by Brynn Paulin
I cried out when he sucked my nipple into his mouth, drawing hard then letting go with a pop before moving to the other breast. Back and forth, he moved while I writhed beneath him, delirious with the pleasure. His rock-hard cock pressed to my wet pussy, sliding up and down and driving me crazy, because I wanted him in me. Deep inside me.
My thighs clamped around his hips. I rocked against him, moaning as he rode across my clit, over and over.
“Elijah…” I cried. “I’m going to come. Please…”
“Yes, give it to me. Come all over my cock, Princess. Get me nice and wet with you. Then I’m going to slide deep inside and fill you up. Show me how much you want this cock.”
His words set me off, and I careened over the edge of bliss. Brix surged into me, hard, forcing my clutching walls open for his wide girth.
“Oh God!” I screamed, clawing at his shoulders. I clung to him as he pounded into me, letting loose his need while I met him stroke for stroke with my own overwhelming desire. We were a storm, crashing together, destroying each other.
Brix reached between us and thumbed my clit.
“Come again,” he demanded, still riding me hard while my pussy convulsed around him. I wasn’t sure I could… I still was… Then I catapulted higher, shaking so hard I’d lost all control. I screamed, cried out…the sounds and words beyond my comprehension. I was all reaction, one-hundred percent under his command.
Brix yelled out a moment later, and his warmth filled me, the release having almost a calming effect on my still-shaking body.
“Elijah,” I whispered between pants.
“I love you.”
“I…” I gasped. “Love you, too.”
* * * *
Working for Brix was a revelation. I’d seen him laid back, fun-loving and a little free with his money. He could be the proverbial, bad-boy, devil-may-care billionaire.
And then I saw him at work. The man was heads down. No-nonsense. Do your job and do it right or your head will roll.
Not with me. I mean, I worked hard to do my best, but I got the feeling I could screw up big time, and still he’d give me leeway. Even so, over the two weeks I’d been working for him, he’d been demanding, and contrary to almost every romance novel I’d ever read, he was diametrically opposed to having sex at the drop of a hat in the office. Barring making out with me that first day. The man worked hard during business hours and fucked me hard after.
Not to say, we hadn’t fucked at the office. Mostly, though, it was confined to my lunch hour or late in the day, after everyone else had left. Brix was determined to set a good example or something for his employees. His theory was, if he worked hard, so would they.
Apparently, my first day in his office, when he’d grabbed me and we’d groped each other, had been an anomaly. One I’d like to repeat from time to time, but I couldn’t argue with his rules. I didn’t want people to think I was here just to fuck him or something.
Neither did he, which was why he left the door to his office open most of the time, unless he had a sensitive call or meeting that demanded more privacy.
Smiling, I typed out an email to a local caterer. It wasn’t the email making me grin; it was the general happiness I’d had since Brix had swooped in and taken over my life.
At the moment, I was taking care of the menu for a fundraiser he was chairing. The event would take place in September, and Brix had been very clear that he’d be flying me home to attend it. It was a comfort to know he was making plans for us even after I went off to school. He didn’t know it, but I’d spoken to some people about transferring my scholarship in January. I’d figured I’d need to bridge the gap for fall semester. I wasn’t sure if Brix has done anything, but the scholarship administrators had told me wasn’t too late to move the allocation for this fall. That seemed strange to me, but I didn’t question it.
Though I hadn’t told Brix, I’d contacted his colleague and spoken to him about late enrollment and registration, and as of this morning, I’d been accepted. It seemed miraculous to me, but I guess, my grades, prestigious scholarship and extracurricular activities had spoken for me and gotten me through quickly. If I wanted to stay here with Brix, I could.
I planned to, and to tell the truth, it made me downright giddy. Now, I just needed to tell him.
“Cricket?”
I looked over at Brix. He was on a conference call with China but must have muted it for a moment.
“I’m going to be stuck on this call for a bit longer than I thought. Do you mind going to get us lunch and bringing it back here?”
I grinned. “You’re the boss. And assisting is kind of my job.”
