by Rachel Cade
“I don’t think that’s safe.”
“Look I was pissed. I’m over it now. You know I wouldn’t intentionally hurt you. We grew up together.”
Oliver rolled his eyes.
“I’m going to get the money to you, with interest to cover the favor. I can’t do it. Your kind of life just isn’t for me. If I had any doubts, you showed me tonight.”
Donnie laughed. “You walked away once. You think I’m going to let you do it twice?”
The call ended.
“Nik?” He called.”Nik?”
“Fucking bitch!” He threw the cold pack and it knocked hard against the wall across from him.
He stood and walked around the couch.
“Mr. Jacobs.”
Donnie was quick, he had to give him that.
His gun was in his hand from his waistband in the blink of an eye.
As he raised it, Oliver’s stun gun sent a few thousand volts through his hand.
Donnie’s gun crashed to the ground and so did he, but he still tried to reach for it.
Oliver ran toward him and stomped his hand with his foot, inches from the gun.
“You son of bitch. Y-” Oliver’s gloved hand punched him hard in the face, knocking his head back into the wooden floor.
Despite blood coming from his nose, Donnie still fought.
Oliver pinned him on his stomach, jamming his knee in his back and yanking back on Donnie’s arm the same way he’d tried to hurt Nikoletta.
“Let go of my arm man! Le-” The pop was vicious and Donnie screamed in pain.
“No, you’re a tough guy.” Oliver held the back of his neck, holding his face to the ground. “You’re a tough guy, remember? The young lady you were just speaking with is never to be touched by you again. You don’t know her. You’ve never known her. If you or any of your associates come near her, I’ll find them and I’ll find you. Got it?!”
Donnie grunted underneath him, still struggling against the hold.
“Nod your head.”
Donnie wheezed before moving his head up and down against the floor, causing the wood to squeak.
Oliver gave him one last shock for good measure before leaving his apartment.
Chapter Six
Nik woke up with a start from the couch.
After her shower, she must have passed out.
Not even completely alert, she stood and began walking around the living room with a throw blanket draped over her shoulders.
Stained glass double doors appeared to be the only other exit from the room aside from the elevator.
Once she walked through the door, her bare feet hit cool marble flooring and she felt like she was in a new apartment.
Now she stood in a gray and white hall, clean of furniture except for an abstract painting. The hall was too dim for her to make out the colors.
It was so quiet, Nik could hear her breath.
She needed to get home, and get back to reality, particularly dealing with Donnie. Still, curiosity led her down the hall into another main room. The sun hadn’t come up yet, and the large windows revealed a hazy Manhattan skyline.
“Miss Pearson, good morning.”
Oliver was on the chaise end of a low white couch. His bare legs were crossed and a laptop covered his lap. The rest of his body was exposed for her to see.
Deep down, she’d known from the way he filled out his clothes that he was built well. But it was an entirely different situation to see it. His skin was the color of honey in contrast to the couch. His body was large and prefect, muscular but not overly so, faint hair lined his forearms. He reminded her of the warrior from the museum. Unfortunately, the laptop hid the lower part of his chest - among other things.
“Morning,” she managed.
“Did you sleep well? I hope the shower helped.”
“I did. Thanks.” She paused before adding, “I appreciate you letting me stay here for the night.”
“It’s not a problem. I have the room. Come sit down. I want to show you something.” He patted the seat next to him.
Doing her best not to ogle him, she closed the distance, feeling all too aware of her own nudity under the robe when she sat down next to him.
He was actually wearing black shorts, and that was all she acknowledged before staring at the monitor.
“This is Griffith Powell’s account. If you look here, you can see every month, a deposit is going in here from LCR Holdings. The amounts vary but it’s consistent. Doesn’t seem like a big deal, right? Well LCR Holdings is a shell company basically, it only exists on paper. But if you do the right kind of digging, you find out one of its owners is Tim Oman.”
“The other guy he was eating with.”
“Yes and another interesting tidbit is that Tim also owns the company that handles the funds for Great Steps.”
“So that’s why you wanted his phone?”
Oliver didn’t answer.
“Okay, so you’re building a case to arrest these guys?”
“No.”
Nik turned her body toward his. “Then what was all this for?”
“I like to know things, Nikoletta.” Her mouth snapped closed hearing him say her name for the first time. “Even if I don’t have immediate use for it.”
