Chapter 9
9
R AIN
My gaze lingers on the window.
Ghostly flurries move by before swirling into a cone of light.
They’re still arguing, their voices echoing behind the closed door, loud and angry at times or muffled and quiet like now.
The door opens with a bang and slams shut before footsteps trail the corridor and move closer to the room.
A hand slides across my naked body as the mattress dips behind me.
“Hey,” Lex says tenderly.
I roll onto my back and glance at him.
His face is flushed, his eyes burning, a smile clinging to his lips.
Propped on his elbow, he looks at me, his fingers slowly brushing my cheek.
“I’m sorry,” he says, regret flashing through his gaze.
We share a few moments of silence, and my eyes well up.
“Do you want me to go?” I ask, tenderly stroking his hand.
He slowly shakes his head.
“It’s too late for that… I don’t want you to leave,” he murmurs.
“Okay.”
His eyes light up as I push closer and curl my hand around his neck.
He tilts his head down, his lips connecting with mine.
His kiss is soft at first, as I imagined it would be, and then it brims with passion, something I’ve always known he has for me.
His hand goes down my body––his touch is warm and sensual, giving me a taste of something different.
I’ve almost forgotten how it feels.
He buries me in his arms, warming me against his body while I slide my hand inside his towel, peeling it off.
Without a word, he tops me as I open my legs for him, his erection grinding against my clit.
“You like it?” he murmurs against my lips.
“Uh-huh.”
He locks my lips again, and his fingers thread through my hair, his touch arousing me.
Sweet tension swirls between my legs before I get a spike of pleasure.
“I haven’t had someone make love to me in a while...” I say.
“Me neither,” he murmurs, his lips lined with a smile.
I touch his face and kiss him while the main door slams closed.
The sound is harsh and makes me jerk against his chest.
“Don’t worry. He’ll be back,” Lex says against my lips. “It’s only you and me now, baby...” he murmurs, his eyes sparkling with a smile. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I know…” I say, soaking in his beautiful grin. “You’ve waited for this for a long time...” I murmur.
He gives me a soft nod.
“Have you thought it might ever happen?” I ask.
“Maybe...” he says, smiling. “But not like this.”
He presses his lips against mine while I slide my fingers into his hair.
He deepens the kiss, burning against me, and soft moans echo in my throat.
Before long, he tears his lips away, grabs a plastic foil from the nightstand, breaks it open, and rolls the condom down.
Smoothly he eases himself in as I let out a sigh of pleasure.
The satisfaction beaming on my face must be more than telling.
“You’re...”
“Big?” he says, grinning. “Just like him,” he adds, rocking his hips slowly, filling me up.
“I may need to give you your money back,” I say.
Grinning, he locks my lips, smoothly increasing the pace and the force of his thrusts as my body becomes one with his, a shower of pulsations breaking through me soon after.
* * *
RAIN
Hours later, Lex drapes my coat over my shoulders and gives me a goodbye kiss before the door bursts open, and James storms in.
His eyes are darker and colder than the wind outside.
A scent of smoke and alcohol travels with him.
“I’ll take her home,” he says gruffly, clutching my arm.
I toss a desperate look at Lex.
“James,” Lex thunders, planting his palm on James’ chest. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, man?”
“Back off,” he rumbles, his hand still on my arm.
“You’re not taking her anywhere,” Lex barks back at him, and for a moment, they clash glares.
Tension seeps into James’ grip, and I begin to tremble.
“Don’t worry. She’s going to be okay,” James says in a softer voice, tearing Lex’s hand away from his chest.
Lex searches his eyes for a moment before shifting his gaze to me.
I nod, and he steps back while I lift my train and turn to James.
“Can you please take your hand off me?” I throw at him icily.
He tears his fingers away and motions me to the door.
“Let’s go.”
We walk to the elevator, ride it down, stride across the lobby, and exit the building without a word.
As we walk out, a limo is waiting for us in front of the building.
We slip in, acting like two strangers.
He averts his eyes.
I shift my gaze to the window.
Minutes later, the car pulls up in front of my place.
He steps out of the car, holds the door for me, dismisses the driver with a flick of his hand, and helps me out.
Our hands connect for a moment, and our shoulders rub briefly as I lean on him, trying to regain my balance.
As soon as the sidewalk meets my heels, I let go of him and rush ahead.
He follows me.
It’s warm inside, and the lobby smells like pine trees and cinnamon, Christmas lights flickering across the walls.
The doorman takes us in discreetly as we stride across.
“I didn’t invite you upstairs,” I toss at James over my shoulder.
“You don’t need to,” he says brashly.
Gritting my teeth, I stifle a retort as we enter the elevator.
“I don’t bring men to my apartment,” I say, irritated, before pressing the button for my floor.
