Page 124 of Pressure

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Lance stood in the parking lot of Solitaire and watched as Samuel vanished into the night. When he was gone, he turned to face Marissa.

“What just happened?” she asked, genuinely confused. “I feel like he’s some kind of super spy or something and I thought all of you board members were super rich people. Rich people aren’t super spies.”

If his heart wasn’t so heavy, he might have laughed at her. “You haven’t had time to get to know everyone. And yeah, there are a few rich super spies. That’s not Samuel though. He’s difficult to explain and it’s not my place to explain him. Let’s get you inside.”

He wanted to drag her through the club into the dungeon and strap her to a cross so he could take his frustrations out on her body, but he knew they needed to talk first.

“You want to explain what the hell you were thinking?” he asked as they stepped into the lobby.

She looked around and he fisted his hand into her hair, pulling her attention back to him. “It’s just you and me, Riss. Everyone else is at the hotel for the night. Now fucking talk to me.”

Her bottom lip quivered, and he wanted to pull her to him and kiss her softly, but he deserved answers and they needed to settle their dynamic once and for all.

She blew out a breath. “After we talked at your building, I knew I wanted to come back to you, but I felt like we couldn’t work on our relationship until we figured out how to catch Sebastian. So, I stayed up until six this morning and tracked him down. I convinced him I could help him finish the job he’d started. Told him you’d dumped me again and I wanted revenge too. I wasn’t expecting Jodie to be along for the ride. Though I figured out she’s some kind of bat shit crazy groupie of his.”

Lance just stared as she relayed her story. “So, you what? Thought you were going to get some kind of confession out of him by meeting him alone? How stupid could you be?”

She winced. Maybe calling her stupid was a little harsh, but he didn’t care. He had to make his anger and disappointment clear. Not to mention, she needed somebody to light her ass on fire for pulling this dumb stunt.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was just trying to fix things.”

“I think we’ve both discovered that trying to fix things without the other doesn’t work, Marissa. Why didn’t you just tell me you found Sebastian? You knew I was here.”

She blew out a breath. “I really don’t know. I was angry at him. I guess I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. It was reckless I admit. I’m sorry.”

“Well you damn near gave me a heart attack and I don’t know how I can ever trust you again.”

“And there it is,” she whispered her shoulders slumping. “We’ll always have trust issues between us.”

He growled and stalked toward her. “That’s not what I meant.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “I meant, I don’t know how the hell I’m every going to let you out of my sight again. I want to strap a collar around your neck and fit it with a tracking chip. I want to chain you to my bed at night, so I know you’re not going anywhere. I’m going to move your office next door to mine and install a window between the two so I can always fucking see you.”

As he spoke, he drew closer and closer to her until she’d backed against the wall and was staring up at him with trembling lips.

“I fucking love you, Marissa. I’m tired of fighting it just because we both fucked up in the past. So, you have a choice to make. We can either go through those doors and into the dungeon and I can punish you for being a fucking moron tonight or I can take you upstairs and fuck you until you admit that you’re mine and you were always meant to be mine. Either way, we’re not leaving here until you’re fucking sore, sated, and mine.”

He held his breath as he waited for her to respond.

Interminable minutes seemed to pass as she stared at him.

Finally, she cleared her throat and lifted a hand to his face. “How are you going to punish me? I was kind of a moron tonight.”

He let out a sigh of relief.

“Go to the dungeon and wait for me. You’ll find out soon enough.”

She bit her bottom lip. “Um…”

He sighed and pressed his lips to hers. “I’m not spanking you, love. I want to drive my point home not drive you away. Be a good girl and go wait for me. I expect to find you naked and kneeling inside the door.”

She swallowed and backed away from him, heading in the dungeon’s direction.

He leaned against the reception desk of Solitaire and looked around. This place was his home and he’d damn near lost it. Damn near lost her. Now he had to go in there and impress upon her that he had no intention of losing either. Samuel’s abrupt departure was weighing heavy on him, but that was going to have to wait until tomorrow. Right now, he had a feisty little submissive to tame and claim.

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