by Natalie Ann
“I’m busy, but thank you for the offer. My lunch will be here shortly.”
“I don’t mind waiting until you aren’t busy,” Sean said.
“I believe she told you that she wasn’t interested.”
She turned and saw Eli come up from behind her, Griffin not far behind. Not on Eli’s heels but enough that she was positive they’d seen what was going on and both moved in her direction fast to investigate.
“It’s fine, Eli. I was telling Sean that I was busy and not interested. I’ve got someone that gives me what I need.” She was shocked those words even came out of her mouth.
“Eli Bond?” the man asked.
“That would be me,” Eli said. “The owner of this casino. You happen to be hitting on my girlfriend if you weren’t aware.”
“I wasn’t,” Sean said, looking over to Griffin not that far away with his arms crossed. “And I’ll be taking my leave before your security decides to throw me out. No harm done.”
Sean took off fast, Griffin turning to follow. “He’s not going to question the guy, is he?”
“Who, Griffin?” Eli asked, sliding into the booth next to her.
“Yes, Griffin.”
“He probably will.”
She let out a breath. “Sean was just striking up a conversation. I told him I wasn’t interested.”
“You did,” Eli said. “I heard. But yet he wasn’t moving away.”
“I was safe. I know that. You know that. You came galloping on your white horse fast enough. Did you think I was in danger or was it more?”
She was smirking at him and it caught him off guard, she could see. But she wanted to hear what his answer was.
After listening to Cara this morning talk about all the women in Eli’s past and how he never got jealous, she was curious if that proved Cara’s claims false.
Then she wondered if wanting to know that put her in the same category as those other women. No, not going there. She wasn’t doing anything other than minding her own business.
“It’s my job to protect you. You know we monitor you on the security system. No use hiding it.”
She frowned. “I didn’t think I was monitored that closely.”
“It’s not like you think. If you want the details you can ask Griffin.”
“But he saw some strange man was talking to me and you both came running?” she asked.
“We didn’t run,” he said.
“You called me your girlfriend,” she said, grinning.
“I did. I would have figured that was a given,” he said, leaning his head down to kiss her on the lips.
“Hard to say. Your staff have a lot of opinions on things.”
He frowned. Her food came out and he reached for some fries before she could stop him. “Opinions like what?”
“Oh, no big deal.”
“You brought it up so it has to be,” he said. “Give me a chance to defend myself if I need to.”
She was realizing now that she shouldn’t have started this conversation. It wasn’t the time or place for it, but it was hard to stop when she had it on her mind and she wanted to know. “Were you jealous of the guy hitting on me?”
“That’s what this is about?” he asked.
She didn’t like the tone of his voice. One of annoyance. “No.”
“Yes,” he said. “You were trying to make me jealous?”
She crossed her arms. “That’s a crazy statement and you know it. He came over to me, not the other way around. You heard me telling him no. That last I knew, when a woman wanted to make a guy jealous, she did it when the guy could see it. I would have no idea you could see exactly what was going on. It’s not like I checked camera placements or knew you were watching me like a hawk circling a baby fox.”
“You’re a fox all right,” he said, smiling.
“Don’t get all cute on me now.”
“Fine,” he said, stealing another fry. “I don’t like women who play games and I had a flashback of that from my past. My guess is those are things you hear about me.”
“Not only is that insulting to me but you too. I don’t even know how to play games like that.”
“That has occurred to me too. And as hard as it is for me to admit this—yes. When I saw that man talking to you, my first thought was, shit, we better make sure she is fine. When I heard he was hitting on you, then my second thought was, oh hell no. She’s mine.”
“For now,” she said quietly.
“Don’t go there again. I thought we decided to let it play out. You’re the one putting up plans and rules and timelines. I’m not. You’re going to tick me off.”
Which she didn’t want to do. And though the two of them hadn’t said they loved each other, just hinted at it, his words and behavior were telling her everything she needed to know.
Eli Bond was a man that got what he wanted when he put his mind to it.
The question was, did she want to give it to him?
Sadly, she was pretty sure she did.
31
Up For It
Two hours later, Eli was in his office with Griffin. “I ran everything I could on Sean McDonald. There doesn’t seem to be any connection to Bella or Oliver.”
“That’s something at least.”
“Yep,” Griffin said. “Nothing more than the guy hitting on your girl. I’m shocked you didn’t sprint to her.”
“Cut the shit,” he said. “I don’t need it from you too.”
“Oh. Bella gave you crap over being jealous?” Griffin asked, putting his ankle on his knee in the chair across from Eli’s desk. He was getting comfortable which meant Eli was ready to get his ass handed to him.
There was no use lying. Griffin would know. “It was brought up.”
“You don’t get jealous over any woman.”
“Your point?”
“My point is you’ve gotten soft.”
