Page 80 of The Temporary Fiancée
The phone on my desk rings again, and I groan into her shoulder. She laughs softly and shifts on my lap so I can reach for the receiver. I hit the speaker button without lifting it.
“Hello?”
Marjorie’s brisk voice fills the office. “Your three o’clock with the Lansing Group is here, Mr. Eastwood. I have them waiting in conference room B.”
I bite back a sigh. The Lansing meeting has been on my calendar for weeks. They’re a potential investor group, and my father has been clear about how badly he wants this deal closed. But with Olivia sitting in my lap with her cheeks flushed and her mouth still swollen from mine, the last thing I want to do is spend the next hour walking three men in expensive suits through projections for a Manhattan property expansion. I could pass it off. I have other people who could take it.
Before I can decide, Olivia climbs off my lap. She smooths her hair, tucks a stray lock behind her ear, and straightens her shirt, making herself look somewhat more presentable, although the flush on her cheeks hasn’t quite faded.
“You should get back to work,” she tells me. “I’ll see you at home.”
I open my mouth to argue, but she grins at me, her eyes still bright, and the playful tilt of her smile leaves me speechless. She gives me a quick kiss, then crosses the office with a confident sway to her hips and slips out.
I lean back in my chair, run a hand through my hair, and clear my throat. Then I remember suddenly that Marjorie is still on the line.
“Okay,” I tell my assistant with a sigh. “I’ll be down in five. Tell them I’m just wrapping up a call.”
“Will do.” Marjorie hangs up.
I take a few deep breaths to compose myself, my mind still on Olivia and what we just did. It was hotter than I ever could’ve imagined, and after the day I’ve had, much needed.
I use my cell phone as a mirror to check my appearance, straightening my tie and ensuring that my belt is in place. Then I head off to my meeting, still caught up in a haze.
Chapter 19
Olivia
When Reed comes home laterthat evening—much later than either of us was hoping—I pad out into the hallway in my socks to greet him.
Before the words “welcome back” are out of my mouth, he has me pinned up against the wall, his eyes locked on mine. He’s so tall, towering over me, that my greeting dies in my throat, replaced by an undignified squeak.
He kisses me until I’m breathless, then trails his lips along my jaw and down to my collarbone. Between kisses, he whispers, “I missed you.”
“Did you?” I gasp.
“I was hard all day at work,” he growls. “Thinking about your pretty little mouth wrapped around me… it was impossible to focus on anything else.”
“Well, sorry about that.”
He straightens, gazing down at me hungrily. “You should be.”
“Actually, you know what?” I say, raising an eyebrow at him. “I’mnotsorry about that. It’s notmyfault you couldn’t stop thinking about me.”
“It absolutely is,” he disagrees, his voice a low rumble in his throat. “You have no idea.”
“I don’t know.” I shrug, feigning nonchalance. “If anything, I should’ve helped you clear your head, right?”
He hums, his hand sliding down my back and coming to rest on the curve of my ass. “That reminds me,” he says. “I never got the chance to repay the favor.” He leans forward, his teeth on the outer edge of my ear as he breathes, “I want to do it now.”
My breath catches at his words.
Reed’s teeth scrape lightly against the back of my neck, then nip at my earlobe. He tugs at the skin there with his teeth, his eyes briefly falling closed, his breath warm against my skin.
“Reed, you don’t have to do that.” I have to wet my lips before I can keep speaking. “Really. I’m okay. Earlier wasn’t… I wasn’t trying to get something out of it.”
His hands close around my wrists and pin them to the wall above my head with a slow, deliberate strength that makes my pulse spike. He kisses me deep, his tongue sliding against mine, his body pressing me into the wall. When he pulls back, there’s a slow smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.
“‘Have to’ and ‘go down on you’ will never occur in the same sentence for me.”
