by Lexy Timms
He growled his approval then turned her chin with his finger and asked her to look at him.
Her eyes were heavy-lidded from passion but she was hiding from him in her own way. She wasn’t as courageous as she thought. How she got this far so fast, with this man, was a mystery to her. Now reality began to set in as she came back down to earth. It wasn’t just this fact that made it tough for her to face him. He was an overwhelming presence. She’d dealt with tough clients before, ones who carried major clout, but this was different. He was crazy intense, and it took all her nerve to look him in the eyes.
Sasha traced his leathery fingertip on the surface of her soft skin. He was rolling in money, or gave that impression, but his hands were rough like that of laborer. He spoke to her with his eyes—those dark blue, amazing eyes, with those heavy, long lashes.
Kallie knew what was about to happen. She sensed it before he spoke. This guy could have his pick of women, and she was sure he was about to let her down easy. To give her the ‘this was just fun’ lecture.
“I don’t know if I want you to work for me anymore,” he said softly.
Kallie popped up on her elbows. That wasn’t what she’d expected him to say. “Pardon me?”
“I don’t want to you to work for me,” he repeated.
He was going to kick her out? Because of earlier tonight? Or because of…this? “I heard what you said,” she replied sharply. “It was more like I dare to you to say it again.” She was naked, and for a moment didn’t care. “I work for Sal, not you. He hired me.”
He flashed a charming smile and kissed her on the nose. “That’s a technicality, as we discussed.”
A technicality? Really? “So, whatever you say goes?” she challenged.
“Ooh, you’re cute when you’re riled,” he teased, tucking her hair behind her ear.
She wanted to smack his hand away, she was that livid. Without any sense of bashfulness, she rolled off the bed and began grabbing her clothes.
“What’re you doing?” he asked.
“Packing,” she snipped. “I wish you hadn’t given me a job and a place to stay just so you could sleep with me. I get the conquest thing and all, but seriously?”
“What are you talking about?”
She ignored his question. “But I don’t get why you’re firing me. You know what? Forget it! That’s okay. I have some savings and I can find something else.” She began frantically looking around, trying to see how much she could carry.
“Kallie,” he commanded.
She ignored him.
He repeated himself, this time with such sternness she was compelled to acknowledge. He patted the bed, inviting her to come back beside him. “Sit. Please.”
She refused.
“Don’t make me come to you,” he stated with an arched brow.
“You can bring my body over there maybe, Sasha. But my mind won’t follow,” she threatened. “You’re an ass, you know that?”
He stared at her like she was being ridiculous.
She conceded to herself that the delivery might have been silly, but she meant every bit of it. She began the self-battery at how quickly she’d let this man into every aspect of her life.
“I just want to explain myself.” He frowned as he watched her. “Sit. Now.”
“Do I have a choice?” she asked sarcastically. She finally complied, albeit reluctantly. Suddenly, she realized how naked she was and drew the sheet around herself. She glared at him. “What? What do you want to say?”
“First of all, you think I have to give you a house and a job to sleep with me?”
He was teasing her but she flew off the handle anyway. She was ready to charge off the bed again, but this time he grabbed her so she couldn’t go anywhere. “I don’t like that you’re bigger than me,” she said half-heartedly.
“You do like it,” he gently argued, but he released her hand. “Just stop being angry for one second. Please? I wasn’t booting you out the door. And I didn’t say I wouldn’t take care of you.” He kissed her bare shoulder.
She hated that the touch made her body want more. “You just fired me, Sasha.”
“I don’t think I can have you working in that place—”
“That’s your bar or Sal’s bar—somebody’s bar. You hang out there. So, what’s the problem?”
A strange expression passed over his face, almost like he was going to be ill.
It took her a moment, but Kallie realized it was vulnerability.
“It’s not about the bar. I don’t give a shit about that. I was trying to say that I want to take care of you. I want you to be my woman,” he stated quietly.
The revelation blindsided her.
They barely knew each other. It seemed so out of the blue, so unfiltered, it felt wrong to hear. In fact, it was the last thing she’d expected from him. He didn’t know her. Yeah, there was chemistry between the two of them, but still… She wondered if this was his usual speed; whether the man always moved this fast. She had no response. Not a thing to say, or a way to react.
She didn’t know what to make of his words.
He pulled her back against him, so he could look her in the eye. Then he laughed at her expression.
She knew it. There was no denying her expression had to look insanely shocked.
“You can think about it, you know. Have you ever been a kept woman before?” he asked as he began to toy with the inside of her elbow with the tip of his tongue.
She clenched as though he just gave her a shock of electricity. His hot mouth found her naked breast, and drew. The pressure released molten heat to the pit of her stomach.
Sasha might as well have handed her a pill, she was that high and turned on.
“So, what do you say?” he asked huskily.
“What if I say no?” she rasped.
“We can deal with that when it actually happens,” he said with a wink.
“I’m serious,” she countered. “I need to work.”
“Didn’t you say you just had a rough time personally?”
His head was between her breasts and she was having a hard time concentrating. “Yeah.” The mention of her past raised her level of stress instantly.
