Page 63 of Hate You Up Close

“Are you done throwing a temper tantrum?”

“Oh, fuck you,” she hisses.

Instead of backing away, she steps closer until her hips are pressed against the edge of my desk. She presses her palms against the polished wood, leaning in until she’s eye to eye with me.

She’s so close that I could stick my tongue out and lick her bottom lip. Maybe I should do it just to shut her up.

“You know what’s hilarious?” she whispers, her lips less than an inch away from mine. “You have no ground to stand on, Elliot. Nowhere in the HR policy does it state that employees in different departments can’t be in a relationship. You can’t do anything about this, so all you have left are baseless threats.”

I arch a brow at her as if to saytry me.

“I’m going on a date with Zach,” she hisses while pushing off my desk. “You know how badly I want to build a life here, so how dare you try to stop me from dating and having a social life.”

She clearly has no idea the ends I will go to in order to put a stop to herflingwith Zach. It’s not fucking happening.

“You arenotgoing,” I argue in a low, serious tone.

“Yes, I am,” she retorts. “And you know what else? I might even let him fuck me.”

That does it. That fucking does it.

My calm demeanor is nowhere to be found. In less than a second, I’m out of my chair and rounding the desk to get to her.

Her eyes go wide as I prowl toward her, advancing on her until her back thumps against the wall.

“What are you doing?” she asks, her eyes frantically bouncing between mine.

“Say it again,” I command through clenched teeth, caging her in as I place my palms on each side of her head.

“Say what?” Her voice is barely a whisper. She looks terrified, but she also looks…turned on. She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth as her cheeks flush with pink.

“You know what,” I rasp, leaning down to run my nose against the line of hers.

I’ve never been this close to her before. It’s too much. She’s taking over all of my senses.

I need to touch her. I can’t fucking help myself.

“He’s…” She trails off as I graze my nose against hers. She’s panting for air, trying to remember how to breathe.

I lean forward, pushing my stiffening cock into the soft of her belly. She inhales sharply, her eyes rolling back the second she feels my erection pressing into her.

God.She wants this as bad as I do.

“He’s what, Roxanne?” I growl. “Tell me.”

She slowly lifts her eyes to mine, staring up at me through dark, hooded lashes. Her lips tilt up in a cocky smirk.

“He’s going to fuck me,” she spits through clenched teeth. “Not you.”

I fucking lose it. I lose all sense of sanity and common sense. I grind my teeth together as my body temperature rises. Over my dead body will another man come close to even laying a hand on her.

Leaving one hand on the wall beside her head, I wrap the other around her delicate throat. I grip her with just the right amount of pressure, careful to not cut off her air supply, but strong enough to feel her pulse flutter beneath my fingertips.

I swear to God I hear her moan when I give her throat a little squeeze. My dick twitches against her stomach, aching to get inside her.

I lower my head, my lips faintly brushing hers as I speak in a low, demanding tone.

“He is not going to touch you,” I hiss against her lips. “He’s not going to lay a fucking finger on you. And if he tries, he can kiss his comfortable salary goodbye. He can hang up his suit and tie and live on the street for all I care. But he won’t get close to fucking you. I promise you that, Roxanne.”