Meadow’s POV: I froze, my breath stuttering. For a second, everything just… blurred out. Alaric didn’t say another word. He just held me tightly. The water droplets on his skin felt hot all of a sudden.“Oh,” I whispered, my throat tight as I tried to swallow.Alaric didn’t look at me. His face remained buried in my neck, his breath uneven, as if just saying those words had cost him something.I wrapped my arms tighter around him. “You should’ve told me.”“I didn’t want to, Meadow. And I still don’t want to talk about it. All I need right now is you.”That was when he pulled back to look at me. His eyes swirled with an emotion I couldn’t recognize. “My mother…” His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “She wants to hold some kind of memorial for him.” He scoffed.My brows furrowed. “And?”“I said no,” he answered firmly. I felt my eyes go wide, but before I could ask why, he continued. “My father was an asshole, Meadow. Much like yours. Or maybe… maybe even fucking worse.”My breath hitch
Meadow’s POV: His eyes were dark and hooded, slightly narrowed. Although, this expression wasn’t aimed at me. It couldn’t have been. Because the tender way his hand reached for my chin was a huge contrast to the storm roiling in his blue eyes.“Nothing’s wrong, baby,” he whispered with a slight shake of his head. “I’m fine. Even better now that you’re here.”Alaric’s other hand reached for my waist, going downward until it was on the curve of my ass, and then he yanked me against him, pushing his hips into me at the same time so I could feel exactly how… ‘fine’ he was.He was trying to change the subject, and at the moment, I was going to welcome anything. Anything that would get me to stop worrying about my sister.Hell, it felt like I was going through withdrawals!He leaned in to merge his lips with mine and I willingly accepted it, trailing my hands from his chest to his neck. Alaric’s kisses were soft at first, and then, without any warning, they suddenly turned ferocious. Almo
Meadow’s POV: ‘Don’t be a little bitch. Come on, just call me back.’I stared down at the phone in my hand, reading the text my sister had sent about a minute ago over and over again.I was about to turn the phone over and ignore it when another one came in.‘Or at least pick up the phone. Did your husband ask you not to? You don’t have to listen to him, you know. I miss you.’My jaw tightened. Leave it to Juniper to insult me, try to manipulate me, and tell me she misses me in the same fucking text.The phone buzzed in my hand again.It had been buzzing incessantly for the past few days. Juniper had been trying to reach me, leaving me uncountable missed calls daily. I didn’t pick the phone, of course. And I even resorted to blocking her, but before I could say ‘Jack’, she was trying with another number again. I knew she would do that, but for a moment, I’d just hoped that maybe she had changed a bit.And obviously, she hadn’t.“Meadow, are you there?” a voice cut through the speaker
Alaric’s POV: That was the sound the bottle made when it came in contact with the desk, right by his fingers. “Shit,” he cursed in fear, starting to move his hand.“Don’t fucking move those hands,” I gritted out. My gaze shifted to the dent on my desk.There was no damage to the bottle. Just my desk.Fucking hell. I loved this desk. I had plans of bringing Meadow here, bending her over and fucking her from behind.But maybe… maybe this wasn’t so bad. I’d have a new one made. And we would christen that one. This bastard already ruined it with his fucking shoes anyway.“You were only trying to—”“To what? Impress me?” I scoffed. “You’ve been trying a little too hard lately, Cross. Haven’t you?”He blinked twice, looking to the side as if there was someone there who could help him. Save him.“I t-thought… I thought it was cleared. The confirmation came through.”He was avoiding my eyes—a clear sign that he was telling me lies. And I wasn’t going to stand for that.I brought the bottle
Alaric’s POV: “Fucking hell.”It had been a long fucking while since I had a bad day. Drama with my family, with Clarissa… I never considered those as bad days. Those were just minor inconveniences.But today?Somebody was going to end up regretting why they ever applied to work at my company—if they even lived to regret it, that is.Fifty million dollars. That was what someone had moved from the company’s account to the wrong beneficiary.“I didn’t authorize this, sir.” Dana breathed, looking straight into the screen of my laptop with her brows pulled together. She glanced at me nervously, and I watched her throat bob as she swallowed, turning back to face the screen.Whatever expression I had on my face was enough to make her fidget. And I watched her every move. The way her fingers dug into the edge of the mahogany desk, the light sheen of sweat that had coated her face.Dana wasn’t guilty—I knew that. But she was still terrified of what I might do.“I p-promise, I… I don’t know
Meadow’s POV: “You need to rest, Meadow.”I buried my head in his neck, trailing kisses along the skin as my hand moved up and down his pierced cock. Alaric tensed, his grip tightening around me.“Is that what you want?” I whispered. “For me to rest?”For some reason, I felt a bit lighter. Maybe it was because Alaric had just opened up to me about the woman who broke his heart, or because he told me that he stopped being in love with her a long time ago.Or maybe—maybe it was because he practically told me that he would choose me over his own mother. Of course, it wasn’t the first time he was saying something like that.Alaric’s breath hitched when I ran my thumb over the metal bar under his tip. I pressed another kiss to his neck, moving down slightly.“You’re fucking unbelievable,” he muttered, although his voice was hoarse.“I just want to touch you, that’s all,” I breathed, stroking him again. “And put you in my mouth, of course. But only if you want me to.”His gaze narrowed. “S