He blinked at her bluntness. For a few seconds, irritation flared in him. He’d grown unused to having someone call him out.
“I thought it’d be easier to have Elizabeth do it.”
“Easier for whom?”
His mouth slanted. They just looked at each other for a strained few seconds.
“I should get back to work,” she said.
“Harper, don’t be mad at me.”
He grated his teeth together in irritation at himself. He didn’t say things like that to women. Jesus. It was something he would have said to her when he was thirteen years old—he had said it to her years ago.
“You come into my workplace, pull . . .” She waved impatiently at the toilet, where he’d just fallen on her like a hungry wolf. “Whatever that just was, and then tell me not to be mad?” She stepped toward him aggressively.
“Are you mad because I did it? Or because you liked it?”
She gave him a fulminating glance. He shut his eyes in mounting frustration.
“I’m sorry,” he said stiffly after a moment, meaning it. He didn’t know where he stood with her. He didn’t know where he stood with himself in regard to her. The need to touch her, to possess her, was overriding everything else, including his doubts about her. He reached up and cradled her jaw with both his hands, lowering his head until it hovered over her upturned face.
“Just . . . just tell me this obsession . . . this compulsion you’re referring to, doesn’t have anything to do with that woman from your past, the one I remind you of,” she said softly.
He blinked and lifted his head, taken off guard. Is this what was bothering her?
“It has to do with you, Harper. Only you. I meant what I said before. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. You’re the first thing I thought of seeing when I got back.”
“I’m the first thing you thought of doing,” she murmured, and he was glad to see the hint of a smile on her lips.
“Is that so bad?”
Her gaze skittered off him.
“I can’t believe I let you do it.”
His finger traced the trail of her blush.
“I’m glad you did. It was amazing.”
She looked up at him warily. His heart went out to her. He knew how bewildered she was. Who better?
“I’m being an idiot, letting you into my life,” she stated bluntly.
He went very still to contain the sharp pain that went through him, hearing her say that.
“You’re being unwise, maybe. So am I. Not everything in life is logical. Have dinner with me tonight. I’ll have someone pick you up at six at your place?”
He sensed her hesitation. She’d told him that she had a history of getting involved with narcissistic jerks, and he’d responded by ordering her into the newsroom’s bathroom, cuffing her hands behind her back, and shoving his cock in her mouth.
No wonder she hesitated.
Fuck it. He couldn’t help who he was. He was always dominant with women. Your need to have her is a bit beyond the ordinary, though, wouldn’t you say?
He ignored the sarcastic voice in his head.
“If I have to cancel any of our meetings in the future, I’ll call myself,” he found himself saying before she could deny him.
Her pretty, reddened lips—the ones he’d just debauched mercilessly—parted.