“You are.”

  “What are you going to do with me?” I asked, flirting and feeling extremely sexy and daring.

  He shrugged. “I’ve been fucking you. Where have you been?”

  “I’m not done.”

  “Maybe I am.”

  I looked down at his erection and smiled, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t think so.”

  “Roll over,” he ordered.

  I rolled to my side, looking over my shoulder at him before rolling to my stomach and going up on my knees, waiting for him to finish what he’d started. He reached out and slapped my ass once, then again, stirring up the fire burning low inside my belly.

  He worked his fingers over my folds, probing and rubbing, stoking the fire until I was squirming and begging for him to take me.

  “Jack, I’m ready,” I told him, hoping he’d get the hint.

  He slapped my ass hard and before I could stop myself I was coming, my body rocking, pushing back, searching for something to impale myself on. I was begging him, pleading with him to give me more.

  “Now, you’re ready.” He growled.

  He reached out, fondling my sensitive core with his fingers before using his hand to spread my thighs. I could feel him behind me and had to turn to see it with my own eyes. I could see the determination on his face, his hands holding my hips steady. I held my breath, anticipating his body filling mine. When he made contact, I gasped, drawing his eyes to mine.

  The look on his face was stone cold as he slid inside, excruciatingly slow, one tiny, little bit at a time. When he was to the hilt, I closed my eyes, hanging my head low as he slowly moved. It was too good. How had I lived a year without the man? His body was made for mine. There was no man on the planet who could ever satisfy me like he could.

  The sheer enormity of the realization took me to an entirely new level of sweet, agonizing ecstasy. I let myself get lost in the moment, blocking everything else out. It was just the two of us. No one else mattered.

  “Goddamn it, Nat.” He grunted, his fingers digging into my hips.

  I couldn’t reply. I just let him do what he needed. I was his. I could feel the tension spiraling within, like a spring being pushed down, ready to explode. By the way he was breathing, I could tell he was feeling the same. I braced myself knowing his orgasm would be explosive. I wanted to give him the same pleasure he had given me.

  “Jaaack.” I drew out his name on a gasp as the lights behind my eyes began to explode.

  “Fuck,” he said, the word slipping between gritted teeth.

  I rolled my head back, his orgasm pumping deep inside, his cock pulsing with each hot spurt as he cursed under his breath, his fingers gripping my flesh as he pummeled me with his body. The orgasm stretched on, pulling from every cell in my body.

  He stopped moving, his head falling forward and resting against my back, both of us rapidly breathing. It was a sweet moment that I wished we could stay in forever. When he moved away from me, I rolled to the side before sitting up on the edge of the bed. We stared at each other for a long while. There were no words to describe what had just happened. Words would ruin it. Words would mean we had to acknowledge everything that was wrong.

  Chapter 36

  Jack

  I sat down on the bed next to her, not touching her as we both sat naked, staring at the carpet under our feet. I could feel the guilt radiating off her. I knew she was having second thoughts and a whole bucket of regrets. I didn’t. Not even one. I, unlike her, had no doubt we were supposed to be together. I wasn’t prone to have regrets, especially when it was something that I felt was right down to my very core. I refused to feel bad for loving a beautiful woman who I knew loved me as well.

  To be fair, I had warned her. I knew what would happen if she stuck around. Obviously, she did too. There was a chemistry between us that was undeniable. The only way to avoid it was to stay on opposite ends of the country. Even that wasn’t enough to really dampen the fire that would always be burning between us.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, hoping things hadn’t gotten too out of control.

  “I’m fine,” she replied, not looking at me.

  A man only had so much self-control. I had given her plenty of warning. She knew I was helpless when it came to her. She was my kryptonite. I knew I gave her too much power. It was like some kind of chemical reaction. She was the catalyst to my hormones, sending me over the top. It wasn’t just the sex. She was so much more to me.

  “It’s chilly,” I mumbled, moving to get more comfortable in the bed.

  I moved to put my feet up on the bed, dragging her with me. She didn’t fight it. Her head rested against my chest as I reached down to pull a blanket over our bodies. Everything was different between us. It wasn’t the usual post coital bliss we usually shared. There was something, heavy, dark, and dirty hanging between us. It felt like we had cheated. Neither one of us was doing anything wrong. We were following our hearts and for anyone to make either one of us feel guilty about that was wrong in my book.

  I was ready to fight. I was prepared to stand up to Wayne Levy and let him know I was in love with his daughter and he could kiss my Bancroft ass.

  “We can’t do this again. It was a one-time thing,” she said, her words brushing over my chest, dumping a little icy coolness on my desire to tell her dad to fuck off.

  I shrugged one shoulder. “You said that before. It’s always a one-time thing until we do it all over again.”

  “I mean it this time. This, this was a mistake. I mean, I don’t regret it and I don’t blame you, but we can never do that again,” she said.

  “Fine, but it wasn’t a mistake.” I refuted her ugly word.

