Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
Nathan
The studio was a mess. I’d never actually visited Fantaisiste’s studio before, but I was certain it hadn’t looked like this a few days ago. There were boxes everywhere, to the point it was hard to see the floor. Several mannequins stood off to the side in various stages of assembly, their plastic limbs and heads scattered around like an odd imitation of a murder scene.
Standing at the center of it all was Deacon, surveying everything happening like an Emperor admiring his domain. At his side, in a true reenactment of royalty, Deacon’s assistant stood beside him actually controlling everything.
What was her name?
Kiki.
Deacon had insisted that she be hired along with him, and I was now seeing why. He may provide the artistic talent, but she was obviously the one who got things done.
I’d never really had an assistant I could trust like that. There had been times in the past when I had tried, but it never worked out. They all either ended up betraying me, or they couldn’t handle living in the shadows, as I preferred. They wanted their position beside someone so powerful to be known, and the lack of recognition led to discontentment and mistakes.
Deacon noticed me after a moment, and even from across the room I could tell there was something off about his reaction to my presence. When I last saw him, we parted on good terms, with an eager anticipation for the future. Now, he almost looked upset, though he tried to hide it.
The hiding was the part that bothered me most. If something had upset him, I wanted to know. Hiding his reaction from me meant that I was likely the cause of his upset.
I couldn’t think of anything I’d done that would upset him—at least nothing he would be aware of—and I hated not knowing things. It was like an itch under my skin that couldn’t be relieved no matter how hard I scratched.
For a moment, I wondered how to separate Deacon from the chaos surrounding him, but he solved the problem for me. Nodding off to the side in an invitation to follow him, he headed to a door that led to the studio’s private office.
As I picked my way between boxes, I heard Kiki delivering orders to the various staff and other designers employed at the studio.
“Careful with that. It’s Vicuna. Literally, the rarest fabric in the world. If you damage it, I’ll use your skin to replace it.”
I couldn’t help smiling as I passed. I liked this Kiki woman. If my previous assistants had half her attitude, they might have actually lasted at my side.
I was also glad to see my gift being treated with the care it deserved. That Vicuna fabric had been a present from me to welcome Deacon to his new studio. Not knowing anything about fashion or fabric, I’d simply gone with the rarest, most expensive thing I could find. Thankfully, it seemed to be as impressive as I’d hoped.
Inside the office, there were still a bunch of boxes, but the furniture had been here before Deacon came, and so far, it had remained untouched. Between the desk, the chairs, and the couch, there were plenty of places for Deacon to sit, but he chose to stand in the center of the room with his back to the door. He didn’t even turn to face me when I entered the office and closed the door behind me, just remained facing the large window that looked out over the Las Vegas skyline.
“I hope moving to a new studio hasn’t been too stressful,” I said when it became apparent that Deacon wasn’t going to start the conversation.
“No,” Deacon said, though his voice was breathy and distracted. “It hasn’t been too bad. Honestly, Kiki took care of most of it. I just need to show up and look important.”
I approached on light steps. After a lifetime of training, I always moved as if I were stalking an enemy, even when I was trying to be gentle. With Deacon’s back to me, and the silence of my footsteps, I felt like a creep intruding where I wasn’t wanted.
Deacon was only an arm’s length away, close enough for me to touch if I wanted, when he finally spoke up again.
“Someone from Interpol visited me.”
He didn’t need to say more. I could already guess what had happened.
With a sigh, I took a chance and wrapped my arms around him from behind. “Agent Belden. So, you’ve met her, too. Charming, isn’t she?” Running my lips along the line of his neck, I pressed a quick kiss to his skin.” So, what did she accuse me of?”
He flinched within my embrace, but didn’t try to pull away, and even tipped his head slightly to the side to give me better access to his neck.
“You already know? Then you realize she’s accusing you of killing the model at the show, right?”
I tightened my arm around his waist, pulling him back until our hips pressed together. “Not surprising. Ever since I first met her, she’s been determined to lock me up for something. I didn’t kill the model, if you were wondering.”
Deacon shuddered when I licked the shell of his ear.
