Bastard Boss

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Tyler

I stand in front of Bella, with the bed right behind her, and I want my hands all over her body, not her shoulders. She is so damn beautiful in ways that no other woman has ever been beautiful to me, and I can't even explain what that means. But right now, in this moment, I think of her efforts to "save" me from grief—this gorgeous woman, my employee—and I want to tell her, yes. Save me. Marry me. Or not. Fake it with me.

But I hold back.

I hold back because her being beautiful doesn't give me the right to claim her in any way. Of course, I knew she was beautiful when I hired her. I also knew she was smart and savvy in negotiations and with people. She was a win for Hawk Legal and there was never a possibility I would touch her or any other employee. Until I did and Allison ended up dead, I think. That was then and this is now.

It's a brutal enough thought to work me over.

I release her and step backward before she ends up on the bed, right behind her, where I want her, naked and preferably bent over that mattress. That way I can't see her gorgeous blue eyes and familiar face that remind me that she is not just some hot chick I'm banging. There is more to this than her hot body and my hard cock.

This is exactly why Bella cannot be a part of my plan to defeat my father's ridiculous marriage clause in the will. The very fact that she came to my mind before I ever left my father's attorney is unacceptable. I swore I would never touch Bella again, and that means I won't touch her again. And yet, I came to her home with the idea that she was my perfect, fake fiancée. I came to this bedroom knowing I wanted to fuck her and if she were my fiancée, fake or not, I'd have an excuse to allow myself that guilty pleasure.

I need out of this room.

"Leave your bag at the top of the stairs," I say. "I'll carry it down for you." I turn with the intent of leaving.

"Tyler."

My name on her lips is sweet bliss and brutal temptation. I want my cock between her lips, on her tongue the way she was on my tongue. I resist turning around, counting to five first, to allow my body, my cock to be specific, to calm the fuck down. It doesn't work, but I grit my teeth and turn around anyway. "Yes, Bella?"

"The suitcase is ready. I know we're in a rush and..."

I tune out the rest of the sentence, at least, for the most part, too busy thinking about kissing the words from her lips and other fantasies that involve her on her knees.

"If you don't mind?" she asks.

Fucking her before our flight? No, I do not mind at all, but that's not what she asked me. She wants me to take the suitcase with me now, not later. Perhaps she doesn't want me to have an excuse to come back to her bedroom. If she only knew how much I want to give her an excuse to keep asking me back. Holy hell.

"I got it," I say, and when I move toward her and the suitcase again, she steps aside and out of my reach, proving once again she's brains and beauty.

Because if she had stayed in my path, we'd both be on that bed right now. If I stay in this room much longer, we will anyway.