Page 7 of Illicit Education
Her breath hitched.
I looked back up into her eyes, then smiled slowly. “Nepotism News?”
If she knew who I was, this was her chance to admit it. Recant. Apologize.
She huffed softly and, with a flick of her wrist, she dismissed me, focusing once again on the numbers above the elevator doors, desperate to get away from me, no doubt.
The exact opposite of what I wanted.
No, I wanted more of her, morefromher, if only for the few seconds we had left together before we went our separate ways. So, I said what I hoped would get a rise out of her, something that echoed words my father had once dared pontificate to my mother–which damn near started World War III. “I didn’t know books with Fabio on the covers had quite such a rabid following.”
She gasped, and the sound was music to my ears. My cock twitched in response. It took every ounce of my self-control not to press her small frame against the opposite wall and draw that gasp from her lips again and again. The ways in which I could do so flooded my brain–
“You know what?” she snapped.
I grinned triumphantly.There she is.
“A million-dollar industry is nothing to mock and certainly nothing to turn your nose up at.” She glared at the side of my head, but I remained facing the doors, watching her in the reflection. “Not that someone likeyouwould know anything about that.” With a huff, she brazenly stepped in front of me, her back to me and her shoulders straight. She lifted her chin, glaring at me in the metal doors. She was done with me.
But I wasn’t done with her. Not even close.
“Someone like me?” I said, bringing my mouth just inches away from her ear. My breath teased the loose hairs of her nape until they danced with each of my words.
The elevator reached the seventy-third floor and the doors opened, but she remained in place.
“Should I be offended?” I whispered.
A tremble shook her small frame. She closed her eyes. Licked her lips. Goosebumps broke out over the flesh of her nape.
Physical signals that confirmed what I’d thought the moment she’d opened that mouth.
She would be mine.
The doors closed, leaving us in solitude once more.
Chapter Five
Rylan
The elevator resumed its ascent and I’d missed my floor, frozen in place by the realization that I’d just seriously screwed up.
When the elevator opened its doors to seventy-three, which should have been my opportunity to leave, the only number button still lit up was seventy-five. And I panicked.
Reed Romance was on seventy-three. But seventy-five?
The highest floor of Reed Tower?
That was the one that housed all of the executives of Reed Enterprises. Thefamily.
Oh, sweet baby Jesus, was he aReed?
My stomach sank down into the narrow heels of my black pumps.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
No. No. No.
“Um…” My voice was notably weaker now than it had been just a few seconds ago, bravado leaving me quickly as horror took its place. How would I recover from this? Who was he?