On His Terms (14 page)

She
was having
a hard
time breathing, especially with the
scent of everything that made up
Rian
filling her
head. He glanced down at her lips, licked his own, and exhaled roughly.

“I
could fuck you right now, just close the door behind us, rip this dress off of
you, and plunge my cock into your pussy.”

Her
heartbeat filled her head, and she grew dizzy.

“I
like that you’re not all skin and bones. I like that I have more to hold onto
when I’m deep inside of your cunt.”

Her
mouth went dry, and she parted her lips, not knowing how to respond.

“Put
the dress on, and stop thinking you’re so fucking unattractive.” He snatched
her wrist in one of his big, powerful hands, and put her open palm right over
his straining erection. He leaned toward her face again, pushed her hair aside,
and said in her ear, “If I didn’t find you so damn attractive, I wouldn’t get
this hard just looking at you.”

The
stubble on his cheek scraped along hers, and she turned her head slightly to
look at him.

“You
make me hard, make me nearly burst through my pants, and make me want to fuck
you right here without caring who saw.”

Sorcha
exhaled, not realizing she had been holding her breath.

“Now,
try on the dress, and if you like it take it off, put your regular clothes back
on, and then we will head back to the apartment.”

“You
don’t want to see if you like it?”

He
grinned. “I like whatever you wear,” he dropped his voice to a husky whisper,
“but I like it best when you wear nothing at all.”

And
then her heart did that damn fluttering thing, because one minute he was this
very, very charming man, and the next he was the very devil sent to tempt her.

He
handed her the dress and turned away. But in all honesty she was too aroused
probably to say anything anyway. She was wet between her thighs, uncomfortably
so, and arguing with
Rian
proved pointless. Sorcha
shut the door, put the new dress on, and instantly felt better. It was loose,
delicate, and feminine. The black material hinted at sexuality, but the lace
gently overlapping the hem of her bust was also innocent in nature. It also
made sure to keep all of her bits and pieces hidden properly. Under the bust
was a thin line of crystals, and she knew it wouldn’t be the cheap ones she
could get at the local craft store. Hell, the price tag alone was more than
what her apartment cost for three months, and that was saying something given
the prices of living in this city.

After
she was in her tunic blouse, leggings, and ballet flats again, she took the
dress up to the front counter, saw the sales girl still eyeing
Rian
, and refrained from gritting her teeth. This stab of
jealousy filled her, but it was so misplaced that Sorcha felt ridiculous and
childish for even having it.

“Hi
there,” she said to the young woman, but instead of a greeting in return Sorcha
got a roll of the eyes. It was almost laughable the disgust that came from the
saleswoman. Maybe this was what she had looked like at first when her jealousy
had reared its head? Sorcha chose to ignore the clear brush-off, and
Rian
was in his own little world with whatever message he
had just gotten on his phone, that he hadn’t even noticed the silent exchange.

“Here
is your total, Mr. Hartford,” the blonde said in a very singsong voice that
made Sorcha sick. This woman was as
fake
as they came,
right down to her Botox injected forehead and lips, implanted breasts, and
tummy tucked stomach.

Rian
grabbed his Amex Black card,
handed it to her, but was still reading whatever was on his phone.

“Everything okay?”
Sorcha didn’t care why she even
wanted to know what caused those frown lines on his forehead. Maybe she was
just so used to making sure his day ran smoothly during the week that seeing
him clearly upset about something was a little unsettling?

He
glanced at her, shoved his phone in his pocket, and nodded. “Everything’s
fine.” He took the card back and the dress now in a plastic bag, and took her
arm to lead her out of the store. Once they were out of the shop he took her
toward the black Mercedes waiting by the curb. She climbed in, he got in behind
her, and the driver shut the door gently.

She
stared at him as the car pulled away from the curb and into heavy New York
traffic. He seemed tense, uncomfortable even. “
Rian
,
I’ve worked for you long enough to know when you’re pissed about something. And
even if you weren’t doing the silent treatment, you look like you’re about to
have an aneurysm.”

Rian
glanced at her, and for a few
seconds he didn’t speak. When he finally did he sounded annoyed and tense. “It
really isn’t that big of a deal, or it wasn’t at first.”

“What
do you mean?” She shifted in her seat to face him better, and a second later he
was putting up the privacy screen that separated the back from the front of the
car.

“It’s
nothing, just work, and then a slight annoyance from a…” He glanced away for a
moment, and she saw his jaw harden.

“A
lover scorned?” She phrased it like a question even though she already knew
that was what the drama was about.

Rian
looked at her again.
“That obvious?”

She
shrugged. “It was an educated guess given the number of women you’ve pissed
off.”

He
started chuckling. “I can’t argue that.” His voice was so deep, but soft right
now.
This
was the
Rian
she liked being around.

“But
seriously, there isn’t going to be an ex-girlfriend that comes knocking on the
door ready to kick my ass, is there?” She was half teasing. Although she could
handle herself, Sorcha really didn’t want any drama, even if she was only with
Rian
for seven days.

“She
wouldn’t get past security.” He said it in a teasing manner, but there was
truth behind his words, she could feel it.

“Great,
like this whole situation wasn’t awkward enough.” She chuckled uncomfortably,
and turned back around so she was facing the front.

“Some
women just don’t know what it means when a man says they don’t want anymore.”

She
slowly looked at him. “Are you serious?”

He
looked at her as if
she
were the one
that had lost her mind. “Very.”

