She sighed yet again, “I know. Aidan’s always so excited about his projects that they bleed into our conversations when we call each other.” Pursing her lips at him she explained, “I also know that that is the single model in existence. It’s the prototype. And yet, though it’s worth a small fortune, and though the technology wrapped up inside it has far-reaching consequences, you’re driving it around like a joyrider.” She sneered at him. “But then, once a joyrider, always a joyrider, I suppose.”
&nb
sp; For a second, he just gawked at her, then, to her irritation, he flung his head back and laughed. She stood there watching him, enraged fury throttling her as he mocked her. Unable to stand it for much longer, she started to step away, but the sound of her heels against the concrete jerked him out of his humor and he grabbed her arm to halt her in her tracks.
“Oh no, you can’t just throw that at me and not allow me to defend myself,” James remarked.
“I don’t have to do anything. You asked me a question, and I answered. You think you can buy everyone off, James. That your money makes you infallible. Well, that might be the case, but people like you… it’s the poor bastards around them who get burned. My brother means the world to me. He always has. You hurt him, and I’ll…”
When he’d dragged her to a halt, he’d pulled her closer to him. In her irritation, she hadn’t noticed. Until now. They were so close, she could feel his breath on her mouth. His body heat was immense. It seemed to glow from him, enshrouding her in the blaze. She felt hot, flushed. Her cheeks would be pink, she knew, and she hated that. Had always hated her reaction to him.
She. Could. Not. Be. Bought.
But the shitty thing was, he didn’t have to buy her. He’d never had to resort to anything so debase. She had a nasty feeling that she’d always react to him. It didn’t matter that she and Mark were dying a death together, and it didn’t matter if she suddenly met a Christian Grey who’d sweep her off her feet. She’d met so many men in her line of work. So many different kinds. Eclectic to disciplined, artists to entrepreneurs. None of them caused the same reaction in her. No way, no how.
She just had to be in the same room as James, and all of a sudden, her heart rate soared.
How she hated that.
Hated. It.
Some days, she felt sure she hated him. Because for a man who lived so far away, whose frame of influence extended to her brother and no further, he was in her thoughts too much. Affecting her world and her life in ways she’d never signed up for.
Almost as though his thoughts were similar to hers, he breathed, “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”
And then, he bowed his head and kissed her.
Right there.
In front of his building, employees, guests and visitors alike, James Arias kissed Hannah Sawyer like there was no tomorrow, and God help her, she loved it.
Chapter 2
Fuck, she tasted good.
In fact, scratch that. She tasted like heaven. No, better. What tasted better than heaven?
James’ subconscious was too busy reveling in finally getting another sample of Hannah’s lips to really compare, but all he could think about was how kissing her, having her writhing against him was better than the short drive around the compound in the Orion had been.
That baby packed over four years’ worth of research and investment into one souped-up ride.
How could one woman’s kiss beat that?
It shouldn’t have been possible.
And yet, it was. She was. She always had beaten everything around him.
He devoured her, knowing she might not let him near her again this lifetime. He’d been stunned, then hurt by her opinion of him, and everything within had urged him on. Inspired him to grab a hold of her and then quieten her. Take those words from her lips and change her opinion of him.
Only trouble was, he was as into the kiss as she was. There was no manipulating this, no making her see sense. He was as lost to the wonder that flared between them as she was. And that was a terrifying fact.
But the terror couldn’t hold him for long.
He wasn’t capable of anything other than kissing her while she was in his arms.
With a shudder, he let his tongue do some talking of its own. He explored her mouth, reveling in the pressure as she pushed back, exploring him, not passively taking his kiss but taking him too. Making him feel. Making him wish they could go to his office and make this public scene more private.
He shuddered as she wriggled against him, her belly pressing against his cock in a way that would have had his eyes rolling in his head had they not been firmly closed. He pulled back only to nip at her bottom lip. Tugging it away from her teeth, he thrust his tongue into her mouth and groaned as she moaned back.