Chapter 18 #2
As I’m thinking I might have done close to enough for today, my desk phone rings.
‘Scarlett Heath.’
‘Scarlett, Richard here.’ The tone of his voice tells me there’s a problem. ‘Black Diamonds.’
My heart sinks. ‘Someone has beaten us to the registration?’
‘Yes. In the EU and the UK. Registrations are already pending. How did you know?’
I breathe out heavily through my nose. ‘Call it a hunch. Do you have the applicant details?’
‘I do. It’s a French company, seems above board from the register. What’s strange is that they only filed yesterday. They literally just got there first. Is there a fight going on for ownership of the game?’
‘The creator swears it’s his and that he hasn’t sold or licensed any part of it before the deal with Constant Sources. Do you think it’s a copycat or the same game?’ I ask.
‘Hard to say but I can tell you the concepts look identical and obviously the name is the same.’
I want to believe Stuart, for Gregory’s sake, but something tells me this is the game Gregory paid seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds for. The question is, who has the software? How did they get it and why would they try to claim ownership when they surely expect a fight?
* * *
Jackson is waiting outside when I step through the revolving door of my office block at six-thirty.
An early finish for me, but then I am about to leave the firm.
He steps out of the driver seat of the Mercedes in his usual black suit, white shirt and black tie combo, moving to hold the passenger door open for me.
I smile when I see Gregory already in the back seat.
‘Thanks, Jackson.’
He nods and closes the door behind me as I slip onto the leather seat next to Gregory, who hangs up his call and drops his phone into his inside pocket.
The privacy screen is already rolled up to the roof, shielding us from Jackson or, judging by the look in Gregory’s hooded eyes, shielding him from us.
‘Get here.’ His hand is under my hips, lifting me towards him as the Mercedes eases into rush-hour traffic.
Hitching my dress far enough up my thighs to drop my knees either side of Gregory’s legs, I straddle him, sitting back onto his legs.
‘Gorgeous,’ he says, pulling his hands down the sides of my body. ‘I haven’t stopped thinking about you today. Now I have a raging dick in my trousers that’s dying to be inside you.’
His words speak to my groin and it takes physical and mental strength to focus my attention away from the thought of him entering me, his thick length filling me completely.
But I do kiss him, getting lost in the feel of his warm, wet tongue on mine, the softness of his lips.
‘Gregory, I need to talk to you about Black Diamonds,’ I manage, pulling myself back from him to sit back on his thighs, panting.
He slips his hands under the hem of my dress and they move like silk across the bare skin of my legs above my stockings. With his thumb, he traces a line over my thong, gently parting my labia.
‘And I need to talk to you, but unless you mean the black diamonds on your finger, it’ll have to wait until after.’
He pushes the satin to one side and dips his thumb just inside my lips, purposefully not touching my clit. Teasing me.
‘After what?’ I part whisper, part moan.
He finally rolls his thumb across my swollen bud, dragging a breathy groan from my lungs. His fingers slide easily into my drenched entrance.
‘Your first orgasm of the night.’
* * *
‘God, I needed that,’ he says, pulling my hair down one shoulder, brushing the skin of my neck with his lips. ‘I’ve needed you all day.’
I return his touch, nuzzling into his neck as our bodies calm and he starts to retract inside me. ‘I really do need to talk to you about Black Diamonds,’ I mumble against his rich scented skin.
His phone rings and I move to the seat beside him, adjusting my clothes as I go.
‘Ryans.’ His tone is clipped, maybe even more than his usual CEO abruptness. ‘What did you find?’ He casts his eyes fleetingly to me. ‘Email it to Jackson. Agreed. No, keep monitoring.’
The Mercedes rolls to a stop outside the front entrance to the Shard and the privacy screen separating the front and back of the car winds down. My cheeks flush red as Jackson’s profile comes into view. I look anywhere other than the rear-view mirror.
‘Scarlett, go inside and call the lift. I need to talk to Jackson.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘I’ll just be a minute. Please.’
Gritting my teeth, I climb out of the car.
‘Good evening, Miss Heath,’ the concierge calls, dipping his head.
‘Good evening.’
The lift doors open and I step inside with my laptop in one hand, my frame handbag over my opposite forearm.
I press sixty-four and as the doors begin to draw closed, Gregory strides inside.
His body is tense, his eyes ablaze. He rides the lift as if I don’t even exist, rubbing a hand across his late-day stubble then sliding it, too tightly, down his throat.
