by Nikki Sloane
I didn’t apologize for the things I’d done, not even the terrible ones. For most of my life, I’d been incapable of admitting a mistake, and now it was too late. I didn’t see the point. If you broke a glass, an apology would not put it back together.
I balanced over her on my arms, and her warm hands distracted me from my thoughts when they dove inside my open shirt, roaming over my chest. A teasing look filled her face. “You realize you’ve already wasted ten minutes kissing me.”
Irritation at what she’d implied clamped my teeth together. “I did not find the last ten minutes wasteful, Sophia.”
Her brow furrowed in dismay. “I didn’t mean it like—”
The statement died as I sat back from her, peeled off my suit coat, and tossed it aside. I trapped her under my gaze as I went to work undoing my cufflinks, dropping them one by one to the floor with a quiet ping, each followed by a short skitter.
Then I set a foot on the floor and rose onto the knee of my other leg, halfway off the chaise lounge as I stripped off my shirt and discarded it. The way her gaze traced over my bare chest and down my arms caused pride to warm inside me. I’d done the best I could under the circumstances for the last two years and had hoped for admiration from her, but she gave me something far better in return.
She stared at me with unfiltered lust.
I savored it until her gaze settled on the silver watch on my wrist.
The clock is ticking, Macalister.
The firelight cast flickers of orange and yellow across her nude body, and I leaned over her, setting a hand beside her head for support. It left my other hand free to begin. My touch had an enormous effect on her, and I would use that to its fullest advantage tonight. I trailed my fingertips down the column of her neck and watched how her chest lifted in a deep breath.
Her lips parted when my palm smoothed over her shoulder and down her arm. I teased with my caress, sliding my hand over the flat expanse of her stomach, carving a path down her body as if I were brushing away all the others who’d tried and failed what I was going to accomplish tonight.
When I reached her knee and began to move back up, I appreciated the way her legs subtly parted for me, and I rewarded her action by brushing my thumb along the inside of her thigh. Up I went, sliding over her smooth skin, inching toward the slit between her legs. Her eyelids fluttered closed in anticipation.
I veered my hand away at the last moment, continuing its journey upward, and I enjoyed how her eyes burst open in surprise. She’d thought I’d slide my fingers over her clit or perhaps push two deep inside her, and while this was eventually my plan, it was the endgame. There were several moves I had yet to make.
Seduction was a multistep process and began with her mind. Once I had her turned on, I still had to prime her body. The more work and preparation I put in, the greater the reward would be. When she arched up off the cushion into my touch, it signaled she was ready for more. I tilted down and planted my lips against the pulse point on her neck just below her ear, sucking until her hands tightened their grip on my arms.
Sophia smelled like an orchard, sunny and fruity, and it lulled me to want to stay right where I was, nestled against her throat with my hand on her waist, but time was my opponent. I was confident in my abilities but would need to leave a few extra minutes in case she really did have difficulty achieving orgasm and it wasn’t just lazy, inept partners.
I loved a challenge, and this one had been tailor-made for me.
She moaned faintly when I skated my fingertips over her breast, teasing her nipple with a featherlight touch. Her arms were dotted with goosebumps, and her chest rose and fell rapidly as I closed my fingers on the bud, pinching and testing her response. I didn’t use much pressure, as I planned to do that with my mouth, but it was enough to bring her knees together, and a wicked smile spread across my lips.
She’d done that to squeeze against and prolong the pleasure my touch had given her.
“Spread your legs,” I ordered.
I inhaled sharply when she did it without hesitation. She didn’t have an inkling of how satisfying that was. I craved control, and her instant response to my dominance was a drug. I had to be careful not to become addicted.
Now that there was room for me, I shifted on the lounge and knelt between her parted legs, cupping both her breasts in my hands. They were soft and warm and full—likely the best I’d ever seen. If I’d had more time, I would have lavished them with attention, but tonight I had to be efficient and deliberate.
I bent down and closed my lips over a nipple, sucking her into my mouth.
