Stealing Allie

by H S Russell

  I stare at her image, at the way she’s transformed herself. She looks healthier, all lean and toned muscle and flesh. While Allie was beautiful before, she’s stunning now. Radiant.

  And, as my dick gets hard, she’s hot as fuck.

  “Bean!” I shout, bringing the telecon to a halt. “The jogger. The fucking jogger,” I tell him, laughing as I shake my head at how she’s played us.

  “The jogger? Yeah? What about her?” he asks. “She’s the one we’re fighting over.”

  Of course she is.

  I can’t believe this. I can’t fucking believe this. “You dipshit—Allie is the fucking jogger!”

  There’s a beat of silence, and then I hear curses and clicks as they all open the database.

  “Lucas, this is the one I told you about two months ago. The coincidence one. She’s the jogger you told me to ignore.”

  Dammit… “I know, Bean.” I’d done it again. I’d let my arrogance dictate my decision-making, and in doing so, had lost two months with her. But that doesn’t matter now.

  “Do you have more pictures?” Because I need more pictures. My cock needs more pictures, and right the fuck now.

  Looking at her picture, I note the differences she’s made. She’s lost weight, slimmed down while building muscle in all the right places. Her hair is different, the color gone from a regular brown to some kind of golden sunlight. Plus it’s longer, or appears to be in the ponytail she’s got it in. A ponytail I can’t wait to pull on from behind.

  I shake my head, looking at this new version of her. Did she do this on purpose? Did she change with the hopes that I wouldn’t recognize her? She could morph herself in a hundred different ways, and I’d know her every time.

  Hard as a rock, I have to put my hand on my fly. My cock is weeping for the lost two months when I could have been pounding my revenge into her instead of my hand.

  “Yeah, yeah, I got more pics, just let me find them. I didn’t put all of the pics in the database, but they should be in my email still.”

  A few seconds later, my machine pings and I pull up the other pictures. My cock gets even harder when I see more of her. She’s stunning. She was before, but now…

  There’s a full-body shot taken while she’s jogging. I can see the muscles in her legs flex as she runs, her back and shoulders keeping her upper body in perfect alignment. Her body is spectacular. The extra weight is gone, and all that’s left is toned muscle covered in that soft golden skin, skin that’s been touched by the sun. I love it.

  Her hair’s in a ponytail in the jogging pictures, but it’s down in others. It’s long and luscious, like a golden curtain raining down her back. I swear in some pictures that it’s radiating sunbeams. I want to burn my hands on those sunbeams, burn them as I bury my hands in her hair while I push her to her knees.

  I don’t fucking believe this. We’ve had her. All this fucking time, we’ve had her.

  ✤ ✤ ✤

  Nine months gone

  Lucas

  It’s time to go get Allie and my money, though sometimes I forget about the money part. It’s not like I don’t need it—I do. The guys need their cut as well. But even if she didn’t have the money, I’d still be going after her.

  I’ve taken care of everything at work so I won’t be needed for a while. The guys know I’m going to be gone for a while as I get my revenge…my restitution.

  She stole something from me, they know that, so they don’t question why I’m doing this. But what they don’t know is that she left me, and for that, I want answers. And I want revenge.

  I look at her pictures while waiting for her to come out of her apartment. We have close-up shots of her eyes, and they mesmerize me. She has a light glowing from within now, a life in them that I never saw before. At least not like this. The girl from the trailer and my house had eyes that were fearful and far less confident.

  This woman though…this woman is brimming with confidence. She won’t be ignored when she speaks. She refuses to get lost in the masses. She will take what’s due to her and be damned to the rest of us. She will never cower, never bend, never break.

  This woman is captivating.

  And smart. How smart of her to become someone none of us would recognize… And to think I may have never found her if the guys hadn’t been messing around, arguing about the binder full of Amys, as it’s now being called. If I hadn’t clicked on that tab…

  I can’t wait feel her newfound strength as she fights me. And I know she’ll fight me, not the woman that she’s become. But once I tame her, and tame her I will, she’ll be flexing those muscles to get closer to me, not away from me.

  The victory is so sweet. I finally have her in my sights, and soon, I’ll have her in my arms.

  José jumps into the rental van we’re using to stake out her place. He’s got a look on his face.

  “What is it?” I ask, steeling myself for whatever bad news he has.

  He doesn’t say anything, just studies me.

  “José, just fucking spit it out.”

  He clears his throat. “It appears your Allie has a boyfriend.”

  I reel back as if someone kicked me in the chest.

  “He might be spending the night tonight.”

  Anger isn’t always red. Sometimes it gets so hot it burns away every other color until all that’s left is a white, simmering rage. I look down at the floor, not seeing anything, while I run my hands through my hair. When I look back up at José, I’m shaking my head.

  “No, that’s not going to happen. It’s not him that’ll be spending the night with her.”

