10. Misty
I toss backthe shot Ethan hands me and cringe as it burns my throat.
Nicholas had been waiting to take me home from the office after work. He raised both hands in surrender when I stomped up to him and just laughed when I said I’d find my own way.
He told me to take it up with the boss, but if I didn’t want him to get fired, I needed to get in the car.
Nicholas was still outside my front door when it was time to head to the club, so I snuck out the side exit and walked a block down the street before calling for an Uber. Something tells me I don’t want Damon to know what I’m doing. That he’d put an end to all my fun.
“Easy there. That’s your third one,” Carter warns, giving me a worried look.
When he said come out with the team, I expected more than him and his two friends, but after the first couple of shots, I stopped caring. I didn’t need a bunch of people for my plans tonight. Relax, let myself forget about everything, and maybe even let Carter take me home.
“I’m fine. Just needed to take the edge off,” I reply, proud that I didn’t slur.
I’ve never been to Elysium before. The sleek seating and floor-to-ceiling drapery caught my attention the second I walked in. This place practically dares you to be depraved.
The bar’s lit by strobe lights, casting us in alternating shadows and muted colors, giving the same feeling as the cover of night, when everyone feels just a little more reckless.
The deep bass of the music vibrates through my body, calling to something inside me, and the rhythm lulls me into a dance.
The shots go to my head, lowering my inhibitions, and I finally feel free from overdemanding bosses and visa applications.
Fear threatens to take over with the fact that after everything, I could lose it all. I close my eyes and let the thoughts slide off me, drift into nothingness, and vanish into the beat of the music.
I grab Carter’s hand, and he follows eagerly as I make my way toward the dance floor. Large, warm fingers settle on my waist as I move in time with the music, and I don’t pull away when his chest meets my back. He’s tall, several inches over six feet, and he has no trouble keeping up with me. I lean into him and suck in a breath as the length of him presses into my lower back. He grinds his cock against me, holding me in place with an arm banded around my middle.
This is what I wanted. Needed. Fun, release, to let go. But there’s something wrong. Something is missing.
He smells like pine, and the way he says my name isn’t quite right.
Any chance of Carter and me is crushed as images of Damon’s broad shoulders, stormy eyes, and sweet, smoky scent flood my mind.
I push Carter back, taking a step forward and breaking the contact between us. He lets me go easily but tilts his head as he takes me in. “Did I read you wrong?”
Did he? “No, it’s fine. Just the shots going to my head. I’m going to freshen up, and I’ll be right back.”
“You sure you’re okay?” His concern is sweet, but there’s no warmth in my stomach. No shivers raising goose bumps down my neck.
“Yup. Totally good. I’ll be right back.”
He gestures his thumb toward his friends. “I’ll be at the table.”
I rush out, suddenly needing to put distance between us. Turning, I stumble on my heels and smack into a wall. A warm…hard…breathing wall.
My gaze slowly travels up, following the buttons on a crisp black dress shirt and pausing where he’s left a few open, revealing a hint of his olive-toned chest and intricate black lines of a tattoo impossible to make out.
I touch the tip of my tongue to my top lip and lift onto my toes to get a better look.
Damon drops his mouth to my ear, his breath fanning over me. “Eyes up here, Nymph.”
Goose bumps explode in the wake of the shivers traveling down my neck.
Narrowed, hooded gray eyes meet mine. He looks pissed. “How did you get here?”
“Uber.” Hic. “Snuck out the side exit.” Hic. “Please don’t blame Nicholas.”
Damon searches my face for a moment before groaning, “Fuck,” under his breath. “We’re going.”
“Hey, Mr. Everette. She’s with me,” Carter says.
“Uh-oh. Not a good idea.” I whisper it like a secret.
Damon’s fingers twitch where they’re wrapped around the curve of my hip.
“Is that right?” Damon looks at me. “Are you with him?”
A muscle ticks in his jaw. It’s more of a warning than a question.
I reach up and brush my fingers over it. His skin is hot and rough with evening scruff. I’m momentarily mesmerized by the sharp cut of his cheekbone. He’s hard and soft, warm and cold, every opposite smashed together, and suddenly, all I want is to figure him out.
He reaches down, bands his arm right below my butt, and lifts me over his shoulder, snapping me out of my daze.
“Put me down!” I squeal and try to pinch his back. He shuffles me higher, shoulder landing into my stomach.
“I hope I puke on you,” I groan.