“I can see it in your face,” he said, brushing her cheek gently as his hand came up to cup her breast. “Why not take some time to recover?”
“Well, that’s what I was kind of doing. I mean, I know it wasn’t the best place to live but, in my mind, the apartment was simple.” He knew nothing about her, and yet it felt like he could read inside her mind.
“You want to go back to that place?” His fingers stopped their torment on her nipple and he lifted his head to look at her.
“No…If it were safe, maybe. I don’t know! But we know it’s not safe and this is a nice place.”
“It’s a really nice place. And you deserve a really nice place,” he said.
She tilted her head. “Why me?”
“Are you fishing for a compliment? You’re beautiful, you’re hot, you irresistible, and you deserve it,” he stated.
She liked hearing those things even though something told her he might feel a little obligated to say them. “Do you give all the ladies who wander into your path a break like this?”
He kissed her lazily, then pulled away. “Can’t it be just what it is?”
“Forgive me for asking, but I’ve been told if it’s too good to be true it usually is,” she retorted with a smile.
He shook his head. “No. Generosity is its own reward, and I’m in the position to be generous. We’re… uniquely powerful together, aren’t we?”
“You are.” It was all him. It never occurred to her that it could be her, too. He’d said it…It was them. “What about the last girl?”
Sasha propped his head up on his hand, and smiled like he was toying with her. “The last girl?” he challenged.
“Yeah, you know, the woman you hired me to replace,” she said.
“Are you asking if I had sex with the
last woman I hired and then fired her, too?” he dared with a grin on his face.
“So, you are firing me,” she confirmed.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Right now, it’s a conversation.”
She really didn’t know what to make of this. “No,” Kallie lied. “I don’t think that you slept with the last woman you hired and then fired her. But did you?”
Sasha let out a deep, rich laugh.
Her face grew hot with embarrassment.
“See, I thought that’s what you were asking. It’s a perfectly reasonable question,” he said. “No, the last girl we hired was Angie. And she and Sal were together before she came aboard and they like working together.” He chuckled. “Nice color,” he noted her blush. “So, you want to know…do I hit on the cocktail waitresses at Darkness or any other place I own?”
It didn’t occur to Kallie he might own other bars and now she felt more insecure. “If you have other places, then what’s the problem with me keeping my job?”
“Because the next guy who isn’t me who puts his hands on you is going down, and I don’t feel like spending the rest of my life in jail.” He winked, but his voice held a tone of seriousness.
“Thanks,” she kidded. “I think.”
“Yes,” he said plainly.
Kallie was lost. “Yes what?”
“Over the years, I’ve been with both employees or customers. It has been both fun and complicated.”
“So, I’m in the kept woman’s pad?”
“No. And that’s not what this is. This is an investment. I rent it out now and then. I live here occasionally. I let friends stay here. I did let a girlfriend stay here once before briefly, but that was years ago.”
His honesty shouldn’t have stung but it did. She was thinking that if she didn’t want to hear the answers, she shouldn’t ask. “Fair enough.
His head rose. “I’m not doing this for sport,” he assured her. “But I do think it’d be incredibly fun. I could spoil you.” He moved against her sensually and with heat.
It made Kallie moan involuntarily.
His voice was in her ear, softly vibrating, “The offer is on the table. No rush. No hurry. And if you decide you don’t want to have a sexual relationship with me, that’s fine,” he said the words, stroking her stomach and moving down as he spoke. “This house is no strings attached. But if you do decide to stay on at the bar, one of us will have to go. If it’s not you, then it’ll have to be me.”
She’d stopped listening or focusing about the time he said sexual and his fingers stroked and slipped inside of her. “D-Definitely have to think about th-this. I’m not ready to get a different job. But I’m not sure if I’m ready to not work. I’ve never had anyone take care of me.”
“The idea does take a little getting used to.” His fingers continued to torture her.
“Well, let me ask you…” She bit her lip trying hard to focus. “Would you let me take care of you?”
“Yes,” he answered without hesitation. “I would.” His fingers stopped their torment. “You offering?”
The man who ran off with everything she owned let her take care of him. Kallie had liked it for a while. Then she grew resentful. She didn’t want that to happen with Sasha. She brought her hand on top of his, motioning him to finish what he’d started. He obliged and bent down to suck her nipple into his mouth.
Sasha bit her before letting the rounded bud slip out with a loud pop. His thumb pressed against her clit as his fingers worked inside of her.
She came hard, gasping for air and crying out his name as she convulsed against his hand.
“How about I take care of you…for now?” he whispered as she struggled to catch her breath.
Chapter Eleven
Sasha kissed Kallie on the forehead and then on the lips. He pressed his body into hers as she wrapped her arms around his neck. They were kissing like it was going somewhere before he gently pushed off her. “I can’t stay, baby,” he said. “I have to be somewhere.” He kissed her again.
She bit back asking him why. She wasn’t about to ask for an explanation. It was her fault for quickly jumping into this with both feet, with the guy who was practically her boss.
“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” he said as he sat on the end of the bed, his hand on her hip. “Are you doing anything?”