“I’m doing what is asked of me,” he argued.
“Sleeping with Bella was asked of you? Damn, I don’t remember reading that in the letter. Did you get a second one?”
“Asshole.”
“Was she annoyed that you thought she was playing with you?”
He didn’t even want to know how Griffin figured that out. There was no way he could have heard the conversation on the video. “She might have been when I asked if she was doing it on purpose. She pointed out she wouldn’t know how to do it or that I’d even know it was happening.”
“Not to mention we heard her telling the guy she wasn’t interested.”
“No need to rub it in my face more,” he said.
“But it’s so fun to do that. What’s going on with you two?”
“Maybe it’s none of your business,” he said.
“It’s always my business. But if you don’t want to tell me, then say it.”
The problem was, he wanted to say it to someone. “I don’t know. She’s talking temporary and I’m not thinking that. I don’t know how to make it more.”
“It’s hard to plan anything when there are so many things in the air,” Griffin said.
“Which she has pointed out.”
“So she is thinking long term? In what? Being here a little over a month?”
“I know, it’s crazy to think that.”
“On this island,” Griffin said, “I’m learning that nothing is crazy.”
“Don’t remind me. I think that is why my mother is all over it too. That’s not the point though.”
“Then what is the point?”
“Who the hell knows? Nothing can be done until we find out where Oliver is. And what is going on. If Bella is in any danger. Too many things. Have you found anything more on Vernon Kingston?”
“Nothing,” Griffin said. “Has Bella talked with her aunt or cousin since?”
“Just a few texts. They are being low-key. It’s more with Riva and I’m not being nosy. Her family is trying and, for Bella, I think she needs to hear the other side of it. They are respectin
g that.”
He hated that he couldn’t help her. He’d never be able to understand a family rift like that, but they didn’t have all the facts either.
There had been some SOB Bonds in the past generations. Maybe if he had to deal with one day in and day out he’d have a better idea of what it was like. But he didn’t.
Even Charlie Bond was harder on Hunter than Eli had gotten with his father, but Hailey and Hunter both knew they were loved. They both knew they could go to their parents if they needed something.
And he never thought Charlie would ever be the type to disown his child. Ever.
“That’s something at least. Hopefully Oliver comes out of the woodwork at some point. Until then, at least your bed is warm.”
He snorted. “Not as much as I’d like.”
Griffin got up and left, and Eli went back to work. Bella would be here in thirty minutes for a meeting to go over the proposal she was working on. He wanted to keep work at certain times of the day if he could so that when they did have time together at night, it was about the two of them.
He wasn’t sure he’d ever focused so much attention on another woman before. He supposed he’d gotten off light with Griffin busting on him about it too.
When he saw the guy talking to Bella he’d had some fear but knew they could handle it. The shocker came with the red haze that covered his vision over some man wanting what was his.
He had to remind himself he didn’t own her though. She’d had enough men in her life controlling her movements and he didn’t need to be another.
It wasn’t like him to want to do that either and it was just another indication of where his heart was.
Did he like to control things? Sure. It was common knowledge.
But controlling a woman? No. Never.
His door was open when he heard Bella say, “Hi, Nancy. I’ve got an appointment with Eli.”
“It’s nice to see you again, Bella. I think he’s waiting for you. Go right in.”
He lifted his eyes toward the door, saw her standing there in a light blue dress and nude pumps. He loved how she dressed even when she didn’t need to. Some of it was probably her upbringing, the rest was her style.
They did blend together. They had so much in common when he never felt like he did with other women.
“Hey,” he said. “Shut the door.”
She turned and did what he asked, then moved forward. He was going to ask if she wanted to sit on the couch off to the side, but she put her laptop down on the chair that Griffin had been in, then continued around his desk to stop in front of him where he sat in his leather chair.
He lifted an eyebrow.
“Will Nancy come in here without knocking?”
“No,” he said, grinning. “Why?”
Her hand went down the front of his shirt and didn’t stop until she was covering his dick under his pants. Which was growing rapidly with the look in her eyes.
“I’ve spent the last few hours thinking of this and everything I told myself I was going to do differently. That I didn’t know how to play games. And I don’t want to play those types of games, but maybe I do want to try this type.”
“Really?” he asked, then reached under his desk and hit a switch, locking his door. A nice security feature that Griffin had insisted on.
“Are you up for it?” she asked.
“I’m always up for anything you want to do to help you venture out of your little shell.”
“Good,” she said. She reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a condom, placing it on his desk. “I don’t want to know if you’ve ever done this—”
He stopped her from asking. He could see she almost didn’t want to, but he was going to alleviate her mind. “No. Very few people ever come in this office and never anyone that I’ve slept with. That is, until you.”
“Well then, it can be a first for both of us.”
His hands went to her thighs, sliding under the hem, then resting on her bare ass cheeks. For a minute he thought for sure she was going commando, but then felt the silk of a band around her waist.