He vibrates beneath me. If he was anyone else, I’d think he was laughing.
“Man…I mean Mr. Everette. I can take her home. She came here with me,” Carter protests.
“And now she’s with me. She needs to sober up. We have things to go over,” Damon says firmly.
Things?
Damon turns us and moves effortlessly through the crowd of dancing, seemingly unaffected by my weight.
I wave at Carter and mouth, “Sorry.”
He’s just standing there, mouth open, gaping at me.
“I’ll call you tomorrow!” I shout it over the music, but I’m cut off with a crisp smack against my ass.
“Ow!” I whine, even as heat pools between my legs. My panties should not be getting wet over him. “You can’t do that!”
“Don’t move.” He squeezes my ass, the sting changing to a tingling ache, sending shock waves to my clit.
I squirm, and my thighs rub together, searching for friction. If I didn’t need a release before, I do now. I twist to see where we’re going, giving up on being embarrassed. I’ll leave that for tomorrow.
Damon stops to speak to a huge guy with one of those TV spy earpieces in.
I can just make out a few of Damon’s words. “Three guys…out…banned…now.”
The man doesn’t even look at me. Like it’s completely normal for Damon to go all caveman and throw women over his shoulder.
I ignore the way that thought sours my stomach and try to push myself up. “I can walk.”
Damon doesn’t respond. He jerks when I pinch his back hard enough it’ll bruise, but he only tightens his grip around my thighs.
I pinch him again. “Where are you taking me?”
He grunts and spins me in the air, so now one arm is below my knees, and the other one is wrapped around my back, pressing me into his chest while gripping my wrist.
“I’m bringing you somewhere to sober up,” he says darkly, his hold tightening on my wrist, just shy of hurting.
“Oh…thanks.” I snap my face forward, hoping he doesn’t see the flush that crosses my cheeks.
He juggles me in his arms and unlocks the door with a cool little key pass thingy.
“What were you thinking?” he murmurs under his breath.
I’m not exactly sure if he’s asking me or himself, but my answer just sort of pops out.
“That I needed to get laid.” Oops.
He inhales sharply, dropping my feet to the ground, and grips both of my shoulders. Which is good because the look on his face has me feeling dizzy. “You came to my club to hook up with some guy?”
Alarm bells go off in my head. Warning. Danger. Proceed with caution.
I suck air through my teeth and shrug. “Well, technically, I didn’t know it was your club until right now… It’s nice… And it was more of a let-myself-loose situation than a booty call.”
“Jesus Christ.” He pinches the bridge of his nose and takes several deep breaths. His entire body is rigid, pulled taut with tension.
Should I ask him if he’s okay?
“Fuck it,” Damon growls and crowds me, forcing me to take several steps backward until my back connects with glass. I barely register that we’re in a private room overlooking the dance floor before Damon’s mouth is claiming mine.
He takes control, tongue rough as he punishes me with his kiss. It’s sharp, fast, all teeth and demand. I struggle to pull back, but he holds me still. I shouldn’t be doing this—he’s my freaking boss—but he’s lit my body on fire, and I can’t seem to care.
I kiss him just as hard, fighting for my own control. He grips the back of my neck and groans when I nip his bottom lip, sucking on it.
We kiss until my lungs burn and I’m forced to break away to gasp for breath.
Releasing my mouth, Damon turns his abuse toward my neck, sucking and biting the tender skin.
My head smacks against the glass, and I go to reach back, but his hand is already there, rubbing the sore spot and creating a buffer between me and the hard surface.
His fingers bury in my hair, then tighten, forcing my head back and to the side, making more room for him.
Sharp teeth sink into my neck, and I moan, fisting his shirt at the feel of his bite.
“What are you doing?” I practically gasp the question.
“Marking you,” Damon declares, then swirls his tongue over the raw spot he left behind, drawing a whimper from the back of my throat. He grips my jaw between his thumb and forefinger and forces my head back to meet his gaze. “If you need to come, you come to me.”
I freeze, in too much of a daze to fully understand what’s happening. “What? Why?—”
He cuts me off with an earth-shattering kiss and lifts me so my legs wrap around his waist and his hips sink between my thighs. My eyes roll back, and my mouth drops open when the shape of his hard cock lines up perfectly against me, applying a delicious pressure I desperately need.
Any self-preservation I’ve been holding on to evaporates at the feel of his hot length, and my hips tilt into him on their own.
