“Do. You. Know. Their. Names?” Tian gritted his teeth and repeated it slowly and precisely in a slightly terrifying tone. This was not CEO mode; this was a very unique and rattled Tian mode that Kai rarely saw. This was not the norm for Mr. Icy Cool. Ling was definitely a trigger for him.
He mentally wished him luck, knowing that was one scenario he was glad not to be a part of. She was wild, fiery, outspoken, and brashy, and Tian was her exact opposite. She would keep him on his toes anyway; maybe that’s what his friend needed. Normal women had always bored him; perhaps this one might be the one to lasso him.
“Good luck with making him let it go. He’s like a dog with a bone once he fixates on something. The rottweiler in him shows face.” Kai shrugged and swaggered past them, amused by this scene, leaving them in the elevator. He had his own shit to deal with, and clumsy employees were nothing to do with him anymore. Tian was being over-sensitive and making something small into something huge because they dared to involve his unofficial woman. Had it been Meilei, though, he would have mauled them.
“Oh, for god’s sake. Interns on the IT floor? They are probably up here for your HR interrogation, so ask them. I don’t know who they are.” Ling finally pried herself loose and pushed him away, seeing as he now had her almost chest-to-chest in very close proximity. Slightly breathy at that drama before nine in the morning.
It was not even starting time yet, and Tian was in overbearing CEO mode. It was so not a good look for him, and Ling eye-rolled.
“Is that a normal occurrence? Men eye raping you and getting all up in your space? Practically dry humping you when standing next to you? ” Tian was on a roll, rage taking over with her lack of caring about everything he had just witnessed, and Ling sighed. She hadn’t seen them checking her out, but she guessed they must have been pretty obvious about it. Tian’s reaction was the same kind of accusatory bullshit her exes had pulled. Somehow, this was all going to be her fault, and it rattled her nerves, making her hackles rise.
Ling was rendered mute, blinking at him in gawped surprise and doing a mental ‘what?’ for an answer she never expected. She didn’t know exactly how to take it or respond.
Tian glared over her head at the closing doors and finally reached out to stop them. Stubborn face on, and all business mode initiated.
“Last time I checked, anytime I see a man acting like a fucking creep, it’s usually aimed your way. Seems you would be a good source of how to stop it.”
Tian was well aware of how often he saw staff, especially seniors, leering at her, and he was unaware that he only noticed it about her as his focus had been all about her since that convention. He was oblivious to how many women at work got the same attention because none other mattered in this.
“I have actual work to do. Can you not go and speak to any other woman? I am sure they all suffer from it. OTS has a long line of creeps lurking these halls because more than half the employees have a penis.” Ling gave him attitude, not wanting to do this. It felt a little too white knight on a horse for her, and she didn’t want to get confused about what Tian was to her.
“I don’t give a fuck about any other woman. I care about you and men objectifying you.” It was a snapped, borderline angry reply born of frustration, but it was honest.
There was a sharp pause and a long drawn moment of silence between them that seemed to stretch into awkwardness. Ling blinked at the very irate Tian as he realized what he said and knew he couldn’t take it back because he meant it.
He was done with this to and fro and tug-of-war shit they did daily. He had never been one to play games and liked everything out on the table. Ling had complicated his life long enough, and he wasn’t exactly slow on how much he had been focusing on her in ways he shouldn’t have.
Ling held her breath, her heart doing a strange little somersault, and she cleared her throat awkwardly. Her face heated, and she averted her eyes to break the way he stared at her. It felt like her organs were doing a rhumba up into her throat.
“Maybe focus on how many women drape themselves all over you daily first. Leave me out of this nonsense. Stop that disgusting eyesore display of boke before you focus on creeps leering at me.” Ling turned, her voice wavering because this somehow hit a raw nerve she couldn’t decipher. Her hands had begun to tremble, and she was trying not to read too far into Tian’s words. He was wound up and angry, and she was misunderstanding him.
Tian hated her. She was the last woman he would give a shit about, and she didn’t need this confusing head mess.
“Does it bother you that much?” His question had her stop in her tracks, and she failed to catch the elevator doors before they closed fully, locking them both inside. Panting as adrenaline coursed through, she didn’t know why her body had gone into a cold fright, leaving her legs weak.