“I-I didn’t think you did. If there was any evidence proving that you killed her, that Agent would have thrown it in my face when she broke into my studio.”
Broke in?
It seemed Agent Belden was determined to sign her own death warrant. Threatening me was one thing. Threatening someone harmless like Deacon was an entirely different matter. Until now, I’d considered her a nuisance at worst. Something I could easily ignore. However, it seemed I was going to need to take care of her in a more permanent way. Especially, since she had no interest in doing her real job. Considering how easy it had been to locate the actual killer, Agent Belden wasn’t interested in solving a murder. She just wanted an excuse to get to me.
Deacon’s hand tangled in my hair and pressed my face deeper against his neck. I could practically taste the beat of his pulse.
“It wasn’t the murder accusation that bothered me. Although, I didn’t like being called an accessory to murder. No, what really bothered me was how casual the accusation was. Like killing people is a common occurrence for you.”
This was a dangerous topic of conversation that hit too close to the truth. I needed to distract Deacon, but if I changed the topic too quickly or denied the accusation too vehemently, it would seem suspicious.
Instead, I leaned into the topic, over-exaggerating to make the very idea seem ridiculous.
Letting my hand slowly creep downward, I whispered directly into his ear. “What if it was? What if I was a killer with a body count in the hundreds? What would you do then? Would you run away?”
When he didn’t stop me, I dipped the tips of my fingers inside the waistband of his pants.
“Or, would the thrill of sleeping with a killer excite you?” I slid my hand all the way inside his pants. “Based on how hard you are now, I think I know what the answer would be.”
“Fuuuuck,” Deacon groaned as I started stroking his cock over his underwear. “You’re such a... tease.”
I abruptly stopped the movement of my hand. “Tease? Hardly. A tease makes promises without delivering on them.”
Pulling my hand out of his pants, I wrapped both arms around him and picked him up just enough to drag him over to the couch. He ended up sitting in my lap with his back pressed against my chest.
“I can’t be a tease, because I fully intend to fulfill my promises.”
All thoughts of murder investigations and Interpol were forgotten as I freed him from his pants and shirt. Conscious of his anxiety around sex, I left his underwear in place. The barrier between full skin contact seemed to help relieve his worries, for although he was obviously nervous, he didn’t try to stop me.
In fact, he only made one demand as he sat nearly naked in my lap.
“Call me Deke. My full name has always sounded weird. There are too many religious connections to that word.”
Considering all the trust he was placing in my hands, using his preferred nickname could hardly even be considered a favor. It was just general respect. I understood the importance of a name, considering the fact that I’d changed mine as well.
With one hand, I tipped his chin back and to the side, so he was in a better position to be kissed. Sitting on my lap like this, if he were any taller it wouldn’t have worked, but our respective sizes fit perfectly.
Meanwhile, I stroked my other hand up the inside of his thigh, brushing against the arousal trapped within his underwear. He was so hard that the thin cloth couldn’t fully contain him, and the flash of intimate skin was almost more tantalizing than if he’d been fully naked.
As I tugged at the band of his underwear, Deke suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled his mouth free from my kiss.
“How...” He was still panting, struggling to regain his breath after I practically sucked it out of him. “How far are you going?”
“Don’t worry,” I reassured him as I nipped the skin behind his ear. “We’ll only do what you’re comfortable with. For now, we’re definitely not going all the way. We’re just trying out something new.”
Deke let go of my hand, but he was still looking down at his mostly naked state and my hands on his body with a concerned expression. “But, what about you?”
“What do you mean?”
I cupped the heated flesh between his legs, and he squirmed on my lap, unintentionally grinding his ass back against my own throbbing arousal. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was purposely taunting me with what I couldn’t have.
“This seems unfair,” he finally explained when he stopped squirming enough to speak. “I’m getting all the attention. How is this any fun for you?”
My grip on him instinctively tightened, and I was on the verge of leaving bruises on his skin. “Are you worried about my pleasure?”
“Yeah.” His voice was even more breathless than before. Being held tighter seemed to excite him. “I’m used to... giving more than receiving, you know?”
