Take Me: The Complete Series (Power Play #1-4) (18 page)

That cocky little smirk tugs at the corners of his lips, driving me wild.

“You would know if I was teasing you.”

A tiny whimper escapes me. Thankfully, he doesn’t make me wait any longer.

His thickness expands into my depths and I gasp in both surprise and pleasure. Before I know it, he’s filling me completely. It feels like it’s been forever since I had Isaac inside of me, and not just a single day—even though it had felt like one of the longest days of my life. My whole body feels on the verge of drawing even more of him into me. As though what he’s giving me isn’t quite enough.

But there isn’t anything left to take from him. There’s nothing more that Isaac can give me.

My breath quickens when I consider what that means. I’ve known for a while that nothing can ever happen between us. Not
really
. It’s not like we can really get into a serious relationship, living in two different countries with our own lives to think about. But knowing that hasn’t stopped some part of me from
wanting
it to go somewhere, from wanting something
more
than just the mind blowing sex.

And the way he makes you laugh.

The thought comes to me as though it belongs to someone else. Some long lost part of me that somehow crept its way into the subconscious parts of my mind.

The world turns into a thick haze around me as I’m taken out of the moment. The pleasure that was coursing through my body every time Isaac plunged himself deeper inside of me is gone, stolen away by that little voice that’s now gnawing at the back of my mind. It’s telling me about all the things that I want but can’t have.

Isaac doesn’t notice though. He keeps going, and I’m happy that it isn’t long before his body braces against me. His orgasm erupts inside of me as every muscle in his body trembles and shakes. I never before noticed the endearing little way his lips and eyebrows seem to contort when he comes.

He groans violently before sagging onto the bed. A satisfied smile has settled itself onto his face. I try to return the soft smile when he looks at me.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, immediately.

“It’s nothing.”

He studies me for a second before his eyes widen in surprise.
 
Then an assured smile settles on his face.

“Oh, I see. It seems I was too selfish…”

He fixes me with a devious look as he begins sinking lower on the bed. My insides twist when I realize what he means, and I grab him to stop him from going any further.

“No, it’s not that. You did fine.”

The devious smile melts into a frown.

“If it’s not that, then what’s on your mind?”

I try to stifle a tiny groan before it comes out but fail miserably. It would be really nice if, every once in a while, Isaac would act like he
couldn’t
read me like a book. There are sometimes when I just want to keep something to myself.

I study him for a second, my insides churning and swirling as I struggle to find the words to tell him.

“We can’t keep doing this.”

The frown on his face deepens.

“What are you on about?”

“
This
,” I say, pointing between us. “We can’t keep seeing each other like this.”

“Why not?”

My heart is pounding even harder than it was before. Maybe it’s because of the sudden harshness in his voice. Why does it sound like he’s accusing me of something?

“It’s not healthy. It’s never going to go anywhere, and I can’t keep doing the back and forth thing with you.”

“Hannah, I don’t understand. Is this still about those bloody pictures? I explained those to you…”

“It’s not about that.”

Isaac pushes himself up onto one elbow, giving me a confused look.

“Then for Christ’s sake woman, what the bloody hell is this all about?”

I let out a frustrated sigh. His face hardens, and his bright gray eyes darken as he stares at me. What is he expecting of me? Doesn’t he realize how hard this whole thing is on me? Doesn’t he understand that it’s only going to get harder the more and more we keep doing it?

I compose myself, knowing what I have to do. I have to be strong and stick to my guns on this. It’s just as much for his sake as it is for mine. Better to just get it over with now than let it drag on any longer. If I don’t do it now then I may never be able to.

“I can’t see you anymore.”

The entire room stills around us as Isaac’s eyes widen for only the barest of moments. They move quickly, searching my face as though there’s something more I’m going to say. I feel my heart breaking as I see the desperation settle into them.

Then his face hardens and his eyebrows draw down.

“Bollocks me bloody arse.”

He stands up, hitching his pants closed in one quick motion as he does. He’s mumbling and cursing under his breath the whole while. He gives me one more look before he stalks toward the door.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

He rounds on me, quickly.

“You want me to go, you want me to stay. You don’t want to talk, and then you want to shag. Bloody hell woman, you’ve got to make up your bloody mind.”

He’s practically shouting at me.

“It’s for the best,” is the only thing I can manage.

“Aye, it’s for the best. For
your
best. Everything’s all about you, isn’t it, Hannah?”

I feel the lines in my brow tighten as I sit up on the bed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh,
what’s that supposed to mean?
” he mocks, mostly under his breath. He gives me a flat look. “Did you ever stop to think about what’s best for
me
? For
us
?”

I shake my head.

“There is no
us
.”

A long silence draws out between us before Isaac’s head tilts forward in a tight nod.

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. There is no
us
.”

He doesn’t say anything else before he spins around and stalks out of the apartment. I slide off the bed to go after him. I don’t know why. There’s nothing I can say that will make anything better. But by the time I make it to my bedroom door I hear the front door to my apartment open and then slam shut.

The sounds of the slamming door are still echoing throughout the apartment when the first few tears begin falling from my eyes.

When I head into the office on Monday I’m dreading the inevitable confrontation with Declan. One way or another we’re going to have to talk about what happened over the weekend—from his overbearing actions to the fact that I completely ruined BMG’s chances of getting the European deal signed. I can’t imagine that Isaac would want to deal with us at all after the way I ended things between us.

But all of my stress and is needless because when I get to the office I discover that Declan is out of town on a business trip for a few days. He didn’t mention anything about it to me before, but it’s not like he runs his entire schedule by me. At least he’s one less thing I have to worry about for a few days.

