Chapter Nine

Harper's POV:

Five million dollars.

The number kept repeating in my head like some kind of sick joke and I couldn't make it stop no matter how many times I blinked at the paper or tried to pretend I hadn't just been served with a lawsuit that would destroy whatever was left of my life.

"Let me handle this." Hardin's voice came from somewhere behind me but it sounded far away, like I was underwater and he was calling from the surface.

I folded the papers and shoved them back in the envelope because looking at them made my hands shake worse.

"You can't handle this," I said and my voice came out flat. "This isn't your problem."

"Harper..."

"I need to go." I walked past him toward the door and my legs felt like they might give out but I kept moving because if I stopped I'd fall apart right here in his office and I couldn't do that, not in front of him, not in front of anyone.

His hand caught my wrist and pulled me back around to face him.

"Where are you going to go?" His eyes searched mine and there was something in them that looked almost like fear. "Back to that motel where paparazzi are probably already waiting? Back to a room with broken locks and stained sheets?"

"I'll figure it out."

"No you won't." His grip tightened just enough to keep me there. "You're going to get your things and then you're staying with me."

"I don't need you to..."

"I know you don't need me." His jaw tensed. "But I'm not letting you walk out of here alone when there are cameras everywhere and your face is about to be all over the news again."

I wanted to argue but he was right and I hated that he was right, hated that I needed help from anyone, hated that the one person offering it was the same person who made me feel things I shouldn't be feeling.

"Fine," I said. "But just to get my stuff. Then I'll find somewhere else."

"We'll see."

He grabbed his keys and I followed him to the elevator and the silence between us was so thick I could barely breathe through it. When we got to his car it was some expensive black thing that probably cost more than I'd make in five years and I slid into the passenger seat and stared out the window while he drove.

The city passed by in streaks of color and light and I tried to focus on anything except the way my skin still felt hot from earlier, from his fingers between my legs, from the orgasm that had ripped through me so hard I'd almost forgotten my own name.

"You're thinking too loud," Hardin said and his hand moved to my thigh, resting there like it belonged.

"Don't." I pushed his hand away even though my body wanted it back. "We can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?"

"You know what." I looked at him and his profile was sharp in the fading light, all angles and shadows. "We can't keep almost sleeping together and then pretending it doesn't mean anything."

"Who said it doesn't mean anything?"

The question caught me off guard and I didn't know how to answer it so I just looked back out the window and tried to ignore the way my heart was beating too fast.

We pulled up to the motel and there were three photographers standing outside the entrance with cameras and when they saw Hardin's car they started snapping pictures before we'd even stopped moving.

"Stay in the car," Hardin said and reached for his door.

"No." I grabbed his arm. "This is exactly what I was talking about. I can handle this myself."

"Harper they're going to eat you alive."

"Let them try."

I opened my door and climbed out and immediately the cameras were in my face, flashes going off so bright I couldn't see, voices shouting questions I couldn't make out over the blood rushing in my ears.

"Ms. Lane, is it true you assaulted Jenny Hart?"

"Are you really suing for five million?"

"Is that your new boyfriend?"

I pushed through them and Hardin was right behind me, his hand on my lower back, and when we got to the front desk the clerk looked up and his expression went cold.

"You need to leave," he said before I could even open my mouth.

"I'm just here to get my things."

"Your things are in storage." He slid a key across the counter. "Unit 47 around back. You have twenty minutes to clear it out before I call the cops."

"You're evicting me?" My voice came out too high. "I paid for the week."

"And I'm refunding your money." He pulled out an envelope and threw it at me. "The cameras have been here all day. You're bad for business."

Hardin's hand tightened on my back and I could feel him about to say something so I grabbed the key and the envelope and walked away before he could start a fight I couldn't afford.

The storage unit was around back like he said and when I opened it everything I owned was piled inside in garbage bags and cardboard boxes like trash someone wanted to forget about.

"Jesus," Hardin said behind me.

I didn't respond because if I tried to talk I'd start crying and I wasn't going to give anyone that satisfaction, not Connor, not Jenny, not the photographers who were probably circling the building looking for another shot.

I grabbed the first bag and carried it to Hardin's car and he grabbed two more and we went back and forth until everything was loaded in his trunk and backseat and by the time we were done my arms ached and my throat was so tight I could barely swallow.

"Get in," Hardin said and opened the passenger door for me.

