CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

PAYTON

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Two weeks. It’s beentwo weeks since I felt Knox’s lips on mine. Two weeks of pretending we feel nothing for one another while avoiding eye contact.

We fail and I’m sure my blood pressure is off the charts after catching him staring at me in meetings and around the office.

Once he reached for my hand under the table and squeezed it. I nearly cried.

I have fallen for this man.

“Payton—” he said one day when I was in his office.

“Don’t.” I shook my head.

Then I stepped closer, and he shook his head and turned away.

Push pull. Push pull. We both deserve an award for resisting one another and not crossing the line.

The entire thing has been horrible.

But I did tell Molly. I had to tell someone. She’s my best friend and is hardly going to ring my boss or Ward Montgomery and destroy our lives.

“I don’t get it,” Molly said. “Why doesn’t moneybags just pay your dad and give up the job?”

“Don’t be silly,” I replied.

Molly shrugged and sipped her mojito. The following weekend, after Atlas’ party, we’d gone to a local bar and done a full debrief.

“I’ve known him three weeks,” I scoffed. But a part of me was hurting inside because it sure felt like something more when we were lying in the bath, and he was holding the piece of pizza for me to bite into.

Or when he held me against the wall of his shower and slammed his cock inside me, his eyes thick with emotion.

I fuck them. Then they go.

But he hadn’t asked me to go. And I don’t think he would have if his father hadn’t been holding this no sex with businesswomen over his head.

The amount of times I’ve wanted to stride down to Ward Montgomery’s office and plant my fists on my hips and tell him he’s keeping the man I lo...like a lot from me. Well, it was more than once.

I was falling for him, but it’s not love. It’s way too early for that, and there is no chance for either of us. So I’ve just been fighting my feelings.

I’m mad with the circumstance, not Knox. But I can’t regret spending the weekend with him. It was incredible.

There is so much more to him than people see. He’s so loyal and caring.

To those he loves.

“So, what happened with you and Atlas?” I asked.

“He took me home.” Molly shrugged.

“That’s it?”

She nodded and glanced away. “Yup. There’s nothing there. I mean, I was stoned as fuck and ate two plates of nachos while snorting at The Simpsons. So yeah, I wasn’t exactly in the running for Victoria’s Secret model of the year.”

I sniggered.

“Do you like him, though?”

“Payton, we have enough Montgomery men problems on our hands. Now, what are you going to do?” she asked.

“Move on. Keep my job safe. Stop myself from getting into a lifetime of debt.” I shrugged and ordered another mojito.

We have two weeks until the launch, and the pressure is on. I need to focus on this campaign and make sure I deliver and don’t mess this up.

Nobody so far has suspected a thing.

We have to keep it that way.

Roxy, Cody, and I have lunch when I’m in the StoryCraft offices and I make a point not to mention Knox unless it’s necessary.

Roxy, of course, keeps telling me how much she wants to sit on his face.

None of that is worse than when I speak to my parents, and they ask me how things are going.

“Great,” I half lie.

“Proud of you, baby,” my father said to me a few nights ago. “I only want you to be happy.”

The truth is, I am happy. I love what I’m doing. I even understand why not sleeping with clients is important.

I don’t understand why this man is so special.

Or how I stop feeling the way I do.

“Payton, what’s happening with the venue?” Knox asks as he walks through the office.

“It’s all locked in. We are waiting for confirmation about the platforms. Sorry, the runway that will lay attach over the pool. The hire company cannot guarantee it won’t leave any damage.”

“Then tell them we’ll fucking repair it if it does.” He strides off. “I want it confirmed by the end of the day.”

“Yes, sir.”

This is what he does. When he gets irritable because he can’t touch me, he gets snappy.

It’s exhausting.

I ring Cody and update him.

“Jesus. Tell him it’s confirmed. I just heard back from them,” he says, tapping on the computer. “I was emailing you. Are you heading back to the office this afternoon? Alexandra wanted to have a quick project meeting.”

I glance at the clock on my laptop.

“I can be there in thirty minutes,” I say and start packing up.

It’s probably better if I leave when he is like this. His mood just gets worse.

“See you soon, chickie,” Cody chimes.

I leave my bags on my chair and head down to Knox’s office and watch from the doorway as he paces in front of the windows and yells on the phone.

When he turns and sees me, he ends the call.

“Close the door,” he growls and reaches for the cord that shuts the blinds.

“What are you doing?” I whisper. He walks over to me without saying a word and grips the side of my face as I gasp.

“Knox.”

“I’m going fucking insane,” he growls, his thumb rubbing the bottom of my lip and tugging it down. “I need to taste you. I need—”

“Don’t say it.” I close my eyes for a moment.

“Shit.” He steps away, dropping his arm.

I watch as he runs his hand over his hair a few times and bite my lip as it turns all mussed and sexy.

Then he spins around.

“Are you sleeping with anyone?” he asks suddenly, like a madman.

“No,” I reply, then frown. “Are you?”

“No, I’m not fucking anyone else. I can’t. And I don’t want to. I can’t stop jerking off thinking about you.”

I smile.

I can’t help it.

For the first time in weeks, I feel a little hope. Not that I can see a way out of this, but Knox Montgomery likes me.

He likes me a lot more than he realizes.

Not that it changes anything, so I let out a breath and focus back on work.

This is what we do.

Push pull.

“The venue is booked,” I tell him, and he nods, sliding his hands into his pants. “I’m heading back to the StoryCraft offices. I’ll...I’ll stay there for the rest of the week.”

His eyes dart back to mine.

“Why?” he grunts.

“So this is easier.” I point between us. “After the launch in two weeks, I’ll rarely be here. Once a month, for a meeting with Michael. It will be easier.”

