Dangerous

by Audrey Alexander

  In one quick movement, Jace twisted them around in the seat. His strong arms carried her with him so that she was now the one on top straddling him. She slid onto his lap, her breath caught in her throat. As she shifted against him, she could feel the hardness of his cock through his pants.

  Carrie moaned and dropped her mouth to Jace’s ear. She wanted him so bad, right here and now, in the back of a car, like they were only freshmen in college again. And something about the thrill of being caught made her want him even more. There were so many other things they should be doing right now. Finding Dominique, meeting with Rick Allen, doing all the other work that was piling up around the both of them. Instead of dealing with everything else, all Carrie wanted was to shut out the world and get lost inside Jace’s arms.

  He reached out and unhooked her bra, and the lacy material fell onto the seat. Her nipples ached to be touched, and Jace responded to her need. His tongue slid across her breasts, and she dropped back her head to moan, not caring how loud the sound might be.

  Carrie dug her hands into his hair and wrapped the silky strands around her fingers. His mouth moved more insistently against her breast, and she began to rock against him, needing him more now than she ever thought possible. He pulled back, unzipped his pants, and a second later, he was inside her. His cock throbbed, and his fingers dug into her thighs. She began to rock against him, holding onto his strong arms to keep herself steady.

  Their eyes met. Desire and passion sparked between them, and Carrie picked up speed just as the car lurched around a corner. Jace held her tighter against him, and she gasped as his mouth met hers. They moved in tandem, holding each other close and fulfilling each other’s needs. All Carrie knew was the way he felt, the way he smelled, the way his cock drove her to the very edge.

  Moments later, she came, crying out with pleasure. Jace followed close behind, thrusting hard. His arms tightened around her, and he pulled her head close to his. He breathed heavy into her ear, and his entire body trembled underneath her. Carrie wrapped her arms around his neck and breathed him in, and she knew now what had driven Jace to take her now like this.

  He was scared, of losing Carrie again because of everything that was happening. Her strong and secure Jace, who never showed anyone the hint of an emotion, was now stripped bare before her, and all she wanted to do was hold onto him forever. She could understand the fear. If they didn’t find Dominique before the trial happened, Jace could go straight to prison. And with a murder charge, he could be in there for the rest of his life. They’d never have a real chance of being together.

  “I love you, Carrie Simmons,” he murmured into her ear. A thrill went through her. The words were still so new, so fresh, so strange coming from Jace’s lips, that they made her heart flutter inside her chest. “No matter what happens, I want you to remember that.”

  “Don’t talk like that.” She pulled back and met his eyes. “I’m not going to let you get convicted for a murder you didn’t commit.”

  Jace sighed just as the car rolled to a stop outside The Grand Rizzato. His face immediately went hard, and the cracked version of himself he’d led Carrie see for a moment disappeared completely from view. She knew it was still there though. He’d kept it hidden all this time. No matter how hard he tried to come across as a cold and unfeeling piece of stone, she knew better now. There was a part of him that was vulnerable, and he’d let Carrie in enough to see that in him, if only for a few moments.

  Carrie readjusted her shirt and blouse while Jace zipped up his pants. When they were certain they looked presentable, they eased out of the car to a crowd of flashing lights. Carrie gasped and looked around. The entire sidewalk was flooded with paparazzi. Even a news station camera squatted nearby, filming their every move.

  “What’s going on?” she gasped and clutched Jace’s arm before she realized what she was doing.

  “Mr. Holt,” a reporter edged into view and shoved a microphone into Jace’s face. “How recent was that trip to Bonds? How long have you been sleeping with your step-sister?”

  Lights flashed. Reporters yelled. The world seemed to tip underneath her feet. Carrie’s worst fears were coming true. Everyone in the city now knew about her and Jace. The news was out, flashing in bright neon lights. Carrie Simmons and Jace Holt were sleeping together. And now nothing would ever be the same. Her job, her family…it was all about to go up in flames.

