What He Decides (What He Wants, Book Eleven) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (5 page)

“Charlotte,” Noah said.
 
“You’re coming with me.”

“What?” Clementine frowned.
 
“No, we’re in the middle of briefing
her for her deposition.”

“I’ll brief her.”

“That’s not really your place,”
Clementine said.

She was rewarded with a look of scorn
from Noah, who then turned his attention back to me.

“Charlotte,” he said.
 
“Are we going to do this the easy way
or the hard way?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“It means that if you do not get out of
that chair right now and follow me out of this office, I will pick you up and
carry you out.”
 
His voice was low,
growly, not threatening, but filled with a steely detachment, like he was a man
resigned to doing what he had to do.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I
tried.

“Very well.”
 
He nodded and removed his suit coat, dropped it onto the
chair next to me and then began rolling up his sleeves.
 
The blonde receptionist’s eyes widened.

Oh, sweetheart,
I thought,
you
have no idea.

“Okay, okay,” I said, standing up.
 
“I’ll go with you.”

He nodded in satisfaction, reached down
and picked up his coat, then turned and walked from the room.

And after a moment, I followed him.

***

“Where are we going?” I asked once we
were out on the street.
 

“Get in the car, Charlotte,” Noah said,
holding the back door of his car open.
 
“You lost the right to ask questions when you decided to behave so
irresponsibly.”

I hesitated.
 
I was torn – part of me wanted to refuse to go with
him, to tell him nothing had changed just because I’d sent that email.
 
I was still stick of his constant need
to dominate me and I was done allowing him to boss me around.
 
The other part of me was thrilled to
see him, frissons of excitement streaming through my body, my heart racing with
happiness at the thought of spending time with him.
 

And a tiny part of me, beneath all of
that, was scared.

Not of Noah.

But of what I’d done.
 

Noah wouldn’t have come storming into
Clementine’s office like that, threatening to pick me up and carry me out of
there unless he thought I was in real danger.

“Charlotte,” Noah said, still holding the
door open.
 
A vein throbbed in his
neck. “The easy way or the hard way.”

“You wouldn’t pick me up out here on the
street in front of everyone,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “Someone
might call the police.”

“As far as you’re concerned, Charlotte, I
am the police.”
 
He moved toward me,
bent slightly at the waist, and scooped me up before I could stop him.
 

“Okay, okay!” I said as my feet left the
ground.
 
“I’ll get in the car.
 
Please, just put me down!”

He didn’t listen.
 
He held me tight, then placed me gently
into the backseat of his car.
 
He
shook his head, his face inches from mine.
 
“You’re impossible,” he said, his voice husky, his eyes
blazing with fury and desire.
 
For
one heart-stopping moment I was sure he was going to lay his body on top of
mine and fuck me right here in the back of the car. But instead, he slid inside
and shut the door.

“Jared,” Noah said to his driver, his
voice clipped.
 
“Please take us
back to my apartment.”

“Yes, sir.”

“No, Jared,” I said.
 
“I’d like to go home, please.”

“My apartment, Jared,” Noah demanded.

“No,”
I said.

Of course my words meant nothing -- Jared
knew better than to defy his boss.
 

“If you don’t take me home, I’ll get out
of the car right now,” I threatened.

Noah sighed, then met Jared’s eye in the
rearview mirror.
 
He gave Jared a
slight nod, but I knew what it meant.
 
It meant Jared should head for my apartment -- but deep in the back of
Noah’s mind, he thought he’d be able to convince me to go back to his apartment
with him.
 

It was
infuriating.

And yet I could already feel myself beginning
to lose the moxy that had made me mouth off.
 
Noah’s presence was setting me on edge.
 
He was so intimidating, in his
elegantly cut suit, his hair falling over his forehead.
 
He was freshly shaven and his scent was
intoxicating – expensive laundry detergent and manly cologne and
something else, something Noah that made my stomach somersault and my heart
light on fire.

He hit the button for the partition, and
it slid up, leaving us in privacy.

“Do you know where I’ve been all night,
Charlotte?” Noah asked quietly.

“Force with Clementine?” I asked,
surprising myself with my audacity.
  
“Or maybe with one of the other women who will be testifying at your
evidentiary hearing?
 
Maybe you
were with one of them.”

“Don’t you dare talk back to me.”
 
He grabbed me and pulled me close,
crushing me against his chest.
  
I tried to pull away, but he held me tight, his hips pushing into mine
and sending heat rushing to my center.
 
“I was roaming the streets, Charlotte.
 
I was walking this entire city searching for you.
 
I was out of my mind with worry.
 
I thought you’d been abducted, I
thought you’d been hurt, I thought you could have been dead.”
 
He reached out and touched my cheek,
like he wanted to make sure that I was really here, that I was okay, that I
hadn’t been hurt after all.

“I’m fine.”
 
I swallowed, trying to control the lust that was roaring
through my body.
 
“I was at a
hotel.”

“You cannot do that again.”

