Page 25 of Dirty Rival

“Does he know?”

“Not unless you tell him like you just did me and from what I can tell, you hold your own with him.” He winks. “Goodnight.” He disappears around the corner, leaving me smiling with that comment over any other. I do hold my own. I cuffed the man and left him.

Reid appears in my doorway and he all but scowls at my smile. “I take it you like my brother.”

“He doesn’t seem quite as obnoxious as you,” I comment. “I do, however, prefer you over him at this point.”

“Do you now?”

“Yes, I do, because while I’d never let my guard down with either of you,” I say, despite being a little guilty of that with Gabe just now, “I prefer the brother that is what he is, without taking any prisoners.”

“You think Gabe’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” he states.

“I know he is,” I assure him.

“And that makes me what?”

“A wolf in handcuffs.”

He gives me a deadpan stare. I laugh. “That was funny,” I say. “You know it was. You opened yourself up for it. You wouldn’t even respect me if I didn’t take the opening.”

His lips quirk with a hint of what might be a smile. “Let’s leave for the night. I’ll walk down with you.”

That gets my attention and my rejection. I do not want to be in an elevator with this man simply because I want to be in an elevator with this man. “I’m going to stay.”

“No,” he says. “You’re going to walk down with me.”

“Back to bossing me around?”

His eyes burn into mine. “I’m not leaving without you, Carrie.” He says my name in a low, seductive way, a hint of the same burn in his eyes as in his tone.

“You’re ridiculously overbearing,” I comment dryly.

“Don’t you want to know what I have for you?”

“I feel quite certain that question is a trap.”

“It’s an invitation. To leave with me now.”

To leave with him now.

And go where?

And do what?

My gaze meets his and the air around us thickens, the charge between us palpable. I want this man and he wants me. I don’t know how I do that and work with him, which means I can’t sleep with him. I am, however, not getting out of the elevator ride, nor am I going to try. I’m not going to sleep with him and this is my chance to show us both that my willpower is steel. I grab my MacBook and several folders, sliding them into my briefcase before sliding it and my purse over my shoulder. “I’m ready,” I announce, and I swear I feel like I just said something naughty. I can’t put it back in my mouth and I don’t even try to talk over it.

I round the desk and walk toward him, but he doesn’t back out of my doorway and I can’t just back-up or stop without seeming scared or intimidated. I keep walking and end up stopping a foot in front of him. “I thought we were leaving?”

He just stands there, big, beautiful, and all power and control; a man who I am certain in this moment wants to control me, to own me. Oddly though, I’m not sure this pleases him. I search his face and…no. No, I do not believe it does and yet, it’s there. His need to do just that. It radiates off him, a hard push that all but demands I submit, and I am suddenly warm all over. I want to be owned by this man, but in that wholly female, while we are naked kind of way, that ends when I put my clothes back on. Only it won’t with Reid. I know this. That will be the price for my pleasure. He’ll own all of me.

That’s not going to happen.

I lift my chin, letting him see this decision in my eyes, and he must. He abruptly steps backward as if he senses or reads my limits, as if he actually cares what I feel. I would like to think that he does. I want to believe he has that capacity in him. Or maybe his need to reject me wins over his need for a conquest. I dislike this thought too much and shove it aside. I join him in the lobby, falling into step with him as we walk toward the door. He holds it for me, and I pass through, aware of him watching my every move.

We start walking again, and the silence between us is not comfortable. It’s heavy, it’s filled with the push and pull between us, with his charged energy doing both right now. All I can think of is the tiny elevator car, and that moment arrives when I step into the compartment with just him, and my heart is thundering in my ears. Reid punches the lobby level and we stand side by side, his energy filling the tiny space, while his earthy male scent teases my nostrils.

“Gabe was right,” he says.