The three of them eventually move away from the table—to take in the view and because Rob is so keyed up he can’t sit still. He breathes deeply, inhaling the sea air as he tries to calm his racing pulse. Overhead, gulls shriek. Not too far from civilisation, he thinks, even though there’s nothing on the horizon but rich blue. Towards the rear of the yacht, some of the crew are busy at work, studiously ignoring their passengers. Rob catches sight of neon fabric and nearly asks before thinking better of it. No doubt he’ll know soon enough.
He can’t resist firing off a question of his own to Renzo, though. “Why call her Lucky?”
There’s a long enough pause that he wonders whether he’s overstepped some boundary. Then Renzo says evenly, “We’ve been very careful to keep Lucky to ourselves. Until you, no one has dared to come looking. Has our luck run out?”
It’s an indirect way of asking something that Renzo has already answered. If the man suspected that Rob intended to steal their idea for himself or to sell information on their mystery project to the highest bidder, Rob wouldn’t be standing here right now.
“Maybe,” he says carefully, “you’re luckier than you thought.”
Jade snorts, then sinks to her knees before him. Rob shifts in surprise, his arse hitting the rail, but neither she nor Renzo show signs that anything is out of the ordinary.
“Tell me about yourself,” Renzo says. “Start with why you decided it was more important to follow us than to bid for the development of the SatScan project.”
Rob swallows, recognising this opening for what it is.
“You realise,” Jade murmurs against the waistband of his trousers, “if you don’t impress him now, you won’t get a chance to try to impress me.” She shrugs off her robe. Sunlight gleams on her burnished skin.
Less than an hour ago she was in this exact position, sucking Renzo’s cock. This time her lips are smudged with powdered sugar, and her restless fingertips are drumming against Rob’s thighs. Impress Renzo? It will be a miracle if he’ll be able to string a sentence together, let alone a coherent one.
Jade, very softly, sets her mouth against him. Just rests it there against his balls, lips slightly parted. She doesn’t move. He doesn’t dare move either, not even to look away from Renzo, whose expression is one of polite expectation.
“Is this—” he begins, then stops himself. Whatever this is, it’s fine. It’s all f—ahh. He can’t quite control his sigh as her mouth suddenly opens wider, her tongue coming into play to draw his sac between her lips.
She cradles him there, holding him in place until he finally manages to talk, haltingly but honestly, about the fact that he could have won the SatScan bid. That he’d planned to put together a development team with a depth of experience and innovation that would establish his consultancy as a major player. That SatScan was worth half a million quid in shares to him and at least double that in future business. That he’d stared at the draft of his proposal and instead flown to Valletta on rumour and instinct.
And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
They called last night torture, but this is more excruciating, because he’s had a taste of their games now and the promise of more has him quivering. The wet patch from his leaking cock has moulded the linen to his erection and turned it nearly transparent. It’s barely a barrier, but the soft rasp of it across his sensitised flesh as she flicks her tongue back and forth is driving him insane.
“Tell me why a clever man like you wants to work with us to develop technology that we’re going to give away at cost. Tell me why you would help us do this when we will not pay you properly for your time.”
Oh yes, this is cruel, giving him the first real hint about the project and asking him to talk, talktalktalk, to keep his wide eyes trained on Renzo’s face, like that might make it possible for him not to come at any moment. Jade has rubbed the trousers down, not all the way, but enough to expose the very tip of him to her relentless mouth. Rob whines at the first press of her lips to his bare flesh. She makes a happy noise in response and does it again, staring at up him through her thick eyelashes.
Rob doesn’t care about money. He cares about pushing his cock into Jade’s welcoming mouth and holding her in place while he fucks into her throat. It looked so good when Renzo was doing it. But Rob somehow finds the control to admit, helplessly, “I just want the challenge.” His tensed muscles start a fine tremble when the point of her naughty tongue begins to explore his slit.
