Yes, sir.
Suddenly bathed in an explosion of light, Chloe blinked, yanked her arm free, and whirled around to face him, setting her hands on the muscled wall of his chest.
“I want you, Graves. Please don’t send me away.”
He hissed like she’d burned him with her touch as he grabbed her wrists and lowered her hands, his face twisting with pain. “You don’t know what you’re asking, Chlo.”
“I want you so much I ache when I look at you. I know you want me, too, I see the way you look at me.”
“You think I look at you?” he scoffed angrily, then he curved his hands around her nape and wound his fingers into her hair, pulling her head back so their eyes met. “Maybe I do look—because what you’re wearing just begs me to. But you’re not my type. I don’t do innocent heiresses who dream about weddings. I don’t do my friends’ baby sisters.”
“You seriously plan to stand there and tell me you don’t want me? You can’t even look me in the eye anymore!” Disbelieving anger surged to the surface. “You’re a fucking pussy, Graves.”
“A pussy?” He massaged her scalp almost painfully and leaned in, his teeth clamped. “You’re right. I am. I’m a big wet pussy and I want to lick yours so bad, the need to scares the living daylights out of me. That’s right, Chlo. I want you so much you make me shake in my fucking pants. I’m obsessed with you…with where you are…and what you do…and who the fuck you’re with…I want to bury myself inside you so deep I won’t ever want to pull out.”
Her breath came in gasps, his sensuous words creating havoc in her. She was torn between latching onto those lips so close to hers and climbing him like a tree. She reached shaking hands to his shoulders, her vagina clenching tight. Her voice throbbed. “Please, Graves, I want you. I ache so much.”
“No, Chlo, this can’t happen.” He bit the inside of his cheek so hard, she could see he’d done some damage to himself before he stepped aside.
Chloe shook on unsteady feet as she watched him press a wood panel on the wall and grab her car keys from the compartment that opened. He came back and slapped them into her palm. “Drive safely and call me when you get home.”
A drop of blood from inside his mouth had gathered at the corner of his lips, and Chloe touched his lips on impulse.
“What happened? Why did you do that?” she asked, picking up the drop of blood with her fingertip. Then she did the unthinkable and licked the drop with her tongue. Graves seemed transfixed, and she could see his muscles contract on an indrawn breath, and she would never, ever, forget the lust-filled ecstasy in his eyes.
Heart galloping in her chest, she reached out to pick up another crimson drop.
But at the first touch of her fingertip, Graves slammed his eyes shut and turned to bury his teeth in the fleshy part of her palm. Then he licked her with a low, animal growl.
Something turbulent swam through her veins, overpowering her.
His eyes opened, glowing like suns in his tanned face, and so hot she could burst from the heat smoldering in their depths. His voice gentled as he reached out and touched her cheek. “You happened,” he said thickly. “It’s all about you. Go, Chlo. Please. For me.”
“Graves…I don’t want you to sleep with anyone. Please. Why can’t it be me? I don’t care what Daniel says, I trust you. You wouldn’t hurt me. I’m…ready. I’m ready for you.”
He released a low, hungered groan as his hands curled around her arms and he hauled her against him. “Christ, I’m not a normal man, Chloe. And I’m not a smitten young boy you can twirl around your little finger.” Eyes burning into her like lasers, he slid a callused hand boldly up her throat, his erection pressing almost painfully against her pelvis. “You think I could stop, if I go too far?”
The look he gave her was so consuming, she closed her eyes and sank her nails into his shoulders, gasping. “I know you would!”
“Chlo.” He set his forehead on hers and his breath bathed her face in rapid, desperate bursts. “Jesus, you need to understand I’m very particular about the way I live my life. The way I compartmentalize to stay peaceful…quiet. You’re not fucking quiet to me, Chlo. You make me feel wild and stupid and I don’t trust myself with you. You’re right. You’re fucking right, I would never. Ever. Hurt you. But I don’t want to find out how much I’d hurt myself for you. You’re dangerous to me, Chlo. I’m afraid to hurt you and I know damned well you’re going to destroy me.”
The bell rang, and he released her and pressed a code into a nearby keypad, his fingers deft and long. A low buzz sounded when he finished, then she heard the slow, rolling noise of the elevator traveling upward. Chloe’s misery felt like a steel weight when she realized the woman he was going to “play” with had arrived.
Graves’s chest rose and fell as he waited for the elevator to arrive. He watched the climbing numbers with glimmering eyes, those shiny handcuffs dangling from the pockets of his pants.
But Chloe was still swimming in a daze, overwhelmed with need and hunger because he wanted her. Graves wanted her. She’d known it, she’d known those looks couldn’t lie, the way the heat pooled and slid down her legs when their eyes met. But he didn’t want to want her, and she couldn’t stand the thought of him rejecting her after everything he’d said.
She played poker with the boys sometimes, too, and now she realized she was going to bluff her way to a winning hand.
“Look, Graves,” she began, drawing in a deep, fortifying breath. “I’m twenty-five this Saturday—and I’m a virgin. If you don’t want me, then I’ll ask Luke Preston to spend a weekend with me, just show me a couple of tricks. He may bluff all he wants about his scruples, but we both know he’d do me in a heartbeat.”
His eyes flared in disbelief, then narrowed menacingly as he took a step toward her. Something low and fierce glimmered in their depths. “You don’t want any involvement with Preston any more than you want to get involved with me.”
The jealousy in his eyes thrilled her, spurring her on. “Want to bet?” she asked, brow raised, then mockingly said, “Oh, wait, you don’t want to bet anymore because you always lose!”
The elevator pinged, and as soon as the doors rolled open, a tall, slender blonde strode forth, as gorgeous as Graves was handsome.