Chapter 16
Sixteen
GENEVIEVE
M anning had a flock of security guards accompany her to the training center, a warehouse nestled behind the employee parking lot of The Golden Star. Genevieve selected Pansy, a senior female security officer, to lead her training, whose name was deceiving because she was definitely not a pansy. Pansy took it to her in her chic cross-trainers and black spandex gear, swishing her bouncy blonde ponytail across her muscled arms.
“First,” Pansy instructed after a grueling warm-up, “we’re going to bring you up to speed on how to incapacitate a target. The most effective method, in my personal experience, is to break an assailant’s nose. Strike upwards with a forceful, quick palm heel strike or elbow to the base of the target’s nose, using the momentum from your legs and hips for maximum impact. Deliver the strike swiftly and without hesitation, aiming for the cartilage and bone junction to cause immediate pain and disorientation. Let me show you on our training mannequin, and then we’ll have you practice until you perfect the move.”
“Okay,” Genevieve responded evenly, trying to hide her apprehension.
A knowing smirk crossed Pansy’s face. “You’ll get it. Don’t worry. I can tell you’re the type who will fight back. You have it in you.”
Genevieve raised a surprised brow. “Thanks.”
And Pansy was right. Genevieve did get the hang of the moves Pansy taught, through drill after drill, quickly gaining confidence and skill. In fact, her confidence grew so significantly that she ended the session by asking Pansy to hook her up with an array of tactical supplies.
“Between you and me,” Pansy whispered into her ear, “I hope you take Jed Marshall out. Shoot to kill, girl. Shoot to kill.”
Genevieve’s eyes widened. “You know who I am?”
Pansy nodded. “I’ve been on Mr. Cole’s senior staff for eight years. The lead security team had you flagged with strict instructions to look for Marshal if you entered one of Mr. Cole’s casinos. Honestly, it took some convincing from Mr. Cole for me to want to work with you today. Marshal is a menace.” She shook her head. “Bad, bad news that man is. My brother worked for his network, got hooked on drugs when he was sixteen, and if Marshal hadn’t been ‘the law’ in this town, I would have liked to think it would have ended differently for him.”
Genevieve cringed, already suspecting the answer, but she couldn’t help but ask. “How did it end?”
“My brother is in heaven, watching down after us all.”
“I’m sorry. I know the ruin Marshal has brought so many. I’ve experienced it firsthand, and I assure you I’ll end him if I can.”
Pansy blinked before a slow grin took hold. “Let me show you a few more items I’ve got for you to use at your disposal, Ms. Hart. We’ll train on them over the next few days.”
“Genevieve, please.”
Pansy nodded in acknowledgment. “Genevieve.”
Several hours later, Genevieve shed her gym clothes, shoved them into her new locker, showered, and made her way up to the villa, joining Brendan at a patio table on the terrace for dinner. After a lengthy discussion about what she’d learned from Pansy while he restlessly supported her every word, Genevieve admitted she was really sore, tired, and ready for bed.
Bouncing his knee, Brendan rubbed his hands up and down his slacks. “Want me to join you?”
So cute! “Always.”
He nodded, his jaw twitching. Her adorable man was adorably nervous. She needed to get him over the hump of his virginity, so he didn’t even blink an eye when they went to bed. When it came to her, he should never be worried about a thing.
He cleared his throat. “You said you’re tired, we’ll tuck you in and?—”
Genevieve stood up, walked over to his chair, and straddled him, sitting on his lap. “Brendan,” she whispered, “is sleep really what you want?” She rocked her hips, letting her jegging-clad core glide enticingly over his erection. “Or do you want inside me?”
Silking his hands through her hair, Brendan released a husky breath, bracing his forehead against hers. “Inside you, but only if that’s what you really want.”
Holding his eyes, she slowly unbuckled his slacks, sliding her hand inside his boxers and palming his thick length.
“Gen,” Brendan groaned, “god, that feels good.” He rocked against her hand. “If you ask me to make love to you tonight, I’m not going to stop you this time. Not after hearing how you feel about me. Are you sure you want this? There’s no hurry.”
“Very. I want you to lose yourself inside me. I want to hear every naughty word your brilliant mind has ever thought. There’s nothing you can say or do that will ever be too much for me. You’re just too fucking sweet for that. ”
“Maybe I’m not as sweet as you think.”
“Show me,” she challenged. “Give me everything you’ve got.”
