RISK

by Deborah Bladon

Since I decided that I want her to see me in a way no other woman ever has and since I want my daughter to spend time with the most perfect example of a strong woman I know. Every other woman I have ever met is inferior to Ellie in every conceivable way. I can't deny that. I wouldn't try. "I like her, Crew. May will like her too."

  "I get that." He taps his shoe against the floor. "What's going on between you two is new. It's early, Nolan. You need to wait for a beat before you take Ellie home to May."

  I don't take offense. He loves May just as much as I do. To her, he's Captain Crew, her uncle. He's been there every step of the way, but she's my daughter. I get to call the shots. "When the time is right, I'll introduce them."

  "There's no rush," he points out as he stands. "If this thing between you and Ellie has legs, you have all the time in the world to introduce the two of them. Pace it right, pal. Give it time. Think about what's best for May."

  He's right. I know he is, but right now, after spending half my night with Ellie and the other half with my baby girl in my lap drawing pictures of our life together, all I want is for my daughter to meet the woman I can't get enough of.

  Chapter 32

  Ellie

  "What's going to happen to all these pastries?" I sigh heavily. "What do you do with them?"

  "I assume the cleaning crew takes care of it." Eda picks up a mini donut and pops it in her mouth. She chews rapidly. "I have no idea what they do with them."

  I scan the large cloth covered table that was set up by the catering company hired to feed the Matiz executives who came to the meeting that just ended. I was required to sit in so I could listen to their individual concerns regarding security. One person brought up the fact that sensitive files are being emailed through the company's internal system. I'm not equipped to address that so Matiz's cyber security expert handled it.

  I only had to speak once when a woman who runs the nail polish division had a question about the new protocol I put in place regarding self-samples. I told her that the reason I outlawed them is that too many customers were helping themselves to the sample bottles. When one went missing, the sales staff used to replace it immediately with a new bottle of polish. It wasn’t uncommon for the store to run through two or three bottles a day to replace those taken.

  Now, when a customer wants to paint a fingernail to see if they're purchasing the right shade, the person working the polish counter does it for them and then places the sample bottle back behind the counter. If a customer does decide they like the color, the sales associate will hand them a bottle from the display case and then either ring their purchase in or direct them to the main check-out area which is only a few feet away. It's a very simple way to cut down on the theft of the polish but one that apparently no one thought of until now. Since Matiz polish ranges from twenty to thirty dollars a bottle, the savings is significant.

  "Why do you ask, Ellie?" Nolan asks as he stalks toward me. "You can take as many as you like home. I know you have a sweet tooth."

  I have a sweet spot on one of my teeth, not an entire tooth. It's likely going to take me the rest of my life to work through that gallon of ice cream he brought to my apartment. Adley and I have eaten a few spoons a day since he brought it over and there's barely a dent in it. Pastries are the last thing I need.

  "I wasn't asking for me."

  He nods at Eda which immediately sends her on her way out the door with another donut in her mouth.

  He waits until she leaves us alone in the boardroom before he touches my cheek. "Who were you asking for?"

  "Do you think the cleaning crew throws them in the trash?" I count just the tarts on the table. There are twenty two. There are at least twice as many small donuts and an entire chocolate cake that no one bothered to cut into. Most of the people at the meeting took a cup of coffee from the self-serve station beside the pastry table and sat down. They didn't even look in the direction of the tarts, donuts, cake or the delicious looking muffins that appear to have candied walnuts on top of them.

  When I turn to look at him, he's studying me. There's a question in his eyes, so I wait for it, but he shakes his head faintly before he looks at the table. "They don't throw them out. I take the extra food after our meetings."

  "You must really like donuts and cake." My voice is soft. "You also must work out like a madman to look as good as you do if you're eating ice cream and pastries all the time."

  "I don't eat them all the time," he quips.

  "You ate both the butter cookies we got from the street cart."

