Secret Acquisitions

by Raleigh Davis

  And finally there is Dev. The mysterious one. He’s in jeans and a T-shirt, same as Mark and Finn, but somehow on him they look more like monk’s robes. Maybe because of the intense depth of his gaze. There are secrets in Dev’s eyes, secrets he’s not going to let anyone see.

  I wonder how many of those secrets the other Bastards know. I’ll never find out since Mark would never tell even if I asked. These men are brothers with a bond deeper than blood. I can sense it humming between them, tying them together.

  Dev is watching me, and I want to squirm even though they’re all glancing at me. But something about his gaze is unsettling and not in a good way, although he looks relaxed. It makes me want to grab Mark’s hand to remind Dev that I’m not the enemy.

  Anjie sets a coffee in front of him, and he suddenly crackles like a live wire, tension snapping off him. He’s not paying any attention to me anymore.

  “Here you go,” she chirps, only there’s an edge to it she didn’t have with anyone else. I can’t tell if they hate each other or are desperately in lust.

  Interesting.

  Anjie brings me a cup, and I do a double take. Any other company would have given out a heavy mug with their logo stamped on it, but this cup is of the thinnest china, the rim edged with gold and stylized blue hibiscus running down the bowl. There’s even a saucer, which is just as pretty as the cup.

  I take a sip and… Dear Lord.

  People often joke about the ten-dollar cups of coffee in San Francisco, but this coffee is worth ten dollars and then some. It’s the first cup I’ve ever had where I can taste the care that went into roasting the beans and brewing the coffee. I’d be tempted to sell my firstborn for this coffee.

  The rest of them are sipping from their cups as if it’s no big deal, as if they get coffee that wonderful every day. And they probably do.

  Finn’s cup looks ridiculous in his huge, battered hands, too dainty against his lumberjack beard. But Mark…

  I force myself not to sigh with delight. Mark drinks his with a rough grace that makes my bones melt. The cup is small in his hands, but not silly, and he holds it as if the beauty of it is his due. Nothing to boast or brag about, but simply his.

  Elliot sits up, although I never would have guessed his earlier posture was his version of slouching. He clears his throat and adjusts his papers. “Thank you,” he murmurs to Anjie when she sets a coffee cup in front of him. “Should we begin?”

  Everyone assumes a stony expression, even Mark. It’s business time then. I can see what he means about not letting our… relationship interfere with this deal. These men all mean the utmost seriousness.

  I arrange myself better, not letting my nerves show. This is even more important to me than it is to them. “Yes. I’m ready.”

  Elliot passes a thick stack of legal papers to me, the lines and lines of lawyer speak looking like marching ants. “As you can see, we’ll be assuming a thirty percent stake in Ultra shares for five million dollars.”

  Five million is small change for every man at this table, but my heart jumps at the number. That amount will keep Ultra going for a while.

  I have the time and money now to stop Fuchs. My throat starts to close as emotion overwhelms me, but I clench my teeth and force myself to keep breathing. Now’s not the time.

  Everyone’s waiting for me to respond, to do something beyond try not to cry. “Yes.” I inwardly roll my eyes. Great response, January. “That’s great news for Ultra. And for you since our encryption system will be second to none.”

  Mark catches my eye and smiles with one side of his mouth, small but devastating. That really makes me want to cry since the urge to tell him everything is burning in my chest. I have the money, but I still want him on my side. By my side.

  “That’s what we’re counting on,” he says. The light in his eyes says he truly believes it. “And in light of our relationship, Dev will handle matters relating to any sale of Ultra stock on our end or the decision to make an initial public offering.”

  Our relationship?

  Everyone stares steadily back at me. I swallow hard as I realize they all know we’re sleeping together. I guess they inferred a lot from those pictures of us at Alcatraz in TidBytes. And whatever Mark might have told them.

  Relationship. I mean, I used that word before, in the privacy of my own mind, but that, um, sounds more permanent than sleeping together.