“Gen.” He released a tentative laugh. “I think my words are much cockier than my experience here. You’re going to have to show me. If I’m being honest, I’m a little terrified that I’ll screw this up and you won’t be turned on by?—”
She placed her fingers over his mouth to silence his unnecessary monologue of worries, stood, and pulled him toward the patio door. “I love you, Brendan. I can assure you that I’ll be turned on by everything you do. Come on. We’ll start with the missionary position. You’ll love it, and I will, too. I’d argue it’s the most intimate. I’ll ask you your opinion in a few months when we’ve explored them all.”
“A few months?”
She giggled. “Yeah, there’s a lot we can do. Some things I think my bad boy is going to have to work up to.”
“Gen, don’t baby me. I can take it.”
“Mm…can you?”
Brendan blushed but nodded. “Anything you want me to do.”
Genevieve pulled him through the villa, shut the master bedroom doors, and shed her clothes, flopping down on the bed. “Let’s start with what you did to me last night.” She motioned a finger at him. “Clothes off, please.”
“Yes, ma’am,” his husky voice returned.
Genevieve loved that she turned him on so easily. Would it always be like this between them? Somehow, she believed it would. He climbed above her, and she guided his hand to her folds. Fisting his cock in her hand, she rubbed her fingers across the moist tip.
He hissed in a breath. “Gen, please, I want to please you first in case I don’t last long. ”
She swirled his pre-cum on the pads of her fingers. “You’re ready for me. So sexy.”
A strangled chuckle trickled out of him. “Is that a surprise? Oh wait, speaking of that, I should grab a condom.”
“No need. I’m clean, and I have an IUD.”
“Are you sure?”
“When it comes to you, I’m sure about everything, Brendan.”
He inhaled sharply. “Damn, Gen, keep talking.”
“Touch me and never stop.”
Brendan released a raspy chuckle. “That’s a challenge I plan to live up to for life.” Using his secretly expert hands while attentively suckling her breasts, he brought her to a quick orgasm, where his eyes glazed over as she shuddered beneath his touch. “I love watching you come,” he said while tweaking her nipples. He twisted and rubbed their nerve endings with a confidence he didn’t claim to have, and her core pulsed, aching for him to move inside her. “The fact that I’m capable of sending you over the edge,” he continued, “it’s exhilarating.”
“I can’t take anymore. Bare, Brendan, take me now.” She shifted beneath him, so his cock lined up with her entrance.
“Okay.” He swallowed thickly. “I won’t last long. Should I get you again?—”
“I want you now .”
He nodded as if spurring his own confidence. “Don’t look away from my eyes, Genevieve. Forgive me because I don’t want to be possessive, but in this case, I am. If you let me slide inside you, you’re mine.”
“That’s it, Brendan. I want you to be possessive. You and only you. You touch no one but me. I own you after this.”
“Fuck, Gen.” He closed his eyes, sweat beading his brow. “You already do, baby. You owned me the minute we met.”
She sucked in a startled breath .
Brendan eased inside her with a fervent groan, holding her eyes with tender emotion that pierced her to the core. In a gravelly tone, he added, “And I thought touching you with my fingers felt like silk. Be prepared to never leave the bedroom.”
She giggled and thrust her hips up to meet him. That’s all it took to sever his control. He increased his speed, pumping into her like a starving man and lighting up every nerve ending inside her. Desperate for another release, she met him thrust for thrust. With Brendan, it felt like her first time all over again, his raw hunger setting her on fire.
“Gen, I’m…” He tensed his muscles, slowing his thrusts.
“No, don’t stop. Come for me, Brendan. Make me yours.”
“You’re already mine,” he growled into her ear.
“Yeah, bad boy, prove it.”
Her words spurred him. He thrust into her so hard that a shattering orgasm rippled through her core, her walls clamping down on his cock as she screamed his name. A sexy-as-hell guttural groan ripped out of him, and he pulsed inside her, finding his own release.
“Gen,” he breathed out, the exhaustion clearly evident in his tone, “that was life-altering. I mean it—I never want to leave the bedroom.”
Laughter bubbled out of her. “I’m sure it feels that way right now.” She pecked a soft kiss on his lips. “I’m not going anywhere. We have all the time in the world.”
He crushed her in an embrace. “Forever. I love you.”
For such a guarded man, he’d claimed her with a possessive passion she hadn’t expected. Brendan Carter King wasn’t vigorous with anyone except her, and she loved it. She was his exception, and he was hers, and no amount of time with him would be enough.