His brow lifts as he continues to peel me apart with a probing stare. “You think there’s more?”
“It’s us, Win. There’s always more. We can’t seem to ever get enough.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Winston
This woman is maddening.
I shouldn’t be surprised. She’s been hanging around me too long. This whole “sex scandal” thing would turn most young women into a sobbing, devastated mess. Especially considering this wasn’t just any sex scandal—it’s New York’s most notorious. There probably won’t ever be another sex scandal to outperform this one.
I’m a Constantine. We go big or go home.
That makes me think about baseball and Ash being the fucking mascot of Team Constantine.
Irritation prickles across my flesh and I flash her a cruel smile. It’s meant to flay her but the pretty girl just grins at me. Fuck. Why does she have to look so hot today? She’s killing my resolve to put distance between us. Hell, it’s less than five minutes of seeing her and my fingers twitch to ease her short dress up her silky thighs and explore what’s underneath.
Now my dick is really at attention.
Traitorous bastard.
“So, I guess that’s it, huh?” A single dark eyebrow arches high and her hazel eyes sparkle with challenge. “I mean, I kind of gathered we were through when you dumped me at the whore apartment last night—even sent our bird packing too. I spent all night thinking about how we must be over.”
Not our bird.
“You thought this was over, Cinderelliott? It’s a good thing I don’t pay you to think. I pay you to be my filthy, sobbing maid. My dirty little girl who drops to her knees and begs for whatever scraps I’ll toss at her. Money. Praise. Affection. You still need me, but I will never need you.”
Liar.
The feisty girl with the sexy-as-sin mouth laughs. Fucking laughs at me. Her laughter is minty this morning and I’m tempted to taste the humor right from the source.
“Gotcha,” she says in a triumphant tone.
I clutch on to her throat, my dick twitching at the small gasp of surprise she makes. Everything in me craves to shove her pretty dress up over her hips, bend her over my desk, and fuck the sass right out of her. Fortunately, I refrain from being a Neanderthal. Barely.
“You’re playing with fire today.” My voice is a rumbled growl of warning. “I’m not in the mood for games.”
Hurt and uncertainty glimmers in her stare. Good. Maybe she’ll realize this shit is over.
“But I’m not fired?” she asks before chewing on her juicy red bottom lip.
“I have enough lawsuits on my agenda today,” I clip out. “I’m not going to fire you.”
“Because you still need me.”
“I don’t need you.” I grit my teeth together, trying my damnedest to keep control. She enjoys making me lose it.
“I’m going to need money for an attorney,” she murmurs, stepping closer as though she wants me to tighten my grip around her neck. Of course I comply to her unspoken request, squeezing just hard enough her face reddens. “Are there any tasks I can complete, Mr. Constantine, to earn a bonus?” She bats her heavily painted lashes at me, a picture of fucking innocence.
Cinderelliott is not innocent.
She’s my depraved, dirty maid.
“You know what I want,” I growl, taunting her. “I want to humiliate you.”
“Our sex tapes are all over the internet. I think I can handle whatever you can dish out.”
I release her throat and step away. It’s difficult to look away from the pout on her sexy lips. She’s gorgeous today in her ensemble. I’m equal parts annoyed and impressed. So goes the usual for my feelings toward Ash Elliott.
“I want to spank you and make you cry, Cinderelliott. I want to wipe away your smug attitude. I want to remind you you’re nothing in my world but paid-for entertainment.”
She walks past me, brushing against my side and making sure to give me a whiff of her sweet, perfumed scent, before stopping in front of my wall-safe painting. “How much you got, old man?”
“Enough.”
“You can spank me for free if you have dinner with me tonight at my place.”
“I don’t want your handouts, little girl. I can afford you.”
She glances over her shoulder at me, a coy, teasing glimmer in her eyes. “How much will it cost to get you to my whore apartment?”
“Last I checked, it was my whore apartment. You just live there rent-free for the time being.”
“Until you let me and Shrimp come back to your place?”
“You’re stalling.” I loosen the knot of my tie, raking my gaze over her ass and the backs of her naked thighs. “Name your terms.”
“We have to talk this out. It’s what normal people do,” she says, running her finger along the edge of the frame and then has the audacity to check for dust.
“I thought we established we’re far from normal.”
“Definitely a weird couple. That’s for sure.”
She laughs when I scoff at the word “couple.”
Like a moth fluttering to the hottest fucking flame, I stalk over to her, craving one more hit. Just one more. I take hold of her ponytail that’s been taunting me since she sashayed into my office this morning like she owned the place. She cries out when I twist it around in my fist and jerk back so her ear is at my lips. I press my body against hers, pinning her to the cabinets beneath my wall safe.
“Awfully mouthy for someone who’s been fraternizing with the enemy. I think your arrogance is going to get you in trouble.” I brush my lips over the shell of her ear, pleased with her full-bodied shiver. “Why do you provoke me?”
“So you’ll pay attention to me.”
I bark out a harsh laugh. “You’re such a child.”
“And you’re a cradle robber,” she tosses back. “I want you to spank me, Win. I want it to hurt. I want you to get all this anger out of your system so that tonight you can come to my place and we can talk about it.”
Sliding a palm to her ass, I squeeze her cheek through the material. “Your wants aren’t relevant anymore.”
“Win—”
“What did you give Leo Morelli?”
She struggles against my hold but I’m taller, bigger, stronger. “Fuck you, asshole.”
The balls on this woman.
“Tell me,” I growl, grinding my erection against her ass. “Tell me before I find out.”
“He wanted insider secrets. He wanted to know about Paris. He wanted to know why I had a spa date with your mom. He wanted to know what your real obsession with the Baldridge building was.” Her body heaves with fury. “He wanted me to snoop through your emails and your files.”
Wrath rears its ugly head inside me. I want to kill fucking Leo Morelli.
“But I didn’t. I wouldn’t ever give him what he wanted,” she murmurs. “I lied and evaded him. I was trying to figure out what to do, Win. I’m sorry.”
The office goes silent aside from her heavy breathing and the deafening pounding in my chest. My heart screams at me to listen to her words and believe them. To let us go back to the way things were just yesterday before it all blew up in our faces. To a time where gummy bears and loud-ass birds and coupon books and a sassy maid occupied my home and my mind.