Chapter 102: Push & Pull Game My hand glided to her waist, the process causing her blouse to rise, and her skin made contact with mine. For a minute, every ounce of control cracked. Catherine succumbed to that one touch, thrusting her face forward to me until our noses brushed, her breath coming off silky and feverish. "Say that to my face again. I dare you," I spoke darkly, and her chest rose laboriously. My hand moved toward her thigh, hoisting so it hung on my waist, and the table creaked briefly as it shifted. Catherine was tongue-tied, gawking at my lips like it was lunch for the day. So I gave her what her body cried for. When my mouth connected with hers, I felt the goosebumps rise on her skin, followed by a deep moan that almost shredded me from the inside out. I kissed her slowly, taking my time to suitably taste her, sucking on her bottom lip a few times before finishing up by lining my tongue on her teeth. I wanted more, but I pulled my mouth away, a thin saliva following, and Catherine licked her lips as if she had just devoured her favorite sugar. The feral desire blossoming in her hazels made them shine just a little bit. "Your push and pull make this a whole lot better." She rasped. I snatched her neck, and her throat moved thickly. "I get to watch you succumb all over again." "I won’t." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞 I almost laughed at her attempts to sound decisive. "Why, baby?" "Because you don’t want me anymore." She expressed hurt. "You’re just getting under my skin with this." I see... it falls to the question she asked me that night in her tipsy state. "Baby..." I murmured, taking her chin. "Addictions don’t end that simply." She sank her teeth into her bottom lip as if tempting me for another kiss. "But you made your bed. Lie on it." I freed her to check the papers. "That will be all, Ms. Lane." I could feel her glaring daggers on the side of my face before she hastily walked back to her table. "Dinner by eight. Finish up everything by then." ~☆~ The ride to the restaurant was an amusing one for me. I couldn’t say the same for Catherine. She was really keen to act as if I didn’t exist, like I had broken her heart or something. I stepped on the gas pedal. Her eyes flew to me, and I heard her nails squeeze into the leather as panic filled her lungs. I moved my eyes to her, and she just stared at the road like it was a one-way ticket to hell. "Keep your eyes on the road!" I geared up speed again, and her chest shook. "You will hit someone!" There were no cars or pedestrians in sight. This street was a lonely one, and I kept gearing until Catherine almost entered a state of panic. I snapped my eyes back to the road. "What’s wrong with you?" You’re what’s wrong with me. But I don’t say that, reducing my speed when we got to a busy road and entered traffic. "Are you scared of cars, baby?" I asked, trying to see if she would open up about it. "I told you I don’t fast things." I recalled when she was given the company car after she became my secretary, but she never used it. It was a tiring process because of the neighborhood she stayed in at that time. It was crawling with drunk goons. I had my men take over the streets until she moved to a better location. "I’ll change that logic." "Is this your way of doing that? Speeding until I enter a full-blown panic?" "To make you know that as long as you’re with me, nothing’s gonna happen." My words seemed to have taken her by surprise, but she quickly looked away to the window, her fist tightening on her lap. There was a slit on her skirt, allowing me to view her juicy thigh. My marks would be fading by now. My grip tightened on the wheels at the thought, and when the light turned green, I didn’t wait for the car in front of me to move. I navigated to the left and zoomed out. We arrived at the restaurant and got out of the car. I tossed my key fob at the chauffeur, walking closer to pull Catherine more to me. She was about to pull away, but I didn’t let her. "Public," I reminded, knowing she had no choice but to comply. She rolled her eyes at me, and my hands flexed. I’ll reach my breaking point soon, if I’m not halfway there already. When we stepped through the door, I took off her coat and handed it to the attendant. I took off mine and placed my hand on the small of her back, leading her to the second floor. "You didn’t rent the entire place this time." "How else are we gonna keep convincing the public, Ms. Lane?" "Is that still a thing?" She gave me a look. "I thought by now they would know Ares King is overly devoted to his wife." "Midnightians always have something up their sleeves." "Yes, they do." I pulled out the chair for her to sit, she did, and I pushed it in gently. "Then you must know we have a lot of work." I walked to my seat, unbuttoning my suit button. "The point of getting the public interested in our affair was to convince your parents. And I think we did a bad job already because it certainly did not end well." She opened her menu, and her eyes almost bulged out for some reason. "The more reason to work harder. They would think that after that, everything will crumble. We’ll convince them otherwise and let them know that we are, in fact, serious." "What do you have in mind then?" "I’ll decide which public events we attend from now on."