Total pages in book: 224
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
His fingers and tongue work magic together, stroking me, driving me wild. Blood roars in my ears and the stairwell fades away. There is only what he is doing to me, and the sweet spot he’s touching, and the next. Every place he touches is a sweet spot. My sex tightens into a hard clench, and remotely, I hear my own panting echoing in the small space, seeming to bounce off the walls, but I can’t seem to care. Not with Reid’s tongue in all the right places. I’m mindless and without inhibitions. I arch against him, pump my hips against his hand, and with one more lick my body clenches. I tumble into orgasm, oh God, I tumble hard, and it’s over far too quickly. I’m barely back to reality when a door somewhere slams and I jerk. “Reid,” I plead desperately. He licks me once more, drags my dress down, and stands, cupping my face. He kisses me, a long stroke of tongue before he says, “I’ll leave out the lobby door and come back up.”
He releases me and heads for the stairs. “All that did was prove that your power plays know no limits. Elijah is a big business for us.”
He’s back in front of me in two seconds. “Elijah hates me. He came to you with the full intent of burning you to burn me. Like it or not, you’re with me now, and that means he’s not just my enemy. He’s yours. But I’m not, Carrie. I’m not your enemy.” He heads down the stairs.
I am struck by the fact that a) after giving me an orgasm in the stairwell, he’s actually concerned about discretion, thus leaving separately, and b) that comment about me being with him felt far more personal than professional, but then I’m riding the intimacy of his mouth on my body. And actually, there is a c) which includes questions I need answered.
“Reid!” I call out, racing down the stairs. “Reid, wait. Reid.” I’m a full two flights down and working my way past another when he appears at the bottom of that level.
I hurry the rest of the way down the stairs. “I have a question,” I say joining him on the landing. “What enemy would come at you this directly? He knows you’ll know. He knows you’ll stop an attack.”
“Which is the point,” he says. “He knows. I know. When I turn him down, and I will, the board will want an explanation.”
“How can we get burned if he hands us money?”
“He has a plan.”
“Maybe that plan is to get you to say no and look bad to the board,” I counter. “And you’re doing what he wants.”
“We aren’t doing this deal with him.”
“You’re good at what you do,” I say, stepping closer to him, wanting to shake the man. “You can beat him and take his money. I know you can. If I didn’t know you were that good, I wouldn’t be here with you.”
His hands settle on my waist and he pulls me to him. “We are not taking this risk.”
I don’t push away from him. Somehow, talking to this man, with his hands on my body, has become more normal than not. “We or you?”
“You’re with me now. I’m protecting us both.”
“Then we can beat him together, Reid.”
“No.”
“Yes,” I say.
“Woman.”
“You said saying it’s possible makes it possible.”
“No.” He backs me up and presses me against the door. “Just because you can doesn’t always mean you should.”
“Does that include us?”
“Yes, but at least we want the same things, including each other. He does not.”
It’s the first time we’ve talked about wanting each other without denial.
“There’s more to this story than you know,” he adds. “We will not do this deal. We’ll get a new deal.”
“Tell me the story.”
He studies me several beats, his expression unreadable before he pulls me to him, kisses me and says, “No,” and with that, he releases me and leaves.
I spend the afternoon researching Reid and Elijah, looking for a connection that I can’t find. What I do find is details on the case Reid is handling. People died and the DA charged the wrong man, and even after he was acquitted, the DA didn’t look for the real killer—who killed again. And Reid is suing the DA. It’s not his kind of case—well, not now, but looking back, he represented a lot of random cases that weren’t just about money. I am curious about the man who is so much more than all of his money, but tonight isn’t the night I find out. By five, my email is already filling with staff ideas for Elijah and I move to my conference table to start working through them because we are doing this deal. I’m going to make it happen.
“Have you eaten at all?” Sallie asks, motioning to the sandwich still on my desk.