I look down and add my own little addition to his NDA. Then the pen hovers over the signature strip.
‘Sign it,’ Becker says quietly, obviously seeing my hesitance.
‘What—’
‘I refer you to item three point one.’
‘But—’
He shoots up from his chair and slaps his palm on his desk, using it as leverage to launch himself across to my side. I fly back in my seat in shock, my eyes landing on my knees where his hands are resting, his body bent, his face close to mine. ‘You’re signing that paper, princess. You know it and I know it.’
‘What—’
His finger meets my lips and my eyes fall to his mouth. ‘Shhhh.’ He hushes me and waits a few moments until he’s sure I’ll comply. Then he removes his finger and crouches in front of me, turning the contract around and scribbling his name across the bottom. ‘Your turn.’ He holds up the pen for me.
I suddenly realise something key. ‘I won’t tell anyone about today,’ I murmur quietly, because I expect that detail is an issue here. Now I have something against him. Something that could stir an enormous shitstorm, a scandal of epic proportions. Everything tells me there is so much more than what I already know, and I astonish myself when I realise, out of the blue, that I want all of Becker’s secrets. Every single one.
‘I know.’ He strokes my thighs, stirring up my unrelenting desire for him, crumbling my morals more. His jaw pulses, and my eyes drift from the indentations on his cheeks, to the perfection of his nose, where his glasses sit as perfect as always. ‘But it’s actually item three point two and three point three that I’m particularly passionate about.’
I don’t need to look at item 3.2 and 3.3. They’re stuck to the front of my brain. ‘You should have asked me to sign this before you exposed some of your secrets.’
‘Maybe.’ He shrugs a little, not perturbed by the suggestion that I might not sign it. ‘But it’s a moot point, because we both know that you are signing that contract.’
‘What makes you so sure?’
‘Because you love working here,’ he says, pausing briefly, like he’s waiting for me to reply. It’s silly. He knows how I feel about my job. ‘Because it excites you, and because life is too short and you’re too curious.’
I take a long, deep breath. He’s right. I can’t deny it, and I won’t.
‘This is a Non-Disclosure Agreement, princess. That’s all. It’s standard business practice.’
I laugh. ‘With a few added extras.’
‘Would you like me to remove them?’
‘No,’ I answer before my brain engages, but it’s too late to retract it.
He smiles and nods down at the papers in my hand. ‘You’re already in Becker’s Circle of Trust, princess. This simply makes it official.’
I reason with myself for just a moment, because that’s how long it takes to talk myself around. I’m overthinking. This NDA is simply a measure to ensure my silence. I wouldn’t dream of breathing a word to anyone about what I’ve learned today. Discretion is part of the job, I knew that. So it really is a moot point. The rest? The added extras? Well, my stomach somersaulting is scaring me. I don’t think Becker realises how significant his moves have been – the secret entrance, the Countryscape trip, the con, the family feud. He’s inviting me in. Or dragging me. Either way, I’m not putting up much fight.
Throwing caution to the wind, I take the pen and scribble my name across the bottom of the paper messily. Done. I’m being discreet about more than I ever imagined, but it’s irrelevant. I can’t even be bothered to find the concern I should be looking for, let alone analyse it.
The pen is whipped from my hand before I can print my name below. Becker tosses it on his desk and scoops me up from the chair, cradling me in his arms. ‘Super,’ he whispers, taking my lips like they belong to him. Right now, they do. And so does every other piece of me. ‘Now I get to violate you.’ He paces out of his office with conviction, placing me on my feet sooner than I’d like. I blink repeatedly and glance around, grasping my bearings. ‘Turn around,’ he orders gently, taking my hips and encouraging me. I come face to face with the opening of the stone staircase that has been a fascination to me since the very first time I encountered it. My pulse thrums