Chapter 26 26

Chapter 26 26
Karin's POV
Knock, knock. I tentatively knock on Adrien’s door.

“Come in,” his strong voice called.
My stomach flipped with nerves, and I opened the door. Adrien sat alone at his desk. His eyes rose to meet mine.

“You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, please take a seat.”
I dropped into the chair and clasped my hands together with white-knuckle force.
His eyes held mine. “How are you?”
“Good, thanks.” I dropped my eyes to the desk. I wasn’t looking at those beautiful blue eyes. He was like the snake from The Jungle Book—one look in those hypnotic suckers, and your panties would drop to the floor.

“Look at me, please,” he commanded.

“What do you want, Adrien?” I snapped. “I don’t have time for your games.”
“I want you to look at me.”
I dragged my eyes to his.
“Why don’t you want to look at me?”
I stared at him for a moment. “Because I just find your face really . . . punchable.”
He smirked and leaned back in his chair, clearly amused. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, it is.” I looked around his office. “Can we talk about work?”
“Later. Right now I would like to talk about your tantrum on Friday.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“She’s my masseuse.”
“Like you said, it’s none of my business.” I glared at him, my resting bitch face in full swing.
“I was going to call you last night.”
Now it was my turn to be amused. “Don’t waste your time. I wouldn’t have answered.”
He ran his thumbnail back and forth over his bottom lip as he watched me, as if fascinated. “Why are you so snarky?”
“I’m not snarky. I’m just not about to put up with shit from an entitled asshole. You may be a CEO here, but . . .”
He sat back and raised his chin as if angered. “Finish what you wanted to say.”
“No. I’m good.” I clenched my teeth together to stop myself from elaborating.
“I may be the CEO here . . . but what?” he demanded, swiveling on his chair.
“I wasn’t angry with you on Friday. I left in the middle of the night because I was confused . . . about a lot of things. I was going to talk to you when I was thinking clearly because I didn’t want to be a drama queen.”

Our eyes were locked.
“And then I came to your office, and you treated me like a two-bit whore that you ejaculated in the night before.”
He clenched his jaw.
“I’m nobody’s whore, Adrien, least of all yours. No job is worth my self-respect.”
The air crackled between us.

“So excuse me if the privilege of sucking your golden CEO dick doesn’t excite me any longer.”
He rubbed his thumbnail back and forth over his bottom lip as his eyes held mine.
“Were you on the debating team, Ms. Ellis?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I snapped, annoyed.
“You make a good argument.” He licked his bottom lip as he tried to hide his amusement. “Impressive.”
I rolled my eyes. Sarcastic asshole. God, he infuriated me so bad. I got an image of myself diving over the desk and punching him in the nose as hard as I could. It would wipe that smug smirk off his stupid face. I wasn’t even joking; his face really was punchable.
“Please,” I muttered under my breath.
“Please what?”
“Please stop insulting my intelligence. Run your meeting so I can get back to work. You’re wasting my time.”

Knock, knock.
“Come in,” Adrien called.
Matt put his head around the door and looked between us. “Are we on?”
I got the feeling that Adrien had told them to give us ten minutes alone before they joined us.
“Yes, come in,” he replied coolly as he rearranged some papers on his desk.

They all piled into the office, and I straightened in my chair. These four men together were an extreme sucker punch. Gorgeous overload.
“Hello.” Matt smiled. “Karin, this is Elliot and Christopher, our brothers.” I stood and shook both of their hands.
“Hello.” Elliot and Christopher smiled.
“Hi.”
“Please be seated,” Adrien commanded. “Matt, you can do the honors, please.”
“Okay. So as per our meeting on Friday, we have recruited a private corporate investigator to work on your floor and get to the bottom of this mess.”
“Okay.” I looked between them.
“What we want you to do is keep sending in bogus stories.”
I frowned. “Why?”

“Because if there are a lot of stories going through that are bogus, it will be easier for us to trace.”
I sat back in my seat, annoyed.
“And as you can see—” Matt continued.
Adrien held his hand up. “Stop there.” He turned his attention to me. “What is it, Karin?”
I stared at him.
“What did you want to say, then?”
My eyes flicked between the four men. “With all due respect, Mr. Vale, I didn’t apply for my dream job to do bogus stories.”
“Fair point,” he snapped as he rubbed his thumb over his fingertips.
“What’s going to happen when this is all over?” I asked.
“You will return to your normal duties.”
“I would like that in writing, please,” I snapped.
Elliot smirked and dropped his head.
Adrien’s eyes held mine. “Very well.” He turned his attention back to Matt. “Please continue.”
“The investigator will be starting next week on Monday, and Karin, we would like you to be his eyes on the floor.”
I frowned. “I don’t really want to get involved in all this.”
“You involved yourself the moment you stepped through my office door,” Adrien replied.
I dropped my head. God.
“Karin, if you could give us a few bogus stories to start with next Monday, that would be great.”
“Okay, what would you like me to write about?”
Adrien’s eyes met mine. “The first story I would like to be about a fake prostitution racket.”
I frowned in question.
“Call the ringleader a two-bit whore.”
The fucking nerve of this man. “Okay.” I smiled sweetly. “I have enough material to work with on that one.”
“Good.” Matt smiled. “Work on those stories, and we will touch base next Monday afternoon.”
“Yes, okay,” I replied as I stood and walked toward the door. “Sounds good.”

“Karin, I’d like to see you for a moment, please,” Adrien replied calmly.
I stopped on the spot. Seriously?
The boys filed out of the office. “Bye, Karin,” they called.
“Bye.”
The door closed behind them, and Adrien stood and walked up behind me.
I could feel the heat from his body. The power he emanated was like nothing I had ever felt.
He took my ponytail in his hand and wrapped it around his knuckles three times and pulled my head to the side to give him access to my neck. In slow motion, he licked from my collarbone to my jaw with his thick, strong tongue. His lips went to my ear. “I didn’t get to taste you yet.”

I closed my eyes as arousal ran through my blood like a river rapid.

Goose bumps scattered up my spine.
I turned to him, and he took my hand and put it over his large erection in his pants.
Electricity zapped between us, and our eyes were locked. My breathing became ragged.
“Can I see you tonight?” he breathed.
I squeezed his dick as my sex clenched in appreciation.
“No, Adrien, you can’t.” I turned and walked out of his office with my heart hammering in my chest.

I got into the elevator as my body screamed for me to go back. Every molecule in my body wanted that man.
But he was just an asshole . . . and I was just another groupie.
It wasn’t going to happen.