He ignored me. He began kissing my lips like he was kissing my mouth—driving his tongue deeper and deeper, softly biting down on my clit—sucking on it as I writhed and pleaded for him to stop.

The pleasure was too intense, too raw, and my body was convulsing with every stroke of his tongue.

I reached down and threaded my fingers through his hair, too weak to push him away.

As he placed his hands underneath my thighs, slightly lifting me up for a better angle, his lashes became more forceful, more vigorous.

“Stop fighting it...” He drew my clit into his mouth—rolling his tongue all around it, and I lost all sense of time.

I could hear myself screaming like I’d never screamed before—not sure how he could stand it, how he could keep torturing me like this.

“Come for me, Claire,” he whispered, refusing to relent his pleasurable kisses.

“Ahhh...I...I...” I felt him sucking me even harder—faster, and I couldn’t hold back anymore. Every nerve in me exploded and my body began shuddering violently.

I clung to the sheets as my toes curled, as he made me cum harder than I’d ever cum in my life.

My breathing was out of control; my body was still quivering, struggling to come down from an extreme high.

“Claire?” I heard him say my name as he untied my legs, but I didn’t respond. I was too dazed, shocked. I could barely feel the kisses he was now placing against my stomach, against my chest.

As he moved on top of me, tremors were still making their way through my body. I tried to calm down, but I felt him sliding into me—filling me, and I gasped.

“Look at me,” he whispered, waiting for me to oblige.

I held my head up, looking into his eyes, and he pressed his lips against my cheek. “You’re mine...You’ll always be mine...”

He slowly pulled out of me, pushing his way back in, and for the first time there was nothing between us; we were skin to skin and I could feel a dramatic difference. I felt closer to him, more complete.

He took his time making love to me, holding my hands above my head as he pushed me into another mind-blowing climax.

Once my body stopped convulsing, he slipped his arms around me and kissed my lips. “Are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded because that’s all I could do.

When I finally regained some strength, I pressed myself closer to him and stared into his eyes.

I wasn’t sure how long we lay entwined together, or how long he held me tight and kissed me over and over again—telling me how beautiful I was.

Every second seemed to blur together, but at some point I felt him getting out of the bed.

My heart started to race. “Where are you going?” I cleared my throat, wincing when I felt how dry it was from screaming.

“To get some more ice.” He smiled. “We’re going to do that again...And then I’m going to punish you for talking.”

Chapter 19

Claire

Stop looking at him...Stop looking at him...

I tried to keep my eyes focused on the interns that were standing at the front of the room. They were talking about why they deserved to have my two IPO ball tickets, but I couldn’t help but stare at Jonathan.

He was sitting directly across from me and he wasn’t making it any easier for me to focus. He flashed a lusty smile every few seconds, playfully licked his lips, or gave me a look that said he wanted to take me across the conference table right after this meeting was over.

I’d spent all day yesterday lying in bed staring at the ceiling, replaying every single second of Friday night—wishing it hadn’t come to an end. It was the most amazing sex I’d ever had and I still couldn’t believe how perfect it had been.

“Miss Gracen?” Mr. Barnes cleared his throat. “Which team do you think did the best? Who do you pick?”

I looked over at the four interns who stood in the corner with their eyes shut, hoping to be selected. They’d all done an incredible job and both teams technically deserved to go.

“I pick both.” I smiled.

“What? You only have two tickets to—”

“One team can have my tickets to the IPO ball and the other team can have my tickets to the one day retreat in Napa Valley this weekend.”

Everyone in the room let out a collective gasp; Jonathan’s eyes widened.

“You’re giving up a private flight and a winery day?” Mr. Barnes sounded shocked. “Seriously?”

I nodded. I’d been thrilled when the board sent all the directors an email about rewarding us for our hard work. They’d announced that they were giving us a first class flight to one of the best wineries in the country, but I knew I wouldn’t accept it as soon as they sent us the tickets.

“I am...This will make the rest of the interns work even harder, don’t you think? I may still meet you guys there though. It is only a one hour drive away and I do love wine.” I laughed and the rest of the directors laughed with me.

“Wow, that’s very generous of you.” He smiled. “Thank you interns for all your hard work and we’ll email you about which team gets what tickets later today.”

We gave them one last round of applause as they left the room. As soon as the door shut, we all stood up and stretched while Mr. Barnes prepared the projector screen for our weekly “come together” session.

“That was very nice of you...” Jonathan texted me.

“Thank you.”

“I designed that reward just for you. Why did you give it up?”

“I was trying to be nice.”

“A little too nice...”

I looked up so I could give him a dramatic eye roll, but he wasn’t in front of me anymore. He was sitting right beside me.

“Jonathan,” I whispered. “You can’t...Please don’t—”

“Please don’t what? I can’t sit next to you during the film?”

“No...”

“Why not?”

I narrowed my eyes at him and he smiled.

“Am I allowed to touch you in public yet?” He reached for the pen I was holding and pressed his fingers against my hand as he slowly drew it away.

“Stop it.”

“Stop what?” He purposely dropped the pen in my lap.

I jumped up from the table and cleared my throat. “I’m going to get some coffee from downstairs before we start. Does anyone else want anything?”

“Oh! Can you get me a caramel macchiato?” “I’ll take a regular coffee with extra foam!” “I’ll have a mocha latte!”

I ripped a sheet of paper out of my notebook and held it out for people to write down their orders.

“I’ll help you get the coffee, Miss Gracen.” Jonathan stood up and smiled at me.

Shit...Why didn’t I think about that?

I watched the paper stop at every single director, wondering if someone else would volunteer to help me bring it back, but by the time the paper made it full circle, no one had offered.

“You don’t have to rush to get back.” Mr. Barnes handed me the paper. “It’s apparently going to take twenty to thirty minutes for our satellite advisor to join us on the video chat today. He’s having difficulties with his login.”

“Right.” I walked out of the room and rushed towards the elevators. “I don’t need your help, Mr. Statham. I’ll just get a coffee cart and roll it back.”

He rolled his eyes and hit the down button.

“It’s too early for us to do anything...” I looked up at him, pleading. “It’s way too risky and you know it...”

The elevator doors sprang open and he pushed me inside. I thought he was going to hit the stop button and kiss me anyway, but he pressed the button for the lobby and looked over at me.

“I’m not trying to sleep with you right now, Claire,” he said. “I just want to be around you. That’s it.”

“Okay...”

The elevator reached the lobby and we both grabbed a coffee cart as soon as we stepped off.

I tore the list in half and handed it to him. “It was nice of you to install a free Starbucks here...Everyone loves it.”