Page 40 of His White Moonlight (Dominant CEO Shifter Romance #1)

Thursday morning, I woke to Bennett spooning me. His open hand heated my lower belly, where I had cramps, and it felt so good that I didn’t move right away.

“Good morning,” he said after several minutes had passed.

I felt like a raging bitch when I got out of bed without answering him. His hand on my stomach had been nice, but I knew I couldn’t admit that or thank him.

Nine more weeks after this, Wrenly. Stay strong.

He made it easy to stay mad at him after that, though, when I discovered the keys to my car and every other car in the garage missing from the key box.

I turned and held out my hand.

“Give me my keys.”

Instead of surrendering them, he took my hand and threaded his fingers through mine.

“If you can stay like this for five minutes, I will.”

“No.” I pulled my hand free. “That’s part of another deal. Give me the keys because you said the car was mine and no one would take it from me. Plus, I didn’t hit you this morning for sleeping next to me.”

“Why does everything from you need to be part of a deal?”

“Why do you need to take what I’m not willing to give? Why can’t you wait to see if I give it?” I was yelling, and it wasn’t helping the storm brewing in his eyes. He stepped closer to me, his hand capturing the back of my neck.

“I have been waiting. For years .”

“For you, it’s been twelve years, but for me, it’s been seven days. Stop trying to force me, Bennett.”

He exhaled heavily, closed his eyes, and touched his forehead to mine.

“I’m trying not to.”

He released me and withdrew a set of keys from his pocket.

“Are you driving, or am I?” he asked.

“You should, or I’ll murder us both.”

I was still simmering when we reached the office. Miranda took one look at me and followed us to my desk.

“Do we need an early lunch? Or a shopping excursion, maybe?”

Bennett paused on his way to the office.

“She needs something for the charity auction dinner this weekend.”

“She what ?” Miranda turned on me. “Do not tell me you were planning to purchase something off the rack for that.”

“I’m not going.”

Bennett made a call on speaker.

“How is the progress on the apartment?” he asked as soon as someone answered.

“The soundproofing is almost finished. After that, drywall will go up. I sent a few ideas to your email that I’ll need an answer to by the end of the day tomorrow. After that, it’s finishing work. I’ll have another email about that on Monday.”

“Thanks.”

Bennett hung up and smiled at me. There was nothing funny about it, though. It screamed “man on the edge.”

"I think Miranda and I will take an early lunch to shop for a dress.”

“Do you honestly think we’re going to find what you need in an hour?”

I saw an opportunity and ran with it. “How much time do we need? All day?”

She looked at Bennett. “How much time can we take off?”

His gaze never left mine. “If I give you today, I want your word we’ll stay for the entire auction.”

“How long is the auction?”

“Four hours. Plus the drive there and back. Together, not separate.”

“Plus two drinks.”

“Deal.”

“Deal.”

I grabbed my purse and would have walked away, but Miranda stopped me.

“I think you’re forgetting something.”

She nodded her head toward Bennett, and I looked at her in panic. Did she want me to kiss him goodbye? My pulse started to race as I remembered the last time he’d kissed me, and I shook my head slightly.

She rolled her eyes at me and physically turned me toward him.

He was holding up his credit card.

His gaze swept over my face.

“I’d give anything to know why you’re flushing and panicked.”

“Cancel the apartment, and I’ll tell you.”

A slow smile curved his lips. “I don’t think I will.”

He moved closer with the card, and I couldn’t back away because Miranda was still holding me.

“Send me a lot of pictures, Miranda, and your bonus will match the price of the dress you talk her into buying.”

* * *

My feet hurt. So did my brain. The amount of money Miranda had convinced me to spend was insane.

But you can sell it all when you’re done using it, Wren.

That was the only saving grace for a day of shopping with Miranda. I had a dress, shoes, earrings, a bracelet, and a necklace. And Miranda was giddy knowing her bonus would equal the total of all of it.

“I feel like you’re my personal shopper with you carrying everything,” I said as the elevator pinged for our floor.

“Today, I am. Plus, I don’t trust you not to drop your shoes purposely. I saw the way you looked at them.”

“No one will know if I wear sneakers.”

“ I will know, and I will hunt you down if you try it.”

I laughed, which drew Milena’s attention. She stood as we approached her section.

“Must be nice to be the owner’s daughter and take off to shop whenever you want. Does it feel good to fuck over your coworkers?”

“Wrenly isn’t the only one who got to go shopping today,” Miranda said. “Your jealousy is holding you back.”

We continued past her desk to Bennett’s office suite.

His door was closed, and he was on the phone when we arrived, but as soon as he saw us, he waved for us to come in.

I groaned, not wanting to deal with him.

“Don’t be a baby. He just spent a fortune on you.”

“Not by my choice,” I said.

She nudged me toward the door, which I opened for her, and proceeded to hang up my garment bag on a hook near the bathroom door.

After she carefully set the shoe bag down, she went to his desk with the jewelry.

