28. Anastasia #2
“Alyra DeVerre, what a delight it is to see you again,” Gregory says in surprise.
DeVerre ... The name strikes with familiarity. Then it comes to me. Her family owns one of the most renowned law firms in the United States.
I think about a scandal I heard once about them; the eldest DeVerre son, set to inherit the empire his father had built, disappeared years ago.
He was confirmed alive and I somewhat relate to his simple want for a quieter life instead.
Their family is famous, and of course one of New York’s hottest and wealthiest bachelors going incognito somewhere in the world was cause for a social media breakdown.
Was he Allie’s brother? Cousin? Unimportant right now.
“I was just leaving,” Allie says tightly.
“As were we. Let us escort you out,” Gregory offers.
She nods but isn’t fully comfortable with the idea.
“We were all just leaving,” Rhett says, dropping an amount of money that’s likely far too much onto the table before slipping his arm around my waist.
“Can we drop you off somewhere? I’d love to catch up and hear about your father,” Gregory says when we’re standing outside.
“Rhett is heading my way, actually, but thank you. It was lovely to see you after so long,” Allie says politely.
Gregory only nods and Liam barely looks at her, standing with his hands in his pockets and a faraway look of detachment. I long to talk to him, just the two of us. Even if he hasn’t told me all of what’s between him and Allie, I’ve never seen someone so in need of a friend as Liam looks right now.
“I’ll see you at the gala tonight?” I ask Liam.
He forces his head to me, wearing a hollow smile as he nods.
When the valet comes around with the car, Rhett doesn’t miss a beat, opening the back door for Allie and then the passenger door for me. He speeds off, and the tension in the car could be cut with a knife.
“That was . . .”
“A fucking nightmare.” Allie cuts me off.
I wince, glancing in the rearview at her troubled look as she stares out the tinted window. “How do you two know each other?” I try carefully.
Allie’s head slumps back against the seat. “He’s an old ... acquaintance.”
“Acquaintance,” I repeat, knowing the hidden meaning behind that.
She groans. “He was the first boy I ever fucked. Better?”
My eyebrows shoot up. I expected a past relationship, but this is ... unexpected.
“Boy?” I hedge.
“We were sixteen.”
“Ahh.”
“We dated, but it was short. He left New York one day and didn’t tell me. Zero contact. He’s a fucking asshole and my first and only broken heart. I was a young, fragile teen.” She sighs.
Allie tries to play it off now, but she can’t hide the look in her eyes. She’s still hurting even after all these years.
“Oh shit,” I mutter suddenly. Is this who Liam has been hung up on in all the years I’ve known him?
“What’s wrong?” Rhett asks—the only time he’s broken from his deep concentration.
No, it has to be a coincidence. There is no way in hell. What are the damned odds?
“Nothing,” I mutter quickly. “What’s got you so worked up?”
Rhett lets go of some of his distress that was starting to choke the air.
“I’ve never been seen with Allie before.
Should anyone discover things about me, I never want any of my team to be linked to me.
Not even believing this is a client relationship.
I’ve been very careful, Ana. I can’t have anyone my uncle could use to get to me, and tonight fucking ruined that. ”
I turn so stiff in my seat, feeling like I caused this.
Liam would have otherwise walked past if he hadn’t seen me and I hadn’t beckoned him over.
Then there’s something more ... Rhett’s words aren’t only about Allie, but about how I’ve become tied to him.
The first person he can’t hide his connection to—not anymore.
“It will be okay,” Allie says when I can’t. “Liam is ... harmless. Except to teenage me.”
“We don’t know if Gregory is in the clear yet,” Rhett argues.
They keep chatting while a lump forms in my throat.
It’s pathetic, selfish even, to cling to his words like they’re regret for knowing me.
Getting close to me. I will always be a weapon that can be used against him, and any moment he could leave me.
Cut all attachment and then he’ll be free from that burden of vulnerability.
We drop off Allie at her hotel, lingering for more than ten minutes as Rhett wants to be sure no one follows her in or looks suspicious outside. I don’t look at him, watching the people out the window absentmindedly instead. Part of me wishes he’d touch me, talk to me. He doesn’t.
He drives us back to our hotel, and we make it to our room with all our shopping in complete silence.
I’m about to take a shower to get ready for tonight, wrapped only in a cotton robe, but when I see Rhett sitting on the bed leaning his forearms over his knees in an intense stare-off with the carpet, my frustration snaps.
“Did I do something wrong?”
He doesn’t even look up. “You could never do anything wrong,” he says, but it’s as if he’s not even present.
“Sure, I could,” I say, wandering across the room. “I could walk out of here and flash the next guy to walk past. I could sneak behind the lobby bar and steal a bottle of tequila. Or, apparently, I could fuck up dinner.”
He runs a hand through his silvery-blond hair, which is already disheveled from many times previous.
“Dinner was not your wrong,” he says with an edge of bitterness that actually stings.
“Then tell me.”
“I’m you’re wrong, Ana. Jesus, shit .” He stands abruptly, turning away as if he can barely stand to look at me.
I’m hurting. I don’t know when I gave Rhett Kaiser the ability to hurt me. But there it is, in every second he’s displeased because of me, and my defense only breaks out its claws.
“You’re just a good fuck, Agent. There’s nothing more to this, so you can damn well relax.
” I storm to the bathroom, until I decide I’m not finished.
“You can try all you want not to let people in, but we’re all dodging a thousand dangers every day.
You’re no different. No more frightening.
You say you’re dangerous, but all I see is a coward. ”
That snaps something in him, but it breaks a wild thrill in me that with his first step toward me I run into the bathroom, locking myself in. Rhett’s fist bangs against the door seconds later and I’m sick to find pleasure in provoking him.
“Open the door, Ana,” he says, so low and daring my eyes flutter at it. Heat gathers between my legs and I come alive with daring sin.
“So much of a coward that I have do to this myself,” I taunt. My hand slips under my robe, needing some relief from the slickness pooling out of me. My head tips back against the door with a soft moan as I circle my clit.
“You’d better not be touching yourself,” he growls.
“Why not?” I say, a little breathy, giving away that’s exactly what I’m doing.
“If you’re going to do so while I’m in the room, you’re going to do it as I watch.”
My brow pinches, and while I want to open the door and do exactly that, the thought of how riled he’ll be if I don’t turns me on even more. I moan again, slipping two fingers inside myself.
“Ana, open this fucking door.”
“You want to be alone,” I say, panting between the orgasm I’m chasing. “This is what it feels like.”
“If you come right now I’m going to make sure the next time you do you’re begging for it, and let me tell you, I won’t give in to you. Not until you’re starved for it to the brink of insanity.”
Holy fucking shit, that shouldn’t be as much of a turn-on as my body takes it to be. Stripping my robe, I sink down, spreading my legs and fucking myself harder, thinking of him watching. Of his inability to reach me right now and what he would unleash on me if I caved and let him in.
He gives a low groan of pain, knowing I’m too stubborn to go back on it now.
My climax crashes over me and there’s no hiding it as I cry out with the force. I’ve masturbated plenty, but this has to be the hardest orgasm I’ve ever reached on my own.
“Oh, little bird,” he says right by my ear as if he’s crouched down with me. “You’re in so much trouble.”