“And who, exactly, are you?” he asks, crossing his arms.
“It doesn’t matter who I am. This demolition has no permits. It was cancelled and it’s illegal. You need to take your machines off this property now.”
He scoffs. “I own this property, and I can do as I damn well please.”
“Tell that to the permits department and get the fuck out of here.”
Victory shines in his eyes, and he pulls papers out from the inside pocket of his jacket. “Like I was showing your equally bitchy friend before she set up that line, seems like you’ve got your facts wrong.”
The papers he hands me are demolition permits. Signed and dated by the city on Friday. For this address. Oh, fuck.
The man in front of me starts to laugh. “I think I know who you are,” he says. “You’re Keenan’s activist slut. I don’t know what kind of magic pussy you think you have, but this was always the plan. This project is way too profitable, and as you can see, the permits are legal. So stop pretending you’re willing to die for a few trees and go try to fuck your way into someone else’s profits, okay?”
Turning, he grabs a bullhorn from a nearby man in a hardhat. “Listen up,” he says, voice echoing over the park. “We are going to move these bulldozers in ten seconds. We have legal permits. Now move.”
To my horror, my friends do. They start to move away from the machines that are revving their engines. He starts to count down over the bullhorn, and I have a split-second to make a decision. I drop the papers to the ground and run, plastering myself against a tree directly in front of the largest machine. They’re not going to kill me. They wouldn’t dare. Threats are all well and good, but no one wants to go to jail for murder.
“Move,” he says over the bullhorn.
My voice will never be heard over the sound of the engines, so I just shake my head.
“Go ahead,” he says, and terror grips me, but I don’t move. I hold my ground. They’re not going to kill me. I don’t think.
“Face it, hippy chick, your boyfriend approved this. You really want to get pissed at someone, it should be him.”
Adrenaline is singing in my veins as the machines move towards me, the giant scoop lifting, and the tines stopping inches from my neck. I can’t breathe. Keenan wouldn’t have done this. He wouldn’t have. I’m trying not to believe it, but the proof is right in front of me. The only thing that’s keeping me from the dread is the humming of the engines and the sharp tines pointed at my throat.
“Are you going to move?”
I shake my head again. There are witnesses here. They’re not going to impale me. But looking up at the man who’s driving that bulldozer, I don’t feel as sure as I would like to.
Across the field, I see a shining streak, and a car skids up onto the sidewalk next to mind. Keenan is running across the field at full speed; he’s nearly a blur. The glimpse that I get of his face clears any doubt from my mind that he had anything to do with this.
His expression is pure rage. An avenging angel tearing toward the blond man. The asshole barely has time to see it coming before Keenan’s fist connects with his jaw and he goes down.
The bullhorn falls to the side, and I can’t hear anything they’re saying over the roar, but I can see that Keenan is yelling at him. The blond takes a swing at him, but he ducks easily and puts him down again. In a second Keenan has the bullhorn to his lips. “Back the fuck up. Now.”
It takes a second for them to engage, but slowly, the tines pull away from me, and I realize how badly I’m shaking and how pure adrenaline was keeping me standing.
Keenan reaches me a second before my knees give out, and he’s holding me up now, crushing me to his chest. “Fuck, Justine.”
I hold on to him, loving his strength and so grateful that he’s here, and that I was right. That he had nothing to do with this. Any of it.
“I got your message,” he says, suddenly audible as the engines retreat. “I came as fast as I could.” Nervous laughter. “Am I going to have to keep saving your life?”
“Hopefully not,” I say, digging my fingers into the fabric of his shirt. “But if I’m in danger, you’re the one that I want to save me.”
Keenan leans me back against the tree and kisses me hard. His fear and relief leak through, and there’s something stirring in my gut that tells me this is deeper than anything I can imagine.
“What happened?” I asked. “Who is he?”
His face turns to stone. “That’s Brandon Blake.”
“As in Silverman & Blake.”
“Yes. I told him I was cancelling the permits before we left on our trip. He was pissed, and I didn’t care. He called the city and had them reinstated after I left the office. But I just fired him.”
I gasp. “Can you do that?”
“I can,” he says. “Human endangerment and going behind both my back and the board’s? I can’t imagine that that vote wouldn’t be unanimous.”
I lean my head forward on his chest. “Thank you for coming for me.”
Keenan lifts my eyes back to his with his palm, letting it rest against my cheek. “I will always come for you, Justine. Always.”
He kisses me, a soft press of lips that turns fierce. Far too fierce for the middle of a park. When he pulls away, I’m breathless and wanting. I don’t think I’ll ever truly have enough of him.
“I’ve got a secret,” I tell him.
He grins. “You’ve already got all of mine. I’d love to hear one of yours.”
My heart pounds in my chest. “I love you.”
That grin goes wider, and he pulls me against him in a fierce hug. “That’s the best secret you could have told me. I love you too.”
