AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was quiet a few seconds. “Actually, Hailey, I think you’ll find I don’t know. Well, didn’t.” His nostrils flared with evident irritation. “Do you care to tell me why you have that pretty shitty opinion of me and my word?”
“You’re reckless, James. I could deal with you being reckless with your own life, but my brother is too close to you. He’s like Icarus and you’re the sun. One day, he’s going to get burned and it’s not going to end up with him being partner in a billion-dollar company.”
His eyes narrowed in irritation. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Hailey exhaled and replied, “I didn’t say it’s a bad thing. I’m proud of him. I’m well aware that he earned his place here, and that it wasn’t handed to him just because you’re friends. You’re partners. That’s good. It’s the other stuff that concerns me.”
“It’s amazing how you have such a crap opinion of me when you’re thousands of miles away for most of the year.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Pray tell how you managed to make such assumptions about me from a distance? Reckless, am I? How do you know, Hailey?”
For a second, she just stared at him. Astonishment whispered through her veins as she realized he truly had no idea what she was talking about.
It was either because he was so used to being fawned over that he believed his own press, or he simply had no idea what he was like.
But the latter… was that even possible?
She waved a hand at the car. “That’s the Arias Orion, isn’t it?”
James seemed surprised at her knowledge if his wide eyes were anything to go by, at any rate. “Yes. It’s our newest model.”
She sighed yet again, “I know. Aidan’s always so excited about his projects that they bleed into our conversations when we call each other.” Pursing her lips at him she explained, “I also know that that is the single model in existence. It’s the prototype. And yet, though it’s worth a small fortune, and though the technology wrapped up inside it have far reaching consequences, you’re driving it around like a joyrider.” She sneered at him. “But then, once a joyrider, always a joyrider, I suppose.”
For a second, he just gawked at her, then, to her irritation, he flung his head back and laughed. She stood there watching him, enraged fury throttling her as he mocked her. Unable to stand it for much longer, she started to step away, but the sound of her heels against the concrete jerked him out of his humor and he grabbed her arm to halt her in her tracks.
“Oh no, you can’t just throw that at me and not allow me to defend myself,” James remarked.
“I don’t have to do anything. You asked me a question, and I answered. You think you can buy everyone off, James. That your money makes you infallible. Well, that might be the case, but people like you… it’s the poor bastards around them who get burned. My brother means the world to me. He always has. You hurt him, and I’ll…”
When he’d dragged her to a halt, he’d pulled her closer to him. In her irritation, she hadn’t noticed. Until now. They were so close, she could feel his breath on her mouth. His body heat was immense. It seemed to glow from him, enshrouding her in the blaze. She felt hot, flushed. Her cheeks would be pink, she knew, and she hated that. Had always hated her reaction to him.
She. Could. Not. Be. Bought.
But the shitty thing was, he didn’t have to buy her. He’d never had to resort to anything so debase. She had a nasty feeling that she’d always react to him. It didn’t matter that she and Mark were dying a death together, and it didn’t matter if she suddenly met a Christian Grey who’d sweep her off her feet. She’d met so many men in her line of work. So many different kinds. Eclectic to disciplined, artists to entrepreneurs. None of them caused the same reaction in her. No way, no how.
She just had to be in the same room as James, and all of a sudden, her heart rat
e soared.
How she hated that.
Hated. It.
Some days, she felt sure she hated him. Because for a man who lived so far away, whose frame of influence extended to her brother and no further, he was in her thoughts too much. Affecting her world and her life in ways she’d never signed up for.
Almost as though his thoughts were similar to hers, he breathed, “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”
And then, he bowed his head and kissed her.
Right there.
In front of his building, employees, guests and visitors alike, James Arias kissed Hailey Sawyer like there was no tomorrow, and God help her, she loved it.
2
God, she tasted good.
In fact, scratch that. She tasted like heaven. No, better. What tasted better than heaven?
James’ subconscious was too busy reveling in finally getting another sample of Hailey’s lips to really compare, but all he could think about was how kissing her, having her writhing against him was better than the short drive around the compound in the Orion had been.
