by T. L Smith
Rachel told me she loved me. She fell, and that’s when I knew it had to stop because whatever it was between us wasn’t that. I explained to her on more than one occasion what we were. My words were simple, to the point. Not once did I give her false hope.
“Where did Kandi go?”
“Home.” She says it quickly like it fell off her lips and then turns to leave.
“I can see you like her, Davina, but don’t let that interfere in what we have going on here. You wouldn’t want to ruin it.”
Davina nods her head fast before her legs carry her away.
“I’ve sent Ricky to retrieve her.” Alfred walks out with his phone to his ear.
“No. Leave her. I doubt she’ll talk to anyone but me.”
He nods his head and walks away the same way he came in. Alfred’s been with me from the beginning since I bought my first property. He’s the one who sold it to me. After I bought four more houses, I hired him personally to look after my portfolio. He’s my number one employee, and you could probably call him my right-hand man.
My hands clench hard at the thought of her. Her taste. The way she makes me crave her. I’ve tasted her once, and now I’m addicted. So, I’ll taste her again and again until I can no longer have her.
Chapter 9
Kandi
How do you know if someone’s utterly bad? Bad all the way to their bones? Is it in the way they speak? Or their actions? I believe it’s a bit of both.
Jarod wasn’t evil, at least I don’t think he was. He was just messed up more than I imagined. He hid so much from me that my heart finds it hard to trust again. And now, with a man like Huxley, someone who obviously holds so many secrets, I know my heart would never be safe with him. Even if his kisses make my knees weak, and his words make my heart pump.
He’s tried to call me many times over the last few days, but today there’s silence.
My painting has kept me busy, and even if I’m not working for Huxley anymore, I still continued to work on the accounts I brought home with me. Why? I don’t even know. Maybe because I started doing them, so I wanted to finish it. And that’s where I sit on this Friday night, at my coffee table, with the television on some show I’m not even watching, and numbers in front of me.
That’s where I am when the doorbell rings. Looking to my phone, I see it’s late, and I’m tired. The only person I know who’s awake this late shouldn’t be anywhere near here. He should be at his establishments, running them and doing what he does best.
My hands run down my shirt, it’s covered in paint. My shorts which are basically underwear are bright pink and match my hair. My hair is up and on the top of my head.
When I pull the door open I’m ready to tell him to leave, but before I can, two small hands barrel forward, wrapping around me, and I smell the very familiar scent that is my cousin. Her arms hug me tight, so tight I almost forget to breathe.
“Kandi.” She pulls back, her hands on my shoulders as she looks me over. That’s when I look behind her, my eyes lifting from her to him. He’s standing in my doorway with Henry beside him who’s smiling at me while Huxley watches me with intent.
“Why are you here?” I ask Huxley.
Stacey stands next to me, her fingers intertwined through mine. Huxley doesn’t smile. He just looks me dead in the eye, as he answers me as if I hadn’t just seen him making another human being bleed.
“They came to my establishment, I redirected them to you.”
I look to Stacey who blushes. Henry smiles.
“I mean, come on... that name alone we had to check it out,” Stacey says giggling.
I watch Huxley, my eyes not leaving his. “Thank you, I’ll look after them from here.”
Henry steps into my small cottage, no longer standing next to Huxley, who reaches up and rubs his jaw.
“You have some of my work?” he asks.
I look over at Stacey and nod my head to the kitchen. “Why don’t you go pour us some wine. I need to give my boss here a few work things.”
She kisses my cheek and thanks Huxley, who doesn’t reply as she and her husband walk off.
“I’ll return it on Monday,” I say to him, my arms crossing over my chest. His eyes roam my body, briefly leaving my face before they return.
“No, I would like the paperwork now. If you don’t mind.”
Fine! I turn around and walk to my coffee table to retrieve his paperwork. Walking up to him, I shove the documentation into his chest. He looks down at the paperwork, snatching my arm to prevent me from moving. He gazes over the records in my hands.
“You continued to work on them, even after you quit.”
