by Logan Chance
She finally opens it, wearing jeans and a flowery top that slides off the slope of one creamy shoulder. “I’m ready,” she says, brushing past me with a stubborn tilt to her chin.
“Took you long enough.”
She’s infuriating, but cute as hell. “And let’s not have a repeat of the last time I took you out,” I grumble.
She crosses her finger over her heart as a swear that's no doubt a lie, and we head off to my waiting car.
Once we arrive downtown, I lead her into the skyrise which houses my offices.
“Why are we here?” she asks with eyes so big I could get lost and never find myself.
“Business,” I answer, ushering her into my private elevator.
She lets out a sigh and leans her shoulder against the wall. I push the button and step away from her sweet scent.
“Just a little bit longer, and then you’re home free,” I tell her, letting my eyes linger on her petite frame.
From the moment we stepped foot in this building, I can’t stop staring at her. In the car, I worked through emails and made a few calls to distract myself. Otherwise, I might've shoved her back on the leather seat and threw her legs over my shoulders.
I run a hand through my hair just to keep it from touching her. Being alone with her, here in this tiny fucking elevator, has my body on high-alert.
I know I shouldn’t be enjoying the view of her cleavage swelling against her blouse. Or the way her throat moves every time she swallows. And I sure as fuck shouldn't be thinking about her swallowing me after I come in her mouth while she takes me between those pouty lips on her knees in this elevator.
But I am.
I’m imagining her dropping before me and palming my cock. The contact would have me groaning louder than I ever have before.
I’ve never wanted anyone this much.
She’d unzip my pants and push them down along with my briefs. My cock would jut out, and if she licked her lips, well fuck me. Heaven.
I’d ask, “You want a taste?”
She’d meet my gaze, nodding her head as I leaned back to give her better access.
She’d wrap her soft hand around the base.
I squeeze my eyes shut and let out a low hiss.
Nothing would prepare me for when her lips first make contact with the tip of my dick. I know it would be the best feeling. No doubt in my mind.
Nothing else would compare. Her lips would work magic, her tongue like a damn voodoo priestess. And when she put me in her mouth, I would grab hold of her silky hair, and she would suck, and I would pray to the heavens above to never let this end. Suspend time, please, someone, anyone. I’d beg for the moment to last forever and ever.
But God stopped listening to me a long time ago.
“Yeah, suck me,” I’d say.
My words of encouragement would have her lapping at my skin at a quicker pace.
She’d run her tongue along my balls, and I’d groan louder.
Fuck, it would be the best damn blow job in the history of forever.
She’d swirl her tongue around the tip, driving me insane, and then she’d take me completely in her mouth, going down as far as she could, and my dick would hit the back of her throat.
My cock is steel, straining on the other side of my zipper. But, my mind keeps going.
I would thrust into her hot mouth—hard—and I’d fucking love it.
“Oh, fuck, Rhi. I’m going to come,” I’d grit out.
She wouldn’t stop, and I’d get off deep inside her and she’d swallow it all down. She’d glance up, and I’d peer into the pools of brown, imagining a different outcome to my life. To a life of her and me ending up together.
A life that is never going to happen. I shake the thoughts as soon as the ding on the elevator sounds.
“Are you okay?” she asks, as I quickly step out, leaving my fantasy behind.
“This way.” We walk the short distance to my offices, and I hold the door for her.
She steps inside, and her eyes dart around the large waiting area.
“You’ll sit here.” I point to a padded leather chair, and she drops down into it, crossing her legs. I narrow my eyes at her sudden demureness. “I’ll be in there,” I jab a thumb over my shoulder. “No funny business.”
She raises a brow.
“I can see you through the glass.”
She nods, remaining quiet.
“I'll be done shortly.”
James Marsh and Todd Halsom, private investigators, are both waiting for me when I step inside.
“Let’s get started,” I say, taking a seat at the conference table.
“So, these are Mr. DeLaurio’s accounts that we know of,” Todd says, pushing a paper closer to me.
“And we’re sure he’s involved with this gambling ring?”
“Yes, and look here,” he points to a name on the paper, “this is a shell corporation, which is also a big contributor to Ian Bingham’s campaign fund.”
“And that same company is holding the DeLaurio’s...”
“Bookie’s funds,” Todd finishes off for me.
Interesting. “And this proves it?”
“Yes,” James says.
I glance to Rhiannon sitting quietly with her arms folded in her lap. She chews her bottom lip, and I divert my attention to the next file James grabs from his briefcase to set on the table.
He slides the papers in my direction. “Here’s that file you asked for. And I think there’s enough here to prove everything.”
I grab it and pull it closer. “Ok, I’ll read this tonight.”
I glance up and Rhiannon is gone.
Fuck.
19
Rhiannon
I race toward the elevator and breathe a quick sigh of relief when the doors swoosh closed.
Threat level midnight here. I don't know who those men were or how they fit into this twisted game, but I'm taking my piece off the board.