  Jace wrapped his arm around Carrie’s trembling shoulders and shoved the two of them through the crowd. They spun through the revolving front doors, and the quiet hush of the hotel was welcome to her ears. The lobby was empty, which was unusual, but Carrie’s head roared too loud for her to make sense of the silence. All she could think was two little words—everyone knew.

  She had no idea what she was going to do. Her boss had made it very clear what would happen if the news got out about her relationship with Jace. Every hope she had of making partner at a law firm was one hundred percent gone in the blink of an eye. Any moment now, she’d get fired, and no firm in town would touch her with a ten-foot pole. Tears pooled in Carrie’s eyes. She tried to blink them away, but several wet splashes managed to escape onto her cheeks.

  Jace’s assistant—the new one, Jax, or something like that—stepped forward when they began their way to the private elevator bank to get out of the reporters’ line of sight. “Sir?”

  “Yes, tell me what you want,” Jace said quickly, his arm tightening around Carrie. “We’re in a hurry as I’m sure you realize.”

  “You have some guests.” Jax frowned. “They were, ah, rather insistent on waiting for you in your penthouse.”

  “Let me guess,” Jace said with a hard edge to his voice. “My father is waiting upstairs.”

  “Yes, sir.” Jax gave a nod. “I’m very sorry, but he was…”

  Jace’s father. Carrie’s heart lurched. Then he’d already heard the news, and there was no doubt that her mother would be on his arm, frantically waiting for their return.

  “It’s alright.” Jace waved his hand and resumed the hurried walk to the elevators, but Carrie pulled him to a stop. She couldn’t do this. Not now. She needed time to process what had happened, to put up a steel wall around her emotions before her mother could get to them and scratch her to pieces with her disappointment. “Don’t worry, Carrie. We knew we’d have to face them eventually.”

  “I just can’t bear to see the look on my mother’s face,” she said, pressing her fingernails against Jace’s arm. “No matter how much I wanted to live my own life separate from her, I never wanted to disappoint her like this.”

  “It’ll be on her if she finds you a disappointment.” Jace smiled and tucked a strand of her wavy hair behind her ear. His finger caught a stray tear as he rubbed his thumbs against her skin. She sighed against his touch, finding comfort in him even now. “There’s no way anyone could not be proud of having you for a daughter.”

  Her heart swelled at his words, but it didn’t erase the distance she wanted to put between them and what was happening now. “Nothing else I’ve done will matter to her now that she knows I’m sleeping with you.”

  “Listen. We belong together, Carrie. Anyone with eyes could surely see that,” Jace said. “Their choice to get married was separate from our choice to be together. Besides, I loved you long before they ever met.”

  The words still sounded foreign coming from Jace’s mouth, and right then, Carrie sorely needed to hear them. Now more than ever. She’d put her whole life on the line to be with him, and it was time for him to show her exactly how he felt. No more games, no more empty promises, no more walls between them. She needed him fully and completely if they were going to make it through this in one piece.

  “What do you say?” Jace asked, holding his hand out to Carrie, palm up. With a sigh and a nod, she took his hand. It was strong and smooth, just like the rest of him. He felt solid, like a comforting rock amidst the chaos of the waves that had become her life these past few days. Jace would neve
r let her drown.

  “Okay, let’s do this,” Carrie finally said.

  Jace squeezed her hand and led her into the elevator. The doors whizzed shut behind them, and Jace pulled her close. His familiar scent of gin and musky cologne settled over her, a warm and comforting smell she hoped would never change. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest. He felt so strong, so good. The way his back curved down to his waist was so familiar. She’d felt his body like this a hundred times before. She could move her hand across every inch and know how it would feel. Her eyes welled with new tears, but they weren’t from fear or sadness this time. She’d never felt closer to anyone in the world than she did right then.

  The elevator slid to a stop, breaking the magic of the moment. No matter how close she felt to Jace, it didn’t erase what they were about to walk into. Everything between them was finally coming out. She could imagine the way her mother would look at her when they walked into the penthouse hand in hand. Horror, disappointment, anger.

