Chapter 23
Mia
WHAT IN THE ACTUAL hell was I doing? My crime syndicate boss had me bent over a tenth-story railing and was smacking my ass loud enough for all of Chicago to hear, and I wasn’t protesting.
No. Instead, he was right. I did like it. I was begging for it. Literally pleading. And Jameson Knight wasn’t just questionable. He was downright dangerous, murderous.
I wasn’t even sure what he’d done to Archer after they left the balcony, and I should have asked, should have stopped what we were doing so that one of us could be sane.
Yet, I couldn’t.
I was just a girl. Falling for a cold-blooded syndicate boss.
The thrill came from the power I had over him. He warned me off—threatened me, even, but that knife at my throat hadn’t cut my skin enough to make blood trickle. He’d winced when I’d tried to take his cock, like he couldn’t dare to hurt me.
He gave in to me … a man with so much power and control lost all of it when I was in front of him. He succumbed to me. I could look around and know that every city street was crawling with his men, his cameras, his authority. They feared him, but I didn’t have to.
Every time he spanked my ass, he took his time massaging it back to pleasure rather than pain, as if he couldn’t handle delivering one without the other to me.
He didn’t realize it was all arousing for me. I even heard how wet my pussy was when his aim moved to smack my folds.
And he talked me through it. “That’s it. Can you handle another? Look how good you look bent over staring out at my city. Let me feel how wet you are.”
There was no denying him anymore. I just cried out, “Yes. Please. I need this.”
“That’s right, baby. You need to realize no other man, not Archer or anyone else, can make you this wet, can make you want it this much.”
He smacked me one last time and thrust his fingers in so I could ride him as I screamed into the night. White hot ecstasy seared through my body as I screamed his name in climax. Screamed that I needed him. Screamed that it was only him I wanted over and over again.
He let me ride his hand as the aftershocks made me weak, and then he held me against the railing murmuring, “You took it so good, baby. You did so good, darling.” Then, he covered my ass back up and told me, “I need to take you home.”
“But I thought we were going to—”
“I’m not fucking you on the railing of a nightclub tonight.”
“Why not?” I harrumphed and wiggled to right my dress. We’d already gone this far. What did he have a problem with now?
He squinted his eyes at me before he rubbed his jaw. “I care about you more than I’d like to admit, Darling. You’re not ready for the relationship we’d have if I—”
“You think you get to make the decision of whether I’m ready or not, Jameson?
” I balled my fists. I hated being told I wasn’t, that I couldn’t move forward with what I wanted, that someone knew better than I did.
“What about when I wasn’t ready to take this job you tricked me into taking, huh?
” I didn’t care if it was to keep me safe, I just wanted him to feel the same frustration I did.
“You practically tricked me into becoming a part of a damn crime syndicate, so don’t act above it. ”
His eyes flared with an angry fire, and I knew I’d pushed him in a way he didn’t want to be. His jaw clenched and his neck muscles tightened. “Tricked? You knew the second I offered you two mil what this was.”
I practically growled, “Yeah, and even with that two mil, I can still make a decision to fuck who I want.”
“Watch your mouth.”
“No.” I crossed my arms, furious that I could go from wanting him to despising him in two seconds flat.
I needed to get a handle on my emotions.
I breathed in deep and glanced out at the city lights.
“You don’t get to make me feel good and then retract back into being my boss immediately like I can’t take anymore. ”
“I’m protecting you from—”
“I don’t want to be protected! I want to be respected.
Like every damn woman should be.” I tilted my head and thought about what he’d told me, how he wasn’t with women anymore, how his wife had left him before she’d been found dead.
I knew I might be overstepping, but I had to say it.
“I’m not your wife, Jameson. I wouldn’t up and leave you or Franny without giving you a reason. ”
He reeled back as if I’d slapped him. But after a few blinks, it was like that slap instilled some sense into him. He frowned at me, and I saw turmoil in his eyes. He just nodded and quietly turned toward the door. “We should go home, Mia.”
His tone was tired, defeated, and maybe held a bit of remorse.
It sobered me up—from the alcohol and all the emotions running through me.
I sighed and nodded as I walked past him.
But I froze when I saw all the men still blocking the entrance.
I turned to wince at Jameson. “Is Archer okay? You seriously do owe him a freaking apology, Jameson Knight.”
It was clear then.
I was going insane if I thought a crime boss would listen to me telling him to apologize.
But then his hand went to the small of my back as he walked me inside. “I don’t ever apologize, baby,” he murmured. “But for you, I will.”