Let's Play A Dirty Ass Game, Mr. CEO

Chapter 15: INFERNAL HEAT

LAURA

It was such a narrow escape. Tristan almost saw my son.

What was he doing here, anyway?

"What is this?" I demanded in a harsh voice as he got close. "Are you really stalking me?!"

Something flashed in his eyes. Heat. Anger. Longing. I wasn’t sure which. And i hated how it sent a thrill racing through my veins. "I was in the area for a business meeting. Then I saw you and I thought I’d say hello."

I threw my hands in the air, exasperated. "For goodness’ sake, Tristan! Just stop, okay?"

His lips curved in the faintest hint of a smile. "See? It’s not so hard to say my name."

"Just stop it!" I screamed so hard people around turned to look at us. I did not care in the moment. "You can’t keep doing this. You can’t say hello. You can’t walk up to me and try to act like we’re cool, because we’re not!"

He frowned and stepped closer. "Did something happen?" Was he daft or just persistent? I hated myself for being so vulnerable at the moment. It made it easy, losing my cool in front of him.

"No, just leave me the fuck alone! Stay out of my life!"

"You know that’s impossible, Laura." His voice carried a chilling weight that hit me like a pack of needles. Did he possibly know about Eli? "This is New York. We move around the same business circles now. Besides, I think about you all the time."

I scoffed and shoved my fingers through my hair. The memory of the incident that just occured in Eli’s school came flooding back in harsh waves. My knees grew weak with exhaustion.

I never regretted having Eli in my life...but on some days, I can’t help but think some pretty negative shit.

If only I did not cross paths with Tristan, this humiliation would not have happened. If only things had worked out between us...if only he recognized what he left in me...if only he stood by me...

A lot of ’Ifs’...but it would have been a totally different story now. Maybe a happy ever after. A little life bubbling with joy and love and affection and family.

His blue eyes burned a shade darker as they roamed my face. "Laura, you look pale." He started to reach for me but I slapped his hand away.

"Don’t you dare."

He did not flinch, but he dropped his hand and shoved them in his pockets. "What happened to you?"

A scoff of disbelief burned my throat. "Hold on a second. Is this because you gifted me that dress? Now you think you’ve bought your way into my life again?"

"Laura, I gave you that dress because you deserve it. No one deserves to have that dress on their body, but you." Blue eyes moved to my lips and skipped down to my cleavage, further down to my body. "It’s your design, you should wear it. And I think you’d look stunning in red."

My heart began a hard race. I could not stand him looking at me like that. Like he wanted to devour me any chance he got. He did not deserve to even breathe the same air I did.

"Listen, Laura.." He took another step close and I backed away, glaring at him. I could not trust myself around him. The heat radiating off his body was already soaking me in an inferno I did not ask for. And the planes of his body...God. It was hard taking my eyes off the hard maleness of him. The way his muscles bulged thick against shirt. The way his exposed chest caught my gaze every now and then.

It was all too overwhelming. "Stop running from me, please."

"Stay away from me. I don’t need you in my life, Tristan." Which was kind of ironic because if he was in my life in the way I would’ve wanted five years ago, then the drama at Eli’s school wouldn’t have happened today. My son would have not been kicked out for standing up for himself. No one would have called him a rabid dog if maybe...he had a father who was present.

I shoved my fingers through my hair, scoffing. "Listen, you want to work together, but that’s never going to happen. I think you should stop stalking me, if that’s what you’re doing. Find someone else to work with."

My tone rang with a note of finality, and I turned to leave, trying to ignore the look that hung over his features.

I had not taken more than one step away, when he grabbed my wrist and tugged me back. The moment my back crashed against his chest, my breath disappeared down my lungs with a whoosh.

"Let me go." I struggled against him, but it was useless because his arm was locked tight around my waist in a grip that burned. "You can’t keep denying what we had, Laura. It might have been five years ago, but I when I look at you, I see in your eyes, the passion we shared. The passion that still burns in my soul."

My body was on fire. Being close to him like this was a disaster. There was something about Tristan that left me helpless, that took the control from me, that made it impossible to think, especially when his hands were on my body.

He leaned in closer, and his warm breath brushed against my ear. "I think of you every single day. I’ve thought of you every single minute since you left my company five years ago."

My heart raced over the moon as I felt something hard pressing into my ass. Holy fuck. His hard length was more than enough distraction. And it was a fierce wake up call.

I shoved him backwards, spun around and slapped him hard. "If you lay a finger on me again, I’ll be taking serious legal actions against you."

He scoffed, rubbing his chin and running that electric blue gaze over my heated body. "You should have done that five years ago, Laura. If that’s how you really feel."

"And maybe you should stop reminding me of how you betrayed the little trust I had in you. How you abandoned me."

His eyes took on a serious expression. He was sorry. I could see it. But I did not care. Not even if he admitted it.

"About that—"

"Stop. I don’t want to hear it." I ran my fingers through my hair, and his eyes followed the movement, burning with a hunger that scalded me down to my soul. "What happened between us was a mistake. A stupid mistake on my part. A selfish one on yours. And it’s never happening again. I promise you."

I turned and began to walk away.

"Laura, don’t do this." I heard him on my tail but I kept walking because I could not stand another moment of looking into those eyes.

He was closing in fast, but relief burned into my chest at the sight of Jose approaching with his protective gait.

"Don’t ruin a good business deal because of a bad relationship that happened years ago."

He had just put his hand on my shoulder when my ears caught a series of clicks from somewhere in the driveway.

I could tell he heard it too, because we both froze at the same time.