FORBIDDEN (#1)

Chapter 30

My body was still on fire even after I cleaned myself up in my bathroom. I looked flushed and my lips were swollen as I predicted. What the hell just happened? I thought to myself as I straightened out my clothes. Out of all the things I expected to happen on this trip, getting fingered by Roman Drakos in his hotel room was not one of them. I shook my head at myself and opened my suitcase with my shoes and pulled out black pumps. I put them on the side and sat on the bed, pulling out my laptop. Right now would be a good time to look into different job openings. Glancing at the clock in the room, I saw that it was now 7 a.m. I meant what I said about not going to the meeting. He would be okay on his own. Getting as comfortable as I could in my work clothes, I began looking up corporate marketing positions. My search was not fruitful at all. It was exactly how it was when I was looking for jobs before I landed this one. Landed wouldn't really be the right word to describe how I got this position, but it would have to do. The job market for corporate positions, in general, was so scarce at the moment and that made my situation even more frustrating. If I left this company, I would have nothing to fall back on, which was what I was afraid of. I would just have to suck it up and put my foot down when needed, I guess.

            Time passed and soon my stomach was grumbling, reminding me that I didn't eat breakfast. I had no idea where the restaurants were in this hotel, so when I left the room, I went straight to the front desk.

            "Hi, I was wondering where the best place to eat a nice breakfast would be?" I gave the man at the front desk a friendly smile and he looked up from his computer, giving me a kind smile back.

            "Oh, hello! We have many restaurants in our hotel that prepare delicious breakfast, but here, I'll circle my favorites for you." He pulled out a brochure and circled three of the restaurants before handing me the paper.

            "Thank you so much! You've been a great help," I glanced at his nametag. "Jason." I gave him a wink before walking away, looking at the brochure in my hands. I'd never heard of any of the restaurants he circled, but they all looked promising. Maybe I could just pick one each day that I was here and try all of them out. That sounded like a good enough compromise. I walked in the direction of the elevators so I could try to find the general area where most of the restaurants would be located. I looked back down at the brochure to pick one of them for today and bumped right into someone.

            "Oh, I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking at where I was go-" An apology was already leaving my lips before I even saw the person and when I looked up, I froze. Roman was staring me down, lips pressed together. He reached down and grabbed the briefcase that slipped from his hands and I gripped my purse in my hand as he rose back up.

            "You missed the meeting." It wasn't a question.

I shrugged and started walking toward the elevators again. "I did. I told you I wasn't going to it, so I don't know why you expected me to be there." I wasn't sure if he even followed me to hear my response, but when I felt a presence next to me as I waited for the elevator doors to open, I knew he did.

"You could've learned something from being there. That is why I told you to be there. You're only limiting yourself by being stubborn." His tone wasn't condescending, and he actually seemed sincere, but his words still annoyed me. He was speaking to me as if I were a child. I didn't respond right away, and the elevator doors opened. It was empty much to my chagrin, but I walked in anyway. If people were in here, it would've been a great excuse not to answer him. He entered the elevator right after me, pressing the button for our floor.

"I'll learn something from the next meeting. And I'm sure I'll also learn more the rest of the days we're here as well. One missed meeting won't hurt my IQ as much as you think it will." I waved my hand in the air dismissively, not looking at him. He grunted, but said nothing. A win for me. The elevator ride was extremely slow, or maybe it just felt that way because Roman's presence was intoxicating. The minty scent that he always wore filled the small space and his presence was almost suffocating in the elevator as I tried to calm my body down. It was starting to heat up and all I could think about was earlier, his lips on mine, our bodies pressed together, his fingers inside me. I let out a breath quietly and spared him a glance. Fuck, he was very attractive. His inky black hair was slicked back from his head though I loved when it was wild, and I itched to run my fingers through it just to mess it up a little bit. His jawline was so sharp it could literally cut glass. He had full lips that I could still feel on mine and don't even get me started on his massive, strong body. His wide shoulders just straining in that black suit of his. I thought about the feel of his body pressed flush against mine and that damned accent of his would be the death of me.