Free Dangerous Obsessions by Kira Matthison Page B

tracking down every piece of information I could find on Ellison Corp and its ruling family. “Family takeover, bad feeling?” I lifted one shoulder, hoping my acting was better than it felt.
    “It’s, uh…a little more than that.” Emma rubbed one of her temples, and then looked at me, as if assessing my tendency to gossip. She took a deep breath and considered. “Well, it’s nothing you couldn’t find in an internet search, anyway. When Sebastian left the company, there were rumors—from very high up in the organization, not from the media—that Sebastian had been forced out. He was the one their father had wanted to take over. Harold handed over the reins a few years before his death. And Dominick made his move about one month after their father died.”
    “One month ?” I felt my voice squeak. I knew the takeover had been brutal, though the articles had been so reliant on hearsay and gossip that I’d discounted most of what I read. But now that I remembered it, there had been a few snide mentions of the younger brother’s poor taste in pursuing the matter so soon after his father’s death. A brother that I, of course, had not yet met. A brother whose penchant for ruthlessness was something I should remember. I nodded, feeling a chill go down my spine. “I remember that. A few of them said he’d—”
    “Never have tried it when their father was alive, yes.” Emma was nodding. “I never met the man, thankfully.” Her voice dropped. “That’s heresy around here, you know. But he doesn’t sound like a nice guy. Anyway.” She dropped the folder back onto the desk. “Look, I’ll teach you how to use the search function in a bit. You’re looking a bit twitchy, and you’ve been working all morning. Go get some lunch, hmm?”
    “Right. Any suggestions?” Since, after all, I was going to get lunch. Not going to see Dominick.
    Mr. Ellison.
    Come to my office.
    I shivered, and tried to focus on Emma, who was pondering.
    “There’s a good banh mi food truck that’s usually on Fulton,” she suggested.
    “Right. Thanks.” I smiled and grabbed my purse. “I’ll be back in 20 minutes.”
    “Take your time. We work late in the evenings a lot—and it’s hard to do that if you never take breaks.”
    I headed out, wishing the woman were not quite so likable. In my head, Ellison Corp had been full of people who knowingly put corporate profits ahead of human interest, and the PR team had been staffed entirely by rude men and snobbish women. They would sneer at my body and tell me to lie on press releases. And instead, there were people like Emma, who offered to get me coffee and encouraged me to tell people facts. What was going on with this place?
    I was distracted enough not to realize that instead of pressing L to go to the lobby, I had pressed 5-8. The floors ticked by, 55, 56, 57, and I jabbed at the stop button hastily. What if the door opened and his secretary saw me? Worse, what if the door opened and—
    The door opened, and he was there. Him. Dominick Ellison, in all of his suited, blue-eyed, sharp-jawed glory, staring at me like he was going to pin me against the back wall of the elevator and rip my blouse off right there. I stared at him, and a moment later gave a little panicked gasp for hair, having apparently forgotten how to breathe in the meantime. I swallowed.
    “Hello. I was just—” Something told me going was the wrong way to end that statement.
    “And I was coming to get you.” His voice was soft, a threat that made my nipples tighten and my lips part longingly, even as my rational mind screamed for me to turn and run. Dominick was a businessman, he wasn’t going to follow me into the elevator if I ran away.
    Except, of course, that he was going to follow me in, and he was going to undress me and kiss me senseless, and I knew I wasn’t going to struggle. I was going to like it. I was going to love it. I was going to melt into his arms and let him do whatever he wanted.