Page 24 of His Jewel

She kissed him back with a little too much force, falling further back on the desk and slamming her hands down for balance. They broke apart their kiss, laughing, as papers and notebooks flew and clattered to the floor.

He chuckled, dropping to his knees, gathering up the papers. “I think you need a PA yourself, love. Your desk is a nightmare.”

No. No, his hands were on the papers ... all the papers...

She was in a nightmare. It was like time froze as his eyes cast over the contents. Then he opened her notebook, and she was frozen to the spot. Her insides were screaming, telling her to rip everything from his grasp, but her brain said that she deserved this. This was her punishment. Watching his face fall, his eyes gloss over, as he continued to flick through everything. A muscle in his jaw ticked and his hands tightened around the notebook, like he was trying to keep ahold of himself.

He turned his back on her.

She reached out a hand toward him.

“Josh.” His name was a broken sob in her mouth.

When he turned around, he wasn’t the Josh she knew. She instinctively took a step backward, away from him, the last thing she’d ever want to do. But it was like someone had washed away everything that made him Josh. He was blank, expressionless.

“Get out.” His voice was ice. She couldn’t reach him. Not now.

“I can explain. If you ... you could just let me explain.”

She couldn’t explain. She could barely string a sentence together, barely see through her tears.

“No. You’ve lost that privilege. Get out or I’ll have security remove you.”

He reached out, and for one small second, she thought he was reaching for her, but he removed her badge. It hung limply in his hand, before he let it drop to the floor.

“And don’t bother coming back.” He stalked back to his office. It took everything in her not to follow him, to beg on her hands and knees for his forgiveness, but she did as he asked, she could do that, one last time. She gathered up what she could and ran for the elevator, throwing herself inside. She sank down to the floor and sobbed. And sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.

Chapter Ten

Josh

He didn’t know where he was going until he arrived at the fucking place this all started. Club Billionaire. There was a ringing in his ears, and his sight blurred. He curled his fingers, pushing his nails into his hands, creating crescent moons. He had to get a handle on his anger, or he was going to get kicked out.

The security guard was already squinting at him funny. He took a deep breath, calming the rage in his blood.

“Good evening,” he said, handing the card over.

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