Page 101 of Brutal
“Adventurous?” I ask, confused. “Why do you think I’m not adventurous?”
Drake frowns at me. “Because you don’t like the things I like? And you said something about May not rubbing off on you.”
“What? Drake, you said May was a hardcore masochist. You know what I went through. Me not wanting to get whipped or caned doesn’t mean…” I let out a frustrated sound. “Anyway, I offered to peg you. I don’t know how that’s not sexually adventurous.”
He snorts. “I guess we’ll have to… negotiate or whatever. Figure out what we’re both okay with?”
“When we’re not both feeling like shit,” I say. I sit down on the edge of the bed and clasp my hands. “There are a lot of things we need to negotiate, but they can wait until after we’ve saved your job. Because you’d be literally unemployable and destitute if they kicked you out.”
“I wouldn’t be destitute if they kicked me out,” he huffs. “I’m one of the richest men in the country.”
I give him a pointed look.
“Which you already knew, right. Sarcasm is sooo funny, Mimi.” He sighs, then flops down on the bed. “In the meantime, I guess we really should sleep.” His eyes close, and I think I hear him mutter, “And I may take you up on that offer. After we negotiate.”
I shuffle over to his side and draw the blankets over us. He puts his arms around me, pulling me close.
I wait a few seconds, then whisper, “I’ll peg you so fucking hard, Drake, you won’t be able to sit for a week.”
A shudder runs through him. “I still have to go to work,” he protests, but it’s weak at best.
“Good thing I’m not doing it right now, then. You’ll just have to not think about it until this mess is sorted.”
I smile when he groans and close my eyes.
Coming back was probably a mistake.
But why shouldn’t I make a few messy mistakes with my own life?
CHAPTER 26
Drake
The meeting room door has never seemed so imposing before. It’s my fucking office building, in a meeting room I’ve sat in hundreds of times. I shouldn’t be this fucking intimidated by the prospect of talking to people I know and telling them to fuck off, exactly as I would have done at any other time.
Mimosa is standing next to me, wearing a smart office dress. Her hair is pulled up in a bun, and she’s got glasses and boring flats on. She barely looks like herself. Only the blue hair hints at a real personality.
The elevator dings behind us, and I turn in time to see Oliver getting out. He startles when he sees me.
“Drake? You’re… early,” he says, smiling nervously.
“Yeah. I had a few things to discuss with Hunter and Chase first, so I figured I’d do that ahead of the meeting,” I answer smoothly.
I want to yell at him and tell him to get the fuck out of my company, but that’s not on the table. I have to appear cool, calm, and collected.
If Mimosa weren’t here, I don’t think I’d be able to hold myself back.
The little anxiety pills Hunter had gotten me are doing next to nothing, though they’ve dimmed the headache I’ve been fighting for several days.
Oliver turns to Mimosa. “Who is she?”
Mimosa was right that he wouldn’t recognize her. She’d still had orange hair at the party, and the makeup and styling is so different from what she’d looked like then.
Mimosa smiles and steps forward, extending her hand. “Amber Grayson, sir. Pleasure to meet you. I’m filling in for Caroline, since she left so abruptly.”
The mention of Caroline has Oliver’s eyes widening, but he takes Mimosa’s hand and shakes it. “You’re single, then? Did Drake tell you what the secretarial duties entail?”
“Single?” My mouth drops open, and despite the fact that Mimosa has been talking me down and into calm all of the day, that simple word threatens to be my undoing. “What does that have to do with anything? She’s not?—”