New Beginnings Read Online Free PDF

face me. Xavier glared at me and shook his head in warning.
    Carline quickly composed herself and stalked towards me. “You just aren’t going to be happy until you have completely ruined Stephen. Well, I’m not going to allow that to happen.” She pointed a perfectly manicured finger in my face.
    I let out a heavy sigh, and shook my head at her. She gave me a vicious look. “I don’t need to try and ruin Stephen. Given time, he will do it all by himself.”
    “He wasn’t the one outside Xavier’s home this weekend.” I suppressed the gasp of surprise that tried to escape my throat at what she just said. Is that what Xavier thought? Did he think it was Stephen who had been at the house? “He was called into work. A twenty-four hour clinic had an x-ray machine that needed servicing,” Carline said confidently.
    Xavier rose out of his chair in a steady and deliberate manner and stalked over to us. He grabbed Carline by the elbow and escorted her to the door. “This discussion is over. Get out. Now.” His voice was soft but demanding. Xavier wrenched the door open. Stewart was standing on the other side waiting. He grabbed Carline by the arm and swiftly pulled her from Xavier’s office.
    Carline just had to have the last word. Turning around quickly, she focused her icy glare at me. “This isn’t over,” she said venomously.
    “Yes, it is,” Xavier growled, shutting the office door in her face.
    He turned around and looked at me warily. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to hear any of that,” he said regretfully.
    “Why was she here?” I asked, demanding to know.
    “Please, Ella. It’s nothing you need to worry about,” he said in a pacifying tone.
    Sometimes I really hated how hard it was to stay focused during a conversation with him, especially when I was angry and he looked so dangerously handsome. He was wearing my favorite charcoal gray three-piece suit with a crisp white dress shirt and a simple black tie. He placed the jacket on the back of one of the chairs at the conference table before stopping before me. The vest was form-fitting and really showcased his muscular arms, his broad chest, and lean waist. I knew he was trying to distract me from my question he had yet to answer, and he wasn’t holding anything back based on the way he had sauntered over to me. I gave up trying to focus on his face and continued to visually feast on his lean, hard body.
    Stopping in front of me, he looked down at me with hooded eyes as his unique and musky smell wrapped around me. I could feel the heat coming off his skin as he grabbed the strap of my pocketbook and lifted it off my shoulder. Sliding my bag down, he placed it on the floor next to me. “We don’t have a lot of time,” he said quietly, seductively. His piercing, blue eyes never left mine. My breathing kicked up a notch.
    Grabbing my scarf, he slowly unwound it from my neck. The soft material moving against my overly sensitive skin had me fisting my hands at my side. The scarf fell from his hand and landed on top of my pocketbook. “We need to make the most of it,” he said, unzipping my jacket slowly.
    Walking around behind me, he lifted my jacket off my shoulders and slowly pulled it down my arms. His knuckles softly grazed down my arms as he did so. He deposited my jacket unceremoniously on the floor. “So I don’t want to fight.”
    Wrapping his arms around my waist from behind, he splayed his right hand over my abdomen. Pulling my back to his front, he held me there tightly. Lifting his left hand, he swept my hair behind my shoulder. Goosebumps exploded across my skin from the light touch of his fingers and in anticipation of his mouth on me. My breath hitched as he nuzzled the sensitive skin under my ear.
    Xavier didn’t go unaffected either. His heart was pounding against my back. Restless hands ran along my abdomen, skimming the bottom edge of my bra, while he pressed the hard ridge of his arousal into my lower back.
    My