by CR Robertson
“You should have told me you were cold and I would have gotten you one of the dozens of blankets you own.” He rubbed his hands up and down my back.
I blinked. Did he not want me anymore? Where was the erection that was normally trying to reach me by now? Had he found someone else in one of his clubs? Someone who let him fuck her up the ass?
It was stupid, but I went from trying to seduce him to wanting to cry.
“Jordan said that Megan wanted to go dress shopping for the opening on Friday night. I told him you’d need a dress as well, so he’s allotted you both a security detail tomorrow.” He kissed the juncture of where my shoulder and neck met, and a shiver rippled down my spine. “Make sure you get yourself a mask. Everyone who attends the club has to wear one.”
From being confident, suddenly I felt vulnerable. My husband was a sexual predator—there was no way he was able to stop having sex, so my mind became a cavern for all the negative thoughts that wanted to fester there. That girl at the auction popped into my mind. He didn’t stop being attractive just because he had a ring on his finger.
“You need me to get you a mask?” I asked, peering up at him as I tried to read behind his eyes to find out what was going on.
He shook his head and gave me the megawatt smile he used for the cameras. “No, baby. I have my own already.” He winked and my stomach fell.
In all the time I’d known Xavier, he never once used that practised smile on me. When we were alone, I got the real Xavier, the one who was warm and funny and made my heart flutter. That smile was the one he used so people didn’t know what he was thinking.
“Baby’s bouncing on my bladder!” I announced, deliberately narrowing my eyes. “My bruised bladder is the fault of your dick.”
He nodded seriously and lifted me off the counter. “I’ll add that to the list of crimes he’s committed.”
The bathroom was a solace, somewhere I could think without anyone seeing me. Tears splashed down my face as I slid down the wall. My eyes found the cable ties on the shower that meant I couldn’t access an orgasm through powerful jets of water.
Three short days and Xavier didn’t seem to need me anymore. My heart fractured into a thousand pieces, every pointed edge piercing into my soul in waves of pain.
A rap on the door startled me. “You okay, Cas? Dinner’s ready and you’ve been in there for ages.”
“Yeah,” I tied to sound normal. “Just feeling a little queasy.”
Everything could be blamed on pregnancy hormones.
The handle rattled and I was grateful I’d locked it when I came in.
“Just give me a sec!” I ran the water and splashed my face. In the mirror, I was pale and my eyes were too big in my face. The smile I’d mastered for clients formed on my face and I wandered out to the quizzical gaze of my husband.
He arched an eyebrow in question, but I merely smiled and wandered back toward the kitchen. His hand landing on the bottom of my back nearly made me jump.
“Why don’t we watch a movie after dinner, your choice,” he suggested. “We can get your cushion collection, cover ourselves in your blankets and forget the world.”
“Bad day?” I asked.
“I’ve had better,” Xavier replied. “I was with Ash and his dad as they organised Michael’s funeral.”
And just like that, I felt like a selfish bitch. “How is he?”
The table was set and our plates ready for us. Guilt threatened to swallow me.
“Hanging in there, blaming himself, angry at the world, pissed at whoever paid those men. Take your pick.” Those blue eyes missed nothing as they scanned my face from across the table.
“Any idea what happened?” I finally asked.
“Jay got the zip drive. Among the files they wanted was the Doulton file. We think the others were a distraction.”
A tremor of fear curled deep in my stomach. “Why does that name keep coming up?”
“Dunno, baby, but it might be time for me to have a closer look at some of your father’s files.”
All the fight had deflated out of me for the night. “You know where the keys are.”
“You don’t want to come along?”
I set my fork down and stared at him for several moments. “I’ve read those files for years and those particular ones made no sense to me. Right now, I have enough to be worrying about, Zee. I don’t need to visit the ghosts of the dead, they’ve haunted me too long.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “I need to speak to your father’s business partner as well.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline. “You can’t tell him where I am.” I recoiled.
Xavier’s fingers threaded through mine on my right hand. “He’s never getting his grubby hands near you again, baby. I told you that you belong to me, and that’s never going to change.”
The heat in his eyes seared into my frozen soul.
Nothing good ever happened when that man appeared. He was there on that isolated road while my family lay dead. He cut my hair and took me from everything I knew, throwing me into a world I didn’t understand. There was something intrinsically evil about him that I couldn’t explain, almost as if death and destruction followed him.
“You need to be careful,” I whispered, my fingers tightening on his.
“I always am, Cas. That’s why I’m going to take Jay with me. Who would mess with him?” His smile didn’t reach his eyes.
Nothing I could say would make him reveal what he didn’t want to, so I picked my way through my dinner. It was spicy and succulent, but no matter how many times I tried to force myself to eat, nausea burned up my throat.
That man was the devil in a suit, a demon released from hell just to torment me. Until Xavier returned home in one piece after meeting him, I wouldn’t be able to rest.
In the end, Xavier removed my plate and settled me in beside him on the sofa and let me watch some eye candy in the form of my favourite sci-fi series. Who wasn’t up for a bit of Sam and Dean?
“You need to stop worrying so much,” Xavier whispered into my hair, halfway through an episode.
