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“Not particularly.” I had to contain a laugh. My anger was fading as I regained control of the situation. I would have my answers sooner or later. I would also have him, sooner or later. Of the two, if I had to choose which to have first, it would be Michael. Answers could come after.
His discomfort was rapidly morphing to irritation. Red was creeping up his cheeks, and his eyes were sparking. Damn if that didn’t make me want to push his buttons even more.
“Mr. Dahl.” His tone was all broken glass and iron bars as the elevator door opened. “I will have no qualms about filing a suit for sexual harassment, if need be.”
He was like an angry kitten, all blond fluff and tiny claws. I suspected he wouldn’t find that image as amusing as I did, so I kept it to myself. “I assure you, your honor is safe with me.”
He raised one eyebrow. “My honor can take a jump. But, am I safe with you?”
That was the question of the day, wasn’t it? As curious as I was to know the full story, why he had left, what the last two months had been like for him, the urge to undress him and return to where my worship had left off was entirely too tempting. I’d had the experience of tasting his release, of pleasing him with my tongue for however long it took until he was a quaking mess beneath me. I needed him in my mouth again. The image of the man before me today, relaxed casual but put together, was a far cry from the ripped jeans and flannel of two months ago. But at his soul, I could tell he was the same, no matter what clothes he wore. Or didn’t wear, as the case may be.
“Well? Am I safe with you?” he repeated as we stepped outside the building. My car was waiting for us.
“For now,” I said finally.
He appraised me, eyes raking me from head to toe. I wondered what he saw. I wondered if he liked what he saw. I hadn’t looked any different at Nick’s, with a similar suit and tie, but the setting was certainly different. And who knew what his last image of me had been. I could have been drooling all over my pillow. Hell, I could have been drooling all over him. I didn’t think I would have done that. I hoped I wouldn’t have. And I really hoped he hadn’t noticed that used condom clinging to my dick. The only thing worse would have been if I’d jizzed in my pants like a damn teenager.
I opened the passenger door for him before the valet could steal my thunder. He slid into the car without looking at me. I knew he liked to feel in control. I understood that feeling because I was always in control. I had no problem letting him feel like he had a grasp on the situation, though. I knew what the reality was. Getting into his good graces was going to be a challenge. Until now, I’d had a strict no-employees policy. But until now, no one had tempted me to break it. I knew I was past temptation. If he’d let me, Herbert Michael Martin was going to be my undoing.
Chapter Fifteen
Michael
I knew I shouldn’t be following him blindly out of the office, and goodness knew where. I was technically his employee now, and while he had referred to me as Mr. Martin more than once, there was no denying the heat I saw in his eyes or that I reciprocated. I asked him where we were going multiple times along the way, and each time he gave me a nonanswer. The only thing I knew for sure at this point was that if I’d been listening to him during the meeting, my brain would be filled with more knowledge and fewer questions.
If only he knew how distracting he was. Or maybe he did and that was why he was tormenting me so. I needed to tell him about the baby. But how? Thanks for an awesome night and for knocking me up? or It seems to me you need to read the condom package directions better next time? or Remember that time I ran out on you after you had me seeing stars? Yeah, I kinda didn’t leave alone…?
There was going to be no easy way to do this. I had to rip it off like a Band-Aid. But not here, in a car going who knew where. Truthfully, I didn’t care where we were going. Being with him had me feeling settled for the first time since I got here, since even before I took the test. It was selfish of me to want to hold onto that feeling for longer, especially when doing so meant postponing telling him. What kind of a jerk had I become? No, not a jerk. A lonely man, in a new town, facing an uncertain future after taking a detour of mammoth proportions.
We pulled off to the side of the road, in front of a huge hotel. Surely, he didn’t think… Who was I kidding? Even if he did, I wasn’t going to turn him down. I had somehow become that pathetic.
“A hotel?” And by “hotel,” I meant a ritzy place I couldn’t afford to walk into.
“Lunch.” He smirked. Oh, he loved where my brain had gone. Had his gone there, too? Did he think about our night together? A man like him could have any man he wanted. My lack of experience paired with my poor attire that evening and my lean frame couldn’t have possibly lived up to the caliber of man he normally had. The thought of that pissed me off. Not that I wasn’t good enough, but that there were others. What was wrong with me?
“In a hotel?” I clarified because I needed something to say, and my brain was producing no coherent words. How had I gone from work to a date? Or was this a date? I didn’t even know.
“In the hotel.” The smirk was back, this time paired with a wink. If he weren’t so sexy, I’d probably be mad.
“Just making sure.” I sighed as I went for the door, but his hand on my knee stopped me in my tracks.
“You sound disappointed.” Was that hope I heard in his voice? Not that I wasn’t going to quash it the moment I confessed the end result of our first encounter.
“I’m all sorts of things right now,” I mumbled as I popped the door open and climbed out.
I swore I heard him whisper, “Me, too,” just as I shut the door a little too loudly.
The restaurant was the kind with zero prices listed on the menu, letting me know I was beyond underdressed. Not one person gave me a weird look, though, as Porter walked in and pretty much told them we would be having a private table. I was happy for the seclusion, and hearing him getting all bossy like that did things to me it shouldn’t. He had that same quality in the bedroom. But that wasn’t something I should be allowing my mind to wander to. Not here, in public, or semiprivate as the case might be, and not after only having spent most of one night with him. Plus, the privacy would hide my already-throbbing cock. Bonus.
Porter held my chair out for me like a true gentleman, and when he pushed me in, his breath caressed my neck as he exhaled, “So sexy.” I was a goner to be sure.
When the orders were taken and the staff no longer in earshot, Porter finally asked his first question, the one I was dreading but knew was coming.
“Why were you gone when I woke up?”
There was no good answer. I’d spent far too many sleepless nights thinking about just that. I had connected with him. I liked him more than just because of his sexiness. Something about him touched my heart in a way no one else had. Maybe it was the hurt he wore on his face as we talked about Ms. Betsy. Maybe it was the way he took what he wanted, knowing it was what I wanted, too. Maybe it was his intelligence. Whatever it was hadn’t dissipated, as today reaffirmed. It wasn’t a memory morphed into something better than it was, which I had tried to convince myself of numerous times.
“I panicked.” And that was the reality of it. I freaked out and ran.
