down.
Something’s not right . That thought danced through my mind. No shit. She never swore at work. If nothing else, that was a clear indication that she was upset.
Aleena gave me a sharp-edged smile. “Let’s eat, Mr. Snow.”
Shit. She was seriously pissed.
There were a few things I’d decided over the past ten days. Ten days since I’d held her against me, had her under me, felt her body vibrate as she moaned and came around me. I could count each one of them, could probably detail every last second of them, because too many seconds ticked away without her in my arms.
But those things I’d decided?
They were short and they were simple.
I missed her.
There were things in my life that were expected of me. Up until recently, I hadn’t thought much of them. I’d just accepted them.
It was like the sky was blue, even when the clouds hid it.
The sun would rise.
I was rich.
And it was expected that I would marry or at least cohabitate with a socially acceptable female. Gotta carry on the family name somehow, right?
But…I didn’t want to.
A socially acceptable female was somebody like Penelope Harrington, and if I had to come home to that bitch even one night, I knew I’d walk in front of a speeding SUV with my arms spread out. I’d welcome the ugly, messy death, because at least that would be fast. Any sort of life with Penelope would be a slow, miserable death. She would suck every bit of me out, and I don’t mean in the hot and sexy way that involved her mouth and any kind of pleasure on my part or hers.
Socially acceptable. Duty. Expectation.
Those lay in one direction and I knew it.
The woman in front of me was something else entirely, and I was starting to realize that she was the last sort of woman I needed in my life. But she might also be the only woman who ever mattered.
She wouldn’t stand calmly and aloofly at my side as I discussed my next business deal. When cutting remarks were made about class or race among those in my social circle, as they often were, Aleena would cut back. And she’d make damn sure everybody in listening distance heard just how idiotic and shallow they all came across.
Now, she sat across the table from me in silence, twisting her fork in the pasta I’d ordered for lunch, her eyes meeting mine with cool defiance. The one thing I wanted more than anything was to knock the whole fucking table out of the way and grab her, shove her skirt up and pull her down on my cock.
She was mine.
With a clarity unlike anything I’d ever known, I knew that one thing.
Aleena was mine.
It took all the patience I had to eat maybe half of the food on my plate. Then I leaned back and sipped from the wine I’d selected. She wouldn’t choose. I’d brought in four different wine selections, all vintages I knew she liked, but she had just shrugged them off and refused to show any interest, so I went with the one I thought she’d enjoyed the most.
She’d had maybe three sips.
She’d eaten four bites of pasta and pushed the food around.
Finally, she put the fork down and stopped even pretending to eat, leveling me a look that should have pissed me off. If she had been anybody other than who she was, I would’ve been hard-pressed to keep my temper.
If I had to put a caption on that look, it would’ve been simple: Bite Me .
I was tempted to do just that.
“I’ve been thinking…” I put the glass of wine down and tossed my napkin beside it.
Aleena lifted a brow. Her voice was coolly professional. “Should I get my planner?”
“No.” I wouldn’t rise to the bait. There was no reason. “This isn’t related to business. It’s personal.”
“Oh, really?”
Aleena’s eyes narrowed as she studied me. The moment stretched out and I felt like a microbe caught between slides, examined by her. Refusing to let her get under my skin, I hooked one ankle over my knee and gave her a cocky smile. “We never have really talked about…us.”
I expected a reaction from
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