Chapter 19 #2
There was and always had been, but I would never admit it and I had blocked it out the day I’d left. Refusing to admit that it seemed like I had ripped a part of myself apart that day, a part that had never healed, and so I had filled it with hate and anger.
“No,” I answered a bit too gruffly. “Come on. If you’re going to make me go down these stairs in the pitch black, then let’s get it over with.”
“Why don’t you have lights?” She kept staring at me as we walked and I rolled my shoulders, noticing the tension returning.
“Because lights show my enemy there’s another way into my house.”
“Like they couldn’t just come through the front door?”
I shot her a look and opened the gate.
I led the way, listening to her ramble on about twins and me and my brother.
Each word reminded me of the regret that had been building since she had come into my life.
The same that had reared its annoying head from time to time throughout my life but was now a steady aggravation.
When we made it to the bottom, she ran to the water and dipped her toes in.
“Now what?” I asked, not having been down here at night in years. At times, the rush of the waves and the vastness of the ocean called me, and I would stand in that same spot, wondering how my life had come to this. Lonely, corrupt, a tangled web I couldn’t escape even though I wanted to.
She lifted her shirt over her head. “Now I rinse the dried mess you left from my thighs, and you fuck me in the water.”
It was my turn to gape at her. The skirt came off along with the underwear and I looked up to make sure none of my men were watching her.
It was too dark from where they stood, but still the moonlight left little to the imagination.
She removed the clips from her hair and sent it tumbling before she plunged into the water.
“I thought you couldn’t swim,” I said, watching her move further from me and hating the fear that lanced my insides.
“I can’t, so you’d better come in and save me.”
She brought her finger up and beckoned for me to follow. If it was one thing I was learning about Ava, it was that she would challenge my routines and test me at every turn. My fearless wildcat.
Ignoring the voice that told me this was ridiculous, I stripped and made my way to her. Scooping her into my arms, I proceeded to do exactly what she’d suggested, taking her right there with the waves intensifying my every thrust and the moonlight illuminating her face as she climaxed for me.
Four days. That’s all I had left before my world went to hell.
I raked my fingers through my hair. Who was I kidding?
It had already gone to hell and Ava was the only light left in it.
The voices on the other end of my phone continued to argue.
I usually stayed out of disagreements between families that sat on the border of my province.
Leaving it to them and hoping one would wipe the other out so I wouldn’t have to hear their bitching about stupid shit I couldn't care less about. This was how territory wars started. Someone looked at someone else the wrong way and feathers got ruffled. I would have just killed them both, but with my situation as fragile as it was, I didn’t have the men to deal with a takeover.
In fact, it had been years since I’d even threatened such a thing.
The threat still stood, but I hadn’t bothered stepping out of my province for another family’s territory.
It wasn’t worth the trouble at this point.
The door to my office cracked open and Ava’s grin popped in.
I’d left her in the main room, curled up on the couch when my phone rang.
Her hair was rumpled, her shirt wrinkled, but it was the devious sparkle to her eyes that had me forgiving her for interrupting me during a call.
She closed the door behind her, and I mouthed, “What are you doing, sweetheart?”
The grin lifted further, and she strutted over to me, her hips sashaying hypnotically. The shouting grew on the phone, and I shook my head at Ava. Gesture ignored, she pulled her shirt over her head, bumped my legs apart and dropped to her knees.
“Fuck,” I muttered, watching her undo my pants.
“You agree it was an undercut, Cade?” I heard on the other end. Damn if I did, but I really didn’t care because Ava’s mouth was now warming my cock, her tongue drifting under my shaft. I sank my hand into her hair.
“I think it was an attempt at an undercut that was more insulting than anything,” I answered, trying not to groan when she took me all the way and drew back with a gag.
There was no way I would make it through this call if she kept it up, but I wasn’t about to stop her.
“Stop pussyfooting around and just tell him you want a share of the market, Hansen.”
The line went silent except for the huff. I looked down to see Ava’s head bobbing up and down, her brown eyes on me. I pulled her hair, forcing her from me, and stood. She looked so sexy I just about came looking at her.
