Master Of Games

by Sienna Snow

  “I have my reasons. As you do for the choices you make.” Apollo set his hand over mine and squeezed. “Amelia, I want you to be happy.”

  “I do too.”

  “Does Lykaios make you happy? Do you think he’ll be good to Christopher?”

  “Yes. On both accounts.”

  “Then what are you waiting for?”

  “It’s a lot more complicated than packing a bag.”

  “I know. I just want you to think it through.”

  “Think what through?” came a deep voice tinged with irritation.

  I immediately turned toward Pierce.

  Pierce

  * * *

  I couldn’t hide the anger boiling up as I saw the way Apollo held Ame’s hand. No one touched her that intimately but me. The media loved to say they were like siblings, but fuck that shit. He had his hands on her as if he had every right to touch her. Was this payback for leaving her wanting?

  It wasn’t as if she was the only one suffering. It had taken all my will to close that door on her. It was a test of both our willpower. The game I’d started with Amelia wasn’t supposed to go past a few hours.

  My plan had been to take her to dinner, arouse her to the point of making her crazy, and then drop her at her apartment with the order not to make herself come.

  But instead of waking her with my mouth on her beautiful cunt, I’d been on the red-eye to the East Coast.

  I had barely shifted my car into drive when Hagen had called telling me I had to fly to New York to put out a major fire with negotiations for a Formula One race I was trying to organize. I had no choice but to go, especially since most of the big players for the deal were going to be in the area for a conference.

  I’d done my best to settle all the drama as fast as I could, but in the end, it had taken me a little over forty-eight hours to get everything calm and the deal signed.

  Now here I was, looking at my woman touching another man with love and tenderness.

  “Pierce. I wasn’t expecting you here. I thought you were going to be in New York for the rest of the week.”

  The surprise and then guilt playing across Ame’s face said I’d interrupted a conversation she didn’t want anyone to hear.

  Well, too fucking bad.

  “Negotiations ended early.” I held her stare and felt the energy shift between us, a second before she diverted her gaze.

  She squirmed uncomfortably, giving me a small sense of satisfaction at her uneasiness.

  That’s right. She knew she was in trouble.

  We hadn’t revisited the explosion from two weeks ago or any of the lingering questions. Instead, we’d immersed ourselves into a relationship we both knew would end. The sex, the kink, the need was like nothing I’d experienced before. There was no shyness when it came to anything I wanted her to do.

  If I told Amelia to drop to her knees, she would do it. If I pushed her against a wall and lifted her skirt, she’d be wet and ready for me to pound into her. If I ordered her to bend over so I could spank her, she wouldn’t question it.

  “Mr. Lykaios. It’s good to see you.” Neya came over with a smile as if she sensed the building tension.

  Apollo stood, stepping over the bleachers as if he was going to protect the MMA champ from me. However, Neya sidestepped him and offered me her hand. “Are you here to poach our talent?”

  I shook her hand and returned her smile. “Just one. Your boss. I came to take her home. We have some unfinished business to address.”

  I heard a sharp intake of breath and almost smiled.

  Apollo noticed Amelia’s reaction and turned his attention to her. “Are you sure you want to leave or do you want to meet about the sponsorships?”

  She glanced between Apollo and me, hesitating to answer.

  Who are you going to pick, Amelia? Me or him?

  After a few moments, she sighed, shaking her head. “I’ll head home with Pierce.”

  “Are you positive?” Apollo blocked my view of Ame, making me clench my fists.

  I knew there was no way I could take the behemoth of a man, but I’d try if he dared to step between Amelia and me again.

  She stood, gathering her papers and stuffing them into her shoulder bag. She walked around Apollo and Neya, placing her palm on my chest. Immediately, I felt a wave of calmness that dimmed my annoyance with the fighter.

  She held my gaze and responded to Apollo. “I’m sure. I need to get the penthouse ready for Christopher and my parents. They’ll be here tomorrow.”

  The mention of Christopher made my agitation fade further. My son would be on American soil in a little over twenty-four hours.

  Amelia knew just how to get me to think straight.

  Did she have any idea how she affected me?

  “Enjoy your evening,” Neya said, bringing my attention back to her.

  She grazed her fingers over Apollo’s arm. “Apollo and I will lock up the offices.”

  There was a tone in her words that had me recognizing a like-minded soul, and the subtle authority she was using with the giant fighter.

  Well, wasn’t that interesting. As was Apollo’s reaction to her touch. He stared at Neya as if in a haze.

  My irritation eased further.

  “Ready to go?” I took the bag from Amelia and set a hand on her lower back.

  We walked in silence. The only sign she felt anxiety was her shallow breaths. She licked her lips, and I had a vision of her wrapping them around my cock.

  God help me if I didn’t leave here without punching a hole in my pants with my rock-hard dick.

  As we turned the corner leading to the staff parking lot, she spoke. “Apollo is a brother to me, nothing more.”

  “I didn’t ask.” I pushed the door open, and we were immediately hit with the bright golden light of the setting sun.

  “I know what you’re thinking. You’re jealous of him. I wanted to make it clear where we stand.”