“Well, sweetheart, there’s a first time for everything,” he sneers.
I whip my gaze at him.
He stubbornly ignores me.
The doors close smoothly, sealing us in.
He leans against the wall, his hands stuffed in his pockets.
“I could call the police.”
“Do whatever you want,” he says.
Moments later, the doors slide open, and we exit the car and turn right before striding down the hallway, sauntering past a few apartments and stopping in front of my door.
I swiftly unlock it and enter the foyer leading to the living room.
He walks in and shuts the door with a loud noise.
I ignore him.
Unfazed, I peel off my mantle and lay it on a chair while he swaggers across the room, takes in his surroundings, settles in front of the window, and lets his gaze wander outside.
The wind blows flurries of snow across the foggy glass.
I walk to the side table and pour myself a drink.
“You’ve probably had enough alcohol,” I say, inching closer to him with a glass of wine.
He wears the same tuxedo, no bowtie, his white shirt open at the neckline.
I stop next to him.
He glances at me, a few stray bangs sliding over his eyes. Fire, ice, and ash swirl in his gaze.
Dark passion, sadness, and torment.
His eyes dip briefly to my drink before moving to the window.
Standing next to him, I stare into the darkness through the misted glass, sipping wine from time to time.
“Why did you leave?” I ask after a few moments.
He cuts his eyes at me.
I hold his gaze, silently studying him from above the rim of my glass.
He’s pushing back words, dark emotions spinning in his eyes.
“Why did you leave me with Lex?”
He glances away, his gaze getting lost in the winter night outside.
“Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“That’s not what you paid me for,” I murmur, aware I’m walking a very thin line with him.
A muscle pulses in his jaw.
“I was looking for someone to fuck,” he says. “Someone other than you.”
“Did you find her?”
“Yes and no. By the time I found her, I was no longer in the mood.”
He shifts his gaze to me again, and sadness lines his smile.
“How was Lex?” he asks.
My face is warm with a blush, and that’s my answer.
“He never disappoints, does he?” he says, his gaze dipping briefly to my lips.
“Is that why you left?” I ask.
“Maybe.”
He slowly drags his eyes back to the view and stays quiet for a moment.
“So... You pulled out of the gutter,” he says without looking at me.
“Yeah. You can say that…” I murmur, focused on the slow motion of my finger over the rim of my glass. “But you were right,” I say, setting my drink on the table.
His eyes come to me as I lean back against the table and cross my arms over my chest.
“There is no life in the gutter...” I say, holding his gaze. “There is no life in general if you don’t have any money.”
He cocks an eyebrow at me.
“And you had to go through all that crap to find out?”
Pursing my lips, I stay quiet.
He shakes his head in disbelief, crushing a bitter grin.
“You can be so fucking stubborn, Rain.”
“I had no choice.”
Still shaking his head, he combs his fingers through his hair, eyes tipped down before he puffs, annoyed.
“You had no fucking choice, you say…”
He tilts his gaze to me, aggravated.
“Really?” he tosses at me.
“Yeah. Really… It’s the truth, and you know it.”
He glares at me in disagreement.
“Is it…? Is it the fucking truth?”
He slides his hands into his pockets, inviting me to speak and explain myself.
“I didn’t want to be a trophy girl.”
His eyebrows tilt up, his expression lined with disbelief before a dejected chuckle falls from his lips.
“How can you fucking say that to me? What the hell is this, then?” he says, pointing around my place with a tilt of his chin.
“I didn’t want this at that time,” I say icily. “And what I wanted wasn’t possible. Besides, you would’ve kept me for a while and kicked me to the curb.”
Pivoting toward me, he slowly erases the space between us and slightly tips his head to the side, the ghost of a smile brushing his lips.
“You don’t know that,” he says, the emotion in his voice making my heart clench.
“Do you?” I ask, lifting an eyebrow.
He studies me for a moment, his eyes narrowing with a grin, a stark revelation glinting in his gaze.
Or is it perhaps amusement?
He looks at me with fresh eyes as I bring my hand to his chest and run my fingers over the lapel of his jacket, my gaze following the slow motion, his stare burning holes into my face.
I flick my eyes up.
Fire pours from his gaze as I trail his shirt and tenderly stroke his taut chest.
Distracted, he curves his lips into a sizzling smile.
“You lied to me toward the end,” I say.
A rush of blood colors his cheeks.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he says, his eyes guarded, unreadable this time.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. And you’re lying to me now, and I resent it.”
He tilts his head back, a pang of surprise flitting through his eyes.
Still, he doesn’t pull away.
“The night you spent at the strip club when you weren’t answering my calls...”
“Yes?”
“You said you checked into a hotel that night, got a couple of dance laps, and went to sleep…”
“Yes,” he says, poker-faced.
