“No.”
There’s finality in his words, and I know now is not the time to fight him. So instead I put my key in for his floor and hit the button.
The elevator shoots straight up without pausing, and my stomach flips as we come to a stop. He’s taking me back into the land of Oz, only this time I fear I won’t be able to slip away so easily.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Miles
I carry Mallory to the bedroom and sit her down on the edge, kneeling in front of her. Reaching down, I unbuckle her deep blue suede heels and slip them off. I rub her feet for a moment, helping to ease any of the ache she may have felt from walking on them today.
The small moan she lets out as I squeeze her foot has my already-hard cock throbbing against my thigh. I try to ignore it, although I can feel my heartbeat inside it.
Moving to her other foot, I remove that shoe and give her foot the same attention.
“Oz.”
Her voice is hesitant, but I wait, letting her say what she needs to. I’ve been crazy with worry for most of the night, and I’m afraid if I start talking I’ll get angrier.
I knew something was wrong the second I arrived in the lobby of our building. Chuck, working at the desk, showed me the request, and I cursed my own stupidity. I should have seen this coming. But when I checked her tracker, it said she was still at work.
I went to her desk only to find her phone sitting there, and I cursed again. Ryan couldn’t get hold of Paige, and I had a feeling they’d done this on purpose. It didn’t stop the absolute panic flaring through me as we searched everywhere for her. I called around to every bar within a ten-block radius as we rode around the city hoping to catch sight of them.
We finally got lucky when Ryan got a call from one of his friends who works security at a wine bar. He said there were two women there who fit the description, and he sent us a picture of them. I nearly ground my teeth to dust looking at her sitting there. She was so beautiful, and it killed me that she was out of my grasp. We made it there in record time, but not before some asshole put his hands on what’s mine. The same little fucker I knew sat next to her Monday in the meeting. Thankfully, Paige was there. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d gotten my hands on him.
I know who that little worm is, and I’ll be taking care of him later.
As Mallory’s hands run through my hair, I close my eyes and let some of the tension leave me. At her simple touch, all that I’ve been worried over falls away. She’s the cure for all my aches, and I lean into her touch, wanting to be soothed. I take her wrist in my hand and turn her palm to my mouth.
“Stay with me,” I whisper against her skin. Opening my eyes and looking into her gray-blue pools of love, I confess what’s in my heart. In every part of me. All I seem to know anymore. All I can think about now. “Please, Mallory. I need you.”
“We need to talk. You said dinner Saturday.” She bites her lip, and I want to be the one doing that to her lip.
I nod over to the clock beside the bed. “It’s after midnight, baby. You’re all mine.” She glances over and her cheeks flush. “I said I’d wait until today. We’ll talk, and I promise to tell you anything you want to know. I’ll answer all your questions about everything, but not tonight.”
I place my hands on her thighs and let them travel upward, until I reach the hem of her dress. It’s a light tan linen material with buttons all the way down the front. It flows loosely around her thighs, and I bet if she twirled I could see her panties.
“Don’t deny me, Mallory.”
Looking up, I see the small nod she gives me as her legs open a little wider.
I move down and rub the stubble of my beard on the insides of her thighs, and again her legs widen for me. As if listening to my desires, they give me what I want. And right now what I want most is between her gorgeous legs.
Pushing up her dress the rest of the way, I see the wet fabric clinging to her pussy and showing me the outline of her needy sex. I peel off my suit jacket and throw it on the ground as I loosen my tie and unbutton the top two buttons of my shirt. That jacket probably cost thousands, but I’d burn it if it got me to Mallory faster.
Without teasing, I reach up and grip the thin cream straps of her panties, ripping them at her hips. Pulling away the ragged lace, I stuff them into my pocket and think about the small collection of her panties I’m starting to assemble.
Mallory gasps, and then leans back on her hands as I pull her ass to the edge of the bed. “You keep ripping them off me and I’ll make you replace them.”
I hover right over her pussy, breathing in her heady scent. I lick my lips so the drool doesn’t run down my chin. I look into her eyes. “You could stop wearing them, stop keeping me from my sweet pussy.”