by Kay Manis
“I’m sorry,” she whispered against my chest.
“What?” I asked, pushing her away so I could see her. “Baby, why are you sorry?”
“I probably should have told you all of this sooner. Everything. But I was afraid if you knew the truth, you wouldn’t want me.”
“Hindley.” I laughed, shaking my head at the ridiculousness of her comment. “I’ll always want you. You’re the most desirable woman I’ve ever met.”
She scooted away from me, her eyes wide. “Really?”
I couldn’t believe that after all this time she still doubted how extraordinary she was.
I stared at her, my silence giving her the answer she needed. Of course, I wanted her, now more than ever.
Her face broke into a glorious smile that lit up the room. Her joy was like heaven—a saving grace to my tortured heart.
“Of course, Hindley.” I stroked a finger down her cheek, wiping away the tears. “I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you.”
She slowly climbed on top of me.
My body stiffened.
“Please don’t, Rory,” she whispered.
“Don’t what?”
“I’m still the same person I was yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. The woman you have amazingly awesome, kinky, crazy sex with.”
I chuckled. She was right.
“I don’t ever want that to change.” She grasped my hands, clutching them to her chest. “I’m all right. I promise. This is what I want. You’re what I want.” She brought our joined hands to her mouth and kissed them. “I love you. I just hope you still love me.”
“Oh God, Hindley.” I wrapped my arms around her and brought her down against my chest. “I love you so much. I told you that would never change. If anything, I love you more. I want to protect you. I never want anything like that to happen to you again, and I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
“Will you do something for me?” she asked softly.
“Anything. I’ll do anything for you.”
“Make love to me. Please.”
I rolled her over, mindful that the position may trigger something inside her.
“Please,” she repeated. “I’m okay. I want you.”
Hindley Hagen was the epitome of pure love and natural beauty, and I couldn’t believe she wanted to be with me.
“Are you sure?” I didn’t want to hurt her more.
“I’m very sure, Mr. Gregor.” She smirked.
The desire in her eyes told me I was her strength, and she needed me. No one had ever needed me. The realization filled me with a joy that I’d never known.
I grinned, cocking a brow. She needed the playful side tonight. “Oh, Miss Hagen, it would be my extreme pleasure to make love to you tonight.”
She lifted her head, peppering my neck with feather-light kisses.
Her soft moans and resounding laughter vibrating on my skin sent my heart beating in a hard rhythm, pounding with pure bliss.
I knew without a doubt, good times or bad, I would love this girl forever.
Chapter 14
-HINDLEY-
I bolted straight up in the bed, breathing hard like I’d just run a race. There was only one person who could illicit such fear in me. Donald Lee Westbank.
I’d been having nightmares about him ever since I told Rory my story. I wasn’t surprised, but now, as I sat in my bed all alone, it affected me more than I wanted.
The idea that he was still a threat was silly. I knew Donald was in prison and would be for at least four more years. He’d had his first parole hearing last year and I begrudgingly went.
Paul had said I owed it to myself, Felicia, and other women to make sure Donald Lee Westbank stayed in jail as long as legally possible. Another hearing was coming up soon, and like last year, I was dreading the whole ordeal, but I knew it had to be done.
The judicial system had screwed me over royally. They’d deemed half the tapes inadmissible, which was total bullshit. The Assistant District Attorney was still able to get Donald the maximum sentence on the videos the jury did see, a whopping fifteen years with possible parole in ten. I hated the Texas Penal System almost as much as I hated Donald Lee Westbank. Maybe I should let the police charge him with rape.
I reminded myself that I’d probably be face down in a gutter with a needle poking out of my vein right now if I did.
Images of the videos raced through my mind and I felt the familiar taste of bile rise up in my throat. I willed myself not to vomit but who was I kidding?
Racing to the bathroom I expelled everything inside me. I quickly stood and brushed my teeth, trying to think of something that would get my mind off those horrible memories. Only one thing came to mind and a smile spread across my face.
Rory Gregor.
I went in search of my phone, well, his phone, the one he’d given me for dirty talk. The clock on the display read 2:47 a.m. Paris was seven hours ahead so it would be a perfect time to call. It only rang once.
“What’s my favorite pole dancer doing awake at three in the morning?”
His raspy voice was a soothing balm to my soul. I could listen to it forever.
“I wanted to hear your voice,” I said.
“Another bad dream?”
I paused, not wanting to worry him.
“Hindley?”
“Yeah, another dream.”
“I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to conjure up old memories for you,” he said, his voice filled with despair.
“It’s not your fault. It actually felt good to finally tell someone.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“But having these nightmares over and over again can’t be good, especially without me there to hold you.”
“It comes with the territory.”
“God, you have no idea how much I wish I was there.”
“What would you do?” I asked, trying to sound seductive but probably failing miserably.
“Oh, Miss Hagen, the things I would do to you.” He laughed, his deep voice doing wicked things to my insides.
