Page 67 of Wrecked By You

I kept quiet.Let him do the talking.

He shifted in his seat. “It was also a lie, as you so eloquently pointed out to me that night.”

Still I said nothing.

He breathed noisily through his nose. “Cut me some slack, Ella. I’m trying to make it up to you.”

“By disappearing all week?”

A faint blush stole across his cheeks.Well, I never.I didn’t think Johannes was capable of shame. There was hope for him yet.

“I admit that I took some time away to think things through. I…” He rubbed his fingers over his lips. “What happened between us wasn’t normal for me. I was… unprepared for how I felt, both during sex and afterward. And so I—”

“And how did you feel?”

Push that button, girl.

His eyes widened and he shifted again, his discomfort with my forthright questioning evident. He ran his palm over his stubbled cheek.

“Confused, elated, turned on, surprised.” He shrugged. “Scared.”

“Of what?”

His eyes glazed over as if a memory had appeared and pulled him back in time. The odds were that Johannes’s issues began six years ago, the last time he’d slept face-to-face with a woman. I bet he’d trusted her, and she’d hurt him in some way, and the result had been him shutting off his emotions and hiding behind this cold, unfeeling exterior. But it wasn’t the real him, and the cracks were starting to show.

I liked to think I had something to do with that.

But breaking Johannes wide open all at once would only send him into retreat. He had to be carefully pried open, like a scallop shell. Slowly and with great care to avoid damaging the precious goods inside.

“I don’t trust easily.”

“Nor do I.”

“And I don’t like to expose myself.”

“That’s good. We don’t need the cops stopping by to arrest you for indecency.”

He did a double take, and then he burst out laughing. It wasn’t a contained chuckle, or a faint smirk. It was a full-on belly laugh that fizzed through my insides. I’d done that. I’d made him laugh so freely. Euphoria spread through my veins.

“God, you are wonderful.”

I nodded. “I know this. I’ve just been waiting for you to catch up.”

He gestured to me, then patted his lap. “Come here.”

I scooched around the desk, hitched up my skirt, and straddled him. He groaned as my pussy brushed his cock.

“Do you think this chair would collapse under a vigorous sex session?”

I considered his question. “Probably.”

“Hmm.” He combed his fingers through my hair. “Maybe we should wait until we’re on the plane, then.”

I blinked, convinced I’d misheard him. “Plane? What plane?”

“My cousin Nolen runs our casino business out of Las Vegas. He wants to talk to me about opening a Kingcaid nightclub in our flagship hotel there, and I want you to accompany me.”

“Las Vegas?” I parroted. “A business trip?”