The smile slipped from her face, but before she could say anything, someone cleared their throat. Looking up sharply, I saw Sloan staring at me from the doorway. Her face was a mixture of anger and jealousy.
“Sloan,” I said in a controlled voice. “This is Iris Norwood.”
I tried to stay as calm as possible. Iris would, without a doubt, try and rile Sloan, and our relationship was too fragile for that. I pushed Iris slightly back before releasing her hoping that she would take the hint and move back even more.
She didn’t.
Sloan walked in slowly. Her eyes locked with Iris’s. “Norwood? The oil company?”
“Yes. Who are you? Lucas and I were discussing something quite intimate before you interrupted us,” Iris said with a mocking smile.
Damn it. “And our conversation is over,” I quickly intervened. “Iris, you don’t need to come back.”
She looked sharply at me, and there was surprise in her eyes. Whatever she thought of my relationship with Sloan, she clearly didn’t think it would trump my relationship with her.
“Fine,” she said stiffly. She cast another look at me before sweeping past Sloan.
“Sloan, what are you doing here?” I asked softly.
“You came to my campus. I thought that it was only fair if I came to your work,” she said as her head turned to stare at the door.
Great. She was still angry. “Sloan, this isn’t a good time. You also distinctly pointed out last night that storming my office wasn’t something that you would do.”
“I didn’t storm,” Sloan muttered. “I would have waited patiently with your secretary, but your door was open.”
I clenched my jaw and took a deep breath. There was nothing in her body language to indicate why she was here. “Could we speak later? I’m a little busy right now.”
As soon as her eyes met mine, I knew I’d said the wrong thing. There wasn’t fury or anger in them but suspicion. She crossed her arms and cocked her head. “I’m sorry. I definitely didn’t come here realizing that I was going to interrupt you and the gorgeous woman that used to decorate your arm and your bed.”
Fuck.
Chapter 7
Sloan
“Shut the door,” he said in a low voice. He moved around the desk and sat in his chair. The new distance between us didn’t make me feel any better.
I did as he asked, but I had a feeling that I was quickly losing control of the situation. I had just walked in on him touching another woman. It wasn’t in a sexual manner, but I could see the intentions in her face, the disgust in her face when she walked past me.
“Why don’t you tell me what you’re doing here before one of us says something we regret?” he asked softly.
The door shut with a soft click, and I turned to face him. My heart was racing. “I came to apologize.”
“Really?”
“Yes, so imagine my surprise when I find you in the office with your ex-girlfriend,” I hissed. There was no way I was just going to let that pass.
“I told you that I wouldn’t fuck anyone else,” he said darkly as he stared at me. “I haven’t. Why don’t you trust me?”
I didn’t break eye-contact. “It did occur to me that you were under the impression that I broke our agreement last night.”
“If that were true, I could fuck whomever I wanted.”
Pain sliced through me, and my eyes widened. I couldn’t say anything in response to that.
“She showed up unannounced at my office. I had no intentions of doing anything with her. When our agreement is over, you’ll know.”
His controlled fury sent shivers down my spine. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “You’ve just been with so many women, and she’s so pretty.”
“Come here.”
His voice left no room for argument. I slowly moved from the wall and shuffled to him. My heart hammered against my chest. I had no idea that he could be so angry.
I stopped in front of his desk, and he shook his head. “No. Come here.”
Shit. Swallowing hard, I moved around the desk and stood in front of him. I wasn’t scared of him. Deep down, I knew that he’d never physically hurt me. I wouldn’t be here if I thought that was the case, but I still had no idea what he was going to do.
His hands moved to the button of my pants, and my eyes widened. “Lucas,” I hissed and tried to swipe his hands away. “We’re in your office!”
“My office. My business. My building. My rules,” he snapped. “You’re free to walk out, but if you stay, you’re going to listen to me.”
“Listening doesn’t usually require the removal of my pants,” I whispered, but I didn’t stop him again. There was something thrilling about fucking him here. I’d tentatively asked Victor if he ever wanted to fuck me in the car, but he’d always brushed me off. It turned out that he was fucking other women in his car, but that wasn’t the point. This was my chance to do something really daring.
But he was just so angry.
Reaching back, I gripped the edge of the desk behind me, and he slowly unzipped my pants and pulled them down. Underneath, I wore a flimsy piece of lavender lace that dared called themselves panties. I’d gotten in the habit of wearing sexy underwear whenever I thought I might see him.
“She is beautiful,” he muttered, but he never took his eyes off my pussy. Gripping my hips, he lifted me easily on the desk and rolled his chair between my legs. “And I’ve had her.”
Damn it. I didn’t want to hear about him and other women. “You don’t have to explain.”
“Oh, I know I don’t,” he said as his eyes met mine. His finger trailed up my inner thighs, and I hissed and curled my toes. “I don’t have to explain a damn thing to you, but you should trust me. When I tell you that I won’t be with anyone when I’m with you, then you need to trust that. When this is done, Sloan, you’ll know.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
“Not okay.” He pulled the scrap of fabric to the side and shoved a long finger inside me. It took me be by surprise, and I fell back. Catching myself on my elbows, I accidentally shoved papers off the desk. Neither of us even paid attention as they hit the floor. I gasped as pain mixed with pleasure.
