is not your story to know. Just know that I am here. I am now your boss. And I will do everything in my power to run things like Parker did. Now that he’s gone,” I inhaled a shaky breath for added affect when really it hurt to talk about him like he was actually dead. “You will come to me if you have a problem. You will come to me regarding any business decisions. So on and so forth. Do you understand me?” When no one answered, I repeated my question in a firmer tone. “I do not like being ignored.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Price, but seeing you there standing like you own this company—”
“What’s your name?” I asked the older gentleman that had given me the cold shoulder since I walked into this room.
“Bob Ackerman,” he replied, crossing his arms under his chest and leaning back in his chair.
“Get out,” I said, flipping through the files on the table in front of me.
“Excuse me?”
“Did I stutter?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Get. Out.”
He shot to his feet. “I have been with this company since the day Parker—”
“That is Mr. Reed to you. Now get out before I call security.” Knowing Parker would never question my judgement and reasons for firing the guy, I embraced the decision.
As if they could read my mind, two security guards entered the room and escorted Mr. Ackerman out of the room. With his yelling and cursing trailing behind him, he yelled threats that he wouldn’t be able to keep so long as Jones was my own personal bodyguard.
Once the door closed, silence permeated through the room and I felt satisfied that this meeting would finally go off without a hitch. But I still had to ask… “Anyone else have any sexist comments that they want to get out of their system?”
When no one replied, I went about the meeting. Discussing business deals, new employees, the fundraiser Parker had organized and so on. I channelled strength that I thought I never had when I realized that as long as I thought of Parker, he was my strength. He would get me through these weeks and months until he could finally come back and be with me. Until we could just…be.
WOKE sometime later on the floor in a small room. The sensual music from before still washed over me, easing a part of me that had lost control so many years before. Deep snoring sounded from beside me, trembling through my body like it was a part of me.
My skin felt dewy, sticky with the remnants of our mutual desire and the wax from the candles. But I felt light, whole. One with myself in a way that I never imagined was possible since meeting Devin Tate as a teenager.
Turning onto my side, I brushed my hands over Parker’s strong, tattooed shoulders. Rubbing my fingers over his nape, I kissed him softly on his full mouth. “Thank you. For everything. Without you, I would have lost myself months ago.”
His eyes fluttered open, the deep green orbs landing on me, taking my breath away. They held me captive but I didn’t stop talking, needing for him to hear exactly what I had always wanted to say. “I never thought I could love again until I met you. I thought I was ruined. Destroyed. Broken. Until you came along and forced yourself into my life.”
He smirked, tightening his hold around my waist.
“Anytime that you want to fly, I am yours. I need it. That connection.” I shrugged. “I never felt so…”
“What?” he whispered.
“Free.”
He nodded and kissed my wrist. “That was the point. I wanted you to fly like the angel that you are. My angel.”
My eyes welled and I swallowed past the hard lump that had taken up residence in my throat. “Can we do that again?”
“Of course.”
I lay back down, snuggling into his side. “Colin would be impressed.”
Parker kissed my shoulder. “He taught me everything. He was only there to guide me and then once we had you suspended, he left. Now that I know what to do, I don’t need him. He wanted to make sure of that.”
“What is that art called?”
“Kinbaku or Shibari. It’s a Japanese form of art. Shibari is more of a Japanese form of bondage but Kinbaku…”
I looked at him when his voice trailed off.
“It’s about getting inside of you. To touch your soul.”
My heart jumped and I had opened my mouth to respond when a light knock came on the