The Benefactor

by Nana Malone

  When I placed the copied flash drive on the smooth polished oak, creases appeared on his forehead. “What’s this?”

  Now or never. “I made a copy of the drive before I returned it to you.”

  His eyes went wide. “Say again?” he growled out.

  Heat suffused my skin, and I cleared my throat, hoping it would also clear my discomfort. “I made a copy. Before I knew you or what you were about, I didn’t know if I could trust what you were telling me. So I made a copy and asked Telly to break into it.”

  His voice went eerily calm, all his Elite training being put to good use as he used the Queen’s English to dress me down… and not in a fun way. “So, while you were busy ripping me a new one yesterday for lying to you, for putting you in harm’s way, you might have put yourself in harm’s way? And worse, involving your friend?”

  The shame hit me hard. I’d dragged Telly into this mess. “I didn’t know what I was dealing with. All I knew was that you’d made me into a thief. And you wouldn’t explain anything to me, so I called in a favor. Obviously, in retrospect, I shouldn’t have done that, but I didn’t know if I could trust you.”

  He crossed his arms over his broad chest, and I could see his shoulders tense under his vest and shirt. “I didn’t make you a thief. I simply arranged it so I could get the information out, but you,” he pointed at me, “you made a copy. When? When you were bargaining for me to help you with your errands? When you were busy demanding I do things for you?”

  “I didn’t demand anything from you, just someone to stand there while I spread my mom’s ashes. I didn’t ask for an actual interaction from you.”

  He laughed as he shook his head. “God, you were so full of righteous indignation.”

  “I’m here to apologize, aren’t I?”

  He picked up the drive and twirled it between his fingers, showing his dexterity. “What did you do with this? Try to sell the information? Bet you soon realized it wasn’t worth much to you. Maybe someone you tried to double cross me with is the reason you’re in trouble.”

  “Wow, how quickly your concern has morphed. I’m not the reason all this happened. Let’s not forget, you still used me.”

  “And you used me.”

  “I didn’t use you. I just didn’t trust you.”

  “Right. You don’t trust anyone.”

  “Give me one good reason why I should? People have a tendency to disappoint or leave me.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me, pushing away from his desk and barreling over to get in my face. “I’m not your mother, and I’m sure as bloody hell not Dexter. You need to remember that.”

  His anger made me want to lash out. It made me want to say all the things I knew would be hurtful to him. Just because I was hurting, I wanted to make him pay. But I didn’t do it. I refused to set off that chain of events.

  “I’m not doing this. I’m not going to fight with you about this. We’re not going to argue. We’re just going to get on with it.”

  He laughed a low, rich chuckle then. “So you’re going to tell me how this is going to be from now on? I don’t take being told what to do well, darling.”

  I knew he wouldn’t. “I don’t think either of us expected this. I never expected to meet someone like you or to fall for you. I didn’t expect my life to be turned upside down or to have someone trying to kill me. But this is where we are. Me running away from the present isn’t going to fix it. There is no more normal, nowhere to go back to.” I cleared my throat. “That’s the only copy I made.”

  He was so close I could feel his heat licking at me. Tempting me. “Who else looked at it?”

  “Telly, obviously. She had a hard time with the encryption and asked a friend of hers to take a look at it.”

  “You realize there are trip wires all over the data, right?”

  He had a right to be mad. Telly was right. We’d both made mistakes. “I just want this over. I want to have a life when this is over, and I don’t want to spend it looking over my shoulder.”

  He worked his jaw. “And all I want is your safety.”

  I lifted my chin and met his gaze. “Are you sure about that?”

  His brows snapped down. “You think this is about anything more than that?”

  “I also think it’s about your friend, your vendetta. I don’t think this is just about me.”

  His ice-blue gaze searched mine. His features gave nothing away though. “Before Paris, yes, this was about Toby; that’s true. But now, now that they’ve come after you, this is absolutely about you. Those are my so-called brothers, and they killed my friend, came after the woman I—” He cut himself off, and my heart squeezed as it begged to know what he was going to say. “There’s no way I’ll stand back and accept that. I fight for what’s mine. I protect what’s mine.”

  “I’m not yours.” I wished I could have said that more forcefully.

  “Yes, you are. You’re just mad and don’t remember that. It’s okay.”

  “You look pretty mad yourself.”

  “Oh, I am. Furious doesn’t cut it. I have the distinct desire to turn your ass a startling shade of red.”

  “You’ll have to spank hard. I’m brown, remember?”

  His slow grin turned slightly evil. “Oh, I remember.”

  I wasn’t proud of the fact that my panties were soaked. That intense gleam in his eyes, the promise of what turning my ass pink was going to mean… It meant being naked across his lap, where his fingers might dip lower.

  I swallowed hard. No, I was not going to think about being naked with him because that’s what had gotten me into this mess in the first place. “How do we fix this situation, Ben?”

  “I’m working on a solution with Bridge, East, and Drew.”

  “You’ll have to forgive me, but I don’t trust them. I don’t know them. How do I know they’re going to be looking out for me?”

  “You’ll have to trust me.”

  “Right. Trust the man who hides so much.”