“Lucas?” I asked uncertainly.
He stood suddenly and leaned over me to kiss me hard. Pushing a second finger inside me, he started sliding them in and out. “This isn’t what I do, Sloan. I don’t just be with one woman. I take whomever I want home at night without a second thought. I’m putting in the effort to hold my end of the bargain. The least you could do is trust me.”
The tension built inside me, but I tried to ignore it. “Lucas, I’m sorry.”
His thumb pressed against my clit, and I fell all the way back and planted my heels against his desk as I bucked against his hand. He kept talking. “You knew of my past before we agreed to this. I can’t change any of that. You’re going to have to be okay with that.”
If he wanted me to respond, he was going to be disappointed. I could barely moan as he continued the assault on my body. Hard and fast. Slow and easy. His fingers were driving me wild.
When I felt his hot breath blowing on me, his tongue sliding across me, sinking inside me, flicking my sensitive clit, I lost it. Distantly, I hear the clatter of something heavy hitting the floor as I searched for something to hold on to, to anchor me while my orgasm threatened to fling my body into oblivion.
He never let go of me. When it was finally over, he slowly pulled my limp body off the desk and into his lap as he sat back down. “I’m sorry,” I whispered into his shoulder.
Gently, he kissed the top of my head. “I think I kind of like your jealousy,” he said. I heard the smile in his voice. “But if you’re not careful, it’ll push us to the breaking point. I’m enjoying you, Sloan. I’m not quite ready to let that go just yet.”
Neither was I. Of course, the difference was that eventually, he would be ready to move on.
And I might never get to that point.
&nbs
p; “How did you know that Iris was my ex?”
“I Googled you,” I muttered as embarrassment stained my cheeks. “There are quite a few pictures of you with women on your arm.”
“Don’t do that, Sloan. If you can’t be at peace with my past, then you need to tell me now. And if you can, then you can’t dig up old bones.”
Wordlessly, I nodded. He was right, of course. The only thing that would do was upset me. “I should go.”
I tried to get up, but he didn’t move his arms. “I owe you an apology for last night. You’re not wrong. I am used to controlling the environment around me, and I have a short temper. In the future, I will try to be more understanding of your other obligations.”
Smiling, I turned my head to stare at him. “Lucas. I never expected you to be a man who apologizes easily.”
“I’m not. Now go on. I’ll see you tonight.”
I stood from his lap and felt a little empty without his arms around me. “I can’t. I have several meetings tomorrow at the local school so I can pull together a group of kids for my thesis. I have to work on my notes.”
For a moment, I thought he’d be upset, but he just smiled. “Tomorrow night then?”
“Yes. And I promise that I won’t forget.” Leaning down, I gave him a quick peck on the lips. It wasn’t a kiss of desire but something that felt habitual. Lucas looked at me with surprise in his eyes, but I quickly dressed and scampered out of the office before he could ask any questions.
The secretary gave me a knowing smile, and I flushed even more. God. Had she heard us?
“Do you need an escort out?” she asked.
“No, thanks,” I muttered. “I’ll be just fine.”
I knew that I’d told Lucas that I was willing to explore my sexual side, but after an orgasm in his office, I was starting to wonder if I was in over my head.
The next day, I sat in the hard plastic seat in front of the Vice Principal’s desk. I’d managed to control my frizzy curls into a hair band and wore a conservative grey skirt and jacket. I was well prepared, but that didn’t stop me from feeling like a student who’d just gotten caught smoking.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Ms. Whitlow,” a woman said sternly as she entered the office. Torie Garret looked to be in her forties, but her hair was greying, and there were lines on her face. I would have thought running an elementary school would have been easier, but after today? After my third elementary school?
Maybe not so much. Children were terrors.
“I haven’t been here long, Mrs. Garret. I’m just happy that you’ve found time for me. I know I’m giving you short notice.”
She sat behind the desk and nodded her head. “You are late in your proposal, but you’re also the first grad student we’ve had this year. Normally I listen to one or two proposals a semester, but Clancy Elementary is new and seems to be attractive to the university.” What she didn’t want to come out and say was that Clancy Elementary had been strategically zoned so that more than three-quarters of the students came from extremely wealthy families.
I didn’t want to tell her that I’d just left Clancy Elementary. They’d turned me down. It wasn’t that I needed wealthy kids to make my project work. In fact, the less spoiled the kids were, the better my outcome might be. Clancy just happened to be a ten minute drive from school, and Surry Elementary was thirty minutes.
But the principal had practically laughed in my face when I suggest their kids participate in summer volunteer work.
Sliding my proposal across the desk, I took a deep breath. “Middle schools and high schools offer summer school for their students. It’s generally for kids to retake classes they’d failed during the regular year, but some classes are optional, and it affords a chance for students to keep their minds sharp and their hands busy during the long summer months. Elementary schools, on the other hand, don’t offer anything for their students. Most parents turn to babysitters to watch their kids during the break, and there is a sprinkling of day camps in the area, but not many.”
