Chapter 319

Diana POV

As he spoke, he lifted me up and sat me on the desk, bringing me level with his gaze.

He kissed me freely, sucking on my lips, tasting my sweetness.

His hands roamed over my body, caressing forcefully, as if he wanted to strip my dress off.

His intensity frightened me. I wanted it too, but this was the office...

I summoned what little rationality I had left and pushed him away, breathing hard. "Control yourself. It's work hours."

James: "So what if it's work hours? Is it illegal for me to kiss my wife?"

I fell silent.

No comeback.

I couldn't argue with him at all.

And every time he said 'wife,' my heart raced, sweetness flooding through me.

James didn't force anything. He was actually asking for my consent, kissing my lips while negotiating. "Just for a little while. Okay?"

His voice was low and seductive, impossibly persuasive.

My face flushed as I rested my hands on his shoulders, looping them around his neck and whispering, "Then just kiss. Don't touch."

"Deal."

James agreed readily.

I regretted it the next second.

I thought he'd just kiss me a few times, that I could resist.

But this man's assault was too fierce. He kissed me relentlessly, sucking hard on my lips, my tongue.

He kissed my mouth numb.

Then he moved down my neck to my collarbone.

I trembled all over. "James, don't kiss there."

It was the first time I'd felt this way—being kissed until my legs went weak, unable to stand steady.

James finally picked me up, sat in his desk chair, and settled me on his lap.

I glared at him reproachfully.

James looked at my reddened lips, swollen from his kisses. The desire he'd barely controlled flared up again in his eyes, like a starving wolf eyeing a lamb.

His gaze made my heart tremble. Without thinking, I covered his eyes with my hand. "Don't look at me like that. Control yourself."

James pulled my hand away and drew me into his arms. "Okay, I'll control myself."

He picked up the three honeymoon travel proposals and placed them in my hands. "Look and see which one you like."

I flipped through them casually. "I think they're all good. You decide."

"Okay."

James agreed, then pulled a wedding dress catalog from his drawer and placed it in my hands. "While you're at it, pick a wedding dress too."

"Now?"

I could hardly believe Mr. Howard would spend work hours looking at things completely unrelated to work.

James: "So what? I've slaved away for Howard Group all these years. Can't I do a little personal business once in a while?"

I couldn't help reminding him. "Mr. Howard, you own most of Howard Group's shares. You're working for yourself."

I had no idea how he could say something like that.

James laughed softly. "Fine. Just look."

Helpless, I opened the dress catalog.

There weren't actually many options—only about a dozen in total. James had already gone through once and eliminated more than half.

The remaining dozen or so were all works by top international designers, globally limited, one-of-a-kind, and absurdly expensive.

My heart ached. I tried to negotiate with James. "You only wear a wedding dress once in your life. Isn't ordering something this expensive unnecessary? Wouldn't something decent be fine?"

James pretended to consider. "It could be. But I make so much money every year. If you won't spend it, who do you want spending it?"

I fell silent.

That actually made sense.

I simply closed the catalog. "You pick. I think they're all good."

With what he'd already filtered, I really couldn't choose.

James watched me, eyes narrowed slightly, as if studying me.

His gaze made me uneasy. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

James: "You want me to pick the honeymoon plan, you want me to pick the wedding dress. Diana, your taste is really questionable. When you picked boyfriends before, did someone else choose for you too?"

Bull's-eye.

I coughed violently and glared at him warningly. "James, are you picking a fight?"

Before James could respond, I continued, "Though Mr. Howard has a point. My taste really isn't great. I don't think I've thought through who I'm marrying. I should go back and reconsider."

I started to get up.

James yanked me back onto his lap, staring at me coolly. "Give up on that idea. In my world, there's only widowhood, not divorce."

I smiled faintly.

Actually, hearing him say that made me quite happy.

I didn't play coy. I grabbed his tie and kissed him voluntarily.

We'd talked about trivial matters long enough. Time to discuss business.

I reported to him, "I canceled tonight's dinner engagement and cleared your schedule. The restaurant is Moonlit Lotus. Is that okay?"

"There's no okay or not okay. Anywhere's fine."

I nodded.

James looked at my calm, gentle face. "You're not angry?"

I didn't immediately understand. Why would I be angry?

But I quickly realized James meant the dinner with Faust.

Some deals might be made at that dinner.

The Carrington family had humiliated Jane years ago. Now if James and the Carrington Group were restarting their partnership, James worried I'd be upset.

I smiled. "Normal business partnerships—some work out, some don't. If they'd refused to work with Jane based on business considerations, I'd have no opinion. But from what I understand, at the time, a Carrington-York partnership would have been ideal for that project. That's exactly why Jane approached the Carrington Group. Jane invested enormous energy into that project. But they didn't want to work with her and didn't say so upfront. At the signing, they chose a company with worse terms than the York Group. Weren't they just slapping Jane in the face? Petty behavior, personal vendettas disguised as business, deliberate suppression, public humiliation—that's what I despise. Even now, many companies rely on the Carrington Group—the Jones family is one, the Mole family is another. I don't like any of them. But the Carrington family is one of New Valley's four great families. If they collapsed completely, many people would lose their jobs, many families would be destroyed. If the Carrington Group can stop those despicable, dirty tactics and projects and give these people a way to survive, that's ultimately a good thing."