  "I did?" He pops a donut in his mouth and chews. "Jesus, I'm a rude prick sometimes."

  I raise an eyebrow. "They're very good cookies. I don't blame you."

  "Blame me, Ellie." He taps his chest. "Tell me that I need to make it up to you."

  "You don't." I reach out to cover his hand with mine. "Just tell me what you do with all this food. I'm curious."

  He lifts my hand to his mouth, feathering his lips over my palm. "It's sent to a mission in Midtown. They distribute it to the people who need it. If we only deliver pastries, like we are today, I'll arrange for something more substantial to be brought in, so the people they help will have a well-balanced meal and dessert too."

  His words bring a smile to my face. "You're not rude. You're one of the good guys."

  "If you see me as a good guy, I'm doing something right." His voice is quiet. "Your opinion of me matters a great deal. I like knowing that you see that in me."

  "I think a lot of people see that in you." I tug my hand away from his when I look toward the corridor beyond the open door. Matiz corporate employees stream past at a steady clip, each turning to glance our way. There's a grin on every face, just as there was during the meeting. "Everyone who works here seems very happy."

  "I pay them to look happy." He raises his hand, jerking his thumb back in the direction of the door. "The second I'm out of earshot, they're bitching about me."

  "You don't know that." I meet his eyes. "I think people who work for you genuinely like you."

  "Including you?" He lowers his hand to my waist, his fingers pressing through the thin blue blouse I'm wearing causing my nipples to furl into firm points. "Do you genuinely like me?"

  I nod as his gaze falls to my blouse. "I work for Crew, but, yes, I genuinely like you."

  "I can tell. We're alone so feel free to show me how much you like me." The tone of his voice lowers as he steps even closer. My body heats, the flush racing over me. The need to touch him winds through me from my core. He's taunting me with my own desire for him.

  I lean in, not wanting anyone passing the room to catch my words. "I'm not sucking your cock in this conference room, Nolan."

  He stares at me, first my eyes and then my lips. His fingers bite into my skin through the blouse. "Don't tease me with that mouth, Ellie. You've made me hard."

  I glance down. The outline of his erection is straining against his pants. "Don't tease me with that."

  "I'm not teasing," he hisses the words out. "Don't think for a second that I won't lock that door and strip you naked. I'm not opposed to fucking you on the conference table."

  "I thought we were talking about you fucking my mouth."

  "Jesus." He runs the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. "Come to my place at nine tonight. The place I took you to."

  "You mean your shoebox?"

  A soft smile crosses his lips. "Is that what we're calling it now?"

  "You said it has sentimental value, so it's your shoebox."

  "I suppose it is." He steps back as someone clears their throat in the doorway behind him. "That's Miller from Marketing. We have a meeting. If he's lucky, he'll have a job when it's over."

  "Don't pretend you're not a nice guy, Nolan Black." I inch back on my heels. "I'll see you at the shoebox at nine."

  "Nine sharp. I'll be there waiting for you."

  "I'll try not to touch myself before then," I whisper. "No promises, though. You look extra hot today in that suit."
/>
  "That mouth," he growls under his breath as I walk past him and smile at Mr. Miller on my way to the elevator.

  Chapter 33

  Nolan

  "Mr. Black, I need a moment," Kristof Hellaman says as I step off the elevator after my meeting with Miller.

  I spared the Marketing Manager my wrath today. It wasn't because Ellie had insisted that I'm a good guy. It was because I believe that second chances can yield tremendous results. He has one last opportunity to impress me with his vision of the campaign for our new skin care line. If he fails to knock it out of the park the next go-round, he'll be leaving the building with only his pride and a box of his belongings.

  "My office." I walk quickly. He follows me in silence, waiting when I tell Eda to hold my calls.

  "What's this about?" I ask as soon as the door is shut. I trust Eda, implicitly. She's one of the few people in my life I confided in when May arrived. She's never questioned anything she's overheard. She wears her loyalty on her sleeve, yet there are still conversations that aren't her concern. Typically, that's any discussion that Kristof and I have.