I climbed in and he drove away from the motel and the photographers and the storage unit and I watched it all disappear in the side mirror and tried to figure out where everything had gone so wrong.

"I'm taking you to my place," Hardin said after a few minutes of silence.

"I can't stay with you."

"You can and you will." His voice left no room for argument. "At least until we figure out what to do about Connor and his lawsuit."

"There's nothing to figure out." I leaned my head back against the seat and closed my eyes. "He's going to win because I don't have five million dollars or a lawyer or anything except a suitcase full of clothes and a job offer I'm too proud to take."

"Take the job."

I opened my eyes and looked at him.

"What?"

"Take the job, Harper." He glanced at me and his expression was serious. "Work for me. Let me help you."

"You're only offering because you feel sorry for me."

"I'm offering because you're talented and I need someone like you." His hand found my thigh again and this time I didn't push it away. "And because I want you close to me."

Something in my chest cracked open and I couldn't tell if it hurt or felt good or both.

"Okay," I whispered.

"Okay you'll take the job?"

"Okay I'll take the job."

His fingers squeezed my thigh and the touch sent heat straight between my legs and suddenly all I could think about was his fingers inside me earlier, his thumb on my clit, the way he'd made me come apart against his office wall.

We pulled up to a house that looked more like something from a magazine than a place where people lived and he parked in the driveway and turned off the engine but neither of us moved.

"I have a guest house out back," he said and his voice had gone lower, rougher. "You can stay there. It's private. Nobody will bother you."

"And where will you be?"

"In the main house." His eyes dropped to my mouth. "Unless you want me closer."

"I don't know what I want anymore." It was the truth and it hurt to say it out loud.

He leaned across the center console and his hand came up to cup my face and his thumb brushed my bottom lip and I forgot how to breathe.

"Let me help you figure it out," he said.

Then he kissed me and it was different from the office, slower, deeper, like he was trying to taste every part of me. I kissed him back and my hands went to his shirt and pulled him closer even though the console was between us and it was awkward and I needed more, needed him closer, needed everything.

His tongue slid against mine and I made a sound low in my throat and he groaned in response and his hand slid up my thigh, higher, higher, until his fingers brushed against my underwear and I was already so wet I could feel it soaking through the fabric.

"Inside," he said against my mouth and his voice was wrecked. "We need to go inside before I take you right here in this car."

I didn't argue because I wanted the same thing and we got out and he grabbed my bags from the trunk and his hand found mine and we walked to the guest house and my heart was pounding so hard I thought it might break through my ribs.

He unlocked the door and we stepped inside and it was beautiful, all clean lines and soft lighting, but I didn't care about any of that because he was dropping my bags and turning to face me and the look in his eyes made my knees weak.

"Come here," he said and his voice was soft but there was an edge to it that made my stomach flip.

I walked to him slowly and when I got close enough he reached out and his fingers went to the buttons of my dress, working them open one by one while his eyes stayed locked on mine.

"I've been thinking about this since you walked out of my suite yesterday morning," he said and popped another button. "Thinking about how you looked in my bed. How you tasted. How you sounded when you came."

My breathing got faster and he pushed my dress off my shoulders and it fell to the floor and I was standing there in just my bra and underwear and his eyes traveled over me like he was memorizing every inch.

"Beautiful," he said and it came out rough. "So damn beautiful."

His hands went to my waist and he pulled me against him and I could feel how hard he was through his pants and I wanted to touch him but he grabbed my wrists when I reached for his belt.

"Not yet," he said and walked me backwards until my legs hit the couch. "Sit down."

I sat and he knelt in front of me and his hands ran up my thighs, spreading them apart, and the way he was looking at me made heat pool between my legs.

"I want to taste you again," he said and his fingers hooked into my underwear. "I want to make you fall apart with my mouth."

He pulled my underwear down slowly and I lifted my hips to help him and when they were off he tossed them aside and his hands went back to my thighs, gripping them, keeping them spread.

"Look at you," he said and his thumb brushed through my wetness and I gasped. "So wet for me already."

He leaned in and his breath was hot against me and I thought he was going to put his mouth on me but instead he just kissed my inner thigh, soft, gentle, and then moved to the other side and did the same thing.

"Hardin please." My hands went to his hair.

"Please what?" He kissed higher up my thigh and his stubble scraped against my skin and it felt so good I wanted to cry. "What do you need Harper?"

