Beautiful Beginning
Page 33
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I tried to explain that I wasn’t playing a game, I wasn’t trying to seduce him right now, but no words came out.
He smiled, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear, but the sweet gesture was betrayed by his sharp hiss: “If you try to tease me with my father sitting right here, I’ll take out any gentle tomorrow night and give you nothing but hard and fast. I’ll leave you hungry and unsatisfied on our wedding night.” He pulled back, winking, and then passed the basket of rolls to Elliott on his right.
I remembered when, during a meeting once, Henry had found the buttons to my ruined blouse on the floor of the conference room and Bennett had taunted me, asking me if they were indeed mine. He’d been the one to ruin the shirt, and there he’d been, acting blameless. I remembered the hurt, and the anger, and the terror I felt as I realized he was out to ruin my career in front of his family.
But he actually hadn’t been. He was simply as fumbling as I was, trying to form a connection somehow, and completely at the mercy of this undeniable fire between us.
I’d run, livid, from the meeting as soon as it finished. The memory was so sharp in my thoughts, I could still hear the elevator doors close, feel the heat of his breath on my neck from all those months ago.
“Why are you suddenly so much more pissy than usual?” he’d demanded.
“It would be just like you to make me look like a career-climbing whore in front of your father.”
“We’re getting married tomorrow,” I said on an exhale. “Right?”
“That’s right.” Bennett patted my hand, smiling indulgently at me, but I shook my head, reaching to grip his arm. My pulse spiked and I felt my hands grow clammy.
“I have the power? You’re the one who pressed into my dick in the elevator. You’re the one doing this to me.”
“We’re getting married. Tomorrow. Say it.”
His smile faltered slightly, eyes searching mine, and he nodded. “We’re getting married tomorrow.”
I closed my eyes, remembering now how his expression had fallen wide open, his heart exposed to me for maybe the first time as I got myself off in his office. “What are you doing to me? he’d asked, almost bewildered.
“You okay there, Mills?” he whispered, glancing up and smiling tightly at a waiter when he put the first course down on the table in front of us.
“I don’t want to walk out that door and lose what we found in this room.”
I pushed my chair back, lurching away from the table and tripping down the row of seats, past our wedding party, and to the restrooms.
I ran upstairs and burst into the small side room reserved for the wedding party, set near the restrooms, and didn’t even bother turning on the light. The room was small and stuffy; we’d kept the flowers in here earlier and the cloying perfume filled the dark space. I took gulping breaths, looking up at myself in the mirrors lining the entire span of the wall in front of me.
It was as if I could feel every emotion I’d ever experienced with Bennett, and all at once. Hate, lust, fear, regret, need, hunger, love,
love
love
blinding love.
I pulled at my necklace, feeling like I was being strangled with nostalgia, anticipation, and, above it all, need for it to be done, for us to make it official so fate couldn’t suddenly decide to take a different path and somehow leave us enemies instead of lovers.
“Breathe, Chloe,” I whispered.
The door opened and a slice of light cut into the space before it returned to darkness. Bennett’s big, warm hands slid down my back and came to rest on my hips.
“Hey,” he said, kissing the back of my neck, his deep voice spreading like a current across my skin.
I closed my eyes, straightening and turning into his arms. Pressing my face into his neck, I inhaled his aftershave, opened my mouth to suck hungrily on his skin. He felt like home, he tasted like home.
He groaned quietly, fingers digging into my sides, dragging up my back, shaking.
But with this reminder of the restraint he was making us both endure, a wave of anger and heat and frustration overtook me and I shoved at his chest, slamming my fists into him. “You did this to me! You and your stupid rule and your teasing smirk and the giant c**k you won’t share! Your long fingers and tongue that does that . . . that circle thing! You!” I gulped down a giant breath of air and continued, “You’re such a perfect, shit-talking, stubborn, exacting, bossy ass**le! And f**k you, Bennett! Why are you so damn smart and good at everything? Why do you love me? How did I get so lucky? You’re turning me into a maniac! I thought I was going to start crying out there!”
