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  “So, what are you, the hall monitor?” I spat and raced to the lifts, jamming the button for level six. I stood by and pulled my coat off, watching droplets of water fall to the carpeted floor. Completely freaking ruined. I flicked the coat and watched droplets of water fly around me, coating anything near me in rain water.

  I shook my head as the lift opened. I stood aside and let the businessmen leave, avoiding their smirks and crazy looks at the state of me. I held my tongue, literally from poking out and sticking them with it. It didn’t stop my fingers from itching to flip them off either. I stepped inside and jabbed the button, watching the little white light appear in a ring around the number.

  Minutes later, I was on the sixth floor. I raced down the corridor to Brewster Brothers Security and pushed the door open. The little room that was our waiting room was empty, thank God. I sighed in pleasure as the smell of coffee hit my nose. I so had to get myself a cup before I collapsed. I quickly pushed the door open to the staff entrance and walked down the hall listening to Ben’s voice talking somewhere in an office and Conrad’s laugh rumbling from what sounded like the staff room.

  Good. If they were doing something else, then they wouldn’t be shouting at me for being late. The brothers were pricks and wind up merchants but they were a stickler for punctuation especially time keeping. I was actually surprised that Conrad wasn’t standing by the door waiting like a drill sergeant with a whistle in his mouth and his eyes on his watch waiting for me.

  With my soaking coat hanging limply from my hands, I entered the locker room and frantically searched for a hanger and eventually found a shitty bent metal one. I hung my coat up on the curtain pole and scowled at the ruined material. Coat cost me a bloody fortune a couple of years ago and now look at it.

  Ten minutes later, I’d stopped sweating enough to put my makeup on or at least some of it and straightened my clothing. My top was stuck kind of to my boobs. Lucky I had chosen a support bra because right now, it wouldn’t have been pretty.

  I wiped my hands down my skirt as I left the locker room and made my way down to the staff room that was packed with employees, mostly security guards that had no doubt come in to get their new timetables that I had yet to print up.

  Another thing on another God damned list somewhere.

  “Oh, so she remembers where she works then?” Conrad commented as he spotted me.

  I resisted the urge to flip him the bird and walked over to the kettle and flicked in on. I watched the little blue light illuminate and heard the element begin to crackle and pop. I reached up for the coffee in the cupboard and a cup when a hand and a paper cup with a Starbucks logo appeared in front of me.

  My mouth watered instantly as the smell of hazelnuts and coffee permeated my nose. That was the latte Ben promised me yesterday. I reached for it only for the cup to be snatched away.

  I turned slowly and looked up at Conrad who was standing there looking too bloody big in this small room. The smirk he had on his face so didn’t suit him, not this morning anyhow. “Give me the latte.” I said slowly, just so he could understand the seriousness of me needing that freaking drink.

  “Why were you late?”

  “Alarm didn’t go off.” I said without missing a beat, my eyes tracking the movement of the beloved beverage.

  “Why?”

  I clucked my tongue and reached for the drink again. He held it up high, well out of my reach. Even with my heels on, he was a monster.

  “Why what?” now I was getting annoyed.

  “Why didn’t your alarm go off? I know you have one.”

  I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest. He was getting seriously annoying now. “Will you just give me the flipping drink?”

  “No.” He pursed his lips and raised his brows seeing what I would do about it.

  I was so not in the mood for him and this mood he was in. Yesterday he was like a bear with a sore head as he had been for days, even weeks beforehand and now, he wanted to play. I didn’t freaking think so.

  Instead, I turned and reached into the cupboard for that horrible container that held his mix sports drink. I stood on my toes and brought the box down, listening to the room suddenly turn deathly quiet and Conrad suck in a breath.

  The heat of him came against my back; his breath tickled my ear as he leaned down and whispered, “Put the drink back and back away. Now,”

  I snorted and wrapped my arms around his treasure, holding the mix close to my chest. Two could play at this. “Give me my drink and I’ll give you yours.”

