Free Savage by Michelle St. James Page B

problem. Just… please.”
    “Please?” Farrell lifted an eyebrow, then cut a glance at Leo. He was like a brick wall, face impassive, shoulders squared. He would do what needed to be done.
    What Farrell told him to do.
    “Please don’t hurt me,” Bobby said, trying again.
    Farrell sat forward. “I don’t make decisions based on pity. My conscience only answers to reason, and it wouldn’t be reasonable to let you get away with stealing from me. It would set a bad example for the others in my employ. Encourage more theft. And that I can’t allow.”
    Bobby was shaking his head, trying to back out of the room even though Leo had a firm handle on his arm. Farrell wanted to stand, step around his desk, let loose on Bobby’s doughy face, not because it would accomplish anything, but because he needed the release.
    He drew in a breath, forcing himself to maintain control. Giving in to the urge would feel good, but it would be a sign of weakness. An acknowledgment that seeing Jenna had put him off balance. And he’d promised himself a long time ago that would never happen again.
    “Take care of it,” Farrell said to Leo.
    Leo nodded with speaking, He didn’t have to ask questions. He knew what Farrell wanted done.
    “N-no! Please… I swear it will never happen again! I can pay it all back! Every cent!”
    Leo was already shoving him out of the room. Farrell waited for the door to close to lean back in the chair. He should call one of the women in his phone. He needed a distraction. Needed to sink into someone who would make him forget Jenna.
    But even as he thought it, he knew it was impossible. He hadn’t forgotten her once since she’d left him. Hadn’t gone a day without thinking about her, wanting her with him. Had resisted the urge to get on a plane to New York at least a hundred times over the years.
    He’d been with other women. Lots of them. Each one had been a chance to forget Jenna. Each one had been an utter failure. It was her face he saw when he was fucking someone. Her body he dreamed of plundering when he took from the sea of faceless others.
    But he’d managed it. Had been able to wake up in the morning, go about his business, take care of Evan. Now she was back and her very proximity was like a homing beacon calling to him across the city. She was so close.
    So close and so far.
    What would happen if he went to her? If he pulled her into his arms, touched his lips to hers, slipped his tongue into her mouth, stripped the clothes from her body…
    A knock at the door pulled him from his thoughts. “Yes.”
    Leo stepped inside, looking uncommonly nervous.
    “I know you didn’t do him on the premises,” Farrell said.
    Leo shook his head. “We’re taking him outside the city.”
    “Then what are you doing here?” Farrell asked. “Get him off the property.”
    “In process,” Leo said. “But you have a visitor.”
    “A visitor?” Farrell didn't get visitors. He had employees and he had customers. Customers didn’t come to the office, and employees spent the entirety of their employ hoping they were never called to do so.
    Leo rubbed at the dark scruff along his chin. “It’s Jenna. Jenna Carver.”
    Farrell had to fight not to flinch. “She’s here?”
    Leo nodded. “Heard it in the headset on my way out.”
    A thousand images moved through his mind, all of them too bloody dangerous to entertain. “Send her up.”
    “Will do.”
    The fact that Leo’s face showed no sign of concern is part of why he was Farrell’s right hand man. He didn’t need anyone asking if he was okay. Didn’t want anyone looking out for him. Leo knew he could handle himself. He gave Farrell information and he left it the fuck alone.
    A moment later the door opened. And then she was there, stepping into the room.
    Jenna.
    She was wearing jeans, her shapely legs filling out every inch of them. Through the opening in her coat he could make out the soft swell of her breasts, the delicate angle of her