  “You kept things to yourself too.” He ground his teeth, and I could see the muscle of his jaw working.

  Which unfortunately also drew my attention to his lips. And I could remember his taste, spicy on my tongue. The way he kissed, first with a sip that made you want to quench your thirst in one gulp. The slow, drugging kisses designed to make a woman moan without much effort.

  Jesus, I needed to stop. I would not think about him kissing me, or him lifting up my skirt, bending me over the desk and spanking me. Nope, I was not going to think about that. “From now on, no more lies. I can’t take it. I need to know what you know.”

  He narrowed his gaze at me then. “Got any more copies of this that you’re hiding from me?”

  “Oh, nice. Real mature. That’s the only one. I’ve just given you my insurance policy; you have to give me yours.”

  “No more lies.”

  “Fine. And while we’re at it, can we get security for Telly and Carmen? Todd has heard me talk about them on the phone before. I don’t want them to be targets.”

  The muscle in his jaw ticked. “Fine.”

  I shifted on my feet. Do or die time. “Also, I’m not sure of the living arrangements. I don’t think I can go back to the loft.”

  “You’ll be staying with me at Covington House.”

  The way he said that, like a command, not a suggestion. That beautiful house with the pillars and the kitchen right out of Architecture Magazine. I hadn’t seen much of the space, but I would love to explore it. My brain slapped my pussy. Snap out of it, bitch. You’re not playing house. I cleared my throat. “I’ll accept because I have no choice. But so you know, if I had a choice, I’d be anywhere else but there.”

  He approached slowly, as if he had all the time in the world. His smooth gait was catlike as he approached. The moment I could feel his heat I tried to back away. I knew I was weak. I’d lean in and sniff given half a chance. Stay strong. Stay strong.

  “If it makes you feel better to say that, fine. But let
me be clear. You and I, we’re not done. The conversation about us is still to be continued.”

  I swallowed hard. Because that sounded so much like a warning. One my body didn’t want to heed. I said nothing as I turned to head to my office. I wasn’t going to let him see in my gaze that I wanted to stay.

  As I turned to get the hell out of Dodge, his voice was a whisper behind me. One soft word and it was enough to shatter my self-control and my heart. “Liv?”

  I turned slightly. “What?”

  “I know you heard me. You and I, we’re not done.”

  I swallowed hard but met his gaze with a defiant one. “Yes, we are.”

  6

  Livy

  I swallowed hard even as my pussy clenched at his words.

  “We’re not done.”

  My pussy knew we weren’t done. And he knew we weren’t done. My brain was the lone holdout. My brain knew what was good for me. The tension swirled around us as his heat enveloped me.

  “You thought it would be that easy?” he growled, the tone sending a shiver of need through me.

  “I’m leaving Ben. I have a long day ahead of me.”

  “A long day? Do you have any idea how long the night was without you next to me? And the waking hours were almost worse because I didn’t know if you’d deign to grace me with your presence again.”

  My instinct was to whirl around and give him a piece of my mind. But I figured that was exactly what he expected from me. No. I could do cold civility.

  He braced both his hands on the door on either side of my head, and I didn’t have to squeeze my thighs together to know that my panties were soaked.

  I bit back a whimper and clenched my thighs together as a tingle of awareness made me clench.

  No. No. No.

  He did not get to turn my life upside down, keep things from me, and then be mad that I’d kept something from him.

  Yes, he does. You said you wanted honest and simple.

  Okay fine, he did have a right to be pissed. But being pissed while making me want him against my will, that was low. With fury making me clench my jaw tight, I angled my head so my gaze could meet his. The prison of his muscles kept me from escape. I frantically fought the pull of need.

  A lock of hair had fallen over his forehead, and his brows were locked in the down and furious position. His lips slightly parted as if in anticipation, but it was his eyes, as always, that got me. Equal parts fury and desire, his gaze was a war zone of all the shoulds and shouldn’ts running through his mind.

  Ben leaned forward as he caged me between his body and the door. His chest rumbled with a groan just before he leaned closer and buried his face in the crook of my neck.

  With a shuddering sigh, I angled my neck to give him better access. What was it about his touch that made me so desperate for more? My skin was practically on fire. I’d only been gone a day, but it felt like he hadn’t touched me in a century.

  “Do you have any idea how much I have worried about you?” he rasped against my throat in between hot kisses to my bared skin. He began kissing his way up my jawline until he buried his hand in my hair and turned me toward him so he could cover my mouth with his.

  I didn’t fight it, just melted beneath him and allowed him to direct how I moved. My thighs opened of their own accord, and he moved right in between them like he belonged there. When he settled against me, everything inside of me woke up and flared to life. Nothing else mattered but this.

  I could fool myself that I’d come back to keep the drive from falling into the wrong hands or that I needed his protection, but there was no denying that a part of me had come back because I couldn’t stay away. Everything inside me wanted to be where Ben was. Always. I’d known it in Paris. There was no denying it anymore.

  “What are you doing?” I choked out when his hands went to the button on my wide-leg trousers. I’d worn them deliberately because they made my ass look fantastic. That’s right, I was a tease and I couldn’t find a fuck to give about that fact.

