fashion.
He does just that, stroking my breast and using his words to add that something extra I need to the perfect penetration that’s gotten me so close. “You’re mine, Hailey,” he growls in my ear as I press my lips together to keep from screaming as I come hard.
As soon as I finish spasming around him, he pulls out and jerks himself off against my ass, the wet slide of his hand on his cock and his increasingly fast breaths the only sounds in the room as I stand there, bare-assed and shaking, leaning against the door.
The hot, wet splash of his come hitting my lower back is a surreal cherry on top of the angriest sex I’ve ever had. It’s made worse by the fact that I think the anger was all one-sided.
I slide a glance over my shoulder as he wipes me up with something. His undershirt. At some point he took off his jacket, which is on the floor, and now he’s bare-chested.
I turn around and wiggle back into my pants, trying hard not to touch him.
Why does he have to be so disgustingly beautiful? All chiseled muscle. And deep in the middle of that perfectly carved chest is a heart. Black and brittle on the outside, but there’s a tiny part of him that calls me his .
Damn him. I can’t handle being his.
“We done here?” I pour as much disdain into those three words as I can muster. Turns out, I can muster a lot.
His head snaps up at the ice in my voice. He stares at me for a minute before turning and going to a closet in the corner, where he pulls out a dress shirt and puts it on. “Sure. I should get to work. Give me a minute to wash up and I’ll get Tag to escort you home.”
“I can find him.”
He nods, not looking at me. “I didn’t use a condom. I’m sorry. If you need something…”
“Yeah, I noticed. Thanks for asking. I’m on the Pill. I assume all of your secret affairs put you in the high-risk category, so—”
“I’ve never done that before,” he says, cutting me off, but he doesn’t match my pissed-off tone. “I get tested. I’m clean.”
I sigh. I’m really mad about the lack of a condom. Cole would never put me at risk, and I could have told him to stop. I would have if I wasn’t protected against pregnancy. “I’m sorry. I trust you.” It takes all my effort to force myself to add something that will push him away. “With my body, anyway.”
He stiffens, and I turn away. It’s time for me to leave before I do any further damage.
“Hailey.”
I look back at him, keeping my hand on the door handle. I am leaving, no matter what he says.
But he just steps close enough to hold out a hard plastic card. “Take this. It’s a pass card to the office. It works on the elevator and in the stairwell. Access to both floors. If you ever need…”
I stare at the unmarked white card that tells me he trusts me with everything . My heart cracks. “I can’t take that.”
“I can’t let you go unless you do.” He presses it into my hand, his fingertips grazing the inside of my wrist as he flattens his palm against mine. “Up to you if you ever use it.”
“You already gave me your apartment key,” I whisper.
“So you’ve got some options.”
I wish I didn’t know a dozen ways I might need those options some day. I stare at our hands, just barely touching. Cole’s entire world between our palms.
— four—
Cole
“That was really uncalled for,” I spit at Jason as I storm back into the conference room. I’m talking about the stunt he pulled by asking me about her when she was right fucking there, but from the look on his face, he doesn’t care.
I don’t care about him right now, either.
Waiting until Hailey cleared out of the building was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I have no idea how long it will be until I can see her again, until it’s safe to bring my shadow into her light, even in secret, and now I’m pissed .
“How long you took to get rid of her? Yes, it was.” Jason scowls at me, but since we need to stay on