“Truthfully, there probably wouldn’t have been a room open. Everyone most likely anticipated the storm getting worse and buckled down.”
“No room even with your status?” She lifted her eyebrow and smirked.
He chuckled. “Even with my connections I probably would have been shit out of luck, Delaney.”
Odd, the way he said her name had chills moving through her, chills that had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with her arousal.
“Besides, doubt we could make it to the hotel safely in this weather. Probably freeze our nuts off.” He smirked again and she rolled her eyes.
She felt her annoyance rise.
For such an elite man with a prestigious background, he had the attitude and mouth of a frat boy.
Turning away from him and walking back over toward the couch, she sat down and felt her teeth start to chatter. She wasn’t built for the cold, and it had been stupid of her to move to a city where the winters got frigid.
But it had been a good opportunity, so she’d deal with the cold.
“You hate me,” he said softly, sitting beside her.
She glanced over at him, the darkness making it nearly impossible to distinguish his expression.
With the lights off, the full moon coming through the windows seemed intense.
“I don’t hate you,” she finally said, leaning back on the couch and looking up at the ceiling. “To be honest, I’m kind of jealous of you.” She heard him snort and looked over at him.
“Jealous of me? Not sure why you would be. If anything, I’m jealous of you.”
She felt her eyes widen at that.
“Me?” she asked, sitting up straighter, keeping the blanket wrapped tightly around her. “But why? You have everything you could ever want.”
He wasn’t looking at her, but had his focus straight ahead. She could see him shake his head slowly, answering her without actually saying a word.
“I’m jealous of your ambition, the fact you work so damn hard to get what you want. You don’t let anyone get in your way.” They were silent for a moment, but she didn’t know what to say.
Finally, she exhaled but kept her focus on him.
“You are hard working as well,” she admitted. Almost hating that she was feeding into his ego.
Although it was true. He worked really damn hard.
He might have wealth and money, but he didn’t use it to his advantage, even if she liked to bitch about it.
As Delaney stared at him, her vision adjusting to the darkness, she felt the heat move between them. Despite the chill in the air, knowing it would get even colder, she felt beads of perspiration dot the valley between her breasts.
Her heart started beating a little harder, the feel of her nipples pressing against her shirt becoming stronger.
She was wet, her arousal for Ivan something she couldn’t deny, couldn’t ignore.
And as he looked at her, Delaney could feel the electricity moving between them.
“So, you don’t loathe me,” he said gruffly, his voice so deep, the pitch changing the longer they stared at each other.
“I didn’t say that,” she whispered and smiled. He chuckled softly and shifted so he was facing her.
The longer they stayed silent, the more she felt the chemistry grow.
This was a bad idea, she knew that, but as she licked her lips, she could see him glance down to watch the act, and Delaney knew that stopping what could happen would be impossible.
Besides, in this moment, being pressed up against Ivan didn’t seem like such a bad idea after all.
Chapter 6
Ivan’s cock was hard as fucking rock as he stared at her.
Even though it was dark, he could see her face. She was so close that, even as she tried to pretend there was no heat between them, he felt it.
Hard not to, all things considered.
She let out a breathless sigh.
“What were you going to do at Christmas? Does your family have a big gathering or something like that?” she asked.
He laughed.
“What?”
“You think because I’ve got a wealthy name that it instantly means I’m spending time with them, making new deals, celebrating over millions of dollars?”
“I don’t know what it is you do.”
“I was going to go to my penthouse apartment, open a bottle of wine, and watch television.”
“What about food?” she asked.
“A microwave dinner.”
“No, you can’t have that. It’s Christmas.”
“Okay, fine, show-off, what will you do?”
“I do not show off.”
“You’re arguing a point that is useless. You don’t need to argue everything in life.”
“When it comes to you, it seems I do because you have an answer for everything.”
“Of course I do. I know what I’m doing.”
“You’re saying I don’t?”
“I’m saying you don’t have a fucking clue half the time,” he said with a smirk.
She went to pull away but this time he wouldn’t let her.
“If you really want this promotion then you’re going to have to learn to stay and fight like a true leader, otherwise everyone is going to walk all over you.”