I look over my shoulder and don’t see Stacey. I certainly don’t want her hearing our conversation. I don’t want her to know the way he makes me feel, sick with lust. My head’s not on straight, but I’m working on it. I shrug as he drops my arm, but doesn’t make a move to step back. He’s in my personal space.
“It was there. Someone had to do it.”
“I still want you to accept my offer, Kandi.” I shake my head. “I want you in my bed, as often as I need you. You won’t regret it. I’ll make you come so fucking hard you won’t stand for a week.”
My legs clench together. If his words are true... No, I can’t think of that. I shouldn’t want that.
“Goodbye, Huxley.”
His lip quirks as I step back, placing my hand on my door. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.” He swivels on his toes and walks off.
I have no idea what he means by that, so I don’t question him. His black suit blends in with the night sky, and before I know it, I’m standing at the door watching an empty space.
“That man, Kandi, why didn’t you tell me they breed such perfect creatures down here. We can find you your next plaything.”
Henry coughs next to Stacey, who simply kisses him on the lips. He’s used to her words and the way she is.
“He’s my boss.”
She waves me off then brings her glass of wine to her lips. “That tension... if I had a match it would light the night sky. As it was, it’s why I pulled Henry into the kitchen, to grind up on him.” A giggle leaves her mouth. “That man wants you... so fucking bad.” Grabbing the other wine from her hand, I down it fast. If I have to have this discussion, I want to be less wound tight, because I know eventually she’ll pull it from me.
“I can’t...”
Henry comes in with the bottle of wine and refills our glasses then walks off again.
My cottage is small, so there isn’t anywhere to really go, but he gives us our space as we sit down on the couches and start drinking again.
“You’ve grieved, Kandi. You didn’t move from my spare bedroom for two months. You loved Jarod, I get that. But you also can’t not have fun now that he’s gone. Surely, you miss sex?”
Stacey bringing back those memories of that time makes my heart hurt. I didn’t know what to do, how to live anymore after he was gone. I slept and slept until I could no longer.
“I do, I miss it.”
She claps her hands together excitedly. “Good! Now go and bounce on that hunk of a boss of yours.”
“I quit,” I reply, gnawing at my lip.
“All the better reason to fuck him now. Tomorrow you totally should.”
My eyebrows scrunch up in confusion. “Tomorrow?”
“Yeah, he told us about his party. Invited us, said it was one of a kind. We’re so excited to meet everyone here.”
My head starts shaking no before the words can leave my mouth. “We aren’t going.” I get up, and Henry’s smiling with the bottle of wine in his hand. He knows she’s about to win, she always gets her way.
“I already accepted, and it would be rude of us to decline now.” She smirks and bumps her hip into mine as she walks past me to Henry. Her hands go around his shoulders as she pushes up against him. I take the bottle of wine from Henry’s hand and walk away. Because I know where they’re going, they fuck better than any c
ouple I know.
“I’m not going,” I yell out, walking away with the bottle.
“Oh, yes, you are,” she sings back to me.
IF I COULD DRINK MY weight in wine right now, I would. As it is, I already finished one bottle at home. Stacey’s hand touches my hand and squeezes. She made me come to this party knowing full well I didn’t want to. I tried to withstand her onslaught all day by blasting my music and painting. She helped, but somehow she talked me into agreeing to come, even for just an hour so she could check it out.
So, here we are, pulling up to his overly large fucking castle as my best friends’ mouths drop open in awe at his place. The same way mine did when I first saw his castle.
“Ohhh...” I say, freeing my hand from hers and pulling it away. She was too transfixed looking at the house that she didn’t even realize she was crushing my hand.
“Did you see this? Have you been here?” Her eyes are glued to mine. My eyes are looking everywhere but at hers as the car comes to a stop. The door is opened, and I step out. This time in a long dress thanks to Stacey who never goes anywhere without a personal closet that’s packed to the brim with beautiful clothing. The vibrant blue blends well with my hair that’s in a fish braid cascading down my back.
“I have, once. Didn’t stay long.”
She releases me when I answer, and stands next to me dressed in a lavish brown gown. I never knew someone could pull off the color brown in a dress, or even mustard until I saw it on Stacey.
