Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.

Confucius

JENNIE

The entire ballroom is eerily silent. When I look on the floor, I see Steve, sprawled out on the dark hardwood planks with his eyes cemented shut.

Holy shit.

Lisa knocked him out.

When I finally manage to glance at Lisa, she's shaking. I don't know if it's from rage or not, but it's hitting me harder than seeing Steve again.

A screech of a chair is the first sound to break the silence, and everyone turns to watch as Jiyong hauls himself out of his chair and heads my way. Lisa immediately springs into action and cuts him off before he reaches me, but Jiyong still manages to lean deeply to the right and jab a finger in my direction.

"You," he seethes. "You ruined everything."

I'm not sure why he's complimenting me like that, but I am sure that his behavior is extremely unprofessional and public, for his whole company to see.

But then again, so was Lisa's.

Oh, God.

The vote.

I don't believe Jiyong will still be with Black Enterprises after tonight, but I also don't know if Lisa will either. She punched a guy in front of her company's board, her employees, and the IllumaGen board. That's not something a CEO fit to lead a billion dollar company does. If it happened any other way, this would certainly have been the victory Jiyong was looking for—Lisa, acting violently, fueling the mafia rumors.

But it didn't happen another way.

It happened for me.

And Lisa might suffer for it.

It dawns on me what a sacrifice this is. I may have pushed aside my dignity and confronted my demons for Lisa, but I didn't lose anything that I can't gain back. Lisa, on the other hand, risked her company for me. A company she loves enough to ask a complete stranger to marry her. She jeopardized that for me.

You don't do something that big for a woman you like. You do that for a woman you love.

Oh, my God.

I think Lisa loves me.

My hand instinctively reaches for her back. She's still standing in front of me, shielding me from Jiyong, but at my touch, she leans back, pressing herself into my hand. The movement is so natural, I feel it inside of me, like she's an extension of myself.

With my hand still on her back, I approach her side, so we're standing next to each other.

I'm staring Jiyong straight in the eye when I say, "I'll be getting a restraining order."

I know nothing about law, so I don't know if I have any legal grounds for it, but it felt like the right thing to say. Like one final jab to Jiyong in front of everyone. And then I take Lisa's hand and leave, nodding in goodbye to everyone else at the table.

I can feel thousands of eyes on us until we're out of the room. As soon as we're in the hallway, Mino and Dominic appear out of nowhere. They walk us to the car, where Lisa and I sit in silence until we're back in the penthouse.

It isn't until we're alone in her room that Lisa finally speaks.

"Why isn't he in jail?"

"There was never any hard evidence. It was my word against his. I asked my social worker to help me leave, and she did."

"I'll take care of Steve."

"Okay."

I don't really care anymore. I've risen above the pain and uncertainty Steve has caused, and I finally feel like I'm healing. But it'll be nice to know that Steve will be taken care of and can't hurt anyone else.

"Legally," I add, just in case.

Lisa smothers her small smile with a kiss to my forehead.

I let us simmer in silence for a moment before I say, "You love me."

Her eyes widen, but she doesn't deny it.

So, I ask, "Why?"

When she takes a seat on the bed and gestures for me to join her, I do.

"Remember when I drove you home for the first time?" After I nod, she continues, "You were so scared of me, yet you managed to demand something in return for this arrangement. I couldn't believe it."

"And you loved me then?" I ask, dubiously.

She shakes her head. "No, but I'd be lying if I say I didn't like what I saw. I started paying better attention to you after that, noticing your random bouts of bravery. Despite your fears, and there are a lot of them,"—I snort—"you're able to overcome everything. I've never seen true courage like that before.

"Don't get me wrong. I've seen Romano soldiers go into battle knowing they're as good as dead, but those men aren't afraid. They don't have to overcome their fears in order to get the job done. But you have to, and it's beautiful.

"And when you stuck up for me, you didn't even have to stop and consider it. You just acted. There was something so pure about your instinct to protect me that I couldn't help but give you a piece of my heart that day. After that, I was pretty much a goner. I fell in love with your compassion and your courage and your strength and yo—"

I cut her off with a kiss, pressing my lips against her with surprising urgency. When I pull back and say, "I don't want to go slow anymore," I might as well have said, "I love you."

Because I do.

My God, I really do.

Lisa is looking at me like she's about to demand everything of me. And right now, I'd do just about anything she asks of me if it means she'll push me onto the bed and press her lips against mine. Break my dry spell. Bare herself to me.

"Kneel," she says, her demanding voice causing my nipples to pucker under my shirt.

"Okay, Mr. Grey," I say, teasing her, but I do so anyway.

"Don't. I don't do romance novels," she replies, and I know I'm about to be fucked.

Roughly. Passionately. Brutally.

The warning is loud and clear, but I know better. Lisa may not "do" romance novels, but she is a romance novel.

I wink at her, glad to push aside the stress of the evening with playfulness, if only just for a moment. "But you would for me."

She doesn't deny it. "Good thing you'd never ask. For me."

