Page 23

“Fine, but once your term is over, I get to have you whenever I want. This summer, you belong to me, do you understand?”

I swallow, hard. Whenever she speaks with such authority, I admit I get… turned on. Damnit. That’s not healthy, is it? I’m not supposed to get horny when a woman shows me herpossessive streak. Aren’t we supposed to discourage that? Isn’t it unhealthy? Why am I surprised, though? A woman like Julianna, born into privilege and used to getting her way, is going to think I’m her damn possession she gets to do whatever she wants with. I should probably be blessed that she’s willing to work around my school schedule for the next few months.”

“For one thing,” she continues with the same tone of voice, “my brother is getting married in a few weeks. I’m his best woman, mate, whatever, and I wouldn’t mind having a date. I don’t care if you have a final that day, Alessa, you’re coming with me to that wedding.”

“I’m sure it will be lovely. Where’s it going to be?”

“Some vineyard near Salem. God knows if I remember what it’s called.”

“Then it’s nearby! That’s good, right?”

“Good for you and your school schedule, I suppose.” Please. Like this woman didn’t go to a nice university that expected her to show up at least once a week.

I close the notebook and hand it back to her. “I think three things at a time is more than sufficient, Ms. Marcon.”

She studies my face before snatching the Moleskine out of my hand. “Very well. When initializing new negotiations, it’s good to let things digest for a couple of days, anyway.”

I’ll pretend she’s not talking about me like I’m a new merger and acquisition. “Exclusivity and pledging to not flirt with other people. Sounds all right to me.”

“We’ll discuss the other things later.” Julianna shrugs back into her jacket and checks her phone. “It’s getting late. We should head back to my place now.” She presses a button on her phone and stands up, offering her other hand to me.

“Your place, is it?”

“I swear to God, you bucked me Friday night, you’re not getting away from metonight.”

I swallow again. What am I swallowing? Certainly not wine. Doesn’t taste like bile either, thank goodness. Perhaps it’s some of the last of my innocence slipping down my throat.

As I take her hand and stand up, my tight skirt keeping my thighs pressed together, I think that’s exactly what Julianna wants to do to it. She’s going to fuck the last of my innocence away. That gleam in her famished eyes says it all – and it sends a thousand currents through my body, heart, and soul.

I’m reaching the point where I can’t tell the difference between the three, and that’s dangerous. Yet not as dangerous as wanting to walk away from Julianna Marcon and her promises of Earth-shattering experiences.

Chapter 10

Julianna

My body’s been warring with me for the past five hours since Alessa was in my office looking like the prettiest thing to ever grace my presence. She then dared to return after I got off work, dressed in this curve-hugging dress that inspires me to rip it off and fuck her hard.

Hard. I want in her, pursuing her deepest crevices, unleashing everything I’ve built up inside of me like we’re two wild animals who can’t control themselves.

What am I supposed to think? When she told me that she was a virgin – when I experienced how damn good she felt, looked, and sounded when we had sex – my brain went in a different direction.

This is it. This is my chance to take a sweet spring bud and coax her to bloom into the most pristine, most exotic flower I could ever ask to have in my garden. Even women in my station don’t have many opportunities like this. There aren’t many outthere who get our blood roaring and volunteer to be molded into the perfect lovers. Hmph. Not even gender is part of the equation. Even with as much money as I have… you might be surprised to know that few willingly volunteer to become our dolls.

I know what I want from a girlfriend. In the bedroom, out of it… so many of my previous lovers promised to offer me those things, but in the end, their baggage halted our progress. How could I pass up an opportunity like this?

Alessa is my untouched bloom. She’s willing to learn, willing to forage through the world of sex and relationships, and willing to let me be the one who opens her mind – and legs.

If I thought she was delectable before I knew this about her, she only turns me into a ravenous wolf now.

So many ways to take her… so many ways to blow her mind and make her remember me for the rest of her life.

No wonder I can’t keep my hands off her back on the way to my penthouse.

My driver knows better than to intrude. The partition is up in my limo, and he won’t say a thing unless there’s an emergency. I’ve had plenty of women in the back of my limo with me, and perhaps I’ll have plenty more. But right now, Alessa Penrose has me so wound up and I refuse to do anything but kiss her and rub her tender skin through her underwear. She’s hot. Wet. Gasping for more. My fingers, my toys, anything. I want to give them all to her.

But it’s a short drive home. Besides, there’s plenty of privacy in my penthouse. The cleaners and my chef are long gone. Security will be out in the main hall and riding up and down in my personal elevator, but they won’t disturb me in my actual home. Which is good, because I have a long night planned for sweet, virginal Alessa.

When do I get to stop calling her virginal? I don’t want to think about it.