Chapter 26
Material Weakness
Sara
“I can take Peabody for a walk.” This is an argument I didn’t think I’d have with the guys. But Peabody and I are at the door and Dante won’t let me leave.
“Just give me five minutes to put on different shoes.” He glares down at me. “Stay put.”
I roll my eyes as he walks to his bedroom. There’s an urge to disobey him. To just take Peabody and go for a walk because it needs to be done. It’s a busy street. It isn’t even dark.
We’ll be fine.
But there’s also a part of me that craves Dante’s approval. I don’t even understand why. For so long he was what stood between me and what I wanted, Wyatt. Peabody dances around my feet.
“If you pee, Dante is cleaning it up.”
Peabody yips but doesn’t pee, thankfully. Dante comes back out of his room. He ditched his suit jacket and tie and unbuttoned his shirt. He’s gorgeous and tall. My insides tingle with awareness. His hair is pulled back in a bun, but some strands have escaped and hang next to his jaw.
Dante’s always been attractive, but my body never reacted like this before he watched me masturbate. I mean, the tingles aren’t new, but the wetness and the desire curling inside me are.
He smirks as he approaches and takes Peabody’s lead from me. “Careful, pip. Someone might get ideas.”
He opens the door and I step into the hallway.
“Someone already has ideas,” I grumble as we walk to the elevator. I wasn’t sure what the rules were for the hallway and taking Peabody on walks, but I slid on a pair of panties. Wyatt said in the apartment. This is outside. And there’s public decency to consider.
“How was work?” Dante asks as he scoops Peabody up to carry him into the elevator.
That dog is going to be so spoiled. He got to sleep in Dante’s bed last night.
Dante’s arms strain the seams of his shirt.
He has ripped arms with those veins. Fuck.
When he strains above me, holding himself up, I could spend hours just discovering every inch of his body with my mouth, hands, fingers, tongue.
We’re not in the apartment. I have to control myself. But I definitely wouldn’t mind sleeping with Dante again, or riding and teasing him while I have him tied to the bed.
“Pip?” Dante looks down at me.
“Hmm?” I blink up at him. He could ravish me in the elevator. Hit the stop button and just slam me up against the wall.
The elevator dings and Dante just shakes his head.
“Head out of the clouds, pipsqueak.” Dante leads the way through the lobby.
“More like out of the gutter,” I murmur.
He chuckles and holds the door open. The street is packed and the daylight is waning. We cross the street to the little park. When Dante puts Peabody on the grass, Peabody explores the area.
“How was your work today?” Dante asks again.
“Good. I managed to finish at least one client before having to shift focus to another.” Breathing in the grass, I smile. I love being in the parks in the city. It doesn’t quite smell the same as the country or the ocean, but it’s reminiscent of them. The sun is warm on my skin.
“Everything else going well? Do we need to go back to your townhouse to grab something for Saturday’s event?”
Yeah, I’m trying not to think about that night. All the eyes watching me, waiting for me to trip up. “I’ll just go to the store and get something new.”
“You and Drew?” He cocks his eyebrow. I release my breath. Might as well ask.
“You and… who’s your date, Dante?” I shade my eyes so I can look up at him.
He grimaces and that makes me feel significantly better. “Nancy Anderson.”
“Nancy?” I do some mental gymnastics to figure out who this woman is. But then I step back. “Anderson? As in Anderson Financial Group, Anderson?”
Dante nods. “My uncle wanted to get in good with their family. Why not pimp out his sister’s son to do it?”
My eyes widen. “Dante…”
“It’s not a big deal, pip.” He brings Peabody back toward us with the leash.
“It’s how things are done. You want to get in good with a family, you do something for them.
Nancy is a sweet, shy woman, but she doesn’t get invited out to things like this.
I’ll take her out, show her a good time, and bring her home safe and sound.
Meanwhile, my uncle brokers a multimillion-dollar contract with her father. ”
I reach down and pick up Peabody. I know how this goes. How many times was I taken out by someone who wanted an in with Tom or my father’s business? It’s hard to know what someone actually wants from you in our social circles.
“I’m sure you’ll make sure she has fun.” I give him a smile.
We walk back toward the apartment building. It’s still crazy busy with black cars pausing to let people out or pick up new riders. We wait at the stoplight. And when it turns, I go to step forward.
“I’ll do my duty.” Dante puts his hand on my arm to stop me. A black car passes in front of us even though we have the walk signal. My gaze follows it as it doesn’t even slow down. “But I’m also going to make sure you’re safe.”