She honestly was like a shopping assistant because while she did all of that, I went to his napping couch and collapsed horizontally.

Bennett hung up the phone.

“I’m never shopping with her again. She can go by herself.”

“What happened?” Bennett asked.

I could hear the warning in his voice and glanced over to see him staring down at Miranda.

“Wrenly has no stamina or patience. That’s what happened. You saw the dress options and her expressions. She wasn’t into it at all, which is a shame. We could have bought so much more.”

I snorted. “You’re just thinking about your bonus.”

“There’s no shame in earning a fair wage for services rendered. I put up with your complaining for seven hours straight.”

“Not straight. I couldn’t talk when you gave me that granola bar, which doesn’t count as a meal, by the way.”

She looked at Bennett.

“She's hormonal and needs some sugar. Good luck with her tonight.” Then she turned to me. “That dress had better be in perfect condition when you arrive at the auction on Saturday. I want pictures, Bennett.”

She exited the office, and I closed my eyes. “How did you survive her on your own?”

His chuckle teased my ears.

“Are you regretting your choice of a maybe-friend?”

“Not really. She had the patience I lacked. And the dress isn’t awful.”

“What about the shoes?”

“I hate those. There’s no way I’ll be able to run in them.”

“If you need to run, just tell me. I’ll carry you.”

“Or…I could take them off and run barefoot. If my feet recover by then.”

His hands suddenly clasped my ankles and lifted my legs. My eyes flew open as he sat down and plucked off a shoe.

“Stop that. What are you?—?”

A groan escaped me at the first press of his thumb into the arch of my foot.

I closed my eyes and let him have his way with my dying appendage until he touched my toes. With a squeal, I jerked my foot away from him and lifted my head to glare.

“I didn’t know,” he said, trying and failing to hide his smile. “It won’t happen again.”

When he reached for my foot, I reluctantly let him have it. He went back to the kind of rubbing I liked. With one last warning look, I relaxed again.

The second shoe came off, and I melted into the couch.

When he started kneading my calves, I didn’t even think to stop him.

It felt too good. Until he accidentally brushed the skin behind one of my knees.

Something happened—a bolt of electric awareness of him…

his hands…his heat…shot straight through me.

I scrambled off the couch.

He closed his eyes and tipped his head back on the couch.

I stood there, debating whether to grab my shoes or just run barefoot like I’d threatened.

“Give me five minutes,” he said roughly. “We’ll stop for ice cream on the way home.”

His stillness gave me enough confidence to creep closer.

Just as I was bending to pick up my shoes, his arm hooked around my waist, and he pulled me onto his lap.

“No lunch with me next week if you let me hold you ten minutes.”

My pulse leapt, and I started pushing at his shoulders. My gaze darted to the open window as he dipped his head to the side of my neck.

“Five minutes,” he begged.

His exhale warmed my skin a second before I felt his lips there.

“I’ve waited so long to smell you like this, Wrenly.

Imagine the best thing you’ve ever smelled in your life times ten.

” His nose brushed my skin as he inhaled again.

“That’s what your scent was like just now.

Not addictive, but irresistible on a level you can’t begin to understand.

” His lips brushed my skin again, sending a shiver racing through me.

“But I am resisting so that you don’t have to. ”

His hands captured mine, which had stopped pushing at his shoulders.

“Let yourself feel what comes naturally.”

He nuzzled closer, kissing my neck tenderly as I sat on his lap, locked in an internal battle that I was losing.

I liked the way he made me feel. It was new and exciting and insanely potent. His touch had my head spinning, and I struggled to remember why it was a bad idea. Why was I trying to leave?

“Sorry to interrupt, but I need Wrenly for a second,” Miranda said, jerking me from my daze.

I scrambled off his lap and bolted out the door.

“You're fired,” I heard Bennett say.

“No, I’m not. You’re going to give me a raise before the end of next week.”

She closed the door on him and turned to raise an eyebrow as she grinned and held out my shoes.

“Let’s go for a walk.”

I groaned and took my shoes from her. From the corner of my eye, I saw Bennett stand from the couch to watch me put them on.

“Is he really going to fire you?” I asked.

“He can try, but I think if I weren’t here, you’d stop coming to work.”

Her self-satisfied smile was contagious because she wasn’t wrong. We walked out of the office suite together and took the elevators down to the lobby.

“What work aren’t you getting done by hanging out with me?” I asked as we left again, this time to stroll along the sidewalk.

“Nothing important. All that stuff was delegated to the other girls so I could be your emotional support shopper today, which is why Milena is so mad. Who wouldn’t want to get paid to go shopping?”

“Me.”

She chuckled. “You’re the exception, not the norm. So what happened back there? Are you changing your mind about accepting him?”

“No! That was…an accident. He was rubbing my feet, and one thing led to another when my guard was down.”

“I thought that might have been the case, which is why I’d interrupted. But are you sure you want to keep fighting it? I could smell your attraction. You liked it. A lot.”

If she knew it, then so did Bennett.

My stomach dipped at the thought.