Page 81 of Handsome Devil

“You should be slammed byme,” he quipped, ignoring the two bodyguards next to me.

I didn’t give him the pleasure of flinching in embarrassment.

“It’s four in the afternoon, which means my breath should be the scent of your cunt.”

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

“I don’t have a heart, and for your reproductive health, my cock doesn’t need any more growing.” He sat on the edge of my desk, folding his arms over his sculpted chest. Behind his broad back, I spotted Trisha, Mariam, and the rest of the floor watching in awe as the great Tatum Blackthorn acted casual—almost human—with his lowly wife.

“Your cock is not my vagina’s problem,” I reminded him with a sweet smile.

Tate snatched my chin, tipping my head up to catch his gaze. “We’ll be rectifying that soon. I have my tricks.” Before I couldsass back at him, he stood up and waltzed over to my window overlooking the busy Manhattan streets, lacing his hands behind his back. “Actually, I’m here in a professional capacity.”

“Oh?” I swiveled in my executive chair. “How so?”

“It’s Rebecca.” He turned around to face me, a dark glower on his face. “She put the mess in embarrassment.”

“There’s no mess in embarrassment.” I frowned.

“You should tell her that. She misspelled the word in a company email.”

I pressed my lips together to suppress a smile. Karma never disappointed.

“I’d say she is stupid as a rock, but that’d be offensive to rocks everywhere. If she ever had a clever thought, it died alone and afraid.”

“Rebecca is a Dartmouth graduate,” I said primly. “She is extremely—”

“Disposable,” he finished. “Come back.”

I sat up straighter. I had no intention of coming back. I liked not having him as my direct superior.

“Whatever happened to ‘people will talk’?” I smirked.

“I’ll cut everyone’s tongues off.”

“That’s a lot of lawsuits.”

“I have a lot of money,” he deadpanned.

I laughed. He didn’t. Oh. Of course he was serious.

“She’s also hitting on me,” he added. “Constantly. Offering kinky sex that’s depraved, even by my standards.”

Smiling to hide the simmering rage bubbling beneath my skin, I groused, “Guess she can fill in for me when I don’t make it upstairs.”

“In case you forgot, we’re exclusive.” He motioned between us. “I’ve no interest in other cunts. And trust me when I say you don’t want to see what happens to any man dumb enough to try to touch you. Now, come back.”

Standing up, I swanned over to him, stopping when I was shoulder to shoulder with him. Fine, shoulder to elbow. The arsehole was tall. We both stared out the window.

“That is a firm no, Tate. By the way, I forgot to tell you, I’m meeting Cal and Dylan after work today.”

His face clouded over in my periphery, a muscle jumping in his cheekbone. “It’s not safe.”

“I’ve accepted the Ferrantes’ security detail.” I gestured to Enzo and Filippo, who were messing with their phones and conversing in Italian. No point in trying to get myself killed, I had an entire season ofThe Bearto catch up on.

“Enzo did a shit job tracking you down three days ago,” Tate said.

Enzo’s head snapped up from his phone. “She was out the building before I set foot in it. It’s not my fault you can’t put your woman on a leash.”