This was the loudest moan I’d heard from her so far, and it shot straight to my groin. It was frustrating how physical desire was already reawakening in my body. I’d never been slow to recover, but for once, I didn’t want to. How could I trust myself not to take her to bed, when she constantly worked me up, and I hadn’t had sex in three agonizing years?
Because you can’t. You shouldn’t even be doing this.
I captured her nipple between my teeth and bit down hard.
“Oh,” she gasped as she jolted, trying to squirm away, but I soothed the tender skin with the flat of my tongue.
“Did that hurt?” I mumbled against the curve of her breast.
“A little,” she whispered.
“Can you handle it?”
She went stiff beneath me. “What?”
I nuzzled into her cleavage, rubbing the stubble on my chin against her skin. “Is that an acceptable amount of pain? I ask because your brain releases endorphins to counteract and dull pain.” I moved to focus on her other breast. “These are the same endorphins that can produce euphoria.”
Her swallow was so hard, it was audible, and she dragged in a heavy breath. “You wanted it to hurt, because you think it’ll help?”
“Precisely.” I used the tip of my tongue to spin a circle over her pebbled skin. “To make sure it triggers the release, I’ll need to do it again.” Several more times, if she was willing. I latched onto her nipple, sucked until my cheeks hollowed, and then released her from my mouth with a soft pop.
She licked her lips and blinked slowly, her eyes cloudy with desire. “Yeah,” she whispered. “I can handle it.”
Eagerness raced through my bloodstream, and I went to work. Her startled gasps mixed with whimpers as I toyed with her, doing my best to walk the fine line between discomfort and true pain. I wasn’t interested in hurting her, and I didn’t get off on tears or agony, but I understood how lower valleys lead to higher peaks.
I nipped at the top of her breast with perhaps too much force, because Sophia’s whimper changed its pitch, and my heart thudded like it was made of stone. “Too much?”
Her gaze darted away from mine, and every muscle in me went to full alert.
“Should I stop?” I asked with concern.
“No.” Her head turned back so she could look at me, and she threaded her hands into my hair. Why did she look embarrassed? “It kind of hurts but . . . I like it. It feels good.”
My heart restarted at twice its usual speed, and inside my pants, my demanding cock twitched. No, I said to myself in the strictest voice possible. There were thousands of other women in this world who made more sense for me than Sophia Alby. I had to finish tonight, and tomorrow I’d go find that woman.
They probably wouldn’t beat me in skeet or respond as perfectly to my dominance, but they wouldn’t destroy the last bit of reputation I had left. If I had to choose between my desire or my name, I’d choose my legacy.
No matter how much I wanted what I couldn’t have.
I snagged her skin between my teeth and coursed a hand down her stomach. She’d said the pain felt good, but the time had come to make her feel very, very good.
My fingers found her just as wet as she’d been after I’d spanked her, but her reaction was dramatically bigger this time. When I touched her, her back arched and she bowed up off the upholstery, letting loose a gasp that was filled with stunne
d pleasure.
“That feels good, doesn’t it?” My tone was dark and pleased.
“Yes,” she said breathlessly. Her hand slid down my forearm so she could wrap her fingers around my wrist, but not to stop me. She’d done it to ground herself to me, to know exactly what I was doing to her. How I was touching her.
I pressed the pads of my fingers against her swollen clit and rubbed them steadily back and forth, gradually increasing my speed. Her breath came and went in stuttering bursts, the beautifully erotic sound of it ringing in my ears. I planted a final kiss at the center of her chest then straightened so I was upright, sitting back on my legs folded beneath me.
She was perfectly bare and pink, even down to the two sparkling gems at either end of her piercing jewelry. I’d never cared for piercings in general, and so I had assumed one in such an intimate place would have been a turn-off, but I’d been incorrect.
I wanted to touch, and my tongue craved to trace over it.
