4. Julian

"The overall culture at the Klondike Group needs an overhaul, Mrs. O"Mara. The foundation of trust your employees used to rely upon is no longer there, wiped out by the breach of privacy when monitoring their emails and inter-company messages even when the employee isn"t on the clock."

The woman with a permanent scowl etched onto her face stares at me with the other members of her executive team eyeing me like a snake. They whisper among each other and look to me to continue with the results of my findings.

"What would you have us do, Mr. Blackwell?" the woman asks as my phone vibrates in my pocket.

"Be honest—" I begin with my solution, but I"m distracted by the incessant ringing of my phone. I hold up my finger. "Give me a second, everyone."

I pull out my phone to shut it off completely when I notice it"s a location ping for my tablet. I silence the device and shove it in my pocket before I finish my presentation to this company, who insisted I take on their consultation personally.

As the CEO of Nuvola, I"m rarely at these things, but when a corporation like the Klondike Group demands my presence, I take it into consideration. It"s also the perfect opportunity to get Claire into my world to see how the business operates.

Claire. Diabolical sexual innocence in a petite package I"m finding extremely hard to keep my hands off. The thing in the back seat on our way here has my mind reeling for all the ways I can bring her to climax. I know I shouldn"t. She"s supposed to be under my care and protection, not under me, writhing from pleasure.

This is the problem. The distraction. The way my heart races whenever she"s close to me. The way I find myself obsessing over the next stolen moment. I barely get through the rest of my proposal to my client.

By the end of it, Mrs. O"Mara and her band of bottom-liners are not likely to implement every change I recommend. However, that"s not my concern. They asked me to evaluate their performance, their staff, and their operations. It takes weeks of observation, both blatant and secretive, to collect that amount of data. I do my job, and my company"s one of the best to do it, which is why my company"s a success and they are struggling.

I head out of the office and outside to see Edward beside another SUV. Not my car, but I"m not asking any questions. Bonnie replied to my messages with vague descriptions of her taking Claire to breakfast, but something"s not right.

It"s only when I pull up my device locator app that I see where they are. When Bonnie refuses to answer, I call my office number that"s being forwarded to my tablet. Claire ignores the call. It"s infuriating.

The day passes with a single message coming to my phone from Claire:

"I have a pretty easy day ahead. I"ll see you at home." per you Boss-well

The idea of having my words thrown back in my face when I feel like she"s in danger, isn"t sitting well with me.

"What"s wrong, Julian?" Edward asks from beside me.

"Claire and Bonnie are in Hunter"s Point somewhere. I don"t like that neighborhood. Do you have any people in the area to do a spot check?" I ask him.

"Yeah, Bonnie," he replies. "You hired me and I hired her. She"s not going to knowingly jeopardize a client"s safety, especially Claire"s. Bonnie understands how important Claire is to you, to all of us. Let her work."

"That"s still Scarpella"s territory. I don"t like her over there, exposed."

Edward sighs. "You told me to pack my tools, and I did. I told Bonnie the same thing. If anything is up, Bonnie"s not going to take Claire to any place where Bonnie can"t manage a threat."

I want to trust Edward. I do trust Edward. But sniffing, tasting, swirling my tongue around my mouth as I crave another sample of Claire"s delicious pussy has me obsessing over someone that doesn"t belong to me in that way. I can"t focus on work while wondering where Claire is, or what she"s doing when she"s not at the desk just outside of my office. This is what I want to prevent. It"s not good for either of us.

Logic wars with my emotions until I"m in the massive entryway of Blackwell Manor as Claire comes in with Bonnie. There"s a lightness about her I don"t want to dampen or hinder, but my temper swings like a sledgehammer.

"Do you have any idea what it"s like to be in a meeting only to see the person you care about traveling to a dangerous part of the city?" My voice booms as they both halt in their place.

Bonnie steps forward, putting herself between me and Claire as if my anger is going to put her in danger. It gives me pause, taking a step back to calm myself down.

"She was with me, Sir." Bonnie is proud in her stance, sticking up for Claire.

"I don"t care who she"s with. You work for me and if I call, text, or send a fucking smoke signal, you"d better goddamn answer me. You do anything like this again, and not only will you be unemployed, but you"ll never get a job in security again."

