Honey grinned with delight, Sutton forgotten. “Yes, you may, pretty thing.”
And then Sapphire’s head was between Honey’s legs, lapping up all that sweet juice no doubt dribbling down the soon-to-be-new owner of the most decadent club in town.
And Sutton couldn’t wait to get out of there.
All he wanted was Elizabeth.
Bookmark: 15
-15-
Elizabeth fell into bed later that night, exhausted to the point of welcoming a coma when she drowsily heard Sutton entering the apartment around one in the morning.
Even as exhausted as she was, every sense went on high alert, her ears pricking at every sound.
And the anger and hurt that she’d managed to stuff into a deep, dark place, welled to the surface like lava erupting from a sleeping volcano.
She wanted to quip something cutting and hurtful as soon as he entered the bedroom and started undressing but she remained silent.
Maybe he wouldn’t realize she was awake and would just climb into bed and go to sleep.
But even that wasn’t ideal because now that she was awake she wanted to yell and scream at him and if she didn’t, then she might just explode from the tension building inside her.
“I know you’re awake,” he said with a sigh as if wishing she weren’t. “Exactly how long are you going to nurse a grudge?”
A grudge? That’s what he thought she was doing? A litany of hot words bubbled to the surface but she kept them back.
He didn’t deserve her ire.
He was a pig and she hated him. Well, that was the plan.
As it turned out, she couldn’t help spatting, “I don’t care enough about you to hold a grudge.” And then gave him her back.
“My little spitfire” he murmured with a smile in his voice.
Oh, no you don’t get to call me pet names like you care!
Elizabeth sat up, pushing her hair out of her face, the cold tone of her voice in direct opposition to the heat in her heart.
“Truly, the last three days have been wonderful without you constantly underfoot. I enjoyed having the bed to myself again. Feel free to take yourself off to whatever rock you’ve been hiding under because I don’t care.”
But, oh, damn her heart, she did care.
And either he saw through her act or he didn’t give two shits because he climbed into the bed and pulled her to him as if everything were just fine between them.
Although she wanted to remain stiff, the familiar weight of his body against hers was her kryptonite.
Why did it feel so right to be pressed against him? The terrible yearning that’d nearly threatened to eat her alive when he was gone, dissipated like smoke on the breeze as her curves fit so wondrously against the hard planes of his body.
“Just because I like the feel of you against me doesn’t mean anything,” she wanted him to know. “I still think you’re—“
“Shhhh,” he said, already dropping off as if he were drugged. Within seconds, he was asleep, the sound of his deep, even breathing giving him away.
How was it he could drop off so easily? Had he no shame? No sense of decency?
For all she knew he’d been out dipping his billionaire wick in whatever hussy opened her legs for him.
Remember?
He never promised fidelity.
And she’d been too ignorant to demand it as part of the deal. This was a problem of her own making.
She wanted to jab her elbow in his gut and wake him but her own exhaustion had slowly leached away her adrenaline and her eyelids were starting to drag.
Within moments, she was sleeping, too.
And it was the best sleep she’d had in three days.
***
The following morning Sutton awoke early, dressed and left before Elizabeth woke up.
It was a cowardly move but he wasn’t ready to address the questions or the accusations just yet.
Mostly because he didn’t have answers.
He didn’t know what he was feeling or understand why he felt a strong need to be around Elizabeth but he wasn’t willing to go so far as to say he was falling in love.
Love was an illusion. Smoke and mirrors thanks to a complex chemical reaction in the brain.
He craved her body, that was true, but there was so much more to Elizabeth than her banging body.
She was smart — maybe smarter than him — and talented.
And she didn’t back down when pushed into a corner.
She didn’t beg or cry. She stood up to him when everyone else cowered.
Ah hell, he didn’t know why he was obsessed with her but it was only getting worse.
Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that he hooked up with that prostitute—oh, yeah, now you’re really swimming in denial.
He couldn’t even pull off the bullshit in his own mind, so how was he supposed to explain it to Elizabeth?
He was still stewing in his office when he received an unexpected visit from Emma, Vince’s wife.
