Chapter 19 It's better this way🍆

Chapter 19 It's better this way🍆
Daniel's pov

I groan low in my throat. How the hell did this happen?
One minute I’m trying to keep distance, trying to protect her from the shitstorm I live in. The next she’s spread out in front of me, begging me to make her come with my mouth, and I’m on my knees like it’s the only place I belong. She said my name when she came.
Not loud. Not dramatic. Just… soft. Broken.
Like it was the only word she could remember.“Daniel…”I squeeze my eyes shut tighter. My dick jumps at the memory. I press the heel of my hand against it through the fabric–hard–just to take the edge off.
It doesn’t help. If anything it makes it worse.
Fuck I want to go back in there.
I want to crawl under the covers with her, pull her against my chest, kiss the top of her head and tell her I’m sorry for leaving while I fuck her wet pussy silly. Tell her I’m terrified. Tell her I’ve never wanted anyone this badly.
She looked at me tonight like I was something worth having.
I’m still sitting there–half hard, half wrecked–when my phone vibrates on the nightstand. I glance at the screen.
Vincent.
Of course.
I let it ring twice. Three times. Then I answer, because ignoring him never works.“What?” My voice comes out rougher than I intended.
“You sound like shit,” Vincent says. His tone is light, almost amused. “Rough night?”
I don’t answer.
He chuckles.
“I saw the latest leak. They’re really leaning into the rogue executive angle. Impressive how fast they move when money’s on the line.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose totally not interested.
“I’m aware.”
“Look, I’ve got people on it. The original timestamps from the video and We’ll sue whoever edited it. The board will have to back off once the paper trail is public.”

I stare at the wall. “Great.”
Silence stretches.
Vincent waits. He always waits when he knows I’m holding something back.“You don’t sound relieved,” he says finally.“I’m not.”
Another pause.“Daniel.” His voice drops the casual edge. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”
I open my mouth. Close it. The words are right there–burning.
There’s this woman.
She’s in the next room.
I just made her come so hard she shook.
She tastes like heaven and every good thing I don’t deserve.
And I’m terrified that if I let myself keep her, the scandal will swallow her too.

I swallow instead.“Nothing,” I say. “Just tired.”
Vincent snorts. “Bullshit. You’ve been fighting this war for months. You never sound like this. So what is it? You finally decide the company isn’t worth saving?”
I laugh dry.
“Maybe I’m realizing the company was never the thing I was trying to save.”
He goes quiet. Really quiet. The kind of quiet that means he’s recalibrating.“Then what are you trying to save?” he asks slowly. I think about her messy bun. The way her thighs trembled. The way she said please like it was the most natural word in the world when she asked me to kiss her clit. The way she pulled my hair and rode my face like she trusted me completely.
I think about how, for the first time in years, I didn’t feel like a fraud when I was touching her.
I exhale. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Daniel–”
“Keep doing what you’re doing,” I cut in.
“The audit. The countersuit prep. All of it. I appreciate it. Really. But right now… I need to handle something else.”
Vincent is silent for a long beat.
“You’re different tonight.”
I close my eyes. “Yeah.”
“You sure you don’t want to tell me what–or who have you sounding like this?”My thumb hovers over the end call button.
I want to tell him.
I want to say her name out loud just to hear it in the air.
Nora.
She’s in the next room.
She came on my tongue twenty minutes ago.
And I think I’m falling in love with her.
But the words stick.
Because saying it makes it real and real things get broken.
So I don’t.“Keep the lawyers on it,” I say instead. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Daniel–”
I hang up dropping phone drops onto the mattress. I stare at it and I stand walking to the door. Open it an inch.The hallway is dark. Her room is dark too. But I can picture her, curled under the covers, hair a mess, lips still swollen from earlier, maybe touching herself thinking about my mouth and how my dick would be deep inside her.
My chest aches.
I close the door again. Lean my forehead against it. Tomorrow the board will probably suspend me.
The press will get worse.
The rumors will grow.
But tonight nothing else feels as important.
I turn, slide down the door slowly until I’m sitting on the floor, back against it like a guard. Because if I go back in there, I won’t stop at anything.
I’ll take everything.
Fuck everything.
Hard.
Sexy.
And I’m not sure either of us is ready for what happens after that.