“Your five minutes is up,” I say once the clock strikes noon.
For the briefest second, I silently pray he will ignore my request and demand to stay. Because even being furiously angry at him, my stupid body craves his attention, no matter how minute it is. My prayers are left unanswered when he smiles before ambling to the door, passing Patty on his way in. I slouch into the office chair and bury my head into my shaking hands. Patty walks over and runs his wrinkle-covered hand down my back.
“Did you give him the chance to explain?”
I raise my welling eyes. “No,” I say with a shake of my head.
Patty’s mature eyes peer straight through to my soul when he says, “You might want to listen to what the boy has to say. He’s not a bad man, Ava. He cares for you.”
“He hurt me, Patty,” I reply, my voice quivering.
“Trying to protect you,” Patty interrupts.
My brows furrow, unable to grasp what Patty means by his statement. Hugo was fighting with Marvin because of his jealousy.Wasn’t he?
The remainder of my brunch with Patty is eaten in silence. It is the quietest we've ever been. After placing a farewell kiss on his cheek, I walk to the elevator banks. The heaviness on my heart is weighing down my shoulders, making my steps slow and lazy.
When the elevator dings open, my wrist is suddenly seized and I’m hauled into the elevator car. My heart hammers against my chest when Hugo moves to the elevator panel and inserts a key into the lock. My earlier anger that was subsiding returns full pelt when the elevator doors snap shut tighter than a vault at a bank.
Gritting my teeth, I move to the elevator panel and push every button available. My effort is fruitless and the doors remain closed.I knew Hugo living in my building would be a bad idea.
Rolling my shoulders, I spin to face him.“Let me out,” I demand.
He shakes his head. “No can do.”
Fuming with anger, I cross my arms under my chest and pace to stand in the furthest corner of the elevator car, putting as much distance between us as possible.
“You agreed to talk to me last night,” he says.
“I lied,” I sneer. “There is nothing you could say that will make me forgive you anyway. So you may as well save your breath.”
“Lucky I’ve always believed actions speak louder than words,” he mutters, snatching my wrist and pulling me towards him.
His mouth crashes into mine so furiously, my lips feel bruised. I yank away from him, pushing hard on his chest. He firms his hold on the nape of my neck, securing my mouth to his. When his tongue plunges into my mouth, I clench my teeth down, gnawing on the very thing that caused most of my pain - his vindictive tongue.
My knees shake when his deep growl rumbles through my heaving chest. My disloyal nipples pebble, turned on by the roughness of his kiss. Guilt swamps me when the bitter tang of blood mingles with the sweet cinnamon taste of Hugo’s mouth. I didn’t mean to intentionally hurt him; the buildup of anger was just too much for me to inhibit any longer.
Even injured, Hugo continues to kiss the living hell out of me. He kisses me like a man starved of my taste. Warm slickness coats my panties when I stop thrashing against him, no longer having the strength to fight off a man I’ve craved for years. My nipples tighten with pleasure as my fingers rake through his hair. Realizing I’m no longer fighting against him, Hugo adjusts the intensity of our kiss, switching it from a raw, primitive kiss to a sweet, heart-combusting one.
His tongue coaxes into my mouth, sweeping inside in slow, core-clenching strokes. He pulls me in close to his body, allowing me to feel how aroused he is by our kiss. A whimper escapes my lips when he grips my thighs to hoist me up the wall so I can grind against his thick, hard cock.
My heart clenches when he pulls his lips away from my mouth and peers into my eyes. His eyes are full of remorse and are beaming with silent apologies.
“It killed me, Ava,” he breathes heavily, dropping his lips to my neck. “Hearing him say he was going to touch you, fucking killed me.”
My brows scrunch, confused by his statement. The crinkle of my brows smooths when he sucks on the skin of my neck, marking me with his mouth.
“He was bragging to anyone who would listen that he only turned up to the wedding to take you home,” he says, pulling his wicked mouth away from my tingling neck. “To fuck you and make you his.”
He stops talking to inspect the mark he created on my skin. His cock twitches, seemingly pleased with his effort. A violent shiver of arousal tingles down my spine when he sucks my erect nipple into his mouth through my shirt. I grip his hair as a jolt of pleasure rockets through my pleading pussy. My cotton shirt clings to my chest when he releases my nipple from his gifted mouth with a loud pop. The hardness of my nipples peaks more when he blows air onto the moist material. My breath hitches as he lifts his scandalous eyes to mine.
“When I saw you gathering your coat, preparing to leave with him, I lost it. I didn’t want him to touch you. Ihatedthe idea of him touching. I want to be the only man who gets to touch you.”
I gasp in a sharp breath as I stare into his wild eyes. Even with his heart hammering against his ribs so fast, I can feel it pulsating through my body. His eyes are open and raw, exposing the cyclone of emotions surging through him. Hugo’s always been a communicator, but his eyes are relaying way more than his words ever could.
I cup the edge of his jaw. “I wasn’t leaving with Marvin. I was calling him a taxi,” I explain, staring into a pair of eyes that have captured my soul. “There was only one man I wanted to leave with that night. That man was you.”
A hiss of air seeps from his lips, fanning my heated cheeks. As I stare into his eyes, the ice that formed around my heart the past week thaws. The past seven days has been one of the hardest weeks of my life. I’ve barely functioned.