  I wasn’t going to argue with her. I was done groveling at her feet, begging her to stay with me. It was the basis of our entire relationship. I had learned a long time ago it was something she needed to say, maybe to assuage her guilty conscience for ignoring her family’s demands. If she really wanted to stop, she could say no or stop coming to my place. I wasn’t exactly aggressively chasing her. It was very much the opposite.

  “Jack, I’m serious. The pact isn’t going to happen. I can’t risk everything. This is all very important to me. I’m moving on,” she said, pulling back a little to look up at me.

  “Moving on?”

  She nodded. “Yes. What we had, it was amazing, and you know how much I care about you, but it’s time for us both to accept we’ll never be happy together. Our families mean too much to us to keep sneaking around. It’s too risky. I don’t want to get caught.”

  I took a deep breath. “Screw your family. I don’t give a shit what they think, especially your punk-ass brother.”

  She slapped my chest. “Don’t say that.”

  “I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. I’m not going to let your family dictate my life. You’re an adult. I’m an adult. I don’t understand why we’re giving them so much power,” I said, firm on my decision.

  “I won’t destroy my family so we can be together. That’s wrong and selfish. It would hurt my dad,” she protested.

  “Then, don’t,” I snapped.

  “You’ve changed,” she said, looking up at me, searching my eyes.

  I shook my head. “Nat, you know I love you. You know I’m crazy about you and I want to be with you. I’ve not changed, but I’m tired of the game. I can’t keep waiting for your dad to come around to the idea of you being with me. What is that getting us? We lost another year of our lives because of it. How much longer should we wait? Do you really see anything changing?”

  “What about your family? Are you saying you’re willing to hurt your family? Tear your family apart?” she asked, frustration in her voice.

  “I’m not saying that, but I am saying I won’t let your father dictate my life. I have to believe my mom would be okay with it. My brothers all know.”

  “What? All of them?” she asked in horror.

  “Well, I had to tell Grayson. He was the only one who could drive my ass to the hospital the last time we were together. Mason has known all along. Then the others just kind of found out. They’re not beating the shit out of me because of who I love,” I said coolly.

  She took a deep breath. “Your mom won’t be so open.”

  “She might be.”

  “It isn’t just my dad I have to worry about hurting,” she defended.

  I smirked. “That’s right, we have your brother in our business as well. We can’t have poor little Elijah getting bent out of shape because his little sister fell in love with a man his father hates for no good reason.”

  “Stop, it isn’t like that.”

  I scoffed. “It is exactly like that. You were dragged away. After you left, it was made crystal clear Elijah was doing his father’s bidding. He doesn’t have an original thought in his head.” I snarled.

  “I’m sorry about that night. It was a mess. Please don’t be mad at Elijah. I mean, I get why you’re mad, but he was doing what my dad ordered him to. He was put in a terrible position as well,” she defended.

  I raised an eyebrow. “You think he had a rough night?”

  “Were you hurt?”

  I wouldn’t admit anything. “I was fine. What about you? What he did was completely disrespectful to you.”

  “I was fine, Jack. It was humiliating, but I brought it on myself.”

  “Bullshit. We did nothing wrong. Neither of us deserved what we got that night,” I said, still thinking back to the blows I endured and the fear I had felt for her safety as she was dragged away.

  Her hand rubbed over my rib cage as if she could smooth away the pain that had been physically done that night. I had endured a couple cracked ribs. They had long healed, but the other scars remained. Those were the scars that were not likely to be forgotten anytime soon.

  “The year apart is something we agreed to.”

  “Not like that,” I shot back.

  “We were supposed to try and meet someone, date, and go out with others,” she said accusingly.

  “I didn’t want to.”

  “But that’s what we agreed to,” she insisted.

  “Nat, what does it matter? You’ve told me, several times now, the pact was stupid, and you aren’t going through with it.”

  She looked torn. “I don’t know. I hate this,” she whispered.

  I reached up and cupped her cheek. “Let’s not worry about it. That doesn’t matter. You’re mine. You know that. I know that. That’s all that matters. The two of us, and how we feel when we’re together, is what I want to focus on.”

  I could see the resignation in her eyes and leaned down to kiss her. It was tender and sweet with plenty of promise. I felt her give in to what was happening between us and deepened the kiss, sucking her tongue into my mouth as I stoked that fire burning deep inside her like only I could do. She could say all the right words, but I knew her better than she knew herself. I knew it was me she wanted. I was the only who could give her the pleasure she craved.

  My hands moved to cup her breast, gently rubbing and refamiliarizing myself with her body. The first time had been too fast. I hadn’t taken the time to enjoy her body. I was going to this round. I wanted to tease and tantalize her in every way and remind her how much she needed me. I tweaked her nipple, pulling a gasp from her before reaching between her legs. She subtly opened her legs, giving me better access to rub that sweet spot. She was still wet and swollen from our earlier joining.

  Her hand wrapped around my swollen cock, already ready for round two. She rubbed and stroked, taking me to the point of no return. I scooted down, pulling her with me.

  “I can’t,” she said, rolling away from me.

  “What?” I asked, my brain a little slow with the lack of blood flowing south.

  She shook her head, climbing off the bed. “We can’t. I have to go.”

