The drive over was laborious to say the least. He’d actually spent most of it sitting in traffic jams. When he eventually pulled up, he slid the details of Defoe Point into the side pocket of the car, grabbed the package Louisa had given him and made for the front of Scott’s. On opening the door, he was rewarded with a vision he didn’t think he’d ever forget.
She was sitting with her leg elegantly draped across the other one on top of the shop counter and her arms splayed out either side of her. The black heels flashed a red sole at him, which matched the dress to perfection, and as his gaze travelled the length of those incredible legs, he noticed the black laced, corseted waist section that pushed her breasts up deliciously as she leant towards him. His eyes eventually met her enthralling face and he swore his heart stopped at her gaze at him. Her soul-melting chocolate eyes seared into him and the slow curve of her lips stirred his dick straight into action. He realised instantly he wanted nothing more than to take her somewhere and show her exactly what his hands wanted to do to her. In fact, he wanted to show her here and now.
“Hi,” she said. “You’re very late, Mr. White.” He couldn’t stop himself as he strode toward her and wrapped his hand around the back of her neck.
“You are perfection, Miss Scott,” he said as he pulled her mouth to his and revelled in the feeling of her soft lips against his. Her tongue slipped onto his with the sweetest hint of strawberries and he devoured it as he thought of every way he was going to have her tonight. She eventually released his mouth gently and smiled again. He swirled his fingers in one lock of tumbling red hair and returned her gaze. Fuck, he could look at her forever.
“That’s quite a hello you’ve got there,” she said as she leaned forward and kissed him delicately again. His dick throbbed again and he shook his head at his own enthusiasm for the woman in front of him.
“That’s a very appealing look to say hello to,” he replied as he helped her down and watched her run her hands down the dress. Stunning - there wasn’t an inch of room left in it but she somehow managed to make it look refined. Others would have made the outfit appear slutty, but her grace held a more polished appearance. He grabbed onto the lacing at her back and cinched it in tighter. She gasped and then moaned as his other hand travelled to her throat. “Shall we do this now, Elizabeth? Have you ever fucked in here before?” Her body instantly said it was willing and he smiled into her shoulder as he kissed it.
“Alex,” she rasped out breathlessly. Christ, he loved hearing her say his name. He released the lacing and let her go. He’d got other things to show her at the moment. They’d have to wait until later.
“I wanted to show you something,” he said as he held out his hand and led her toward the door.
“I thought we were going to a meeting? I was slightly confused by your choice of outfit, I have to admit,” she said as confusion marred her beautiful brow. He scanned her again. She couldn’t look more exquisite if she tried.
“It is a meeting,” he replied with a wink.
“Oh, right, well, I’ll be interested as to why I needed to wear something so... tight then.” He laughed at her as he watched her pulling the shutters and locking up.
“I like you in restricted situations, Miss Scott.” He smirked as they got into the car.
“Yes, I realize that,” she said quietly as she crossed her legs in the car and let the dress ride up her thigh. He pulled out into easy traffic and reached across for her leg. Her skin sent a bolt of electricity straight to his groin and he chuckled to himself at the effect she still had on him.
They drove in relative silence as he tried to think of how he was going to handle the next half an hour. He still didn’t know how she was going to react to what he’d prepared so he was ‘winging it,’ to use her term. He didn’t often enter into negotiations of any sort without knowing every possible outcome, but this one was unusual for him. He’d never given a building to anyone before so he had no idea how it was going to pan out. The next turning set his pulse racing, and smiling to himself, he realised he was nervous. He tapped his fingers on her thigh and she turned her head to him and giggled.
“I’m struggling with whether that’s nerves or excitement,” she said as she grabbed his finger to stop him and brought it to her mouth. He inwardly groaned at the vision, made another turn and parked the car in front of the building.
The Victorian warehouse had been used as a printing factory for the last five years. It was a two storey building, which had been renovated to a high standard about two years ago. The main body of the building was largely open plan and the second floor held office suites and a large conference room. Alex had scouted it after Tom Brindly had sent the details through. It was perfect for them to expand into. It would need kitchens fitted and probably dividing walls built in, but he’d already applied for preliminary planning permissions and with his contacts, everything would be fast tracked anyway so she could be in here by early next year.
He drew in a long breath and got out of the car. Walking around to her door, he felt those nerves pinch at him again and shook his head at his own insecurity regarding her. He hoped this was the right thing to do and that she wouldn’t take it the wrong way but in all honesty, he knew she wasn’t going to be ecstatic about it.
“Where are we?” she said in obvious bewilderment as he helped her out. She fiddled with her dress and looked over at the building. Christ, she looked incredible. He was desperate to kiss her again or have her against a wall. He couldn’t make up his mind, which made him smile. He’d never been all that bothered with kissing before her.
“I love you,” he said. “You do know that, don’t you?” She stared at him, still confused, and then her whole face softened at his words. He adored that those words did that to her face. He only hoped that his next ones wouldn’t remove that look.
“I know. Well, I think I do anyway... And I love you, too, but I still don’t understand why we’re standing outside a dark building. Is it a club or something? Because seriously, I think they need a bouncer to announce themselves or at least a bloody sign.” She giggled and wrapped her arms around herself.