“I saw enough to know he’s out of my league.”
“But he isn’t out of yours... he’d be the lucky one to get you.”
We walk over the bridge and up the stairs and in through the hall to the busy room. It’s laid out much the same as it was last time, except the colors are different. Last time it had light colors, pinks and blues and whites. Now it’s red and black. It’s darker, the whole room is. The lighting’s dimmed.
I spot Davina straight away. She has a girl draped on her arm as she smiles and speaks to her.
Stacey pulls me straight to the bar and orders for us. When she doesn’t have to pay and realizes everything’s free, she whistles loudly next to me. “If you don’t hit that, I just might have to live a life of luxury myself.” She laughs, and Henry shakes his head then kisses her on the cheek. We know she’s joking, she’d never leave Henry.
“Kandi.” Chills run down my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I don’t turn around first, Stacey does.
“Huxley, was it?”
“Stacey, wasn’t it? Kandi’s friend?”
“Right, Kandi’s friend. Nice place you have here.”
Huxley doesn’t say anything back to her, just a simple nod.
I turn around to his gray eyes trained on me. No words leave my mouth. What do I say? I don’t even want to be here in the first place. And yet, here I am, dressed up like one of his girls who attend these things. I remember the way I looked last time I was here.
“You look devastatingly beautiful tonight, Kandi.”
I hear Stacey’s breath hitch and my heart, that thing inside me I tell not to beat when he’s around, disobeys me, taking off like a stampede of wild elephants.
“Would you dance with me?” Huxley doesn’t wait for me to answer. His hand takes hold of my free hand at my side, and he pulls me to him. I don’t move, but somehow we start rocking, his hand on my lower back just above my ass. His breath right near my ear. “You will come back to work on Monday, won’t you?”
“What is it that you really do?” I ask him, knowing he won’t tell me, but I want to try anyway.
“I’ll lie to you. Don’t mistake my attraction for you for honesty. I will lie to you, Kandi, just to get you where I want you.”
I try to pull back away from him, but he only grips me tighter to him. My eyes look up to his eyes already watching me. Always.
“And where exactly is it that you want me?”
His lip quirks up ever so slightly, then a mask of seriousness takes over. “I want you in my bedroom. Can I take you there?”
Heart, meet floor.
I feel anything that comes from me now is no longer me, it’s a Kandi that I don’t remember. One that looks straight into his stormy gray eyes and nods her head like she’s about to be accepted into his hall of fame.
Chapter 10
Huxley
Giving her a choice was easy, I knew the answer before it even left her lips. Our attraction is lethal. One like ours you don’t say no to when the opportunity arises. We pass Ricky on the way, his eyes cast down, but as we pass Davina, her eyes are glued to Kandi. Turning back to look at Davina, as we arrive at the door which will take us upstairs, I find her watching me with intent. Davina knows where I’m leading Kandi and why. I plan to do things to her that I’ve been craving since the moment I met her. The door closes behind her. Her eyes leave mine and she follows up the stairs—no one comes up here. It’s guarded for a reason. I press a button, the lights come on, and I start walking up, taking her with me. She doesn’t slow down or try to pull back as we reach the top, and I pull open my guest room door. Her eyes look around and then come back to me.
“We’re really doing this.” She steps into the room, and I shut the door, locking us in as I flick on the light.
“We are.” My hands go to my tie, loosening it. Her hands touch the sides of her dress, scrunching it up in her hands but otherwise not moving. “I suggest you start undressing, Kandi.”
Her eyes flutter closed as I say her name then spring back open. Her hands disappear to the back of her dress, and I hear the sound of a zipper and watch in fascination as it drops and pools at her feet. It shocks me, not because she did it, but because of what she has on underneath. I never suspected her to be a girl who’s interested in lingerie. The black lace sticks to her body like it was made for her, the lace covering her tits is see-through, so I can view her nipples hardening under the lace. My cock becomes hard just by looking at her. Her marvelous body on display, my cock twitches with excitement that it’s entirely for me. The way her eyes are locked on mine, I can tell she wants me just as much as I want her.