  I jumped off the bed. “You don’t have to go. We’re working through it,” I said, my cock hard and aching.

  “Jack, we’re fooling ourselves. Sex is just sex. This isn’t a relationship. We could never go out. We could never marry, have a family, live together, all of that is off the table. That isn’t the kind of life I want,” she said, walking out of my bedroom.

  I followed her out of the room, my erection leading the way. “You’re letting them control you.”

  She was frantically dressing, jerking her clothes on. “Don’t call me.”

  “You came to my house,” I pointed out none too gently.

  “That was a mistake. One I won’t make again.”

  She zipped up her jeans before quickly trying to finger-comb her hair. It was useless. Her hair was good and tousled.

  “Nat, quit fucking around!” I said, frustration making me crazy.

  She pulled on her sweater and jerked open the front door before walking out, not bothering to look behind her or to even shut the fucking door. I stood there, still stark naked, my erection flagging. I stomped to the door and slammed it shut.

  “Goddamn it!” I shouted, banging my hand against the wall.

  I walked back into my room and dropped on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. I had no idea what had just happened. She’d come over to my house, let me fuck her with all the pent-up passion I’d been holding just for her for over a year. She let me get hard and on the verge of getting another chance to pull the pleasure from her and feel it wash over me.

  What kind of woman did that? She teased me. She got me fired up and walked away. That was nothing but pure torture. If nothing had changed, why in the hell had she bothered to come over? Why would she kiss me, touch me, and lead me down the path of ecstasy and then leave me high and dry?

  It wasn’t right. I just knew she had ruined any chance of me moving on and not looking back. Maybe that had been her plan after all. I wasn’t going to be kept dangling. I loved her, but that wasn’t something I could let myself keep doing. I had more self-respect than that.

  Chapter 37

  Natasha

  I couldn’t believe it. It was finally happening. My dream of having my own company was finally coming true. I had been planning and thinking about this day for nearly four years. My parents had insisted I take my two-year vacation to enjoy life before I got into the business world. I knew they had thought I would change my mind or find a man and get married, forget all about the idea of having my own business.

  I hadn’t. I had been focusing on it for the last year as I tried to move past the Jack thing. I had spent many long nights planning and jotting down a million ideas and now, here I was in the future offices of my company.

  I had insisted on a separate building away from Levy Industries. Yes, I was under the Levy umbrella, but this was going to be all mine.

  “Hey, Nat, we have everyone set up in the conference room,” my new assistant said, walking toward me in what would be my new executive office.

  “Thank you. I’ll be right there. Hey, Bonnie, do you think I should leave all the windows in front or have walls put up?” I asked her, staring at the space.

  She shrugged. “I like the openness of the glass, but it does nothing for privacy.”

  I nodded. “Exactly what I was thinking. I think I’ll go with walls. The windows on the other side are plenty,” I said, happy to have made a decision.

  I quickly walked over to the contractor, who was busy taking down a few walls to make the space a little bigger, and told him what I wanted. The man looked a little put out but noted it on the yellow pad where he had been writing down all my other requests. I planned on being hands-on from the very beginning.

  I headed for the conference room, excited to have my first investor meeting. I wanted to grow beyond the limitations of Levy Industries and this was how I was going to do it. My speech at the charity event had the desired effect and drummed up plenty of interest. I walked in, feeling confident with my hair slicked back into a tight, serious bun and my black pantsuit perfectly tailored.

  “Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for coming,” I said, taking my seat at the head of the table.

  The meeting went great, with lots of promises of support. As I was walking out, I was stopped by a couple other people who were coming in on the ground floor of the company with me. I had handpicked every person after talking with them and making sure our personalities all meshed well. The last thing I wanted was a lot of drama and interoffice politics.

  I was the boss and I did demand respect, but I also gave respect, and I valued the opinions and advice of the people I had surrounded myself with.

  On my way back to my office, I heard a familiar voice and turned to see my father walking through the offices, his eyes roaming the construction zone.

  “Hi, Daddy,” I said with a smile.

  “Hi, princess. It looks like you have things under control here,” he said.

  I smiled. “I hope so. The contractor promises me everything will be done within two weeks.”

  “Is this your office?” he asked, looking at the huge corner office that took up a huge chunk of the space.

  I grinned. “It is.”

  “Good. You deserve the best.”

  “Come in,” I said, walking through the door and gesturing for him to have a seat on the one couch that had been moved in.

  “I can have my decorator come by if you’d like,” he suggested.

  I shook my head. “The furniture will be in within the next day or two. What brings you by? Checking up on me?” I teased.

  He turned to face me on the couch. “I wanted to talk to you about the other night.”

  I immediately froze, panic welled inside as I stared at him. “The other night?” I squeaked.

  He smiled. “It’s okay.”

  “It is?” I asked, wondering what had made him change his mind. For a brief second, a glimmer of hope filled my soul, giving me a glimpse of a happy future with Jack by my side.

  “I’m glad you told him to leave,” he said.

  I blinked several times. “What?”

  “That Bancroft character. I know he tried to talk to you at the charity ball.”

 

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