An amused chuckle peels off my lips.
“Really, James?”
He shifts his eyes away, barely containing a smile.
“I’m going to kill that motherfucker,” he murmurs.
Laughing softly, I slink my hand inside his shirt and run my palm across his bare chest.
He shifts his gaze back to me, his cheeks flushed, his lip rolled beneath his teeth.
I stroke his pecs and feel him tense.
If I know a thing or two about him, he must be rock-hard by now. My gaze drops to his groin before moving up.
He watches me with laughing eyes, still biting his lip.
“James Sexton...” I say before clicking my tongue and smoothly moving my fingers away from his chest. “Lex didn’t tell me anything. He didn’t need to. It wasn’t that hard to figure it out. Of course, I was too stupid to see it back then, but now I know. And you just confirmed it. And then, there was the blonde you claimed was your lawyer.”
“She was,” he says seriously.
“I bet she was. And I’m sure you’d slept with her before I spotted her that evening. I’m also sure you had her in your bed that afternoon. Her being married meant nothing to you. And she obviously didn’t give a fuck about it, either.”
“She’s still married. But she’s no longer my lawyer.”
“Mm-hmm... I wonder why. Anyway, it’s your life, and you do whatever you want to do with it. Sadly I bought your crap back then because I wanted to believe you. And in the end, it was all a lie,” I say, disappointed.
“It wasn’t all a lie,” he says, tense and frustrated.
“I know what wasn’t a lie, but that made things even worse because it didn’t stop you from doing what you did to me. And I couldn’t stop you, either. In the meantime, I’ve learned something important. I can’t afford lies of any kind, James. I need to know the truth at all times. It’s my fucking life, and this shit affects me. There’s too much at stake not to care. To me, it’s all about survival. I’m sure you know this too. You may or may not give a damn about this principle in your private life, but I’m sure you follow it in your business. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so successful.”
“How old are you again?”
“Not that old, but I’m no longer clueless.”
“I liked you when you were clueless and naive.”
“No, you didn’t,” I say, chuckling, entertained. “Don’t fool yourself. You loved my body, and I don’t blame you, but you didn’t know what to do with me. Everything was too damn complicated for your taste, and I couldn’t fit into your life. My sister was right. You had no use for me.”
A wall rises in his eyes.
He looks down, pondering, and then tilts his head up. Holding my gaze, he retrieves a cigarette from inside his jacket.
He slips it between his lips.
“May I?” he asks, charming me with a smile.
“I’d rather not have you smoke in here. You can have your cigarette when you go back,” I say.
He pushes back an amused grin.
“Hmm...”
He tucks the lighter into his pocket and flicks the unlit cigarette with his tongue, giving me a slow once-over.
“Are you still on the clock?” he asks, talking around his cigarette while lifting his gaze.
I flash a faint smile.
“I canceled the job. Your friend will get a full refund, and I might owe him money.”
He tears the cigarette away from his lips.
“What the hell did he do?” he asks.
“The same thing you could’ve done had you not left.”
“That’s not how you run a business,” he says, amused, gesturing with the hand gripping his cigarette.
“Well. It’s my damn business, and I run it how I want.”
I ponder before I speak.
“It’s almost Christmas... It’s been a good year so far, so I can consider it a treat before I go on vacation.”
“A treat?” he asks incredulously.
“Mm-hmm.”
“Even with me being a jerk.”
I smile.
“Desirable men are usually jerks.”
“Not Lex, though,” he argues.
I chuckle.
“Yeah. Not him. He’s the exception to the rule. Or maybe he likes me,” I say.
Grinning, he presses his lips together and locks his jaw.
His eyes dip again, his fingers going through his hair as he muses over something.
“I want to hire you again,” he says.
I think about it for a second and click my tongue.
“I’m no longer available, and I’m actually on vacation starting right now. You two were my last clients for the year.”
He looks at me, unfazed.
“I’ll double your rate... Whatever your charge for a week, you’ll get twice as much,” he says, business-like. “One week. My entire stay in New York.”
I examine him in silence.
“You’ll get a head start in the new year. Not to mention the perks,” he says.
“What perks?”
“You keep me company. Wherever I go, you go. Wining and dining, events, shopping.”
He pauses and searches my eyes as I weigh his proposal.
“Okay,” I murmur, not entirely convinced it’s a good idea.
“And, um... You’ll also get to meet my friends,” he smiles.
“I will?” I flirt.
He nods.
“Uh-huh. Depending on how things go, I might throw in a special treat for you.”
“Which is?” I ask, arching an eyebrow.
“The Night of the Kings.”
My cheeks burn, and a different kind of smile rolls across my lips.
I lower my eyes to hide the lustful grin in my gaze.
“You’ve got yourself a deal, Mr. Sexton.”