Unfinished Business part 5

The stakeholder meeting was the last place I wanted to be.

I sat three rows back on the left side of the long conference table, tablet open, pen moving across the legal pad in front of me even though I wasn’t really taking notes. Damien stood at the head of the room in a dark suit, voice steady as he walked the room through the final terms of the merger. Every time his gaze drifted in my direction I looked down at the page. I didn’t give him a single second of eye contact.

When the meeting ended I was already packing my folder and tablet into my bag. I stood the moment the chair called time and walked out without looking back.

I made it halfway down the corridor before I heard footsteps behind me.

“Lila. Stop.”

I kept walking.

He caught up and stepped in front of me, blocking the path to the elevators. His jaw was tight. “Please. Just listen for one minute.”

“I already listened yesterday,” I said. “You want me quiet and convenient until the deal closes. I declined.”

“That’s not…” He dragged a hand through his hair. “I handled it badly. I know that. But walking away again isn’t the answer either.”

“You don’t get to decide what the answer is for me.” I stepped around him. “Goodbye, Damien.”

I left him standing there.

Back in my hotel room I pulled out my suitcase and started packing with sharp, efficient movements. Dress, heels, the spare blouse I’d brought for the meeting, everything went in. I was done. Tomorrow morning I would check out and put actual distance between us again.

Night had fully settled over the city when I stepped out onto the small balcony for air. That was when I saw him.

Across the open atrium of the hotel, on the top-floor suite balcony two levels up, Damien stood with a woman. Blonde. Slim. She laughed at something he said and touched his arm. The same polished look as the photos from months ago.

Something cold and ugly twisted under my ribs.

I didn’t think. I grabbed my key card, left my room, and took the elevator to the top floor. The corridor was quiet. I followed the low murmur of voices until I reached the partially open door of the suite at the end.

I pushed it wider.

Damien stood alone by the window. The blonde was gone. A half-empty glass of wine sat on the table. He turned the second the door moved and his expression shifted from surprise to something sharper.

“You followed me.”

“Who was she?”

“A colleague from the European office. She came up to drop off signed documents and left five minutes ago.” He took a step closer. “I saw you on the balcony. I wanted you to see me with someone. I wanted to know if you’d care enough to come up here.”

Anger flared hot. “You tricked me.”

“I thought you didn’t care anymore.” His voice was rough. “After the way you walked out of the meeting I wasn’t sure.”

I turned toward the door. “Congratulations. You got your answer. I’m leaving.”

His hand closed around my wrist, not hard, just firm enough to stop me. “Don’t.”

I looked down at his fingers, then up at his face. “Let go.”

“Not until you hear me. I handled yesterday like an idiot. I was trying to protect the deal and ended up treating you like a problem to manage. That was wrong.” His thumb brushed the inside of my wrist. “I don’t want you hidden. I want you. Publicly. Permanently. The second the ink is dry on the merger I’m done pretending otherwise.”

My pulse hammered under his fingers. “Do you even love me?”

The question came out quieter than I intended.

Damien went still. Then he stepped in until only a few inches separated us. His free hand came up and cupped the side of my face.

“Yes,” he said. Simple. Certain. “I never stopped.”

He kissed me.

It wasn’t careful. It wasn’t controlled. It was four years of missing and anger and hunger crashing together at once. I made a broken sound against his mouth and kissed him back just as hard. His arm locked around my waist and he walked me backward, kicking the door shut behind us without breaking the kiss.

We didn’t make it to the bed right away.

Damien spun me, pressed me against the closed door, and dropped to his knees. He shoved my skirt up, dragged my underwear down, and put his mouth on me like he was starving for it. The first stroke of his tongue pulled a sharp cry from my throat. He licked me open, sucked hard on my clit, pushed two fingers inside and curled them until my thighs shook. I was soaked in seconds. Wet sounds filled the quiet suite.

“Damien…”

“I know,” he muttered against me. “I’ve got you.”

I came hard against his mouth, fingers fisted in his hair, body jerking. He worked me through it, then stood and kissed me so I could taste myself.

I shoved at his chest. “I want to punish you.”

A dark spark lit his eyes. “Then punish me.”

We stripped the rest of the way in a messy rush of fabric and hands. I pushed him onto the bed and climbed over him in reverse, knees on either side of his head, my mouth already descending over his cock while his hands gripped my hips and pulled me down onto his tongue. The position was filthy and perfect. I took him deep, sucking hard, while he licked me like he had something to prove. Wet, obscene sounds filled the room. Every time I moaned around him he groaned against my clit. We pushed each other higher, faster, until I came again with a muffled cry and he followed a moment later, pulsing across my tongue.

I swallowed and lifted my head, breathing hard.

Damien wasn’t finished.

He flipped me onto my back, shoved my thighs wide, and pushed inside me in one deep thrust. The stretch pulled another sound from my throat. He fucked me hard and steady, the wet slap of skin on skin loud in the quiet room. I wrapped my legs around him and met every thrust. Then he pulled out, turned me onto my stomach, and entered me again from behind, pressing me flat into the mattress. I pushed back onto him, throwing my ass against every stroke. The sound of it was filthy and relentless.

“Harder,” I gasped.

He gave it to me. Deeper. Rougher. The pressure built fast and overwhelming. When I came the second time it crashed through me so hard I squirted, hot liquid spilling around his cock. He pulled out immediately and used the tip to slide through the mess, rubbing it over my clit and swollen folds while I shook and kept coming.

I twisted around, still trembling, and took him into my mouth again. Then I pushed my breasts together around his cock and stroked him between them while I licked the head. Damien’s hand fisted in my hair. He watched me with dark, blown eyes until his hips jerked and he came across my chest and collarbones with a rough, broken sound.

We collapsed together in a damp, tangled heap.

For a long time the only sound was our breathing.

Eventually Damien pulled me against his chest and pressed his mouth to my hair. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “For yesterday. For four years ago. For making you feel like you were ever optional.”

I closed my eyes and listened to the solid beat of his heart under my ear. “I accept the apology. Don’t do it again.”

“I won’t.”

His arm tightened around me. Outside the windows the city kept moving. Inside the suite everything finally felt still.

We slept through the night without letting go.