Page 18 of The Billionaire's Secret Heart

We pulled to a stop in front of Mana, where Tate handed his keys to a valet and ushered us around the corner to the same VIP entrance I'd used with Stuart the weekend before. Tate exchanged a greeting with the bouncer, slapping him on the shoulder as he passed through the open door. Emily followed, ignoring Tate and the bouncer, her head down, body braced against the crowd and music inside. A nightclub wasn't Emily's idea of fun—tons of people, loud music, flashing lights. There was no way she wanted to be here. She was a great friend, but this was above and beyond. I caught up to her and said, "You don't have to come in if you don't want to."

"I'm okay," she said, her voice shaking a little. "I want to see what happens." She shot a grin at me, and I dropped it. If Em was stretching her boundaries, who was I to discourage her?

Tate led us down a back hall, past the restrooms, to a locked door. Pulling a key from his pocket, he opened the door, shoved me through, and locked it behind me.

I was in a cramped office lined with shelves, stacked with papers and boxes. Holden sat hunched over a laptop, scowling at the screen. His dark hair fell in his eyes as if he'd run his fingers through it one too many times. He tapped one finger on the desk in impatience or irritation—I couldn't tell which. I drank in the sight of him. It had been four days since I'd seen him, and it felt like a year. Without looking up from the screen, he said, "What? I'm almost done. Stop bugging me."

I had no idea what to say.I'm sorry? Darren's an asshole?Instead, I just stood there, staring at him, before I finally said, "Holden." Just his name. I couldn't manage anything else. His head rose, slowly, and he blinked.

"Holden," I said again, taking a step closer. He stared at me, his dark eyes locked on my face, his expression closed. I pulled my phone out of my pocket with my left hand—my right was throbbing—and held it out to him, saying, "Darren put a virus on it. It stopped me from getting your calls, or you from getting mine. I texted you. I thought you were blowing me off."

I shrugged helplessly as he took the phone from me, turning it over in his hands, as if looking for evidence of the hack when both of us could see that the phone looked completely normal.

"I called you," he said, placing the phone carefully on his desk and standing to face me.

"I know," I said. "Tate told me."

"Tate?" Holden asked. As if he were waiting for his entrance, the key scraped in the lock and the door swung open to reveal Tate, with Emily behind him. Tate handed me a plastic bag filled with ice and looked between us before he said to me, "You good?"

Holden answered for me. "She's good. You can go."

"Jo?" Emily asked, her eyebrows raised.

"I'm good," I said in reassurance, even though I had no idea if I really was. Holden hadn't said much. He definitely hadn't rushed to my side and kissed me senseless, vowing his eternal love for me. Shutting the door behind Tate and Emily, he flipped the deadbolt and watched me press the ice to my hand.

"What happened?" he asked, taking my injured hand in his and smoothing the ice bag gently across my battered fingers. The heat of his hand cradling mine made me a little dizzy. I'd missed touching him. He leaned into me, rubbing his thumb along the side of my pinky finger. "How did you hurt yourself?"

"I punched Darren."

"You what?" He asked, his fingers squeezing mine. I winced, and he loosened his grip, his eyebrows knitting together. "Sorry. Did you say you punched him?"

"He was being an asshole. He was trying to justify what he did, and I . . ." I trailed off and shrugged, embarrassed that I'd hauled off and punched someone. Even if hewasbeing an asshole.

"Don't do that again," Holden said. He lifted the ice bag and studied my red, raw knuckles. At least they'd stopped bleeding. "You can really hurt your hand hitting someone if you don't know what you're doing. How many times did you hit him?"

"Three," I said. "But I think I caught his teeth. It hurts."

"It looks like it." He tucked my hand between us and pulled me closer. I leaned into his hard chest and inhaled his woodsy, male scent. My head was spinning from being so close to him. I rested my forehead against Holden and said,

"I thought you were done with me. You didn't call, and then Darren showed me a picture of you with a woman. I didn't know she was your sister."

"I don't think I'm ever going to be done with you, Josephine," Holden said in a low voice. I leaned back to look up into his warm brown eyes.

"I think I'm falling in love with you, Holden Winters," I said. "It's crazy, because I've only known you a week. So maybe it's just the amazing sex."

"It's definitely the sex. But I think I'm falling in love with you too, Josephine Miller. I don't care if it's only been a week. I know what I feel. When I thought you didn't want to see me—"

I placed a finger over his lips. I knew exactly how that had felt. He didn't need to tell me. And I was finished with talking. Sliding my hand around to grip the nape of his neck, I ran my fingers through his thick, silky hair and tugged.

Holden didn't need any more hints. Dipping his head, he brought his lips to mine, brushing over them in a slow, sweet kiss before urging my mouth open and sliding his tongue against mine. I dropped the ice bag on the floor and leaned into Holden, falling into his kiss.

It started sweet, but once I got the taste of him, my knees went weak, my pussy was wet, and the kiss turned hard and hungry. Holden backed me up to his desk, reaching behind me to shove a pile of papers to the side. They fell in a rustling cascade, spilling around our feet. Holden's hands slid beneath my sweatshirt. He gave a low hum when they encountered nothing but bare skin.

"No bra?" He murmured, dragging the fabric over my head.

"I was in a rush. I missed you."

My hands went to the fly of his jeans, my fingers fumbling on the snap, desperate to get to him, needing to feel him inside me again. He had no such problems, flicking open my jeans and peeling them down my legs so fast, it felt like magic. He went to his knees, one arm around my waist as he helped me lift my feet free. I stood above him, naked in his office, grateful he'd thought to lock the door with the deadbolt.