Billionaire’s Pursuit(29)

 Which, ugh, I still had to clean all that up.

 Shaking my head, I looked up at the ceiling. What was I doing here? I had to leave. This is… I just don’t belong here. Feeling panicked all of a sudden, I squeezed my clutch and began to step as lightly as possible towards the door of the suite. I'd made not more than six feet of progress, when Grey’s voice boomed from behind.

 “Maddie,” he said in a tone that sounded like a command.

 I froze in place and fought the urge to turn back to look at him. If I did, I wasn’t sure if I’d walk to the entrance, or run. Just then, I felt Grey’s presence behind me.

 “What’s wrong?” he said, as he walked around in front of me, barefoot.

 I drew my eyes up to meet his. In his hand, he held what looked to be my check. I swallowed hard at the sight of it.

 “Grey, I can’t,” I stammered. “I just can’t.”

 Without hesitating, Grey nodded and tore the check to shreds. He tossed the bits in the air and I cursed my stupidity as I watched a large number of dollars fall to the ground.

 “Have it your way, Maddie,” he replied with a flat tone. “Feel free to show yourself out.”

 He glared at me for a moment and then started to walk past me back towards his bedroom. My head turned towards him a bit and he stopped in my peripheral vision.

 “I’m not sure what you want from me, Maddie. I offer you an opportunity that most people, man or woman, would jump at. Instead of giving it fair consideration, you accuse me of wanting to sleep with you. Then when I offer you the check in spite of that, you refuse it.”

 I looked away but didn’t offer a response. The reason? I had none.

 “I am a busy man, Maddie,” he continued with a growing tone of indifference. “I don’t have time to play these fucking games with you.”

 I exhaled and spun back to face him. “I’m not playing games, Grey. I just don’t want to live in fear that if things didn’t work out between us I’d lose everything. Can’t you understand?”

 “Frankly, no, I can’t,” he stepped close to me, like the day we’d first met, leaving less than a foot between us as he continued. “There is no ‘us’, Maddie. I’m offering to invest in your business. Nothing more.”

 I held his gaze for a moment or two but as his intensity and focus increased, I broke away and looked down at the ground. I wasn’t even sure where to look.

 Just… away.

 Grey continued, “Do I want to throw you down on that dining room table right now and take you? Hell yes. Am I willing to do that and risk throwing away a business deal with you and an investment in something I believe has real promise? No Maddie, I'm not.”

 I swallowed at his unlikely confession. His words stoked my carnal urgings once again. Shit, no matter when I was around him, they were always there, tormenting me. I fought every instinct I had to just fall into him and let him do with me what he would. Yet somehow, I resisted, as Grey continued to speak.

 “Despite what you may have heard or have to come to believe about me, I don’t say things I don’t mean. I’ve made my interest in you, as well as your business, clear. I can keep the two separate. But if you cannot, then that’s understandable. You might think that I’ve got the world by the tail, that there’s never a downside risk for me in anything I do. But, in fact, all I have in life are downsides, Maddie. If you can imagine waking up every day wondering who is going to lie to you to get ahead, then you’ll have some idea of that it’s like to be me.”

 I turned my head back towards him and locked my eyes on his. “I am not lying to you, Grey.”

 “Nor I to you.”

 I felt sick to my stomach. I hung my head and tried to think of anything I could say to tell him how sorry I was, that I didn’t mean it and no, I didn’t understand what it meant to be him. I wanted to say all that and more, but I couldn't because all those words weren’t necessary when only the next three would suffice.

 “Grey, I’m sorry.”

 “I am too, Maddie. I am too. But it’s time for you to go now.”

 I nodded and turned my back to walk towards the front door of the room. As I moved, Grey trailed behind me until at last I reached the entrance. I stopped and turned back to face him for what I supposed was the final time, but before I walked out on him forever, I had to know if it was true.

 Tugging my hair behind my ear, I made a quick motion with my tongue and moistened my lips.