  "Tad Darling, sir."

  Anger crawls through me at the mention of his name. He's the man Ellie loved. She promised to marry him and he tossed her trust aside like a piece of dirty trash. I'm grateful in a twisted way that he's an asshole. It set her free so that when she fell in my lap, she wasn't bound to him in any way.

  "What about him?" I perch a brow.

  He clears his throat. "You wanted an eye kept on him, sir. I've done as you asked."

  "And?" I shrug off my jacket, hanging it on the coatrack by the door.

  "He's coming to New York."

  "When?" I shoot back, irritated by the idea of the man being in the same city as Ellie.

  He looks at the view of Manhattan on display through the window behind my desk. "He'll be here at the end of the month. He's arriving at LaGuardia on a private jet. I've sent the details of his itinerary to you."

  I tug my phone free of my pocket. I skim the email, noting the hotel Tad's staying at and his departure. "Is there an official purpose for this trip? Does he have business here?"

  "My contact in his office assured me they'd forward any details of any meetings he has planned." He crosses his arms across his chest. "Right now, it's classified as a personal trip."

  That fucker is coming here because of Ellie. He must have realized she's no longer breaking her back for minimum wage at a casino in Vegas. I haven't overstepped the boundary that would grant me access to the notes from a meeting attended by both Tad and Ellie in a Vegas law office months ago. It's information I can buy with a healthy check and a signature from the person willing to trade their moral code for a price.

  The curiosity may be killing me, but it's Ellie's business. I don't want our relationship to veer off course because of my thirst to know the finer details about something that happened before we met. I've already crossed too many lines, but it's for a good reason. Tad Darling mistreated her. He disrespected her in a way that compromised her safety. It's unforgivable.

  Ellie is more than capable of taking care of herself, but I can be available for support if need be.

  "I want you to track his movements while he's here. If he approaches Matiz or Ellie's apartment, you're to get in touch with me, immediately."

  I don't have a plan for what I'll do if that happens. I won't interfere. I'm not going to wait on the sidelines while they discuss their former relationship and its death by Tad's hand. I just want to be aware and informed. Control comes with knowledge and the more information I have on Tad Darling, CEO of Darlux Media, the better.

  ***

  "The pictures that were on the piano are gone."

  Ellie stands in place in the middle of the living room. Her eyes are locked on the spot on top of the piano where a handful of scattered photographs were the last time she was here. They were brought here by Crew a few days after May was born. I was already packing my things so I could move. The pictures were taken at the hospital hours after May was left in the lobby. I'd forgotten them here in the mad rush to get to my new apartment and get everything in order for my baby girl.

  "I came here earlier and picked them up." I hand her a bottle of chilled water. "I took them to my place."

  She draws a quick breath. "The place where you live with your daughter?"

  "Yes," I answer simply.

  She nods. "What time do you need to be back there tonight? Is dad curfew a thing?"

  I chuckle just as I bring the water bottle I'm still holding to my lips. "Dad curfew is indeed a thing. I'd like to be back before midnight. She's been waking up every night since Barney died."

  She opens the bottle of water in her hand and takes a large sip. Her throat moves with the motion, her head tilting back slightly.

  I want her like that on the bed. Naked and on her back, her head hung over the side with my cock in that mouth and her throat working to swallow every last drop I give to her.

  "You're staring at my neck, Nolan. I don't have to ask what that's about."

  She hands me the bottle of water. Her hands make quick work of the sash that holds her green wrap dress in place. It drops to the floor at her feet, revealing the creamy pale skin of her body, almost all of her body. She's wearing nothing but a black lace bra, matching panties and a pair of heeled sandals.

  "Your body is beautiful," I say hoarsely, my voice caught somewhere between my cock and my throat.

