9: AMBROSE

“What was that?” Brynlee hisses at me.

“What?”

“Throwing me under the bus like that.”

“I didn’t throw you under the bus. You agreed that this was the best move for the company to accomplish our goals, including one that we weren’t even considering. Saving. Staff.”

I say those two words independently to emphasize my point.

“Why does my opinion suddenly count now, Ambrose, when it hasn’t in all this time?”

Clenching my jaw, I stand behind my desk and walk around to face her.

“When are you going to stop questioning my leadership, Bryn?”

“When you stop playing games!”

“I needed your vote. The only way to veto the board’s decision not to move forward with the project is to have two board members and two executive staff backing me. Terrence Quarterman and Beryl Jones were my two supporting board members.”

“And Noble James was the only exec on your side.”

“Exactly.”

“Damnit, Ambrose! Why didn’t you just say so in the beginning?”

“Because I don’t owe you answers, Bryn. I simply urged you to speak up in the meeting and to place your vote honestly.”

“Yes, but when Lora said that I wasn’t required to vote since this was my first meeting, you overrode that. Never gave me the option but pushed me where you wanted me to be. You didn’t respect my right to choose for myself, Ambrose.”

“I only did what I knew was best for us all. Besides, it’s what you believed, and this is what you wanted, right?”

“I want the staff to be safe.”

“This is a means to that end. Besides, the DeLucas and the Blacks added a stipulation to the contract.”

“What stipulation?”

“We have to retain all staff on record at the time of their contract submission. In other words, there can be no layoffs or terminations. That clause was just added yesterday and sent over to me.”

“Does the board know?”

“Of course they do.”

“I didn’t hear anyone discussing it in the meeting.”

“It was discussed before you arrived. As I recall, you were fifteen minutes late.”

“That’s because you gave me a task to complete for the meeting at the last minute.”

Shrugging, I reply, “Sounds like it took you fifteen minutes too long.”

“You’re impossible,” she says, turning her back on me and heading to the door.

“This tension between us isn’t about that. Admit it.”

“Then what do you think it’s about, huh?” she hisses, turning to me.

“It’s about what happened at Bleu Curve.”

I’d called a car to pick us up and drop her off at her home before I returned home. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to discuss what happened. Instead, she damn near snapped my head off and told me not to speak to her. When I sent a car to get her the next morning since hers had been left at the office overnight, she didn’t even thank me but ignored me when she arrived. That was four days ago.

“What?”

“You heard me. You’ve been pissed at me since. Trying to avoid me and disregarding strict orders. I should have your ass written up for insubordination!” I hiss.

“Try it,” she says, crossing her arms and calling my bluff. “I haven’t defied your authority, nor have I refused to obey any orders you’ve given me.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Name one.”

“You were supposed to hold the meeting to inform staff about the impending layoffs. Adriana was supposed to inform each impacted staff and their supervisor about their impact. She couldn’t make a move until you held the initial meeting. The longer you delayed that, the less time you gave them to prepare.”

“Because I believed that I could find another way. I’m fighting for them. I’m not capitulating! If I held that meeting, it would be like saying we couldn’t save them. And I was right! You found a way.”

“We still need the board’s final signature before we can move forward.”

“I thought your vote vetoed their decision to enforce the reduction in force.”

“It’s not final until I have the physical signatures from Terrence, Beryl, Noble, and you.”

“Send me the document.”

“Perfect.”

She walks to the door again and grabs the doorknob. “By the way...I’m not holding a grudge against you about Bleu Curve.”

I walk up to her, resting my hand over hers.

“How long will you keep running?” I whisper.

“I’m not running.”

“You’ve been running from me since you left my hotel all those years ago.”

“I had every right to.”

“You shouldn’t have listened to Lyndsey’s lies.”

“She told the truth,” she mutters.

“If she had, you’d have been sharing my bed. That night. And all the nights after.”

I know she feels my dick pressing against her ass, yet she doesn’t move. I see her hair flutter from my breath.

“I don’t fool around with cheaters.”

My head bows and presses against the back of hers.

“I never cheated.”

Her head drops forward, pressing against the door.

“Liar.”

She sounds like she doesn’t believe her accusation. I drag my arm around her waist, pulling her into me.

“I never lie. You may not like my truths, but I’m honest if nothing else.”

