once again. At least, that was her intention. Instead, she walked right into the one man she’d been trying to avoid. Literally. He’d been standing behind her and she was hurrying so quickly that she didn’t have time to stop before her momentum pushed her right into his strong arms, which immediately closed around her protectively.
“I’ve got you,” he said softly, bending low and kissing the top of her head. “Thanks, guys,” Gaston said to the security guards behind her. “I’ll take it from here.”
“Let me go,” she growled ferociously, not bothering to look up at him.
“We’re going to have this argument, Elana. You can yell at me up in my office in private or we can do this right here in the middle of the lobby. It’s your choice but we’re getting this out in the open and finishing it. I’m not spending another seven years without you, even if it was my stupid mistake.”
She looked around angrily and sure enough, several people were looking their way, trying to figure out what the CEO of their company was trying to say. They tried to hide their curiosity, but it was there anyway as they rushed through the steel and granite lobby area to their own work areas.
“Don’t do this, Gaston,” she pleaded with him, her eyes glancing to the right and left, anywhere but to him.
“No, Elana. Don’t do this to us. I messed up and I’m sorry. But there’s no way I’m letting you go. You love me,” he said firmly. “Come with me and let’s talk about this,” he said. He didn’t wait for a reply but put a hand under her arm and led her over to the bank of elevators. He stepped into one of them and moved to the back, letting the others who were rushing to their work stations fill up the remaining space. She tried to pull away, but there were too many people trying to get on board the elevator. When Gaston put his arms around her waist and pulled her against him, she gasped, but there wasn’t anything she could do. If she made a scene, everyone in the elevator would turn around and look at them.
Even though she was as quiet as possible, she still had a hard time keeping her expression blank. That was due entirely to Gaston because his hands were not still on her body. To the casual observer, they were just two people standing in the elevator waiting for their floor. But she felt his hands around her, his thumb rubbing against her ribs, resting just underneath her breast causing her nipples to harden. She worried that anyone who glanced at her would know what he was doing, or would at least guess since the effect was so obvious to anyone who bothered to look.
She was pretty sure her face was red with embarrassment as well. But she tried to maintain her serene expression despite his covert caress. She wouldn’t give him the pleasure of showing him what he was doing to her. She could feign boredom as well as the next gal.
Or so she thought.
By the time they finally reached a floor where the last of the staff stepped off of the elevator, Elana was shivering with need and her knees were about to buckle underneath her. She wanted to turn around and touch him, but instead, she stepped out of his arms and moved across the elevator, glaring at him until they reached the executive floor.
He didn’t mind her glaring though. In fact, he actually chuckled at her mutinous expression. He’d felt her body shiver against his so she couldn’t fool him that she was entirely angry with him. Oh, he didn’t deny that she was furious, hurt and feeling things he couldn’t even begin to understand. But she was also feeling desire and he fanned that need as best he could.
When the elevator doors opened once again, he couldn’t resist putting a hand to the small of her back and leading her down the hallway to his office. “Cancel my morning meetings,” he said to his assistant who immediately nodded her head efficiently, keeping the curiosity out of her eyes as she simply lifted the phone to follow Gaston’s instructions.
When the door closed behind the two of them, he leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his massive chest, waiting.
After moving into the room, she stood in front of one of the long windows to glare back at him, ignoring