He rolled his eyes.
“The regular from the deli?” I asked.
He nodded, holding out his black card as he returned to his call, speaking in Chinese, which I found sexy and damn impressive. For someone who’d spent her life so far pursuing learning and getting the best grades possible, his intelligence and business savvy were arousing.
My fingers grazed his as I took his credit card, and he narrowed a dark, lust-filled gaze at me, silently promising he’d be having his way with me later. I was down with that.
Grabbing my purse, I slipped his card inside and headed for the elevator bank and the deli on the first floor.
“Off to spend your sugar daddy’s money?” Diana snarked as I passed.
I froze, spun around and marched over to her desk. “Excuse me?”
She made an annoyed sound. “We all know you aren’t doing real work.”
“Not that it’s your business, but I am. What’s you problem, anyway?”
“You. You’re my problem,” she snarled. It didn’t pass my notice that she’d kept her tone lowered to avoid gaining Brix’s attention. “It was pretty shitty of you to steal Ella’s man. Then you come in here all high and mighty and hang out in his office all day, doing shit.”
My eyes narrowed, my fury rising. “For one thing—” I stopped, freezing my argument in its tracks. Taking a deep breath, I blinked a couple times then smiled as sweetly as possible. “For one thing,” I repeated, “I don’t need to defend myself to a bitch like you. Why don’t you get on the phone and report that to my stepsister? Meanwhile, I’m going to do my job.”
“I don’t know what he sees in a beast like you.”
“What is this? The sixth grade?”
She ignored my barb. “It just makes no sense. Ella’s perfect, and you’re practically Quasimodo. So don’t get too comfortable. He’ll get tired of looking at your marked up body and go looking for someone more suited to be at his side.”
I shouldn’t have been stunned that she’d say that to my face, about my face. I’d heard it from the Barbie brigade for years. It didn’t make it hurt any less.
Keeping my features impassive, I turned away before she could see how deep her cut had gone. Maybe, it was because I’d been away from the constant digs for a couple weeks, but it hurt more than ever. Tears burned my eyes before I made it halfway down the passage to the elevators. Blindly, I jabbed the button and was relieved when the lift was empty. Rather than going to my original destination, I detoured to the third floor. That level got little traffic, and there was a restroom there I knew would likely be empty.
Thankfully, I was right. Locking myself in a stall, I wilted back against the wall and let the tears come. Reflexively, I covered my face with my hands, but it made my sorrow worse. Brix made me forget the scars, but with my fingers over my face, I felt the faded ridges that bordered the right side of my features. Squeezing my eyes shut, my chest shuddering from silent sobs, I ran my palm over my right arm and felt the slightly upraised seam from the long scar there. It had flattened and softened a great deal over the years, but I still sensed it beneath my fingertips.
As strange as it seemed, I’d almost forgotten. The scars were as normal to me as freckles were to another person. And Brix made me feel like the most beautiful person in the world—in his world, anyway. Was he lust-blind? Was
I a novelty to him? When the proverbial honeymoon period wore off would he see me and be repulsed, stunned he’d sunken to be with someone so blemished?
My eyes squeezed shut, and my head thunked back against the wall. That was Ella speaking. Brix saw me as more than a body, more than a willing woman to have sex with. He wanted me. All of me.
I swept aside my tears, angry at being overemotional and letting Diana’s vitriol stab into me. I had to get myself together. Heading out of the stall, I went over to the mirror above the sink. I was a disaster. My makeup had run and smeared from my crying then swiping the tears away.
As I reached for paper towel to start repairing the damage, my phone buzzed.
Your Man: where are you?
Cricket: Getting your lunch.
Your Man: No you’re not.
Cricket: What?
Your Man: I’m in the deli. You’re not.
Cricket: I’ll be there in a sec.
Your Man: Where are you?
I sighed. The man was tenacious, and if I didn’t tell him, he’d be annoying—more annoying than usual. He had a thing about keeping track of me at all times. I had no idea what he would do if I actually ended up going away to school. Put a tracker on me? Hire someone to watch me twenty-four-seven? I wouldn’t put that past him.
