Chapter TwentyOne
‘DIAMONDS: GIRLS OR MOBSTERS BEST FRIENDS?’
Reynolds’ links with certain unsavory characters made it onto the six o’clock news. A certain file containing receipts of mysteriously large amounts of money being transferred to a well-known affiliate of a criminal organization found its way to Capitol Press.
Honestly, the encryptions and security Reynolds had on his computers was laughable.
It took a couple hours of digging through the databases before I decided to turn my attention to Kerry Zhang. She was loyal to Reynolds and the company. It only made sense that she was trusted to keep certain information away from prying eyes.
Her computer hard drive was a dream come true.
Amongst the many folders, buried deep, was the first jackpot.
A diamond tycoon and an underground criminal organization—it was a match made in heaven.
There was no actual proof of what the payments were for. Though I suspected it may have been linked to something as boring as tax fraud. It was enough to create speculation.
The media agreed, running the story and twisting their own narrative that made Reynolds look mighty guilty.
Reynolds’ PR team jumped into overdrive, filing injunctions left and right to whatever news outlet or publication dared try to spin the story in a negative light. They were doing whatever it took to squash the story before it ran further out of control.
Evelyn said very little when the news broke. She’d been sitting at the kitchen table eating her dinner and reading a book while I sat at the other end, unable to stop myself from peeking glances at her every five seconds, when Poppy ran into the kitchen and informed us of what was happening.
She didn’t react how I expected. She didn’t run out of the house and ask Saunders to drive her straight to her family home. Instead, she closed her book and made a quick phone call to the carer in charge of looking after her father, then took herself off to her bedroom for the night.
Not before I witnessed the disappointment lining her perfect face.
Sitting alone in the darkness of my makeshift office, I tried not to think about how she looked before she left. I tried not to dwell on the uncomfortable swirl in the depths of my stomach when I watched her walk away.
I wasn’t an entirely heartless bastard. Although Evelyn was merely a pawn waiting on the chess board to be played when needed, it didn’t mean I truly enjoyed doing it.
She was supposed to be nothing more than business. A means to an end, and after one year, a distant memory that required no more thought.
But the more time she was around, the more she buried herself deep into my flesh.
Everything about her threw me off balance. Her perfume. The curls that refused to be tamed. The way her teeth skimmed her bottom lip when she was thinking. Her blushing freckled cheeks when she was embarrassed or overjoyed. The way she felt pinned against me in the cloakroom, her body melding against mine like we were two jigsaw pieces connecting together to complete the picture. All those moments when she looked at me like she couldn’t decide whether to fuck or kill me with her tiny bare hands.
I couldn’t stop replaying how she unraveled on my leg and how divine she looked, sucking on my fingers.
A better man would have walked away.
But I couldn’t let her go, not until Reynolds’ empire lay in ashes.
And maybe not even after that.
“The latest projections are not as positive as we first thought,” Una, Reynolds’ CFO, announced over the video call. “Initially, we predicted a five and a half percent uplift over the next quarter from the latest sponsorship deal.”
“What’s changed?” Evelyn asked. Exhausted purple rings encased her eyes. I heard her moving around the house in the early hours of the morning, and when I finally left my bedroom, she was curled up in the living room, half asleep, reading.
Jeremy, the company’s COO, cleared his throat. The pair looked at each other through the computer, the awkwardness practically bleeding through the screen.
“Last night’s news,” I said. “The other business involved is having second doubts, non?”
Jeremy nodded. “Unfortunately. Although everything is simply speculation, and we have no doubt that the media is twisting the whole thing into something much seedier than it actually is, Marina Kentwood is a bit concerned moving forward with the deal.”
“Marina Kentwood? The wedding dress designer?” Evelyn asked. “Why does a wedding dress designer want to work with a diamond supplier?”
“Her new line incorporates diamonds into the dress itself,” Jeremy said. “She pitched the idea to Mr. Reynolds—sorry, your father, a couple months back. Marina’s sales speak for themselves. He saw it as a perfect opportunity.”