The woman looked at me sternly from over the proposal. “You want the elementary schools to offer summer programs?”
“My paper will focus on the pros and cons of such a project. I’m looking at businesses that can offer the kids some hands on experience that would be fun but still provide them some education. For the sake of my paper, I’m focusing mainly on animal rescue programs, but I’m going to hypothesize the use of nursing homes, libraries, soup kitchens, and similar charities in the area. I need sixteen students. I’m sure you know the drill. Different ages, different stages in learning, different economic backgrounds.”
She put the paper down and nodded her head. “Ms. Whitlow, I think it’s a wonderful idea. I’ve always thought the school system should be more involved in the student’s life during the summer. I’m sure that you know we pull from some of the poorer families, and many of the kids are left to their own devices while the parent works. I’ll go ahead and sign the paperwork for your thesis approval. Once you have everything in order, we’ll send out the permission slips to the parents.”
My eyes widened with excitement. “Really?”
“Ms. Whitlow, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you were surprised,” she said wryly.
Biting my lower lip, I nodded my head. “I know how late it is in the semester and how complex my program is. It’s not a simple reading exercise that would only take a week or two.”
“Yes, well while that might be helpful in the future, this is something that will help these kids right now. You should be very proud of yourself, Ms. Whitlow. I only hope that your program is as good as I hope.”
“It will be,” I promised as I stood. She scribbled her signature at the end of the paperwork and handed it back to me. “You’d better hurry if you want this in place before the summer break, Ms. Whitlow. You only have two months.”
Eagerly gripping the papers to my chest, I tried to act professional, but I was practically bursting with excitement. From her smile, I knew that I wasn’t fooling her, but she dismissed me with a wave of her hand. I thanked her once more before skipping from her office before she changed her mind.
Lucas Montgomery warmed my bed at night and my thesis was well on its way.
The week was getting better and better.
Chapter 8
Sloan
Wrapped in his arms, I leaned against him on the couch and snuggled. “What movie did you want to watch?” I murmured.
Lucas kissed the top of my head. “I wanted to enjoy a steak from a five-star restaurant. Staying in to order pizza and watch a movie was your idea,” he reminded me.
“Five-star restaurants require makeup and dressy clothes. Randi is going to be suspicious if I keep raiding her closet, and I’m too tired to try my hand at contouring and smoky eyes.”
He snorted. “I’ve seen you all dressed up. I doubt you spent more than five minutes on your makeup.”
Lifting my head, I stared at him. “Does that bother you?”
“Why would it?”
“Reporters are always taking pictures of you. Imagine the rumors if the woman at your dinner table wasn’t wearing the latest styles or newest makeup trend.”
He leaned down and kissed me. Slow and easy. My toes curled, and something warm and comfortable settled in my stomach. “Sloan, I have never given a damn about the reporters. Neither should you.”
Leaning over me, he grabbed the remote for the television and turned it on. “I guess you’ll want to watch a romantic comedy?”
Looking horrified, I stared at him. “Are you kidding me? Your television is huge, and you have surround sound. I want to see explosions or awesome special effects.”
“You are surprising,” he murmured as he pulled the list of movies up. I chose one that I’d seen a hundred times. I wasn’t here to see a movie or eat pizza. I was here to enjoy his company. It was amazing when his naked body was wrapped around me, but I wanted to be with him without the dirty, dirt
y sex.
It was dangerous. Pretending to be his girlfriend was definitely playing with fire, but he didn’t seem to mind, and I was feeling daring. Things were going well.
“I haven’t asked you yet. How is the search for the mole going?”
His body tensed undermind, and I wondered if that was a subject best left untouched. “Not well. There are a lot of suspects and no clear motives.”
Picking up a slice of pizza, he held it up to me until I took a bite of its gooey cheesy goodness before taking a bite himself. “I can’t remember the last time I had pizza.”
I snorted. “Really? I have pizza at least twice a week. The pizza place is the only thing around campus open past ten. I’ll probably be ten pounds fatter by the time I graduate. Would you still want me then?”
The thoughtless words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Of course Lucas and I wouldn’t still be together by the time I graduated. That would be more than six months from now. I wasn’t even sure I could keep his attentions for the next two weeks.
“You’d have to eat an awful lot of pizza between now and then to gain ten pounds,” he said in a neutral voice.
Diplomatic. Part of me desperately wanted to ask him how long he thought he’d be interested in me, but I knew it was dangerous territory.
“Well, I’m glad I could remind you of the common life. Tomorrow night, I’ll fix you a bowl of ramen.”
He wrinkled his nose, and I laughed. “No? How about grilled cheese?”
“I offer to take you to the nicest restaurants, and you offer to make me ramen and grilled cheese. How is that fair?”
I stole another bite of his pizza and smiled. “I had no idea that our agreement was based on fairness.”
He stared at me and ran his hands down my body. Even though there was lust in his eyes, I could have sworn there was something else. “No, it’s not.” His voice was husky when he leaned down and kissed me. Setting the slice down on the plate, he moved his hand up under my shirt, and soon the movie and the pizza were forgotten.
No Promises: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Page 75