My heart squeezed so tight it felt like it stopped beating, and then took off in a heavy, stuttering gallop.
The rehearsal had been so disorganized that it wasn’t until this moment, right here, that I felt the full force of our impending wedding.
I was getting married tomorrow.
To Bennett Ryan.
To the man who’d anger-fucked me into loving him.
I remembered . . .
“Miss Mills, it would make working with you so much easier if you wouldn’t insist on ignoring all grammatical rules in your meeting minutes.”
“Mr. Ryan, I noticed the company is offering communication training to entry-level managers. Shall I sign you up?”
“Take these invoices down to accounting. What, Miss Mills? Do you require a map?”
I reached for my water, hand shaking as I downed half of it.
“You okay, baby?” Bennett whispered in my ear. I nodded frantically, giving him the calmest smile I could manage. I’m sure I looked like a lunatic. I could feel sweat breaking out on my forehead, and my silverware clattered onto my bread plate as I fumbled for my napkin. Bennett stared in naked fascination, as if he were watching a lightning storm build in slow motion.
“It’s nice to see you finally taking an interest in your physical fitness, Miss Mills.”
Beautiful fucking Bastard.
“And then you’re going to make up the hour lost this morning by doing a mock board presentation of the Papadakis account for me in the conference room at six.”
And I remembered . . .
“Ask me to make you come. Say please, Miss Mills.”
“Please go fuck yourself.”
Bennett slid a calming hand along the back of my neck. I looked up at him, blinked rapidly. “I love you,” I whispered, feeling like my heart was being strung up on a kite, sent headlong into the wind. It was nearly impossible to keep from climbing onto him, begging him to touch me.
“I love you, too.” He leaned closer, brushed his lips across mine. All around us, people broke out in cheers and catcalls. But very carefully he pressed his mouth to my ear and murmured, “Don’t you fucking tempt me right now, Mills. This isn’t the place to test my willpower.”
I tried to explain that I wasn’t playing a game, I wasn’t trying to seduce him right now, but no words came out.
He smiled, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear, but the sweet gesture was betrayed by his sharp hiss: “If you try to tease me with my father sitting right here, I’ll take out any gentle tomorrow night and give you nothing but hard and fast. I’ll leave you hungry and unsatisfied on our wedding night.” He pulled back, winking, and then passed the basket of rolls to Elliott on his right.
I remembered when, during a meeting once, Henry had found the buttons to my ruined blouse on the floor of the conference room and Bennett had taunted me, asking me if they were indeed mine. He’d been the one to ruin the shirt, and there he’d been, acting blameless. I remembered the hurt, and the anger, and the terror I felt as I realized he was out to ruin my career in front of his family.
But he actually hadn’t been. He was simply as fumbling as I was, trying to form a connection somehow, and completely at the mercy of this undeniable fire between us.
I’d run, livid, from the meeting as soon as it finished. The memory was so sharp in my thoughts, I could still hear the elevator doors close, feel the heat of his breath on my neck from all those months ago.