“I’m working,” she whispered, protecting herself.
“You don’t have to.”
“It’s my job, Sasha. I need…I’m working,” she finished, a little more firmly.
He stared at her for a long moment before letting his thumb caress her hip bone. “But you will think about what I said? Being with me, not working? And while you’re thinking about it, I want you to think about beaches, bathing suits, and amazing restaurants. All the places you’d like to go.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively.
“You’re making it hard not to be stupid.” She laughed.
He grinned. “Then be smart. Take a vacation. You’ve never had one.”
Kallie’s head rose. How would he know she’d never had a holiday? “I haven’t, huh?” she fished.
“You didn’t let me finish. You’ve never had a vacation—with me.” His head tilted to the side as he looked at her. “You’ve never had a vacation? Ever?”
“I was saving up for a rainy day.” She kind of liked the romantic visions flashing through her mind as she imagined the two of them indulging in what Sasha described.
“Well, it’s raining, baby. Time to cash in on that rainy day. And I want to spoil you.” He stood. “So, if you think about it and decide to take me up on it, you don’t have to come in—”
She jumped up and cut him off as she pushed his wall of a chest with her two fingers. “If I decide to leave Sal’s, I’d give him two weeks’ notice.”
“Okay.” He kissed her on the forehead again. “We’ll work it out.” He gave her that stunning smile of his before he turned and left.
She stood in the middle of the room, naked and unsure. He wanted her to be a kept woman? Like in the olden days? Or like some trophy prize to show off? She wasn’t sure what he wanted from her; the way things were happening so fast, it felt surreal. Maybe it was too good to be true.
Things usually are.
She found a roll of masking tape in a cupboard when she went to grab a glass for water. An idea formed in her head and she quickly got to work. She successfully covered up all the cameras in her room and bathroom upstairs. She wasn’t taking any chances. Pleased with her quick thinking, she took a long hot bath to wash the work grime off. Still wired from her shift and the events that followed, she used the warm, relaxing water to calm her down.
It also gave her time to think.
Sasha was manipulative…in a different way than most men. He wasn’t hidden about it but it was there nonetheless. He was starting to remind her of Jeremy. Although, Jeremy was a better at it because she never saw it coming. Or maybe she spotted it in Sasha’s every move because of Jeremy; she didn’t know. However it was, it didn’t matter. She no longer found it charming.
But, damn, she did find him to be sexy and irresistible.
Never in her life had she felt like this. Like a drug she’d become addicted to. Hooked on Sasha. Yes, it was a condition and it had possibly made her stupid with lust. An image of him popped into her head again and she stepped out of the tub and dried off. She headed back into the bedroom and stopped to smell a pillow still holding his scent. Yes, addicted, strung out, and hopelessly lost.
She climbed onto the cloud of a mattress and pulled the covers up over her to sleep in total safety. Damn, what was she going to do? Head into work tomorrow and pretend the conversation tonight had never happened? Go on vacation? Let Sasha take care of her? She didn’t want that. At least, she was pretty sure she didn’t. But it was tempting to have someone take care of you. Allow you the opportunity to not worry about bills or work or hiding. She sighed. Okay, so she wasn’t totally firm on rejecting Sasha’s wicked proposal.
/> She rolled over and touched the empty spot beside her. Sasha should have stayed. What kinds of things did he have to do at nearly three in the morning?
She knew Sasha meant to come and go, simply be a friend with benefits to her…he already was. But this only meant that, with his other properties, bars, and businesses, he was potentially a friend with benefits to many.
She felt asleep eventually, too exhausted to figure things out any more. She dreamed of Sasha entering the house and coming to her room. She slept, but sensed his presence. She turned to him and felt the promise of hot, sensuous sex pull at her, narrowing the distance between them. This overwhelming attraction she couldn’t seem to fight, and all the common sense and inner warnings faded away again the minute he touched her.
She cried out in her sleep as an orgasm ripped through her. She dropped her head back onto the pillow, lost in more erotic dreaming, trembling, and begging for more.
Chapter Twelve
Since Sasha had taken off instead of staying, Kallie had no clue what the man’s plans were for the day. He’d had things to do, that was all he’d told her. Well, she had no intention of sitting around the house waiting for her phone to beep or the doorbell to ring. And she still hadn’t made up her mind about his proposal. Without him there, the temptation to take him up on his offer seemed less appealing.
So, she went to work.
She’d grown comfortable there. There was nothing fancy about it, but the place grew on her like it did other people. The place seemed to always be packed, and Kallie made better tips than she expected. She liked the job, liked the atmosphere and the people. It was lively, noisy where people laughed and conversed.
She arrived a few hours after the evening shift began. Angie started earlier so she and Sal could go out, and one of the guys from the kitchen was going to tend bar.
Kallie wanted to talk to Sal directly about the prospect of quitting, but they were busy and there was no moment for privacy. She didn’t try to push it either. It was a lame excuse but one she used nonetheless. If she asked Sal about quitting, he’d put two and two together and realize she and Sasha were sleeping together. Four days into her job and she was having hot sex with the owner.