  “Not happening.” He growled.

  “Fine,” I snapped and quickly twirled around, catching him off guard. I snatched the latte from his hands and made a run for it. I thought about releasing the container in my arms but shook my head. No, I’d hide it from him, just to teach him a lesson for being a first class prick.

  I pushed through the throng of security guards who stood by watching with amusement lining their faces. They knew like me how Conrad felt about his special drink.

  “Victoria.” He roared as he chased me out.

  I looked over my shoulder at him as I legged it down the corridor, my heels sounding against the carpeted flooring. I giggled like a schoolgirl as I watched his big figure gaining on me. I squealed out loud as his hand came out and grabbed the back of my shirt in his fist.

  “I promise you with utter vengeance that I will put you over my knee for this.” He warned as his fist tightened against my material.

  Yeah like hell he’d get near me to even touch my backside. I mean, I knew it was sizable and there was in fact quite a bit of it but he wasn’t touching it. In his dreams,

  I wriggled and held the latte up high to stop the hot liquid from spilling out onto my hand. I twisted in his hold and managed to get loose, the box in my arms was slipping down, threatening to fall to the floor.

  “Victoria.” He shouted when he realised I’d gotten free.

  I was just about to turn to go down the next corridor towards the locker room when I looked back over my shoulder to see how far away he was and tripped. The pointed part of my shoe had gotten stuck in something along the skirting board. I squeaked as I hit something hard.

  “Humph.”

  The latte in my hand exploded all over me and whatever I had run into. The box in my arms dropped to the floor with a thud and strawberry flavoured powder puffed everywhere with a great big cloud.

  The ‘whatever’ I had run into was strong and hard enough that I stumbled backwards. My hands wind milled out as my heels wobbled. I reached for something to grab onto but found nothing. I landed on my arse with a great big thud.

  “God damn it, that hurt.” I moaned as I rolled over on the floor to rub my backside.

  “Victoria.”

  I froze mid rub as I turned around to see if my ears were deceiving me, no, it couldn’t be, could it?

  My mouth dropped open and my eyes went wide, standing there currently wearing my hazelnut latte down the front of his thousand pound suit that I’d seen him wear so many times before, was Sebastian.

  Holy shitballs Sunday!

  Chapter Five

  I missed you.

  No, no, no.

  No.

  Oh, hell, no.

  I had to be seeing things. Sebastian Blackwell was not standing in the corridor to the place I worked and was not the ‘whatever’ I had run into. He wasn’t. I refused to accept it.

  Except it was true,

  I groaned and let my head drop to the floor with a thud.

  “Victoria.” He said again like he had a right to say my name, which he didn’t.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, even though it came out muffled because of the floor.

  “You know Sebastian?” Ben asked, seeming confused.

  My head shot up to see that what looked like the whole bloody building was standing in the corridor. I pushed up from the floor feeling the cooling latte sticking to my bare arms and the strawberry powder coating the whole front
of me.

  Great, I smelled and looked like a giant sized Strawberry and Coffee Bonbon.

  Once I was on my feet, I rubbed my hands down the front of me and realised I was doing more damage than good.

  “Well?” Ben questioned, his tone was beginning to get sharp and pissed.

  “No.” I answered.

  “Yes.” Sebastian answered at the same time.

  I shot a glare at Sebastian before I looked up to Ben to see him glancing between me and Sebastian obviously wondering who was telling the truth.

  “Well?” he prompted again.

  “Does it matter?” I asked with a sigh.

  Ben stared at me like I’d lost my ever loving mind. He reached out to grab me only for Sebastian to grab his forearm, his face morphing into something I’d never seen before. “Don’t touch her.” he warned vehemently.

  What the fuck?

  I placed my hand on Sebastian’s arm and shoved him away getting between him and Ben. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

  The past six months riled through my like a volcano waiting to blast out its lava. He had no right to come in here and start barking orders, saying who could and couldn’t touch me.

