I don’t miss Noah’s eyes peeking back at me and the third time I meet them, I cave.
“Is he going to break up with me?” I question, my voice squeakier than I’d have liked, though I know he’s not the person I should be asking.
His head tilts a bit and if I’m not mistaken, the wrinkles that form around his eyes indicate that he’s smiling although I can’t see that part of his face. “I didn’t think you were dating, Ms. Parks.”
I laugh, feeling a little less nervous. “Very funny.” My fingers fidget among themselves.
He laughs back at me. “He would be a fool to do such a thing. And Mr. Bradford isn’t a fool.” I can only nod in agreement although I don’t feel entirely reassured.
“Besides, we’re here so it’s a little too late to run.”
Peeking out through the tinted window, my gaze focuses on a tempting man in a suit. Heat flows through me seeing Adrian’s waiting for me on the sidewalk. He pulls the door open for me before I know what’s happening. I step out, slipping my hand into his to keep my balance.
“I’ll take it from here,” he tells Noah, and that’s when I see we’re at the Waldorf again. Glancing down at my office attire, I give Adrian a look and he only smirks back.
“If you’d like to go shopping first,” he offers although I’m certain it’s more for comic relief than anything else.
“You are a devilish man,” I comment, and move to stand beside him, his hand still holding mine.
His rough chuckle is a soothing balm. “You look gorgeous,” he reassures me.
With every step, the nervousness lingers but it’s different now that I’m with him. Maybe it’s the way he holds me, or the way he peers down at me. The way his hand splays against my back as we walk in or how he helps me into the booth. I’m not sure what it is, but I want it all.
I would give him everything I have today, for him to simply want me tomorrow.
Adrian
* * *
“Sir, another?” the waiter asks, politely gathering my attention. If I recall correctly, he’s the same waiter we had our first night at the Waldorf, our dinner that never came to be.
The same tucked away booth as well.
I shake my head once. “Thank you, though.”
“And for you?” he asks Suzette.
“I’d like dessert I think,” she says and gazes back at me as if asking if I’d like to join her.
I only smile back, feeling the nerves heat.
“Maybe the dark chocolate tart?” the waiter suggests and I pray I don’t show my reaction in the least.
When the plate comes out, her diamond will be on it. My composure threatens to break when she agrees.
I’ve gone over every response she could have.
If she says it’s too soon, I’ll respond, if not now, then when?
If she thinks I’ve gone crazy, I’ll agree, I am losing it because of her.
It doesn’t matter what she thinks of it, so long as she says yes. So long as she’s mine to have and to hold, to be with me forever. For fuck’s sake, if she thinks it has to do with work, I’ll tell her how I signed a damn contract I shouldn’t have because I couldn’t get her off my mind. That alone should convince a businesswoman like her that she should say yes before I go broke drowning in thoughts of her all day.
“Are you all right?” Suzette questions and it’s only when I look up to see her glancing at the cocktail napkin in my hand that I realize I’ve twisted and pulled and creased it to death.
“Fine,” I answer her and in my periphery I see the waiter slipping the plate down in front of her.
My heart races and I tell her that I’m perfectly fine and wait.
Her gaze doesn’t leave mine. Even when I motion to her dessert, spotting the four-carat diamond sparking from where it sits in the red velvet box.
“I just—” Suzette starts and then licks her lips. “I know I’m … I know that I—” she hesitates. This gorgeous, intelligent, strong-willed woman hesitates, because of me.
Because I didn’t say I love you back. I know damn well that’s why.
“I want you to marry me,” I murmur, unable to hold it back any longer.
Her kissable lips part and her light blue eyes widen. “Adrian.”
I motion to the ring on her plate and she gasps, a loud yelp of a gasp, covering her mouth and jumping back slightly.
She stares at it, as if I’m not waiting, unable to breathe and desperate for her to answer me.
“Marry me,” I tell her, a command this time and that gets her attention. Her hands lower, although she still stares at me as if she’s in shock.
“For the love of all things holy, if you don’t say yes right now, I swear to God I’ll throw you over this table.”
When she smiles, this beautiful smile that reaches all the way up to her eyes, I know it’ll be all right.
“I love you,” she tells me, her cadence soothing.
