Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Raven
“Thank you, Mr. Lopez. I appreciate the opportunity to work with you. We’ll get started first thing next week. You have a good evening.”
I hung up the phone and blew out a sigh of relief that my being late for the call hadn’t fucked up my shot with a huge client.
At first, it had been hard to focus on finance with my thighs still soaked and my nipples aching to be touched, but Lopez had been easy to impress.
He was a sweet older gentleman who reminded me of Dad.
Needless to say after drawing the comparison to my father, my feral body calmed the hell down.
I went to the restroom and smirked at my disheveled appearance staring back at me in the mirror.
I looked like I had fought a bear with my wild hair and smeared makeup.
After righting myself, I braced my hands on either side of the sink.
What the hell was I doing? Having sex on my conference room table with my fucking client hours after a call from the board?
It was something out of one of my romance novels.
It didn’t happen in real life without consequences, right?
Plus, he was probably nearly a decade younger than me.
He had to be twenty-three or four. Maybe he was in his late twenties and just looked younger.
That was a possibility, but I needed to ask him.
A part of me felt it was wrong to look in his file so that’s why I hadn’t before.
I brought my hands up to my face and pushed my palms into my forehead, where a headache was beginning to stir.
Even if he was older, he was still my client. I really needed him to sign the conflict waiver. Maybe if I disclosed the relationship or whatever the hell this was to the board they would overlook it. I could outline all the steps I was taking to keep things ethical.
I groaned at the possibility they might not see it that way and went back to my office to grab my purse and phone.
The whole way home I thought about Ryan and the mind-shattering orgasm he’d given me.
Sure, the sexting and phone sex had been great, and even the one I had given myself while he watched was more intense than I’d ever had.
But Ryan between my legs, looking up at me like he would do anything I asked?
Earth-shattering. Everything about him was impeccable.
His voice, his purposefully messy hair, those fucking hands and that mouth.
I needed to stop this foray before I was too far gone…
too addicted to stop, but I was already lost to him.
I had thrown caution to the wind time after time when he could easily ruin me, and I didn’t ever lose control like that.
I didn’t take risks. I couldn’t, for the sake of my career, my own livelihood, and my parents. If I lost everything, they would, too.
My apartment was cold and uninviting when I walked in the door.
Nothing about it made it into a home and I was hit with the realization that aside from work and my tiny family, I didn’t have much.
There were minimal personal touches in the space except stylistic furniture choices, and a tinge of regret and longing for someone else’s things in the rooms pricked my chest as I ate dinner and eventually went to bed.
Nightmares plagued my sleep, and I woke up multiple times in a cold sweat, gasping for breath.
I was back in the alley, the darkness closing in around me as footsteps sounded in the distance.
There was no way out. Every direction I turned ended in a brick wall.
My breaths became haggard, and I felt for a weapon, coming up with nothing.
The footsteps came closer, and it became clear there was more than one set. As the sounds grew louder, I jammed my arms over my head, a scream tearing from my lungs. Harsh laughs joined the hurried steps, and I dropped to my knees, tears streaming down my face.
The dreamscape shifted, and I was held against a wall of a body, my wrists pinned at my sides. He held me to him while a distorted man stepped in front of me and dragged a thumb across my cheek.
I woke myself up groaning in terror. My neck was so tense that my head was drawn back, and my hands were clenched into fists. I tried to relax my body as I lay in the dark, but ants were crawling on my skin. I had to move.
In the kitchen, I got a glass of water, the cool liquid soothing my scratchy throat.
As I set the glass on the counter, the skin on the back of my neck tingled as if I was being watched.
I looked around the dark apartment, the only light streaming from the water station on the fridge and saw nothing wrong in the shadowy corners.
I was being ridiculous. My uneasiness was because of the bad dreams.
Rubbing my forehead, I took the glass to the sink and started to walk back down the hall when movement in my periphery snapped my head to the left. In the dark I saw nothing, but just to be sure I headed to the light switch on the opposite wall.
