Page 54 of Total Abandon

“Sweeney,” Zeke greets him tersely and I breathe a sigh of relief to know they aren’t friends. Given that they both operate in the same tech circles, I had a sneaking suspicion they would know each other, but during my initial internet research of Zeke, I wasn’t able to find any social connection.

“Miss Devlin, how lovely to see you.” Anthony flashes an oily smile, and a small part of me marvels that I ever found this man attractive. To see him standing here now, in Zeke’s aura, makes it almost laughable.

“Mr. Sweeney,” I manage to get out stiffly, making an effort to relax my fingers around the stem of my champagne flute.

The blonde on his arm clears her throat softly and Anthony glances at her like he’s just remembered her existence. “Ah, forgive me. Zeke, Chloe, this is Penelope Masters, her father sits on the board of Aztech.” I swallow back a laugh. So, he’s back to his old tricks of only being seen in public with the daughters of the influential.

“Lovely to meet you, Penelope,” I say kindly, offering her a genuine smile. It’s not her fault she hasn’t figured him out for the gigantic asshole he is, but she will in the end.

“Yes, we’ve met.” Zeke’s deep voice cuts through the air and Penelope turns to look at him with a shy smile. Fuck. Is there a beautiful woman on this planet that Zeke hasn’t fucked? The only silver lining is that Anthony seems to be coming to the same conclusion and if I didn’t know him so well, I would have missed the angry tick in his jaw. Yes, there is definitely some testosterone-fueled rivalry between these two. As far as Anthony is concerned, anyway. Zeke, on the other hand, seems entirely unbothered.

“Please excuse us, we were just heading outside to meet our friends.” Zeke nods once in Anthony’s direction and sweeps us away without another word. My back feels stiff as we walk toward the French doors that are open to reveal a meticulously curated garden terrace overlooking the pool.

“Are you okay?” he asks quietly, maneuvering us to the left to avoid a group of men and women who eye us curiously.

“Fine.” But I’m not fine. I can feel panic and rage and…messswelling up inside me like a tornado. Like seeing Anthony for the first time in months has flipped the secret switch to a fuse countdown I didn’t know existed.

“Chloe!” My eyes snap up, zeroing in on Mia Walker, who is standing by a creeping vine trellis with her husband in tow.

Forcing a smile onto my face I don’t feel, I allow Zeke to guide us over. The petite brunette envelops me in a hug, and I cling on for dear life. “Are you okay?” she asks when she pulls back, her hands on my shoulders as she frowns at me.

“Just got held up by Sweeney,” I hear Zeke grumble to Mason next to us.

“Yeah, fine.” I offer her a tight smile and finish the last of my champagne, hoping the sparkling liquid will throw a blanket over the storm within. I need something stronger. “Excuse me one second, I’m just going to…switch out my drink.” I hold my empty glass up and ignore the look of concern etched onto Mia’s delicate features.

Turning on my heel, I stalk away as fast as I can. Sweat beads on my palms and my breathing comes in a little heavy. I spy the drinks table, but I can already tell it’s too late for that. I need privacy so I can let this panic attack have its intimate moment with me before I tell it to fuck off. Veering left, I find myself in a decadent hallway, lavished with deep, plum red carpet and a gilded ceiling. A furious tattoo beats in my chest as fight or flight swallows me whole.

“Chloe?” I curse inwardly as I hear Zeke’s deep voice behind me, followed by his heavy footsteps.

“I’m fine, just…need a minute,” I choke out, clutching at my tight throat with shaking fingers. I’m at the end of the hallway now and round the corner, spotting a doorway at one end. Whatever lies beyond that is my goal.

“Chloe!” A rough hand snakes around my upper arm, jerking me backward. He takes one look at my face and his whole demeanor changes. Moisture springs to my eyes as I fight for breath. His eyes flare with some unknown emotion and he closes thedistance between us, cocooning me close to the wall with his body. “Just breathe with me, baby,” he says softly, lifting one hand to cup my cheek.

