"Don't take it out on me because you're pissed off, Gaige O'Neal," she says, punctuating her words by poking my chest with her fingers. I wrap my fingers around hers, pulling her against me, and she inhales sharply, the hiss of air audible in the silence of the evening.
"Pissed off?" I ask. Her body feels warm against mine, and I want more than anything to kiss the ever-loving hell out of this girl. Scratch that -- I don't want to just kiss this girl. I want to tear her clothes off right here, right now, and plunge my cock between her legs. "Did you come down here to the guest house because you wanted to talk about a work trip that's a month away? Or did you come for something else?"
Delaney struggles against me. "Let go of me, Gaige," she hisses.
"You sure you want me to, darlin'?" I ask. I run my other hand along the side of her neck and she tilts her head to the side, into my touch. She's practically purring as I touch her. She looks at me, her green eyes wide.
"I don't know what you're implying, Gaige," she whispers.
"I'm not implying anything, Delaney," I say. "I'm outright saying that you waltzed that little ass of yours all the way down here from the main house at this time of night for something that couldn't wait."
"You should let me go," she says, but her voice is softer now, the edge from before suddenly gone. I'd let her go if her pupils weren't as big as saucers and her breath weren't coming in short gasps.
"Or what, Delaney?" I ask. "You're so hot for me you're practically panting. I bet if I were to reach between those legs of yours, you'd be soaked."
"Don't be disgusting," she says. This time, she yanks her hand from my grasp and pushes away from me. Apparently, suggesting she came down here to screw me was one thing but talking about putting my fingers between her legs crossed some kind of imaginary line.
Her reaction makes me want to keep crossing that line, pushing that same button over and over and over. What can I say? I'm a fucking child. So I guess Delaney's father had a point after all. Maybe I'm not maturing as I get older. It's funny how Delaney makes me feel like a damn teenager.
"Whatever you say, darlin'." If she's going to babysit me, I might as well give her something to fucking babysit.
I can see Delaney's jaw clench and she tugs at the edges of her shirt, smoothing it. "What happened between us was years ago," she says, her voice hard. "It was a lifetime ago."
What happened between us. She doesn't say the actual words. She doesn't describe the kiss that started everything that summer, the kiss that sent both of us spiraling out of control, reckless in our pursuit of each other, until it came to a crashing halt just before anything went too far. She fails to mention the stolen kisses when we were left alone, the frenzied groping that carried the promise of more. More that never happened.
And I've never forgotten about it.
"Right," I say. "And you've never thought about any of it in the past four years?"
She waits a moment too long to respond. "I don't think about it at all."
"Liar," I say.
"If you think I came down here to get some of your...tool..." Her eyes drop down to my waist, then lower. "You'd be wrong."
"You tell me why you walked your fine little ass down here then."
"I came back to Dallas to work, Gaige," she says. "That's it. And that's why I came down here tonight. To say I want things to be professional."
"Professional," I say.
Delaney nods. I want to kiss that serious expression right the hell off her face. "Appropriate," she says.
"Appropriate," I echo.
I definitely don't do appropriate, and I'm sure as fuck not doing appropriate with Delaney Marlowe. In fact, getting under Delaney's skin and making her behave inappropriately just might be the kind of cure for boredom I've been looking for.
CHAPTER SIX
DELANEY
It's my first day of work at my father's company. My first real job. And I couldn't be more uncomfortable if I tried, as I survey my office. Sure, it's no bigger than a closet, but it's an office. With a damn window. The window might overlook the parking lot, but it's still a window. Most new college graduates would be absolutely thrilled to have a setup like this, but not me.
I should be in a cubicle, but the fact that I'm my father's daughter has gotten me an office with walls and everything. I make a mental note to tell him later that I should be moved. People are already going to hate me enough, just because it's my father's company.
I can already tell it's a huge problem by the way my brand new boss Chelsea has treated me since I walked in the door this morning, her voice practically dripping with contempt when I introduced myself. Chelsea is Gaige's domestic account manager, and I instantly know she hates me.