We spent the next half hour fornicating over the phone. I didn’t even know that was possible, but with Rory traveling so much, having phone sex had become a way of life for us, the only way for our growing sexual appetites to be fulfilled.
“You’re bad,” he said, once releasing a satisfied sigh. I could picture him in his bed, one arm above his head.
“Me?” I chuckled.
“I love to hear you laugh.”
I pulled the covers close. “What else do you love?”
“I love your ass. You have the best ass in the world.”
I smiled at his confession. “Thanks.”
“I love the crook of your neck and the way my face fits into it perfectly.”
“What else?” Playing this game with him was fun and kept my mind from wandering. Plus, it was really good for my ego.
“I love the way you’re helping me read.”
“I’m so proud of you. You’re doing an amazing job, you know that, don’t you?”
“Well, you’re a good incentive.”
I laughed at his words. There were many times when I had withheld sexual favors from him unless he’d read something out loud. But I never had to follow through because Rory had made up his mind weeks ago that reading was a goal he wanted to achieve, much like a difficult trick in skateboarding.
I’d been surprised when he showed me his journal the day after I’d told him everything that had happened to me. It was already a third of the way filled up with words and pictures and drawings, anything he could stuff inside.
But what especially filled my heart was the way he scribbled my name on almost every page. Tears had welled up in my eyes when I read his first entry. ‘I love Hindley Hagen.’ He said he’d written it long before he ever told me. I’d thought it ironic that the first time he declared his love for me was in writing.
Since
then, he’d written me small love letters. I knew some of the words were in his vocabulary list and some were translated from the internet, but it didn’t matter. He was reading and writing, and thriving.
“I wish you were here,” he said softly.
“I wish I was too.” I hated waking up alone after these dreams.
“You could have come, you know.”
“Rory, I already told you. People know about us, or they at least have a high suspicion. Even Matt knows.”
“Good.”
Although I’d had no choice but to tell Rory what had happened the afternoon Matt got drunk, I knew Rory still didn’t like him.
“Their endorsement is huge. You can’t afford to lose it.”
“I know, I know.”
“It’s better if I don’t travel with you to every event now, especially to Paris, the romance capital of the world. It brings on more suspicions.”
“I know,” he said more firmly this time.
“I love you,” I whispered. “Does that help?”
“Some. I can’t stand having to hide this. I want to shout it from the rooftops. I want to drag you around like a caveman and let everyone know you’re mine, and they better keep their fuckin’ eyes, and hands, and whatever else off you.”
I smiled even though I knew he was being chauvinistic. “You’re so bad.”
“But you love it.”
“Yes, I do.” I nodded. “This is serious though, Rory. I could get fired.”
“You don’t even like that law firm anyway.”
“I may not be the biggest fan of Mr. Stedwick’s, but I like the people I work with. And besides, I’m under contract. If I get fired, I could lose a lot of money.”
“I know,” he said, his voice firm.
“Don’t yell at me.”
“I’m not yelling. I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated.”
“I am too.”
“How much longer?”
“Until what?” I asked.
“Until I can make this official and tell people you’re my woman.”
“I’m not sure my hair wants to make it official if you really are a caveman and are going to drag me around.”
He laughed, the reverberations ringing through the phone. His joy was infectious and I couldn’t help but smile too.
“We have to make it to the X Games,” I said.
“Shit, Hindley, that’s still six weeks away.”
“I know, I’m sorry, but we’ve got to get the Sonora Water commercials out on the air. You need the exposure, and the money.”
“Hindley, I couldn’t give a shit less about the money, the exposure, the endorsements, any of it. All I care about is being with you.”
My heart swelled and tears pooled in my eyes. I’d never heard anything so loving in my entire life.
“Are you still there?” he asked.
“Yes,” I whimpered through my tears.
“Are you crying?”
“Maybe.”
“Good tears or bad?”
“Good.” I laughed. We sat in silence, enjoying the fact that we were together even though we were thousands of miles apart. “Do you love me?” I asked.
He didn’t hesitate. “You know I do.”
“Do you love skating?”
“Of course.”
“If you want to keep skating then you need the money, Rory. And if you lose the money and can’t skate anymore, you’ll grow to resent me for it.”
“No, I won’t.”
“It’s only six weeks. I’d rather wait six weeks to be with you than take that chance.”
“What about what I want?”
I let out an exasperated sigh. He sounded like a four-year-old. “What do you want, Mr. Gregor?”
“I think you know what I want, Miss Hagen.”
His light-hearted tone had me smiling, the mischief warming my heart. I knew without a doubt that I would give this man anything he wanted.
I burrowed down in my bed and covered up with my comforter, anxiously waiting for his familiar raspy voice to bring me the release I was quickly growing addicted to.
Chapter 15
-HINDLEY-
“Hindley, will you come into my office?” Mr. Stedwick’s voice rang over the intercom on my phone.
Instinctively I knew something was wrong. He never called me directly.
“Yes, sir.”
Oh, shit, maybe he knew about Rory and me.
