The Intern (The Dalton Family #4)(47)

I took a deep breath. “Which is what?”

“You’re more interested in her than you want to be.”

My brows rose, my heart beating in my throat. “Interested how?”

“You know exactly how.”

Sweat slicked across my palm as I barked, “What the fuck, Dominick?”

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re wrong. So fucking wrong.”

He leaned back in his chair, his arms crossing. “We’ll see about that.”

Anger pulsed through me.

Had I not hidden my feelings well enough?

Had I gotten soft?

I set my arms on the table, moving closer to him, locking our stares. “What exactly are you going to see?”

“Something has crawled up your ass since the day Hannah walked into your office. Men like you show rage when they’re trying to fight an attraction. I know how you work. How? Because it takes one to know one.” His hand lifted to his chin. “Here’s what I’m going to say about that. Hannah has about as much experience with men as she does with law. She’s innocent. Wholesome. What she doesn’t need is a man who fucks a different woman every night, who’s going to toss her the second he conquers her.” When his hand dropped, he brought his drink up to his mouth. “Like her brother, I’ve protected her my whole life, and that’s never going to stop.”

“You’re reading this all wrong.”

“Am I?” He set down the scotch, his eyes now challenging me. “If so, then just consider this a warning. But if I’m right about this, then also consider this a warning.”

What had happened with Hannah in the alley was a mistake. A night I had misjudged, and it shouldn’t have happened due to how much she had apparently drunk.

But the conference room?

The table. The window.

That piece of heaven between her legs.

That was … everything I’d wanted.

And it had been just as hot as the alley.

But it couldn’t happen a third time even though it shouldn’t have even happened a second time.

“The last thing she needs right now is a distraction.” He took a drink and freed up his hand, sticking it in the fold of his crossed arms. “She needs to finish out this internship, pass the bar, and then come take her place at our firm. I don’t want anything derailing that plan. Understood?”

“You’re wasting your breath.”

His face turned hard, edgy. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

The moment he finished speaking, the girls returned to our table, the scent of Hannah immediately filling my nose as she sat beside me.

The same scent that I’d sucked off my fingers after they were inside her cunt.

The same scent I’d smelled all day in court while she sat directly behind me.

As she laughed at something Dominick had said, I took a quick glance at her profile. Her smooth, beautiful cheek, etched with a faint line from her stunning smile. Penny-shaped eyes, lips that were so perfectly pouty.

She was a vision, almost impossible to look away from.

But I forced myself to and instantly caught Dominick’s stare.

Ah hell.

That motherfucker was no fool. Somehow, he’d seen right through me.

Our conversation was a warning all right.

I needed to fight these feelings. These urges. The thoughts of her that were consuming me more and more each day.

“Let’s go grab a refill,” Kendall said to Dominick, wrapping her arm around his. “Our waitress is slammed; it’s going to take her forever to return.” She looked at me and then at Hannah. “Refills?”

“Yes,” I replied.

Hannah nodded.

“Be right back,” Kendall said, and the couple left.

Once we were alone, I felt Hannah’s stare.

But I didn’t look at her. I focused on my drink, which was almost empty.

“I haven’t had a chance to congratulate you,” she said. “What you did at that trial was nothing short of amazing.”

I had to give it to her. She could certainly separate business from pleasure.

“It’s what I’m good at.”

I finally looked at her, instantly knowing it was a mistake.

I shoved my hands into my lap, squeezing my fingers together so I didn’t reach out and grab her.

“No, Declan … there are many things you’re good at.” She licked her lips. “I need to ask you something. Something that’s been eating at me.” She quieted, as though Dominick were still at the table. “Why wouldn’t you kiss me?”

She was going there?

Now?

After a week had passed and I hadn’t so much as tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.

“Hannah, it doesn’t matter.”

Because it wasn’t going to happen again.

Yet all I could think about was grabbing her face and slamming our mouths together.

I needed to control myself.

I needed to get this girl out of my fucking head.

She traced the rim of her glass. “If you’re not going to give me anything, at least give me that.”

I tried not to read into the words she’d chosen.

How her desire to have something between us had clearly been spelled out in that single sentence.