Cricket: I made a stop in the bathroom. I’ll be down in just a minute. Relax, obsessive man.
He sent me an annoyed emoji. I wanted to comment but opted to finish my makeup repair, so I could get downstairs to him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked the second I got there.
“What?”
“Don’t. I can tell you’ve been crying. What happened?”
Crap. I didn’t want to tell him. It seemed too much like tattling, running to the big boss because I got my feelings hurt. I’d handled bullies my whole life. I could handle this.
“It’s a hormonal, girl thing,” I lied, hoping that would scare him off from questioning me more.
His eyes narrowed, his disbelief clear.
“I thought you were going to be on that call for a while,” I sidetracked.
“We got done faster than I thought. Then my grandfather called. We’ve been summoned for dinner tonight.” He ushered me over to the deli line.
Nerves took off in my belly, amplified my Diana’s nasty words. Now, I’d worry all afternoon about his most important family member not liking me. “Okay. What time?”
“We’ll leave here at four-thirty and head over. It’ll take a bit to navigate traffic and get there. Grand lives outside the city. In fact, he’s always threatening to move farther away from all the nonsense and commotion, as he puts it.”
“He sounds like a character.”
“Oh, he is. He’s got a low tolerance for bullshit. Don’t worry. He’ll love you.” He bussed his lips over my temple and hugged me close to his side. “Just like I do,” he whispered. “And don’t think I believe you and your hormone diversion. I want to know what’s wrong.”
“I’m fine.”
“If you don’t tell me, I can’t fix it,” he persisted, his arm tightening. I inhaled deeply, wishing I could tell him just being in his arms, breathing him in, fixed everything.
“I don’t need you to fix it,” I replied, keeping my tone firm.
“I want to.”
“Too bad.”
“Cricket…” he warned.
His tone didn’t scare me. I was the center of his affection, and despite my breakdown in the bathroom, I knew he’d never intentionally hurt me. “Just drop it, okay?”
“No.”
“Look, you can’t fix it.”
His stare narrowed on the side of my face, and I realized I’d unconsciously covered the scar on my cheek, slightly rubbing it.
“Someone said something to you, didn’t they?”
My lips pressed together. Brix was not fighting my battles.
Thankfully, I was saved by it being our turn at the counter. I spouted out my order. Brix gave his, paid with the card I returned to him then moved us to the side to wait. He kissed right above my ear.
“I will find out.”
“Just drop it,” I urged through my teeth.
“Can’t.”
“Ugh, you are such a pain in the ass.”
His hand dropped from my waist to give said ass a little pat. “Because this is my ass, and I want it and you happy.”
“I’ll be happy if you drop this. Yes, I got my feelings hurt. No, I’m not going to relay the details. It’s over. I’m fine, and I don’t want to recount it. Don’t make me; it hurts.”
I tacked on the last bit to sway him. It was true, but it was also a defense.
“Just tell me who.”
“Doesn’t matter. If it happens again, I promise to tell you, okay?”
“I don’t like it,” he grumbled as he took our order from the counter.
“Too bad.”
“I just want you happy.”
“I am happy.”
“Says the girl who was crying before coming down here.”
I made an annoyed sound. “I am happy,” I reiterated while he led us back to the elevator. “Even though you’re being damn annoying right now, I love being with you—most of the time. And bonus: I’m away from my family. I’m doing real work and spending lots of time with my man. What’s not to love?”
“I know it’s not your ideal work…”
“Yeah, it’s not my life goal to be your personal assistant—at least not this way. But I’m enjoying it right now. I like seeing into your world.”
“You are my world.”
Chapter Twelve
~ Brix ~
“So how did you two meet?”
I was tempted to answer, but Grand had his gaze fixed on Cricket. He didn’t want to hear from me. He wanted to hear from my enchanting fiancée. And she was. My grandfather was completely taken with her. My cousin, Kevin, who sat at the other side of the table, was not. I didn’t know why he was here, but I ignored him as he brooded into his scotch.