When the doors open to his floor, he steps to one side, finally acknowledging my presence, to let me out first. He opens one side of the double doors to the apartment for me to walk in, his black eyes meeting mine as we cross.
The lounge smells of something delicious, meaning Amy must have just left.
I place my bags down on the floor and as soon as I stand, Gregory thrusts me back against the wall of the lounge, lifting my hands above my head, holding them still with one hand as his other drags up the side of my body.
His mouth assaults mine, fast, rough, his teeth meeting my lips.
His body pushes against mine, his pelvis ramming my arse against the wall.
His cock hardens as his body touches almost every part of mine.
‘You’re angry.’
‘Yes.’ He pulls my lip hard between his teeth then rests his brow on mine, his eyes squeezed shut.
‘About what?’
‘More than I care to discuss.’
‘Tell me.’
He’s silent but his exhale is long, hot and heavy against my lips, a wave of heated desire.
His hands grab my waist and shoulder, turning me so I’m facing the wall, my palms pressing the plaster above my head.
He yanks my hips back an inch so they’re pushed up against his crotch, then he pulls down the zip running from my neck to my coccyx and pushes the material apart, exposing my back.
His hands roam across my bare skin as his hips turn slowly against my arse.
‘My day started with you having a nightmare and running away from me.’ His words are thick, deep and masculine.
‘It got worse, and right now, I just need you to take me out of my head.’ His mouth meets my shoulder, sucking and biting the skin.
‘Give me what I need.’ He blows air in a line down the nape of my neck then follows the same path with his tongue. ‘Give me you. Please.’
My head rolls back and drops forward in acquiescence.
‘Say it.’ His hands move inside my dress, around my waist and up to my breasts, pushing down the cups of my bra to tweak my nipples.
‘Yes.’
It feels like one swift move as he pulls my hands to my sides and pushes my dress across my shoulders to the ground. I return my hands to the wall, palms down above my head, balancing my body as I lift my heeled feet out of the dress.
His hand grips my hipbone then slips into my thong which is no doubt drenched from our ride home.
His fingers move over my still sensitive clit then breach my entrance, pulling my pelvis back against his erection.
‘You’re soaked. Still full of me. Do you have any idea how much of a fucking turn-on that is? ’
‘Gregory.’ His name leaves me on a breathy whisper.
‘What, baby? Tell me why you’re saying my name.’
‘I want you.’
‘Where?’
‘Inside me. I want to feel you.’
‘Take off your thong.’
I do, bending further back into him to slide the material down my legs. I lift one leg to step out, then the other. He hooks his hand under my elevated thigh and moves it back, my heel locking around his waist, exposing my sex to him.
‘Feel yourself.’
The embarrassment I feel is fleeting. My body is too desperate, too charged and too wanton.
I move my hand between my parted lips and realise how wet I am.
My fingers glide across my clit. Gregory holds his hand against mine, encouraging my fingers lower then pushing me inside so I can feel our earlier pleasure.
‘That’s it, baby.’
He removes his suit jacket, casting it to the floor with my dress, then unfastens his trousers, leaving me briefly to take them off and remove his shirt.
My entire body is tingling, mounting, as my own incendiary fingers work me higher.
His naked body rests against my back, his legs inside mine.
He gropes my breasts, pulling me back against his chest.
My legs start to feel weak, trembling as I near the precipice. His hands trace every curve of my body. His rock-hard penis lies in the crease of my arse.
‘Gregory, I’m close. I want to come with you inside me.’
He growls as he pushes me forward, my palms meeting the wall. I’m in my heels but I still rise to the tips of my toes to account for his height. When he’s positioned, he teases me, entering just an inch. I drop back onto my heels and he thrusts deep inside me. Delicious. Deadly.
‘Gregory, God, Gregory.’
‘Keep touching yourself,’ he barks.
It’s sensitive, too sensitive, my legs could give way, but I do as he says, my hips bucking back into him when my fingers touch my clit.
The tips of my fingers find him, thick and wet, entering me tirelessly.
The feel of him. Knowing I’m taking all of him.
It sends my head into a spiral. He wraps a hand around my waist, holding me to him, stopping my legs from collapsing beneath me. His teeth clamp down on my shoulder.
‘Not yet,’ he says, groaning into my back.
‘I can’t wait. I can’t.’
‘Wait.’