Free Obession by Design by Ravenna Tate Page B

neck over and
over. “That was fucking amazing. Now, I’m ready to sleep.”
    He
pulled out and rolled her onto her side. Then he lay on his back and pulled her
close, wrapping his strong arms around her. Liane smiled, listening to his breathing as she drifted off to sleep again, more
content than she’d ever been. A great adventure in her life had begun, and she
couldn’t wait to see where it led.
     

Chapter
Eight
     
    Emmett
and Liane strolled into the office around noon. She’d
had breakfast with him at his place, and then he’d walked her to her new
apartment. He’d waited while she showered and changed clothes, and it had taken
every ounce of self-control not to join her in the shower. When she emerged, he
watched her dress for work until she told him she was uncomfortable.
    He’d
explained that she needed to get used to it, and asked her if she’d consider
moving into his place for a few days. She looked so conflicted that he’d
dropped the subject, but it nagged at him now, even as they walked into the
elevator holding hands.
    He
was moving too fast for her. That much was obvious, but why? Because she didn’t trust him? That seemed unlikely
after last night. She’d told him all her past sexual experiences, so he knew
him asking her to move in wasn’t a trigger.
    Now
that he’d had her, there was no going back. Didn’t she see that? He wasn’t
trying to overwhelm her, but she simply didn’t understand him. When he found
something he wanted, he went after it until he got it. It wasn’t complicated.
He wanted Liane , and he would have her, no matter
what he had to do.
    He
had a video conference set up with the other Weathermen at two, and asked Liane to join them so he could introduce her to everyone.
He also told her he’d want her to sit in on each of their weekly meetings where
they shared the names and other similarities they found within their own
message boards and websites.
    After
introductions were made, Ace shared the news that he and Harper had set a date.
They were getting married in NorthCentral six months
from now, so he told everyone to keep the day open. “I expect you all to travel
here for this. It’s going to be one hell of a party.”
    “I
hope you don’t think you’re setting an example for each of us,” said Kane, his
voice full of humor.
    “At
least I don’t have to travel to another city to see you get married,” said
Blaine. He, too, was smiling. Blaine Parker owned Clear Channel Industries,
which distributed media and music content via subscriptions for roughly half
the cities in the world. Of all of them, Blaine was the one they’d easily vote
most likely to never settle down.
    “Might
do you some good to watch a wedding in person,” said Addison. Addison Carlyle
owned Carlyle Imports. His company employed most of the procurement teams that went
above ground to search for items their customers wanted. Because his losses
were so high, he charged a fortune from his clients and kept twenty percent of
the fee even if the team didn’t make it back with the item. His contract for
each item was ten pages long.
    Ace
took all this good-natured ribbing with a triumphant smile on his face. Emmett
had never seen his friend look so damn happy, and decided he wanted to look
that blissful one day, too. He glanced toward Liane ,
who looked like she wasn’t sure what to make of the men. When she caught him
watching her, he winked and she smiled. Surely that was a good sign.
    “All
right,” said Emmett, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s get down to business.”
    “Before
we go any further,” said Dominic, “I have some exciting news. Merrick has found
Rob Marin.”
    Emmett
waited while the excited chatter reached a crescendo. Merrick Anderson was
Dominic Greco’s lead IT specialist. He’d been instrumental in helping them
finger Rob to begin with once Harper noticed the similarities in her work for
Ace.
    “What
do you mean he’s found him?” asked