Page 36

Ellie

He was so fucking sexy it should be a crime. When he came back out of the water and moved his muscular arms to wipe the water off his face… I was just touching him. I didn’t even make the decision.

I was simply closer and running my fingers over his chiseled chest. I glanced up and saw he was watching me.

And his hair was in his face.

I giggled and played with it. “It’s so amazing to me how different you look with your hair hanging down and wet like this versus gelled back.”

“Which do you like better?” he asked, his voice deep as he moved an arm around me.

“Both,” I told him honestly. I nodded when he didn’t seem to believe me.

I moved to straddle his lap and used my fingers to fix his hair.

“You ever see those goofy videos talking about how once the character’s hair has gel he turns into a villain or serious boss?

It’s all clips of Asian dramas showing a puppy character with hair like this and baddie when it’s gelled. ”

“I’m aware of the stereotype,” he chuckled. “It’s more I look like a kid with my hair like this and a professional with it styled and gelled back.”

“You should try having it gelled with some hanging,” I muttered as I pushed his hair back and did what I’d said. “That’s hot. You look like a sexier idol that’s going to dance sexy to get me out of my pants.”

His deep chuckle filled the bathroom. “You’re naked, love. I’d dance to get you naked, but tonight I didn’t have to.”

I smiled at him. “Setting this all up wasn’t a dance for me?

” I clucked my tongue. “Silly pup.” I put his hair back to down.

“You do look younger with it this way, but not young. Not…” I tilted my head one way and then another.

“It’s mischievous. You’re like the second lead who’s trying to steal someone’s girl and will ride off on a motorcycle. ”

He flinched, which I didn’t understand. I didn’t mean to upset him though, so I gave him a soft kiss. “I didn’t steal you. You were already leaving that git.”

“I didn’t mean it like that at all,” I whispered as I kissed him again.

“I wasn’t thinking of him or our dynamic.

I was getting lost in your sexy hair and letting it slip that I’m a bit addicted to Asian dramas.

” I kissed down his chin and neck, my fangs itching to come out and feed from this delicious man.

I swallowed a laugh. Apparently, pot made me randy. Or at least the brownie edibles did.

“No, it’s you,” I whispered as my hands moved all over his abs.

“What’s me, love?” he asked quietly.

I hummed in answer and kept with my exploring. “I’ve been thinking of changing my hair.”

He flinched again. I wasn’t sure why. Because it was cliché that women changed their hair after breakups?

Probably… And I was cliché sometimes.

We all were.

“It’s spring now and summer’s around the corner,” I mumbled. “I’ve always been curious how some blonde highlights would work with my golden eyes, but I never—the past kept me from trying.”

“What happened?” he worried.

“The first man I was almost forced to mate said I might be pretty if I had blonde hair,” I answered honestly, not wanting to sit on his lap as we talked about this.

I moved and had some of my drink. “My eyes were golden for everyone then. I was young. He said they were disconcerting, but if I had blonde hair, I might be pretty then.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That he wasn’t handsome, so demanding someone to change themselves so they were pretty for him was ridiculous.

” I took another sip. “I was smacked a lot for that and they tried to force me to change my hair. I told them I would murder him in his sleep if they tried to mate me off like that.” I played with the jet a bit.

“I showed I was different not long after and things changed.”

“Changed how?” he muttered as he moved closer.

I frowned and looked at him. “I’m going to be angry with you later if you keep poking to get information when I’m like this. It’s mean. I wanted to have fun with you, and now I’m sitting here sad and want to leave because I’m losing trust in you.”

His eyes went bug wide. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t—I thought you just wanted to talk. I didn’t—right, brownie. Shit, my bad, Ellie.”

I nodded. At least I could tell him that he was taking things too far and he listened. That was nice. That was an improvement from before.

“Hey, I am sorry,” he whispered as he moved closer and nuzzled my face. “I was just curious and—I want to know you. You don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to.”

“I won’t ever want to talk about me,” I told him firmly.

“Then what do you want to talk about?” he asked gently.

“Your hair,” I chuckled, leaning away and going back to playing with it.