  I was going to make it super clear where we stood as soon as we were alone.

  The second the doors closed behind us, Amelia grabbed me and pinned me against the brick of the building, knocking the wind out of me and causing me to drop her bag. My first reaction was to reverse our positions, but the fire and anger in her gaze kept me still.

  “I let you control a lot of things when it comes to our relationship, but that is where it ends. When it come to my business or how I interact with my athletes, you have no say. I have spent the last ten years dealing with fragile male egos, I am not going to add yours to the list. Despite what I made you believe in the past, I have not now nor ever cheated. Is that clear?”

  Holy shit. I liked this side of her. She was always so controlled in public, rarely letting loose outside of our private time. Well, with the exception of the club a few weeks ago.

  My hands went to her waist. “Crystal.”

  We stared at each other. God, she was beautiful. I needed her like I needed to breathe. How the hell had I gone from wanting to destroy her to wanting to keep her forever?

  As the seconds ticked by, the energy between us shifted. Amelia’s amber gaze dilated, and her breath grew shallow as her skin flushed.

  I cupped her face, rubbing my thumb over her bottom lip. “Do you want to play, baby?”

  “Yes.”

  I almost had the urge to fuck her against this building, but that was too risky, too dangerous. Plus, there was no privacy. Our security would get a very unexpected show.

  “Leave your car here. We’ll take mine.”

  Amelia

  * * *

  Less than ten minutes later, we arrived at the residential side of the Cypress. The short ride was quiet, filled with an undercurrent of sex and desire. My underwear was soaked through and my nipples ached to the point of almost painful.

  I wasn’t sure what had come over me, but my temper flared and I’d lost it. Pierce acting all caveman when we were in the place where I was boss added him to the list of assholes I dealt with on a daily bas
is. I had to establish boundaries and make it clear that he couldn’t push me around.

  What surprised me was that instead of being angry at me, Pierce was turned on, like he couldn’t wait to fuck me against the next available surface. I had no doubt that if privacy wasn’t an issue, he would have pushed me face first against the brick of the building and had his way with me.

  Pierce set his hand on my lower back as we made our way into the building. We garnered a few curious looks from passersby as they recognized us. It was hard for people to reconcile that we were lovers and the business aspect of our lives had nothing to do with the personal.

  The tabloids liked to make up articles about one of us using the other for a way to rig the fight, but they were easy to ignore. The only voices that were hard to ignore were the grumblings of the Thanos board.

  As predicted, Olivia was stirring things up. In less than two weeks she’d forced the company to implement policies that would change the misogynistic tendencies of selecting higher-level positions and made it a more equal playing field when it came to working with female-owned companies. Then I’d added to the board’s ire with the public interest in my rekindled relationship with Pierce. The board felt that was questionable behavior and wasn’t representative of the company’s values. I bet they’d totally lose it if they knew the types of things Pierce and I enjoyed behind closed doors.

  I looked forward to the day Olivia found a way to boot all the assholes out. She was ruthless when it came to her mission, and she was determined to make changes.

  We stepped onto the elevator, and my thoughts returned to the man by my side. He watched me with hunger.

  My skin began to tingle.

  He crowded me against the wall of the elevator, forcing me to tilt my head up to look at him.

  “Tonight is the last time I will have access to you without restrictions. I plan to make the most of every minute.”

  He was right. After Christopher and my parents arrived, things between us would dramatically change. My priority would go from work and Pierce to Christopher and then everything else.

  “Do you understand what I’m saying?” His fingers threaded into my hair.

  I licked my now parched lips and nodded.

  “I need the words. What do you understand?”

  “You’re going to fuck me on every surface of my apartment and I’ll be lucky if I can walk tomorrow.”

  A wicked grin lifted his lips, making him look like the boy from so long ago. “Exactly.”

  The bell rang, indicating my floor. We stepped off and took the short corridor to my penthouse. I caught sight of one of my security, a petite brunette who worked for Interpol. She lifted a brow and moved discreetly out of view.

  “Since you told me about them, I’ve made it a game to try to spot them,” Pierce said over my shoulder as I pressed my keycard against the polished metal plate of the door.

  “How many have you spotted?”

  “Five so far. The brunette is the one I see most often. How many are there?”

  “There are twelve of them. Patricia is the one you see most often since she’s on leave for the summer. She heads my security.”

  “She looks barely big enough to lift a child.”

  I shot him a glare over my shoulder. “Don’t mistake size for ability. In three quick moves, she could lay you out before you even knew she’d moved.”

  “I believe you. Especially after I saw Penny take down Hagen when he pissed her off. She credited the training you and her coaches gave her as the reason for her abilities.”

  “I had to make sure she could defend herself when she traveled around the world looking for her flowers.”

  We stepped across the threshold of my apartment and the mood immediately changed from the easy exchange to anticipation.

  “You know what to do.” His whiskey-smooth voice slid over me, making goosebumps prickle my skin.

  I wanted him so badly, needed him. But tonight, I needed that deeper connection.

  He liked to say I grounded him when we were younger, when it was Pierce who gave me the grounding I needed to cope with the stress of the world around me.

  “Pierce?” I said as he set my bag on a hallway table and moved toward me.