  Sebastian’s jaw ticked. “We’ll talk in private, Victoria.”

  I shook my head and moved away from him. I needed to get away from him. That close to his body, I could smell his aftershave wafting up my nostrils, making my body warm up against my will. “I don’t fucking think so. I think it would be better if you just left now, Sebastian.”

  Yeah leave and never come back. That was good.

  “No, he can’t go.” Ben shouted a bit too high. His cheeks flushed ruddy as he shifted on the spot. “I mean Mr. Blackwell is here for business.”

  “What?” I shouted this time. He had to be joking. “You’re doing business with him?” I asked incredulously.

  Ben nodded as his brows furrowed. “Mr. Blackwell is renewing a contract.”

  Oh hell to the freaking no.

  I span around on the spot and threw my hands up in the air. “This can’t be happening.” I shrieked as I stomped down the corridor. The guards and people who had gathered moved out of my way, watching me as if I were a mad woman just about to lose it. “He can’t just come in here and do business with us.”

  “It’s not your business, Victoria.” Conrad put in.

  I stopped mid stomp and turned back to him, my finger came out and poked him in the chest. “Listen to me buster; you do not want to do business with him. He is trouble with a capital t.”

  “Tough.” Conrad said simply as his big shoulders shrugged. “We need his business and well...”

  My head was already moving back and fourth with a shake. “Conrad.” I said slowly. “We don’t need his business.” Hell, I didn’t need to be dealing with Sebastian on a daily basis.

  “We do.”

  “We don’t.”

  “We do.” He repeated through clenched teeth.

  “Enough already.” Ben shouted and marched his way down the corridor, getting in between me and Conrad. He was big enough to as well. “You, Victoria are the receptionist; you have no say on who we hire or who we take up contracts with. You know your job and right now, you’re overstepping your mark.”

  Hurt rushed through me like a vacuum. Yeah, I’d only worked for them for five and half months but during that time, we’d all got along really well. We’d gone out for after work drinks and I’d been introduced to their parents, Bob and Marie Brewster. I’d met the people who they’d been dating and had dinner with them and they’d helped me by giving me a job to get out of the depressed stupor I was in. Now, Ben was telling me I was overstepping the mark because of Sebastian.

  There was only one thing I could do.

  “Fine,” I said quietly. “I quit.”

  It hurt like hell and stung like a bitch to say those words but I would do it and both men knew it.

  Ben sucked in a quick breath and Conrad groaned as he rubbed his eyes. “Now wait a God damned minute, Victoria. Think about this.”

  “There’s nothing to think about, Ben.” I said as I began to back up. “You do business with him.” I pointed at Sebastian. “Then there’s no place here for me.”

  “Victoria.” Sebastian said in that voice as he began to approach me.

  I held my hands up but he pushed into them, invading my space. Obviously, he ignored me and kept on coming at me.

  This close to him, I could smell his aftershave more prominently, his blue eyes boring into my hazel ones, the smoothness of his face that I remembered as if it were yesterday, those lips of his bowing on a pout and that little indent in his chin.

  I squeezed my eyes closed and felt my body sag. “Please go away, Sebastian.” I wished quietly.

  “No.” He whispered and wrapped his arms around me; the smell of hazelnut tickled my nose as he led me down the corridor. He pushed open doors until he found the room he was obviously looking for and shut the door after us, the lock clicking into place.

  I raised my head when he released me and saw that he’d bought me to the locker room. I stepped away from him and walked over to the window that looked out onto the back alley of the building we were in. I watched the sky turn from grey to a lighter shade. Little droplets of rain clung to the other side of the glass, trickling down to settle against the window ledge and beyond.

  “Victoria, talk to me.”

  I closed my eyes at the sound of his voice. I’d heard his voice in my thoughts everyday for the past six months. I’d done everything for the life of me to try and get that deep voice to leave me alone but would it? No.

  “Victoria, talk to me.” He repeated when I stayed silent.