"Your mouth." The words came out desperate. "I need your mouth on me."

He hummed against my skin and the vibration made me squirm but he still didn't give me what I wanted, just kept kissing and licking and biting my thighs until I was shaking.

"You're being mean," I said and pulled his hair.

He laughed low in his throat and finally, finally, his tongue licked through me and I cried out and my whole body arched off the couch.

"There," I said and my voice was shaking. "Right there please don't stop."

His tongue circled my clit and his hands gripped my thighs tighter and I couldn't think anymore, couldn't do anything except feel the way he was taking me apart with his mouth.

He was slow about it, patient, like he had all the time in the world and nowhere else to be, his tongue moving in long slow strokes that made my toes curl, and when I got close he would pull back just enough to make me whimper.

"I love the sounds you make," he said against me and his fingers dug into my thighs. "I could listen to you all night."

His mouth went back to work and this time when I got close he didn't pull back, just kept going until the pleasure crashed over me and I screamed his name and my hands pulled his hair so hard it had to hurt but he didn't stop, just kept licking me through it until I was boneless and gasping.

He stood up and pulled me to my feet and his mouth was on mine and I could taste myself on his tongue and it should have been embarrassing but it just made me want him more.

"Bedroom," I said against his mouth and my hands went to his shirt, unbuttoning it while we stumbled down the hallway.

We made it to the bed and I pushed his shirt off his shoulders and my hands ran over his chest, his abs, the scars that made him look dangerous, and he was watching me with eyes so dark they looked black.

"Your turn," I said and pushed him down onto the bed.

His eyebrows went up but he didn't argue, just leaned back on his elbows and watched me while I climbed onto the bed and straddled his thighs.

My hands went to his belt and I unbuckled it slowly and his breathing got rougher and when I unzipped his pants and saw how hard he was through his underwear my mouth went dry.

I pulled his pants down and he lifted his hips to help and then I hooked my fingers into his underwear and pulled those down too and he sprang free and I forgot how to breathe because he was so hard and thick and already leaking.

"Harper." My name came out like a warning but I ignored it and wrapped my hand around him and he hissed and his hips jerked up into my grip.

I stroked him slowly and his jaw clenched and his hands fisted in the sheets and I loved that I could make him lose control like this, loved the power of it.

"Fuck," he said and his eyes squeezed shut. "You're going to kill me."

I leaned down and licked the tip of him and his whole body went rigid and a sound came out of his throat that was almost a growl.

"Harper you don't have to..."

I took him into my mouth and he groaned and his hand went to my hair and I hollowed my cheeks and sucked and his hips pushed up and I took him deeper.

"God yes," he said and his fingers tightened in my hair. "Just like that."

I worked him with my mouth and my hand and he was falling apart beneath me, his breathing ragged, his muscles tense, and when I felt him getting close I pulled back and he made a sound of protest.

"Not yet," I said and climbed up his body and kissed him and he kissed me back hard and desperate and his hands went to my hips.

I don't know, Conrad and Jenny's evil flashed in my mind.

I stood up and walked to the window and stared out at the dark yard and my mind was racing because this wasn't just about me anymore, this was affecting him Hardin too, affecting his company, and I couldn't let that happen.

"Harper..." He was behind me and his hand touched my shoulder.

I turned to face him and something had shifted in me, something had clicked into place while his assistant was talking, and suddenly I could see it clearly, the way forward, the way to win.

"I know every single client Blake Industries has," I said and my voice came out steady. "I worked there for years. I know which contracts are coming up for renewal, which clients were unhappy with Connor's leadership, which ones James was barely holding onto."

His eyebrows went up. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking Connor wants to destroy me in the media." I walked closer to him and my heart was pounding but it wasn't from fear anymore. "So I'm going to destroy him where it actually matters. In business. I'm going to use my position at Novare Group to take every single one of their clients until Blake Industries has nothing left."

Something shifted in his expression and he smiled and it was dangerous and proud.

"You want to beat him at his own game."

"I want to bury him." The words tasted good in my mouth. "Starting with their biggest client. Meridian Fashion Group. Their contract renewal is in three weeks and I know exactly why they've been unhappy with Blake Industries for months."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I was the one fixing all of Connor's mistakes before he pushed me out." I grabbed my phone off the nightstand. 

"I'm calling them first thing tomorrow morning.”