He sucks in a deep breath through his nose, and I focus all of my attention on reciprocating. He blows the breath out of his mouth, and it hits my heated skin like a caress. When we suck in our next breath, the masculine scent of him lodges in my nose and sparks a kernel of desire amongst the panic. By the fourth time, my chest is tight for a whole other reason.

“What’s going on?” he asks, tracing his thumb lightly beneath my lower lip. Fuck. How do I explain this without baring everything? The pull to spill my guts to him threatens to overwhelm me, but I just know that the moment he sees my mess, he’ll stop looking at me the way he is right now. Like he wants to close the distance between us and kiss me until I forget everything that isn’t his name. I want that too.

I grapple around for something, anything to throw at him that isn’t the truth. “I’m just sick of being seen on the arm of someone who has fucked half the people in the room.” Anger, my old friend. So easily and readily plucked from my armory to deflect. He rears his head back a few inches, his nostrils flaring. “It’s fucking embarrassing.”

“Who am I supposed to have fucked this time?” he snarls, his thumb tightening around my chin so hard it almost hurts.

“You tell me! Penelope, for starters. I mean, really Zeke, at what point do you—” He stuns me into silence by reaching up his thumb and dragging it over my lips, smearing my lipstick. My lower lip pops back into place as his thumb reaches my chin and a streak of something primal and dark rocks across burning chocolate irises. Before I can find my voice, he does it again, this time pressing both of my lips to the side as he smears lipstick across my cheek.

“I didn’t sleep with Penelope. She offered, I declined. It was long before we met, so quit spilling that fucking venom from your lips and behave.”

Stunned into silence, my heart hammers wildly against my ribs as he leans down and slides his nose along mine, rough fingers tracing down the backs of my arms to capture my waist. Our breathtangles, goosebumps erupt, and he’s pressed so tightly to my body that the heat of him threatens to overwhelm me. My fingers jump up and ball tightly around the lapels of his suit jacket, and my head tips back without my permission, silently offering my mouth to his. We’re so close that only a hair's width separates our lips now, but he chuckles darkly into my parted mouth. One hand reaches up to snake around my throat, pinning me in place against the wall. I whimper, my eyes wide as he stares at me.

“Oh no, mi fuego. I told you that I would make you beg, and I meant it.” He smirks wickedly as he tilts his head to score his teeth along the line of my jaw, drawing a throaty moan from me as my eyes drift shut. Tingles dance along my skin, sending a hard line straight between my legs.

I try to clench my thighs, but he slips his leg between them, pinning me in place. My eyes snap open, my chest heaving as desire rips through my veins like wildfire. Annoyance flares and I curl my lip back to bare my teeth. Slipping one hand between us and wrapping my fingers around the rock-hard length of him through his pants, I meet his glittering gaze. He grunts, the smile dying on his decadent lips as I squeeze. I feel him pulse beneath my grip and his primal hold on my throat tightens. I knew it was big, but my god. I doubt I’d be able to wrap my fingers all the way around.

“What do you want, Chloe?” His voice is like gravel, rough and deep.

I switch tactics, dropping my hand and hiking one leg around his hip so that I can grind up against him. His eyes flare like molten pools of lava, and even though his hand pushes my throat harder into the wall, he rocks his hips into me like he’s unable to stop himself. He lets out a long groan from the back of his throat that sets my skin on fire. Pleasure bursts from where we touch, the friction sending sweet tingles dancing into my lower belly.

“Mujer testaruda, me vuelves jodidamente loco,” he bites out through gritted teeth, suddenly dropping his hold on my throat to snatch up both of my thighs and wrap them around his hips, scooping me off the floor. My back hits the wall and air hits my ass where he slips my dress up to my waist. He rocks his hips into me again, the thick, hard length of his cock pressing right against mycore, his fingers digging into my ass. We both groan as I feel my underwear slip over my slick clit, our foreheads pressed together.

“You don’t get more than this until you say it, Chloe,” he snarls as he snaps his hips forward again. I throw my head back and let out a strangled moan. My body is aflame, alight with a desperate need that has me barreling toward some invisible edge. Maybe this is enough, I tell myself as I grapple at his broad shoulder and sink my other hand into the silky hair at the back of his neck.