Page 39 of Sugar
My frantic gaze darted between the woman who was already picking up a phone and the guard who was storming toward me. I knew I was about to get escorted off the premises.
That was bad enough. Mortifying enough.
But the universe wasn’t done with me.
Because a familiar gruff voice cut through the chaos. “Maddie?”
Oh, double hell.
Chapter 7
Gilded
EASTON
“What in the ever-loving-fuckare you doing here?” I bit out before I could stop myself.
Maddie took a retreating step away, her panicked eyes meeting mine. “I… Uhhh… It’s not?—”
Her words cut off abruptly when I closed the distance between us. It was just as well. Whatever excuse she’d been scrambling for would’ve been bullshit.
The tenacious journalist was there because she’d followed me.
In search of a story…
Or was it in search of me?
Logically, I knew it was likely the former, but that didn’t stop my body from reacting to the possibility of the latter.
“She’s with me,” I said, halting the guard who was two seconds away from removing her.
Maddie tore her focus from me to glance at him.
I wanted it back.
“Look at me,” I ordered.
Just like when I’d told her to sit in my office, her obedience was immediate.
That shot to my dick, too.
“I can explain,” she rushed out, nervously tucking her dark hair behind an ear.
“Later. Emily”—I tilted my head toward the podium—“is going to give you a couple things to sign. Then, you’re going to go back out to Golden to wait for me. Understood?”
She shook her head.
Why am I not surprised?
I hadn’t expected her to mindlessly agree, but it’d been worth a shot.
I braced for the onslaught of questions I couldn’t answer.
But when she opened her fuckable mouth, it was to whisper, “I want to go in there.”
Okay. Strike that.
I’mveryfucking surprised.
