Page 180 of The Company

Chapter Seventy-Two - Harper

That stuns me silent.

Vincent eats a few more bites. In silence.

All I see in my mind’s eye is James straddling my hips in the hallway as he positions his dick over my face.

Your self-respect.

“Fuck. I’m sorry. Again.” Vincent reaches across the table and puts his hand on mine. “Are you OK?”

I nod. Smile. Nod again with a bigger smile. “Fine. It’s just…” I need to change the subject. Like now. “I’m not sure what’s going on here. Is there some sort of… contract?”

All my life my father has used that word. The contract needs to be fulfilled. The contract needs to be negotiated. The contract has been violated.

Violated. I have only ever heard that mentioned once and it was the day Nick left. Right before we turned eighteen.

Vincent squints his eyes at me. As if he’s suspicious. And that immediately makes me suspicious. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, you say you’re my promise. Aren’t there contracts in place for promises?”

“Harper,” he says in a tone that comes off as admonishing. “Promising girls to men on their eighteenth birthdays isn’t even legal. Why would we need a contract that can’t be upheld?”

I can think of a dozen reasons right off the top of my head. But the most obvious is to hold it over someone when they screw up. See, one might say, I have your daughter promised to blahedy-blah. That was a nice match, hmm? But if you don’t fulfill your end of the deal, she gets a fifty-year-old pervert from this pile of filth here.

“I dunno,” I say instead. It’s obvious there are things going on with this little… arrangement… that no one is going to tell me. I mean, come on. Vincent is identical to my dream guy, only he’s not insane and he’s not a killer. He’s filthy rich, he’s got some sort of sway in the Company, and if I’m his wife, I go from little girl to powerful woman in one breath.

It’s like…

Wow.

His fingers stroke the underside of my wrist as he waits for me to finish, but the sudden tingle that runs through my body steals my words.

I look down at his touches and then look up at his brilliant green eyes. They are smiling. “Hmmm?”

I shake my head. “Nothing.”

“Why do you look so flushed?” he prods.

He must know why because he takes it one step further and picks up a strawberry from the small bowl of fruit on the side of my plate and touches it to my lips. I open them, unsure what choice I have, and take a bite.

The juice drips onto my lips and then he stands up and leans over the table and licks it off.

I blink up at him.

And then his hands are on my face and his tongue is on my mouth. His tongue is sweet from the champagne, and gentle as he teases me to see how far I’ll go.

I really don’t want to go far at all, but the trouble is, I don’t know how to say no. I have so little experience with men. James is the kind of guy who tells you what you need, even if you don’t want it. And I like to follow orders. I do it automatically.

Vincent must know this. He’s probably taking advantage of the fact that I’m so easily manipulated.

But as soon as that thought manifests, he pulls back. “What’s wrong?” he says, leaning a little farther in so he can breathe the words into my ear. “You don’t like it?”

I didn’t have a chance to wonder if I liked it. “I’m sorry, I just… I just don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing here.” I inhale deeply and his scent fills my nose. It’s something I’ve never smelled before. It makes my mind swirl.

He leans back and takes his seat again. “Eating,” he says simply. “I thought you might like a bite of fruit before we started with the main meal.”

I bite my lip a little. “It was the kiss, that’s all. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be doing when you kiss me.”