  Our eyes cut to the monitor as Allie appears on the screen as she leaves her building. She’s wearing a smoking-hot dress, a dress that makes my balls draw up and then flood with need.

  “Tonight?” José asks, rather needlessly.

  “Oh yeah. Tonight.”

  I watch Allie as she prances down the street in her high heels and pretty dress. She looks like she wants to get laid.

  Lucky for her, she’s going to.

  Chapter 26

  Nine months gone

  Allie

  Joshua and I walk hand in hand the few blocks from the restaurant to my apartment, not saying anything as thoughts of what’s about to happen play in each of our minds. I’m nervous about it all, not having been with anyone since Lucas.

  Thinking of Lucas drives a dagger through my heart. Or maybe not a dagger since time has softened the sharper edge of missing him.

  As we approach the stairs to my building, awareness makes my skin break out in goose bumps. The air around me is electrified. All of my senses become heightened. I look around me as I climb the steps, feeling…something.

  “Allie, are you okay?” Joshua asks, clearly picking up on my distress. “Is something wrong?” Joshua looks around as well before turning back to me. He is the very picture of chivalrous concern.

  “I’m sorry,” I tell him, deciding right then and there that I need to end our evening together now. Right now. “I’m not sure that I’m not feeling so good all the sudden.” I put a hand over my stomach, feigning an embarrassing ache.

  He looks disappointed but shakes it off like the gentleman he is. “If your stomach is upset, then we’ll take a rain check.” He smiles to take away any sting. “I understand, Allie. I want you feeling ready and certain. And healthy.” He grins, but I pay him little attention.

  I look around the sidewalks while he’s been talking to me, alarmed that I still feel like something’s about to happen. That I’m being watched…stalked.

  I put my hand over my stomach and grimace again, probably going too far if the wince on his face is any judge. “I think that would be for the best. I’m really sorry, Joshua. It’s not what I wanted for tonight.”

  “Hey, no worries. Do you need me to run to the drugstore and get you anything?”

  Guilt washes through me, making me feel like such a horrible person for lying to him like this.

  “I’m goo
d, I have stuff in the apartment I can take,” I lie, grimacing again, then finally pay attention to Joshua as he lopes down the stairs a little faster than he might have come up them just moments ago.

  He walks backward, talking to me. “Text me if you need anything, yeah?”

  I nod as I lean against the door, my hand on the knob. “Thanks, will do.”

  As I watch Joshua disappear into the darkness, I head into the door, listening to his footsteps receding the farther away he gets. And just before I step inside my apartment, I hear another set of footsteps coming closer.

  Goose bumps break out all over my body. I turn around fully, my back to the door again, and scan the sidewalks to the left and the right. My vision is limited by the darkness, but I can hear the footsteps getting closer. The steps match the beating of my heart, as if the two of them are one.

  Then, out of the darkness, a lone figure almost to the streetlamp by my steps. My gaze finds him, watching as he takes the last few feet forward out of the dark and into the light. He’s wearing a white button-down shirt tucked into dark slacks that hug his trim waist and legs. His suit jacket is slung over his shoulder, and his sleeves are rolled up, showing off the forearms I loved so much.

  He’s the epitome of masculine sexuality, and every sexy Tumblr gif I’ve ever seen.

  “Allie.”

  I take in a breath and hold it, seeing his face and hearing his voice a few yards from me. His voice. The voice I’ve heard over and over in my nightmares.

  And my fantasies.

  I close my eyes, wondering if I’m dreaming this, if I’m hallucinating somehow. Because this can’t be happening. He can’t be here.

  But he is.

  Lucas comes the last few yards to the bottom of the steps, never taking his eyes from me, and I swear my heart breaks as I look at him after all this time has gone by.

  “What are you doing here, Lucas?” I ask him, my shattered voice barely above a whisper.

  His eyes practically glow with anger. “I can’t believe you’d even ask me that, Allie.”

  I can barely breathe, let alone speak. Closing my eyes, I press my back into the door behind me, wishing I could fall through it and into another dimension.

  I hear Lucas climb the steps, and suddenly I can smell him and feel him touching me as he pushes into me. He grabs my chin and I’m forced to look at him, right into the eyes I’ve both dreamed about and feared for nine long months.

  “You took something from me, Allie. I want it back.”

  He’s triumphant as he grabs my waist, holding me tightly against him so I can feel his hard body against mine. God help me, I’ve missed the feel of him, the smell of him.

  “Did you really think I was going to let you get away from me?” he asks, disbelief edging every word out of his mouth. “That I was going to let you fuck me and then fuck me over, and get away with it?”

  I close my eyes so I don’t have to see his handsome, gloating face.

  “I’ve got you, Allie, and I’m taking you. Again.”

  The game is up, and I’ve lost.

  ✤ ✤ ✤

  “Where is it?” he asks me. “Where’s the money?”

