Page 119 of Between Never and Forever

“I’m sorry. I—” I whispered, all the fight leaving my body as embarrassment replaced it instead.

“You’ve got ten seconds to get the fuck out of this conference room.”

I took a step back. He was right. God, he was so right. Of course he hadn’t thought I’d actually burst into the room.

Although…Penelope had let me right through. She’d even waved me in like it wasn’t at all an inconvenience.

“I understand,” I murmured, taking a step back in my bare feet.

“Heartbreaker”—he pinched the bridge of his nose—“not you. Never you. Them.”

“But I—”

The men had already stood and were filing out past me. Dimitri kissed my cheek and murmured that I should call himwhenI needed him, and he winked at me like he knew this was coming.

Dex was telling the president, “I’ll call you back. My fiancée is here.”

My jaw dropped as he hung up on him. The freaking president.

Bane kissed my forehead. “We’re working on getting that bastard of a stalker, you know that, right?”

No one seemed to think this behavior was outrageous.

As Bane closed the door behind him, I heard, “Now, come sit on my lap because, right now, you’re mine.”

We stared at each other quietly, the clock on the wall ticking away as if it was counting down the seconds to the bomb between us that was supposed to go off. “You can’t tell the president you’ll just call him back!” I screeched.

“I just did.” He set down his pen and leaned back in the leather chair he was lounging in. Then, he patted his thigh. “Come sit.”

“You’re indulging me when I’m being ridiculous, Dex.”

“When’s the last time you were completely ridiculous?”

I stood there in that baggy shirt, not sure I could answer the question. “This isn’t like me, and I know that, and—”

“It is like you. You just haven’t been given the chance to be you in a long time.”

“Well, I can’t start now. You can’t up and marry a completely unhinged individual. And I think I’m verging on that. I literally…” I shook my head. “I’m happy with you, do you know that? When I thought I’d be miserable, I’m happy and I feel safe to be myself and am completely—”

He chuckled. “Perfect. You’re perfect, heartbreaker.”

“I’m not. I just got off on a camera for you and burst into your meeting with the president.”

“Yeah, and you enjoyed it, didn’t you?”

“No. I’m not enjoying this.”

He looked me up and down. “The blush on your cheeks alone shows me it’s affected you. It’s more than just a little foreplay. Don’t act like it isn’t.”

Of course he had to call out how my body rebelled against me, and I couldn’t help but snap back. “And I bet my whole Black Diamond salary that me standing here has affected you too. You hard under that conference table of yours?” Welp. Guess the alcohol hadn’t completely worn off, and I slapped a hand over my mouth.

He stared at me as his jaw worked, and then he sucked on his teeth before going to his phone to type something in. An alert sounded on my phone too, and I glanced down at the bank notification.

The number of zeros. He’d just dropped a million dollars into my account. “Jesus, Dex. That was a joke. Take the money back,” I whispered.

“What for? You won the bet. I’m fucking hard as a rock. Want to come sit on my lap and find out?”

“You’re acting like you’re for real with this idea of marriage, Dex. You’re acting like—”