Chapter 52
I lean in to kiss her again. Before she can take the lead, I slip my tongue past her lips. I know I’d told her to claim her prize, but I’m not in the mood to be claimed. She’s mine. I won her. And I will do the claiming tonight.
The temptation is too great for me to be gentle this time. The only thing that’s made any sense in the last week is June. Everything she is. Everything she could be. This woman is my world, and I will do anything to keep her. She is mine.
Reaching between us, I press the heel of my hand to her clit through her pajamas, earning a surprised whimper. She’s tender after all our fun. So am I. But we’re not quitters.
I need more.
With that, I grab the front of her top and rip down the middle, exposing her tits and shredding the thing from her. She gasps and braces. “The hell?”
“You’re mine,” I murmur against her neck, before I bite her there.
She lets out a cry and clings to me, wrapping her legs as much as she can around my waist, despite the pillows behind me. She kicks one from the bed in the process. We’re making a mess, and we’re just getting started.
I lick the teeth marks I left in her skin, and she shudders. But I pick her up and march to the nearest wall with her legs still belted at my waist. She grunts when her naked back hits the wall, and I kiss her harder for it. It’s just like when we were in the library, and that bookshelf held us up. I’m aching to be inside of her, but her pants and my boxers are in the way.
I resent every piece of clothing between us.
I set her to her feet and jerk her pants off as fast as possible, while she groans. A rip of the thin fabric tells me my patience has evaporated. I am ravenous for this woman.
She fusses at me, “What are you doing? Those pajamas were expensive.”
“I’ll buy you new ones,” I say right before I take her breast into my mouth. Her back bows, thrusting her nipple into my mouth. But I back off and reach between her thighs to cup her pussy. “I’ll buy you a whole damned store of pajamas, and do you know why?”
She gasps and tries to ride my hand. But I pull it away. She has to learn I’m in control of this one. “Why?”
“So that I can rip them off of you.” I stroke each side of her pussy, dodging her clit entirely.
Her fast breaths make her breasts rise and fall. “Don’t buy me pretty things … only to destroy them.”
“Anything between you and me is disposable, baby. Anything.”
She tries again to ride my hand, but I pull away. “Why are you teasing me?”
“We have gone at each other over and over today, and each time, I’ve taken care of you.” I grab her shoulders and turn her to face the wall. “This one is just for me.”
She lets out a breathy moan, then braces on the wall.
Fuck, her ass is incredible. “When I touch your pussy, baby, are you going to be wet for me?”
“Yes,” she whispers.
I pull her hips back and reach between her legs again, driving my hand up until I get to her there. She’s so wet, and it’s all for me. I slide a finger into her, and June shakes. Her G-spot is rough and every time I touch her there, her fingers grip at the wall as if there’s something there to hold on to.
Enough of this.
I shed the boxers and, unlike every other time, I thrust straight home. She gasps so hard that it sounds almost like a scream in reverse. But I know my girl can take it. I grab her hips and pound into her. Deeper. Harder. Until her body quakes with my thrusts. I need this. Need to mark her as mine in every way possible.
I need to cover her body with mine.
Leaning onto her back, I take her wrists and pin them to the wall. Then I drive myself into her, savoring every rough gasp. She bounces herself at me, meeting my thrusts. It feels incredible to have June want me. She’s as hungry for me as I am for her. It’s intoxicating. Magical. Something I never dreamed I’d ever actually have.
And I will never let her down again.
I will protect this woman with everything I have. Connections, money, my life, all of it is hers. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her. Whatever she wants, she will have it. Nothing else matters. Just her, right now, arching back for more of what I want to give her.
Is this what love is? How could I possibly know for sure?
All I know right now is she’s close. Her pussy clasps onto my cock, and her sounds are ragged and breathier than before. If I see her face right now, I’m sure her cheeks are pink and puffed. She gets this rosy glow that is so alluring that when I see it, I’m almost on the edge myself.
She sobs out, “Baby, don’t stop!”
“Never,” I growl.
“Just like that, oh fuck,” she squeaks the last two words out as her body goes rigid.
I release her wrists and she gasps when I grab her hips to hammer into her harder. When she cries out, it’s brutal, like she’s coming with every part of her body. Even her back muscles go tight. Her hot, wet body tries to pull me over the edge with her—pulsating against my shaft so much that I could.
But I’m not done with her yet. We need to be safer, though.
The moment her back muscles release, I pull out and pick her up before she falls over. She gasps, “What’re you doing?”
