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“Whatever you say, boss!”
Part of me knows Thayer is just playing with me. We’ve known each other for a while and he can probably tell I’m falling for Tess. But knowing he’s teasing doesn’t stop the possessive part of me from rearing up and demanding that I stake my claim.
“Rand, what’s going on?”
I don’t reply yet, keeping a firm grip on her elbow as I lead her down a path into the woodlands surrounding the estate. A few moments later, we reach a small clearing. At the edge of the clearing, surrounded by shade trees, I snap.
I stop, twisting Tess until her back is against the trunk of a tree. My hands grip her shoulders and I feel my chest heaving with the effort of holding back my most primal desires.
“Tess.”
She looks at me with a question in her eyes, still innocent and enthralling. Words fail me, so I claim her mouth with a scorching kiss—the way I’ve wanted to since I first saw her standing in the coffee shop.
Tess tastes like cotton candy, and I’m instantly addicted. She opens her mouth with a gasp. I deepen the kiss, taking advantage of her surprise. Her hands slide to the back of my neck and our tongues battle, sliding against each other until it feels like I’m going to explode.
“You’re mine.” I growl, leaving her lips so I can taste her jaw, her neck, her shoulder. Her head falls back against the tree, forcing her breasts forward. “Stay away from Thayer.”
Instinct has taken complete control of me. I’ve never felt like this. I’ve been with beautiful women before, but none of them drove me to this level of savagery. I want to claim her, mark her, breed her. And then I want to beat the shit out of any other male who dares to look at her.
My hands find the collar of her shirt, ready to pull it down. Mouth watering at the thought of tasting her succulent breasts, I miss it when Tess first says something.
“Rand. Rand, wait.” Her voice is breathy, the soft exhale as she speaks shoots a direct line of fire to my already throbbing cock. I leash the beast, barely, trying to give Tess the moment she’s asking for.
“We shouldn’t be doing this. We could get in trouble.” Her heavy-lidded gaze contradicts her words. She licks her swollen lips. The beast inside struggles to break free.
“We won’t get in trouble.” I capture her lips again, needing to imprint her taste in my brain, and do the same for her—so she never, ever forgets who she belongs to.
Tess pulls back. “What do you mean ‘we won’t get in trouble’? How can you know that?” Her eyes drift to the side, as if trying to catch a memory, before glaring back into mine. She moves her hands to my chest, gently pushing me away. “Wait a minute. Did Thayer call you ‘boss’?”
My beast feels the moment slipping away and claws at my insides. My hands tingle, desperate to pull her back into my arms. But the fog of desire is clearing in her bright blue eyes, and I’m starting to feel like I might have made a mistake.
I let her push me back, just one step. “Yes, he did.”
Her head moves back and forth, already denying what I’m about to say.
“My name is Rand Moreau. I own Moreau Construction.”
Tess’ beautiful blue eyes blink in shock. I can see her thinking back over every interaction, every conversation, and a devastating pain enters her gaze.
“So when we met at the coffee shop and I told you…” Her tone, which had been drifting into a sadness, shifts like the wind of a hurricane. Steel enters her voice as she demands, “Did you get me this job so you could fuck me?”
Her suspicion feels like a knife in my gut. But I don’t react to pain like most people do—I don’t get hurt, I get angry.
The steel in my voice matches hers as I lean over her, resting my elbow on the tree behind her head. “Fuck, no. you got the job because you deserved it. I just helped a little. You have a fire and a drive that I couldn’t get out of my mind.” My other hand runs softly over her cheek. My voice deepens until it’s barely audible. “You’re a fighter. And you’re mine. I knew from the first moment I met you.”
Her eyes narrow, anger gleaming within them like blue fire. “Well, you’re right about one thing. I am a fighter. And I don’t like when people lie to me. Step back, Rand.” She pushes me away again. And I let her, one last time.
“Don’t deny you feel it too.”
“Whatever, Rand.” Tess walks passed me, shoulders slumping slightly as she heads back to the estate. “I can’t right now. My whole life is crazy, and I can’t even process this. Please take me home.”
Thirty minutes—and a silent drive—later, we pull into the parking lot of Moreau Construction. I grab her before she exits the truck. She doesn’t look at me, doesn’t acknowledge that I’m holding her hand, but I know she’s listening.
“You have the rest of the day off, and I’ll leave you alone tonight. But Tess, tomorrow—tomorrow is mine.”
