The Intern (The Dalton Family #4)(59)

I said quietly, “I know.”

“Just give this time.”

They weren’t the words I’d wanted to hear.

They weren’t the words that would fill my heart.

They weren’t the words that would make me pull him toward me, locking us together.

“Can you do that?” he asked.

I didn’t trust my voice—there was too much emotion pulsing through me—so I nodded.

He brought me close and kissed me.

His embrace didn’t have the same passion he’d given me before.

Still, I was getting his lips, and I knew what that meant.

As he pulled away, the Declan I was beginning to know so well returned. I could see him getting inside his own head, weighing the complications of our situation.

Pushing me away.

Any second, he would turn into a raging asshole.

“I have to get back to work.” He scanned my eyes. “So do you.”

The statement wasn’t as harsh as I’d expected, but it wasn’t cuddly either.

I lifted myself off his lap, and we both got dressed.

“I’ll be back,” he said, heading for his private bathroom, where I assumed he was going to dispose of the condom.

I fixed myself as best as I could, and I went to my desk.

He didn’t see me leave. He didn’t see me take a seat at my desk.

He didn’t see me wipe my eyes and catch my breath.

Because I was already gone when he came out of the restroom.

And when he took a seat in his chair, attempting to look at me while I sat in mine, he wasn’t able to.

I’d closed his door.

I’d shut him out.

I’d pushed right back …





SEVENTEEN





DECLAN





Hannah made any outfit she put on look incredible, whether that be workout clothes or jeans. She knew her body, how to dress it, and accentuate her features. She always looked gorgeous.

Today, she took it one step further and looked absolutely magnificent.

She had on a black dress with hints of red that blended across her waist and chest, as though the designer had taken the faintest paintbrush and traced the sexiest parts of her body. Her heels were sky-high, like the ones she had dug into my legs several days ago. She wore her hair in long curls, her makeup highlighting her eyes and lips, both sparkling from the sunlight that came into the plane.

She sat across from me, running the toe of her shoe across her opposite shin, her black nails clicking on the keys of her laptop.

One thing had become extremely clear since I’d bound her hands in my office. Hell, maybe it had become clear since I’d kissed her outside the bar’s restroom.

Hannah Dalton was going to be the end of me.

The fear of losing her had gotten in my head.

I’d shown weakness.

I’d kissed her.

Fuck, I couldn’t help it.

It didn’t matter how hard I tried to fight it; this girl won every time.

I wanted her.

But it went beyond that.

My need wasn’t just physical, and that was the part I struggled with.

I wanted … more.

Except Hannah wasn’t just a normal girl and this wasn’t a typical circumstance.

With her being a Dalton and the cousin of my friends, there were certain expectations of me—and that was assuming Dominick didn’t fucking destroy me when I confessed the truth to him. Those brothers knew my reputation. If I was going to date their cousin, I needed to be sure what we had was going to last. Not only because I was going after my intern and that could jeopardize my job and the chance at being a partner, but also because she was a woman they loved, and that made all the difference.

I couldn’t dabble.

I couldn’t sway back and forth.

It was either us or nothing.

I had assumed this trip to Wyoming was going to answer many of the questions that had been haunting me. I would leave LA behind, and the mountains and nature would give me a chance to clear my head and provide some resolution. Shit, I’d even planned to do some horseback riding and hiking while I was there. But that plan got derailed when I was told Hannah would be coming along. Even then, I’d adjusted my outlook. I would see her in a different environment, away from The Dalton Group and her family, and we could enjoy some time together in Jackson Hole.

But those plans changed again.

We got a chaperone.

At the last minute, Jenner decided to come as well. Given that Walter Spade was one of his largest clients and future father-in-law, it made sense.

But his presence prevented me from having any alone time with her.

All I’d thought about as I stepped into the shower this morning, my fucking dick hard as I stood under the scalding spray, was how I was going to take her into the private bedroom at the back of the plane. The different positions I was going to bend her in, the way I would eat her pussy if we hit turbulence.

Maybe having Jenner here was for the best. Maybe what I needed were these thoughts of Hannah to evaporate from my head, so I could focus on Walter and my upcoming cases and the fast-track plan to making partner.

A woman had never been part of my long-term goals anyway.

And things had been fucking perfect before I walked into Professor Ward’s classroom.