“We met at a charity function, six months ago,” she said. True and untrue. We’d rehearsed our story plenty of times, so I wasn’t surprised by what she said. We wanted everyone to know we were in love and committed—the added time factor would help to convince them. Our feelings were as deep as if we’d been together that long, but I didn’t want to deal with skeptics.
“And here you always said those things were useless,” Grand told me.
“Useless for meeting a woman I could be serious about,” I corrected him. “I’ve made plenty of good contacts at these events over the years.” I turned to Cricket, who looked taken aback by my words. “But you were right, Grand,” I said, needing to reassure her. “I met my one, just as you predicted, and we hit it off immediately.”
Taking her left hand, I kissed the back right above where her engagement ring rested. I smiled into her eyes, so in love with her.
“And when’s the wedding? I’m not getting younger, you know.”
Kevin snorted, whether it was about me getting married or Grand’s age, I didn’t know. He was just being an ass.
“Well…” Cricket hedged. “We weren’t going to rush…” She bit her lip and looked at me.
“We’re holding off because of Cricket’s schooling. She’s off to college in a month, looking at premed then the med school path.”
“You’re not making me wait until you’re finished!” Grand exclaimed. “Good lord, I’m seventy-five already. I want to see my grandson settled. I want to hold my great-grandkids. I don’t have ten years to wait about.”
“Uh…” Cricket stammered.
“Plenty of women have gone to school, been married, and had kids. And fuck, my grandson is rich enough to hire the help to get you both by.”
“Grand…” I chided but without conviction. I couldn’t be displeased with him since I was on the same page. I wanted Cricket nailed down, belonging to me ASAP.
“Maybe, he’s biding his time unt
il someone better comes along,” Kevin muttered.
“Excuse me?” I grated.
“Oh, come on, Cuz. She’s hardly your type. A little more buxom than your willowy whiffets. Very solid.” He snorted. “Good childbearing hips, I suppose. Isn’t that what they say?”
“Shut up,” I growled.
“But hardly your type,” he continued as if I hadn’t spoken. He looked at Cricket, his stare scornful, and I wanted to punch him. “Don’t get me wrong. You’re pretty and all. Great hair that I’m sure Brix loves to grab. But you’re kind of, well, fat compared to his norm, and this.” He waved his hand at the side of his face. “It’s pretty distracting.”
“Kevin,” Grand yelled, drowning out Cricket’s gasp.
“Shut the fuck up,” I growled at my cousin, leaping to my feet. I pulled Cricket up into my arms to keep from pummeling my asshole cousin. “Grand,” I grated out, “I’m sorry, but we’re leaving.”
“No,” he replied. “Kevin, I think it’s time to go.” He waved a hand at the butler standing to the side of the room. “Kyle will call your driver. You can wait in the front room for him.”
Kevin growled. “Whatever. I shouldn’t be surprised since E is your favorite.”
“He’s a decent human being,” Cricket whispered.
“Yeah, whose worth a billion or so,” Kevin retorted.
“I don’t care about his money.”
“Right,” Kevin mocked.
“Princess, don’t bother with him,” I said.
“Just like you don’t,” Keven spat. “Don’t touch me!” he yelled at Kyle as the butler herded him out of the dining room.
“I am so sorry,” Grand told Cricket. Coming over, he pulled her into his arms. “He has a problem, and I, um, didn’t know he’d be here tonight. When he showed up… Well, he’s my only other grandchild.”
She nodded. I heard her sniffle, even though I didn’t see tears.
“My family’s not so great, either,” she said then flushed. “No offense!”
“None taken, dear. Elijah and his parents are the only ones who’ve not amounted to a pile of troubles—my other son passed on ten years ago. His widow and his son—Keven—they’re…difficult. I try to be there for them, but it’s probably best you avoid them. Now, Elijah’s father and mother, my son and dear daughter-in-law, they’ll love you.”