This time, Claire steps forward. "Julian, that"s not fair. She didn"t do anything wrong. We went with Danny?—"

"Who the fuck is Danny?" I bark out the question and I immediately flashback to moments arguing with my parents. Their reputations hinged on my behavior and I understand their worry now more than ever. I don"t want Claire"s actions to reflect badly on me or Nuvola.

"Danielle, Julian," Bonnie says. "My 19-year-old sister, who you know, met and approved for associating with Claire."

"What do you mean approved?" Claire turns to Bonnie.

Bonnie immediately scrunches her face to betray the fact that"s not common information.

"I"m your guardian, Claire. I"m here to keep you safe. I"ll do that however I see fit."

Claire shifts her focus back to me. "You don"t get to do that anymore. I"m eighteen, remember?"

"Is that the stance you want to take right now, Claire? You want to pull the ‘I"m eighteen and can do what I want as an adult' card?" I warn her because she needs to tread carefully.

"Not whatever I want, but I can go to a breakfast spot near Bonnie"s apartment to eat food with Danny. What if I decide to visit places around the world as a humanitarian volunteer?" She backtracks, as she should.

I roll my eyes at the scenario. "Then you"ll have private security everywhere you go that won"t simply let you fuck off to grab pancakes."

"That"s not the point, Julian, and you know it," Claire argues and I see her getting worked up. The way her eyes widen as red brushes across the bridge of her nose, tells me that tears will come if I don"t take this discussion down a notch.

"Bonnie, thank you for bringing Claire home. I won"t be needing you for the rest of the evening."

Bonnie knows better than to argue as she pats Claire on the hand before leaving the house.

I start walking away from Claire but stop to face her. "Put your training gear on and meet me for a session. If you"re going to put yourself in danger for food, you"d better be damn good at your self-defense tactics."

"Julian," she whines, but stops when I hold a finger up to silence her.

"Don"t. You want me to trust you to go wherever you want without this kind of reaction? Then you need to show me why I should trust you. Meet me in the combat room in thirty minutes."

I walk away from her and head to my room, where I throw on a pair of shorts and a tank top. The training room is directly above the ballroom on the second floor of the manor. It used to be a room to display my mother"s pieces of art, antiques and other items to display how much of my father"s money she loved to spend. After the divorce, the art and every trace of my mother left this home. She couldn"t stand to be here anymore.

Rightfully, so. I can"t speak to a woman or a wife"s experience, but staying in the home where her husband murdered a prostitute doesn"t seem like a welcoming environment. The worst part about that situation is my ten-year-old little brain seeing it happen and then seeing it swept away like a tsunami washes away a marina.

I shake of my memories of my twisted childhood to focus on strengthening the person I care about more and more each day. The idea of Claire being in the world on her own is terrifying and exciting all at the same time. I"ve been tasked with preparing her, and I always finish what I start.

Claire walks into the training room wearing sports bra and compression shorts that can easily be mistaken for something she should wear on a beach. Images of the sun tanning her milky white skin send impulses straight to my cock. I have to ignore it to teach her this lesson.

"Let"s stretch and warm-up," I tell her, taking her through my 20-minute drill before I put her through a punishing cardio routine. She keeps up with me just fine, which speaks volumes about the training she"s been doing with Bonnie.

She looks like she"s ready to quit until I pull out the fingerless gloves. The gloves are weighted to give her arms a much-needed workout. I want her to look gorgeous, but her punches need to be able to make a dent in whoever she"s fighting.

Claire stares at me. "You"re not going to put on the pads?"

"No. Attackers don"t wear padding. Your only goal is to pin me and get away. Ready?" I ask her.

She nods and squares her shoulders, positioning her feet in a way like this is going to be a fair fight. I take Claire by surprise when I lower my shoulder and hoist her up by the waist. I hope she recognizes the move from her training with Bonnie this morning.

Claire picks up on it, throwing her weight over my arms and dipping low. She snakes herself under my elbow to give her some leverage and throws a kick toward my ribs. I block it and grab her leg, sweeping her into my arms and gently putting her on the ground. I can"t bring myself to slam her onto the mats like Bonnie.

"Attackers are going to lay me on the concrete like a Princess?" She smirks.

