Chapter 006

Linc had the house restructured, and so it doesn't hold much sentiment for me. I was slightly shocked when I first got in, but now it has ebbed. The mansion is like a luxurious minimalist hotel. Oddly, I felt comfortable and at ease. But I know I can't stay here for too long. I simply can't.

"Um, so, about the apartment you would rent for me. How is that coming along?" I say, enunciating my words carefully. I see a tic in his jaw, and I swallow.

I remember the way he asked me why I didn't want to stay with him as he held me in his arms earlier in his office. The naked vulnerability in his eyes. The way he was looking at me, it scares me, hypnotize me and locks me in.

"You just told me a few hours ago." He says, interlacing his svelte fingers on the table as he leans forward, cocking his head to the side. I can't read the expression on his face, whether it is annoyance or amusement.

"Yeah. But it is something that you can sort out in a really short time. Aren't you like a billionaire or something?" That was why Mom was besotted with him. Linc Tanner has been in Forbes.

His architectural firm has worked on top multi-billion dollar projects across the country. He is dark and mysterious and a hot forty-one-year-old.

"Yes, I am a billionaire." He says, his smooth lips turning up with a cocky smirk.

"You are avoiding my question." The house has gone quiet. All the bright lighting has been switched for dimmer ones. I am sure all the staff have left. It is just us now.

Coming to this realization opens me up to my forbidden thoughts about being alone with Linc. Wild things that had invaded my dreams for so long, just me and him alone in the house, starring at eachother, reaching out to eachother, eating out eachother.

"What if I simply don't want to get you an apartment? What if I don't want you to stay away from me? Why the hell would you be staying in some apartment when I have a mansion here you can stay in?" His smirk is gone, and he is pinning me to the spot with his dark eyes. My pulse starts racing. My mouth goes dry.

"That is not what you promised!" I yell, getting out of my seat.

What the heck does he mean he doesn't want me to stay away from him?

"Ames, Ames darling. Sit down." He says, his voice is oddly calm and controlled. It only makes me angrier, and I flip my middle finger at him as I turn around to walk away.

I don't hear him walking up to me till he grabs my wrist and spins me around to face him. The motion pulls my body too close, so we are inches away from each other. Twice in just one day, my breath escapes me in an audible gasp. He relaxes his grip on my hand but not the intensity in the dark depths of his gold-flecked onyx eyes.

"Why the hell are you so stubborn? It is killing me keeping my hands to myself already, and you have to go and push me." He hisses under his breath at me, but I hear him clearly because we are very close. The expansive kitchen peels away from my vision. The house. The soft lights.

Everything. All I can see is Linc, and up close, he is stunning. He's dangerous, he overwhelms me, he could literally set me on fire with thst forbidden mouth of his.

I don't have any power when he is this close. My knees go weak.

I forget my anger.

My rage transforms into mouthwatering need in an instant. My body betrays me when it comes to my stepfather.

My pussy tingle, my nipples harden at his touch, sinful forbidden feeling surge from my inside, threatening to tear into a loud moan of primal hunger and pleasure for him.

"I can't stay here with you." I say quietly, my voice trembling. His hand holding my wrist is like a brand on my skin.

Am I making a big deal of this accommodation thing? The house is huge. We can steer clear of each other for the duration of the three months.

The firm is huge too. I can spend my internship there, and we will never run into each other. Nobody even has to know about our connection if I keep quiet about it.

But the way my body involuntarily leans towards him, the way my belly erupts with liquid fire every time he looks down at my lips, I just know. I couldn't possibly stay here alone with him without giving in and doing something I would surely regret.

Oh, but how magical would it be between us? How explosive would it been to taste the forbidden fruit that's my stepfather.

"Why?" He asks, his face a closed-off mask, his smooth lips set in a tight line. Our faces are just inches apart from each other, my back is pressing against the hard edge of the polished wood of the dinner table, but I don't register the discomfort.

There are too many sensations to be felt standing this close to Linc Tanner, that pain is temporary.

"What do you mean, 'why?'" I throw back at him, breathing as regularly as I can, but my breaths come out choppy and raspy. I need to move away from him.

"Because I don't understand it, Ames." He snaps, his grip on my wrist tightens. I wince, and then he looks at his hand like he didn’t realize he has been holding onto me all this while. He lets me go.

"Okay, but why won't you let me go?" I pull my chin up at him, our lips barely inches apart now. I meant it as a defiant move, but one look from him and I regret it, but I don't back down.

One look at my lips I shake.

One look at my face accessing me, I'm soaked.

"This is why." Linc covers the distance between us, and my world erupts in bright scattered lights as he claims my mouth.