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I lean back, cross my legs, and try to picture the way I felt kissing Marie, touching her, licking tears from her face and sliding my cock between her legs.
That was emotion. Pleasure, yes, but real emotion too. I wanted her, and not just to feel a physical sensation. I wanted to see her cry, to feel her come, to make her hurt and drive her wild.
I wanted to feel all that through her.
I haven’t experienced that in a very long time.
If ever.
“I’m aware of your feelings on the situation,” I say, still not looking at him.
“That’s not the same thing as, I won’t, don’t think I didn’t notice.”
“Nothing gets past you.”
“I know you, Ansell. You’re interested in her but I’m telling you, it’s a horrible idea, and not just because she’s up to her neck in this Crawford shit.”
I glance over, frowning. “And why else would she be off limits?”
“She’s an employee.” I wave that off and he keeps going. “Her father is a real piece of garbage. She’s much younger than you. Her father is a serious piece of garbage. The list goes on.”
“No, it doesn’t.” I tap my finger on my desk and spin to face him. “I don’t plan on getting any more involved with her than I already am. Does that make you feel better?”
“No, not at all, considering how deep into it you seem to be already.” He sighs and frowns at his phone screen. “I almost don’t want to tell you this, but it seems Marie’s father is sitting at her desk right now. My secretary just texted.”
My eyebrows raise a fraction of an inch. “And is that bad?”
“Like I said, he’s a real piece of work.”
“He’s a hedge fund manager. They’re all pieces of trash.”
“Geoffrey Pearce is particularly awful. I’ve heard some real nasty rumors about that guy, none of which I’ll give any air to, but suffice to say that I wouldn’t want that man anywhere near my office.”
“Then we’ll throw him out.”
Baptist sighs and rubs his face. I don’t fully understand the problem—this man is an issue and a liability, so we should get rid of him as soon as we can—but Baptist only shakes his head. “We can’t do that. Besides, it looks like he’s dragging Marie out to the elevators as we speak.”
I slowly stand up. “Dragging?”
“Walking. Leading. I don’t know, that’s the word Deirdre used. What are you doing?”
“I should make sure she’s okay.”
Baptist holds his hands up. “Wait a second, are you serious? I just got done telling you not to get more involved and now you want to follow her and her asshole father?”
“If he’s an issue, I want to make sure she’s not in any physical danger.”
“Since when did you give a shit about making sure anyone’s safe?” Baptist looks genuinely shocked and I can’t blame him.
Truthfully, the feeling is new. I’ve rarely gone out of my way to protect someone before and it’s very out of character for me to want to help Marie right now. Aside from Baptist, there are very few people in my life that I truly care about, and even those are minor blips on my mental radar.
But Marie’s like a screaming squadron of blips. I can’t get her from my mind, even when I want to, and the feeling is uncomfortable. If following her and making sure her dangerous father doesn’t do something supremely stupid will silence my mind then it’s a small price.
“He won’t see me,” I say, walking to the door. “I’ll be careful.”
“Ansell.” Baptist jumps up and follows. I pull out my phone and text my driver to meet me out front. “This is a dumb idea. Let the girl talk to her father. They’ve got some shit to work out and it doesn’t involve you.”
“If her father is as bad as you say then I can’t imagine he’s going to be very happy about her Crawford situation.”
Baptist grimaces and shakes his head. “Not at all. Her old man set that deal up. I’m guessing he had dreams of Crawford grandchildren.”
“Then he might get violent. I’ll make sure he doesn’t.”
We reach the elevators and I jam the call button. Baptist grabs my arm, glaring at me, and because it’s him, I don’t jam my fist into his throat for touching me. He steps away as I turn my gaze on him and I bet he remembers the way I tend to overreact when someone touches me in a way I didn’t invite.
“Stop and think,” he says, speaking quietly. The front desk secretary is watching us closely and I’m sure she’ll spread this gossip all over the office. “If her father spots you lurking around, he’s going to be suspicious. Why would Ansell Drake be anywhere near his daughter, now of all times? He might start to wonder if you have a larger role to play than he realizes. The second you get linked up to that girl, more than you already are, the second you start to have real issues. You’re probably fucked as it is, but so far it seems like William’s shame at getting beat down and Heiko’s professional courtesy is keeping you from getting sucked in too deeply, but that won’t last if you press this.”