“This.” I carry her to the bed and drop her onto it, enjoying her surprised giggles and bouncing. Then I grab her legs and yank her to the edge, before thrusting straight in again. Her back bows and her eyes roll back atop pink, puffing cheeks. Before she can speak, I’ve got her legs against my chest, shaping her body like an L against me. I kiss the inside of each of her ankles while I pound into her.
This angle is better. It makes her tighter, and I can see the front door through her open bedroom door. Against the wall was fun, but I need a clear line of sight. It’s bad enough that she’s only on the fifth floor of her apartment building. High, but not high enough to keep someone from using her bedroom balcony to get in. Her building is brick. Pretty, but vulnerable. Too many hand holds. A skilled free climber could make it up here in a matter of minutes.
Her sounds become something deeper, and I glance back down at her. She’s touching herself, the naughty girl. I swat her hand away, and she gives me a pouty, wounded kitten face. Fuck, she’s so sexy I can’t stand it. “That’s my job.” I thumb her clit while I work her with my cock. “See? Mine.”
“Mm, you were distracted.”
She’s not wrong. I hate I was distracted. But it’s hard not to think about what could happen right now. Things are precarious, and I’m not used to that. I’ve always rolled with the punches because I’m lucky and I can get out of things pretty easily most of the time. Now, with her to consider, I can’t stop thinking about the possibilities of how it could all go wrong.
But I have to keep my head in the game, and right now, I’m playing to win.
I bend forward, leaning over her, so she’s bent in half. The fit is intense like this—tighter and somehow wetter. My balls draw up and surges of pleasure wash through me. “I’m not distracted now.”
“Fuck, baby, you’re so deep!”
I slow down to drag this out, and she trembles violently. When I kiss her this time, I can hear it—she can hardly breathe. My cock is so sensitive at the moment that I feel her spot against the head. “You’re going to come for me again if I keep this up, aren’t you?”
She hisses, “Yes!”
“But I told you, this one is for me,” I rumble, dipping in when I speak and pulling all the way out after every sentence. “Just for me. You’re not supposed to come when it’s just for me. You’re supposed to take it. But I feel you are right on the edge again. Shaking like a leaf.”
Her face is red and glistening with sweat, and she’s never been more enchanting. She whimpers, “Mm, hmm!”
I lean to her ear and demand, “Come for me,” before I bite her earlobe.
Her head digs into the mattress as she writhes beneath me, her body jerking and quivering and clasping all at once. I brace my weight off her to let her breathe, and the sounds she makes are unholy, until she screams my name in the middle of them. Can’t hold back anymore. Pleasure shoots through me, pulling me into her, knocking me off my balance until I have to lean over her again, giving her all of me.
That’s exactly what I want. To give her all of me.
I devour her with kisses and carry her up the bed. She is limp and wrung out and falls asleep on my shoulder in seconds. I whisper against the top of her head, “I will keep you safe, love. No matter what.”
Chapter Fifty-Five-Anderson
“You sure about this?” June asks.
Mostly. “Dad won’t know that you’ve gone back to work. He’s powerful but doesn’t have spies in every law firm in town. It will likely be fine.”
She looks so cute when she’s nervous. It’s a shame it’s not over something petty. She’s right, this is something we cannot afford to screw up. But it’s sheer paranoia to think he has spies where she works. “Guess I’m just worried. Always feels like when things start to turn around, they go to shit.”
I smile at her and kiss her forehead. “You better get going, or you’ll be late.”
“What about you? Doesn’t he hate it when you’re late?” she asks, pointing to the clock on the wall.
“Sophie’s isn’t far from here. I’ll be fine. I could walk you to work?—”
She laughs. “Thanks, but no. That might give things away.”
One more for the road, then. I kiss her until my balls ache, and I hate when she pulls away. But she’s smiling, and I did that. I made her smile, and it’s the best feeling I can have while wearing clothes. She leaves, and I go the other way, and it thrusts the opposite feeling through me. I hate to leave her, but I have to.
Brunch with Dad will not wait.
Sophie’s is yet another hoity-toity place he likes. The place has long been rumored to be a favorite of local high-end criminals, possibly run by them as a front for money laundering. But that’s just old Boston lore. Lots of places have that reputation in the city. It adds to their mystique and makes a lot of them into tourist destinations.
It”s a small, brick building with private, soundproof dining rooms perfect for birthday parties and bribery. Or, in my case, blackmailing my father into giving me access to my money. The hostess takes me back to our private room. Dark stone flooring, no windows, ivory walls with decent artwork. The table has a black tablecloth on it and two place settings. The room has space for several small tables like this one, but we are the only patrons. It is almost awkward, but Dad doesn’t seem to notice. His martini is half drained.