“I see.”
“You do?” He turned to stare at her; the closeness would have made her breath catch, but he quickly tuned back to the monitor.
“You want to know everyone’s secrets so you can manipulate them..”
Oliver slid the laptop to the couch while she spoke, then stood up to stretch. With his back to her, Nik took the opportunity to take in the full sight of his body, marveling in the fact that he was absolutely beautiful. With his hands folded on top of his head, he walked over to the window.
“Knowing everyone’s secrets. That would be an interesting super power.”
“Do you like manipulating people?” she asked.
“When they deserve it,” he answered simply, still keeping his back to her.
“And you get to choose who does and who doesn’t?”
“Doesn’t everyone to some extent?”
He lowered his hands. “I love the city when it’s like this. My first night here I woke up at 4 just to walk around the street when no one was around.”
“You want more power.” Nik made sure not to pose it as a question. “It’s not enough for you.”
Oliver was quiet for a while, then he turned around, a smirk on his lips.
“What’s not enough for me?”
“Being a D.A.”
His brow raised a bit as he returned to the couch. “So you know what I want?”
He sat down next to her, closer than before. “Please tell me.”
In the moment, Nik was more concerned with what she wanted.
No matter how crazy it was, she wanted to feel his lips on her and taste the power he already had.
“Political power, mayor possibly. I’m not exactly sure.”
“Mayor?” His face conveyed a teasing intrigue. “Would you vote for me?”
She pretended to think on it a moment. “Maybe if you bribed me.”
“Tell me what you want.”
Nik sighed. Why’d she wonder around this apartment? She couldn’t say what she wanted because this man was too far out of her league. It was best she just learned what she could from him while whatever this was lasted.
“Something you need, something you want. I want to hear it.”
“I’m still thinking about it. I can’t decide…”
Oliver rested back into the couch. “Everyone has a weakness.”
“Really?” she asked. “What’s yours?”
He grinned. “I’m not telling you that.”
“I haven’t proven my loyalty yet. I forgot.”
“Elek gave you your payment last night?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I thought the money was going to cut me. Did he get it out of the vault?”
Oliver chuckled. “Do you w
ant some breakfast?”
“It’s not even dawn yet to wake that man up.”
“Elek isn’t here. He has the weekend off. I’m going to cook.” He slid the laptop off his waist. “And as far as Mr. Jacobs goes,” he continued, “don’t worry about him anymore.”
Oliver was about to stand but Nik grabbed his arm, pulling him back down to the couch.
“Excuse me, what?”
“He’s not an issue.”
“You ran him over, didn’t you?” She clenched his arm. The thought shocked her more than anything. In that moment, she didn’t know what else to feel.
“What is it with you thinking that?” Oliver leaned toward her. “I love that Maserati; I wouldn’t dent that car.”
“Oliver-” To both their surprises, she held his face with her free hand when he tried to move. “Mr. Soltesz - why don’t I have to worry about him?”
Oliver tilted his head. “Lesson two: when the end result is beneficial, don’t worry about the details.”
“Are you serious?” Nik couldn’t keep the emotion out of her voice, while she searched his eyes.
“Yes.”
Nik hugged him hard, in a way she hadn’t done to anyone in years. “Thank you!” She pecked his lips with hers. Relief flooded through her. Thinking about Donnie had made it hard for her to sleep.
Her forehead hit his shoulder.
Was he hugging her back? No.
God.
What was she doing?
Snapping up her head, she said, “I’m sorry.”
Oliver’s breath filtered through her robe near her shoulder. “For?”
It was cool and warm against her skin all at once. And suddenly, she realized the intimacy of her touch and how it hardened her her nipples with a rush beneath the robe.
“Getting too close,” she said quickly. Grimacing she pulled back only to feel his hand in the small of her back.
“What’s too close?”
The unexpected pressure of his hand caught her breath for a second.
“Hugging.” Nik’s hands moved to his shoulders to brace herself as she pulled away. “You don’t seem like the kind of man that does that.”
Oliver was quiet, not offering her eye contact before he asked, “And what kind of man do I seem like?”
“Is this multiple choice?”
His head turned a fraction and she wondered if he wanted to laugh.
“You seem like the kind of man that doesn’t really care about what people think of him.”
He nodded once. “True. But what if I cared what you thought?”
She peered at him. “If you really cared?”