I swallow, feeling the dread of barely seeing him. The reality of where there is actually heading sinking in.

“I need you here tomorrow,” Knox says.

“For what?” I frown.

“Because I fucking do, Payton.” He strides to his desk, grabs his jacket, and then opens the blinds in his office.

Ward is walking past and glances in.

“Fucking hell,” Knox curses. “Come on.”

“Where are we going? I have to go to a meeting back at the office.”

“I’ll drive you.”

It might sound stupid, but I love being in his car and watching him drive. So I agree.

As we cruise down the street, I watch Knox drive his powerful Maserati and pretend he’s mine. Just for five minutes. He’s so damn sexy and even his angry profile looks perfect.

One block away, he suddenly turns down a street and I glance around. “What are you doing?”

He puts his foot down and pulls into a parking garage that’s dark and a little scary. Then he undoes his seatbelt, undoes mine and pulls me into his arms.

“Kiss me, god damn it,” he growls.

As I’m gasping, his mouth slams down on mine and my hands tangle through his short curly dark hair.

God, I want this man so much.

His tongue spears me, opening me and claiming me. I moan against him, feeling as if the world has finally righted itself.

Don’t ask me how, but his chair glides back and suddenly I’m on his lap straddling him.

“I need to be inside you, Payton.”

“Here?” I squeak.

“Yes, fucking here. Right now.” His hand slides under me and he pulls his cock out. My panties are pulled aside, then I feel him against my folds.

My wet folds.

“Put me inside you,” he orders me as his mouth claims mine again.

I take him and slide him to my core. Then I impale myself on his thick, solid cock.

We both cry out.

“Fuck,” he growls, gripping my face. “Payton. Jesus fucking Christ.”

Then his hands take my hips and together we’re grinding and moving and thrusting.

“I’m going to come fast,” he grunts. “Oh fuck. Yes. God, I need more of your pussy.”

“Shit, I’m going to come,” I cry.

“Suck me with your cunt, god. Yes. Come, baby. I’m coming,” Knox cries, his head slamming back on the headrest.

His hot come spurts inside me and it’s the most amazing feeling.

I’m aware this isn’t good.

On so many fucking levels.

But the feeling of Knox Montgomery being inside me, bare, and his come filling me. It’s indescribable. It makes me feel so many warm and silly things I could never tell him.

I collapse on his chest, panting, and we feel the leakage happening.

Knox reaches for some tissues and shoves them between us. I take over and move to climb off him.

“Stay there. Just for a minute,” he says. “This might be the last time I’m inside you.”

Tears prickle my eyes.

I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe he’d come up with a way we could be together or that he couldn’t live without me.

But no.

This was just another fuck for him.

No matter how he feels about me.

“I can’t be late,” I say, lifting off his cock and jamming the tissues inside my panties.

“Hey.” Knox stops me from climbing back into my seat, his mouth taking mine.

I let him.

But this is all starting to hurt a lot.

After a moment, he lets me go and when we pull up outside the StoryCraft building, Knox reaches over and takes my hand.

I squeeze his and look over at him.

“I’m not on birth control.” I need him to know that.

“What?” His eyes widen.

“I’ll go to the pharmacy after work. I just wanted you to know.”

“Shit.” Knox rubs his forehead. “I lost control. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. I know. But we can’t do that again. It’s dangerous, and it’s not fair to me.” I glance out the windshield. “Maybe I should date. Or something, as this is too hard.”

“You want to fuck someone else after we just did that?” he growls, releasing my hand.

“No, I want to stop wanting you.”

“Well, so do I!” he yells.

“Ugh.” I scramble to get my bag and try to open the door, but he’s locked it. “Knox. Open the door.”

“No. You are not fucking anyone else. Tell me you won’t,” he orders me.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you have no right to ask that of me.” I look over my shoulder at him angrily.

He grips my face. “Say it.”

“No.”

“What if you’re pregnant with my child? Huh? Ever thought of that?” he growls.

I frown, relax back into the seat, and shake my head. “It’s been seven minutes.”

He shrugs.

I fight my smile, glance up at the building, then back at him. It’s not funny, but damn this man. I want him so much. However, I seem to have a much bigger grasp on reality than he does.

The damn idiot.

“Knox, did you ever stop to think that maybe you want me because I’m forbidden fruit?” I shake my head.

“Yes.”

Oh.

“And that’s not it. I had you. I never fuck the same woman twice. Until now.” He indicates the car.

“Well, it was very romantic,” I snort, and he shakes his head.

“Payton, I don’t know how to fix this,” Knox says, reaching for me. “But if you sleep with someone else, I’ll fucking lose it.”

I’m not promising him something I can’t keep. There is no one else I want, but he might meet someone, and so might I.

It’s completely unreasonable to ask that of one another.

Neither of us can be together as it stands right now. I’d lose my job. And Knox doesn’t want his father to know we’re sleeping together or it could risk him being promoted to the CEO role.

I understood exactly what he meant when we were in the bath chatting.

But if there is something real between us, then surely we can find a way around this.

“What if you spoke to your dad?” I try and he shakes his head.

“He can never know, Payton. I mean it.” The fierceness in his eyes is a reminder that becoming CEO is a much greater priority than I’ll ever be.

“Then you can’t ask me to wait for something that will never be, Knox,” I say, then do a double take as I see Roxy walking toward us, waving. “Shit, open the locks.”

I hear it click.

As I start to climb out, he grabs my arm. I turn.

“I won’t ask again,” Knox says, and I feel the coldness in his words.

Then he lets me go.

Knox has my heart, and I know he’s going to break it.