“You gave me a hickey.” I point to the spot on my neck. The same spot he attacked last night in the limo.
He lets out a breath, like he’s trying to stifle a laugh.
“This jealousy thing you’ve got going on isn’t going to work,” I tell him, putting my hands on my hips and standing my ground. We haven’t even been together that long and he’s lost it multiple times when guys have gotten too close to me.
He moves toward me, and I don’t budge until he’s right in front of me. He picks me up, and I can’t help but squeal. My butt lands on the kitchen counter, and his hands bracket my thighs. He drops his head and I watch his movements as he breathes. I can’t stop myself from running one hand into his hair, finally making him look up at me.
“It’s hard,” he finally says. “I’ve wanted you so fucking long. You have no idea. So fucking long,” he says. “Then when I see someone trying to move in on that, well, I slip. I get pissed, and something takes over. I know it’s crazy, but I can’t seem to stop it, no matter how hard I try. I can’t.” He says the last part like he’s pleading with me to see it, too.
“How long have you been waiting?” I ask the question that’s been sitting with me for days. I know for sure he’s been waiting since I started college. I have a good feeling it was before that with how Osbourne Corp had been a part of my life before then.
“I first saw you when you were in high school competing in the state math competition. I was in college at the time and was asked to be one of the judges.”
I try to think back to that day. So many names and faces, but I can’t believe I would have missed him. I try to count the years. How long ago was that?
“Five years,” I mumble to myself, trying to wrap my mind around this piece of information. “You’ve been watching me for five years.” I shake my head at the words, still not believing it, even though I know it’s true. It all adds up.
“Sometimes it feels like longer. I can’t seem to remember a time before you, really.” His words are soft and sweet and filled with something I don’t understand.
“Why?” It’s the one thing I really don’t understand. I’m not a terrible catch, and I know I’m pretty. I’ve never had problems with men asking me out, but Oz is in a completely different league. I saw so many girls throw themselves at the guys with money around campus, and I have no doubt Oz’s bank account would get him the same attention. Even more so because not only is he rich but he’s also not bad on the eyes. At all.
He stands up a little taller, my hand dropping from his hair so he’s now looking down at me.
“I’d gone to the competition because sometimes you have to rub shoulders with the right people to get places. Back then I had to do it a lot more because I was still making a name for myself. Trying to make my empire bigger and better.” He shrugs like he doesn’t really worry about that anymore. He’s done that already, in the past five years. Everyone knows what Osbourne Corporation is.
“Mainly I was trying to be around some of the people I knew my father was close to. He went to Yale and so did a lot of the people he chose to work with.”
“You hate him, too.” Just like Paige, but he doesn’t seem as angry as she does.
“Since I was eighteen and my mother told me all the horrible things he’d done to her.” His jaw clenches and I wonder what his father did to his mother. He’d killed Paige’s. “I wanted to be like him. He was so smart and seemed like he knew what he was doing in the business world. I was intrigued and I always tried to make him proud. I wasn’t seeing what was right in front of my face. How could I have not noticed how he’d treated my mother? She sobbed when she told me what he’d done to her. And there was nothing I could do that day to make the tears stop. I never knew about how he abused her. I hadn’t seen it before then, or maybe I could have done something sooner. But I sat there and listened to her tell me about their years together and that she was leaving him. And then I found out what he was truly capable of.” He shakes his head like he still can’t believe it. “There’s so much about him you don’t know. And I don’t know if I can tell you. I don’t want his dirt to get on you, Mallory. I promised myself I’d never be that man, and even talking about it makes me fear I’m pulling you into that world.” His eyes close, and I think about him listening to me cry. How close to home that must have felt for him. How he listened to his mother cry, feeling helpless.