  "From what I've seen of your body, it's beautiful too but I want to see all of it." Her hands leap to the front of my dress shirt. She opens one button and then another before I reach up and still her. I hold her fingers to my chest.

  "I didn't ask you here just so I could fuck you."

  She looks up and into my eyes. There's a trace of innocence in her expression, but there's more. The promise of pleasure that's all-consuming is there. "You did ask me here so you could fuck me. I came because I want to fuck you. We're adults, Nolan."

  "We are adults," I confer. "I like fucking you, but I also like talking to you. You're going to let me take you to dinner at my favorite restaurant. I want that soon, Ellie."

  "I'd like that." She tugs her fingers from my hands, watching my face. "Tonight I'd like something else."

  "What would you like?" I ask because I want to hear the words. I want to know that this breathtakingly beautiful woman wants the same thing I do.

  "I want you. I just want you, Nolan."

  The answer undoes me. It's not just my dick that reacts this time. There's more. It's inside of me. An ache to give her everything she wants and needs.

  "Come here." I take her hand in mine, tugging her close before I crush my lips against hers.

  Chapter 34

  Nolan

  I kneel on the bed just as she requested after she slowly, so fucking slowly, undressed me. She insisted and who the hell was I to argue with her? She took her time, revealing every inch of my body as if it was a gift for her. Her smile widened when her fingers trailed over my abs. Her breath stalling as her hand gripped my cock and pumped it.

  I almost pushed her to her knees just inside the door of the room, but that wasn't what she wanted.

  She got on the bed after sliding off her panties and bra. I followed when she asked, and now as we face each other, I know what she wants. The slick of her tongue over her bottom lip gives it away. She wants my cock in her mouth. I want that too.

  "This is the first time I've seen this," she whispers.

  "A cock this big?" I palm my dick. It's big. I've had enough women tell me as much. I have nothing to judge by. I keep my eyes trained ahead whenever I take a piss in a public bathroom.

  She smiles. "Your ego is as big as your cock."

  "My ego isn't this big." I stroke the length of my shaft enjoying the way her eyes follow the path of my hand.

  "I meant that I've never seen you completely nude until now." Her gaze jumps to my face. "We've been together twice before and you've ke
pt your clothes on both times."

  "I don't know how I managed that." I laugh. "I'd be naked all the time around you if it wouldn’t get me arrested."

  "You should be naked all the time." She reaches forward to graze her fingers over my chest. Her touch is tentative, soft. "Your body is incredible for someone who eats cookies and donuts."

  I like the teasing, both in her words and in touch. Her fingers crawl lower, slowly burning a path over my stomach. "Your body is perfect, Ellie."

  I see the hesitation before she nods. "I like that you think so."

  Every man she's ever been with should have told her how perfect she is, but they haven't. I've known that since the first time we were together and she tugged at the top of her dress after we'd fucked. She tried to cover herself, shield her body from my eyes after I'd come.

  That's why I stripped her of her T-shirt and shorts in her apartment the other night and feathered kisses all over her bare skin. I want her to know that I covet her and that her body is worthy of worship, by me. I don't want another fucker near it.

  "I've thought about how I'll suck your cock."

  I groan. I fucking groan aloud when those words come out of her mouth. "Show me, Ellie."

  She does. She leans forward on her hand and knees, her bare pussy and ass in the air as she takes the crown of my dick between her lips. She kisses it gently at first. Her lips surrounding it with a flick of her tongue over the tip. Then it deepens and the kiss becomes a suctioned slide. She hollows her cheeks, her mouth working on me as she purrs. Tiny echoes of pleasure that vibrate off my dick.

  My hand knots in her hair as she glides me between those lips and across that wet tongue.

  She moans around my dick, loudly. Not a sound that says she's enjoying the fisted hand in her hair, but a sound that screams that she loves having my cock in her mouth and the movement of my hips as I pump into her. I fuck that sweet, sinful mouth leisurely, easily.