  I gasped again when he practically ripped the zipper off while tugging it down.

  So… This was happening.

  Pussy: 1

  Brain: 0

  “Reminding you.” Ben yanked off his vest and tugged at the buttons on his shirt before he ripped it off.

  “Of what?” I croaked out.

  I gasped as his hand slipped inside my trousers and between my legs, the heat of his fingers branding me as they lit me on fire.

  With the first glide of his fingers, I bit back a harsh moan. He knew what he was doing. I’d be damned if I’d give him the satisfaction of letting him know how desperate I was for his touch.

  But I was the one being played... like the most delicate of violins played by a master. The harsh groan that tore out from me felt inevitable as those talented fingers parted my slick folds and found my clit with startling accuracy. I ached for him to fill me. To remind me of his stupid nickname. When he dipped his fingers inside my velvet sheath, I automatically clamped around him, my aching flesh feeling too empty.

  “Of who you belong to. Who this belongs to.” Ben kissed me again, our tongues tangling wildly as we each fought to take control. There was something about Ben that made everything feminine and soft inside me wake up and melt under his hands.

  I couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but every single time we kissed, I turned into a puddle of hormones.

  Is that all this is? Are we pretending Paris didn’t happen?

  This time was no exception. Within seconds, I was whimpering and canting my hips, trying to get more of his deft fingers. Trying to rock against him, desperate for what I knew he could give me.

  Despite the internal warning blaring in my mind that this was not a good idea, I started pulling frantically at my own clothes, almost breaking a nail in my haste to get my trousers down my legs.

  With a bit-off curse, he reached behind me and flipped the lock then practically tore off his trousers and boxers. My throat went dry as he stood before me. The ridiculous eight-pack of abs. That V. The whipcord lean muscle on his body. That face, beautiful enough to make angels weep.

  And then there was the dick. Big.

  No. Screw that. Pun intended. It was huge. And it was erect and pointing at me in a very accusatory manner.

  As if to complain that I’d finally given him a taste and then walked away from him.

  Once we were both naked, he didn’t waste any time. He lifted me easily in a smooth move and we were plastered together chest to thigh. With nothing between us now I could feel everything. Every muscle, every twitch of his thigh. Every bob of his dick against my slick heat.

  I was already lost in him, my whole being focused on touching my lips to every inch of the smooth skin presented to me. I ran my hands through his hair, loving the feel of the thick strands gliding through my fingers.

  He hitched me even higher and bit my throat, which made me arch my back slightly.

  “So beautiful,” he whispered. “Don’t run away from me again. Need you.” He spoke so softly that I wasn’t sure if he’d intended me to hear that last part.

  “I need you. I need you.” I just kept repeating it over and over. But instead of making it better, the soft words seemed to make him more frantic. His hands clenched my hips tighter, and his lips sucked at my neck.

  “Why can’t I stop wanting you? Even when I know you lied to me, I still want you. Fuuuuck. It’s almost worse now than before.”

  My mind spun at his angry words. He wanted me despite everything I’d done. What about his secret keeping?

  Pussy: Please focus so we can get on with the many orgasms. Sincerely, Your Lady Parts.

  It was impossible to hold the train of thought while Ben was licking my neck and my core was rubbing against his stomach.

  His grip tightened on me. “I would never let anything hurt you, Liv.”

  For the first time in my life, words failed me. All I could do was clutch him tighter.

  He dropped
his forehead to mine. “We’re not done, Liv. Far from it.” He lifted me then and slid inside, so deep that my eyes rolled back in my head. My mouth opened on a silent scream from the sheer pleasure, and Ben paused, those ice-blue eyes I loved roaming my face to make sure I was okay.

  “Too rough?” he whispered.

  My nails tightened on his shoulders, and he hissed at the pain.

  I tightened my legs around his waist. “No. Please. Don’t you dare stop!”

  He grinned before he rocked his hips again, grinding deeper. We both moaned at the sensation, and Ben’s fingers tightened under my ass. I clutched him closer, my hands roaming over his muscular back and shoulders as I hung on for dear life. He must have liked that because he growled, a low, sexy sound that instantly made me wetter before he set a frantic pace that had my head banging against the wall.

  “Oh my God!”

  I panted, taking in short, sharp breaths as my desire raced out of control. He was so strong, and the fact that he was holding me while he fucked me against the wall was such a turn on. I purred as the thought of him controlling my body so easily made me think of the other ways he could take control. I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever like the idea of being restrained in any way, but every time he picked me up or held me still so he could do all these dirty, delicious things to me, it was impossible to pretend I didn’t want this.

  Ben was grunting in my ear along with every thrust, and his muscles went tight. “Fuuck, Livy.” I tightened my internal muscles around him, which felt so good that I moaned.

  When he shifted his stance, he hit that spot that I hadn’t even known existed until a few days ago, and suddenly I was coming, biting and scratching as I groaned against his shoulder.

  “Fuck! I can’t… Liv.” Ben squeezed me so tightly that I almost couldn’t breathe, and then he shuddered and groaned as he filled me with cum.

  Ben

  Well… That happened.

  PS, that also happened with no fucking rubber, you jackarse.