He just stared at me.

Shit.

We got out and headed to the entrance doors of the apartment building. He had his hand wrapped around my waist, as though marking me in front of the men. They heard our footsteps and turned to look at us. Their eyes wandered about my body and one whistled faintly. I reddened and kept my eyes drawn to the pavement. They didn’t say anything, but I caught Borden glaring at them.

I unlocked the door and walked in. He followed too closely behind. In the elevator, he looked at the graffiti-filled walls and ceiling in pure distaste.

“This is just sad,” he muttered. “How much are you paying on rent every month for this hellhole?”

“Let’s just say most of my paycheck before you hired me,” I replied, unable to conceal my smile.

We got off on my floor and walked to my apartment. I stopped at my door and was about to say something when the screaming next door erupted and the television roared from the other side. He looked in the directions they were coming from.

I smiled. “Nothing wrong with a bit of white noise, right?”

“Right,” he muttered, his lips flitting up. “Gives me a bit of nostalgia, to be honest. I didn’t live far from here when I was your age.”

“It’s gotten a bit better. The crime, I mean.”

He shook his head slowly. “Not by much, doll.”

I turned away from his enthralling eyes and unlocked my door. Stepping inside, I turned on the hallway light.

“Thank you for the ride,” I told him, turning around to face him.

He stood unmoving in front of me, like he was waiting for something else.

“And for taking me inside,” I added.

He looked into my eyes and then over my head and into my apartment. It took me only a second to realize what his intentions were.

“You can go now,” I said, unsure of how else I should shoo him away.

“Not going to invite me in?” he asked in surprise.

“No,” I quickly responded with a shake of my head. “That would be like diving into open waters and waiting for the sharks to start circling me.”

He processed my words in silence, looking thoughtful as ever.

“I’m not so bad,” he finally said.

I raised a sceptical brow. “You’re a crim…” I paused. “I just don’t feel comfortable with you outside of work. This is meant to be a professional arrangement.”

“Fuck professionalism. There’s nothing fun about it.”

I sighed. “It’s not meant to be fun.”

“Invite me in, Emma.”

“No. I still don’t know much about you anyway.”

“What would you like to know?”

Oh, jeez.

“Well, why do you want to come in so much?” I retorted, annoyed.

“I’ve never been turned away before.” He shrugged. “I usually… I usually do that.”

“So because you don’t have control of the situation, you feel like you can push me around and try and persuade me into letting you into my privacy? And don’t you dare threaten me, either, because you’ve exhausted every freaking thing you can threaten me over –”

He interrupted me by putting his hand in his pocket and taking out a money clip filled with hundred dollar notes. My eyes widened.

“It’s not control,” he told me, looking down at the money. “It’s that I want you. For a very long time, I’ve wanted you.”

When I didn’t respond, he leaned forward, coming to my level, resting his hands against each side of the doorway so that he was a foot away from my stunned face.

“I haven’t been with a woman in a very long time. I’m clean as a whistle, and I’ve got a lot of money. A few grand in my hand here if you want it. I’m not asking for anything else. We can keep it strictly business. I don’t have a problem with giving you money in exchange for–”

“Are you out of your mind?” I interrupted harshly. I wanted to scream at him but I bit my tongue. “I’m not a whore!”

“I never said you were.”

“You’re throwing money in my face so you can sleep with me?”

“We wouldn’t be sleeping.”

“You’re crazier than I thought.” I was practically spewing through clenched teeth, I couldn’t believe what he was saying! “You think I’m desperate enough to have sex with you? You?!”

“You do live quite poorly, Emma.”

“I would rather eat rat faeces than accept payment for throwing away my dignity to a horrible man like you.”

“You would eat rat faeces? I’m starting to wonder how kinky you are–”

“Go away, Borden.”

“It’s a simple exchange, money for sex–”

My anger had risen to a boiling point, and I wound up slapping him across the face as hard as I could. Again, the bomb had exploded. There was ringing in the air, and I was hovering over my body, watching in awe at what I had done.

Then, there it was: the surprise on his face, his chest rising and falling quickly, and the sudden hunger in his eyes when he looked at me.

My last thought was, oh fuck, before he took a step forward and smashed his lips against mine.

Nineteen

Emma

I’d never been kissed like this before. Not even last time with him compared to this.

Was it even considered kissing when I felt like I was being devoured?

And why was my traitorous body unable to pull away from him?

I shook from the rush of his tongue invading my mouth, of how harshly he was pushing me back until I was against the wall of my unit. I vaguely heard the sound of the door slamming shut before his hands grabbed at either side of my face. One hand moved to my hair and gripped a chunk of it back so that my face slanted up to his.

He tasted like mint and fruit and all male. I felt his lower body pushing against mine, pinning me in one spot, and the hard ridge in his pants against my stomach.

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit.

Those hands moved down my body, lightly over my breasts and then harshly around my hips, squeezing them before travelling further down to my thighs. All the while, he kissed me and barely broke away to breathe. His tongue clashed over mine and his teeth nipped at my bottom lip. I breathed out erratically into his opened mouth as his hands pulled my dress further up my thighs. I felt cold air on my exposed skin and then his hot hands on the back of my thighs.