“So
it wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact you use women as if they were
nothing more than vessels to unload your orgasms into?” Sorcha was blunt, but
Rian
was the type of man that needed to hear that. He could
be conceited, arrogant, cocky, and could be an all around douche-bag. Maybe it
was his upbringing, the fact he had whatever he wanted at the tips of his
fingers, women included? Or maybe he was hiding something deeper inside,
reflecting that in his actions? She didn’t know, but it wasn’t her place to
question it anyway.

“Coarse and crude language for a
lady, Sorcha.”
He said the words with a bite to them, but she didn’t care if she pissed him
off.

“You
didn’t specify that you wanted a lady in your contract,
Rian
.
If that’s what you wanted you picked the wrong woman.” He didn’t respond, but
then again she didn’t think he would. “You used those women,
Rian
, just like you’re using me.” She was silent for a
moment. “You’ve shown me different side of you, a softer side. How can you
expect a woman not to fall for you?”

He
stared at her with this stormy and pissed off expression, but also something
else flickered in his blue eyes. Was he thinking about what she had just said?
She hadn’t exactly hidden her own emotions.

“This
conversation is finished, Sorcha.”

“No,
it’s not. I’m not finished,
Rian
. If I have to be
subjected to some jealous rich bitch coming at me because she is in love with
you and thinks I’m stealing you away from her, I think all of this needs to be
brought to light.” She stared at him just as hard as he was watching her. “You
use women until a time when you don’t want them anymore. Hell, you’re doing it
to me, because clearly a week is the cutoff time in which you can deal with my
presence.”

“It’s
not that—”

She
held up her hand and shook her head. “I’m the last person to judge anyone. I
signed that contract, took the money you offered, so I am using you as much as
you’re using me.” She lowered her hand to her lap. “But I also know when the
truth is right in front of me. You get what you want because you’re gorgeous,
intelligent, and know what you want out of life. I can appreciate and respect
that. But don’t try and lie about it, least of all to yourself.”

He
stayed silent, and she knew that her words had penetrated him. He faced
forward, his brow furrowed as he thought, but she didn’t continue speaking. She
had said what she needed to say, and what he needed to hear. He had said he
liked her not backing down, not to get sucked into his alpha-ness—clearly her
words not his—and so she had delivered on that. But on the heels of what she
had said, Sorcha couldn’t think about her own words, and reflect them on her.
Glancing at
Rian
again she saw that his hands were in
tight fists on his thighs, his knuckles white from the strain. He was facing
away from her, but his reflection showed an almost distant and forlorn
expression. She could see that he knew her words were right, and what surprised
her was that he wasn’t outright rejecting them.

She
could handle a psycho ex that wanted her man back, could even handle this week,
but what she didn’t know if she could handle was this blossoming sensation
inside of her. It was a feeling that maybe she could fall for this man, and
what scared the shit out of her was that she knew with time it would grow if
she allowed it to. Hell, to feel anything but annoyance and hatred for
Rian
after only being with him for this short time should
have made it clear that she could be totally and utterly lost to him.

Chapter
Thirteen

The
coffee table was set with candles, the overhead lighting low and intimate. The
curtains on the floor to ceiling windows were pushed aside, and because the
room was so dimly lit the lights outside seemed exponentially brighter.
Although she hadn’t been with
Rian
very long, she had
seen a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act with him. He could frighten her with just a
look, have her needy and wet with the way he stared intently at her, and could
kiss her off like nobody’s business. It was a love and hate relationship she
had inside of her, one where she wanted to hate herself for feeling anything
for him aside from disgust, but then she loved the way he made her feel when he
touched her, or told her what to do. She had actually been surprised the sex
with him hadn’t been anything insane. He was rough for sure, but the things he
whispered, the way she felt him touch her at times, let her think that how he
acted wasn’t all of who he was. It was a hard exterior that she knew could be
broken.

She
stepped into the living room and glanced around the opulent space. They had finished
eating dinner over an hour ago. But instead of
Rian
sleeping with her he had retreated to his office to work. Even if she had
pushed everything back a week so she would have this time with him, it seemed
Rian
was still preoccupied with work. There were deep,
loud, and angry muffled sounds coming from down the hallway, and she turned and
stared in that direction. A second later the sound of heavy, pounding
footsteps, and then she heard a door open and slam shut.
Rian
was making his way down the hallway toward her, his face angry, and she knew
that right now the bastard side of him was in full swing. He wore a pair of
dress slacks and a white button down shirt that had the first few buttons at
the neck undone. His sleeves were also rolled up his toned forearms, and when
he walked right by her without saying a thing she knew she should have stayed
in the bedroom.

Sorcha
turned so she could face him and watched as he poured himself a drink. He did
this twice, filling up the glass and then tossing it back before he repeated
the process.

“You
want one?” he asked without facing her.

She
swallowed and nodded, but realized he couldn’t see her. “Yeah, thanks.”

He
didn’t respond, just grabbed another glass, flipped it over, and poured a
generous amount of the dark alcohol he was drinking. He turned and handed her
the glass, and once she had it he turned around and poured himself another one.
Sorcha smelled the alcohol, wrinkled her nose at the potency of it, but took a
drink anyway. She needed something to help calm her nerves. Of course she
wasn’t afraid of him, but she was unsure of things still, or how she felt
around him, and the fact that she knew if she opened herself up to the
possibilities that
Rian
wasn’t as evil as he liked to
portray, she might have a hard time keeping her resolve. But in the last
twenty-four hours they had surprisingly spoken several times, conversations
that were personal, intimate even. He had asked her about her life, despite the
fact she knew he had dug up everything about her. And in return he had shared a
few details with her, about his life, and how while growing up he had been
alone most of the time. She wasn’t a therapist, but she assumed that maybe some
of his aloofness steamed from that.