“I can’t do what again?”

“Not answer my phone calls, ignore my
texts.
 
I need to know where you are
at all times.
 
I need to know
you’re safe.”

“No.”

“No?”
 
His voice was laced with anger now.
 
But I wasn’t going to back down.
 
I was done playing these fucked up
games, these power moves that caused him to shut down and push me away before
showing back up again, insisting I bow to his every demand.

“No, you can’t know where I am at every
moment.”

He pulled me closer, lacing his fingers
with mine, as if keeping his grip on me physically was going to ensure that he
got his way.
 

“Yes, I can, Charlotte.”

“No, Noah, you can’t.”
 
I shook my head softly.
 
“You can’t be in control of everything,
Noah.
 
You can’t just throw me out
of your office the way you did last night and then show up here this morning,
expecting that I’m going to just roll over and thank my lucky stars that now
you want something to do with me.
 
I have a voice, too, Noah.”

“I didn’t throw you out of my
office.
 
You left.
 
And besides, I know what’s best for
you.”

“No, you don’t.”

His jaw tightened.
 
“Stop saying no to me.”
 
He lowered his head and kissed me then,
his mouth crashing into mine.
 
My
knees went weak and my stomach flipped and I felt myself getting pulled under
by the Noah current, felt myself drowning as his tongue found mine.

His fingers tangled in my hair before
roaming over the curve of my hips.
 

“I should punish you like you’ve never
been punished before,” he said, his hand cupping my ass.
 
“I should spank you until you can’t
even sit down without being reminded of the pain you put me through.”
 
His voice was filled with anguish.
 
“Charlotte, you can’t do that to me
again,” he breathed.
 
“I was so
worried, I thought -- ”

His voice trailed off, and I knew what
he’d been about to say.
 
He thought
I’d ended up like Nora, like Dani, like Katie, strangled and left in a ditch
somewhere.
 
I remembered the
pictures I’d seen, the ones of Dani, her face blue, her eyes blank and
unfocused.
 
I felt bad for making
Noah worry, I did, especially after all he’d been through.
 

“Noah,” I said.
 
“I’m sorry if I made you worry.
 
I am.
 
But this
isn’t… I don’t know if I can do this anymore.
 
It shouldn’t be so hard.”

“Charlotte,” he whispered, rubbing the
pad of his thumb over my cheek, tracing my jaw, moving over my bottom lip.
 
“Please.
 
I can’t stay away from you.
 
I need to keep you safe.”

“But that’s… it’s not realistic.”

He licked his bottom lip, his breath
coming in short gasps.
 
He moved
away from me and turned to look out the window, his hands balling into fists.

“What is it?” I asked.
 
“What are you thinking?”

“That I want to punish you.”
 
I could hear the struggle in his
voice.
 
“For making me worry.
 
I want to spank you and fuck you.
 
Hard.
 
I want to make you mine.
 
And then I want to take you home with me and not let you
leave my apartment.
 
Ever.”
 
He turned back toward me, his eyes dark
and haunted.
 
“I can’t lose you,
Charlotte.”

“You say that,” I said softly.
 
“But every time you get scared, even
for a second, you push me away.
 
You tore up our contract, Noah.
 
You left me in your hotel room.
 
You sent me back my things.
 
Last night you ran me out of your office.
 
It’s not…” I took in a deep breath.
 
“It’s not fair.”

“Charlotte,” he said.
 
“I’m doing the best I can.”

“And so am I.
 
You want someone who’s going to surrender to you
completely.
 
And I just… I don’t
know if I can do that.”
 
My words
were getting tangled around my tongue as panic pounded through me.
 
Stop!
 
my heart screamed.
 
Please, stop!
 
You want him, you need him, you’re
talking nonsense!

“You’re not being reasonable.”

“I’m
not being reasonable?” I asked.
 
“You’
re
not being reasonable.”

The car pulled up in front of my
apartment building, gliding to a soft stop against the curb.

“Please,” Noah said.
 
“Come home with me.”

I thought about how easy it would be to
let him take control, to go home with him, to let him have his way with
me.
 
But what was to stop him from
panicking again? He’d get scared of our closeness, and he’d toss me to the side
in another misguided effort to protect me.

I couldn’t go through that anguish again.

“No,” I said.
 
“I just… I can’t, Noah.
 
I’m sorry.”

I opened the door and rushed out of the
car, running into my building before he could convince me to stay.
 
I pushed into my apartment, my feet
slipping on the threshold, my breath coming in hard gasps as I shut the door
behind me.

I could already feel the tears stinging
the back of my eyes, threatening to overtake me.

And then he was there, in the hallway, on
the other side of the door.

“Charlotte.”
 
His voice was low, even, commanding.
 
“Open the door.”

I thought about denying him, but I didn’t
have the strength.
 
I was helpless
to resist.
 

I opened the door.

He stood there in the hallway, looking
beautiful and lost, and my heart constricted, emotion and desire pooling in my
belly.