The blonde receptionist casts her steely eyes on me as I rush through the empty lobby. The sweet taste of freedom is just on the other side of the revolving door in front of me. I’m almost home free.
As soon as the sun beats down on me, I head in the opposite direction of which we came. Without so much as a plan, or anything really, I travel as fast as my Chucks will carry me. See? I am smart. No heels this time.
Never looking back, I blend with the small crowd of tourists and business professionals on the streets. At a crosswalk, I wait for the traffic to clear, and that’s when I feel the forcive grip of my captor.
“This is getting ridiculous,” Xavier bites out, clearly not amused at yet another escape attempt.
“Let me go,” I demand. The light changes and I try to go with the pack of people moving forward, but I'm held back.
“To where?” He moves us away from the crosswalk and far into an alley away from prying ears of anyone who may be passing by. His arms cage me in against the brick building behind me.
“I don't like you much anymore,” I shout.
His eyes darken. “You think I enjoy chasing you around?”
“Well, don't. What can you possibly need from my father enough to take me hostage?”
He doesn’t respond right away, and I hold my breath waiting for him to give me a clue. “Rhiannon, we’re going home, and the next time you try something this stupid, you’ll be punished.”
“I’ll scream bloody murder right now unless you tell me something. Anything.” I stand my ground, challenging him with my eyes.
“You’re not going to scream bloody murder. That’s a perfect way to land right back in your father’s grip.”
Tears form of their own accord. Hot, heavy, fed up tears. I don’t want them there, so I try to blink them away. “I hate you.”
Oh, and I do. So much. I hate the way he stares at me as if I’m a kitten in need of shelter. I hate the way he growls my name when he’s really angry. I even hate the way his grasp on my arm sends tingles to all the places I shouldn�
��t be feeling anything for him.
“You don’t hate me.”
A tear trickles down, reminding me what a baby I am. I want the old Xavier back. I want to reach inside this brooding exterior of someone that looks and sounds like him and free the Xavier I used to know. “Tell me,” I scream as my heart tries to fly through my chest.
“He killed my mother,” Xavier shouts back.
He drops his arms, putting a few inches of space between us.
One.
Two.
I can’t breathe.
Confusion billows, heartbreak follows, and my body is wracked with misery.
My thoughts jumble together in my head. Why? What? Where? How? Like the disconnected colors of a rainbow all bright and laid out for me to put back together in a cloudy sky.
Maybe she didn’t give birth to me, but I cared about her, so much.
“How do you know? Xavier, tell me.”
Tears spill freely down my face. And in the smallest fraction of a second, he pulls me into a hug so tight, it wraps me up and swallows me whole.
I sob into him. “I thought it was a suicide.”
He explains about leaving my room that night, about the cars leaving, and how he found her in the kitchen.
My heart aches as he tells me his story. How he paid people off to find out the truth.
Bile rushes up my throat as he tells me how my father killed her. “What reason did he have?” I ask on a sob.
Hatred swims deep in the pool of his blue eyes. “She found something that she shouldn’t have.”
“What did she find, Xavier?” I say with an air of despondency.
He glances over his shoulder. “Let’s head home, we’ve already been out here long enough.”
“I can’t believe this.” And I can’t. It’s hard to process everything. “He’ll kill you too,” I whisper as we get in his car.
“I’m not worried about that.”
“Maybe I can help you,” I offer.
Steely eyes look over at me. “No. It's not that simple.”
I’m at war with my emotions as we take the car back to his place. I’m confused and angry, but more than anything my drive to escape is stronger than ever.
If Xavier needs me to get to my father, then I need to make sure I’m not around. Because I fear what my father would do to him.
Xavier may think he has his plan in place, but I don't want to take any chances.
20
Xavier
“If you want pussy, I’m sure she'd give it to you.”
I’ve always gotten along with Dean. My best friend for so many years, but right in this moment, his words piss me off. In a flash, I slam him against the wall.
“Don’t ever speak about her that way again,” I spit out.
“Fuck, I get it,” he barks out.
His eyes land on Rhiannon as she enters the study, and I release him to grab her
hand. “Let’s go.”
I don’t give a fuck what he thinks anymore. I don’t care what anyone thinks anymore.
“Where are we going?” Rhiannon asks, once we’re out of the room.
“Anywhere. And stop questioning me already.” I keep walking with purpose down the hall, past the guards, and into the garage. “Get in,” I say, pointing to a black Mercedes sedan.
Her eyes doubt me for a moment before she slides into the passenger side.
I get in, open the garage with the remote, and start the car. “Let’s get the fuck away for a day.”
She sits back, doesn’t say a word, but has a small barely there smile on her face.
And I’d be a fucking liar if I didn’t say it warmed me up from the inside out seeing it.
I pull into a field far away from the house and keep the engine running as I turn in my seat to face her. “Pressure, you know?”