“I never knew my hair could be a hotspot like this,” he mumbled after a few moments. “This is like—shit, it feels good.”

I moved to the side of him and plastered my body against him, teasing his hair as I reached for his cock. “Sit there and feel good, pup. You were bad, so now I’m the boss.”

He chuckled. “You’re always the boss, Ellie. You just give me permission to take over sometimes. I fucking love it. It’s better than any other high there could be.”

I was shocked he let that out so easily, but then I smiled. “Did you have a funny brownie too?”

“It’s good.” He turned his head so we were nose to nose. “But not as good as your sweet cunt. That’s the best thing to have on my lips and tongue. The fact you drip when you suck me off—perfect. I just want to sit you on my face and—”

I kissed him deeply before telling him exactly what I wanted—what I needed from him. The god of a man gave it all to me.

Twice.

The next morning, I was at work even earlier than normal to handle yet another call with Asia and getting things settled with Tommy.

They wanted written guarantees and penalties for a list of everything.

I’d finally gotten fed up and contacted the government.

It was easier to do it as early as possible with the time difference, and I was glad I’d made the move.

Apparently, the government was less than thrilled with the hospital after their disaster response… And the fact they tried to steal from us. They were pissed after learning about all of that from our president.

Good! They should be.

But now they wanted to be in charge of the situation and handle it all. They wanted it to be a win for them and pushing things forward on their end—basically, making it political.

Which meant I needed to contact our president. After some hoops, I got him on the line and told him the truth and where we were at.

“So this is punishment and you’re worried they’re going to glorify and pump up the narcissist even more and then you have more problems. Am I hearing this right?”

“Yes, you put it pretty damn well, sir,” I admitted. “They want to make this a win they can brag about and make it like some tour to promote. If they learn what he’s really been doing and why he was shipped out—we’re all going to be embarrassed. I tried to tell them that but…” I sighed heavily.

“You’re just a paper-pushing admin bull,” he surmised. “Funny because you have to sign off on it and—I’ll handle it. My people will.”

“Sorry to bring you this mess, but—I didn’t think it would spin out like this after the earthquake. That head of the hospital is—asshole. Seriously.”

“It’s fine. You’ve given us some wins and great progress. You’re doing great, and I’m happy to get this problem off your lap. I’ll let you know what’s on the table.”

That he did. An hour later, I had an outlined idea from one of his top aides after they talked to the Asian government.

And it was exactly what I’d wanted. It was annoying as shit for Tommy and promoted how awesome ASH was for sending out one of our top surgeons. I chuckled as I saw the list of places he would be guest lecturing—something Tommy hated even if he liked teaching.

Those were in between his month-long stay at several different hospitals to work with their trauma departments. I snorted when I saw the hospital I’d been talking with was listed as a maybe or alternative. They’d really screwed themselves by demanding more.

I sent it to Alan since he was Tommy’s boss and was honest about the headache that had started.

He loved it. He came by my office personally and couldn’t stop laughing when he saw the proposed lectures and places.

And then he was evil and added to the list. He gave contacts and people who would be open to it, smaller programs and… Alan was really pissed with Tommy. Wow.

Here I was still in shock it was really happening and the change in attitude.

Justin Shields came here after their meeting to apologize for how he’d reacted to it all.

He’d admitted he’d had too much on his plate and the situation blindsided him, making him react badly.

But when he dug into it more—he apologized.

For Tommy and how he handled it. Then he wanted to make sure that I knew that Tommy wasn’t just with me for my money.

He said Tommy was being honest finally—in his aura and to himself—that I’d been the promise of a real mating one day unlike how he’d grown up.

The coven leader was shocked when I gave him a confused look.

I guess he hadn’t believed that we’d never discussed our families. We weren’t a real couple and I hadn’t asked because I never wanted to talk about it.

Tommy hadn’t ever seemed open to it either.

I wanted to believe that, but I’d told Justin that I would need more time removed from it all. He seemed to understand that and left it alone.

Still, I was in shock that Tommy was going to be gone and at least for eight months if the schedule was going to pan out. It was really over.

What we had and the way he’d been trying to blow up my life and hospital since.

Thank fuck.