“Why not partner with her? Why a sponsorship?” I watched the red-head yawn. She sat in her own office, staring aimlessly into the camera with the blinds drawn, and was about five seconds away from falling asleep at her desk.
“The concept is still relatively new,” Una pitched in. “Marina doubts herself too much and didn’t want to rush into signing with a company until she was sure it’s worth it.”
“Diamonds and wedding dresses. What sane person is going to say no to that?” Jeremy chuckled, inciting a small laugh from Evelyn. “Mr. Reynolds thought a sponsorship for a year would benefit the woman’s confidence and drive sales for us.”
“Her dresses are beautiful.” Evelyn smiled. “She pours her heart and soul into them, and every single one makes it onto the front pages of bridal magazines.”
“Exactly.” Jeremy mirrored her smile. “The deal your father and I negotiated was that after a year of sponsorship, if both parties involved saw revenue increases, then she’d sign a contract and we’d be her diamond supplier for any future works.”
“It’s a smart investment.” Evelyn nodded.
Jeremy looked as if he’d been handed a cheque for a million fucking dollars. The pair were smiling at each other as Una talked about the lack of faith the dressmaker now had in the company, and the best ways of reassuring her.
I tuned it all out, unable to look away from Jeremy and Evelyn.
Take your eyes off my wife.
He must have made a joke, his voice silenced by the blood violently pumping in my ears, as Evelyn covered her mouth. Her cheeks flushed, and the corners of her eyes creased with laughter.
That fucker was making her laugh.
“Let’s take a break,” I forced out, cutting Una off mid-sentence. “Be back in five.”
I abruptly ended the call before the others could speak and marched straight out of my office and into Evelyn’s.
“Are you trying to make me jealous?”
Evelyn startled, her eyes blinking the tiredness away. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Smiling and laughing with that batard. He is enthralled with you.”
I closed her office door and walked step by aching step across her office. She remained frozen in her seat, a questioning line between her brows, and her teeth skimming along her bottom lip.
“I was simply being friendly.” Her voice was low. “It’s not my fault he made me laugh. He’s quite funny, actually. Charming, even.”
Charming.
Let’s see how charming he was when I got my hands around his throat and took away any ability he had of ever making my wife laugh again.
“Thinking about it, he’s rather handsome,” Evelyn continued with a mischievous glint in her eyes, the tiredness long gone. “He’s a bit older than me, not my usual type. Then again, my taste for older men has changed somewhat.”
“Are you trying to bait me, ma douceur?” I stepped around her desk, grabbing the arms of her swivel chair. “Didn’t we already go over this at the jazz club?”
Her delicate throat bobbed as she batted her eyelashes “Did we?” The feigned sweetness in her voice could have rotted teeth. “I can’t remember.”
She was a delectable demon dressed in angel attire.
Ringing came from her open laptop, the others attempting to restart the meeting.
Neither of us moved a muscle.
“Then maybe I need to remind you.” I inched closer, the tip of her nose brushing mine. “Let’s see how funny he is when you’re trying not to scream.” Slowly, I lowered myself to my knees—Mon Dieu, I was on my fucking knees for her. Green eyes didn’t so much as blink when I gripped her bare knees and spread her legs apart. “Answer the call. If you come before the end of the meeting, I will bend you over this desk and punish those perfect ass-cheeks of yours until you’re begging me to stop.”
Her face beamed with the heat of a thousand suns. “Jaxon, you can’t be serious?”
“Deadly.”
Snaking up under her skirt, I ran one finger along the outside of her underwear, right along the seam of her lips. My mouth was salivating at the thought of getting to taste her. A patch of wetness stained her underwear when I moved my finger away and I quickly removed the thin piece of clothing concealing her magnifique cunt.
“Be a good girl and answer the call, Evelyn.”
She stalled, and for a brief moment, I feared I’d gone too far.
It was maddening how easily she made me act without rational thought.
The second she answered, my breath loosened, and I buried my face between her thighs. The aroma of her desire welcomed me, and if it were possible, I would have bottled the musky sweetness.