I adjusted my hand so my fingers and palm lay across her lower abdomen and swiped my thumb over the metal barbell struck through the skin right above her clit. Sophia moaned, just loud enough to be heard over the pop and hiss of the fire in the fireplace, and more pressure built beneath my fly, pushing against my zipper.
My body needed to stop. My pants had come off once tonight, and that was already one time too many.
While my thumb teased and massaged, I ran the palm of my other hand up and down her legs. I wanted her to feel my presence everywhere, so I’d become inescapable, inevitable. I’d already hooked her. Now I had to focus on reeling her in, and then she would be mine.
Mine? I frowned. I didn’t want her to be mine.
Liar.
My hand swept up the inside of her thigh, and I relished the way her legs had begun to quiver. Could I make them tremble harder before she came? My voice was strict. “Open your eyes.”
She wasn’t allowed to think about someone else during this. I was the one in charge of her this evening, which included everything—even her thoughts. Her unfocused blue eyes blinked open and stared up at me, drunk off the sensations I was giving her, but she was able to watch as I pushed my index finger into my mouth, all the way to the knuckle.
It was unnecessary. She was incredibly aroused and her body cooperative, but this act of me wetting my finger in preparation was another way to flex my power over her. It demonstrated that I’d do all I could to deliver the best experience possible.
Sophia watched me intently as I withdrew, my skin damp with my saliva. I turned my palm up to the ceiling and eased that long finger inside her hot, tight body.
Her mouth rounded into a silent oh, but then she voiced it. It spilled from her lips, soaked in enjoyment. “Oh, God.”
My hands worked in tantum, my thumb from my left rubbing slow circles as my right index finger stroked in and out. Almost immediately, her hips began to move to match my unhurried tempo.
She bit her bottom lip and threw her head back, trying to stifle her moan, but it made me hunger to hear her. Communication was key. I increased my speed and pressure, causing the muscles inside her to clamp down on my finger.
A victorious smile swept across my face. I hadn’t gone after her G-spot yet, and she was already halfway to ecstasy. She clawed at my arms like a mindless, needy thing, and the situation in my pants graduated from a nuisance to a full-blown irritation. I was hard and throbbing uncomfortably but pushed it aside. This wasn’t about me right now.
It was a slick glide as I sawed my finger into her cunt, and I reveled possessing her this way.
“I like how my finger looks inside you,” I said. “I imagine it’ll look even better with two.”
She bucked as I pushed my middle finger in alongside the first, and a groan of heat rolled out of her. The girl’s eyes were wild, frenzied with lust and need, and I thrust my fingers deeper, watching for a telltale signal. Would she cry out? Or would Sophia go utterly silent, her eyes rolling back in her head, as I located the spot that had eluded everyone else before me?
It didn’t take long. The cadence of her uneven breath shifted, and she jammed her hands into her silky hair. Her eyes slammed shut, but I allowed it when she whined the word, begging me.
“Macalister.”
My name in her broken voice was fire, raging a million times hotter than the one burning in my fireplace.
When I thrust my fingers faster, hammering the spot, her hands weren’t able to stay still any more than her body was. She slapped her palms against the cushion beneath her, her fingers splayed out, and she used her arms for leverage to help lift her hips, meeting my rapid pace.
I flicked my thumb back and forth, watching the barbell slide side to side as I manipulated her clit, using the rest of my hand to keep contact with her. It had grown challenging with how much she was writhing, but I was up to the task.
Air choked off in her lungs, and I saw the realization take hold in her eyes. I was going to win. Her body wanted that outcome. It was clamoring for it, and I’d done all within my power to make sure her mind couldn’t stop me.
“Wait,” she said with dread.
“Why?” I didn’t hesitate. “Because you don’t want to lose?”
“Yes,” she admitted. She couldn’t control herself when she was under my command, and she kept moving, encouraging me to do the same. Whimpers of pleasure seeped from her as she reluctantly neared the threshold. Her legs shook with such force, they looked powerless.
“Give it to me,” I demanded.