“I’ll have Drew.” I swallow. And only Drew until later. I can’t wait for later. If anyone can make that fantasy happen, it’s Drew.
“Do you trust him?” Dante guides me across the street with his hand on the small of my back.
“Shouldn’t I?” I shrug. “I trust him enough to sleep with him. He may not tell me everything, but we’re still getting to know each other.
I’m still a little more guarded around him than with you guys, who basically know my whole life story already.
But that’s who we are. We have to be careful, cautious. ”
Dante opens the door, and before I know it, we’re back in the elevator. But this time, people get on with us. I sigh. My alone in the elevator with Dante fantasy never would have worked with Peabody here, but some other time. I kiss Peabody’s head and he turns to lick my chin.
I giggle. It’s amazing to me that, for now, I’m in a good place. We have the names of the companies Tom was working for to look into. Maybe Tom just overinflated whatever was happening.
Maybe I wasn’t in any real danger.
But then who tossed our rooms? Fuck. The guy in black smoking a cigarette I could easily write off, but not the breaking in and destruction of only Tom’s and my bedrooms. I lean into Dante’s side and he puts his arm around my shoulder.
The other people on the elevator don’t even notice as they step off at their floor and never look back at us.
“You okay?” Dante tips my chin up. His light blue eyes search mine.
“Yeah, just thinking about Tom.” I hate that he’s become this thing that makes me sad to think about. Tom is a lot of things, but he’s not a Debbie Downer. He’s the life of the party. The catalyst for adventures. My big brother.
Dante squeezes my shoulder. “Tom’s good at this part. We’ve never been able to find him when he hides.”
That’s true. He always loved to jump out at me from whatever hiding spot he found. But no one ever found him. And the few times he’s taken off in the past, we never did figure out where he went.
“What do you want for dinner?” Dante asks as we step off the elevator onto our floor… their floor.
Fuck it. This is where I’m living right now. It’s my apartment and my bedroom. Tom made sure of it, so he can come back and live in my bedroom.
“Are we ordering in or cooking?” I drag my hand across his abs as he holds the door open for me. Peabody wiggles in my arms. I squat to put him down and unhook the leash. When I stand, Dante grabs my hips and pulls me back against him.
“Whatever you want, pip.” His voice is low and sends shivers down my spine.
I could totally get used to this. I turn in his arms and grab the edges of his shirt to tug him down, going up on my tiptoes to press my lips against his. He lifts me against him so it’s easier for both of us to reach.
His tongue licks the seam of my lips. When I open for him, our tongues tangle. A moan escapes my throat. Maybe he’d be interested in skipping dinner and just fucking me instead. It’s been a long day and no one took advantage of me all day long.
Sure, I’ve been fucked a lot since last weekend, but I have a lot of catching up to do. My legs wrap around Dante’s waist and I lift myself higher to slide my tongue into his mouth. He holds me like it takes no effort at all, suspending me in the air.
Peabody gives a little yip, but I ignore him. He’s had plenty of Dante time. It’s my turn.
Hands slide under my skirt. When I try to pull away to see who’s behind me, Dante’s hand clasps the back of my neck and holds me there. He claims my mouth, making me forget my own name.
The hands trail up my thighs to my panties.
“Shameful, trouble.” Wyatt’s voice sends sparks colliding with the ones Dante already created. “Rule breaker.”
Whimpering, I can’t even escape Dante’s kiss to tell Wyatt I only wore them to take Peabody out. Then Dante distracted me before I could take them off. Of course, it might’ve distracted Dante even more if I’d taken off my panties. But I planned to take them off very, very soon.
Wyatt grips my panties and yanks. The sound of fabric tearing fills the room and I yelp into Dante’s mouth at the sting. Fuck. That has me soaked.
“I already owe you two punishments, trouble. This makes three.”
I still want to argue, but then Dante does this thing with his tongue, and I’m drowning in his kiss, wanting so much more.
Wyatt rubs the backs of my thighs, moving closer and closer to my pussy. The pulsing, aching need for him to touch me makes me groan when his fingers drift away.
“What kind of punishment do you want, trouble?” Wyatt closes in on my back. His warmth sinks into me, turning the roaring flames into an inferno. He’s teasing me, not giving me what I want.
It’s not even the punishment yet.
“Carry her to the couch.” Wyatt backs away and I want to scream. I really just wanted him to free his cock and slam it inside me, hard and fast like he promised. But if I tell him I want that, he won’t deliver.