  “Yes, Ame.”

  He watched me as a predator watched his prey.

  “Can we put the games aside for one night? I want you to make love to me.”

  His face softened. “Absolutely.”

  He stopped a few inches from me, cupped my face and drew me toward him. The kiss was so gentle, so tender, exactly what I needed.

  As he pulled back, he murmured, “For the record, every time with you is making love. Even when it’s angry fucking, there’s emotion there.”

  He lifted me into his arms as if I were a tiny, lightweight woman, instead of an anything-but-petite fighter, and carried me into my bedroom.

  We kissed as we undressed each other—touching, petting, stroking every inch of skin that was bared. His touch was intoxicating, making me feel delicate and cherished.

  He lowered me to the bed and settled between my legs. When he slid inside me, it felt more intimate than anything we’d shared before. It was as if our souls fused, wrapping us in a slow dance of passion and need.

  Love and need overwhelmed me as my body flew over the cliff of release a second before he followed.

  How was I ever going to be able to live without him again?

  “Shh.” Pierce wiped the dampness from my cheeks. “It’s the same for me. We’re going to figure this out. Now sleep, baby. Our son will be here tomorrow.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Pierce

  * * *

  “Christ,” I muttered, feeling the thick humidity as I walked into the Buchanan Natatorium on the campus of the University of Nevada a little after nine in the morning. I wanted to get a look at Jennifer Ellis, a prospective athlete with incredible talent but limited means. As a freshman, her times blew away records set by other female athletes in the school’s swim program history. She was even close to breaking a few of mine. If I could sign her, I’d have the number-one prospect going into the next Olympic Games.

  Plus, work would keep my mind off the fact I would meet my son tonight. The plan was for me to go to Amelia’s for pizza and then we’d go down to the arcade for video games.

  I had never been so nervous in my life. Not even when I had my first meet at the Olympics.

  “Pierce, my man.”

  “Carl. How’s it going?” I shook hands with the head swim coach for the women’s division.

  “Good. I bet you’re here to watch Jen practice.”

  “The least I can do before offering her a sponsorship.”

  His dark, almost black eyes gleamed. “You may have to stand in line. At this moment, she’s being charmed by the competition.”

  I felt a twinge of annoyance. Who the fuck knew about her?

  “Who?”

  Carl chuckled. “A very knowledgeable nine-year-old who follows everything swim and one day plans to break your record. Those were his words, not mine.”

  I smiled. A kid who had goals from a young age was definitely worth meeting. I could steer him in the right direction for his training. That was, if he was serious. I’d have to talk to his parents.

  I took the steps leading to the pools and came to an abrupt stop.

  Jennifer was sitting with her feet in the water as she talked to a dark-haired boy with blue eyes. They laughed and splashed waves in the water.

  A startled Marie Nephus stood from a set of bleachers. Amelia’s mother looked between Christopher and me, unsure of what to do. I was well aware she knew Amelia and I had resumed our relationship. And I was positive she was aware of the plans for tonight. However, what I wasn’t sure of was if she would try to convince Ame to return to Greece or whether she accepted my involvement in Christopher’s life. Phillip, Marie’s husband, touched her hand, whispering something that had her sitting back down but watching me like
a hawk.

  That was when Christopher spotted me. His eyes grew just as big as his grandmother’s had, but his were filled with excitement instead of dread.

  “It’s really you.” Christopher jumped up, running in my direction, and then stopped abruptly a few feet from me.

  Jennifer followed close behind him.

  “Mr. Lykaios. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Chris here is a huge fan of yours.”

  “It’s good to meet both of you.”

  I shook Jennifer’s hand and then knelt in front of Christopher.

  He studied me, tilting his head left and right. “I know you,” he said with a thick Greek accent.

  “You do? What have you heard?”

  “You’re Pierce Lykaios.” He pulled out a figure from his pants pocket. A lump formed in my throat. “My Papa said this was you and I would have to work super hard to be like you.”

  I wanted to hate the man who’d taken my place but how could I when he’d spoken to my son about me?

  “You want to be a swimmer?”

  An offended scowl covered his face. “I am a swimmer.”

  “I’ll have to see you in action sometime.”

  He smiled.

  “Mr. Lykaios, if you would excuse me for a few minutes? I have to ask the coach a question about our meets for this week.”

  “Go right ahead. I’d like to get to know the boy who’s going to beat my records.”

  “See you later, squirt.” Jennifer ruffled Christopher’s hair and then walked toward the locker room, leaving me with Christopher and a very agitated Marie watching over us.

  “I know a secret,” Christopher said. “But I’m not supposed to tell anyone but you.”

  “Okay, let me hear it.” I lifted my ear to his lips.

  He shook his head and glanced at his grandparents.

  This was interesting. I offered him my hand and felt like weeping when he took it.

  Would my next child with Amelia look like Christopher or his mother? Guilt hit my gut. I had all but blackmailed Amelia into the agreement. Her agreeing was the only way she’d thought to ensure my silence. I’d never have gone through with any of my threats. I’d needed some way to keep her, and at the time, coercion was the only thing that came to mind.