  “Talk to you? Talk to you about what? Six months ago you fed me to a room full of wolves, broke my heart in two and now you want me to talk to you? About what, Sebastian, why are you really here?”

  “Contracts,” He answered immediately, too quickly for my liking.

  I nodded my head absently and ran my candy pink painted fingernail down the window pane, picking the black rubber thing away at the bottom. “And you couldn’t find another security firm in London to do business with? You just happened to pick this one?”

  Instead of receiving a verbal answer, I got him instead. The heat of his body pressed against the back of mine as his hands snaked around until they rested on my waist. His nose pressed against my pulse. I listened to him take a deep breath, inhaling my scent then blowing it out across my skin, making me shiver.

  “Don’t.” I warned quietly, having an internal argument with my body.

  “I missed you.” He said, equally as quietly.

  “Don’t.” I warned again, pushing away from him.

  The hands on my hips tightened until he spun me around and pushed me up against the window. I gasped when I felt his hard erectness pressing against my stomach. A little tilt to his lips told me he heard my response.

  He rolled his hips against me, pressing that hardness against me more causing me to bite back a moan. He then moved to press one of his muscled legs between mine and push up against my core.

  “Sebastian.” I swallowed hard and turned my head away from him.

  “I missed you, Victoria. So much,” His hand came up to grip my chin. He turned my head forcefully so I had to look at him. His eyes had darkened, not to the colour of denim but near enough. My eyes flicked from them to his lips that were currently dry. His tongue came out and licked at the dryness.

  I swallowed hard again at the thought of taking that tongue in my mouth. I’d never tasted his mouth, he had never allowed it and now I wanted to know what it tasted like, what he tasted like.

  No, this was wrong. I didn’t need to know what he tasted like, I shouldn’t want to.

  “Victoria.” He moaned against my face, his breath fanning against the teeny tiny hairs on my skin.

  “Sebastian, please move away. I can’t do this.”

  “Yes, you can. I’ve missed you like cr
azy, Victoria.” The hand on my hip tightened before loosening then drifting around to my arse where he gripped a cheek and squeezed it in his palm. “I’ve missed everything about you. I admit it, I never thought I would but these last months have been...” he closed his eyes and shook his head. “They’ve been hell in every sense.”

  “You mean you’ve missed getting some pussy?” or should I say, pussy that he didn’t have to pay for? I added that part silently in my mind.

  His jaw hardened and his eyes popped open, turning to stone as he looked down at me. The hand on my chin tightened near to pain point. “You’re wrong.”

  A bitter laugh left me as I pushed forcefully against him. Of course, he didn’t even budge. I ground my jaw and yanked my chin from his hand and tried to fold my arms across my chest. “You think you can waltz in here and expect me to believe what you say. Oh you’ve missed me have you? Well shame on you, because it was your entire fucking fault.”

  “You don’t think I don’t know that?” he shouted in my face, his mint tinted breath sweeping over me, his eyes becoming wild, the veins in his temple and neck pulsing and jerking. “You don’t think I don’t close my eyes and see that hurt in your eyes at when you listened to that nonsensical message? You don’t think I don’t hear your parting words to me in my sleep or in my thoughts? Because if you don’t, you are so fucking wrong,”

  “Get out, Sebastian.” I didn’t need to hear this shit right now.

  “No. We need to talk and I’m sick of tarrying. I took my brothers advice and sent you all those gifts and watched as they came back to me one by one when really all I wanted to do was come around to your place and tell you what really happened, the truth.”

  I made a face as I pushed my hand through my hair, feeling the dampness of the rain still clinging to the strands. “There was no ‘what really happened’, Sebastian. What actually happened was you used me more than I allowed. You disrespected me and treated me like I was a possession—your possession when I wasn’t. I am not anyone’s possession or thing, Sebastian.”

  “I know that.”

  “No, no you don’t know that.” I screamed at him as my hand tightened in my hair. My painted nails scraped along my scalp. “Because if you did, you would never have done what you did to me.”