My steps are slow and deliberate as I walk toward her. Her eyes are wide and lust leaks from them. It’s the most attraction I’ve felt for someone in a long time.
She does something to me that I’m not really sure I like. But I’m a daring man if there ever was one, and I like to stick my hand into the fire to see how much it will burn. It’s how I’ve gotten this far in life, I’ve done things others didn’t want to do. I am that man who’s whispered about, no denying it.
Her breathing becomes harder, I can almost feel her breath touch me, and I’m an arm’s length away. She’s nervous, but she has a confidence to her. She hides her nerves well. Pity I’ve come to know people’s nerves better than my next breath. It’s what I’m good at. Lies—I can tell a lie from a mile away, but still look you in the eyes with a smile. Make you believe that whatever I’m saying is nothing but the truth, and you’ll do everything you can to believe it.
My lies haven’t started yet for Kandi, I’m waiting for them to tip from my lips to give them to her. It will happen, it’s bound to.
“They call you the king.”
My shirt slides from my shoulders as my tie hits the floor. The sound from below slips away and all I can see is her, hear is her.
I nod my head, they do call me the king. They always have. I run this town, it’s mine. I own most everything. Therefore my name precedes me.
“You can call me king or master when I make you scream.”
Kandi’s eyes are glued to my stomach. Now, in very slow motion, they trace my body as they climb back up to my eyes. Lust still sits there in them as I watch her. Her body is what people make music about. You sing and dream about the small curves she has, to the dip in her breasts or the curves of her ass. If I could mold my perfect woman, she’d be it. But I will never tell her that. No. She doesn’t need to know that the moment I
first laid eyes on her I was taken. That I wanted nothing more than to bend her over my desk and fuck her into oblivion, then lock her in my room to have her as often as possible.
“I’ll stick to Huxley.” Her words are smooth as I step toward her. My pants undone but not off. She bites that fucking lip. Usually, she chews or gnaws at it. Now she’s fucking biting it, and I want to take that fucking lip and bite it myself. I remember how she tasted—sweet, so fucking sweet. My very own Kandiland.
“You’ll change your mind, I’ll make you.”
Her mouth opens, but before she can come up with a comeback, I step forward gripping my hand on her lower back, slamming her into me. Her hands go to my chest, both as cold as ice as they grip onto me. Her lashes flutter, and I don’t give her time to think anything else as my lips come down on hers. My mouth stealing any words she wanted to utter, and her perfect body is pressed against mine. Her black lace lingerie is slick against my skin. Her nails dig in. My hands slide south straight to her ass, and I squeeze it.
“Hurry...” Kiss. “Up...” Kiss. “And...” Kiss. “Fuck me.” She pulls her hands back, lifting them away from my chest, and going for the straps of her bra. She drops them, and my eyes fall straight to her breasts. I could see them before, the lace was see-through, but now they’re directly in front of me. And I want to taste, to mark, to claim them as mine. My hands on her ass grip hard as my head ducks, lifting her up, bringing her breasts to my height. My mouth covers one of her nipples as I carry her back to the bed.
Lifting my mouth to set her down, I bend at the knees pushing her backward and pushing my pants down my legs before I climb onto the bed, covering her with myself. My mouth finds her again, her fucking beautiful pink nipples are perfect. My hand slides between her legs, and I moan as I feel the opening in her lace panties. A hole for easy access, it’s like she came prepared. Except, I don’t think she even wanted to come. I’m fucking glad she did.
My finger slides in while her hands touch my shoulders. She pushes her hips up and bucks, as my thumb slides over her clit. Popping her nipple from my mouth, I slide down. And before she can look up, my mouth is on her, my finger inside of her. She doesn’t stop bucking. Her hands are now in my hair directing me as if I don’t know what I’m doing. I fucking do. My mouth was made for this, for fucking her pussy. And I will do it, and make her come. Inserting another finger, my tongue slides down to her opening then back to her clit. Her pussy clenches around my fingers. I pause. Her eyes open and her hands grip my hair, hard.
