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“Mr. Thorne, you appear to have a lot of very obvious questions. Why don’t you take the file to your lawyer? You can go over it together. I’m certain they’ll explain it better than I can.”

“Ah,” he said, rubbing his thumb over the overnight stubble that had formed on his chin. “That’s a good idea, but you drafted the contract, so I was hoping you could explain better. Unless you’re incapable of explaining your own business proposals.”

He ended his jab with a friendly laugh, and Henry joined in, oblivious to the animosity that was sizzling in the room.

“Alright. I guess I’ll just have to give you a detailed presentation then.”

The meeting stretched for another tortuous thirty minutes of Griffin being an absolute dick before Henry excused himself to a board meeting, leaving Griffin and I in the room.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked the moment the door closed behind Henry.

Griffin casually crossed his legs, leaning into his chair, his posture the perfect picture of nonchalance and confidence. “Trying to get your attention. Is it working?”

My nose flared, and all I could see was red.

“Get my attention? Did everything I said at the park fly over your head?”

“I remember your threats, alright, Mira. As a matter of fact, I’m waiting for you to make good on them. I’ve been particularly anticipating the part where you tell the court that a random man knows how you taste and the noises you make between the sheets.” He shot back, laying emphasis on the ‘random man.’

I felt myself grow flush, heat licking at my nerve endings. I would never understand why my body grew a mind of its own whenever itcame to him. I concluded this was a fight I wasn’t going to win, and I knew better than to stick around for it.

Without a word of reply to him, I picked up my purse and headed to the door. I had barely made it halfway through the room when Griffin appeared in front of me, putting himself between me and the door.

“Get out of my way, Mr. Thorne, ”I snarled, trying to push past him. But he wouldn’t budge.

“When are you going to stop fighting us?” He asked, his voice strained and his eyes a deeper shade of blue.

Before I could respond, he reached out and cupped my face in his hands. His touch was electric, sending shivers down my spine. I hated how my body reacted to him, how my heart raced and my breath hitched.

“Griffin, stop,” I protested, but my voice came out as a low squeak, lacking both fight and conviction.

He leaned in, his lips brushing against mine. The kiss was gentle at first, but it quickly deepened, becoming more urgent and demanding. I felt myself melting into him, the undeniable attraction pulling me under.

But then reality crashed back in. I pushed him away, my hands trembling. “Get away from me.”

“Mira.” His voice was raw and strained, and I almost gave into the need to return to his arms and feel his lips against mine one last time. But memories of the last time flashed in my head, and I took long strides to the door, not pausing or looking back till I was safely out of the building.

My mind was a whirlwind of emotions and self-loathing as I drove back home, and I couldn’t stop chastising myself for letting him kiss me. Even more embarrassing was how quickly I melted into the kiss and how much I wanted him.

I ran a thumb across my lips, feeling the soft skin raw, awake with nerves, sensitive and tingling beneath my touch.

I let out a sigh, steering the car to the right. Suddenly, out of nowhere, an SUV swerved in front of me, running me off the main road and sending me spinning into the nearby bush. I struggled with my steering wheel, ramming my foot repeatedly onto the brakes until the car came to a forced stop just before it collided with the tree in front of me.

Men in black spilled out of the car, their faces hidden behind colorful masks as they approached me, their intent evident in every stride they took.

Panic clogged my chest as I struggled with my door, attempting to escape, but they closed in on me with supernatural speed.

I tried to fight them off, refusing to go down without a fight, but I was no match for five hefty men. Next, I felt an explosive pain at the base of my skull. Black dotted my vision, blurring my view of the world, and just before I slipped into unconsciousness, I saw a familiar brown-haired figure rushing toward me. The last thing I remembered was a brief sense of safety before the world turned black.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Griffin

I could still feel her soft curves pressed into me, and the taste of her lips lingered on mine like some hallucinogen. I was high on her.

When I arranged this meeting with Henry, it was a pathetic excuse to get to her. I hadn’t seen or heard from her since our encounter at the park, and despite the way things ended between us, I was slowly going insane with the need to see her, to hear her voice, and to have some of her attention directed at me, even if the attention were not exactly friendly.

I also planned to apologize for my actions. It was wrong for me to make accusations as bold as that, and it was equally disrespectful to question her integrity regardless of what I felt. I equally did the math, and her delivery date and everything tallied with the time she metAdrian. The information stung for some reason, and I was tempted to dig until I magically found a different answer. I pushed the feeling aside, telling myself I felt a pull to the child because he was an extension of my mate and nothing else.