Straightening, he greeted her with a polite smile. “And just like that my day got a whole lot brighter. What do I owe the pleasure?”
Emma, a beautiful woman with blond hair similar to Elizabeth, took a seat opposite him and said, “Vince told me you could use a woman’s perspective on things.”
Damn you, Vince.
Sutton held his smile. “Oh? I can always use a woman’s perspective but help me out, what am I needing perspective on?”
“Not sure but I’m assuming that you’re probably struggling with that damn stubborn Buchanan DNA and getting in your own way. You and Vince used to be pretty close, right?”
He nodded, wondering where this was going.
“And from what I can tell, you’re a bit alike. So, seeing as I’m married to Vince, and when I met him he was more like you, I might be able to add some insight as to what’s going on with you.”
“I didn’t realize there was something so obviously amiss,” he drawled, a bit uncomfortable that Emma had hit a nerve.
“Of course not, because you’re in your own way. So…what’s her name?”
Sutton hesitated. He wasn’t ready to introduce Elizabeth to the family but with Emma there, waiting with an expectant expression, as if saying, she wasn’t going to leave until he gave up the goods, he relented out of sheer self-preservation.
The Buchanan wives were…tenacious to say the least.
“Elizabeth.”
“Elizabeth,” she murmured, testing the name. “Very nice. You like her?”
“To run the risk of sounding indelicate…where’s this going?’
Emma ignored his pointed question, instead saying, “When Vince first started having feelings for me, it wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t flowers and dinner dates, it was…well, he was caring for me because I’d been assaulted at Malvagio and he couldn’t risk too many questions. What started out as self-preservation turned into something else, for us both, but I can tell you, neither of us were open to it and it happened anyway.”
“Sounds frightful.”
She laughed. “At the time, it totally was, but now? We’re both happier than we ever imagined we could be.”
“A truly beautiful story,” he said politely.
“You’re so much like Vince,” Emma said, shaking her head with amusement. “Okay, here’s the deal: stop torturing yourself over some ingrained screwed up belief system and just accept that you have feelings for Elizabeth.”
“Just say for arguments sake, I do. Then what? Trust me, there is no happily-ever-after for us.”
“Only if you keep it that way. Love has a funny way of fixing things that you thought were broken.”
He snorted.
“Adorable but unrealistic. The fact is…a part of her hates me and rightly so.”
He hadn’t meant to share that. But seeing as he was already drowning, he might as well tie cement blocks to his feet.
“The fact is…I own her. I purchased the right to her body by forcing her hand. Trust me, there will be no love in her heart for me and I would question any woman who would after what I’ve done.”
But Emma wasn’t shocked. Hell, she barely batted an eye.
In fact, she looked…bored?
“Ugh. The Buchanan contract. Well, maybe you ought to talk to Penny about that and see how well that worked out. I mean, it worked out for me because she ended up with Dillon instead of either of the twins but honestly, it’s a stupid, arrogant way to start a relationship and cowardly, too.”
“Cowardly? I don’t follow.”
“Because when you go out on a date with someone, you’re putting yourself out there for possible rejection. By throwing money at someone, you’re saying you don’t have the confidence it takes to risk being turned down. And I just don’t understand where that insecurity comes from. I mean, I know Vince’s dad was a real prick and I can only guess that yours was too, seeing as they were brothers, but can you really not handle the idea of approaching a woman you find attractive on your own merits?”
Sutton didn’t know what to say but it seemed Emma wasn’t finished.
“Have you tried dating Elizabeth? Maybe taking an interest in something she enjoys?”
He stiffened. “We don’t have that kind of relationship.”
“Then you better be prepared to lose her to someone else. If you’re okay with that, then keep on the same course, but if not…then you’d better start doing things differently. A woman’s heart is only so forgiving.”
Emma rose with a sigh. “Well, I’ve done my part. If you’re too stubborn to listen, that’s on you. I hope it works out though. I suspect beneath all that Buchanan bullshit, there’s a decent guy buried. I’d like to get to know him but this guy,” she motioned dismissively to the entirety of Sutton “is a douchebag and I don’t have time in my life for that. Good luck, Sutton.”