Own Me (The Wolf Hotel, #5)

I look up to find him scowling down at me from mere inches away, our chests pressed against each other because there’s no room to maneuver in here. “I know! My soaps are amazing and everyone who tries them loves them. Nailed It is the best at what they do. Margo has been talking me up to everyone she knows like some crazy soap pusher. I know all that!” I throw my hands up in surrender. “I guess I’m just trying to protect myself from disappointment. After this weekend, I don’t know what to expect, and it’s left me on edge.”

Annie posted the picture Violet took with a caption that read, “The one and only love of my life. Can’t wait to marry you” and then restricted the comments. It seems to have helped cauterize the flow of online hate messages, though we’ve seen a few comments dropped on old posts of this all being a publicity stunt for my product launch. That made me laugh. As if I need or want this kind of attention to help sell a few bars of soap when I’m marrying one of the richest men in the country.

Henry looms, his blue eyes searching mine.

I can’t take it anymore. “Would you please say something?”

“Your office is in a closet.”

I burst into giggles. “I know. I told you that already.”

“I remember. I didn’t fully appreciate that until now. But that’s fine. I can make it work.”

“For wha—”

His mouth is on mine before I finish my sentence, our lips meshed as a hand coils around my hair. He tugs it, forcing my head back. “No matter how today goes, you should be proud of yourself,” he whispers against my lips, using his free hand to move my laptop out of the way before he urges me onto my desk. “I’m proud of you.”

I match his tongue stroke for stroke, my hands clawing to gain access beneath his shirt, reveling in the smooth, taut skin over his muscles. But it’s his words that pour through me like warmed honey, soothing the anxiety that’s plagued me for days. “You’re proud of your insecure, stupid little girl?” I tease, quoting something he said long ago.

He inhales sharply. “I’ve never thought that about you, Abbi.”

“But you said—”

“And I regret it.” I tip my head back as Henry’s lips land on my neck, his teeth scraping deliciously across my skin. “I’ve always regretted saying that,” he whispers into my ear.

But maybe it was true. I wouldn’t call myself stupid, but I was certainly insecure, allowing other people to choose my life’s path. Mama … Jed … And then Henry came along and bulldozed everything, pulled me out of any comfort zone I’ve ever known, made me question what I want.

His hands slide along the contours of my body, down to my hips. Seizing the waistband of my leggings and my panties, he wriggles them down to my ankles, where they’re stopped by my hiking boots.

“You have to untie them.”

“We don’t have time for that.”

I let out a squeal as Henry bends and forces his body through the space between my thighs, leaving my pants hooked around the back of his head and my ankles resting on his shoulders.

“This is tight.” I laugh, falling back against the wallpapered wall, my body folded in half.

“Just how I like it.” Henry fumbles with his buckle and zipper. In seconds he has his pants shoved down and he’s prodding my entrance with the blunt head of his cock. “Always ready for me.”

“These walls are thin—” My warning stalls on a scream as Henry thrusts into me with force.

“These walls are thin, Abbi,” Henry mocks, punctuates his words with his hips.

I can’t bite back another cry fast enough. “Henry, my assistant is right out—” My words are lost as Henry plunders my mouth with his tongue, my body nearly folded in half.

And then he slams into me again. And again, his beautiful arms bracing himself on either side of my shoulders as he drives into me at a relentless pace, his thighs slapping against mine, my little desk thumping against the wall as steadily and tellingly as a headboard. He’s so deep at this angle, and each time he sinks in, a groan slips out of me, the mixture of pleasure and pain overwhelming.

All other thoughts vanish as I let Henry consume my body as he pleases.

I manage to prop myself up on my elbows, but with my pants bunched around his neck, I’m at his mercy. Henry takes advantage of that, pumping in and out of me. A rosy flush coats his skin.

“Fuck, I’m going to come now, Abbi,” he growls, speeding up his pace. A moment later his body tenses and he releases a long, guttural groan as he pulses and fills me.

The sight and sound of him letting go has my orgasm chasing. I can’t be bothered to hide my moans as my muscles seize up and ecstasy overwhelms me.

In seconds, my tiny closet office is quiet once again, save for our labored breathing.

Henry pulls out and collects a few tissues. “What was that you said about this day being anticlimactic?” he murmurs, cleaning me up.

I giggle. And then gasp. “Did we go live? We must have gone live by now!” Was that his intention? To distract me so I didn’t go insane from the anxiety of the waiting game?

He ducks and slips my ankles over his head, settling them down gently onto the floor before pulling me up onto wobbly, Jell-O legs. “After you.”

We redress, bumping elbows multiple times. I smooth my hair as best I can, but there’s no hiding what just happened in here and by the time we emerge, my face is burning.

Annie is joined by Zaheera, who stands next to a bunch of rose gold balloons and cupcakes. They’re wearing matching grins. “Guess what! We sold out!”

My mouth drops, my embarrassment instantly forgotten. “What do you mean?”

Annie laughs. “I mean exactly what it sounds like! You sold through everything. Everything!” She’s bursting with excitement. “And there’s a waitlist growing for the next batch already.”

I gape at Henry. “Did you have something to do with that?”

“When would I have done that?” he deadpans.

“They’re all individual orders,” Zaheera confirms.

But how is that possible? I look back at my office door. “How long were we in there for?”

Annie looks at her watch. “The sale started fourteen minutes ago, so …”

We listened to you two fuck for fifteen minutes, give or take, is what that long silence after says.

“This is … I can’t believe it!” A squeal of glee escapes me as I throw my arms around Henry’s neck. None of that bullshit from this weekend mattered. Not only did Roshana’s attempt to punish Henry fail, but the visibility might have given me a boost.

He pulls me against him in a warm embrace. “I knew you could do it.”

Annie pulls the champagne from the bucket. “What do you say, boss?”





CHAPTER 20





“Can you imagine decorating this thing?” I stare up at the massive tree in awe, its countless Swarovski crystal lights a dazzling display for the thousands that huddle in the cold. A puff of my hot breath mingles with the frigid air.

Violet tugs on her periwinkle knit cap—another that she made herself during the long, quiet nights. Her blue eyes twinkle. They’re even more vibrant in the cold. “I can’t believe you’ve never seen the Rockefeller tree before.”

“My parents aren’t big on traveling. Or cities.” When I admitted this fact to Violet, she gasped in horror, and then she insisted on coming to Manhattan so we could see it together. It was as good an excuse as any to get her here again.