“No, it’s not a club, Elizabeth,” he replied as he gazed at her mouth. “It’s yours.”
She gaped at him as if not understanding what the hell he was talking about, and then after a minute of staring, her eyes narrowed a little as realisation started to set in. Her body tensed as if ready to blow and his eyebrow rose with amusement at her anger. He knew she wouldn’t be happy about this but he was fucked if he was entering into conversations about her paying rent or buying the property from him. She was having the building and that was the end of the matter as far as he was concerned. His lawyers had drawn up the paperwork already and all he had to do was get her to agree to sign it. She simply didn’t understand how little this meant to him financially and because of that, she thought it was an inappropriate thing to offer. He sauntered over to the building and unlocked the door. “Are you coming?” he called as she stood there scowling at him.
“No, I am most definitely not. You can take your building and-”
He cut her off. “Elizabeth, get your absurdly glorious backside over here now before I make you,” he said, dropping his voice to that octave she responded so well to. She flinched but stood her ground defiantly and raised her brow at him in challenge. Christ, how he liked her little challenges. He was sure if she could have, she’d have stamped her foot at him. He chuckled and took one step back towards her. She retreated and held her blood red nails up at him. He couldn’t stop himself from licking his lips as he imagined her hands on him and pictured her up against the darkened brick wall behind her.
“Alex, this is not acceptable. I know you think it’s okay but really it’s not. I can’t do this. Please, Alex, try and see it from my point of view. You may have more money than sense but that’s not what I want from you. I just want you.” She was almost begging him. He sighed and held out his hand. Why could she just not take something fr
om him? He wanted her to have it all.
“Just come and have a look, please, Elizabeth,” he said as his hand hung in the air. He had no idea if she’d take it or not. “Baby, I bought two buildings bigger than this yesterday, in cash. In the next month, I’ll apparently be buying nine more in this country. I have more land in the states than I know what to do with and my portfolio in China is about to triple. Add into that that I’m thinking about Russia and a ski resort in Austria and perhaps you can begin to imagine how much I’m worth. This,” he said as he waved his hand at the building behind him, “is not a big deal to me in the slightest. I want you to have it. I want you to expand your dreams and be excited about your future. If I can help you achieve that then I will and that’s not up for discussion.”
Her beautiful eyes continued with their assault of his as they stood there. He’d never felt so emotionally challenged in his life as every part of her honest and decent personality held firm. It wasn’t in her nature to be happy about this sort of thing. He knew that and it was one of the reasons he wanted her to have it. He’d never given a thing to anybody, simply because nobody had ever deserved anything from him. She made him want to give her everything. She gave him peace and therefore she deserved it all. Eventually, her mouth moved to say something, then she closed it again and he smirked at her because he’d always found the move ridiculously adorable. When the hell the term adorable had entered his life he had no idea. He inclined his head as he waited for her to find her voice again.
“Don’t stand there smirking at me. I am not happy. You don’t understand, do you? This isn’t what we’re about, Alex. You can buy or give things to everybody else if you want, but all I want from you is your emotions and your loyalty. To know that you trust me with your feelings is all that’s relevant to me. Your wealth is of no importance to me unless it’s to do with your own self-worth. Please, don’t ask me to be okay with this. I can do this on my own,” she said as she waved her hand at the building. He loved her more with every precious word that left her lips. “You don’t have to prove anything to me because I don’t want you to. You are everything that’s important to me and all I need from you is your love.”
He had to hand it to her; she couldn’t have tried to decline an offer better than that. He smiled at her as she dropped her lovely face to the floor. She knew he wasn’t going to give up and as she sighed with frustration at him, he moved towards her again with a growl. She looked up at him through her lovely lashes and brought her thumb to her lips.
“Elizabeth, I’m afraid you’re going to have to prove all of what you’ve just said to me,” he replied as he picked up her chin. “If you expect me to believe the depth of your emotions then you’ll have to prove them to me.”
“I… I don’t understand,” she replied as she gazed at him. Fucking perfect.
“Take the building.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to him.
“But I’ve just told you that-” He cut her off with his mouth as he devoured hers and revelled in the taste of her again. Never had her mouth tasted sweeter to him as he began to really believe that his money meant nothing to her. Her moan of desire let him know exactly how she felt as her body moulded into him delectably and she ran her fingers up to the back of his neck.
“Take the building because I love you, and because I’ve never wanted to give anything to anyone before,” he whispered into her neck as he made his way downwards to her breasts. “Take the building because it’s what my emotions tell me to do for you, and take the building because it’s what my loyalty demands me to do for you. You have no idea of the loyalty I have for you.” He heard the narrowing of her eyes rather than saw it as he felt her body stiffen against him.
“That’s quite obviously blackmail, Mr. White,” she said in an irritated tone from above his head, which was now forgetting the reason they were even having this conversation. His dick was once again doing the thinking as he eased a nipple from her corset and gently bit down on it. “And doing that isn’t helping your cause any.” He pushed her backwards to the car and forced his weight onto her as he lazily rubbed himself against her thigh.
