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Her arms fold across her chest as her chin lifts. “Ask.”
“Now.”
A hand lands on her popped hip as her finger flies out, pointing at me. “You don’t tell me what to do. If you want this to be an easy interaction, I suggest you remember who you’re speaking to.”
So much for professionalism.
My hands land on the desk, pushing myself away as I rise from my chair. I stroll around the desk, my hands stuffed into my pockets until I’m in front of her. “I know who I’m talking to, Tiger Lily. Do you remember who you are talking to?”
Her head tilts back, meeting my eyes with flames. Backing down isn’t in her DNA. And I’m not ashamed to admit, on occasion, she is fucking terrifying.
Compared to me, she is a tiny thing—so very young, too—but the way she views the world is amazing. It’s not through the eyes of the privilege she grew up with despite being such a spoiled brat most of the time. She doesn’t see anything in black and white but every shade of gray to be found—except when it comes to me. Her boldness—not usually entitled or arrogant, but the simple gift of being unapologetically her—is the first thing I noticed about her.
She is fierce.
And I would fall at her feet and worship her if she’d allow it.
Right now, there’s no way she would, so she gets the other side of me. She loves that side, too.
“You can sit, or I make you. Your choice, baby.”
“What will you do, Liam? Tie me down? Hold me hostage?” I raise a brow at her condescending tone. “We both know you won’t do shit. Maddox and Ryder might know, but you would never risk anyone else discovering your secret.” She’s daring me with her words, but her eyes tell another story. She is afraid I will tell everyone and what the consequences of it may be now because she believes we’re over and it’s no longer worth the risk.
Hmm. So she hasn’t realized everyone knows. Okay then.
And she thinks I’m bluffing. Time to show her I’m not.
I take two more steps, bend my knees, and hoist her over my shoulder. Her shrieks are probably heard throughout the office. That sexual harassment issue Jonathan warned me about has audio.
I carry her around my desk, drop her into my chair, and lean over her. Her feet kick, trying to hit where she knows would hurt the most, but I use my legs to hold hers in place. “You’re going to sit. We are going to discuss the plan: picking musicians, working on smoothing out the songs, discussing how we want to market you, and whatever else. Then you will pull up your schedule, and I will pull up mine so we can work out times to work. Together. Every. Day. And if you haven’t noticed yet, I don’t give a shit who knows.”
“Go to hell, you cheating piece of shit.”
My teeth clench. The fingers wrapped around the chair’s arms turn white as my grip tightens, and I lean closer to her. Until I’m centimeters away from her lips, my warm breath fanning across her gorgeous face, making her breathing stutter. “You know good and goddamn well I did not fucking cheat on you. That I would never cheat on you.”
I clamp my mouth shut, stopping myself from telling her everything.
The flare of self-righteous, justified anger mixed with hurt blasts through me like a physical shot to the gut. Her words slice right through my heart. “You’re right. You never cheated because we were never together.”
It takes effort not to recoil. It kills me she doesn’t get it. Doesn’t realize. We weren’t a fling or hookup. She was never an afterthought. She was every thought. Every breath and every beat.
I fell in love with the little flower long before she loved me.
And I’m reminded again that I have only myself to blame.
“Lily, I—”
“Don’t.” Her warning is like a clap of thunder, though the words are nothing more than a whisper.
This is why I have to wait, why I’ve been waiting.
I’m just not sure how much longer I can.
***
I lean against the desk with my arms folded. My eye twitches, and my head throbs as I stare at the girl tied to my damn desk chair. “We have a lot to discuss.”
“Fuck you,” she spits as she tugs at the ties binding her to the chair.
