It's About Time (Blossom Peak #4)(36)
“Took you a minute.”
“Well, forgive me, but watching you strip in front of me threw me off.”
“You wish I’d stripped for you,” I fire back, before spinning around to look for my bra. But before I get too far, Elliot is gripping my upper arm and pulling me back to him, my back colliding with his chest.
“There will be no stripping, Dilynne,” he growls in my ear, his lips softly hitting the shell. A shiver races down my spine. “There will also be no more flying by the seat of our pants. We need a plan going forward.”
I push my ass back against him as I straighten my spine, and that’s when I feel something I was not anticipating.
Oh my God. Is…is Elliot hard right now?
My breath catches in my throat. Luckily, Elliot speaks again while I try to figure out what the hell is happening right now.
“If we are going to make this believable, there are certain rules that we need to set.”
“I hate rules.”
He chuckles against my ear, making my skin break out in goosebumps.
What the actual fuck is going on here?
“Trust me, I’m aware. But this isn’t a fucking game, Dilynne. And if you can’t agree to that, then I’m out.”
I s igh just as Elliot’s hand moves down my arm to my forearm. My adrenaline spikes. “Fine.”
“Good girl,” he whispers in my ear before releasing me. But those two words hit me right between my thighs.
Dear God. Something is wrong with my vagina.
Slowly, I turn around to face him as he begins fixing his shirt. “So, we can meet up later this week to talk, okay? But no more spontaneous visits to the office. Let me deal with Tori for a while.”
“Fine. Then you’d better enjoy that cheesecake.”
His eyes move to the bag. “What insult did you put on it this time?”
I swipe the few pieces of hair from my face that have fallen from my bun under my bandana. “There isn’t one. I actually put something a little more…romantic, if you will.”
Elliot’s eyebrows furrow. “What?”
“Again, just trying to sell our relationship, honey.” Patting him on the chest, I move toward the door.
“Aren’t you forgetting your bra?”
My eyes land on it on the floor. “No, you keep that one. Consider it a prop for us to use in this performance.”
For just a moment, I swear I see a tick in his jaw as he picks it up, letting it dangle from his finger. “Honestly, I’m not much for lingerie. It gets in the way.”
I roll my eyes. “Didn’t need to know that.”
The corner of his mouth lifts. “Actually, you should, especially if you’re my fiancée, right?”
But I don’t reply. I just nod and leave, eager to get out of that room because the longer I stand in there, the more I start to wonder why my body feels warm all over, and most concerning—what is Elliot going to do with my bra?
Chapter 12
Elliot
Moving Forward with the Plan
Exactly ten minutes after Dilynne left, I march down the hallway of the office, trying to forget the image of Dilynne stripping her bra off in front of me—the black silk bra that revealed the perfect B-cups she’s hiding under those tank tops and overalls—before knocking on my father’s door to let him know I’m there, even though the door is wide open.
Jesus Christ. Now is not the time for my dick to wake up.
“Shut the door.”
Bracing myself for this conversation, I take a deep breath and then sit in one of the chairs opposite my dad at his desk.
My father’s passive expression should alarm me, but at this point, his harsh demeanor leaves me unfazed.
Henry Thorne II has always ruled with an iron fist, which is part of the reason that even when the man makes mistakes, you’re not allowe d to mention them past that point in time. Ironic, given that he uses that very reasoning against me and anyone else, like with my ex-fiancée.
“When did you plan on telling me you’re engaged again?”
“It’s new, so…”
“This isn’t the type of information you should keep from me.”
“Well, forgive me, but I never assumed you’d hire my ex to work for you, and you kept that from me, so...”
“Tori reached out to me, and I remembered how happy she made you before, so I thought...”
“Key word there is before, Dad. But did you honestly think I would take her back after what she did?”
My father arches a brow at me. “Plenty of people find forgiveness.”
I know he’s referencing my mother and the fact that she’s forgiven him for his affair, but I’m not my mom. “Yeah, well I found forgiveness for myself, not for her. So you can tell Tori that she needs to find someplace else to start over.”
My father strokes his chin. “She’s doing a good job and needs the money, so I’m not going to toss her out just yet.”
That makes me pause. “I’ve never known you to care that much about another person’s situation before.”
His eyes narrow. “She isn’t just some person, Elliot. She was about to be my daughter-in-law.”
“And she’s the one who decided against that, remember? She was also seeing her boss behind my back, in case you forgot that detail.”