  Carrie Ellie Simmons, I don’t believe it. Those same words her mother had said to her many times over the years, anytime Carrie did something she didn’t approve of.

  Jace kept Carrie’s hand held tight in his while he whisked his keycard against the lock. When the door swung open, Carrie could see Jace’s father standing by the sleek kitchen island. His arms were crossed over his massive chest, and a scowl painted his hard features. He was as still as a statue, almost as if he’d been standing there just like that for hours, waiting for Carrie and Jace to walk through the door.

  Carrie’s eyes flicked to her mother, who was sitting on Jace’s couch. Her back was straight and her lips were thin, but to Carrie’s surprise, she didn’t look angry at all. Just resigned.

  “Jace,” his father bellowed as the two of them inched inside the penthouse and let the door swing shut behind them. “You better have a damn good explanation for this.”

  “I have a wonderful explanation.” Jace wrapped his arm around Carrie’s shoulder and pulled her close. “Carrie and I are involved. There isn’t much more to say about it.”

  Mr. Holt’s face went fire red, his barely contained anger making his body shake. “She is your step-sister! You’re going to ruin us all!”

  “Don’t worry.” Jace calmly gave his father a smile. “I’m already ruined. Or did you forget about the fact I’m charged with murder?”

  “Listen to me, you little shit.” His father strode toward them and stopped only inches from Jace’s face. Hands clenched into fists by his sides, he looked as if he might be on the verge of starting an actual fight. Carrie sucked in a sharp breath and flicked her eyes to her mother. She stood from the couch, hand on heart, clearly worried that something bad was about to happen there tonight.

  “Now, father. Is that any way to talk to your only son?” Jace’s words might have been calm and steady, but there was a hard edge to his tone that Carrie couldn’t ignore. This was going way worse than she’d expected. Both men were on the brink of an explosion. She was scared that if she so much as moved a sliver of an inch, they would tear each other to shreds.

  “Ha!” Jace’s father barked out a laugh. “My only son. Isn’t that rich, Alice?”

  “Walter, don’t,” Carrie’s mother said, stepping around the couch with her hand outstretched. Carrie frowned, flicking her eyes from her mother, to Jace’s father, and back to her mother again. Something was wrong. They were hiding an important detail from both of them, and Carrie had a feeling whatever it was would cause this whole situation to escalate faster than she could blink.

  “It’s about time he heard it,” Jace’s father said with a vicious smile that turned Carrie’s bones to ice. “He’s no son of mine. He’s just a bastard.”

  Jace stared at his father’s smug face, speechless for the first time in a very long while. There was no way he could have heard that right. His father had just told him that he wasn’t his son. While Jace had never felt especially close to the man, he’d always known he was a product of the manipulative and dismissive asshole that was his father. There’d been no reason to ever think anything else. His mother—the beautiful woman they’d lost to cancer five years ago—had never given him a reason to doubt what had been presented to him as the truth.

  “It would certainly be easier on the both of us if that were true,” Jace said, keeping his voice steady and calm. He refused to let the man get to him, no matter what he said.

  “Oh, it’s true alright.” Jace’s father continued to chuckle. “I know you thought your mother was flawless, but she found herself in another man’s bed early on in our marriage. You were the unfortunate product of their affair. I don’t know why I ever agreed to raise you as my own, but I did. Really, I should have tossed you out with the garbage. I should have known you’d end up taking after that whore.”

  Heat flooded into Jace’s neck and face. By his side, he felt Carrie move in close, but there was nothing she could do to stop the pure fury he felt growing inside him. No matter what his father said, no matter what had happened in the past, he would not let him speak that way about his mother. He fisted his hands and took a step forward, meeting his father’s angry gaze with his own fiery eyes.

  “Jace, don’t.” Carrie put a shaky palm on his chest and stepped between the men. “It’s not worth it. Don’t take his bait.”

  “Tell your girlfriend to stay the hell out of this,” his father said through gritted teeth.

