you’re told.”
As he closed the office door behind him, he saw Caroline drop into her desk chair with a barely lucid expression, one hand slipping out of sight as she watched him leave.
Chapter Seven
Caroline and Eliza sat side by side in a back room at the New York Stock Exchange, waiting for the cue for Preston’s Financial to ring the opening bell, an engagement that Eliza had been accompanying her family on since college. An assorted fruit and bagel platter had been provided for them, but she and Eliza had left it untouched on the coffee table, continuing to feed the silence instead of their bellies.
Friday night had ended with her dragging a bemused-looking Eliza out Serve’s door. Apparently Caroline hadn’t been the only one to get a taste of the club’s brand of entertainment, but her best friend continued to remain stubbornly closed-lipped about her own upstairs experience. After an awkward conversation wherein they both ascertained the other was neither harmed nor required medical assistance, they’d both gone straight home. Do not pass go, do not collect much-anticipated dumplings.
For her part, Caroline’s stomach was full to bursting with knots, since this would be the night her Date with a Dom happened. She still couldn’t believe she’d agreed to an evening with Jonah Briggs wherein the expectation of sex not only existed from the outset but happened to be the main focus of the night. Not her article, as should have been the case. The article her father had informed her this morning he wanted to be flat-out negative. He wanted Oliver to drop the merger idea once and for all and wanted Caroline to achieve it with a few taps on her laptop keyboard. Knowing what was expected of her professionally—maligning Serve for all intents and purposes—made her want to cancel on Jonah, to simply call Serve and leave a curt message with the bartender like a coward. But just for one night, she’d love to forget about the pressure resting on her shoulders. To let loose that fluttery hormonal part of her that had been craving fulfillment since that night with Jonah. The part that felt a dark, undeniable anticipation.
Not just any fulfillment, either. She’d tried it the…manual way. Technically, it had worked, even if it hadn’t been easy with her puppies in bow ties screensaver staring her in the face. It had been pathetic in comparison to what Jonah had coaxed from her body, leading her to admit one indisputable fact. She wanted, craved Jonah. He’d grabbed hold of her libido and shaken it like a snow globe. Now the little particles, twisting and shimmering behind the glass, refused to settle.
He wanted to show her his world, prove it wasn’t as depraved as she thought. But how could she write an objective article when he planned to steal her objectivity? Had already stolen some of it? Her sex life, up until this point, had consisted of a few third-date consummations, all of which had paled in comparison to Jonah simply sharing air with her. Whether she liked it or not, their chemistry was extreme, to a level she’d considered a myth until now. Worse, she found herself wanting to know more about him. Her weakness for contradictions had been far from satisfied during their two encounters. In fact, it had only ballooned. A man who went from playful to imploring to sexually formidable within seconds…he intrigued the hell out of her.
And then, there had been that unforgettable hint of vulnerability. Just after she’d told him their connection to each other wasn’t healthy, career-wise or personally, right before he’d put his hand up her skirt, she’d witnessed just a brief flash of sorrow. If she had to guess, she’d say he’d heard those words numerous times. Knowing she’d been part of a pattern in any way made her feel slightly ill. Regretful, even.
None of this should matter in the slightest. Tonight, she would get this longing for a man who equated to career suicide out of her system.
As he closed the office door behind him, he saw Caroline drop into her desk chair with a barely lucid expression, one hand slipping out of sight as she watched him leave.
Chapter Seven
Caroline and Eliza sat side by side in a back room at the New York Stock Exchange, waiting for the cue for Preston’s Financial to ring the opening bell, an engagement that Eliza had been accompanying her family on since college. An assorted fruit and bagel platter had been provided for them, but she and Eliza had left it untouched on the coffee table, continuing to feed the silence instead of their bellies.
Friday night had ended with her dragging a bemused-looking Eliza out Serve’s door. Apparently Caroline hadn’t been the only one to get a taste of the club’s brand of entertainment, but her best friend continued to remain stubbornly closed-lipped about her own upstairs experience. After an awkward conversation wherein they both ascertained the other was neither harmed nor required medical assistance, they’d both gone straight home. Do not pass go, do not collect much-anticipated dumplings.
For her part, Caroline’s stomach was full to bursting with knots, since this would be the night her Date with a Dom happened. She still couldn’t believe she’d agreed to an evening with Jonah Briggs wherein the expectation of sex not only existed from the outset but happened to be the main focus of the night. Not her article, as should have been the case. The article her father had informed her this morning he wanted to be flat-out negative. He wanted Oliver to drop the merger idea once and for all and wanted Caroline to achieve it with a few taps on her laptop keyboard. Knowing what was expected of her professionally—maligning Serve for all intents and purposes—made her want to cancel on Jonah, to simply call Serve and leave a curt message with the bartender like a coward. But just for one night, she’d love to forget about the pressure resting on her shoulders. To let loose that fluttery hormonal part of her that had been craving fulfillment since that night with Jonah. The part that felt a dark, undeniable anticipation.
Not just any fulfillment, either. She’d tried it the…manual way. Technically, it had worked, even if it hadn’t been easy with her puppies in bow ties screensaver staring her in the face. It had been pathetic in comparison to what Jonah had coaxed from her body, leading her to admit one indisputable fact. She wanted, craved Jonah. He’d grabbed hold of her libido and shaken it like a snow globe. Now the little particles, twisting and shimmering behind the glass, refused to settle.
He wanted to show her his world, prove it wasn’t as depraved as she thought. But how could she write an objective article when he planned to steal her objectivity? Had already stolen some of it? Her sex life, up until this point, had consisted of a few third-date consummations, all of which had paled in comparison to Jonah simply sharing air with her. Whether she liked it or not, their chemistry was extreme, to a level she’d considered a myth until now. Worse, she found herself wanting to know more about him. Her weakness for contradictions had been far from satisfied during their two encounters. In fact, it had only ballooned. A man who went from playful to imploring to sexually formidable within seconds…he intrigued the hell out of her.
And then, there had been that unforgettable hint of vulnerability. Just after she’d told him their connection to each other wasn’t healthy, career-wise or personally, right before he’d put his hand up her skirt, she’d witnessed just a brief flash of sorrow. If she had to guess, she’d say he’d heard those words numerous times. Knowing she’d been part of a pattern in any way made her feel slightly ill. Regretful, even.
None of this should matter in the slightest. Tonight, she would get this longing for a man who equated to career suicide out of her system.
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