And then she stands up, my face eye level with her thighs, and walks around me, so she's facing my back. I shiver as she trails a lone finger from my shoulder to my neck and down my spine. When she reaches the zipper of my evening gown, she tugs it downward and slides the straps of my dress off of my shoulders. The fabric slides off me, pooling around my knees in a circle of red, baring me to her completely.

She groans in appreciation when she sees that I'm not wearing a bra nor panties. The sound goes straight to my clit, and I jerk forward, humping the empty air desperately. She chuckles lightly at my eagerness and walks around me until I'm facing her.

I watch intently as she strips the jacket of her tuxedo off and begins removing her button down, each pop of a button revealing smooth, tan skin. When she slides the shirt off her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor, I admire the hard planes of her chest and abdomen, eyeing the light smattering of hair that dips past the V of her hipbones and down into her pants.

Unable to stop myself, I reach forward to remove her pants. My fingers fumble on her belt, barely able to slide it off in my rush. Too eager to wait, I pull her boxer briefs and pants down at once, revealing a thick, long erection that has my mouth watering in anticipation.

Lisa threads her fingers through my hair until her hand is resting on the back of my head. "Open."

As soon as my lips part, she jerks her cock forward and into my mouth. We both groan the instant my lips make contact with the head of her cock. I place my hands on her thighs in an attempt to steady myself as she fucks my face, taking what she wants from me without remorse.

She takes what she wants, but I use her right back. As she fucks my face, I inch my body closer to her until my clit is brushing against her leg. My hips shift up and down, and my body revels in the friction until I'm dripping down her leg.

Lisa pulls back abruptly and grabs my arms until I'm standing. I crawl onto the bed and remain on all fours. Behind me, she runs her palm against my ass in a teasing touch before giving it a firm spank. Her fingers burn a trail down to my pussy, and I let out a long moan when she traces my slit, stopping to massage my clit.

After plunging two fingers inside of me, she asks, "Would you like a safe word?"

Her gruff voice betrays her lust. She's on the edge of losing it, but so am I.

I moan at her words, barely able to let out a "no" before her fingers leave me and are quickly replaced by her cock, sinking deep into me from behind. I meet her violent thrusts with my own, grinding my ass roughly against her. My fingers grip the black sheets tightly, struggling to keep my body grounded as each solid pump of her cock pushes me forward.

I sweep my hair over one shoulder and twist it into an untied ponytail, forming a thick leash. When I hand it to her, she growls and pulls on my hair until my back arches and the pain hurts so good. After she tugs my hair back, forcing my head to turn, and kisses me roughly, biting down on my bottom lip, I come hard and uncontrollably, helplessly convulsing around her cock.

My arms wobble, weak from the intense orgasm. I put them behind my back and press them against one another, as if they're bound by invisible cuffs. Lisa groans at the sight. My face rests on the mattress, while she continues to fuck me from behind, each thrust pushing my face harder into the sheets. I can feel a second orgasm approaching, but before it reaches me, Lisa pulls out and flips me over, so I'm on my back.

She sinks back into me, her eyes so dark with lust, I don't even recognize their color. I can't help but close my eyes at the feel of her from a new position.

"Open your eyes," she demands. "Look at me when you come again."

When I open my eyes, our eyes lock, the connection so intense and so intimate, it's at odds with the brutal pounding of her body into mine.

A throaty moan tears out of my lips, and I pant, "I'm so close."

Lisa leans forward, so our entire fronts are pressed together, and quickens her pace, chasing my orgasm into fruition. When my walls begin to shake around her cock, I feel her fingers wrap around my throat, lightly squeezing until the vulnerable feeling of being dominated has me coming even harder.

Not a second later, her come spills into me, and I can't help but wish she had taken me bare. The thought of her skin against mine with no barriers has my walls gripping her cock tighter.

Lisa chuckles knowingly and says, "We need to get you on birth control first."

"I have an IUD," I say, as she pulls out of me. "And I'm clean."

She smirks. "I know. I am, too."

I nod, though I already knew that. She's too cautious to contract an STD. Lisa treats her body like a temple, working out often and eating well. The only times I've seen her eating poorly is when she indulges me, but even then, she never eats junk food.

Lisa goes to the bathroom and comes back with a warm, wet hand towel. I relax into the mattress as she wipes me down. When she stops abruptly, I open my eyes and glance at her face. She's eyeing my neck, where the reddish beginnings of a bruise have undoubtedly begun to form.

When she speaks, it's soft. "I'm sorry."

A devious smirk crosses my lips. "I'm not."

And then I grab her arms and pull her against me, claiming her lips with mine.

Earlier today, I thought I was at the beginning of like, but I realize that I'm on the opposite edge—the hazy territory, where the lips of like and love kiss, and lines get blurry. And when Lisa slips into me again that night, sliding slowly in and out of me, our hands clasped together and her eyes locked on mine, I slip closer into love, dangerously past the cusp of falling into forever.