But the real world already intruded. She could almost hear the clock next to her bed tick, shouting that she’d be late for work if she didn’t get ready immediately.
“We need to get up.” Charlize placed a kiss on Connor’s pulse.
He held her tighter, his fingers ran over her ass. “Stay home today.”
She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent. “I can’t.” A sliver of guilt slid down her chest. Calling in sick wasn’t a luxury she could afford. For the first time she actually wished it was.
Dangerous.
“You could if you wanted. Don’t you want to stay with me?” He gripped her ass, rocked her hips against him.
Her eyes snapped open. A heavy sensation hit low in her belly and her heart jumped, beating a little stronger. The familiarity of the words made her skin prickle. She’d heard all these lines before. Knew what the hell they meant and what they led to. How many times had she heard “do you really need to go to class today” and “if you loved me you’d put me first”?
Those statements started with guilt but ended with control.
The kind she’d die before giving away again. She pushed out of his arms and rolled off the bed. Her skin chilled where his seed still coated it.
“Charlize?”
She walked to her dresser and pulled out fresh underwear. “Get up, Connor. I’m not your fucking house pet. You work for me.”
The bed creaked but she didn’t turn around, just strode to the bathroom and shut the door behind her, locked it for good measure. He spoke but she turned on the water and drowned out the sound, made sure the tears sneaking from her traitorous eyes would be washed away. That they’d remain her secret.
What the hell had she been thinking? Falling for Connor would cost her everything.
* * * * *
Charlize glanced across her office and out the doors. She saw him in the reception area, talking on his phone. Running his business while protecting hers. He brushed the short hair on the back of his head with his palm. He’d been quiet since they’d arrived. Hadn’t had a choice really.
She refused to feel bad. He needed to learn how far he could push before she pushed back.
Pity she sucked at the cold shoulder. Every time she looked up there he was, keeping his distance, and she just wanted to inch closer—get next to him. Pour out all her fears and have him be all like, “don’t worry, baby, I only want to own you in the sack.” He made her that freaking needy, that desperate to believe in fantasies.
In couples that are meant to be together. As if romantic destiny existed.
She tore her attention away from him and opened her email. Oddly, despite tension thick enough to butter bread, she was on her game today. None of the quietly bubbling nervousness she usually suppressed. More importantly for the first time in weeks she could take a full breath and it filled her to the bottom of her belly. The air didn’t catch in her chest as if it had just packed down a wad of tension. Her muscles were loose, her head clear.
Clear enough to snap back into work mode when she saw the email in her inbox. Finally, after some digging, the IT manager, Pete, had managed to retrieve an old copy of the last internal audit that had been buried in the system.
She clicked on the message and frowned as she read the words, then went back to the start of the email and read it again. The report was lost? How the hell did that even happen? She’d seen it with her own eyes that morning in Pete’s office. All he had to do was convert the file and email it to her. Charlize forwarded the email to Bob with a row of question marks.
Within two minutes Bob circled Connor in the reception area and walked into her office to sit in the chair opposite her.
“What the hell is going on in this place, Bob? You’ve got to know something. This stinks.”
He sat silently for a moment. If anyone could give her answers, Bob could, and if he’d been withholding information, she’d find out now.
“You’re right,” he said and his lined forehead scrunched. “I can’t deny something isn’t right. There are too many coincidences, too many brick walls.”
Charlize watched his Adam’s apple bob in the loose skin at his neck. He’d always been mild-mannered, she’d never seen him nervous.
“You’ve been here longer than anyone. Level with me. Is someone stealing from us?” She breathed slowly and held Bob’s clear gaze. “Is it Frank? It is, isn’t it?”
“I honestly can’t say.”
Bob looked down but not before she caught sight of a shimmer in his eyes.
“Ever since your father left I’ve been pushed out. I might be President but I wasn’t much more than your uncle’s errand boy.” His breath hitched. “I’ve let your father down, I’ve let you down.”