Kept by Him(27)

He shrugged, smiling wickedly. “Nothing new.”

“Oh. So she’s done it before?”

He cocked his head, and was surveying her like he were the ringmaster, and she were an animal that

had just stepped out of its ring.

“And you let her?”

His smile remained, but the light in his eyes was dimming. “Considering that it’s both amusing and

harmless and I’m used to it, yes, Monica. Whatever body part she presses against me makes no impact

on me.”

“I can’t believe this.”

He was such a sexual force, he was even used to these sorts of come-ons!

Daniel closed the distance between them and cupped her face, his hands as warm as his voice.

“Hey … you’re wound up. We both are. Nothing’s going on here. I’ll come over tonight.”

She stiffened at the stroke of his thumb across her lips and quickly moved away. “Please don’t. I’m

sure we both have better things to do. But I do apologize for my assistant. I’ll talk to her.”

“Monica—”

“You’re a member of my board, Daniel.”

“It’s not the only board I’m on.”

“Well, I care about my board, not the others.” My board and my man! Scowling at the last thought,

which was as senseless as all the emotions she was feeling, she went to the window and stared down at

the city without seeing any of it. “Her behavior is rude and unprofessional. I expect more from my

employees. You should’ve told me.”

She thought about Roland and how she didn’t have this sort of problem with a man like him, and

she immediately wanted him to take her back. Today. Tonight. At the gala, where they would meet.

Then she heard Daniel behind her, his voice low and a little rough. “Are you jealous, Monica?”

When she refused to answer that, indignant he even asked it, he came closer, pressing softly against

her, his voice insistent. “Are you?”

She’d die before she admitted it, even to him. Jealousy, anger, the rage. Her parents had raised her.

Good, normal people, in all appearances. But too obsessed. Too in love. She ducked her head and

rubbed her temples. “I miss Roland, that’s all,” she said, as softly as he had spoken to her.

It was a good, much needed reminder to herself. Daniel may have tons of lovers. This was not a

novelty to him, but this was a novelty to her, and before she started thinking of him as anything other

than a friend, she’d sooner end their arrangement.

“And I just ask that … you please refrain from sleeping with people in my employ. It makes me

extremely uncomfortable to think about it. Although maybe you already have?”

She met his gaze, and his expression had morphed.

He approached her painstakingly slowly, catching her arm, his voice instantly rough, his eyes dark

as thunderclouds. “You seem to be mistaking me for one of your elderly lapdogs. I’m not a man to be

ordered around, not even by you, but now that you’re making demands of me, then I’ll gladly issue

some demands of my own. The first one is, don’t you ever, ever, say his name to me again as long as

I’m fucking you. I may be your friend, but I’m also your lover. It’s my name you call when you come.

It’s my eyes you look into when you’re begging and writhing. It’s me you wanted to fuck last night,

me you wanted to fuck just an hour ago—not Roland.”

“Roland was my partner for over a year and he’s been after me forever. You and I are nothing but

fuck bud—”

“I am nobody’s fuck buddy, Monica! I agreed because I wanted you. But that’s over. If you want

me, we’re doing this my way, and I hope you realize that I will want sex daily, I will be demanding in

bed, and I will certainly expect your exclusivity.”

A tap on the door came a second before her assistant opened it. “Ms. Davenport, I have the Loro

Piana collaborator on the phone for you. Oh, why, Mr. Lexington, you’re still here…”

Before her assistant could even finish, Daniel had dropped her arm and stormed outside, and

Monica stared at the vacant space where he’d charged out the door, dumbstruck at his explosion. And

she thought she’d been jealous?

My God, she’d never in her life seen Daniel like this!



* * *

Holy shit, he hadn’t handled that well.

No, not at all.

But he was burning in his skin, burning with desire, with jealousy, with frustration.

It was the hardest thing he’d ever endured, sitting across the boardroom table from her, when every

cell in his body clamored for her, when every fiber in his being knew that she needed him, that as she