"I don"t want to hurt you unless you ask me to, and then we"re talking about something that doesn"t involve us training."

"Does it include what happened in the car today?"

I grin and look away from her, trying my best to reel in my lust. "That was following through on what you started. Next, you"re going to pretend you"re walking to get pancakes."

"For fuck"s sake, let it go, Julian." She laughs to herself and turns her back to me. She enacts my command in dramatic fashion.

Claire swings her arms, ridiculously exaggerating a joyous walk while speaking in a melody. "Mm, I can"t wait to slather myself in hot maple syrup. Even better if they have boysenberries."

I shake my head, approaching her from behind with an arm around her waist and one over her mouth. The moment I start to drag her backward, she maneuvers her hands to clasp together in front of her and throws all of her weight to the ground. She pulls me down, which gives her leverage to headbutt me. I back away in time for her to miss my face, but there"s room for her to break free.

Claire pivots in her kneeling position to slide between my legs and knocks me forward onto a knee. She"s supposed to run away at this point, but she jumps on my back instead, giggling as she tries to put me in a headlock.

I spin her around too easily and pin her underneath me, where no amount of flailing will get me off of her.

"This is why you"re supposed to run, Claire." My voice is low, raspy even, restraining my desire to keep her in this position. "What are you going to do, now?"

Claire surprises me by pushing her face closer to mine and licking my lips. "You taste just how I imagine."

She has no idea. I lean down, covering her mouth with my own to give her a true kiss. My tongue pushes between her lips and my hold relaxes into the intimacy between us. Her tongue chases mine and I can"t help but wonder what a mouthful of that delectable pussy tastes like. The sample from earlier isn"t enough to hold me over, to sate my need to claim her, to make her mine. When I feel Claire"s hand dip into my shorts, I don"t stop her.

My urge to be so close to her feed off this moment, having my cock in her small hand is so good, I nearly come in it. She strokes me as I move one arm under her and the other hand to slip inside her waistband. I rub her clit as my tongue probes her mouth. When I slip a finger inside of her tight walls, I can feel her gasp.

The wince from the pressure, the pain, it makes me stop and pull away.

"Fuck. What am I doing?" I ask myself, rolling onto my back, which forces her to move her hands off me. I tell her, "This isn"t right. I"m sorry, Claire. Good work on your training."

I get up and leave her alone in the training room. A cold shower, a quick meal, and then barricading myself in my office until I fall asleep is how I spend the rest of my night. I do my best to put Claire out of my mind, so I don"t barge into her room to make her come all over me.

The next morning is an exercise on how best to avoid Claire. I send her on countless errands to the point I inhibit her from doing the job I hired her to do. She"s a buffer as my assistant and a buffer is exactly what I need when I come back from lunch to see a pair of faces I had no intention of seeing today.

My mother, Bianca Marzano, and her brother Armande are sitting outside my office in chairs I don"t remember being there. My mother gets up with an expression of disapproval.

"Julian, sweetie, I already told you that dark colored suits are much better in a position of power like yours." Her words force me to look down to remind myself what I put on, and it"s a tan suit because it"s a thousand fucking degrees outside.

"Good afternoon, Mother. How nice of you and Zio to drop by. I wonder where my assistant is and why she didn"t tell me you were here." I grimace and look at my phone, where I see a number of unanswered messages.

Fuck.

Armande clears his throat. He doesn"t say anything as he gets out of his seat and walks into my office like he owns the place. When the Don of the Marzano crime family comes in for a face-to-face meeting, things can"t be good. I approach the office to see Claire inside, organizing papers on my desk.

She offers me a timid smile. "My apologies, Mr. Blackwell, I couldn"t reach you. However, everything"s ready for your two o"clock. I can push it back?—"

"Don"t worry about that, sweetheart," Armande interjects. "I won"t be here that long. Mr. Blackwell can keep his meeting. Now, if you"ll excuse us."

Claire looks at me and I give her a nod to leave us. She closes the door behind her and with a threatening glare, Armande sits in my chair.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" He snarls.

I"m not easily intimidated, nor am I easily bullied. I press my hands against the top of my desk, leaning in close as I respond in an equally menacing tone. "I"m exactly the man this world needs me to be."