  Is this his way of saying that we’re together-together?

  I knew from the very beginning I was way in over my head with this man, but now the waves are crashing, threatening to drown me. I’m not ready to swim for the shore yet though. Because I want to be together-together too.

  I think. If only I could trust Mark with all my secrets—

  “Ms. Harris?” Elliot prompts. “Is that agreeable to you?”

  They’re all staring back at me as if it’s totally normal for Mark to be doing a business deal with his lover. Except Finn has a grin that clearly says Yeah, get some!

  I bite my lip and drop my head to keep from laughing. “Yeah, that makes sense.” I clear my throat. “No, it’s exactly right.”

  I look at Dev, who’s as blank-faced as if we were talking about turnip varieties or something. But when Mark catches my eye, I can tell he’s trying not to laugh too. He sends me a wink that warms me from the inside out.

  “So where do I sign?” I ask Elliot.

  Chapter 14

  She’s all mine now.

  Rather, her company is, but with the way she’s looking at me as we step into my living room makes me believe that she is too. It’s like I planned this room specifically to be a frame for her. Like I was waiting for her all this time.

  Maybe I was.

  The papers are all signed, the champagne’s been drunk, and we’re coming back from an intimate dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Italian place a block from my house. It’s not my private club, but I can tell she’s charmed by my friendly relationship with the owners.

  January’s charmed by everything today, her attitude since the signing one of happy brightness. I can’t see any secrets in her eyes.

  So where have they gone? Or was it only concern about her funding, and now that she has it, she has me right where she wants me?

  I put those thoughts away and force my mood to lighten up. So what if she was more concerned with the funding—she’s here tonight.

  “Should I open another bottle of champagne?” I ask as I toss my jacket across the sofa.

  January opens her arms to the view of the bay, looking as if she’s about to take flight. “I’ve had more than enough. I have to work tomorrow and start earning back your investment.”

  I don’t bother to tell her that five million is nothing to us. “Not until tomorrow though. I have other plans for you tonight.”

  She giggles, and the sound rolls through me all the way to my heels. I can’t remember the last time someone actually giggled at me.

  “Should we be contacting Dev?” she asks. Her saucy grin makes my cock stir. “So that he knows we’re committing coitus?”

  One corner of my mouth curls up. “No. Dev is the last person I want to involve. And committing coitus?”

  If there was ever a way to kill a man’s erection stone dead, it’d be those words. But my desire for her is more powerful than that, an all-consuming thing that demands I have her now.

  She shifts and stretches, clearly feeling the champagne. She’s gone lanky, languid, and oh so sexy.

  “Now that it’s all official,” she says, “it feels so much more illicit. Doesn’t it?”

  It actually doesn’t. It feels more real, more solid, now that our relationship is in the open. The papers are all signed, the Bastards all know—this is the most real relationship I’ve had in years.

  I won’t let that realization shake me.

  “You wish no one knew about it?” I raise an eyebrow. “Not very ethical, Miss Harris.”

  “Sometimes secrets can be fun. Sexy.” A cloud passes over
her face, as if the secrets she’s thinking of aren’t those things at all.

  Damn. And here I thought that was behind her. In a way, I was hoping she was only worried about the money, because that was one thing I could definitely give her.

  Whatever else she’s hiding, the reasons she has for being so desperate for help, I can’t know. Anjie’s sleuthing never found anything, and my power in this world only goes so far. I get almost everything I want but can’t read her mind no matter how badly I want to.

  I want her to be happy, carefree again, so I distract her. “What sexy secrets do you have?”

  She shakes her head. “None. I’m sadly boring.”

  That’s a damn lie. She’s the most fascinating woman I’ve ever met. And she’s most definitely got secrets.

  Anjie got her report back to me today. There’s nothing new there—everything’s on the up-and-up with her previous companies, and the rumors about Fuchs offering for Ultra aren’t anything more than whispers. Although Fuchs has been buying up lots of encryption companies lately—probably to sell the tech to the CIA and NSA. He’d be an ideal buyer for Ultra if he was interested.

