Page 32 of Pleasure Payback

‘Was that why you told him not to speak to me? I asked for a face-to-face meeting to plead my case. You advised him to tell me no. Why?’

He shrugged. ‘I didn’t want things to drag on unnecessarily. I wanted to be done with it. With Boston.’

My breath caught. ‘So itwaspersonal.’

He turned abruptly, stalked to the window and looked out onto a glittering, electrified Manhattan. After an age, he faced me.

‘You’re a stunning, sexy woman.’ His lips firmed as if he didn’t want to admit the words. ‘But I didn’t intend to fuck anyone that night. Hell, I almost didn’t come to Boston at all. I could’ve phoned in everything I wanted to say to Cahill. But I needed to get out of New York. I needed to focus on something else besides the fact that I’d hit another bloody wall with Gideon.’

It didn’t appease me to know why there had been raging demons in his eyes that night. ‘So you redirected your shit my way?’ I probed.

Again he stared at me as if he was making up his mind about something. ‘Only a handful of people know the full details about why I left England. Without boring you with the nitty-gritty of it, I’ll tell you that your little...performance at the bar hit the wrong notes...right after you hit all the right ones.’

I frowned. ‘I’m confused.’

He exhaled harshly. ‘I saw you when you arrived at the hotel. Even before I knew your name I was fucking hooked. Call me crass if you will, but I watched you crossing the lobby and wondered what you’d taste like. Wondered how loud you’d scream when I made you come. I was dying to be inside you long before I sat down at the bar. Which was an inconvenient novelty considering I hadn’t fucked anyone for a while and wasn’t planning to.’ That last part was delivered with a heavy dose of bitter bewilderment that doused my arousal.

‘Why not?’

‘Because the last woman I met at a bar before you left an unpalatable taste in my mouth.’

Curiosity bit at me. Hard. But the stiff lines on his face told me he wouldn’t elaborate. Even the little he’d told me seemed to torture him. ‘So I made you hard crossing the lobby and you decided to punish me for buying you a drink?’

His hand scraped over his jaw to grip his nape. ‘When you put it like that I sound like a bloody asshole.’

‘Your words, not mine.’

Harsh lines etched deeper between his brows and bracketed his mouth. ‘I didn’t take kindly to you being that irresistible. To knocking my damn socks off with that defiance and sexiness. I don’t think I take kindly to it now, to be fucking honest,’ he admitted raggedly. ‘I should stay away from you, focus on...straightening a few dented parts of my life. But instead here I am, being driven bloody insane by this...need,’ he continued, his gaze raking feverishly over me once more. ‘But the bottom line is if we were in the situation now like we were two years ago, I’d take the same stance with you and with Cahill. So my question to you is, what are we going to do about it?’

Pain and hurt warred with sharp questions.

Who? Why? When?

But Damian wanting me, perhaps even despite himself, surged power through me, heady and triumphant, temporarily shoving away the ache of his admission that he’d screw me over again. All he’d done really was show me that I couldn’t trust him with what was precious to me—my business. My legacy. The reminder that this was just sex settled,thankfully, deeper inside me.

I closed the gap between us. Head tilted, I looked into his face. Past the shadows cast by demons to the sizzling-hot arousal and undeniable need.

Hisandmine.

What his actions had cost me burned just as bright, perhaps even more considering there wasn’t any remorse on his part.

But he’d just handed me the two things I craved more than anything else in this world. The two things I needed to see my way clear of this cloud of lust and bitterness to my end goal.

Power and control.

And fuck if I wasn’t going to grasp them with both hands.

CHAPTER SIX

Neve

ISLICKEDMYtongue over my lower lip, revelled in his thick, muted groan. ‘What would you like me to do about it, Damian?’

His gaze devoured my mouth with naked hunger. It was more than animalistic need. It was consuming in a way that mildly terrified me. ‘You don’t need me to draw you a bloody map, Neve,’ he said gruffly before closing the space between us to drag me against his body. The heavy column of his cock branded my belly. ‘You know what I want.’

My pussy clenched, reminding me how desperate it was to be filled. I placed a hand on his chest, registered solid muscle and a strong heartbeat beneath his shirt.

‘Do I? Our wires crossed badly somewhere along the line two years ago.’

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