She’s keeping everything sopping wet, which is just how he’s always loved his blow jobs. Plenty of saliva, plenty of pre-cum—she seems to like it that way too, as she’s doing everything she can to encourage more of his eagerness to spill out into her mouth. She’s making obscene little noises around him, hitching moans of genuine enjoyment. They’re bringing him closer and closer to the edge as she suckles him in earnest. She twines her fingers in the drawstring of his trousers, tugging a bit so she can bury her nose against his belly, and all the while he’s babbling some rubbish about Renzo’s company and their work in the Latin American markets and the possibilities he’s seen in using their proprietary tech in other emerging economies.
Renzo smiles at him like he’s done something right, and says, “Hands, corazón.”
She yanks down his trousers to his knees. Her hands wrap around his shaft, squeezing with astonishing force, and her lips wrap around his balls. She’s got most of him in her mouth, crowded into her heat. It’s frighteningly vulnerable, it’s spine-bendingly incredible.
“Kiss him.”
Rob’s brain stutters to its final destination as Jade rubs her lips up the underside of his shaft, along his stretched foreskin, back to the bulging head. She gives him sharp kisses, lavish kisses, drenched kisses that encircle him and send him spiralling. Then she pulls back and looks up at the panting wreck she’s created.
“Lucky will have the final decision,” Renzo says.
Rob gasps as Jade’s mouth descends in one last devastating kiss, all suction and scalding heat. That’s all it takes. But this time, she doesn’t swallow. His cum stripes across her throat and her chest, painting her skin in intricate, filthy patterns.
“You’re due below deck,” she says, rising casually to her feet. “Come ready to work.”
Rob finds he’s having trouble standing. His muscles tremble in the post-adrenaline rush. Their conversation is clearly over, but Renzo takes the time to warn him with laughing eyes, “Watch out for her. She does like to show off.”
Chapter Four
After a shower and a much-needed nap, Rob feels sufficiently revived to face whatever else this crew will throw at him. And when a discreetly silent steward leads him to their new location, it can’t be a bigger contrast to the rooms he’s visited before. There, it’s been all decadence—now, it’s all business.
Or, he amends to himself, as much business as Renzo will allow here.
Jade’s once again in efficient black, and her brown skin glows with subtle makeup. Her bleached hair is cropped against her skull, revealing her fine bone structure and highlighting her big dark eyes. Small diamonds glitter at her earlobes.
He notices with satisfaction that her glossy lips are looking swollen.
Rob eases down onto a padded armchair and picks up the pink pages of the Financial Times. How the hell today’s freshly printed copy ended up here is one of those mysteries Rob can only imagine belongs to those in a very exclusive rich man’s club. He’ll leave the billions to them, however, as long as he can get his hands on an office like this. Already he’s calculating what it will take to convert his loft into something this airy and comfortable. Cream leather, shaded skylights letting in the Mediterranean sunshine without the burning heat, cutting-edge systems humming happily away in their temperature-controlled berths. Surely with the right application of creativity even EC2 can give him a bit of this heaven?
“You’re in a good mood,” Jade observes. Her fingers flash across the keyboard, her gaze flickers across the three
screens in front of her. “Which is a pleasant change, given you weren’t exactly the life of our party last night. You were sulking in the corner because Renzo didn’t want to talk to you… Are multiple orgasms all it takes to put a smile on your face?”
“They were very good orgasms. Thank you for them, by the way.”
She sets down the keyboard. There’s a pleased grin hovering at the corners of her mouth. “My pleasure. I’m glad you turned out to be less of an eejit than I thought.”
The mocking slang triggers indignation. “You tried to drown me! I was entitled to be pissed off.”
She shrugs. “Repelling boarders.” Her mouth curves as she’s not able to fight off the smile for much longer. “Besides, you deserved it. You claimed there are flaws in my coding. And tried to buy me off like a cheap trick.”
He notices the order she’s listed the insults but refrains from comment.
“I’ve met other men who’ve tried to make deals with Renzo. None have been quite so persistent.”
“I have strong motivation.”