  January’s committed to selling her tech to some phone company and using it to protect ordinary people, but I’m not convinced they actually need it. The world’s most powerful encryption on pictures of your kids? It just doesn’t make sense. Once she sees the size of her cut, realizes the life it will give her, she’ll say yes. They always do. Idealists don’t last long here. Not the real ones.

  I want January to last though. I don’t want this place to chew her up and spit her out like it does to so many others. Hell, I want to be her own personal shield.

  Finally I stop lying to myself. I’m falling for her all over again. And I’m terrified all over again.

  Logan let someone in, thought they’d be in love forever, and then she broke him. I know January is here for funding, know that she’s got secrets, ones I can’t unearth even with all my contacts—I’d be a fool to fall in love with her.

  No. No, I’d be a fool to let her know I’m falling for her, that she has that power over me. We can continue on as we are—blazing hot sex, me showering her with gifts—but until she comes clean, until we sell her company and the money issue isn’t between us, I’m not going to be vulnerable. I learned my lesson in college with her.

  “What’s wrong?” Her eyes are tight with worry.

  I smooth out my expression. “Nothing. The usual work bullshit.”

  “Oh. What’s—” She shakes her head, catches herself. “Of course you can’t tell me. Your NDA is ironclad.”

  True. But there can’t be much of a line between work and our relationship, not with how obsessed we both are with our careers. I’m going to be there tomorrow in her office, working right alongside her, and will be until her encryption system sells.

  “It’s nothing for you to worry about. I don’t want you to worry about a thing when you’re with me.”

  The shadows under her eyes lighten, something like hope chasing them away. “I—”

  Her breath catches, and the moment suspends between us.

  She’s finally going to tell me.

  My heart catches too, reaching out to her. Trust me. Tell me.

  “I don’t worry when I’m with you.”

  Maybe she’s lying, but I want to believe her, so I do.

  “Good.” I seize her hand and pull her into me. Her curves are soft and her skin is silk, and she smells like my dream of a woman. “God, but you’re so fucking gorgeous.”

  She wraps her arms around my neck and presses her lips to mine, her tongue tracing the seam of my lips. Her desire is as hot and urgent as mine, which only fuels the fire in me. No matter how hot we burn together, it feels like it will never be enough.

  “I need you,” she says against my lips, into my throat, along my collarbone. I’ve never had a woman so hungry for me.

  “Come to bed with me.”

  She pulls away, her breath catching and her eyes wide. “Your bed?”

  I nod, then pull her in for another kiss. I can’t tell her that I’ve been dreaming about her in my bed. I don’t want her searching gaze on me, burrowing into mine. She sees too much, and I don’t want her seeing too much into this.

  Although it is a pretty big deal, inviting her to my bed. But I won’t let slip how big of a deal it is. That way it won’t mean anything to her, and my secrets will remain safe.

  I want her in my bed, and I get what I want. It’s that simple.

  I take her hand, lead her down the hall and up the stairs. “I haven’t given you the grand tour, have I?”

  Really, besides the living room, office, and my bedroom, there’s not much else to the house. Some guest bedrooms, a gym, and a rooftop deck with a view as amazing as the one in the living room.

  I’ll have to arrange a private dinner for us on that deck one of these nights. Or maybe some morning. Yes, that’s what I’ll do, have a chef come in and make a mind-blowing brunch for us. Dinner’s too predictable. Brunch will surprise her.

  “No,” she says. “Is that what we’re doing now?”

  I push open my bedroom door and shake my head. “Not tonight. I have other plans.”

  The shimmer that goes through her makes my cock hard as steel. So beautiful, so sexy, so responsive. And so damn smart. If I were looking for the perfect woman, she might be it.

  If.

  Her hand goes to the zipper of her dress. “Plans? That sounds interesting.”