“Let’s go, kiddo.” I raised my head and saw Michael standing in my door.
“What’s going on?”
He shrugged. “Beats me.”
“He called you in too?”
“Yep.”
“Oh, shit.”
Michael and I walked silently to Mr. Stedwick’s office.
“He’s expecting you,” Donna, his assistant said, pointing to the open door.
Michael ushered me in.
“Oh, welcome,” Mr. Stedwick said. “Please, have a seat.” He pointed to the chairs in front of his desk.
I slipped into one of the winged-back chairs as quietly as I could, trying to hide my fear.
“First, Hindley,” he said, “I want to congratulate you on the job you did down in Miami. It seems like you impressed Mr. Sullivan so much that he would like to sign with our firm.”
“Really?” I asked.
I’d only met with Humberto Sullivan once last week during the team’s training camp. He’d been extremely standoffish during our brief time together, and I felt there was no way I’d impressed him enough to even see me again, let alone sign.
“How did that happen?” I asked. “He seemed disinterested in our offer.”
“What can I say?” Mr. Stedwick shrugged. “Apparently, he was interested in what you had to offer.”
Mr. Stedwick’s insinuation wasn’t lost on me. My stomach twisted in knots. Did he believe Humberto signed with our firm because of my sexual prowess? I laughed silently, knowing I had none.
“Well,” he continued, “it seems as if you have a knack for nabbing new talent, and now another opportunity has arisen.”
I couldn’t help but smile. I was actually succeeding in my new job. “Who is it?” I asked anxiously.
“Axel Pretorius.”
All the blood drained from my face and I searched for the trash bin, afraid I might vomit.
Mr. Stedwick leaned back in his chair, oblivious of my reaction. “His manager heard about you securing the Sonora Water deal. He was especially impressed that you’d negotiated a commercial. Axel is very interested in capturing that type of national exposure. And because you obviously know the industry inside and out, you’re a natural fit for him.”
I swallowed down my anxiety, grasping at any reason not to take on Axel. “But won’t that be a conflict of interest? I mean, we’re already representing an extreme skateboarder. Splitting my time between the two seems like it could rob them both of the exposure they need individually.”
“Perhaps, but not in this case. I’m giving Rory over to Luis so you can handle Axel full-time.”
I blinked several times, my body going rigid. Rory not my client?
“But he signed with me,” I squeaked out.
Michael glanced at me.
I ignored him.
“Actually,” Mr. Stedwick said, “Rory signed with our firm, not you personally.”
Well, shit. Was this right? It had to be, I’d drafted the damn contract. There was no way Rory would be okay with this situation. I had to figure a way out.
“Sir, with all due respect, I think Rory may not agree to this. He’s been very skittish around attorneys and I think he finally feels comfortable with me now.”
I bit back a laugh. Oh, yeah, he feels comfortable with me all right.
Mr. Stedwick’s eyes narrowed and his lips pressed into a thin line.
“Besides,” I continued, knowing I sounded desperate, “I have a really good working relationship with Sonora Water.”
He stared out the wind
ow and I hoped he was giving my ideas thought.
“Perhaps Luis or Michael could take on Axel,” I said.
Michael’s brows furrowed and I knew he wasn’t onboard with my idea but I didn’t care. I couldn’t lose Rory, especially not to Axel Pretorius.
Mr. Stedwick turned and stared at me, his forearms resting on his massive desk. “I’m afraid that’s impossible, Hindley.”
“Why?”
“It seems Axel’s team has become,” he hesitated, as if searching to find the most appropriate word, “partial to you.”
I stared in confusion. “What does partial mean?”
“They’ve asked for you specifically.”
Oh, no. There was no way I was going to get out of this.
“I’ve already talked to Michael,” Mr. Stedwick continued, “and Luis can clear his schedule to take on Mr. Gregor full-time.”
I stared at Michael but his gaze remained on Mr. Stedwick. He’d known exactly what this meeting was about all the time, he’d lied to my face earlier.
I turned my attention back to Mr. Stedwick. He was my only chance now. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful, sir, but I’m not all together sure that’s a good idea.”
Mr. Stedwick’s eyes widened and he tilted his head. “How so?”
This was my chance. I had to think of some viable reason, and fast.
“Umm,” I stumbled, “Rory and Axel are on the same tour. It seems silly to have Luis travel to the same places I’ll be. I feel confident that I can handle both Mr. Gregor and Mr. Pretorius. At least through the X Games.”
Yes! That sounded plausible.
Mr. Stedwick stared just above my head and I prayed he was considering the option.
“It will save the firm money,” I said, trying to throw in more reason. “You’ll only have to pay for my travel.” It sounded weak, even to me, but I had to try.
He remained quiet and then an idea hit me.
“If I leave Rory now, his team may feel abandoned, especially considering the pending deals I’ve been negotiating.”
“What deals?” he and Michael asked at the same time.
Yeah, what deals?
I cleared my throat and steadied my voice. “I’ve been, um, looking at other avenues, including the clothing industry.”
