Page 7 of Enthrall Climax
“Where did my wild Cameron go?”
“Not sure you would have liked me. I always got my way.”
“Nothing’s changed, then.” I rolled my eyes playfully.
He shook his head at that. “Hillenbrand was shut down. I heard a rumor it transferred to another location. The members like what they do and don’t want to stop. Becoming a member now is virtually impossible.”
“Obviously not.”
“Trust me, it’s locked down. No getting in. No getting out. Not without some remarkable finagling.”
“All very intriguing.”
“That’s the allure.”
“What kind of things did you get up to?”
His dark gaze held mine as he reached up and played with a lock of my golden hair. “I love it when you wear your hair like this.”
“You’ve changed from the man I met at Enthrall.” I watched his reaction.
“In what way?”
He knew what I meant. The sex between us was wild but the most he’d punished me with was the palm of his hand in an erotic spanking. He’d once brought waves of pain to my body with all sorts of accoutrements, but since we’d arrived in New York he’d given up on his penchant for torture.
“I’m reinventing myself, Mia. You should try it.”
I folded my arms in a huff.
He gave a long sigh. “Careful, Ms. Lauren, or I may just give you want you’re asking for.”
My hand reached up and scrunched his sleeve as a thrill rushed through me. I felt a tingling in my chest, a rush of blood that set my body alight.
He looked amused by my reaction.
I swallowed my doubt. “No catch, right?”
“I’ll consider going darker…”
My cheeks flushed and my heart rate took off—and then his insinuation landed squarely on his blackmail…
I wasn’t ready to be seen on the arm of my boss. I needed more time…needed to be respected for what I’d accomplished on my own.
He pried my grip off his sleeve and brought my hand to his lips, kissing my wrist. “Of course it would be dark by Chrysalis’ standards, not Hillenbrand’s.”
“Is Hillenbrand where you learned to do those things?”
“Those things?” He arched a brow. “Hillenbrand is where I earned my reputation.”
“Master of the dark arts,” I whispered.
Cameron tipped up my chin. “Do we have an agreement?”
I’D BROUGHT A BILLION DOLLARcompany back from the brink of a hostile takeover after our shareholders had savaged it like the piranhas they were. Then I’d successfully rebranded our empire placing it way ahead of its competitors—an empire I now ruled fiercely.
Yet making Mia Lauren mine was still my greatest feat of all.
With a bruised ego, I stood alone at The Mandarin Oriental bar sipping mineral water. I could at least enjoy this vantage point to survey the party and pretend, unsuccessfully, not to be looking over at Mia’s table. She sat with several colleagues and it was good to see her laugh—and she was decent enough to throw me the occasional kind smile.