A moan escapes her lips as my lips press against her neck. Why is she so pliable now? Giving in to my demands rather than threatening me with sexual harassment or quitting.

“I’ve never stopped wanting you, Bryn. Never stopped loving you.”

“I don’t believe you,” she groans, turning her head sideways as I press my lips against her neck.

“I swear you wear these sexy dresses to drive me fucking wild, woman!”

“I swear this song isn’t about you,” she moans, referencing Carly Simon’s I Bet You Think This Song Is About You.

She arches, and I press myself harder into her, gripping the hem of her black and white plaid dress and rolling it up her thighs. My hand smooths across her silken skin so dark it resembles a cacao bean's warm, earthy brown. Her dress gathers around her hips, and she sighs, dropping her head against the door.

Sliding her black lace panties aside, I bury my fingers in her folds, closing my eyes and willing my erection to wither just a bit. It’s a painful beast.

A cry erupts in her throat, and I remove my hand.

“Please,” she warbles.

I remove the tie around my neck and shove it against her mouth.

“Bite down on this when you feel the urge to scream.”

Brynlee was never a quiet lover. My fingers slip inside of her again, working her over.

Her hips move in tightly controlled circles, and only I hear the little gasps, moans, and shrieks muffled by my tie. I love having her like this, sharing something private and primal between us. Love that I alone can hear what is so pleasantly sensual yet urgent, but it’s cut off from everyone else.

Removing my fingers from her, I suck them into my mouth, and she watches me with her head turned sideways with her face pressed against the door. Her eyes widen at the sight of me sucking her juices from my fingers.

Kneeling, I grab her panties and roll them over her ass and hips until she steps out of them. She looks down at me, and I reward her with a wink as I fold them and place them in my pocket. She reaches for them, but I grab her hands and stand again.

Jerking my tie from her mouth, I bind her hands behind her back.

“What’re you doing?” she hisses.

“Teaching you a lesson, my love. It’s time to learn who’s boss. You will stop questioning my authority,” I say, kneeling again and spreading her legs.

My dick jerks harder when I pull her ass cheeks apart and then her glistening lower lips. Pressing my face into her, I inhale her scent and whisper, “You’d better learn to be quiet.”

“I can’t,” she moans.

“Fine. I have no problem with the staff knowing I ate out the CAO.”

“Ro!” she hisses.

My heart clutches. It’s the first time in a long time that she’s called me by my nickname. She’s softening toward me, and I want to know why. Just not now.

“You’ve been warned, Ms. St. Clair,” I say just before pressing my lips against her core.

The whimper she releases is my greatest reward. I always loved how she cried, whimpered, and screamed when I loved her body.

Her scent is heavenly, and her taste is like paradise. The girl I used to know would run from me, but not her. Brynlee’s grown into this amazing woman who gives me what I’m seeking, not clamping her legs or running away because she was unsure how to lose control.

No. This woman whose legs I’m perched between is a woman who is wildly out of control. She works her hips, her ass, and her pussy in ways that I can’t imagine she would ever do. Jealousy fills me as I wonder who taught her this. Who was the bastard that unlocked this side of her? Teaching her that it was okay to let go?

It doesn’t take long before she reaches the edge, but before she can climax, I pull back. Not because I don’t want her because she’s everything that I could have wanted her to be and so much more.

I stand and wrap my arms around her. She stiffens.

“Why’d you stop?”

Pressing kisses against the back of her neck, I whisper, “I don’t know who the fuck he is, but tell him that you’re mine. I won’t fucking let go, Bryn.”

“Please don’t stop, Ro.”

“I have to. Leave something on your mind to think about while I’m out of town.”

“Why’re you doing this, Ro? Why can’t we let the past remain where it should be?” she cries, pulling away from me and straightening her dress.

The anguish on her face almost breaks me, but I have to make her come to me. I won’t stop punishing her for the years we were apart, not until she’s on her knees begging me to punish her.

“Because you belong to me. Every time you resist or challenge me, I will punish you. For every year you pushed me out, I’ll punish you. The way you freely gave yourself to me at Bleu Curve, I want that all the time...minus the attitude.”

“God, I hate you!” she hisses, jerking the door open.

“You lie so damn good.”

She storms away, slamming my office door closed. I pull it open just as she’s opening hers.

“Bryn?”

She turns around and faces me. “I’m just getting started, baby,” I say, winking just before she slams her door.