Page 47 of Million Dollar High

“It was good to… talk to you.” Her eyes were almost shut. She sighed and settled back with her head turned toward the camera.

His throat tightened. “Yeah… sure. Lie back for a minute.”

A weak smile. “Okay.”

And because he really was a weak, pathetic fool, who had just come in his hand from watching the sexiest woman on earth finger-fuck herself to orgasm… and because every single cell in his body regretted not being right there with her, holding her, Noah watched her sleep.

15

After getting slammed on her back with enough force to jar her teeth for the fifth time in a row, Leia growled. “If you’re trying to say something, can you use words rather than actions, please? I’d prefer not to attend tonight’s event covered in bruises.”

Warren straightened and slicked his hair back into place. The previously pristine bandages wrapped around his knuckles were spotted with blood, making Leia wonder just how long he’d been in the gym before she’d arrived half an hour ago for their weekly sparring match.

“Very well. Either you concentrate or concede the fight. I won’t have my time wasted with paltry attempts.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” she snarled through the pain in her right shoulder. “I was doing okay before you decided to go into Terminator Mode.”

“If you seek clarification using such coarse language, then perhaps we need to end this session.”

She hadn’t wanted to spar today, but the alternative had been to lie in bed, thinking about Noah and what happened last night. Wanting to repeat it again and again. And again.

In the end, the need for some other form of pain to mask the one gouging itself endlessly through her heart had won out. “No, I’m fine,” she said and pulled herself up. “Consider me concentrated. Let’s go!”

Loosening her knees into the desired Bartitsu stance, she rolled her shoulders and brought her fists up. Warren took his time centering himself, long enough that her concentration slipped again.

He attacked without warning.

She managed to block him a few times before he caught her in the ribs with a merciless chop. Her breath knocked out of her and, unable to move fast enough, he swept her feet from underneath her with a vicious kick. She landed painfully on her left hip.

“Dammit! What the hell are you trying to prove?” she shouted.

“That you’re useless to me unless you’re as committed to this as I am.”

She blinked at the cryptic warning. “For heaven’s sake, say whatever the hell it is you mean, Warren. I’m too fucking tired to decipher your codes today.”

“You’re tired? It’s only seven-thirty in the morning,” he delivered icily. “You didn’t come home on Thursday and you were out of touch until past midnight last night. Your behavior this past week has been quite disappointing. Can I presume to ask where you were? Or should I hazard a guess? You were with King?”

“No, I wasn’t with King.” She didn’t feel bad at the technical half-truth. “I haven’t been with him since…” She stopped as her stupid emotions painfully counted the days. “I checked into a hotel on Thursday night because—” She paused again. Knowing Noah’s suspicions where Warren was concerned, did she want to tell him that Noah had people watching her? “Because I wanted to be alone. And I stayed there because I didn’t have any pressing appointments in the office yesterday morning. As for last night…” She shrugged. “I went for a drive.” Also technically true, but it had been a drive like no other. Her stomach still quivered at how the hot and steamy drive had ended with her so wrung dry, she’d fallen asleep in the back of Noah’s car and woken up two hours later to find Noah watching over her.

Her heart had tripped over itself at the look on his face. But before she could speak, he’d sent her a crooked smile, wished her good night and hung up.

“I find that hard to believe since your driver returned without you at nine o’clock.”

She refocused reluctantly on Warren and admitted with a sinking heart that their relationship had indeed changed beyond recognition. And not for the better. What she’d suspected before she’d taken the Indigo Lounge trip had come to fruition. She couldn’t avoid it anymore. “Are you calling me a liar?”

“I find myself unable to trust you as readily as I used to… but I’m willing to make allowances for the sake of your present circumstances.”

She laughed and shook her head. “So because I’m a little stressed, it’s okay that I’m a liar? Hmm, I wonder what else I can get away with.”

She lunged at his unguarded flank, but he was too quick for her.

He countered her attack with another hard chop to her side. She crumpled onto her knees and wheezed. When he held out a hand to her, she struck hard at his midriff.

He doubled over but delivered another flat kick with his foot that sprawled her out on the mat. He landed on top of her. Hisarms imprisoned hers and his strong legs trapped hers between the steel of his.

Dark brown eyes gleamed displeasure, mixed with other emotions. Focused on setting herself free, Leia didn’t feel the full impact of his body until he shifted. Then the truth of his feelings became unmistakable.

Hell. She didn’t want to admit what his body was blatantly stating to hers, but the truth of it was pressed against her belly.

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