As I reached for it, something caught my hair and pulled me backward into a hard chest. I cried out into the darkness and a gloved hand slapped over my mouth, muffling my screams. My pulse shot through the roof as my arms were pinned, and my natural responses kicked in.
I was a fighting kind of woman, so even though the intruder had caged my arms, I kicked my leg backward, hoping to catch balls with my foot.
Based on the build, I assumed they were a man, but he wasn’t caught off guard by my tactics.
My leg went between his and in a quick heave, he lifted me up off my feet and pitched me forward.
The floor slammed into my knees, and my cry into his hand was nearly silent.
He came to the ground with me and my nails clawed at the fabric covering his arm.
He jerked my head back into him and something cold and metal was threaded around my neck.
My heart skipped, and I stopped struggling, knowing that he probably had a weapon, and I was defenseless.
He pulled the chain taught, the links biting into my skin.
I sobbed, tears streaming down my face, and chanted please over and over underneath the glove.
Not that my attacker would listen. He was my worst fears of the last decade materialized.
He was the eyes watching from the shadows, always lurking, always watching and waiting.
This was it. I’d managed to live peacefully and unbothered, but I’d always feared he would come after me for what I did.
He’d finally caught me, and I was finally going to meet the fate I’d evaded all those years ago.
He wrenched my head to the side and his hot breath danced across my neck.
He was really going to take this all the way back to that night and play out the whole thing.
As his lips brushed against my skin, my body betrayed me as chills skated down my spine.
He kissed his way up to my ear, his warmth lighting me on fire with rage.
“I think I like you in this position, baby, on your knees with a pretty necklace around your throat.”
The words knocked me sideways, and I went still and silent. A wave of disbelief crashed over me, drenching my anger as relief followed closely behind. What the actual fuck?
I reached up, tugging his hand off my mouth, and he let me. “Ryan?” I choked. “What the fuck are you doing?” As the words left my lips I slid my fingers beneath the chain around my neck and tried to loosen it.
“Uh uh, baby,” he said, as he pulled the chain tighter. "It's Zander tonight. You’re going to make up for lost time earlier,” he taunted. “As your punishment, you’re going to suck my cock and I’m going to watch, all while I have your pretty little throat at my mercy.”
Heat rushed between my legs, pooling in my core.
My chest heaved again, but for a completely different reason than before.
My nipples pushed against the black satin of my sleep dress as Zander traced my collar bone with his thumb, an action he seemed to love doing.
Having his chain around my neck and his rough hands manipulating my body into the position he wanted was something I hadn’t dreamed I would like.
But knowing it was him behind me was everything I didn’t know I wanted.
“How did you get in?” I panted as he moved his hands to my breasts and palmed me through the slick fabric.
“You said no limits, baby. So I threw a cloth over your camera and picked your lock.” His chuckle was somehow erotic. “The funny thing about locks is they’re only there to make people feel better. If someone wants in, they will find a way to get in. It's actually not that difficult.”
My mind was in a lust-filled haze, only mildly registering his words. His hands traveled down my stomach, grasping my thigh with one and cupping my pussy with the other. His knees were on both sides of my hips and he pressed his hard length into my ass.
“Fuck,” I moaned.
He had somehow secured the chain around my neck and the ends trailed down my back, the coldness soothing my hot skin.
“Turn around,” he ordered, dropping his gloved hands from my body.
I scooted on my knees until I was facing him.
Kneeling on the floor together, we stared at each other in the darkness.
His hair stuck out from under his black hood and his face was barely visible.
Fuck, he was hot like this, too. Earlier in my office, he was mouthwatering in his business casual attire.
Now, he was wearing a hoodie and dark jeans, looking like he was ready to hurt me in the best way.
He had put my pleasure first this afternoon, but now he was ready to take everything he needed from me whether I wanted it or not.
The thought of being used that way made my pussy throb.