“What are you wearing?”
“Very little,” she said.
He moved her dress up and got a look at the light blue thong she was sporting, then lowered his mouth to kiss the small triangle flashing in front of him.
“Very nice,” he said.
“For you,” she said.
“Have you had these on all day?” he asked.
“No. I went back to my room and changed. I got this idea in my head from our talk earlier.”
“It’s because I called you my girlfriend, isn’t it?” he asked, grinning.
She let out a little laugh. “There you go getting all cocky again.”
He figured she wouldn’t admit it, which was fine. He might be pushing it more than he should be.
“You said I had a reason to be that way before,” he pointed out.
Her hand went right to the zipper on his trousers, undid him, and slid her fingers in. “You do.”
She was stroking him, her small hand squeezing him with each movement.
She released the button on his pants and he lifted up while she shoved his clothes out of the way. The leather of his chair soft on his bare ass.
With the condom in her hand, she covered him quickly. He wasn’t going to give her a chance to remove her panties, wanting her to stay dressed.
He nudged the thong out of the way, urged her to straddle him, her knees going on each side of his thighs, lining up and then dropping down.
“That feels so good,” she said.
“It does. I’m never going to get any work done in this room again after this. I’m going to be thinking of this nonstop.”
She put her hands in his hair and yanked him forward, her mouth covering his, her hips rising up and down.
His hands went to her hips urging her to slow down. Sometimes she wanted to rush and he wanted to savor.
Her tongue was dancing with his, almost more aggressively, little moans escaping and fueling the fire building within him.
“I’m not sure I can last much longer,” he said. So much for trying to prolong this.
“Don’t hold back. We need to race to the end. Someone might interrupt us.”
He let out a little laugh. “The door is locked.”
“Good,” she said.
She started to move faster, his chair rocking back and forth with each shift until it moved to the back of the wall and stayed put. At least it wouldn’t flip over. Not that he would care or notice unless they ended up on the floor.
His hands gripped her ass as she rode his cock with more enthusiasm than before. “Don’t worry about being quiet,” he said. “The walls are soundproof.”
She pulled her mouth away from his, her head falling back in abandonment, her spine arching.
“That’s it,” he said. “Fuck me hard. Let me know I’m the only one you want to be with. The only one that can give you this.”
Her breath was catching, her hips in jerky motions, his following.
She was squeezing him so hard and then started to spasm, gripping and releasing him as everything that had been building for weeks let loose.
The words that he’d been keeping locked up slipped out when she collapsed on his chest. “You know I love you, right, Bella?”
She was breathing heavily, her head on his shoulder. “Yeah. You know I love you too, Eli, right?”
He kissed her on the forehead, his hand sliding up and down her back. “I do.”
Twenty minutes later, Bella was sitting on the couch in Eli’s office with her computer open, her hands running down her dress again. “Stop,” he said. “The wrinkles aren’t that noticeable.”
“They are to me,” she said. “Why didn’t I think of this before?”
“Because you can’t plan it all out and you need to stop trying to.”
She knew there was more than one meaning to his words. “It’s hard to stop something you
’ve done your whole life.”
He snorted. “Tell me about it. But I’m trying so you can too.”
“I can’t help thinking though.”
“Stop. Let’s talk about work and then tonight I expect you in my bed all night long where I can spend more time pleasing you.”
Normally she didn’t like when a man told her what to do, but since she knew Eli wasn’t trying to control her—she hoped—as much as make her feel wanted, she laughed. “I can do that.”
“And maybe you can leave some clothes there? Or move your stuff to my penthouse?” She lifted her eyebrows at him. “Going too fast?”
“I’m not sure. Probably not. It’s more about the fact that you said no one has access to it.”
“It’s easy enough to give it to you. And I’ll make sure Griffin finds his breakfast somewhere else.”
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said.
“No, tell me. Does he have breakfast with you daily? He still can if I’m there. It’s not like it’s going to bother me. I’ll probably be up and out or working before he comes over anyway.”
“Most likely,” he said. “It’s part of how we start our days, but we can change it.”
“No,” she said. “You don’t need to. Your place is big enough. Your room is private. Maybe I’ll make you two breakfast one day too.”
He laughed. “You don’t need to do that.”
“I didn’t need to come in here and hike my dress up either, but I did because I wanted to.”
He reached his hand over and laid it on hers, then pulled her close to his side. “You’re perfect.”
“I’m hardly perfect. My life is a mess.”
“But you aren’t. For someone whose life is a mess you carry yourself with such grace and dignity. Class. It can be seen a mile away.”
“The same as you,” she said. “Only your life isn’t a mess.”
“We’ve all had messes in our lives at times. It’s how you clean them up. I’ll be there holding the dustpan for you.”