  There’s the slightest of snicks, a few teeth of the zipper releasing. But she holds it to only a few, teasing me.

  I take a spot in the armchair in the corner, flicking on the table lamp as I do. The light is soft, caressing, a perfect frame for her.

  “Interesting is one way to put it.” I gesture to her dress. “I think you forgot to finish something.”

  Her chin lifts. She’s thinking about defying me.

  Oh, sweet January, if that’s the game you want to play…

  Then her chin drops, all coy submission, and the back of her dress opens like a flower. She shimmies out of it.

  I take a short, sharp breath, embarrassingly close to a gasp. But damn it, I can’t help it, because she’s a fucking vision. The black lace cups of her bra hold her breasts high and tight, and I can glimpse the dark curls between her legs behind the lace of her panties.

  I run a hand down my cock, spread my legs. Fuck, that feels good.

  “So this is where the magic happens.” January is looking around the room, her gaze coming back to the bed again and again.

  It’s an impressive bed. The frame is solid oak, waxed to a high sheen, and the mattress is raised high enough to be a throne. The sheets are like sleeping on an angel’s robe.

  She can’t look away, her tongue coming out to wet her lips. She’s imagining so many things on that bed, her and me and sweat and needs, I can tell.

  Lucky for her, I can make all those fantasies real. Lucky for me too.

  “Get on the bed,” I say.

  She raises an eyebrow but does it, her long limbs making me picture them wrapped around me. Soon enough, we’ll get to that. January perches on the edge, then leans back, her breasts high and her legs a straight line to her pussy.

  “You’re going to stay all the way over there?” she asks.

  “Mmm.” I shift my legs, making more room for my growing erection. “Touch yourself.”

  She lifts one hand, sets it lightly on her collarbone. I can see her pulse thrumming at the base of her throat.

  “Is that where you want to be touched?” I ask, my voice rough.

  “I want to be touched all over.”

  “Show me.”

  She runs both hands over her torso, down her arms, and then cups her breasts, squeezing hard and biting her lip. Her nipples jut out through the fabric.

  I palm my cock as I take her in. She’s a work of art, an erotic muse made flesh. I want to grab her and never let go. But her touching h
erself is too damn hot to stop now.

  When her fingers find her nipples and pull, I groan like I’m dying. “Jesus.”

  One corner of her mouth tips up. She knows what she does to me.

  “Again,” I say.

  She does, and it’s even more potent this time, her fingers sure and certain as she teases herself. I’m sure and certain I could come just from watching her. Already my cock is pulling toward the waistband of my pants, demanding to be released. I can feel the wetness at the tip.

  “You like that.” It’s not a question or a tease from her. More like she’s as lost in this as I am.

  I stroke myself. “I do. And so do you.”

  She releases her nipples and lets her hand trail down her belly, the skin there as soft as my sheets. “I really want to be touched here though.”

  When her legs spread and her fingers rub over the crotch of her panties, I can see the dampness spreading through the fabric and along her thighs. Her skin gleams with it.

  The urge to go to her, to bury my face between her legs, is almost unstoppable. But I hold back. I want her out of her mind, and losing my own control isn’t the way to do that.

  “How wet are you?” I ask. I can see for myself, but I want to hear her say it.

  “Soaked.” Her fingers dip under the edge of her panties. “And my clit is swollen. It almost hurts to touch.”

  But she continues to stroke it, and I can just see how slick and throbbing it must be. As slick as my cock is, still trapped in my pants.

  “Take the panties off. Take all of it off.” It feels like I’m speaking through gravel, my voice as low and rough as the things I want to do to her.

  January doesn’t bother to be coy as she unhooks her bra and kicks off her panties. My heart races into overdrive. I squeeze my cock through my pants, trying to take the edge off. But there’s no relief there, not when January is sitting back on the bed again, her feet on the floor, her knees open just enough for me to glimpse her sweet pink folds.