“Not the money. You’re a thrill-seeker, that much is obvious.”
He grins at her. “And you’re not?”
She taps her chest. “Adrenaline junkie. There’s no bigger high than Renzo Vega.”
“You call yourself Lucky,” he realises suddenly. “You chose the nickname. Because you found him?”
“Well, it’s certainly not because I’m Irish.” She suddenly seems to find something on the screens very absorbing.
He gazes at her suspiciously. “I thought I was the one being interrogated, but you’re being very open.”
“Try cautious. If I feed your machismo, it may stop you from digging around in my private business.”
“Are you telling me you have something to hide?”
“Like I said. Adrenaline junkie.”
Her smile is complex. Slightly strained, a bit excited, very dangerous. Only when he smiles back—exactly the same way, and just as genuine—does it melt into something happier, more at ease, and end up gleaming from her widening eyes.
“Our good fortune that you’ve got a lovely cock to go with all that risk-taking,” she says. “But it’s not me you should be so interested in.” She rubs a hand through her shorn hair and glances back at the screens.
“Too late.” He lets her hear the rue, using it to deflect her self-consciousness. “It was easier when I thought Lucky was the next Angry Birds.”
Jade startles into laughter, like he intends. “It’s a mobile system designed for Latin America,” she says. “No frills, low battery consumption, easy to teach yourself to programme.”
He takes it in. “He’s taking a profit hit on this?”
“There will be patents, of course. One of his companies is developing the hardware. But the software will be open-source. That’s the whole idea. It’s his baby.”
“But that’s not really true, is it,” he says, studying her. “You’re Lucky. You’re Renzo Vega’s investment.”
“You and me aren’t the only ones who take risks,” she says shortly.
“Yeah, but he’s a brilliant businessman. You don’t get the kind of success he has without knowing a sure thing.”
Whatever Jade thinks, Rob knows he’s right. The billionaire is sexy, sophisticated and smart, but he isn’t by any stretch of the imagination a nice man. He’s not in it for the philanthropy, he’s in it for the same reasons that Jade is, that Rob wants to be. Instinct.
“Besides,” Rob adds. “Why do you think I flew all the way out here in person to negotiate instead of just hacking your comms systems to satisfy my curiosity?”
She arches her brows. Rob senses she’s glad of the retreat from too-personal territory. “I imagine it’s because I killed all your unauthorised access attempts.”
“Actually, you annihilated them then salted the earth afterwards.”
“Ah, did I impress you then, Mr Wright?”
There is sex curling in the way she says his name. He has a vivid flash to the way she looked with his cum on her chest. He reaches for her, only for her to dodge away and nudge the keyboard across the desk to him.
“Not so fast, big boy. Here’s the hierarchy we’re looking at implementing. There’s a few issues—not flaws—with the back end. You can see my notes here and here. Any initial ideas?”
He’s already losing himself in the data. “I’m sure I can think of a few.”
Chapter Five
“Amazing!” Rob raves. He pulls down the top of the wetsuit, letting the cooler air buffet him. “That was incredible!”
Renzo looks smug as he joins him back aboard Estrella. “I knew you’d enjoy it.”
The ecstasy of soaring on the wind, of the white-capped swells rushing past so far below. The neon kite branding the sky above them, while the speedboat devoured the sea in great leaping swathes, pulling them higher and higher and faster and faster until everything dissolved into brilliant sunshine and rebel yells.
“Can we do it again?” Rob asks, in all seriousness. He finds he’s reluctant to drop the rigging in case there’s any chance of a second turn.
The afternoon light is very strong. It brings out the fine lines around Renzo’s eyes when they crinkle with laughter. Rob grins back at him and folds himself over the railing to better watch the crew bringing back the boat. He’s got a sunburn prickling across his shoulder blades and he can’t remember feeling more alive.
“Gracias, Martín, Juan,” Renzo calls. The two men wave up at him and continue their work. Renzo touches Rob’s arm, gesturing to his tattoo sleeves. “Before, they asked about your sirena.”