A server delivers a very old scotch for me without taking my order. This isn’t his move, though. It’s Dad’s.
After the server leaves and the door closes completely, I take a whiff. It’s the good stuff, and I am not one to turn that down, so I take a sip. Heady, smoky, entirely too expensive. “What’s the occasion?”
“Can’t a father spoil his favorite son?”
I laugh at the characterization. “I’m the favorite?”
“For now.”
I shrug and sip again. “Thank you.”
He nods his head once. “Your mother is well, thank you for asking.”
“Is it too much to assume that if she weren’t, then you would tell me?”
A gentle lift of his eyebrows is all I get from him to say I was right about that. “Our last conversation was less convivial than I would like, Anderson. For the part I played in it, I apologize.”
I choke on the scotch, and it takes a moment for me to make words again. “Did you just apologize to me?”
“It has been known to happen from?—”
“No. No, it has not.”
He almost shrugs. “Apologizing can easily become a bad habit, and you know how I strive to avoid that.” He is doing this to drive me crazy. I know he is. Talking in circles is something of an art form for Elliot West.
“Let’s not get off-topic?—”
“Did you know Cole will be joining us at the firm?”
“Yeah, he mentioned?—”
“Yes. Not yeah. You’re not some uneducated street urchin.”
I stretch my hands instead of letting them ball up from tension. A fist feels stronger. It’s my first instinct. But he trained that out of me at a young age. According to him, a fist is the refuge of those who aren’t smart enough to fight with their words. I ignore his correction. “Cole told me the night of the party, when June was taken.” Maybe if I add that part, he will explain why we are here.
A line forms between his brows as a pensive expression takes hold. “You know, there’s something about all that which strikes me as convenient.”
“The kidnapping of my fiancée is convenient?” Huh?
“You can’t get your money. You yell at me. I don’t budge. Then your fiancée is kidnapped, so you need your money. Kidnapping is a very?—”
“Let me stop you right the fuck there. You have seen what I’ve seen. You know what’s going on here. How the fuck can you accuse me of anything like that?”
He held his hand up to silence me. “Ah, ah. I am not accusing you of anything. Merely pointing out how things might be.”
“You’re making shit up, so you don’t have to give me my money.”
“I don’t have to give you your money at all, Anderson. Do not forget this.”
“Guess you don’t mind if the police and the media find out about everything going down at the firm, eh?”
His eyes flicker with something I have never seen before with him. I’d seen it with only a few people in person, and even now, some primal part of me goes into a hyperaware state. The flicker is pure rage. The kind of rage I’ve seen when a client had to get dragged into rehab against his will before his next concert tour. The kind of rage that hits right before a fight breaks out in a frat. It’s mindless and has no thought of consequence. Seeing that look in my father’s eyes sends a shot of frost through my veins.
But he neutralizes the expression and trades it for apathy. His voice is flat. “You are capable of many things, but hurting your mother is not one of them, and I promise you, that would hurt her. More than you know.”
He will never give me what I want if I push any harder. I have to make him think of the future. Of what he’s standing in the way of. Otherwise, he’s going to feel attacked and shut down. Since he’s brought her up twice now, I ask, “Do you think she likes June?”
“She seems to, yes. Why?”
I shrug as innocently as possible. “I’d like to think of them getting along. Planning our wedding together. Becoming friends while playing with our children. Mom was always so good with kids.”
He huffs a bitter laugh. “Are you going to name one of them after me while you’re at it?”
“Hmm?”
“This allusion to our future together to pull on my heartstrings?” He shakes his head, smirking. “Well done.”
“I am merely working with what I’ve got.” Which admittedly isn’t much right now.
He sighs, folding his arms over his chest. “You can have the money.”
I close my eyes, trying not to let him see the relief wash through me. “Thank you.”
“But first, there is something I require of you.”
I fight the urge to grit my teeth and snarl that it’s my fucking money. That will not get me what I want, and I know it, but this cranky old bastard makes it impossible not to want to. My jaw clenches no matter how much I fight it. “What would that be?”
“Something you will not like but is necessary for the firm”s continued success.”
“Details, old man.”
He chuckles. “So anxious to get started?”
“She doesn’t have a lot of time!”
He shrugs at that. “There are several details of the business I have kept you from, Anderson. Things which you did not need to know about. I drew lines in the sand I vowed not to cross until you were old enough to understand them. I had hoped to keep you clean a little longer … but now, I do not have a choice in the matter. It is time for you to get your hands dirty.”
“Fine, I’ll intimidate someone for you, whatever. Just get to the point.”
He pauses. “Or, you can stay clean longer if you would be willing to forget about June.”