My dark order shoved her over the edge, and Sophia cried out as her orgasm gripped her. My orgasm, I corrected in my head. She contracted both inside and out, pulsing on my fingers as she collapsed onto the lounge, flinching and jerking with aftershocks. It made her perfect breasts undulate and her hands curl into tight fists. I took it all in, this viciously sexy scene that she’d never shown anyone else before.
It was our secret now.
I withdrew my hands from her and crawled over her body, settling my hips to hers and bringing our bare chests together. My cock was aching for satisfaction, but it would have to settle for my hand later. There was other satisfaction I needed.
I planted my lips on hers. To the victor went the spoils, and I took my fill while she continued recovering, one deep breath at a time, although I had the suspicion my kiss delayed it. I held her captive beneath my lips.
When our kiss finally ended, fear and wonder mixed together in her eyes. She was stunned I’d done as I said I would, and perhaps she was grateful, but her trepidation was growing over what had to happen next.
It was hard not to sound smug. “The name.”
Panic flooded through her expression, and then it shuttered. She slid out from under me, retreating. “There are two.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Are you asking for double-or-nothing?”
Because a second orgasm would be even easier to pull from her, but it’d take its toll on me. I was already thinking of ways to justify carrying her upstairs. Excuses that would permit me to discover how her piercing felt against my tongue.
“No,” she answered. “I’m only giving you one name.”
She tried to fold herself away from me, and I didn’t care for it. I scooped her up into my arms and pulled her into my lap, using the tip of my nose to draw a line up the side of her neck. Either the product she used in her hair or her perfume was the source of her apple scent.
“All right,” I said in a persuasive hush, right beside her ear. “Tell me.”
The orgasm had left her body, but the tremble remained. It wasn’t a shiver. The fire was warm, and I was holding her, which left me to believe this was stress. Was she worried once I had the name, I’d go after this person with surgical precision until I’d uncovered every last secret?
She wasn’t wrong.
Her eyes closed, unable to look at me. “The name,” she said, “is Sophia Alby.”
TWELVE
MACALISTER
MY EYES WERE
BURNING WITH EXHAUSTION, and I kept my gaze directed out the conference room window to the sunlight while the men prattled on about the mortgage forecasts the lending team had presented. I had never fallen asleep during a meeting because doing so would be disastrous. My subordinates had lost enough respect for me; they didn’t need to lose any more.
I spent far too much time thinking about Sophia and didn’t realize the meeting had concluded until the room was nearly empty and a hand was on my shoulder.
“Dad?”
I looked up into the face that was so similar to his mother’s, sometimes I hated it. A constant reminder of what I’d had and was stolen from me. Royce’s eyes were mine, though, and concern lurked in them now.
“I’m fine,” I said in my usual gruff tone and stood from my seat.
My son didn’t believe me. His arms crossed over his chest, and he gave me a hard look. It wasn’t as severe as the one I had mastered, but it did its job well enough.
“It’s nothing,” I added as I grabbed my iPad off the table and brushed past him, heading for the exit. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”
It wasn’t technically true. Once I’d climbed into bed and the infernal cat stopped rubbing its face against my hand to encourage me to pet him, I’d quickly fallen asleep and slept soundly. But while I’d gotten quality, there hadn’t been nearly enough quantity.
As soon as Sophia had dropped her name, she’d leapt from my arms and pulled on her clothes, refusing to elaborate. It wasn’t part of the deal, she’d protested. I’d been bested by her again, more or less. She’d given me the one name I’d spent the evening trying to convince myself I wasn’t interested in.
Not fifteen minutes after she’d left, I’d pleasured myself in the shower, fantasizing all the ways I’d have her if I allowed it.
Royce followed me out into the hall, past the pictures of the different branches our family company had planted across the globe. “Take the afternoon,” he said. “Go get some rest.”
He didn’t say it with force, but I couldn’t tolerate it regardless. I halted and turned to face him. There weren’t tired lines etched at the corner of his eyes, and when he rubbed his fingers at his temple, I noted the flash of his cufflinks. Ares, the god of war—a gift from Marist.