  “Walter, please.” Carrie’s mother stepped forward, staring at Jace’s father in a way he had never seen from her before. Her face was full of shock and anger, but it wasn’t directed at either Jace or Carrie. For once, she was taking their side. “This isn’t the way to handle this. Carrie is my daughter. Jace is your son, biologically or not. Attacking them like this won’t solve anything.”

  “And what would you have me do?” He whirled on Carrie’s mother. “Let my son and his step-sister go to sex clubs together and ruin our reputation? My business is on the line here.”

  “It’s their lives, Walter,” she said quietly, dropping a hand softly on his beefy arm. “They’ve had each other far longer than I think either of us realize.”

  His father’s mouth dropped open, and more red crept into his neck. “You knew about this, didn’t you? You know about it this whole time and never said a word.”

  “It was just a hunch,” Carrie’s mother said. “I know my daughter better than you think.”

  Jace braced himself for his father’s response. Carrie’s hand was trembling on his arm, and he knew she must be worried about how his father would react to this news. He wasn’t one to take even the slightest of indiscretions very well, and Jace was certain his father expected his wife to be obedient in all things. And here she was, standing up to him. It made Jace like Carrie’s mother much more than he ever had. She deserved a better man than this.

  “You know what? To hell with all of you.” Jace’s father threw his hands in the air and shoved into Jace’s shoulder on his way toward the door. No one tried to stop him, not even Carrie’s mother. He ripped open the door and disappeared into the hallway. A moment later, the sound of a fist slamming into a wall punctuated the silence of the penthouse. Jace gritted his teeth. His father might have helped him get started in this business, but this was Jace’s hotel. Not his father’s to destroy if he felt like it.

  “Mom?” Carrie asked, reaching out to grip her mother’s hand in hers. “I can’t believe you stood up for me.”

  “Oh, Carrie, hon.” Her mother reached out and pulled her close. Carrie stiffened at first, but after a moment, Jace could see her shoulders relax as she returned the embrace. “I will always stand up for you, even when I think you’re doing something stupid.”

  Carrie pulled back and rubbed her tears from her cheeks. “I thought you’d never want to talk to me again.”

  “Nothing could be further from the truth.” Carrie’s mother hugged her again before letting out a long and tired sigh.
Hearing that, Jace couldn’t help but wonder how much longer the marriage between their parents would last. She didn’t seem particularly happy with her husband, especially with his rage these past few days. “I should go after him. We’ll have a talk about this later. I think there’s a lot we need to catch up on, yes?”

  “Yeah, no joke.” Carrie said with a strained laugh.

  The situation with Carrie’s mother was going far better than they’d expected. She was being understand and open and calm. But it only highlighted the fact his father was a monster, if Jace could even call the man his father anymore. It certainly explained a lot, especially the way he’d been treated his whole life. Jace had always thought it was just the man his father was, but now he realized there’d been so much more to it than that. Walter Holt had never really accepted Jace as his own son, and it was clear now he never would.

  The truth about everything was out, and it made Jace want to punch a wall himself.

  Carrie’s mother gave Jace a pat on the arm and a sad smile before turning to go. She hovered at the door, glancing back at the two of them, worry pulling down the corners of her eyes. “Jace, I’m very sorry about your father, and I’m sorry you had to find out like this. He didn’t tell me until recently either. To say it was a shock…”

  “You shouldn’t be the one apologizing.” Jace tightened his fists until his fingernails dug into his palms. He barely felt the pain, still too full of anger to be aware of anything else. “No wonder he wanted me to confess to a murder I didn’t commit. Anything to get the bastard out of his life once and for all.”

  Carrie’s mother winced. “I’m sure it isn’t like that.”

  “I may not be his true son, but I know the man almost as well as I know myself,” Jace said. “I know the way he thinks.”

  “Well, I hope you’re wrong,” Carrie’s mother opened the door and glanced out into the hallway, no doubt checking to see if Jace’s father was still angrily lurking outside, listening to every word they said about him. “And just so you know, I believe you’re telling the truth about the murder.”