Dirty Rogue: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance(18)
Every breath I take burns in my lungs. Being near him is like flirting with the surface of the sun.
“Wonderful. I can set up some appearances this week and next that will get the ball rolling on positive press coverage.” I flip to a fresh page in the notepad I’ve been scribbling in while we ate. “As far as press releases go, is there any kind of dedication you’d like to make?”
“Dedication?” He leans back in his chair and I can see the outline of his cock through his pants. He’s still hard.
“I’ve found that, for some of my clients, shifts in reputation seem more authentic if we can hint at some personal reason to take advantage of the opportunities. Maybe someone in your family who has inspired you? I’ve also had clients mention people they’d like to memorialize.”
Christian takes in a deep, haggard breath and quickly looks away, his eyes dropping to focus at a crack in the floor. Fuck. I’ve hit a nerve. But just as quickly as they fell, his eyes are back locked on mine, and I feel the charged connection between us again, strong as ever.
“There are a couple of people I would—” He starts speaking in a soft tone, but then trails off. “My mother spent a lot of time on charity work before she died.”
Oh, Christ. That tidbit was probably in the portfolio. I can’t imagine losing my mother, even though she and my father have gone a little buck wild in their retirement years and rarely stay in the same place for more than a few weeks at a time. At least I know I can always call her. “I’m so sorry,” I say softly.
“It’s all right,” he says, with that rakish smile that I know I’ll never be able to get out of my head. “It’s been a few years. My father won’t have any problem with mentioning her in a press release.”
The heaviness of the moment settles on my shoulders, and I feel like a complete idiot. I look over my notes. We’ve covered more than enough ground for this meeting. Honestly, if he stays in here any longer, I might tear off all of my clothes and throw myself at him.
And that would be a disaster for us both.
I stand up from my seat and Christian follows suit. “Thank you for coming in to meet with me, Christian,” I say, offering him my hand. “I’ll see you on Wednesday for our next appointment.”
He takes it, and a shock of desire explodes in my chest.
One tug and two steps, and he’s got me around the side of the desk, inches away from him, and he leans down to whisper into my ear. The words he says make me even wetter and my heart beat harder.
“You’ll see me before then. Did you think I’d ignore that kiss?”
Then he’s gone, leaving me breathless and shaking in my office, my body begging for him to come back.
Chapter 14
Christian
In the elevator on the way down to the lobby of HRM’s building, I put my fingers to my lips. I can still feel the imprint of Quinn’s kisses there, still feel the sensitive spots where she took my lip between her teeth and bit down just hard enough to drive me insanely wild.
I sensed it the moment I saw her, but that kiss—that epic f*cking collision of a kiss—has confirmed it for me. She’s like no one I’ve ever met.
Then watching her sit through the rest of that meeting, so cool, so collected…
At least on the outside.
I saw how her breath caught in her throat. I saw the flushed color in her cheeks, the way she darted her tongue out to lick her bottom lip.
She wanted more of me.
Just as badly as I wanted more of her.
If it were anyone else, I might have taken the risk.
I might have bent her over on all fours on that little sofa in her office and f*cked her until she clenched and spasmed in an orgasm around my cock, her coral dress shoved up around her waist to allow me access.
If it was anyone else, I wouldn’t care quite so much about screwing up her job for her. I wouldn’t care so much about adding yet another notch to my playboy belt. Christian Pierce can’t help himself. He takes what he wants, and then he discards the leftovers. That’s the game.
But not with her.
No, with her it’s different. This is so much more powerful that I feel swept away, and I’m the one who initiated the kiss.
It’s different—yet I’m f*cking fooling myself. I did take a risk like that. It might be an even bigger gamble than taking her from behind in her brand new office.
Shit. What the hell was I thinking when I told her I’d see her again before Wednesday?
There—right there. That was the biggest risk of all.
I’ve set myself up.
In so many goddamn ways.
I want to see her. I need to see her. I need it more than I’ve ever needed anything in my entire life, and it’s more than just the insane attraction to her gorgeous body. Knowing more about her is an itch I have to scratch, and secondhand information won’t be enough. It would also be f*cking weird to ask Carolyn the kinds of questions I want to ask Quinn.
There’s the added complication that she’s been assigned to handle my PR. As far as I can see, there’s not really a good way to get around that. My father hand-selected the firm. I don’t know his reasons, and I don’t really need to, but switching firms isn’t an option. I doubt he’d accept my reasoning, which is essentially that I need to date the woman who’s handling Pierce Industries—me—as a client.