“Yes.”
She thought on it for a moment. “Then that would make me your weakness.”
The room got quiet.
Nik realized she probably spoke out of turn.
She should have just taken him up on the offer to have breakfast.
His hand tightened a fist into the silk at her lower back, pulling it away from her neckline.
One tug had her on her back against the couch and him on top of her, between her legs.
“Shit. Mr. Soltesz, I’m sorry-”
His head hovered between her breasts, when she looked down all she could see was the top of his head. One of his legs was between her thighs and the other was braced against the floor.
Only his body heat touched her as his hands planted at her sides.
Her left nipple was close to becoming exposed by the robe. He pulled the flap closed, causing the silk to glide over the nub.
Nik couldn’t hide her whimper.
“That’s what you think, hmm?” Oliver asked, his voice much deeper than before.
Nik closed her eyes, her heels pressed into the couch cushions as she felt heat pulse up her thighs. Her hands moved on their own, burying in the locks of his dark hair and pulling him down to her body.
The first touch of his lips made her squirm.
His lips were like velvet, right above her escalating heartbeat. Softly, he caressed her skin with the curve of his lips before dragging them up across her collar bone to her neck.
He was teasing her with light touches, but let them linger. His teeth brushed against her jaw before he faced her, inches away from her face. “You’re mine today, all right?”
Wide-eyed, she stared up at him before letting her hands caress the sides of his chiseled face. His eyes bore down on her, still as mesmerizing as they were the first time she’d seen them.
She nodded, and before she could take her next breath, he was kissing her, stealing it away.
Her legs wrapped around his waist while their mouths slowly found their rhythm tasting one another. His body weight lowered onto her more as his tongue entered her mouth.
Nik moaned, breathing through her nose while the length of his covered erection pressed against her pelvis.
“You’d like a new lesson this morning?” he asked against her lips.
The knuckles on his right hand began teasing her inner thigh, making a path toward her aching center.
“Nikoletta?” He called, halting his hand. “Do you?”
“Yes,” she managed.
“Oh.” Lightly, he stroked a finger down her soft exposed nub. “Good.”
Using his thumb and index finger, vised the sensitive flesh of her clit, moving them up and down in unison.
On a shriek, she snapped her legs closed over his hand. His response was to push her legs up against her stomach, holding them there.
Nik wasn’t a virgin, but foreplay had kind of been skipped over in her senior year of high school. This was new to her and she had no idea how to react.
So of course soon after, Oliver’s fingers changed places with his mouth.
Softly his tongue began to mimic his fingers, swirling her own moisture against her in a way that sent her body higher toward his mouth.
Oliver pinned her thighs back with his forearm until they pressed against her nipples.
Nik whimpered hard when she realized she couldn’t move.
He began teasing her with his lips when she struggled against the hold, letting them caress against the folds each time she moved.
“Oliver w-” A crackling sound echoed in the room when his mouth plunged against her. His breath was cool against her wet flesh, his lips a soft pressured circle sucking between her folds. The tip of his tongue flicked against her nub. Once, then again.
Then he pulled his mouth away, and for the space of time she could feel her heartbeat there, the rush of blood was so strong.
Pointlessly, she tried to steady her breathing.
Nik swore, then quickly covered her mouth while he fed on her. Holding her head sideways, she watched his jaw work while his tongue wound through every crevice.
Oliver pulled away with no warning, pulling her legs apart as he straightened.
As he held her ankles she could see his erection straining against the shorts.
She found herself unable to stop moving even though his mouth was gone.
“Look at me.” He lowered his body in front of her.
Morning light caught in his eyes as his mouth latched against her against again.
But soon everything started fading when the tip of his tongue hardened against her clit while his mouth sucked around it.
Nik’s head sank back into the pillow.
Oliver’s mouth pulled away.
“No. Look at me.” His hands cupped over her thighs and he jerked her down to him on the couch. “Keep your eyes on me.”
“I can’t.” He already started licking again.
“Yes you can.” His voice vibrated against her.
“You know it’s too much.” She kept eye contact as he repeatedly lapped, holding her hips tight with his hands.
His tongue flicked and she felt the extra slick underside running over her.
Nik cried out, her back arching from the couch. Her hands sank hard into his hair to keep him from pulling away. Her eye contact was broken ju
st as lightning hit her causing her to swear as she pulled away from him.
