Chapter 11
ELEVEN
G RANT
I’m exhausted by the time I get up to my suite. I collapse on the couch with a bottle of water and the late-night snack I grabbed from the kitchen. I didn’t even manage to eat dinner tonight, too busy entertaining guests, having meetings with my late-night staff, and checking off on some final orders and arrangements for Ramsey’s wedding with all the guests coming in from out of town for it. All after the day I had handling business.
If I had more energy, I’d sink into the hot tub out on the patio to soak my tired body. I was on my feet all day, and the workout I did this morning in the gym was more brutal than usual. I can feel it every time I have to move my shoulders. I don’t know how Ramsey keeps up. Or rather I do—it’s his job, and he has staff on both sides of the country to keep him in shape and eating right, and probably a whole post-workout regimen on top of it. Not to mention the ten extra years his body has off mine. I’d give anything to be that young again and get to redo some of this—appreciate what I had when I had it. Speaking of young, my phone dings, and I see her name across the screen. Or rather, her nickname.
HELLFIRE:
Any special requests? I opened today, and I just want to take a shower and climb into bed. But I don’t want to be out of compliance with assets.
I smile at her sassiness.
That makes two of us.
Take your shower and text me when you get in bed.
All right. If I don’t fall asleep in there, I’ll text you.
I slip my phone onto the table and take the last bite of my pita, downing the water before I make my way to the shower. I imagine Dakota doing the same in her apartment, slowly peeling her clothes off and letting them drop to the floor, turning the water on and letting it steam up the small tiled room. Her hands drifting over her body as she soaps herself up.
I can’t stop the roll of images that flash through my mind. I can’t unsee what she posted. I knew she was pretty—gorgeous even. I could tell that from the number of men who flocked to her side of the bar whenever she was working. But in my mind, she was always his kid sister. Someone I was supposed to watch over and keep safe. Forever stuck in time as an irresponsible eighteen-year-old with an attitude. Not someone that I could even remotely imagine as anything else.
Now, though… fuck. It’s all I can see. The swell of her breasts and hips. Her hand following the curve of her stomach. The sound of her voice—that perfect, sweet husky quality it has, the full way she laughs when she teases me. I want every dirty fucking thing I can get from her, and I’m a sick fuck for pressing her into this situation. She already hates me enough, and I can’t imagine this is helping any.
But I can’t stop myself. Not yet. I’d have to though. We couldn’t take this too far. It would be a disaster with all the ways the two of us are tangled up in each other’s lives. But there’s room to play before we get too close to that edge, and I don’t plan to deny either of us that fun until I have to.
Forty minutes later, I’m half-asleep, sprawled across my bed, when I hear my phone ding with a message, and I reach for it. It’s not a text though. Just a picture of her spread out on her own bed, an arm drawn over her face, and damp hair spread out around her. The sheet is draped over her abdomen and falling between her thighs. But she doesn’t bother covering her breasts, and her nipples are peaked from moving from the heat of the shower to the light breeze of the air conditioning.
Falling asleep on me already?
HELLFIRE:
I was hoping maybe you already were, but I didn’t want to risk it.
I was drifting off. Smartass.
You still haven’t told me enough to know what you want, so you’re getting the basic package.
Nothing about her is basic. But I hate that I can’t see her eyes and her gorgeous smile in these photos. I want all of her.
You don’t have to cover your face for me.
Risk giving you more blackmail material?
I have enough blackmail material to bury you already.
Very reassuring.
You asked what I wanted, and I want to see your face.
Surprising. I always figured you for the nameless, faceless type.
Plus, I thought it would make it less awkward for both of us.
I went through all the stages of discomfort the other day when I found all your toys charging on the counter and everything on your computer. I think we’re past that now.
The toys too? Wow.
Maybe kidnapping and death would have been easier.
Don’t joke.
Is that what you like then? You have quite the collection.
The dots pop up and disappear several times while I smirk at my phone.
You’re not gonna toy shame, are you? Those guys always end up being disappointing in bed.
No. Just curious.
You won’t have to worry about that.
That confident?
That confident you’ll never know the answer to whether I am or not. This stays behind a screen.
Is that another rule?
Another given.
Let me see your face.
A moment later, another picture comes through. It’s one of her reflection in the mirror in her room. She’s tangled up in the sheets and looking back over her shoulder at the mirror in profile as she holds the phone. She doesn’t bother blocking her face this time.
She’s fucking stunning. I understand why all these men were paying for an ounce of her attention. I’d sell my soul for her if I had one left.
HELLFIRE:
There. Two photos. One giving face. Anything else, boss?
No. You should go to sleep. You said you had a long day.
I’m awake now. Apparently sexting with your landlord does that.
Are we sexting?
I’m sending you naked photos, so I think yes.
Although it’s very one-sided. I’m used to getting an avalanche of dick pics by now.
I’ve only ever sent one dick pic in my life, and it was on a dare.
A dare? Who?
My friend’s mom.
What?!
It was college. We were drunk. She was hot, and I was going through a phase where I was into older women.
And you give those poor college boys shit.
I know what those poor college boys are up to.
So what happened?
She invited me over.
Did you go?
No. She was married, and my friend would have killed me if she cheated on his dad with me.
Have you ever had sex with a married woman?
Trying to get blackmail information on me?
Just trying to learn more about you. As long as we’ve known each other, there’s still a lot I don’t know.
You’re better off that way.
I think you just like the air of mystique. Keeps people guessing. Scared about what they don’t know.
Fear is a useful tool.
Does it frustrate you that I’m not scared of you then?
It frustrates me that you’re not scared of anything.
There are things I’m scared of.
Tell me one.
Only if you tell me one.
Deal.
Dying alone. Everyone else has family—siblings, parents, spouses, children—the works. I’ve lost so much already, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever have any to call my own.
Fuck. That one hurts. Seeing someone as strong as she is hurt over something we all take for granted. Like a fucking knife straight to the chest. Especially because I know I contributed to the loss.
If I don’t die first, I’ll be there.
Always.
I know we don’t see eye to eye on a lot. But you’re family to me.
HELLFIRE:
I know. Anytime I’ve really needed you, you’ve always come through.
I’m sorry for what I said the other day when we were fighting after the sink. You press every button I have, but I know you care underneath it all.
You don’t have to be sorry. I know I’m not Jesse, nowhere fucking close.
Your turn.
Well, speaking of Jesse. That I can’t keep my family safe. That I won’t be there when I’m needed most.
It’s already happened so many times that I feel sick most nights when I go to bed and think about it.
You do everything you can. You can’t let the past haunt you. Jesse wouldn’t want that. Neither would your parents.
Truth or dare?