I turned to face him, and my nose rubbed against his. “He made an entire family from the Council disappear. They were dead and buried and no one knew.”
He snorted. “Someone knew, he didn’t cover all that up alone. Jay is head of security now, Ash keeping an eye on the financial side of things.”
“And you?”
A smile made his lips twitch. “I have my fingers in a few pies.”
I knew he knew his way around a boardroom and his property and business empire kept growing from beyond the shadow of his father’s influence. He was more than anyone ever saw and there were times that I wasn’t sure if that excited or terrified me.
***
Chapter Four
Cassandra
“He’s being a dick,” Megan announced while she hunted through dresses. “That man is head-over-heels besotted with you. He probably has an ice pack down his pants.”
The assistant stared at us, turned, and marched out of the room.
“Meg,” I implored her before anyone else knew all the gory details of my love life.
“What?” She stopped and stared at me. “You need to up your game and start parading around in barely-there underwear and floaty silk kimonos that just about cover your ass. Then you need to keep bending over until you get his attention. Right now, he’s winning and that is unacceptable.”
“It is?” I queried, a red dress hanging from my hand. Xavier always chose red for me. Maybe I should rebel and pick a different colour?
Megan plucked the red dress from my grip and replaced it with a black dress that was lace except in the areas required to cover my modesty.
“I’m pregnant!” I protested.
“You’re barely showing, but your breasts have definitely gotten bigger. You need to show him who’s in charge of your relationship.” Megan stood with her hands on her hips as she ran a critical eye over me.
�
��And what about your relationship?”
The emotional shutters came down over her eyes. “I’m just staying with Jay until this is over. He’s made it clear that we’re only friends with benefits.”
“Do you not deserve more than that?”
She slumped into a chair beside the changing cubicle. “I used to think that, but I can’t resist him. If this is all I can have, then I’ll take it until it’s over.”
“And then?” I queried, crouching in front of her and grasping her hands.
“Then I’ll lie in bed all day and eat ice-cream.” The wobbly smile she gave me nearly broke my heart.
I opened my mouth to protest, but she wearily shook her head. All I could do was be here for my oldest friend when she needed me, and maybe get my husband to knock some sense into his friend.
We spent nearly three hours shopping and gossiping. I’d missed girl time and it rejuvenated me more than anything else. When Xavier arrived to pick us up, he stared at the bags for a good ten seconds before his gaze moved to our security patrol that had been lurking around, trying to ignore our girlie talk.
“Your car is bigger than mine. All that shit isn’t fitting in my boot. It probably won’t fit in my wardrobe, either,” he grumbled, but the look he gave me said he didn’t care. “Have a good day, baby?”
“I might have spent a bit too much.” I grinned and held my hand up with my finger and thumb close together.
“That’s what I gave you the card for,” he replied and tugged me against him. “It’s good to see you smiling again.”
“I bought shoes.”
His grin told me he approved. “I’ll admire them later on you.”
Megan slipped into the backseat of the car and I took my normal place beside Xavier in the front. “How did your meetings go?” I asked.
His eyes darted to the side to watch me for a moment. “All good, no need for you to worry.”
When he said something like that, it tended to mean the opposite. The set of his shoulders and the way his hair was sticking up at the top meant he’d been stressed. My hand covered his on the gear stick, squeezing it in reassurance. His thumb looped over the edge of my hand to caress me.
We’d only been together for a few months, but both of us knew the body language of each other.
“Is everything ready for Thursday?” I asked. Michael’s funeral was at his family’s country estate because there was a crypt there. I didn’t feel like going after all the shooting last week, but would be there to stand beside Xavier.
“Yeah, Ash left last night to travel up with his mum. She’s taken his death badly. Preliminary reports suggest the shooter who demanded the money was the one who shot him.”
I doubted that, considering there’d been two trained assassins prowling around the room, but there was no point in pushing the issue. When he was ready to talk, I’d hear the entire story. The day he saved me from Malcolm, a new side of Xavier had appeared. His eyes had been hard and filled with murderous intent. I’d fallen in love with the fun-loving man who rode a Harley and shared stories with me in the dark. The man who stormed into that room because someone had hurt me, had made my stomach tighten and panties burn.
My husband was an avenging demon from hell who protected what belonged to him.
Jay stood waiting for us in the carpark, his dark gaze trained on our car.
“Problem?” Xavier queried.
“Nothing I can’t handle. Jason texted to say there were a lot of bags that needed carried up.” Jordan rolled his eyes before stubbing out his cigarette.
“This is a no smoking zone,” I pointed out in a pissy tone. He was playing with my friend’s emotions and my mothering instincts were leaking out.
His eyebrows hit his hairline and he shot Xavier a look that told him to sort me out.
“Fuck off, Jay,” I muttered. “You’re being a dick. The sign says no smoking and I’m pregnant. Zee will not be telling me off for pointing that out.”
I grabbed Megan’s hand and stomped toward the elevator.
“What the fuck, man?” I heard Jordan snap.
“He’ll go ballistic now,” Megan whispered, turning to stare at the angry man and chewing her lip.