“That isn’t a yes and I’m going to need you to say—”
“Yes,” she says in a breathy voice and it takes everything in me not to topple the table as I rush to her.
To kiss her. To hold her. “I love you too,” I tell her the moment she breaks our kiss. “I love you and I need you with me.”
Her eyes shine back with every emotion I feel stirring inside of me.
“I love you and I want you, and I need you too.”
Epilogue
Suzette
* * *
The city never sleeps. It provides a constant light as it slips into the office. Even at nearly 1:00 a.m.
With a deep breath in, I lie back, nestling beside Adrian on the pullout sofa. His smell surrounds me, fresh and clean with a hint of sandalwood, and so do his arms as he wraps them around me, planting a kiss on my forehead.
This is how we’ve slept for the last two weeks nearly. He stays with me, working and taking calls, while I do the same.
The numbers are promising, but not guaranteed.
“Was it a good day?” he asks me, his chest rumbling as his hand runs down my back.
“A great day. Gail secured the final client.”
“That makes me happy to hear,” he comments and although exhaustion coats his tone, I know he truly is happy. It was shaky at first. A number of clients debated on leaving, and they all wanted to renegotiate. Gail took the brunt of it.
“Me too,” I say and then ask him, “And what about you? Any updates from Wyatt?”
His friend got into a bad deal. I’m not certain of the details but I know it’s been rough on him and it involves politicians and a lawsuit and some other developer.
I was nervous at first that it might involve my friend’s husband, Mason. He’s a developer and I’ve heard whispers about the depths of corruption that surround him and his family.
He loves Jules, though, and she swears he’s one of the good ones. Thankfully, he wasn’t involved.
“He’ll be all right, but the next few years will be difficult for him. The loan I gave him will help, but he’s in for a hellish year if not longer.”
“And what about the contract?” Again, the details are murky, but I know at some point, Adrian had signed on to some piece of this shit show.
“It’s null and void. Even if I’d signed, he said it was his mistake, we’d never discussed it and he would deal with the fallout.”
“He’s a good friend.”
“He’s a good man. Not everyone survives the lows, but he will.”
“You still seem down,” I comment.
“Just a long day,” he says and settles higher up on the bed, “and my little whore has been ignoring me at work.”
“It’s after six, we’re not supposed to talk about work,” I tease him, sitting up slightly to nip his bottom lip. He gives me a gruff groan and I love it.
“Hey,” I whisper and nudge my nose against his, “I want you.”
He hums, that sound I crave before giving me the command, “Roll over.”
&nbs
p; Heat rushes to my cheeks and I do as he says, laying on my stomach and watching him pull the white T-shirt over his head. This sexy powerful man who comes undone just for me. It’s heady, and I’ll never get enough of it.
My eyes close when he kisses my neck with the same passion we had the first day.
“Be a good little slut for me, and get on your knees.”
I fuck my boss every night in his office.
And I love it.
I love him.
* * *
Don’t stop reading! Suzette features in Mason & Julia’s emotionally gripping romantic suspense duet! Start reading with You Are My Reason
* * *
Read more Contemporary Romance Standalones from Willow Winters today!
Knocking Boots (A Novel)
They were never meant to be together.
Charlie is a bartender with noncommittal tendencies.
Grace is looking for the opposite. Commitment. Marriage. A baby.
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Promise Me (A Novel)
She gave him her heart. Back when she thought they’d always be together.
Now Hunter is home and he wants Violet back.
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Tell Me To Stay (A Novella)
He devoured her, and she did the same to him.
Until it all fell apart and Sophie ran as far away from Madox as she could.
After all, the two of them were never meant to be together?
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Second Chance (A Novella)
No one knows what happened the night that forced them apart. No one can ever know.
But the moment Nathan locks his light blue eyes on Harlow again, she is ruined.
She never stood a chance.
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Burned Promises (A Novella)
Derek made her a promise. And then he broke it. That’s what happens with your first love.
But Emma didn’t expect for Derek to fall back into her life and for her to fall back into his bed.
* * *
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Also by Willow Winters
You Are Mine World
* * *
You Are My Reason (You Are Mine Duet book 1)
You Are My Hope (You Are Mine Duet book 2)
Mason and Jules emotionally gripping romantic suspense duet.
