AllFreeNovel
Share Us
What the hell?
Reading it, AJ barked a laugh before tossing the note on the counter and turning back to the bubbling pasta sauce on the stove.
Why had Blaze given her an envelope with a sticky note inside? Now she really wanted to know what it said. She snatched the yellow note from the counter top and turned it over.
Good luck.
Two words scrawled in Blaze’s handwriting.
Good luck. For what?
Tension stiffened her limbs until they quivered, as annoyance and frustration quickly turned to anger.
She was done being the meek, uncertain, quiet, overlooked, ignored other woman. She was done with hiding behind what she wanted people to see. She was done allowing herself to be used and toyed with. Maeve couldn’t tell AJ the truth about Denise, but she could damn well stop the crazy train she was on before she got hurt worse.
Denise had made her a victim, but she refused to be anything less than a woman worthy of AJ’s respect.
Now, to grow some lady balls.
“What the hell is this?” she demanded angrily, tossing the note at his face when he turned toward her, his eyes wide. He hadn’t expected her outburst. Oh, well, screw him.
She planted her hands on her hips and lifted her chin defiantly. “Why did Blaze have me hand deliver a note that says ‘Good luck’? Why are you acting like I simply stopped in for dinner, when we both know I’ve been avoiding you all day? Huh?” Beyond exasperated, she threw her arms in the arm and growled.
“Aren’t you hungry? I know for a fact you didn’t have lunch. You were so busy avoiding me, you didn’t leave your office all day.”
Surprised, she huffed. “How do you know that? You left right before lunch.”
Rather than answer her, AJ simply turned off the burner, moved the sauce pan to the back burner, then turned back to her, his expression unreadable. He crossed the small kitchen, slowly making his way around the counter toward where she was standing, now mute.
The man didn’t walk. He stalked toward her, every inch the predator staring down his prey.
She was his prey. Trembling, she watched him, taking in the way he moved, the power in his stride, the strength in his movements. The way his muscles grew taut and flexed as he came closer and closer. He didn’t stop until she was pinned against the table, the lit candles flickering from the jolt, his massive arms on either side of her, his hands gripping the edge of the table.
His eyes seared her, the hunger within his gaze devouring her.
“No more avoiding. No more hiding. No more running. This between us is fucking explosive, and I’m tired of denying myself what I know we both want.”
She was shaking her head before she thought about it. “No. That’s not true. You don’t want me. You even said you just wanted to be friends, AJ. You want Denise—”
He pressed his forehead against hers and sneered. “Fuck Denise. This is about you and me and the fact that we’ve both been goddamn idiots. Yes, I said I wanted to be friends and that we should keep it friendly and professional between us, but that’s all bullshit. I don’t want to be your friend, Maeve, and I know you don’t want to be mine.”
She scoffed, surprised by her own fire. “You don’t know anything.”
He lifted a hand and gripped the nape of her neck. “I know more than you think.”
Her fire petered out at his words as fear began to grow. What did he know?
Maeve swallowed thickly, her chest tightening. “What is it you think you know?”
He leaned in closer, his mouth brushing against hers. She could feel the heat of his breath on her face, the press of his body against hers. His hardness. Her softness. Need flooded her, making her gasp.
Against her trembling lips, he whispered, “I know I need to fuck you, baby. Right here. Right now. Just the two of us. No one else. Stop thinking. Feel this—” he ground his long, thick erection against her belly— “feel me. Be with me, Maeve. Stop denying this. Stop hiding.”
Stop hiding.
Stop running.
Just for tonight.
Feel.
With a groan torn from the depths of her chest, she threw her arms around his neck and melted into him.
“For tonight.”
Without another word, AJ took her hand, and she followed behind him.
She’d follow him wherever he led.