Rob glances down at his mermaid, immortalised in green and blue and gold. She’s got the likeness of the first girl he fell for. She nearly dragged him down to the depths of despair, that one, when she left and took his heart with her. By contrast, the devil peering over his left elbow wears the face of the first bloke he was heavy with, before he ran like hell in a narrow escape. If he falls in with these two he knows he’ll end up with more ink before they’re through. Just a question of what mark they’ll leave on me.
“I’ve always enjoyed the sea,” Rob tells him. “Though your yacht is going to spoil me for anything else.”
“The first time I brought Jade onto Estrella she was seasick the entire time. She swore at me like a true sailor. I knew she’d love it in the end.”
Rob reaches for Renzo. Can’t help himself. Beard scrapes his mouth, adding an edge to the already heady sensation of kissing the billionaire. Their tongues stroke against each other as they take the kiss slowly, enjoying it.
But neither of them got to where they are without pushing for more. Later Rob won’t be sure who started it. It doesn’t matter. What’s important is that suddenly the lazy exploration isn’t enough. Their kiss turns deeper. Wetter. Turns into a joyful battle for dominance that leaves them groaning aloud. Giving over to it, Rob grabs for the other man’s zipper. His skin is damp with perspiration beneath the neoprene. The texture is intoxicating.
Muscles shift under his grappling hands. Rob gets the advantage, using Renzo’s size against him. This time he wants first blood. He has him down on the ground, arm twisted behind him and his knee firmly at the base of his spine. But the wetsuit is slippery, and as Renzo struggles, Rob loses his grip. From their tangled embrace Renzo gasps out an order, which Rob follows. They tear down the rest of their wetsuits as fast as they can until they’re naked and pressing their bodies together. Renzo has manoeuvred himself on top, but it doesn’t matter. Why the hell should Rob care when it feels so good?
He revels in the differences of being with a man. Last night, Rob’s sensory overload was smooth and soft and achingly wet. Now it’s the rough scratch of hair and the sharp angles of muscle and bone. But heat. God, the heat is just the same.
He fights against the heavy body on top of him, not to get him to leave—he’ll die if this stops—but to get some bloody air. Renzo’s legs scissor between Rob’s to spre
ad them wider, his fingers dragging up the taut line of Rob’s hamstring until he’s got an iron grip on his arse.
Renzo’s balls are a provocative weight between Rob’s spread thighs, his cock is solid against Rob’s belly. Sweat, seawater, semen rub between their straining bodies in a slippery, unholy fucking mess that feels amazing right now but will probably sting like hell later. And breathing—he still can’t breathe, but he’s not so worried about that anymore, not when he’s grabbed Renzo’s arse in return and discovered that the other man really likes Rob’s index finger along his perineum.
Rob’s got control of the kiss, and anything is worth that, because ever since he’s started his fascination with Vega and Lucky he’s felt like he’s been chasing some impossible dream. But now this kiss means he’s got something legitimate here. It’s an outlet for the restlessness he’s been feeling, a way to walk away from what he should do, and discover things he never dreamed he could. He can be himself again, with people who mean something to him, and know that he’s making his mark on the world.
Jade. He can see the glimmer of genius in what she does, he admires her resilience and honesty. Renzo. Who’s confident enough as a man to let this incredible woman dictate how she wants to partner with him. And Rob loves that this confidence is so strong that Renzo will let him come here to partner with them too, that Renzo’s letting their cocks rub together with increasing urgency and not a hint of self-consciousness—
Rob wants it, he wants in, he wants all of it. He’s so bloody grateful that Lucky lives and breathes and fucks, and that Renzo is sharing it all with him. He reaches down between their sliding bodies, feels the wiry trail of hair, then fists Renzo’s cock. He wants to share back, he wants to give everything he can here, because it’s not just about the work anymore, about the victory of ‘getting in on the deal’.
Lucky for Him Page 3
