Page 171 of The Wrong Husband

Because, luckily for me, that asshole did walk.

And now she’s free.

Free—and mine.

Mine to help. Mine to protect. Mine to heal. That’s what I tell myself. What I need to believe. That I’m doing this only to take care of my employee. Which is all she is. Right?

She throws up her hands, eyes flaring. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you need to stop this travesty.”

Her voice is sharp, but it’s the fire behind her words that slices straight through me. That fury. That fight. Something inside me fractures and reforms around it. Like a bone breaking just so it can heal stronger.

Maybe it’s this moment—this exact second—when I start falling for her for real.

“You’re right,” I say, voice low, deliberate.

She blinks. “I am?”

I nod slowly. “I need to show you how serious I am.”

I take her in like I’ve never seen her before—those lips that look too soft for someone who fights so hard, the rise and fall ofher chest like she’s barely keeping it together. Her pulse flutters at the hollow of her throat—wild and erratic, like mine.

And even as I lean in—close enough to smell that unique feminine scent of hers—I know I shouldn’t be doing this. She’s just been wrecked. She’s vulnerable. And I’m walking straight into her life like I’ve got a right to fix everything for her.

But hell, maybe Ido.

Because the second I walked in and saw the devastation in her eyes, I knew I’d do anything to erase it. I’d burn the world down if it meant she’d smile again.

Helping her through this breakup isn’t just the decent thing to do—it’s essential. I can’t have her falling apart on the job. She’s the backbone of my entire operation. But it’s more than that.

Because I’m going to make damn sure her ex knows what he lost when he walked away from her. That he let go of a goddess. And I’m the one lucky enough to see it now.

I lower my head.

Her gaze snaps to mine—wide, startled. She sees it. Feels it. The shift in the air. She knows what’s coming.

She realizes my intent a heartbeat before I close my mouth over hers.

Lark

He’s going to kiss me.

He’s going to kiss me.

Heiskissing me.

My boss is kissing me. My hot boss, who I’ve eyed from a distance but never dared give any sign I had a crush on him,is kissing me. He has his arm about my waist and is holding me close to his big, broad, manly chest. The chest I’ve peeked glances at because I’d have to be blind not to notice how he fills out his jacket. How his sculpted torso is outlined against that white shirt. The corrugated plane of his pecs threatening to pop the buttons.

The powerful thighs I'm brushing up against leave me with a sense of coiled muscles and unleashed energy, like the turbocharged vibrations swelling from a rocket about to blast off into space. Then, the sensation of his lips on mine takes over. Softness. How could his mouth be this soft when the rest of him is like leaning into a brick wall? He holds me with such care. Like I’m the most precious thing in this world. Like I’m a jewel, and he’s the velvet casing enclosing me. Cocooning me from the vagaries of this world.

There's no missing the protectiveness in his stance as he cradles my head with a big hand at the back of my head, the other grasping my waist like we’re one of those entwined figures in a music box. And the song playing in my head is, surely, brought on by how tenderly his mouth brushes over mine? Once, twice.

Then, his grasp on my head slides to the back of my neck. A shiver squeezes my spine. The possessiveness is unmistakable, as is how he squeezes the curve of my hip. He pulls me into the cradle of his thighs, the coiled power in them giving me the confidence that he could hold up my weight. He draws me in closer until,bam-bam-bam, his heartbeat rocks against mine. That dark, peppery scent of his intensifies in my nostrils.

The heat of his body hits me like a solar flare—bright, blinding, magnetic—rushing through my chest and wrapping around me with the force of gravity itself.

My knees grow weak. I sway forward, and he tightens his hold on the nape of my neck. A full body shudder rolls over me.My stomach seems to bottom out. It’s as if I’ve boarded a roller coaster and am being pulled up that first incline, knowing what’s coming up, knowing it’s going to swoop down, and being unable to stop that inevitable sinking sensation.

He flattens his fingers so I can feel each individual fingerprint like a brand through the fabric of my dress. Then, he bites down on my lower lip. I feel it all the way to my toes. I gasp, and he licks into my mouth, the touch of his tongue against mine an explosion of emotions. Taste. Dark and complex. Sensations like sparks left in the wake of a shooting star. A sweetness so unexpected, it’s mind-blowing. A tenderness, a sense of being cared for that’s so surprising, so heady, so unexpected, it cuts through to my core. I didn't expect that.