Page 26 of Million Dollar High

“Do you have eyes on her?”

“She left her office twenty minutes ago. Looks like she’s having one of those powwow lunches with a bunch of suits at a posh restaurant.”

Noah stopped himself from asking for the name of the restaurant. The way he was feeling, he needed to not be in a public place when he confronted Leia Michaels.

“Have a message delivered to her from me… Yeah, I know it’s not part of our deal, but do it anyway. Sure, charge me. Yeah, I’ll wait for you to find a pen.” He stifled a curse, waited, then rattled off the message and ended the call.

Moderately satisfied and his world slightly saner, he pressed the intercom. “Maddie, I’d like to review my schedule for the week. And bring the real estate file from Hartford with you, please?”

He closed two major deals and was in the middle of shortlisting the condos Hartford had sent when Maddie buzzed him again at 2p.m. on the dot.

“If that’s Miss Michaels, tell her to come straight in. And hold my calls for the next half hour.”

“Er… Yes, Mr. King.”

The door to his office swung open.

Leia entered and kicked the door shut. Noah realized he’d been holding his breath and released it.

Holy hell, she was so fucking beautiful. The memory of her grinding her sweet cunt into his face plastered itself across his vision. His body revved up, forcing him to remain seated.

Let her come to him.

His gaze swept greedily over her, then conducted a slower journey. Her skirt suit would’ve been boring had it not been for its short length and the two-inch panels of leather running down both sides. Underneath her leather-trimmed jacket, shewore another one of those semi see-through tops. His fingers itched to undress her, spread her on the floor and pound his frustration into her.

Chunky jewelry draped her neck. On closer examination, he noticed faint finger marks on her throat. He’d done that. Left his imprint on her skin. The guilt he’d expected to feel never materialized as satisfaction tipped his lips. He may be as pissed as hell with her, but the idea of Snyder seeing those marks on her filled him with childish glee.

She slammed the piece of paper in her hand on his desk. “‘Be in my office at 2p.m. sharp or what I did to you with my mouth last night will feel like a Disney sing-along compared to what I’ll do to you this time?’ Do you have any idea how I felt having this delivered to me during my lunch meeting?”

“I wanted to make sure you didn’t mistake my intentions. I take it you read it out loud to your lunch companions?”

She gasped. “Are you insane? Of course I didn’t!”

“Then I fail to see what you have to be embarrassed about.”

“That’s not the point. I was in a public place. Your note could’ve fallen into anyone’s hands. Hell, the waiter smirked as he gave it to me so he most likely read it. And who was that guy who delivered the note? He wore a disgusting smirk too, by the way.”

“A friend of mine.”

Her fingers closed over the note and scrunched it into an angry ball before tossing it back onto his desk. “Oh, and he just happened to be in the neighborhood where I was having lunch?”

“Sure, let’s go with that,” he answered.

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re having me followed, aren’t you? That’s how you knew where I was last night.”

“Let’s go with that too.”

“I want it to stop.”

“No fucking chance in hell.”

“The deadline for delivering the blackmail money isn’t till the end of the week. I hardly think Stephen’s going to do anything stupid before then to jeopardize things.”

Noah laughed. “Are you seriously trying to rationalize how a psychotic rapist’s mind works? What do you think he’s going to do when the deadline comes and goes and he doesn’t get his money?”

A trace of apprehension slid over her face. “I can protect myself.”

“Wake up and face reality, Leia. He’s been in prison. And people like him, they don’t get rehabilitated. He proved that by coming after you the second he was free. Finding that bastard asap and putting him back behind bars is the only option here. Until he is, I won’t be telling my man to stand down. End of subject.”

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