“Yeah.” I nodded. “He’s a nice guy, very dependable. Seems to like me a lot.”

“Really?” He frowned. “Close to engagement?”

“I don’t know.”

“Does he make your body tremble when he f**ks you?”

“No.” I sighed as I continued. “We haven’t slept together yet.”

“Oh.” He smiled. “I see.”

“We’re waiting, so that we can make it special. Relationships and sex are about more than some quick f**ks.” I said spitefully, wanting to hurt him.

“But sometimes the quick f**ks are the best ones.” His hands crept up my back. “Sometimes, you want your man to just push you up against the wall.” He grabbed ahold of me and pushed me back. “Sometimes, you want him to take charge and slide his hand around your waist and push himself into you, so that you can feel his hard erection against your stomach.” He pushed into me then and I felt his hardness against me. I stared up into his eyes wanting to stop him, but also wanting to see how far he was going to take this. He adjusted himself so that his leg was in between mine, and his c**k was positioned by my inner thigh. “Sometimes, you dream of your man bending his head.” His lips moved to my neck and his tongue trailed to my collar bone. “And lowering his lips.” He kissed down the valley in-between my br**sts and I stood there frozen, not caring if anyone was walking past us and wondering what was going on. “Sometimes you want your man to show you who’s the boss.” His hand reached up my stomach and stopped right below my breast, before slipping into the top of my dress and caressing my breast. “Because, Katie,” he looked up at me with a light in his eyes as he squeezed my nipple. “Women like to be possessed. They like to be taken. They like to feel sexy and sensual and they want to feel loved.” He leaned forward and kissed me hard as his hand pushed the top of my dress to the side. He bent his head quickly and took my nipple in his mouth, sucking it eagerly and nibbling on it as he would candy. I closed my eyes as ripples of pleasure swept through me. My hands fell to his head and ran through his hair as he sucked. I let out a whimper as he released me from his warm embrace, and then sighed again in relief as he transferred his lips to the other nipple. I felt my knees buckling and his arm wrapped around my waist and held me against him and the wall firmly. His erection pushed into me even more urgently and I reached my fingers down to squeeze it gently. I tried to unzip his pants, but he pushed my hand away and pulled away from me. He looked at me and smiled. “You see, Katie? Sometimes the quick f**ks are the most exciting and exhilarating. Sometimes they turn you on more than you seem to want to admit. Unfortunately, this is not your lucky night.” His eyes mocked me as he moved away from me completely. “Tonight, you will have to hope that your boyfriend, Michael or Tad, or whatever his name is, gets some gumption and makes a move soon. Because, little girl, tonight will not be the night that you get any from me, no matter how sexy your dress is.”

I swallowed hard as I looked at him, completely dazed. I wasn’t sure what had just happened. Minutes ago, he had been apologizing to me and I thought we were finally going to put everything behind us, but yet again he had my head spinning in anger and my body aching for his touch. I didn’t say anything to Brandon as we walked to the restaurant. Instead, I just mentally confirmed my plan for the night. Brandon was right and wrong. He was right about the fact that sometimes a woman just wanted a man to take charge and take her, but he was wrong about the fact that he wasn’t going to be f**king me tonight. If I had anything to do with it, I was going to have him shouting my name and begging me to forgive him for all the shit he had pulled on me. As far as I was concerned, he had gotten away with far too much. I wasn’t a woman he could use and abuse like some pawn in a game of chess. He was about to find out that he wasn’t the only piece of royalty on the board, and I was about to get into the game. And this time, I was playing to win.

Chapter 3

“Konnichiwa.”

“Konnichiwa.”

I stood there and smiled at the wives of the Japanese businessmen that Brandon was meeting for dinner. I felt out of place in my revealing dress, as they were all dressed very conservatively. Their wives looked at me with polite smiles, but I could see the question in their eyes. Was she a prostitute? I was embarrassed for all of two minutes before I realized that ultimately, it was Brandon that would look like the fool.

“They like you.” He smiled at me as we walked to the table. He was back to being nice again, but I couldn’t tell if he was being genuine or putting on a show.

“I feel like maybe I wore the wrong outfit for a business dinner.” I made a face. “Sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?” He squeezed my hand. “You look sexy as hell, yes, but I’m not complaining. I like dining with a beautiful woman at my side.”

“Oh.” I blushed at his words. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me for telling the truth.” He pulled my chair out as we reached the table and then sat next to me. “This is nice.” He looked around the restaurant and smiled. “It’s been a while since we’ve gone out to eat together.”

“Yes, it has.”

“This time you can even order alcohol if you want to.”

“Funny.” I looked away from him and he laughed.

“Don’t tell me I can’t make jokes about your age. Not after all the laughs you had on my behalf.”