VINCENT
Seven hours and twenty-eight minutes.
Seven long hours and twenty-eight excruciating minutes filled with meetings and shaking clients’ hands as they thank me for adding to their wealth. These quarterly meetings are always the death of me. I squeeze all of them into just a few days so I can get all of my interactions out of the way at once. Then I have a blessed few months of peace.
Today, however, was particularly brutal.
I still taste Juniper’s kiss, her skin, her arousal. Goddamn, my girl is incredible. And I haven’t seen her in seven hours and twenty-eight—excuse me, twenty-nine minutes.
My clients have come to expect me to be quick and to the point. I’m not known for my chit-chat or hospitality skills. But even I can admit I was less patient and more irritable than usual.
They don’t understand.
If I didn’t have a dozen meetings scheduled today, I would have stayed up in my penthouse with Juniper all day. Fuck, she’s so soft and pretty, so pure and sweet, yet quick-witted and feisty. She’s everything. And that’s exactly what I want to give her. Everything. All of me.
I just need to get through this last meeting.
“Now, this chart here,” Mr. Montgomery says as he points his stubby finger at the screen I’m showing him. “It shows where my money is going?”
“Yes,” I grit out. I’ve answered this question from him at least three times now.
Mr. Montgomery nods and finally pushes his chair back to stand up. Thank fucking god. We shake hands and he thanks me before heading out the door. I collapse into my desk chair, holding my head in my hands. What a fucking day.
A soft knock interrupts my thoughts, followed by the sweetest sound in the world.
“Mr. Sloan?” Juniper’s voice eases the tension in my shoulders while making my dick jerk. I’m not used to either feeling, but I want more. More of whatever my angel will give me.
“Juniper,” I growl as I stand and nearly rip the door off its hinges.
She looks up at me, those wide, green eyes capturing mine and pulling me closer, closer, closer until I lift her curvy body up into my arms and slant my mouth over hers.
I’ve never felt this way, never felt this desperate, this out of control. I feel like if I don’t kiss her right now, I’m going to dissolve, disappear completely because she’s the only thing that makes me real.
I wrap one of my hands around the back of her neck while the other one rests on the small of her back, keeping her close to me. Juniper’s pulse beats rapidly on the side of her neck and I can see her swallow thickly.
She needs it, too. She needs me. It’s a powerful feeling, to be needed by someone like Juniper. And I’m a man used to power. But this… this is something else entirely.
“Wow,” she says breathlessly when we break apart. “I hope that’s not how you greeted everyone who knocked on your door today.”
I chuckle at her cheeky response. My heart stops when she smiles at me. Jesus Christ, I thought she was gorgeous before, but her brilliant, sparkling eyes and wide smile just might kill me. How is she so full of light and life? And how can I make it my own?
“Feeling sassy today?” I murmur as I continue trailing kisses down her neck.
“Always,” Juniper sighs, making me grin. “I like your laugh.”
I pause, letting her words sink in. What a precious thing, to enjoy the way someone laughs. I can’t say I’ve ever noticed anyone’s laugh until Juniper. I love every sound she makes, and I’m hoping to hear a few new ones tonight.
“I likeyou,” I finally reply, taking her lips once again.
Juniper relaxes into the kiss, letting me carry her to my private elevator. We don’t separate as we step inside, or as the elevator jets us up several stories in the blink of an eye.
When the doors open into my penthouse, Juniper finally tears herself away from me, seeming to notice our change of location for the first time. She climbs out of my embrace, which I’m not a fan of. I let her know it by lacing my fingers in hers and pulling her toward me. My angel collides with my chest.
“Oomph,” she breathes out before giggling and tilting her head up.
“Sorry,” I grunt. “I’ll have to be more careful with you.”
“I think you handle me just fine.”