Page 24 of Nothing to Win

“You’ll answer me if I do something for you,” she said.His slow blink was assent.“What do you want?”

He pointed at the floor between his feet.“Kneel down here.”

Licking her lips, she subdued a smile as her pulse kicked up.“You know you only get one request.”Rolling the chair away from the desk, she stood to strut toward him, measuring each careful step, filled with peculiar, almost foreign, confidence.“If you have an intimate request, you should be more explicit.”

“When I have an intimate request, I will be,” he said and pointed to the floor again.“Kneel.”

Slipping her shoes from her feet, she stepped out of them as she walked up close.Pausing to gather her skirt, she lowered slowly until she was on her knees in front of him.

“Now what, Mister?”

For a moment, he admired her.It wasn’t until he curled his fingers around her jaw, tilting her head back that she smiled.

“Don’t smile.”

“You don’t like my smile?”she asked.

“I don’t like personal debts.”

What did that mean?“Debts?”

“Quid pro quo.”

Bowing, he guided their mouths together and kissed her just as he had last night.After he eased away, she stayed in mid-air, stealing his hand to press it against her cheek.

“Now you owe me two,” she said.

“Call them in quick.”

“I want you to answer my question,” she said, rising higher to align their mouths.“Before that, I want you to kiss me better than that.”

“Better than that?”he said with a hint of teasing.

“Better than that.”

Their mouths met again.Instead of a simple press, each sought more from the other until their lips parted and their tongues met.This was what the staring and the talking and the tension were about.This moment explained so much, it brought clarity.

She’d never known that passion could lock pieces together.While their mouths devoured and their heads angled to taste more, she began to comprehend what her subconscious had been trying to tell her… she wanted this man.

“Gianna!”

Her father’s voice ripped a bolt of terror through her that shattered the moment.

There he was in the doorway with Bram.

“Daddy,” she said and leaped to her feet.

“Is this how you spend your days?You say you’re going to that charity place and instead come here to debase yourself with him!”

Her dad and Bram came into the room.

A sheepish Jenna appeared behind them.“I’m sorry, sir.They wouldn’t wait.”

“Close the door,” Brogan said and the assistant backed out.“You are in my house now, Sear.Conduct yourself appropriately or you’ll be escorted out.”

Ever cool, Brogan didn’t let her father’s bluster faze him.God, she wished she could be more like that.Brogan had an advantage, he’d been expecting this.When he’d said, “a meeting with her father,” he could’ve hinted he meant imminently.

Her father couldn’t have walked in on anything worse; she had no one to blame for what he’d seen except herself.Even if they hadn’t been kissing, she’d have been on her knees before him.Had that been Brogan’s intention?Boy, had he got more than he bargained for.