“You two figure it out and call me when you have a solution. Otherwise, I’ll be the solution, and you won’t like it when I come out there and put your bodies in the river.” I hung up on them and tossed my phone onto the desk.
“That was a risky thing to do, wildcat.”
She licked her lips and stroked me with her hand. “I like risks.”
“There are consequences to interrupting my business calls.”
“I’m sure I’ll enjoy every one of them.”
My hard-on jumped in her hand, and I took it from her, fisting it a few times before I said, “Open up like a good girl.”
A shiver made its way through her, and she opened her mouth wide for me.
I pushed her head forward, my eyes on her as she took every inch of me, struggling not to gag and losing the battle once I shoved her further.
The sound had my balls tingling. I let her work me until I couldn’t stop myself from stilling her head and moving with swift, long thrusts in and out of her mouth.
Her gags and tears sent my release thrumming through me, and it hit me with an intensity that had me bumping the back of her throat and ripping gags from her.
But as much as I hated that she was uncomfortable, it felt too good to stop.
“That’s it, wildcat. Swallow every drop of me,” I growled, completely out of control as my release ricocheted through me.
When my climax freed its hold on me, I backed away, a pop sound coming when her mouth released me.
I brushed the tears from her cheek, saying, “Open that sexy mouth for me and show me what a good girl you are.”
She opened, sticking her tongue out at me and smiling despite the tears and swollen lips. The sight was riveting, and I knew I wanted more. I tucked myself away, completely drained but still able to lift her onto my desk.
“Lay back, sweetheart. I think you deserve a reward for that.”
I swiped my hand behind her and cleared my desk, sending whatever was there falling to the floor. Her back hit the desk, my mouth hit her skin, kissing my way up her chest and then her neck. Yanking her bra down, I cupped her breasts, teasing her nipples until they were rigid in my fingers.
Tugging one, I nibbled her ear before saying, “The next time you interrupt my meeting, Ava, I will edge you on until you beg me to bring you to climax.”
“I don’t beg,” she whimpered as I sucked her nipple ring into my mouth and flicked my tongue at it.
“You will for me because you’re a wildcat who needs to be reminded of who’s in charge.”
My hands tore at her pants, shoving them down while I bit her hip, leaving teeth marks.
Her groan reverberated in the air. I spread her legs further, bending them and ordering her to hold them before I went to my knees.
I jerked her to my face and feasted on her as her cries filled the room and her body shook.
Minutes before, I hadn’t thought it possible to get hard again, but my erection was throbbing against my pants by the time her back bowed off the desk and she came in a frenzy of convulsions.
Seeing her like that was too much, and I unzipped my pants, freeing myself again. Her body was limp when I flipped her and yanked her to me, thrusting into her. Throwing my head back, I gripped her hips, reveling in how her muscles were still pulsing around me.
Smoothing my hand down until I reached her ass, I grunted out, “You still have consequences to deal with for walking in on me, sweetheart.”
“What?” She tried to lift her head, but I moved my hand from her hip and pushed her back down with my palm.
“You don’t make the rules around here. I do and you follow them.”
The crack of my hand hitting her ass echoed through the room.
“Ow,” she whined, and I smoothed the spot.
“You don’t like that?” I said, hands going to her hips again as I pounded into her so hard her body slid back and forth on the desk.
“I might have liked it.” This time, her words came out in a purr.
That was all I needed. Hips released, I leaned forward and wrapped my hand around her neck.
“Good, because I’m going to leave my print on this ass like a brand.
” I smacked it again, enough to sting, but not enough to bruise.
Her body jumped. A few more hits and I was so close to coming that I moved my hands to her waist and drove into her.
“Are you going to come with me?” I asked, my breathing ragged.
“Only if you say it the right way.” Her words were hoarse and broken.
“Come for me like a good girl.” And she did, baring down on me so that I lost it.
My climax wrecked me this time. Clutching to her hips, I rode the waves of it until they pounded me so badly, I fell on top of her, thrusting into her with the last of my release.
I laid my cheek on her back and stretched my hands to cover hers.
“If that’s my punishment,” she heaved, “then I’m interrupting every meeting from now on.”