She keeps quiet, watching me with her thick lashed brown eyes. I’ve always loved her eyes, but how they stare at me right now is a million times better.
“Let’s pretend for one day none of this is happening.” Her voice is soft like her. “Just me and you.”
“I like the sound of that.” Anything to not deal with the bullshit going on around us.
“I just want to know you like I used to.” She shifts in her seat to face me.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
“Is this like the part in a book where we tell each other our hopes and fears?”
She laughs and it floats through the air, seeps in my skin, and pushes my heart into a crazy rhythm. “Does that mean you have some? I didn’t think you feared anything.”
I run a hand over the steering wheel as I laugh a little. “I only have one fear.”
“What’s that?”
“Never getting to do this again.” And then I crash my lips to hers.
My fingers sweep into her long hair, pulling her head back to claim more of her luscious mouth. She opens for me and our tongues meet together as if they've never been apart.
She moans and whimpers and it urges me on. Urges me on in the most primal way. I don’t stop. I take everything I can.
My dick hardens beneath my pants. The urge to push inside her takes over, and my hands wander her body.
First, her neck, where her pulse beats as fast as mine.
Then, lower, to the swell of her breasts.
Fuck, her tits are such a turn on.
“I don’t plan on stopping,” I whisper against the shell of her ear.
“I don’t want you to.”
“Good.” I kiss the column of her throat, the skin below her ear, and graze my tongue along her jaw, needing more of her.
She tastes so good.
My hand drifts further down, thumbing her pebbled nipple through the thin material of her shirt.
She throws her head back and moans.
My girl likes having her nipples played with, so I give her what she wants.
And yes, she is my girl. For now, anyways. Right now, she's mine.
I push the future away as I continue kneading her tits with my hands. Just watching her mouth—her pink, soft lips—as she coos out her pleasure makes my mind go wild with images. Images of us together; kissing, touching, screwing.
The images are so real as I capture her lips with mine again, sucking, lapping, and needing her to the point of no return. So fucking real.
The sun beats on the windshield as if he wants a piece of her too. His heat pours in begging for one bite of her skin. But I won’t ever allow it. I can only imagine what sex with her is going to be like. Would be like, I mean.
And just like that, I’m letting my mind get carried away with things I can never have. This was already too far.
I pull away from her mouth, breaking the kiss.
Her hungry eyes meet mine, her kiss-stung lips parted waiting for more, her breathy moan letting me know she was nowhere near finished yet.
Life is funny. We both want each other. It’s obvious. But, the ramifications of giving in to that one tiny moment in time is bigger than either of us could ever really handle.
There won't be a happy ending here.
It's not easy to pull away from her, but I do. Desire dilates her eyes to a bone-chilling shade of black. She slays me with her unspoken words.
I don’t know what to say either. So I say nothing.
Instead, I throw the car in gear, and drive out of the field.
The sun mocks me from high in the sky, casting shadows of my past along the ride. She wants to know everything, well, I’ll show her.
21
Rhiannon
That kiss just surpassed the last one we shared. He hasn’t said a word since. But, I don’t mind. It gives me time to recover and pretend I’m not over here wanting to, well, unzip his pants, slide my hand inside and jerk him off while he navigates us through scenic LA. Shameful, I know.
This is my first time on the West Coast, kidnapping still counts, so I let my eyes soak it all up while I try to
calm my body. LA is a different world. Nestled between the ocean and mountains, every bend in the road feels like crossing a border. Xavier continues down the meandering road, silent, and for once, I just let it be. We pass a little pizza place, and my mind turns to thoughts of Hannah. Her love for pizza was unparalleled. She believed it was one of the four food groups, and the thought makes me laugh to myself.
My brain still tries to wrap around the fact my father killed her. We always look for the good in people, but sometimes there is none to be found. He won't hesitate to do the same to Xavier. Fear wracks my bones, almost to the point of snapping. I can’t stay here. I can’t let anyone else get hurt.
I glance at Xavier, studying his tight jaw and clenched fists guiding the car through the rolling countryside. I believe Xavier with all my heart about how the events the night his mother died went down. My father is too far past gone to ever be able to be saved from his life. He’s hurt too many people, Xavier and myself included.
A while later, he drives his stylish Mercedes into a parking lot at an abandoned office building.
“Where are we?” I ask, glancing around.
“Come on. You’ll see.”
I follow him to the door of the darkened concrete building with no sign indicating what it used to be. “I don’t know. This place looks pretty sketchy.”
He raises a brow and throws my words back at me. “If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead already.”
“Touché,” I reply as he grabs the keys in his hand and opens the front door.
The fluorescent lights hum to life when Xavier flips the switch.
“This is my place,” he says, proudly.
I glance around at the cavernous, empty space. Tile floors and white walls.
“Doesn’t look like you’re doing much business out of here.”
He laughs. “This place hasn’t been functional in quite some time.” He walks to the center. “It was the first business I ever bought.”