“I think it might be helping quite a lot actually. You’re far more pliable and you’re smiling, which is a damn good start,” he said as he lifted his head and looked into her beaming face. “Take the fucking building, Elizabeth, and prove that you love me.”
“That is not playing fair,” she replied quietly as she rolled her eyes at him and sighed. He chuckled and moved back to her chest.
“Fair’s overrated and boring, as you well know by now.” She groaned in frustration, or desire - he couldn’t tell which and frankly didn’t give a shit. Either was fine by him. He could do something interesting with either.
“What was in the box?” she said abruptly as she tugged at his hair. His sudden confusion jolted his head up to look at her.
“What box? What the hell are you talking about?” He had no idea, and the fact that he wasn’t consuming her with his nipple biting was intriguing.
“The box Mrs Peters gave you.” Oh, that was fucking clever - naughty girl, always after the elusive information.
“Ah, are we going to play for it? Tit for tat, so to speak?” She grinned as she broke away from him and headed for the open door. He watched her arse walk away and wondered if he could bend her over something quickly to navigate her away from the emotions she was after.
Not a fucking hope, White.
“We haven’t played for a while, have we?” she called as she entered the dark building.
He couldn’t help the smile that crept across his mouth as she disappeared. She was far too smart for her own good and too sexy. Frankly, he hadn’t got a fucking clue how he was supposed to keep up with her. He still didn’t know how she’d managed to break down his defences but he was beginning to realise that he was damn glad she had, because feeling her swirling around inside his head was probably the best sensation he’d ever felt. He only hoped that she wouldn’t hate what she found in there when she delved a bit further.
Chapter 13
Elizabeth
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh buggery balls and shit!
I cannot believe he’s doing this. No matter how nonchalantly I’ve walked into this huge sodding building in the guise of playing some sort of game, I can’t begin to imagine how I’m going to turn down this offer without pissing him off, or worse, hurting his feelings. Why the hell can’t he understand that I just don’t want this from him? Yes, okay, even I’ll admit it’s an amazing opportunity, but how could I take it and not be left feeling beholden to him? Regardless of how much he wants me to prove my love, I can’t take it. I mean, how would that look to the rest of the world?
Oh yes, hi. My name’s Beth Scott and my boyfriend gave me this vast building so that I could realise my dreams. How sweet. Yes, Alexander White. Yes, the one with stupid amounts of money. Yes, the one that every woman wants to bed, and no, of course I’m not with him for his money or his incredibly stunning body. I really just want him for his beautiful but damaged soul.
Even to my own ears it sounds ridiculous. If this was someone else, I would be laughing my backside off at the pathetic attempt to convince someone that the money wasn’t important. The truth is it is important but only with respect to the fact that I don’t want it from him. It’s his, not mine. I have my own and no amount of him pressing this on me is going to prove any different.
At what point doesn’t he get that I just want him? I don’t even know if it’s possible to separate the man from his wealth. I see snippets of a man who just wants to be himself, but then he’s gone and in his place stands a man that simply commands the respect of others because of his power. I mean, how many people have that many cars in their garage? And what sort of man gives a building to their girlfriend? And frankly, why would he? It’s not like he needs to. We’ll probably get our funding from the bank at some point because we’re a pretty safe bet in this economy. His words linger u
ncomfortably in my mind. Take the building because I love you, and because I’ve never wanted to give anything to anybody before. Is this so unusual to him, to give something freely and with some sort of sentiment involved? Is this what he thinks love is?
Oh, and bloody hell it’s big. I flick on the lights beside me and gaze around the space in front of me. Cavernous would seem a more appropriate word. Regrettably, I can’t stop my mind from imagining it becoming a modern catering unit. There’s so much room that it would be so easy to install a bakery kitchen and a functions section. The steel stairs that climb up the side of the building obviously lead to office suites on the second level where I can easily see Belle lording herself around and shouting orders over the balcony to her staff below.
I giggle to myself at the thought of it and walk towards the middle of the empty floor. My ridiculously high heels click loudly on the industrial floor as I wander and spin slowly, gazing at the sights. The inside is completely white. The irony is not lost on me in the slightest and I find myself looking back toward the door to see him standing there watching me. His solid body leaning on the doorframe casually and his icy eyes pierce me even from this distance. His slight smirk and arrogant gaze let me know that he can see what’s travelling around my head and god, he looks good in that three piece black suit - infuriatingly so. The man could quite easily be posing for GQ in this moment and would certainly be making the magazine a fortune as the women of the country flocked to buy it and hoped that one day they’d meet him. Only they won’t, not if I can help it anyway. Well, they might, but they still can’t have him.
As I run my eyes over him, I stupidly let my mind wander to his hands, which instantly sends visions of darker lighting and the click of my heels as I struggle for balance reminds me of steel and then restraints. My legs start their trembling as my groin tightens at the thought and I clench my thighs in the hope of staving off the inevitable. His eyebrow rises at me from across the room and his smile grows wider. How the hell does he see that? Shit, I wish I had something to hang on to because I could seriously faint at the panty dropping vision in front of me at the moment. Oh god, stop it, Beth! Get a sodding grip of yourself.
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