Hopefully, the formal address will remind him to keep things strictly professional.
“Magnus. I insist.”
“Magnus.” Pick your battles, as they say.
His eyes roam down the front of my dress, and I can practically feel them penetrating the fine fabric, no doubt wondering what lingers just beneath. I feel my body react, but don’t dare do anything to try and cover myself. That would give too much away.
I’m also not stupid enough to open the door while he’s still standing so close to me. It would only be an invitation for him to take what he probably thinks is his. His hotel. His room. And now, his attorney.
“You’re worried I’m going to try to fuck you.”
My eyes go wide and my mouth parts slightly at his blunt statement.
“Are you?”
The smirk that curls his lips is dangerously playful. He comes in closer. I step back, meeting the wall.
“Would you deny me?”
“Deny you?” I say, trying to maintain a confident front. “You say that as though it’s owed.”
“I have a habit of getting what I want.”
“So, you’d just take me then?”
“I said get, not take.” He leans in close enough for me to drown in those green eyes.
I should be saying something—anything. Instead, I might as well be a deer frozen in the headlights, not even aware of the car racing toward me at breakneck speed.
Then it happens.
Magnus’s lips meet with mine. He lied when he said he didn’t take. Although…I’m not sure if my lips aren’t just giving it to him like he damn well suggested. His are like some intoxicating elixir of danger and lust.
I’ve had too much wine, too much brandy. I’ve already had my morality turned on its head once tonight. But what is murder compared to what Magnus is doing to my mouth—to my body?
I moan as his lips force mine open. The first touch of his tongue has me trembling.
Somewhere below, his large hand slides across the silky fabric of my dress. I barely register it coming between us to find the tie holding the wrap dress together. With one slow, elongated pull, he undoes it. I feel the fabric go slack, falling to my sides.
Even the cool air of the hallway can’t match the natural heat radiating from the man pressing into me. Maybe that’s why I don’t realize just how much is exposed by him undoing my dress. I might as well be in nothing but my bra and underwear.
I feel his hand on my bare skin, slipping into the side of the dress and circling around to my back. At this point, the dress doesn’t even fit that description since it covers so little.
This is indecent.
We’re not even in the safety and privacy of my suite. Granted, there are very few other suites on this floor, but it doesn’t change the fact that anyone could see us—see me, being that I’m the only one who is indecent.
And yet, my lips don’t break away to protest what we’re doing.
It’s just that his hand is so large and sure in how it presses into my lower back. His arm is so strong and muscular as it holds me against him. His lips are so demanding, yet giving.
And his growing bulge, pressing into my bare stomach—
I pull my mouth away, blinking as I come to my senses. My hands come up to push Magnus away.
At first, he doesn’t budge, only gripping me tighter. Then, he seems to do a complete one-eighty as he easily takes two steps back.
I quickly pull my dress together, trying to haphazardly put it back the way it was. Why do they make these dresses so damn hard to configure? My fingers are still trembling too much to be that agile, so I do what I can.
“Get, not take,” Magnus says with a grin.
My mouth itches to utter some snappy retort, but I know that would only amuse him.
No time like the present to use my trump card to end tonight’s little game.
“Who is Fabian?”
His gaze doesn’t so much as waver. If he’s surprised I snuck a peek at his phone back on the boat, he doesn’t show it. In fact, nothing about his reaction—or lack thereof, gives any indication that I’ve thrown him off with my question. There’s even a tinge of admiration in his eyes as they finally meet mine.
“Goodnight, Sloane. I’ll be by tomorrow to get started, but feel free to sleep in.”
I watch him turn and walk down the hallway back to the elevator. Once he’s at a safe enough distance, I quickly pull out my key card and tap it to open the door.
Once inside, I fall back against it and exhale one long slow breath.
Day one complete. Only thirty-nine more to go.
I should be thrilled with what Magnus has offered. It plays right into what I was hoping for all along, in a roundabout way. As his attorney, it would only make sense to probe him for the insider information that the man in New York wants, then be done with this whole endeavor for good.
Back to my life at Douglas & Foster, hopefully as partner this time next year. Something about the thought doesn’t have me as excited as it should, which is odd. Partnership is everything I wanted, everything I’ve worked hard for.
So why does it suddenly have me feeling so disillusioned?
Chapter Nineteen Magnus
Smart woman.
I had no intention of trying to fuck her, as she probably suspected. After all, there are still thirty-nine more days to go.
There’s something to be said for enjoying the hunt.
Pushing people’s limits, getting them outside of their comfort zones, putting them in tight spots—however you want to put it, it’s the best way to learn their true nature. Ripped of any facade or pretense, stripped down to their base emotions and reactions, that’s when you discover all you need to know. That’s when you learn in what form their instinct for survival takes shape.
And Sloane’s modus operandi seems to be the art of
