Under Pressure [IAD Agency] (Siren Publishing Classic)

them practically still dressed. He was usually composed, even during sex, never losing control, but tonight with Bella that legendary control had been blown to hell.
    He went into the bathroom, tossed away the used condom, splashed some water on his face, and braced his hands on the side of the sink, looking into the mirror to see the cold bastard staring back at him.
    He admitted he was intrigued by Bella. But where could this go?
    Who the hell was he kidding? He had been attracted to her ever since that first moment he had laid eyes on her. The little vixen had made him lose control as no one did.
    No one.
    It was unnerving, what she made him feel. She was exotically beautiful, a wild, passionate, opinionated little thing and he didn’t know whether he wanted to strangle her, fuck her brains out, or hold her close from moment to moment.
    No one spoke to him the way she did, wouldn’t dare. She made him…feel. He already ached to be buried balls-deep inside her hot little body again.
    He scrubbed a hand over his face. Christ , he had just taken her like an animal with no control. His hold on her would probably leave bruises on her perfect skin, marking her. Somehow the thought that he had marked her made him feel a possessiveness that he had never felt before. Over that he felt disgusted, a wave of searing protectiveness at the mere thought that he had hurt her.
    Christ, what had she done to me?
    He would take this slow. He just needed to work her out of his system, but tonight he wasn’t done with her. He would make up for taking her this first time like a raging beast, for the rest of the night, he thought, chuckling to himself. He would work her out of his system. Jason opened the door and made his way back out to the living room, looking around as all thoughts came to a crashing halt.
    His eyes slowly narrowed as he glanced around the room.
    She was gone.
     
    * * * *
     
    As Bella heard the bathroom door close, she felt the full force of what she had just done like a slap in the face. Oh God! She silently cried as the sexual haze was blasted away by full-blown panic.
    She needed to leave, to escape before he came back. Slipping off her heels, she reached down and grabbed them in her hand and she bolted from the room to the front door on bare feet, grabbing her purse from the table in flight. She raced out the door and jammed the button to the elevators heading to the main entrance, consumed with the thought of escape. She jumped into the elevator as it opened and pushed the button to the lobby, trying to hold back a sob.
    Fingers clenching her purse and shoes, she raced through the lobby to the front entrance, just barely noticing the startled security guard half rise from his seat as she bolted past.
    A man was getting out of a cab in front of the building as she came crashing out of the doors. The man held the door open for her as she all but dove into the security of the waiting vehicle.
    So focused on leaving, she hardly noticed the man’s curious glance change to shock as his jaw dropped with surprised recognition as he watched the taxi sped away.
     
    * * * *
     
    Opening the door to her apartment silently, Bella threw her keys and purse down on the table in the hallway after setting the alarm. Gasping for air, tremors took over her body. The uncontrollable panic consuming her was making her shake with a force that rattled her teeth together. She stripped the clothes off her body on her way into the bathroom, barely registering that she had no panties on, as she turned the scalding water to full blast.
    Getting in, she let the spray of the water warm her body as the tears were torn from her. Her sobbing body collapsed onto the floor of the shower. Curling into fetal position, she hugged herself tight, feeling as if she wept out her very soul.
    She wanted Jason, had wanted him so much that her body had responded to his slightest touch. She felt ashamed, not at being with him, but at this uncontrollable fear that had taken over after.
    The fear that she had been fighting for a year.
    The fear of letting someone touch her again, fear of needing someone to chase the demons away and make her feel alive again. But she had lived tonight. Jason had forced that dormant part of her to the forefront with the subtlety of a cannon blast. He had made her feel so much in such a short time, she didn’t know what to do with all of these feelings. All of the emotions she had been trying to hold back came crashing