one of the most expensive restaurants in the city so many times it didn’t faze him.
“Mr. Callahan,” I tried to sound professional even though I kept thinking about how nice it would feel to be on top of him again. “These are just some of my thoughts on how I intend to triple the money you’ve in invested with us. If you have any concerns, please let me know.”
I handed him the file. He took it and put it to the side. “Thanks, but I’m sure you’ll take care of it.”
“Are you really this naïve or just stupid?” I countered, using his own words against him.
He smirked. “Neither. Like I said, I trust that you will take good care of me.”
I wanted to say don’t trust me but that it wouldn’t have been wise. He and I both reached out for the water and our hands brushed together. I quickly drew mine away, worried that he’d notice how excited I’d gotten by that simple touch.
“Tell me about the Laoghaire trust.” I picked up my menu.
“I’d rather not,” he said, and I glanced back up at him. “I rather tell you about me. My name is Declan Callahan, and I enjoy fine wine, finer women, and sex.”
I wanted him so bad.
“If you want to woo a girl, don’t you usually say something romantic?”
“It seemed pretty romantic to me since I have everything I enjoy right here.”
Damn, he was good.
“We aren’t having sex.”
“Baby, we’ve been having sex from the moment I walked into your office,” he whispered.
Please take me.
I crossed my legs under the table, trying to get a grip on myself. He noticed. How could one man make me want to forget everything and just jump him over and over again? I kept telling myself that I wasn’t this person, but I wasn’t sure anymore.
“Are you ready or would you like a moment?” the waiter asked as he came over to us.
“No!” I sat up as I answered. But the problem was that I had no idea what I wanted.
“May I?” Declan asked and I nodded. He glanced up at the waiter. “She’ll have the Teriyaki Salmon Rice with sliced mushrooms, not grounded, on the side. The glaze should go over the fish not the rice, and her drink…” He paused and looked to me. “Pair it with the best virgin you can think of. I’ll have sirloin, done the way I like it, Kevin.”
“Of course, Mr. Callahan.” He nodded.
“Impressed?” Declan asked as he lifted his glass of water to his lips.
“So you can order food. If you gave me five more minutes I’m sure I would have ordered the same thing.” I shrugged nonchalantly.
He snickered. “I’m sure of it. So, tell me more about you, Coraline.
“There is nothing more to tell—”
“So you’re saying that I know everything about you right now?”
“Fine. My name is Coraline Elizabeth Wilson. I’m an only child, I live with my uncle and aunt at Raven Hill Heights…”
“Get more personal,” he whispered as he leaned in. “Who are you, Coraline Elizabeth Wilson? I’ve been trying to figure it out on my own, but I just can’t seem to answer that question.”
“Personal?”
“Why are you afraid to let yourself have fun with me?”
“Because I don’t know how to have fun, Declan. I’m not like you. I need a man I can depend on, not a man who wants to turn me on in elevators.”
“Why can’t you have both?”
Why couldn’t I? Because… “Both doesn’t exist.”
“In my world, it does,” he stated.
I shook my head. “We live in the same world, Declan—”
“That’s where you are wrong. While it’s true that we share the same planet, trust me when I say that we all live in different worlds. The way I was raised was when a man takes a woman, he takes care of her, he protects her, he fights for her, and he sure as hell ensures that she’s turned on no matter where she is. The Irish would disown me if I did otherwise.”
“And you’ve taken me?”
“Goddamn I want to, but you’re keeping me at arm’s length.”
Neither of us said any more as our food was brought out. I could barely hold my fork straight as I ate.
“It’s good.”
That was all I could say.
DECLAN
My driver brought us back to her office building, and for the duration of the trip, our hands kept bumping into each other accidentally. It was as though they were being drawn together like magnets. When the car came to a stop, I didn’t want her to get out.
She opened the door without glancing at me, but before she got out, she stopped. Turning back to me, her lips crashed onto mine. I wasn’t sure if was a dream or not, but I wasn’t letting her go. I pulled her closer to me and her lips parted for me to taste her. Her hands pulled on my hair, as mine cupped her breasts through her dress.
When I reached for her zipper, she stopped and pulled away from me.
No!
“Goodbye, Declan. You are now my client and I won’t fuck my clients. So stop tempting me,” she whispered, her lips inches from me. She moved to kiss me again, but stopped herself and broke free from my grasp.
“God fucking damn it!” I hissed in frustration when the door closed. I was so hard that it hurt.
“Where to—?”
“Where do you think? Home!” I replied as I leaned back and closed my eyes. I wanted to take a cold shower….no, I wanted to get myself off while I thought about her before I took a cold shower.
Feeling my phone, I grabbed it without checking who was.
“What?” I snapped.
“Declan.”
I sat up as I recognized my uncle’s voice.
“Sedric. Sorry—”
“What’s the matter with you lately?”
“I took the woman he was lusting over and now he’s bitching like a little girl,” Liam lied and I realized that this was a conference as Neal snickered in response.
“Get over it,” Sedric said seriously.