We groan simultaneously at the much-needed friction. He lets go of my mouth and whispers into my ear. “That’s my girl. Rock your pretty pussy against me.”
“I’m not yours.” I try to pull back and drop my legs, but he grips my thighs, holding them open, and presses his cock into me.
His breath fans over the spot he just abused, and he whispers dangerously. “That so?”
He slides one hand up my thigh, easily supporting my weight with the other. It grazes the hem of my shirt before pushing under and branding a trail of white-hot heat up my side. All of my focus is on its path, and I quiver when his thumb brushes the bottom curve of my breast.
“This is mine.” He twists my nipple, sending shards of electricity tumbling through me, and I buck against him, lust completely taking over all my senses.
“Yes,” I gasp and roll my hips, willing to say anything he wants to get him to continue touching me, searching for the right position to hit my clit with the head of his cock, desperate for more.
His chuckles tickle the sensitive shell of my ear, and a shiver runs through me as the sharp ridges of his teeth gently close on the soft earlobe. “Such a good girl.”
He drags his hand down my body, exploring it like he’s mapping every inch of me by touch alone. I quiver in his arms when his firm palm meets the bare skin of my thigh and slowly travels up under my skirt.
His thumb grazes my clit overtop my underwear, and a pained cry escapes my lips.
“Do you know what good girls get, Little Nymph?” He slides under the thin fabric and circles the spot I need him the most. “Good girls get to come.”
“Please,” I beg. Every molecule of my being is focused on his fingers. The weight of the air around us compresses until it’s hard to suck in my next breath. Tension radiates as I wait for what happens next. His touch is the only thing that matters.
He shifts us so he can reach lower, sliding wet fingers through my slit, then circling my entrance. I whimper his name as he sinks two fingers inside me.
“Look at you, soaked for me. Ready. This pussy knows she’s mine.” His voice is a dark rumble as he pumps his fingers in and out in a slow, torturous rhythm.
“I need more,” I grind out through my teeth.
“Take it. Fuck my fingers,” he encourages against my ear and loosens his hold to allow me to take control.
I wrap my arm around his neck, leveraging myself, and grip his hair as I work myself on his fingers.
Damon’s breath comes out in hot pants against my jaw, and he bites down on the edge at the same time his palm massages my clit. I forget to breathe as I rock against him, my head buzzing with the lack of oxygen.
“That’s my pretty little pussy, fucking herself so well.” He adds another finger, and my world goes blank. All that’s left is his command. “Come for me.”
Tingles shoot up my spine as my entire body pulls tight, and then my orgasm crashes over me in shuddering waves. “Damon.”
He pumps every last ounce of my release. “That’s it. Say my name.”
“Damon,” I say, barely a whisper, and collapse, my cheek against his shoulder, too lost in the warm afterglow to worry about the consequences of what we just did.
He carefully lowers me to the floor and bands an arm around my back for support. “You’re fucking stunning when you come.”
I can feel the blush heat my cheeks. Even after what we just did, I can’t get over the brazenness of his words.
He brushes my hair from my face, tucking it behind my ear, and trails his thumb tenderly down the column of my neck. My chest fills with a warm, fuzzy feeling, and I lean back to grin at him. Whatever I was expecting tonight, it wasn’t this.
He doesn’t smile back, his gaze intense. “Say you’re mine.”
I startle, and I’m surprised by just how much I want to say it. Even if it’s just to see his reaction. “I’m no one’s.”
His grip tightens before letting me go. “We’ll see.”
The serenity of the moment’s broken, and the reason why I ended up at the club settles back into the forefront of my mind. But this time, the man who can fix it is standing directly in front of me. Relief and hope crash through me. He can fix it. I don’t have to go back. Nothing needs to change.
“I need to renew my H-1B visa, and as my new boss, you’re the only one that can fill out the paperwork. It’s a rush, so if I get it to you tonight, could you have it signed and back to me on Monday?” My words tumble out of me in a rush.
His head cocks to the side, studying me like a predator would his prey. “No.”
“What do you mean no?”
He huffs out a breath. “I’m not signing the document.”
Confusion seeps in as I try to understand. “But we just…”
“We just what?” he deadpans, voice completely void of emotion.
Embarrassment flashes through me, leaving me cold in its wake. I rip myself away from him, already heading toward the exit. “You’re an asshole.”
“Never said I wasn’t.”
He closes the distance between us and drags me toward a different door.