One look and Jules was tempted; one taste, addicted.
No one is perfect, but that’s how it felt to be in Mason’s arms.
But will the sins of his past tear them apart?
* * *
You Know I Love You
You Know I Need You
Kat says goodbye to the one man she ever loved even though Evan begs her to trust him.
With secrets she couldn’t have possibly imagined, Kat is torn between what’s right and what was right for them.
* * *
Tell Me You Want Me
A sexy office romance with a brooding hero, Adrian Bradford, who you can't help but fall head over heels for... in and out of the boardroom.
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Small Town Romance
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Tequila Rose Book 1
Autumn Night Whiskey Book 2
He tasted like tequila and the fake name I gave him was Rose.
Four years ago, I decided to get over one man, by getting under another. A single night and nothing more.
Now, with a three-year-old in tow, the man I still dream about is staring at me from across the street in the town I grew up in. I don’t miss the flash of recognition, or the heat in his gaze.
The chemistry is still there, even after all these years.
I just hope the secrets and regrets don’t destroy our second chance before it’s even begun.
* * *
A Little Bit Dirty
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Contemporary Romance Standalones
Knocking Boots (A Novel)
They were never meant to be together.
Charlie is a bartender with noncommittal tendencies.
Grace is looking for the opposite. Commitment. Marriage. A baby.
* * *
Promise Me (A Novel)
She gave him her heart. Back when she thought they’d always be together.
Now Hunter is home and he wants Violet back.
* * *
Tell Me To Stay (A Novella)
He devoured her, and she did the same to him.
Until it all fell apart and Sophie ran as far away from Madox as she could.
After all, the two of them were never meant to be together?
* * *
Second Chance (A Novella)
No one knows what happened the night that forced them apart. No one can ever know.
But the moment Nathan locks his light blue eyes on Harlow again, she is ruined.
She never stood a chance.
* * *
Burned Promises (A Novella)
Derek made her a promise. And then he broke it. That’s what happens with your first love.
But Emma didn’t expect for Derek to fall back into her life and for her to fall back into his bed.
* * *
Valetti Crime Family Series:
A HOT mafia series to sink your teeth into.
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Dirty Dom
Becca came to pay off a debt, but Dominic Valetti wanted more.
So he did what he’s always done, and took what he wanted.
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His Hostage
Elle finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. The mafia doesn’t let witnesses simply walk away.
Regret has a name, and it’s Vincent Valetti.
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Rough Touch
Ava is looking for revenge at any cost so long as she can remember the girl she used to be.
But she doesn’t expect Kane to show up and show her kindness that will break her.
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Cuffed Kiss
Tommy Valetti is a thug, a mistake, and everything Tonya needs; the answers to numb the pain of her past.
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Bad Boy
Anthony is the hitman for the Valetti familia, and damn good at what he does. They want men to talk, he makes them talk. They want men gone, bang - it’s done. It’s as simple as that.
Until Catherine.
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Those Boys Are Trouble (Valetti Crime Family Collection)
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A hot tempting series of fated love, lust-filled secrets and the beginnings of an epic war.
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Wounded Kiss
Gentle Scars
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Read Willow’s sexiest and most talked about romances in the Merciless World
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This Love Hurts Trilogy
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But I Need You
And I Love You the Most
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An epic tale of both betrayal and all-consuming love...
Marcus, the villain.
Cody Walsh, the FBI agent who knows too much.
And Delilah, the lawyer caught in between.
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What I Would do for You (This Love Hurts Trilogy Collection)
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A Kiss to Tell (a standalone novel)
They lived on the same street and went to the same school, although he was a year ahead. Even so close, he was untouchable.
Sebastian was bad news and Chloe was the sad girl who didn’t belong.
Then one night chan
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Possessive (a standalone novel)
It was never love with Daniel Cross and she never thought it would be. It was only lust from a distance. Unrequited love maybe.
He’s a man Addison could never have, for so many reasons.
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Merciless Saga
Merciless
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Ruthless, crime family leader Carter Cross should’ve known Aria would ruin him the moment he saw her. Given to Carter to start a war; he was too eager to accept. But what he didn’t know was what Aria would do to him. He didn’t know that she would change everything.
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