After Emily’s conversation with her sweet coworker, she couldn’t help but wonder whether her anger was justified.
Sure, Theodore was keeping her captive in his estate, but he was doing it for her own good – to protect her, he said and she believed him.
“Is everything okay in that little head for yours, dorogaya?” Came his teasing as he started to undress, uncaring of the fact that she was still there.
“Peachy,” she said as her eyes remained glued to his broad chest.
“Want to cup a feel?” He then asked crudely.
She gasped in outrage at his words, but felt her heated core throb nonetheless.
“Rude,” she drawled, rolling her eyes. “You’re not all that, you know?” She was lying to goad him… and they both knew it.
“Really now, dorogaya?” He raised an eyebrow, his eyes twinkling with mischief as a smirk played on his lips.
She let out a simple “Uh-hum,” in response, her undoubtedly heated stare still on the olive skin of his chest.
He stretched lazily and cracked his fingers while his intense gaze was on her, blatantly appraising her.
He was without a doubt a predator, and she was his prey. Was she ever going to escape his clutches? Hell, did she even want to escape?
“I’ll be outside in the gardens,” she needed to leave immediately, unless she wanted him to make good on his promise, and make her scream his name repeatedly.
“Sure,” he told her, his smirk broadening.
He opened the button of his slacks… and she all but ran out of there – or at least tried to.
He grabbed her arm just as she was passing by him. And with one gentle tug, her body collided with his, “What have I told you about running away from me, dorogaya?” His voice was so deep, so husky, so arousing. And she couldn’t find the appropriate answer. “The next time you do that, I’ll give chase to you like a mad man on mission. And I won’t fail to make you mine.” She gulped down her anticipation, her chest tightening, her core throbbing in need. “This is the promise of a lifetime, dorogaya.”
She tried and was successful in getting her wits back, and told him challengingly, “You have one month, Theodore.”
“I am aware,” his smile revealed his teeth, and she wanted those teeth to nibble on her earlobe, and those lips to kiss her fervently.
But instead of voicing out her lewd thoughts, she took a step back with great reluctance, and said daringly, “I can’t wait to be free of your clutches.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” he chuckled humorlessly.
And with that, she left at a normal pace, not wanting him to just make her his just yet.
She was having too much fun at this game of push and pull, she realized. And she wanted to test his patience and enjoy the game while it lasted, for deep down, she knew she was already his.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Emily was having lunch with Cecilia when Paul walked by their bench. Emily regretted the fact that she never reached out to him after that near-kiss incident. And thus, she rose to her feet, her bodyguards on her trail, and went to him.
“Paul,” she called for his name. “How have you been?”
“I need the job, Emily. Please don’t ruin it for me,” he told her tersely before leaving at a hurried pace.
What just happened?
Her perplex frown must have given her off for Cecilia soon made a guess, “I’d say Mr. King had something to do with him giving up on you so abruptly.”
Emily grimaced at that. Paul was a friend. She had never intended to lead him on, even though there had been a time where she entertained a few silly thoughts of him.
She no longer did. And it was a shame that he wouldn’t even talk to her.
She finished her lunch and then decided to confront Theodore about the matter.
She entered his room without knocking, in an attempt to get a rise out of him but the attempt failed miserably.
He was on the phone. And yet, he didn’t glare at her or anything. Instead, he smiled brightly at her. “Hold that thought, Andrea.”
Who’s Andrea? Was the sole thought that roamed her mind at that.
“I love how you make yourself comfortable around here, dorogaya,” he claimed, no hint of sarcasm behind his words. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“What did you do to Paul?” She asked without preamble, eyes narrowed on him.
“Andrea, I’ll have to call you back,” he said before focusing on her. He crossed his arms on his chest. “Did he talk to you?”
“No, I tried to talk to him, but he didn’t stay long enough for chitchat.”
“He’s a good boy. He listens,” he said, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
“He’s a friend, Theodore,” she interjected angrily. “You had no right…”
“No!” He exclaimed angrily. “He is the one at fault. Who gave him the right to try to kiss you? A date, I thought I could tolerate… but a kiss? I most certainly wouldn’t.”
“Are you even listening to yourself?” She asked, her a tone a mixture between disbelief and anger.
“At least I didn’t fire him. I gave him a choice,” Theodore shrugged.
“You’re not even repentant,” she shook her head negatively.
“I’m not,” he told her without missing a beat. “You should know that I don’t share, dorogaya.”
“I’m not a thing or a prized possession,” she seethed at him as she took a few steps forward, and jabbed an accusing finger at him. “Who do you think you are, Theodore King?”
“I am to be your one and only, your boyfriend and lover,” he stated boldly staring in her eyes as he closed the distance between them.
The tension was palpable between them.
“Stop denying me already,” he then told her gruffly, his eyes a few shades darken than their usual gray color.
“What if I don’t?” She challenged, an eyebrow raised, despite her weeping core, despite her glaringly obvious desire for him to just take her already.
“I’ll be relentless. I won’t stop until you give in to me, dorogaya,” he said simply.
“Who is Andrea?” She then asked matter-of-factly.
He chuckled, and she blushed in dismay. She was even ready to leave the room when his arm sneaked around her waist, and he hugged her to him.
“Fear not, little one,” he said soothingly. “I only have eyes for you.”
“Right,” she scoffed into his chest. “Who is she?”
“A coworker,” he told her softly. “And she is married, and with child already.”
Emily released a sigh and hugged him back at that, needing the contact after the hectic day she had.