Since I Fell For You(11)

Neither Roman nor Suzanne had grown up with mothers. But where Roman’s father had kicked his mother out for lying and cheating, Roman had learned on Wikipedia that Suzanne’s mother had taken her own life when Suzanne was only a toddler.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Suzanne.”

“It was a long time ago. I barely even knew her when she left.” The driver came to a stop in front of a skyscraper, and he could see the clear relief on her face that she could now drop the subject. “We’re here.”

He paid the cabbie before she could, and when he got out of the car, it was instinct to reach out. He didn’t realize the miscalculation until she pressed her palm against his. Still, it might have been nothing but a split-second shock of electricity if one of her high heels hadn’t caught on the uneven curb.

She tumbled into him, and the press of her curves against his hard muscles was almost enough to make him forget.

Forget how to do anything but stare into her eyes.

Forget that she was the very definition of off-limits.

Forget that he didn’t have it in him to do more than take a woman to bed and then leave her in the morning.

Forget everything except how much he wanted her. More than he could ever remember wanting anyone or anything before.





CHAPTER FOUR





It was only through sheer force of will, honed by years of training himself to turn the heat at his core to ice, that Roman was not only able to remove his hands from Suzanne’s hips, but also to put a good foot of space between them.

Suzanne didn’t move away immediately, however. Instead, she stared at him as though she were seeing him for the very first time. The little flecks of gold and amber in her eyes mesmerized him for just long enough that several moments passed before he could get his mouth—and brain—to cooperate.

“What floor are we headed to?”

“Floor?” She blinked as if her brain was having just as many problems. Then, with a shake of her head, she said, “My office is on the tenth floor.”

He had assumed she’d be on the top, like most founders and CEOs, not in the middle of the building. It was a good reminder that he shouldn’t make the mistake of assuming anything where Suzanne Sullivan was concerned.

As she headed toward the glass entry doors to the building, the heels she was wearing seemed to trip her up a bit. Yet again, he wondered why she was dressed in such markedly different clothes than she’d been wearing at the gallery. Was there a guy she was interested in? His gut had absolutely no business tightening in jealousy.

He’d been in high-tech workspaces before, and the lobby, hallways, and break rooms of Sullivan Security were just as bright and engaging as he would have expected after meeting the company’s founder. But though he wasn’t surprised by the workspace, he was surprised that when they passed one of the Ping-Pong tables and an employee asked her to play, Suzanne instantly put down her bag and jumped into the game.

She laughed as she hit the first ball into the net, then cheered when she scored a point. Roman expected her employees to throw the game. After all, she was the big boss and held their careers in the palm of her hand. But no one seemed afraid of her, even though the net worth of her company had a hell of a lot of zeros.

The puzzle that was Suzanne Sullivan continued to grow. Especially when a twenty-something woman in a red hoodie, jeans, and sneakers said, “I didn’t think you’d play this well with those heels on. What are they, five inches?”

“Try eight. At least, that’s what they feel like.”

“I didn’t even know you owned heels,” the woman said with a shudder that made it clear what she thought of them. “Must be a pretty special event for you to be so dressed up.”

Suzanne shot a glance at Roman, her expression freezing as though she’d just been caught out at something. But then she shrugged. “I figured I should wear some of the stuff collecting dust in my closet.”

Though the woman nodded, she still looked confused. They all did, actually. What was more, every guy in the room was trying to act like they hadn’t noticed their boss’s figure in the dress.

Roman wished them luck. Lord knew each and every one of them needed a truckload of it right now.

“Do you want to play?” the woman said, holding out a paddle to Roman.

He shook his head. “No, thank you.”

Despite the fact that she didn’t want him there, Suzanne politely said, “This is Roman.” She rattled off the names of the dozen people closest to them, and he quickly memorized them. Given that the threat could just as easily be coming from inside her company as outside of it, he needed to be as watchful here as anywhere else he went with Suzanne.