He smiled, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear, but the sweet gesture was betrayed by his sharp hiss: “If you try to tease me with my father sitting right here, I’ll take out any gentle tomorrow night and give you nothing but hard and fast. I’ll leave you hungry and unsatisfied on our wedding night.” He pulled back, winking, and then passed the basket of rolls to Elliott on his right.
I remembered when, during a meeting once, Henry had found the buttons to my ruined blouse on the floor of the conference room and Bennett had taunted me, asking me if they were indeed mine. He’d been the one to ruin the shirt, and there he’d been, acting blameless. I remembered the hurt, and the anger, and the terror I felt as I realized he was out to ruin my career in front of his family.
But he actually hadn’t been. He was simply as fumbling as I was, trying to form a connection somehow, and completely at the mercy of this undeniable fire between us.
I’d run, livid, from the meeting as soon as it finished. The memory was so sharp in my thoughts, I could still hear the elevator doors close, feel the heat of his breath on my neck from all those months ago.
“Why are you suddenly so much more pissy than usual?” he’d demanded.
“It would be just like you to make me look like a career-climbing whore in front of your father.”
“We’re getting married tomorrow,” I said on an exhale. “Right?”
“That’s right.” Bennett patted my hand, smiling indulgently at me, but I shook my head, reaching to grip his arm. My pulse spiked and I felt my hands grow clammy.
“I have the power? You’re the one who pressed into my dick in the elevator. You’re the one doing this to me.”
“We’re getting married. Tomorrow. Say it.”
His smile faltered slightly, eyes searching mine, and he nodded. “We’re getting married tomorrow.”
I closed my eyes, remembering now how his expression had fallen wide open, his heart exposed to me for maybe the first time as I got myself off in his office. “What are you doing to me? he’d asked, almost bewildered.
“You okay there, Mills?” he whispered, glancing up and smiling tightly at a waiter when he put the first course down on the table in front of us.
“I don’t want to walk out that door and lose what we found in this room.”
I pushed my chair back, lurching away from the table and tripping down the row of seats, past our wedding party, and to the restrooms.
I ran upstairs and burst into the small side room reserved for the wedding party, set near the restrooms, and didn’t even bother turning on the light. The room was small and stuffy; we’d kept the flowers in here earlier and the cloying perfume filled the dark space. I took gulping breaths, looking up at myself in the mirrors lining the entire span of the wall in front of me.
It was as if I could feel every emotion I’d ever experienced with Bennett, and all at once. Hate, lust, fear, regret, need, hunger, love,
love
love
blinding love.
I pulled at my necklace, feeling like I was being strangled with nostalgia, anticipation, and, above it all, need for it to be done, for us to make it official so fate couldn’t suddenly decide to take a different path and somehow leave us enemies instead of lovers.
“Breathe, Chloe,” I whispered.
The door opened and a slice of light cut into the space before it returned to darkness. Bennett’s big, warm hands slid down my back and came to rest on my hips.
“Hey,” he said, kissing the back of my neck, his deep voice spreading like a current across my skin.
I closed my eyes, straightening and turning into his arms. Pressing my face into his neck, I inhaled his aftershave, opened my mouth to suck hungrily on his skin. He felt like home, he tasted like home.
He groaned quietly, fingers digging into my sides, dragging up my back, shaking.
But with this reminder of the restraint he was making us both endure, a wave of anger and heat and frustration overtook me and I shoved at his chest, slamming my fists into him. “You did this to me! You and your stupid rule and your teasing smirk and the giant c**k you won’t share! Your long fingers and tongue that does that . . . that circle thing! You!” I gulped down a giant breath of air and continued, “You’re such a perfect, shit-talking, stubborn, exacting, bossy ass**le! And f**k you, Bennett! Why are you so damn smart and good at everything? Why do you love me? How did I get so lucky? You’re turning me into a maniac! I thought I was going to start crying out there!”