“Maybe he should realise he can’t treat people like shit, Megan. You deserve to be loved and cared for.”
Her cheeks flushed and her head lowered, but she didn’t answer. Different elevators travelled to our apartments, so I gave her a tight hug and moved into mine. Xavier caught up with me before the doors closed.
“Playing with fire?” he asked, amusement lurking in the depths of his cobalt-blue eyes.
“Just pissed that he keeps treating Megan as if she doesn’t matter.” I bumped my hip against his. “If he tried to attack me, I have a husband who took a vow that covers my protection.”
His deep laugh washed over me. “Great, so now I have to get my ass kicked because you’ve decided to interfere.”
The elevator ping told me we’d arrived home. “I just want her to be happy.”
Xavier pressed my wrists to either side of my head. “He cares, but Jay has so many enemies that anyone he’s with will have an automatic target on them. He didn’t take her to Ash’s party so no one knew she existed.”
“He took her to the auction,” I replied in a low tone.
“Yeah, but he practically ignored her the entire night. You can’t fix other people’s relationships, Cas. They need to do that themselves.”
My bottom lip trembled and tears formed behind my eyes. Hormones were evil.
His strong hand cupped my face. “Don’t cry, baby. I just wanted you to know that he does care—probably too much.”
I melted when his lips found mine in a tender kiss. He’d been avoiding affection since our dare, so I absorbed every moment of it. Pressing a kiss to the end of my nose, he released me.
“Now I have to go and retrieve all your purchases from today. You better not start taking up my side of the closet,” he mock warned me before disappearing into the elevator again.
As soon as he vanished, operation seduction began. I left the huge bath to run, after pouring my favourite rose-scented bubble bath into it. My clothes were deliberately left on the bedroom floor, with my red lacy panties pointing the way to the bathroom. I took the time to pile my hair in a messy bun on top of my head before stepping in and submerging myself in bubbles.
A smile played on my lips when I heard the muffled curse in the bedroom. He loved to sit behind me in the bath, normally making me ride him when his hands wandered too much.
“Can you wash my back for me?” I called out before he had the chance to go and smoke on the balcony. He had an alarming collection of cigarette ends out there, and I knew he only smoked when he was stressed.
Xavier appeared around the bathroom door. “I thought I heard the shower this morning?”
He’d even avoided our joint showers. Normally he claimed that he was saving water as he pinned me to the wall and devoured me.
“You did, but I was sweaty after all the shopping.”
His gaze darkened as he swept it over me.
I reached over to grab the sponge, deliberately giving him an eyeful of my soap-covered breasts. His hand bunched at his side. I held it out innocently, adding in a confused blink for good measure,
“My feet are so swollen because of your dick,” I complained.
He arched an eyebrow. “My dick seems to be responsible for an awful lot these days.”
“He got me pregnant,” I pouted.
Xavier studied me for several seconds before hauling his T-shirt over his head. “You tend to get wet and soak me,” he explained, his words having a double meaning that made his lips twitch.
“I am soaking,” I agreed.
His jeans fell to the ground, and my eyes focused on that incredible length that kept tempting me. “Sit forward,” he commanded, slipping into the bath behind me. “You’re driving me insane.”
“Me?” I queried innocently. “I
just wanted my back scrubbed.”
“Hmmm.”
His hands felt divine and I arched up into his touch, craving him to go lower.
“I got a dress for the opening of your new club.”
His lips skimmed down my vertebrae. “Red?”
“Nope. I decided to try something different.” If he could use double entendres, then so could I.
His thumbs found my nipples and I bit my lip to stop the moan that wanted to emerge. I was tempted to admit defeat and beg him to take me because right now the area between my legs was on fire.
His erection rubbed the sensitive flesh of my ass and I wiggled until his body stiffened behind me. “You’re playing with fire,” he threatened.
“Only because the burn is so exquisite.”
His hands trailed down my stomach and widened my legs. His fingertip tentatively massaged that bunch of nerves that were silently chanting his name. “You only need to say the word,” he whispered in my ear.
My eyes flew open. The bastard knew I was close to breaking and he was deliberately pushing me. My hand snaked behind me to grip his hard cock. “You too, Zee. One word and I’ll crawl onto my knees and let you take my ass.”
He stiffened, one hand grasping my thigh. “If I thought for one moment that you meant that, I would gladly lose. You and I both know that isn’t happening.”
I grinned, biting my bottom lip. We’d gone from zero to sixty without any in between. This teasing showed a different part of Xavier that made me want him even more.
This bath was more like a hot tub that could seat six people. I floated and spun before straddling his lean hips. My forehead pressed to his and his hands landed on my hips. Our breaths mingled and lips hovered over one another.
“I have no intention of losing,” I muttered.
“Me either, baby. I always get my own way.” His lips crashed into mine and stole all the air from my lungs. His tongue slayed me, demanding entry to my mouth and controlling me. We were wrapped around each other so tightly that I felt his emotions washing over me.
“I missed you,” I admitted, speaking into his mouth.
Xavier moved his head back slightly to peer down at me. “I’ve been here every day.”
