I smirked at his predicament. I’d hand it to her, she was tenacious.

“Oh, hi, Kelly!” My voice surprised her, and she jumped down from his desk. “Are you here to pick up the contract to take to the Lowry’s? I know Amanda Lowry is anxiously awaiting it.” My voice was dripping with sickening sweetness as I asserted my position.

“Oh, yes, Miss Palmer.” She was blushing as she grabbed the file from my hand on her way out.

“Thank you,” Nathan’s melodic voice called, drawing my attention away from the fleeing girl.

My body buzzed at his address. He shouldn’t have spoken to me like that. I hated how he could affect me; pull me to him, play with me.

“I didn’t do it for you. I just can’t stand her presence.” Then it began again, the staring. His eyes bored into me, and my body heated under his gaze.

“You and me both.”

“T.G.I.F, right? You can get a two day reprieve from your fan club.” My voice was saturated with more venom than I’d intended.

He blinked at me, his expression going blank again before turning back to his computer, whispering, “I wish everyday was a reprieve.”

Once again, a small speck was given, leading to more questions with no answers.

The rest of the afternoon passed in calm, silent reigning in the office. I ignored Nathan, with the exception of when the two visitors from the Nathan Thorne fan club stopped by. He declined every invitation to go out that evening, citing a previous engagement, leaving them with a promise of a rain check. It seemed to be the only way he could shake them.

I left without much notice a short time later and headed home. Once there, I changed into my jeans, throwing on a tank top and cardigan. I inspected the marks that were fading from my skin. The ones on my chest were gone, but some of the deeper ones on my neck and shoulder remained. On my way, I pulled a scarf off the hall tree and wrapped it around myself, covering the rest.

Being that is was Friday, I headed out to my local dive bar and drank myself into a stupor, despite John’s protest. I needed the escape. There was no Nathan to walk me home, but I managed to stumble my way home just fine by myself, as I did every week before he’d showed up. In my drunkenness, I almost hit the button for the fourteenth floor just to show him I could get home fine without him. But then I realized how stupid that would make me seem, and the last thing I wanted to do was give him something more to judge about me.

With only twenty six total units, it was a wonder I’d never bumped into him prior to that Friday night. It was a thought for a less liquored mind, and I stumbled into bed, my brain shutting down as I passed out into the darkness I craved.

CHAPTER 4

Sunday fell upon me before I knew it, and I found myself at home, cleaning an already spotless home. I’d lost most of Saturday to a glorious, deep sleep, waking up just after noon.

Now, I was dancing around to the radio in my tank top and some lounge pants, my hair up in a messy bun. It was unusual for me to leave the house on Sundays, but when I did, I was often dressed in something similar; I needed to feel comfortable after being in a suit all week.

The sun was shining, and I contemplated taking a walk, maybe down to the circle, as it was a warm day. Perhaps I’d stop at the coffee shop or head over to the mall for a movie. Then again, I could always find something on the movie channels, maybe make some popcorn.

A loud, incessant fist, pounding on my front door, startled me, and I ran to answer it. I released the deadbolt and pulled open the door to find Nathan, standing in my doorway, his expression wild.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked as soon as he saw me, his hands braced on the door frame.

“Nathan?”

“Why?”

The pinging of the elevator signaled my neighbor was coming up, and I grabbed onto Nathan’s tie, dragging him in. “Idiot! Do you want the whole building to know?”

He ignored my question and began pacing. “I don’t get you. All week long I’ve been waiting for Jack to pull me into his office and fire me, or the police to come, knocking down my door to take me away, and…nothing.”

“Why the police?”

He stopped, staring at me, his hand fisting in his hair in agitation. “I practically f**king raped you, Delilah.”

My eyes widened in surprise as I stared at him. “Is that what you think happened?”

“Yes!” he yelled. “I took you against your will against a wall. Fuck!” His eyes were roaming over me, taking in the expanse of skin I’d kept hidden from him all week. He swallowed hard.

“Listen, Nathan, I think we need to get some things straightened out, because I thought you understood. First off, I asked for everything you gave me.”

“Fuck, you sound like a battered housewife.”

I rolled my eyes at him just before my temper snapped. “Will you shut the f**k up? I’m trying to talk!” He stared at me in shock as I resumed. “I’m pretty sure I recall begging you more than once, and I never asked you to stop or said no, did I?”

His hand cupped the back of his neck, and I could tell he was thinking back to that night. There was movement in his pants, and his eyes glazed over.

“No,” he conceded and resumed pacing.

“Second, that was the best sex I’ve ever had in my life.”

His agitated movements stopped and his lip twitched. “Really?” His telltale smirk returned for the first time in a week, then turned to a look of despair as a realization hit him. “Fuck, I came inside you.”

“Are you clean?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’re good. I’m on birth control. Third, if I did do any of those things you said, there would never be the possibility you would ever do them to me again…not that you would.”

He stared at me, unblinking. “Okay, I’m intrigued. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because no one wants me, so why would you?”

“You have such a f**king low opinion of yourself it pisses me off.” His blue eyes blazed, surprising me.

“What?”

“You are so f**king sexy, Lila, that all I can think of doing right now is bending you over that table and slamming into you again and again. Hard. My c**k is like f**king steel at the thought of being inside you again. You need to be punished for making me want you this much.”

With a wicked glint in his eyes, his gaze roamed over my body, making my pu**y twitch at the thought. I stared back at him in disbelief. Once again, words foreign to me were falling from his lips. He took a few menacing steps toward me, much like a predator, and I drew in a ragged breath. My body was heating up and high on the anticipation of what he would do to me. I wanted him to lay claim to me again, mark me.