“What are you talking about? Why are you being weird? What is this, Tian?” Ling turned and found Tian fully focused on her like a terrifying predator poised to devour his prey. It was unnerving, yet she struggled mostly with what he was saying and not how he behaved. Internally, something ran up and down inside her, leaving her nervous and afraid. She was scared that a man might disappoint her all over again when he was the one guy she didn’t want to do that.
Ling faltered, thrust her bust out, and lifted her chin in a show of haughty defiance, formulating a sarcastic response because he had lost his mind. She wasn’t about to admit any emotional attachment to this idiot. He was losing his marbles. Yet the words failed her, and she could not deliver them. She opened her mouth, and only air came out. Ling snorted at her own failure and tried again, making a repeated sigh and huff noise as though she had nothing to say. Tian could see it and deciphered it easily. She couldn’t lie to him; it was something Ling had never done. She was a straight shooter who was sometimes brutally honest to a fault.
It was an easy denial.
Because she did, it bothered her so much she had seethed anytime she saw it.
Tian leaned past her, startling the sudden way he came at her, and stretched his arm over her shoulder before stabbing the elevator stop button. It was supposed to be for emergency use only or maintenance, and they were ensured they wouldn’t leave the floor and that no one could open it from the outside without a maintenance card.
He pulled his arm back but did not pull his face or body to return to before, leaning in near her so he bridged the height gap and stared deep into her soul. Tian was back to calm, but he had stubbornness all over him.
“Well?” He asked again, watching her slightly flustered tells. The way the heat crept up to color her cheeks, and she absentmindedly pulled in her bottom lip in an immature, nervous way. Chewing on it momentarily to calm her internal shake. Ling wasn’t a woman who easily lost that brave face; she showed the world, and he knew she was rattled. She was trying to hide from him what was obvious.
The sexual chemistry between them was always so strong, especially when close like this. You could practically cut the tension with a knife. It was static and heavy, and he knew it was two-sided. Sex with her was what it was because they had unleashed it that one night. He had no doubt sex again would be the same. Wild, hot, and mind-blowing. A rare thing between two people. She had given him his libido back and urges to rekindle a sex life as long as it was with her.
“Mmm hmmm, and then some. I have to be fucking crazy even to consider this.” Tian had enough of her stalling, knowing he had every answer he needed in her behavior. He dropped the bag he had hooked over his shoulder, straightened his jacket in a hostile manner, and then leaned in so fast Ling yelped. Tian caught her by the waist, pulled her bodily to him, and locked his mouth on hers with the speed of a ninja. Rendering her mute, shocked, she flailed as warm, soft lips with so much familiarity met hers.
It was a second of ‘what the fuck’ before her mouth and body responded with a lust-driven kick, and against all her better judgment, she slid her palms up his shoulders and wrapped herself around him. Lassoing him and making it clear he had been right. Ling had no defenses against Tian Wang.
Tian kissed harder, opening his mouth at her response, and slid his hand down under her butt to pick her off her feet. No shyness in seducing a woman you had already bent over and banged for half a night. He had no doubt she wouldn’t refuse him.
Their kiss turned passionate and wild, pent-up emotion and sexual chaos taking control as she raked her nails through his hair, matching the ferocity of his seduction with her own. Tongues met, heads tilted, and they became a writhing mass of two human bodies intertwined. Lightly moaning as they turned each other on. Tian walked her against the wall, using it to bodily splat her into his firmly, and managed to perch her ass on the handrail so she wasn’t just all on his arms. If it weren’t for her tight knee-length skirt, she would have wrapped her legs around him and held on for dear life. It left one hand free to skim her body and feel her out. Smoothing up her thigh, ribcage, and then her breast to cup and squeeze it as she groaned into his mouth with the contact. Tian was confident and sexually competent for a man, and he had a firm yet soft way of groping her that drove her to heightened levels of horny.
They were lost in spiraling passion, and Tian had lost all sense in the fact they were in the building elevator, and security could see them via the camera. Ling was pinned to a wall with feet dangling inches above the floor while their groins rubbed in unison, crying to be free of clothing and fully connected. So joined from ankle to mouth, nothing, not even light got between them. Heavy panting, light groaning, and escalating groping and kissing steamed up the small space.