Epilogue
Justine
Six Months Later
The new headquarters for Delovery are amazing, and I don’t think I’ll ever get over how beautiful they are. Or the fact that they only exist because of Keenan. Silverman & Blake—now just Silverman Industries—has completely pivoted from commercial work for profit and is now geared toward renovating properties for vulnerable communities. The first thing he wanted to do when he saw the offices was to renovate them. In fact, the look of horror on his face when he walked in was utterly priceless.
But now the food pantry is wide and open, and it always feels happy.
Right now we’re here gathering our groceries to take to Rose together. I’ve roped him into coming to meet my clients when he has the time, and Rose now likes my boyfriend more than she likes me. When she saw him for the first time, she looked him up and down, nodded, and said, “If I had been you, I would have fucked him too. Come on in.”
I just about died from embarrassment, but Keenan couldn’t stop laughing.
Morgan waves to us on the way out to her last client, and I wave back before the door shuts and we’re alone. “I thought that she would never leave,” I say.
For a second Keenan looks shocked. “You love Morgan. Did something happen?”
“Morgan is fine, but I needed to be alone with you.” I grab his hand and pull him into the enclosed pantry. The dimness is perfect for what I have planned. “We’ve barely had any time this week, and I need you.”
I pull him against me, already unbuckling his belt.
“You can’t wait until we get home?” he asks with a laugh.
“You really want me to go to meet Rose so horny that I can barely look at you without wanting to lick your cock?”
Keenan grins. Excellent point. His mouth falls on mine, and I let out a moan. We’ve both been so busy this week that at the end of each day we’ve collapsed into bed together exhausted. But I need him like I need to breathe, and this has been our first opportunity in days.
“One second,” Keenan says, pulling back.
“Keenan,” I whine, “I need you to fuck me.”
I love watching his eyes darken when I say things like that. “Believe me,” he says, “I want to fuck you. But I have something for you first.”
F
or a moment I’m about to say something snarky about what could possibly be more important than getting him inside me, but all of those words are taken away when he sinks down onto one knee. “Justine,” he says.
“Holy shit.”
“I thought about doing this my way. The grand way with all the trappings, but I wasn’t sure that you’d want that. So I decided that I’d look for the perfect moment. And this is it.”
I laugh, tears suddenly flooding my eyes. “Is it?”
“We’re together because of our chemistry. Because despite our differences and our assumptions about each other, we were drawn together, and we’re better for it. Together. So here, now, doing what we love, this place feels perfect. I want to fuck you, Justine. But I want to fuck my fiancée even more. Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” The word is choked with unshed tears, and I barely see the ring that he puts on my finger. It’s shiny and beautiful and perfect. He’s perfect too, lifting me up off my feet and pressing me against the wall so I can wrap my legs around his hips.
“You caught me by surprise,” he says. “I don’t have any condoms.”
“Fuck the condoms,” I say. “I just want you.”
My hands are shaking as I get his belt undone and guide him home, savoring the delicious heat of him entering me slowly. We groan together, and there’s nothing I think could be better than feeling him like this for the first time after saying yes.
The friction as he rocks his hips is new, and I’m already so wet that he has me on the edge of pleasure. “You feel so fucking good,” he growls against my lips.
“More.” That’s the only word I have.
He gives it to me, unleashing all of that passion that he has to hold back. Keenan fucks me into the wall and it’s good that no one is here. There’s no chance that everyone in the whole building wouldn’t hear me screaming his name.
Reaching between us, he finds my clit, adding fuel to the fire, and I can’t hold myself back. Pent up arousal pours into my orgasm, and suddenly I’m in freefall. Stunning, perfect ecstasy that carries me and brings me back to him just as he comes. Heat filling me up.
This man is mine. I get this. Forever.
I’ve never felt so lucky, and I’ll never be able to repay Lila for catching that fucking cold.
“I love you,” I manage to say while I try to catch my breath.
“I think there’s a chance,” he says with a grin, “that I might love you more.”
* * *
Want another steamy boss romance? Check out THE BOSS DEAL!
What starts as the hottest one night stand of Misty's life gets complicated when she finds out that her hookup is her new boss. And it gets even MORE complicated when the two of them take a business trip together.
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The Boss Deal Blurb
He wants me. I want him. But we both know we can't stay together.
So we made a deal.
It started as a one night fling between strangers. I didn't expect to see him again, especially not the next day, dressed all classy and sharp, being introduced to me as the investor for my best friend's new cupcake business.
I love her to death-- that's why, when I notice she has the hots for my Accidental One Night Stand, but she's too shy to admit it yet, I decide to end my fling.
But he... he doesn't want to stop.
He wants more of me.
And when we're stuck together on a road trip to make sure my bestie's bakery launches with a BANG, my new hot boss offers me a deal.
A single week of bliss.
After that we'll go our separate ways, and my best friend can ask him out without me messing it up. It's win win.
What happens when I don't want our deal to end?
Read The Boss Deal here!
The Big Boss Page 8