Undressed By His Arrogance-Chapter 248: You Did A Great Job

"You did a great job." Winn said eventually.

"Screw you!!!" Ivy shot back instantly.

Winn drew in a sharp breath. Every time she said that—every damn time—his mind flashed somewhere it shouldn’t. And the problem was that she knew. He could see it in the quick flare of heat in her eyes before she looked away. She threw gasoline, and he always, always caught fire.

"I am a capable woman, Winn," she continued, shoulders squared. "I don’t need you to hold my hand or watch my every move. I do my job, and I try as much as possible to be damned good at it!"

"No arguments there," he murmured. And it was true. Today she had stood in that conference room and she had owned it.

"So what’s this?" she demanded, rounding on him. "Why are you hovering like some overgrown bodyguard with a superiority complex?"

"I do have a right to be in the room while you are defending a huge project of House of Kane, don’t I?" Winn asked, lifting a brow.

"You forget Everest has a stake in it too." Ivy jabbed a finger at his chest. "And if you would keep your dick in your pants, we wouldn’t have to work so hard on reassuring the investors now, would we?"

He bit back a grin. God, she was perfect when she was furious. Fire everywhere.

"Last time I checked," Winn said calmly as the doors slid open for them, "you wanted my dick out of my pants."

Her lips parted in a small gasp he pretended not to hear. He didn’t even glance at her as they both stepped out onto the same floor, the tension between them thick enough to punch through.

"You’re on this floor too?" she demanded, disbelief dripping from every syllable.

"What a coincidence?" he chuckled, spreading his hands theatrically as he walked toward his room. "I guess destiny wants us together."

This time, she indeed gave him the finger and began to walk to her room door. Winn followed slowly behind her, giving her a bit of space.

She pulled her card from her bag while Winn walked past her with infuriating calm. He stopped at the door directly next to hers and held his key card up with a flourish, as if revealing some grand twist in a magic trick.

Ivy groaned loudly. "You have got to be kidding me!!!"

Winn turned, leaning a shoulder against his doorframe, the picture of relaxed arrogance. "Why? You have a problem with me staying next door?"

"No!" she snapped.

"You forget, I can tell when you lie, love." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

I won’t stop you if you want to sneak in the middle of the night and fuck me, Ivy. I could never say no to you. I’ll leave the door open tonight."

Her breath lodged somewhere between outrage and arousal.

Ivy groaned again and escaped into her room as fast as dignity allowed. She slammed the door shut, back pressed against it, chest rising and falling. Even when she was mad at him — furious, livid, seconds away from committing homicide — she felt incredibly turned on still. And that, more than anything he’d said, pissed her off.

God. She should be angry with him. She was angry with him. Righteously so. She’d told him off, she’d snapped at him, she’d thrown glares sharp enough to cut steel. And yet...

Her mind stuck stubbornly to his final words, looping them in a voice she shouldn’t remember so clearly.

"I’ll leave the door open tonight."

The man was shameless. Infuriating. Addictive.

She turned sideways in the mirror, watching the rise and fall of her breath. Her cheeks were flushed.

"Get a grip," she whispered to herself.

But her body wasn’t listening. Her mind wasn’t listening. And her heart... her heart had long since surrendered and was pretending it hadn’t.

Why did he get under her skin so easily?

Why did he make her want things she fully intended to deny herself?

"That smug son of a bitch!" she spat, pacing the room.

All she needed was a good nap and then maybe she could take a stroll along the canals, see the bridges lit by soft golden light, maybe wander into one of those tiny cafés. Anything to distract herself. Anything to scrub Winn Kane out of her bloodstream.

But as she pulled off her clothes, tossing them onto the chaise lounge, and found a comfy pair of shorts and a tank top to wear, she could feel her own body going haywire — heat coiling low, pulse ticking too fast, skin hypersensitive.

"For God’s sake..." she muttered.

She dropped onto the enormous bed, sinking into the soft duvet.

Her phone pinged.

Winn: You didn’t say anything about taking you to see the city.

She groaned and let the phone fall beside her face. "Why won’t he just leave me alone?" she hissed at the ceiling.

But the truth was already there, pulsing beneath her anger: Why did he have to constantly consume her thoughts, her space, her body? She was with Eugene, for goodness’ sakes. Sweet, steady, calm Eugene. No complications. No madness. No emotional earthquakes.

She squeezed her eyes shut. She just needed to get it out of her system, she told herself. A release. A reset. A moment of silence inside her own body.

She adjusted on the bed, shifting deeper into the pillows, legs brushing together. Her phone slid a little as she moved, her fingers accidentally skimming the screen as she slid her hands between her thighs.

*****

Winn’s phone rang while he was waiting for Ivy’s response — or her explosion. He didn’t care which. Either one would satisfy him so long as she stayed connected to him somehow, even through anger.

He had stripped into just a pair of dark shorts. He reached for his phone lazily.

But when he saw her name flash on the screen, it was Ivy. Calling him.

He leaned back against the headboard, letting a slow grin stretch across his mouth. "Well now," he murmured to himself, thumb brushing over her name, savoring the way it looked on his screen.

(here is to 200 power stones. 400 is the new goal)