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“Do I have a choice?”
“Nope.”
My pulse spikes when his hand suddenly grabs mine, just as the doors open wide. Megan, the receptionist, looks up from the phone in her hand. Her mouth drops open, her expression scandalized as her gaze locks onto Gabriel and my clasped hands.
“Uh…Mr. Black!” she blurts, standing quickly. “Ms. Yamaguchi?—”
“Why don’t you follow us to the pit, Megan,” Gabriel grunts, barely slowing as he pulls me through the reception area of the firm. “I’m going to address everyone all at once so that we can all get on with our days.”
My pulse is racing as we march into the main cubicle area.
The story is very obviously out. Every single employee is talking with their immediate neighbor, or staring in shock at their phones, or texting excitedly.
“Everyone, stop what you’re doing.”
It’s as if he just walked into the pit and fired a shotgun in the air. The whole place jumps in terror, every face snapping around and every eye flaring wide when they see him.
When they see us.
Wordlessly, Gabriel pulls me by the hand through the maze of cubicles to the center of the open plan space. He marches halfway up the stairs with me in tow before turning to survey the whole firm. Above us, I’m acutely aware of Taylor, Alistair, and a few other employees stepping out of conference rooms to gaze down at the scene from the upper level.
I glance up, paling when I lock eyes with Taylor. She just nods her chin, a reassuring if twisted smile on her face. I glance back toward the pit. This time, it’s Elsa’s gaze I catch as she stares at me with her mouth in an “O”.
“As I’m sure you’ve all heard,” Gabriel says, his voice filled with a mix of sternness, authority, and power, “Ms. Yamaguchi and I have an important announcement to make. We’ve been keeping this quiet, not out of shame or fear of scandal, but because our private lives are precisely that. Private. HR has been aware of this for months?—”
Well, that’s obviously a lie. My gaze snaps to Rebecca, Crown and Black’s HR director, half-expecting her to say something. She’s just smiling neutrally.
That’s when my eyes catch the diamond bauble on her wrist, the brand-new bag which looks a hell of a lot like an Hermès Birkin, and the shiny new Louboutins on her feet.
Mother. Fucker.
She’s been bought.
Whatever ethical concerns I have slip away as Gabriel’s muscled arm slips around my waist. One hand grips my hip possessively as his other one takes mine and raises it and my new ring, as if showing everyone I’m his.
“Fumi and I have been seeing each other for a few months now, so we’ve decided to make it official.” He beams a charming, wide, smile. “We’re getting married.”
The whole place explodes in murmurs and gasps. Employees whirl to each other with mouths agape as the whispers turn to a roar.
Elsa is standing next to Eloise and Cassidy, and I can feel the blush spreading across my face as the three of them just stare at me in confusion and shock. Gabriel’s hand grips my hip tightly, yanking me back into the present.
“Thank you, thank you,” he smiles as a smattering of claps begin to turn into a small applause from the staff. “This changes nothing around here. Ms. Yamaguchi will keep her same position, and everything stays the same with Crown and Black staffing and management. I do not want anyone to treat her or myself any differently.” He clears his throat with a brief nod. “That’s it.”
Except it’s not. Because then, right in front of everyone, Gabriel suddenly spins me, pulls me tight against his body, cups my face, and leans down to kiss me.
It’s not until his mouth crashes to mine that I realize despite all of the pure sin he unleashed on my body the other night, this is actually our first kiss. It’s such an amusing thought—given that a few nights ago he was fucking my mouth, spanking me, torturing my nipples, and coming on my face and down my throat—that I start to laugh.
It doesn’t throw him. He doesn’t back away. If anything, Gabriel starts kissing me harder, fiercer. His hands tighten on my jaw and my hip. Even if this is just supposed to be a kiss “for the cameras”, his tongue demands entrance.
Which I give.
And suddenly, I’m not just “kissing” Gabriel in front of the whole office. I’m kissing him in front of the whole office.
The train has left the station. The spaceship has launched. There’s no going back now.
Fuck, I’d better learn to hold on tight.
10
