Everything You Need: Everything For You Trilogy Book 1 by Orla Bailey
Authors: Orla Bailey
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tonight, I really, really wanted to.
Chapter Five
A muted ping announces the private elevator’s arrival straight into the apartment. I’m totally on edge at the thought of the man who is waiting for me after all this time. It feels crazier than any dream.
My pulse rate spikes when the doors slide apart like theatre curtains on the opening act.
The space beyond is indistinct and my eyes take a while to adjust to the dimmed lighting but the softly lit elevator backlights me, displaying me to the one man I know is out there observing. I sense him as soon as my skin prickles with awareness, my mouth dries up and my body grows damp. Like the Sirocco winds that generate dry, deserts over one land mass but stormy squalls in another, he affects me, changing the landscape of my senses.
I peer until I spot the dark shape leaning against a pillar; a silhouette half-hidden in shadow. I’d know his huge frame anywhere. My heart slows and thuds like it’s getting set to arrest beneath the heavy weight of his surveillance. Even while my inner voice warns me and my stomach muscles knot until they ache, he’s no doubt satisfying himself I’ve met all his requirements. I so hate he can affect me this much after all this time.
After everything.
Too late I wish I’d shown some backbone and swapped the matching silk thong, found wrapped in tissue paper at the bottom of the dress carrier, for my Corpse Bride boy shorts but it seems like I’ve already regressed into that eighteen year old girl who can’t help wanting to please him.
“Welcome to my home, Tabitha.” Jack steps out of the shadows into my circle of light in no particular hurry. It’s as if time awaits his disposal and he manipulates it to draw my torment out as much as possible. We both know exactly what I’m here for.
He’s dressed in a black tuxedo without the tie, his stark dress shirt open at the collar. This combination of formal and casual, confuses me but the sight of him, so powerfully masculine, takes my breath away.
I leave the false security of the shaft, wrenching my eyes from Jack’s magnetic hold to travel the space around him. His home, Belvedere, is stunning. An industrial warehouse conversion on the Thames, all steel girders and original Victorian brickwork, where he owns and occupies the entire top floor. Not only a statement of his wealth and power, it’s a reflection of the man himself: practical, durable, surrounded by strength, beauty and sheer luxury. I wonder what I’m doing in his world.
“You’re punctual. I like that.”
“I was late. Your chauffeur made up for lost time by ignoring all sorts of speed restrictions.”
He smiles but I won’t have him thinking I’m either totally obedient or desperate to see him. Better to maintain my aloofness.
“Won’t you come in?” When he signals for me to cross to him, I answer his command instinctually. He smiles knowingly as his fingers curl around mine. The feeling of his warm skin against mine makes my whole body tingle with awareness.
Jack leans in, his mouth closing the distance to mine but I turn my head aside. After the boardroom, it’s too much. Too soon. His impatience with my rebuff is almost as imperceptible as a tendon tightening before a muscle’s movement, but he kisses me on the cheek instead like we’re two old friends. Leaning back he regards me as I studiously look anywhere but at him. Even so, I feel the air of smug satisfaction about him. I think he enjoys this game as much as I hate it.
Why wouldn’t he? He expects to get his way in the end. He expects to get me.
My eyes are drawn to the sheer wall of glass revealing the Thames river, the lights and the restless nightlife of the city below. Jack, aware of my interest, leads me over and we stand side by side looking down while I imagine some God of Olympus observing all mortal life below him, pausing to tempt the unwary into his heaven.
“I’ll never tire of this view.” Jack turns to me as
Chapter Five
A muted ping announces the private elevator’s arrival straight into the apartment. I’m totally on edge at the thought of the man who is waiting for me after all this time. It feels crazier than any dream.
My pulse rate spikes when the doors slide apart like theatre curtains on the opening act.
The space beyond is indistinct and my eyes take a while to adjust to the dimmed lighting but the softly lit elevator backlights me, displaying me to the one man I know is out there observing. I sense him as soon as my skin prickles with awareness, my mouth dries up and my body grows damp. Like the Sirocco winds that generate dry, deserts over one land mass but stormy squalls in another, he affects me, changing the landscape of my senses.
I peer until I spot the dark shape leaning against a pillar; a silhouette half-hidden in shadow. I’d know his huge frame anywhere. My heart slows and thuds like it’s getting set to arrest beneath the heavy weight of his surveillance. Even while my inner voice warns me and my stomach muscles knot until they ache, he’s no doubt satisfying himself I’ve met all his requirements. I so hate he can affect me this much after all this time.
After everything.
Too late I wish I’d shown some backbone and swapped the matching silk thong, found wrapped in tissue paper at the bottom of the dress carrier, for my Corpse Bride boy shorts but it seems like I’ve already regressed into that eighteen year old girl who can’t help wanting to please him.
“Welcome to my home, Tabitha.” Jack steps out of the shadows into my circle of light in no particular hurry. It’s as if time awaits his disposal and he manipulates it to draw my torment out as much as possible. We both know exactly what I’m here for.
He’s dressed in a black tuxedo without the tie, his stark dress shirt open at the collar. This combination of formal and casual, confuses me but the sight of him, so powerfully masculine, takes my breath away.
I leave the false security of the shaft, wrenching my eyes from Jack’s magnetic hold to travel the space around him. His home, Belvedere, is stunning. An industrial warehouse conversion on the Thames, all steel girders and original Victorian brickwork, where he owns and occupies the entire top floor. Not only a statement of his wealth and power, it’s a reflection of the man himself: practical, durable, surrounded by strength, beauty and sheer luxury. I wonder what I’m doing in his world.
“You’re punctual. I like that.”
“I was late. Your chauffeur made up for lost time by ignoring all sorts of speed restrictions.”
He smiles but I won’t have him thinking I’m either totally obedient or desperate to see him. Better to maintain my aloofness.
“Won’t you come in?” When he signals for me to cross to him, I answer his command instinctually. He smiles knowingly as his fingers curl around mine. The feeling of his warm skin against mine makes my whole body tingle with awareness.
Jack leans in, his mouth closing the distance to mine but I turn my head aside. After the boardroom, it’s too much. Too soon. His impatience with my rebuff is almost as imperceptible as a tendon tightening before a muscle’s movement, but he kisses me on the cheek instead like we’re two old friends. Leaning back he regards me as I studiously look anywhere but at him. Even so, I feel the air of smug satisfaction about him. I think he enjoys this game as much as I hate it.
Why wouldn’t he? He expects to get his way in the end. He expects to get me.
My eyes are drawn to the sheer wall of glass revealing the Thames river, the lights and the restless nightlife of the city below. Jack, aware of my interest, leads me over and we stand side by side looking down while I imagine some God of Olympus observing all mortal life below him, pausing to tempt the unwary into his heaven.
“I’ll never tire of this view.” Jack turns to me as
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