It was perfect.
She was perfect.
“Hello,” Evelyn exhaled unsteadily on the call. “Jaxon won’t be able to make it, he’s um… he’s on another call that can’t wait. So, you’re stuck with just me.”
“I am more than okay with that,” Jeremy’s overeager voice echoed in the distance.
I blocked it out, focusing on running my tongue along her seam in one drawn-out motion. She shuddered and gasped, masking it quickly with a cough.
She was everything I imagined and more.
Sweeter than honey and more addictive than any drug in the world.
A primal noise came from me as I slid my tongue along her swollen clit, savoring each second of her. Her hips buckled, but my hands kept her right where I wanted her—spread before me like my own personal buffet.
“Sorry, can you repeat that?” Evelyn tried to speak normally.
My lips encased her clit, tugging it gently with my teeth. A hand darted to my head, fingers painfully grabbing strands of my hair as I feasted on her like it was my last meal.
Blood pumped to my cock, begging to be taken out and stroked. What I wouldn’t do to be able to bury myself to the hilt inside her.
But I didn’t stop, not even to take a breath as I sucked her clit and swirled my tongue along every nerve ending possible.
If she were my last meal, I’d die a happy man.
Her hips ground down against my face and I groaned against her, lapping up her fresh juices with each flick of my tongue.
Fingernails dug deeper into my scalp as I thrust my tongue into her, feeling the tightness wrap around the tip of my tongue. She was close, her body was tightening, and her breathing was getting shorter.
Those on the call were either too polite to ask what was wrong, or they were fully unaware that my wife was seconds away from coming on my face.
She was nodding along to whatever the others were saying, though neither of us were taking in a single word.
Her thighs clenched on either side of my head.
“Don’t come,” I breathed against her cunt. “Come and you’ll be punished.”
I moved a finger to her entrance and slid it into her, right down to the second knuckle.
Triumph erupted in me as Evelyn didn’t fight back the explosive whimper.
Fuck, the pulsing alone in my cock—I was seconds away from ruining my trousers.
“Are you okay?” Una questioned. “You seem a bit flushed.”
“I’m fine. Why don’t you just send me everything in an email?” Evelyn inhaled through gritted teeth. Her fingers yanked my hair tighter and pulled my face flush against her cunt. “I’ll read it over with Jaxon this afternoon… and ahhh… get back to you.”
My mouth found her clit again, sucking it between my lips and continuing my assault while I slipped another finger deep into her.
She shattered the second she hung up the call, not as much as saying a goodbye to the others.
I didn’t relent.
Sucking, licking, fucking her with my fingers until her whole body was trembling. She cried out, her nails cutting into my skull as she broke into a million pieces.
“How is it even possible for you to be even more beautiful when you come?”
Her body arched in the seat. “Fuck,” she cried out. “Jaxon, don’t stop!”
“That’s it,” I moaned into her. “I want everyone in this building to hear you. I want them to hear you come all over my tongue, my face, my fingers. Because you’re mine, Evelyn.”
“Oh god, Jaxon,” she moaned. “Please, don’t stop.”
Her wish was my command.
“Is this what you want?” I plunged a third finger into her, curling to find the spot that made her legs shake. “You want me to finger fuck you until you’re nothing more than a whimpering mess covered in your own juices?”
She nodded weakly, still trying to recover from the last orgasm.
“Now everyone will know…” I pressed the flat of my thumb on her clit, pushing all three fingers deeper into her. “Exactly who you belong to. Let this serve as the reminder you needed, douceur.”
Her cries silenced the beating of my heavy pulse.
She came undone, slamming her hips down onto my fingers and riding me until every last drop of her orgasm dripped down my fingers and pooled on her chair.
It was too much, too enticing, as I leaned down and licked up every last drop from the leather seat, savoring the pure ecstasy of her.
Like I said before, a better man would have walked away.
Watching her come undone before me, I knew I could never be the better man when it came to her.
I’d be the worst fucking man in the world if it meant I got to keep her.