I didn’t even have to read between the lines to know what he was saying. His previous lovers had focused only on their own pleasure, and since Deke couldn’t give them what they wanted, he had to do extra work to compensate.
That changed today.
“Watching you lost in pleasure is its own kind of enjoyment. But if you want us to both participate... then I have another idea.”
Keeping an arm around him, I used one hand to open my own pants just enough to expose my cock to open air. Deke was facing away from me, so he couldn’t see exactly what I was doing, but he could obviously tell from my movements, because he started squirming with nerves rather than pleasure.
“What... um, what are you doing?”
“Don’t worry.” I pressed several kisses against his throat. “We aren’t going to do anything you aren’t ready for. Just follow my lead.”
Coaxing him with gentle hands and even gentler words, I guided him to press his thighs tightly together, then slid my cock between them. It wasn’t as good as actually being inside him, but the squeeze of warm, soft flesh around my already sensitive shaft still brought a thrill of pleasure running though my veins.
With small jerks of his hips, almost as if I were fucking him, I slid my cock in and out between his thighs.
“Oh, this.” He sighed, sounding disappointed. “I’ve done this before.”
That wasn’t the reaction I wanted. Without stopping the thrust of my hips, I also wrapped a hand around his cock and started stroking him with synchronized movements.
He shrieked, obviously not expecting the sudden rush of pleasure. “Ah, this is—” His voice cut off as I rubbed my thumb over the head of his cock, causing his back to arch. “It’s... actually good.”
“Don’t be so surprised.” When he arched, he also squeezed his legs tighter together, making me gasp as well. “Your previous partners were too simple-minded. They had no idea what they were doing.”
He was the perfect combination of hard and soft. His skin was supple and pliant, but he was also tanned and toned from plenty of outdoor activity. He yielded just the perfect amount to my touch.
As we both neared our completion, I used my free hand to tip his head back into another kiss. I pushed my tongue into his mouth, sealing my lips over his and swallowing every desperate sound he made as his whole body trembled.
We came at nearly the same time, clinging desperately together. His nails dug into my forearms, the only part of me he could easily reach, and would have drawn blood if I wasn’t clothed.
My own hips jerked against him, trying to drive my cock deeper into the cradle of his thighs as the pleasure of climax exploded along my nerves.
We were breathing too hard to maintain the kiss, but we didn’t separate, just simply breathed against each other’s mouths as we rode through the final waves of orgasm. It took a few minutes to calm down, but even then we stayed tightly embraced.
Deacon’s voice ghosted over my skin, more air than actual sound. “I’ve never actually enjoyed that before.”
His hair was slightly damp with sweat when I nuzzled against his temple. “Like I said, your previous partners were too simpleminded. No imagination.”
“I feel like I’ve been cheated. Although...” He looked down at himself. The results of both his own pleasure and mine splattered over his stomach and thighs. “It’s still just as much of a mess as always.”
Pressing one last kiss to his temple, I urged him off the couch. “Luckily, this office has its own bathroom. Let me help you get cleaned up.”
The bathroom fortunately had a shower, but there was only enough space for one at a time. However, my disappointment of not being able to share the shower was tempered by the enjoyment of watching Deacon through the rising steam. The sight of hot water running over his every muscle and curve was enough to get me excited again, and I was already planning what to do with him next.
Not right now. There was only so much we could do in an office with an entire staff of people just on the other side of the door. My plans would have to wait until later, when I coaxed him into the privacy of my bedroom.
My resolve to wait was tested as I showered as well. Deacon didn’t even try to hide how closely he watched me. He even insisted on helping me dry off, taking much more time than necessary to run the towel over every inch of my body. His attention was sparked by my tattoos, though he didn’t ask about them. They ran from my neck all the way to my wrists, covering most of my torso. Each one had a specific meaning.
Maybe someday, I’d be able to tell him about them.
By the time I was dressed again, I was nearly convinced to throw caution out the window and claim him on the office floor.
However, just as I reached for him again, we were interrupted by the sound of sudden high-pitched screaming that rang out from the main studio area.