The next few days are the longest days of my life. Isaac doesn’t even try to call me after he left my place in a rush on Sunday night. It takes every ounce of my willpower to not call him and try to explain myself even further. I can’t help but think about how pained he looked when he’d said that there is no
us
. It’s not like that statement came as a shock—I’m the one who’d said it first—but the way it felt coming from him was much worse than I could have expected.

With each passing day the silence from Isaac gets harder and harder to handle until I’m left wondering if I might have made a mistake. Is it possible that I’m overreacting to everything? Am I making a big deal out of nothing?

I try to tell myself that it was the right thing to do. But with every day that passes it gets harder and harder to remember the reasons I made the decision in the first place.

On Wednesday I get to the office at the usual time, but when I make it to my desk there’s already a Post-It note stuck to the monitor of my computer. My stomach twists tightly even before I begin reading what’s written on it.

Come see me when you get in,

Declan

Declan’s back already? And he wants to see me?

My mind races through all the things that Declan could possibly want to talk about first thing in the morning. He probably wants to know where we stand on the European deal. It’s been days and I still haven’t received a single text or phone call from Isaac. I’m going to have to tell Declan that it’s not going to happen.

When I get to his office and tap on the door, he calls for me to enter. My pulse races as I step inside. His office is nearly a mirror image of my own, but there’s something very foreboding about it this morning. Declan is stooped over his desk, scribbling something on a piece of paper. He’s wearing one of his expensive, tailored suits and he barely gives me a passing glance as I sit in one of the leather chairs across from him.

I sit there and wait patiently for him to acknowledge me. He’s focused on writing something on his computer, and when he finally finishes he leans back in his expensive chair with a satisfied grin on his face. His crystal blue eyes take all of me in, there’s a jovial lightness to them this morning.

“You’re probably wondering why I called you here,” he states, matter-of-factly.

“The thought had crossed my mind.”

I wish my voice didn’t sound so uncertain and nervous. Now he knows just how nervous I am.

Declan studies me for a moment longer before he stands and makes his way around his huge, oak desk. As he eases himself into the leather chair next to me, he says, “There was something I needed to say, and it’s been a long time coming. Too long.” He crosses his legs and rests a finger on his lip as he watches my reaction.

Oh boy, here we go. I guess if we have to have a heart-to-heart we might as well get it over with. I nod for him to continue. He taps that finger against his lip, studying me for another couple moments before saying anything more.

“I owe you an apology,” he says, simply.

Did I just hear him right?

“An apology?” I repeat, dumbly.

He nods.

“I’ve been acting like an entitled little brat ever since you came back to town. And I’ve been treating you like the little girl you were when you went off to Cambridge all those years ago.” He lets out a soft breath as his lips pull into a gentle smile. “I haven’t seen you for the woman that you’ve become. And for that, I’m very sorry. I hope that you can forgive me.”

I stare at him, blankly, for what feels like an eternity. Declan just… apologized? It’s the last thing I expected when he called me into his office. It takes a while to process exactly what he’s saying, and to remember how to use my words to form sentences.

“It’s no big deal.” I wave a hand, dismissively, suddenly not wanting to give him a piece of my mind on the very thing he brought up.

He leans forward a little, drawing closer to me, and gives a quick shake of his head.

“No, it
is
a big deal. I need you to know that I do see the woman you’ve become, the woman you were always meant to be. And it’s time that I start treating you like that woman.”

Heat rushes to my cheeks with every flattering word he speaks, and an embarrassed smile spreads across my face. That might have been the sweetest thing Declan has ever said to me.

“Thank you. I really appreciate that.”

It’s about the only thing I trust myself to say. Declan studies me for another second, then the soft smile on his face spreads even wider.

“Good. Now that we’ve got the important stuff out of the way, we need to talk some business.” My insides twist a little as he takes on a more serious tone, but not enough to overcome the high I’m still feeling after the sweet things he said. “Where do we stand on the European Deal?”

But
that
is enough to wash away anything good I might have been feeling.
 

“I don’t think that’s going to work out.” The admission of defeat sounds distant and empty, as though it’s someone else speaking the words.

“What do you mean?”

“Things with Isaac…
Mr. Drake
… ended up not going so well.”

The jovial look on Declan’s face melts away and one of concern takes its place. He leans in close to me and takes me by the hand. The sudden feel of his skin on mine catches me off guard.

“Are you okay?”

I shrug my shoulders and try to manage a soft smile.

“I’ll be fine.”

Declan’s blue eyes search me for a while, as though he’s trying to determine just how far he can trust my words. If I’m being honest, I’m not sure if he should trust them at all.

“Tell me everything that happened.”

I let out a soft sigh and then launch into the story of what happened on Saturday night after I left the club. There are details I omit, but I tell him how I came across the folders of pictures and background checks on the company. To my surprise, he doesn’t seem very phased by this revelation—not nearly as much as I had been. I finish by telling Declan that I told Isaac we couldn’t be seeing any more of each other.

When I’m done, Declan waits a long time before he responds. His lips purse together thoughtfully, as though he’s digesting everything I told him down to the very last detail. He’s still holding my hand, and he gives it a gentle squeeze before he speaks.

“You did the right thing.”

“But we needed that contract. Doesn’t this mean that…”

My voice trails off as I remember what Declan had told me at the club. He’d told me that we needed this contract to help us stay afloat a little while longer. He’d told me that without it we were going to have to start making some
tough decisions
. And
tough decisions
meant we were going to have to start letting people go. Possibly people that had been working at BMG since before Daddy passed away.

Declan squeezes my hand again, and fixes me with a comforting smile.

“We can only cross one bridge at a time, and we’ll cross
that one
when we get to it.” His smile tugs a little wider. “But as for Mr. Drake, you did the right thing. You have to stay true to yourself, to your family here in New York and at BMG.”