Fated Absolution by Kathi S. Barton Read Free Book Online

more of her when she moaned. That’s when he remembered her injuries, her wounds.
    He jerked away, pushing her away from him, out of reach because the temptation was nearly overwhelming to pull her back and begin again. He could only look at her, panting with need, need that was slow to dissipate. He closed his eyes against the red haze. He wanted her, but didn’t want to frighten her.
    “I’m sorry.” He wasn’t sure why he was, but he definitely was very sorry. He was sorry for kissing her, and for stopping, sorry for pushing her away and not pulling her back; mostly he was sorry he couldn’t finish what he so desperately wanted. He wanted her, wanted to be deep inside of her, right now. And she smelled of cherry blossoms. Fuck!
    ~~~
    Maddy, still trying to catch her own breath, finally got her mind to being to function again, it having left the building right along with Elvis finally grasped what he had said. ‘He was sorry, he was sorry, he was sorry’, like a litany it kept running like an endless loop through her brain. He’d kissed her and now he was sorry.
    She turned on her heel and left the room, only to run into Mr. MacManus and the entire household was there as well. They must have came when she screamed she reasoned, came to see what she was about, she wasn’t sure anymore. She just needed to get out, out right now before the dam of tears she was barely able to hold in check fell. With a murmured ‘sorry, excuse me’ she ran to the front door and out into the night. She was into her car in record time and had the door slammed shut and locked seconds after getting in. Damn it!
    He still had her keys.
    Putting her car in neutral, she stood outside the doorway, with anger and humiliation giving her added strength; she pushed it further down the slight hill. When she was going almost too fast to keep up she hopped inside, popped the clutch again and it thankfully started.
    Slamming the door, she drove to the gate, which had an eye for giving guests a straight shot out of the drive. She didn’t even slow down, but drove faster, as if the man who said he was sorry for kissing her was about to come out and try to stop her again.
    There was a note on her table when she came back in to work on Monday. Simply put she was to come to Mr. Schaller’s office as soon as she got there. She didn’t even bother taking off her light jacket or putting down her things but went up to his offices on the top floor. Her mood had not improved over the weekend nor had her pain lessened.
    Wouldn’t want to be seen mingling with us underlings, now would we? S he’d noticed on Sunday afternoon that she had started having bitter conversations with herself, either centered on the incident at the mansion, or about the fucking duckweed at the house. She had also worked on her vocabulary as he had suggested, coming up with all sorts of creative names for him. She hoped that sometime in the near future she would be able to use them on him.
    The bosses latest bimbo, this one had to be number sixteen, was at her desk, eating a donut she didn’t need while sipping coffee from a company mug. The coffee smelled like vanilla and something else that said ‘I spent more money on this one pound of coffee than you spent on your groceries this week’ smell. The office area was tastefully done, warm and cool colors, wood desk and plants everywhere. This area said, ‘yes, I’m a very successful lawyer, and you should trust me.’ Bullshit!
    “Sherman, err Mr. Schaller expected you thirty minutes ago, Ms Harm. I’ll see if they’re ready for you.” Before she could press her little intercom button Maddy commented, not caring anymore if they added two hundred years or two thousand. She’d had enough. Disbarment was much better than what she had had to stoop to do keep her job.
    “As I’m not supposed to be here until nine and it’s barely eight fifteen, I don’t know why he would expect me long before I’m supposed to be here.