  He’s calm now, calmer than I expected considering how angry he must be. He’s tied me to one of the kitchen chairs, as if he’s afraid I’ll find a way to sneak out with him right here. Like last time.

  My ankles are tied to each front leg, forcing my legs to spread slightly. My wrists are bound together behind me. Luckily there’s space in the chair back where I can put my hands without pushing out my chest in an obscene way.

  “I don’t have it anymore,” I lie. “It’s gone.”

  He sits a few yards away from me, giving me space I didn’t expect.

  “Don’t lie to me. That was three million dollars. Now where the fuck is it?”

  I bite my lips while I think of a response. “I got rid of the money a long time ago, Lucas. I gave it to different charities while I drove out here.” My eyes land on the two bags that were already here when he brought me inside. It unnerves me that he’d been in my apartment while I was out with Joshua. The invasion makes me feel even more helpless. And stupid.

  I should have left this city. I should have left months ago.

  His jaw ticks with tension and, I realize, no small amount of anger. “That’s bullshit. Quit lying and tell me the fucking truth.”

  He’s angry at me, far angrier than I ever expected. Far angrier than I ever saw him before. His eyes focus on me with an intensity that makes me hold my breath. I have to remember how he is underneath that suit. This civilized man is just a facade; there’s an animal underneath this shiny veneer, lying in wait. I must be careful. This is a Lucas I’m not sure I know. Any move I make could be the one that breaks his control.

  We stare at each other, neither of us backing down. His gaze singes me, making my body heat up in waves that settle heavily and pulse between my legs. He is still so incredibly handsome; I wonder yet again how someone so handsome can do these things that are so wrong.

  His eyes trace down my body, stripping me naked with his scrutiny. His lips begin to curve as he stops at my breasts before moving downward to the vee of my legs. My body is different from the last time he saw me. His appreciative look makes no secret that he likes what he sees.

  A quick glance at his lap assures me it’s not just his eyes that are happy either.

  He does another slow perusal going up, finally meeting my eyes again. “Pretty dress,” he says, his eyes almost glittering. He gets up from his chair then, coming toward me. It takes everything I have not to struggle against the ties; I will not let him see how afraid I am. Or how turned on I am.

  He stops with his zipper directly in front of my face. I refuse to look anywhere other than his eyes. I watch him smirk as he stands there, knowing how his position makes me feel dominated, helpless. He surprises me when he squats down, bringing our eyes level. I hope he can’t hear how hard my heart is beating.

  He begins to lean in until his lips are almost touching mine. “When a woman wears a dress like this,” he whispers, “a man knows she’s ready to be fucked.”

  My body pulses and jumps at his language. Not in shock or surprise, but in a blast of lust that spreads wet heat throughout my body. He does this to me. He’s always done this to me. My body, traitor that it is, recognizes the strong, healthy protector in front of me. It knows that he can mark me as his, he can mate me, he can provide for me, care for me. It wants him to do those things…all of those things.

  My body doesn’t care about his moral character. It doesn’t care if wanting him is right or wrong. Instead of being repelled by him, I feel myself swell and dampen, letting loose the pheromones that would draw him closer…so much closer. I fight the urge to keep my legs from spreading even wider. My thighs wants to draw him in between them, entice him into claiming my body until we’re both crying out in pleasure.

  “Have you fucked him yet?” he asks, his tone vicious and…hurt.

  I shake my head no, but his lips are right there. He kisses me, lightly at first, testing my reaction. I try not to breathe more of him in, but that means not breathing at all. He lifts his lips off mine for a second, looking at me, and the only way to catch my breath is to sip in breaths of air through my mouth. That’s when he takes his advantage, crashing his lips onto mine, moving his tongue into my mouth to twine with my own, claiming me utterly and irrevocably. I haven’t been kissed this hungrily in nine months.

  I don’t want to respond, but he won’t allow me passivity. One hand moves to the back of my head to hold me so he can press his mouth harder and deeper into mine. His other hand tightens on my knee before sliding up, up, up, up until his fingertips are at the top of my legs, squeezing my firm flesh.

  His hand on my thigh is too close to where I’m wet with hunger. If he discovers how much I want him, he’ll undo these ties and take me on the floor. I can’t let that happen, so I pull hard enough to break away from him.

/>   He lets me go but keeps us close, our lips only inches apart as we both pant, reaching for our control. One hand is still grasping my hair and controlling me, but the hand on my leg slides back down to my knee. I can’t help but close my eyes in relief at this momentary stay of execution.

  When my eyes stay closed, his hands cup my cheeks, making me open my eyes and look at him.

  I swear I can feel myself fall all over again.

  “You realize how vulnerable you are, Allie. Yes?” His eyebrows raise in question…concern.

  Angry Lucas may be hot, but gentle Lucas is devastating.

  I try to pull my head out of his hands, but he grips me tighter, his face and hands both tightening. A sob leaves my mouth as I plead with him. “Are you really doing this, Lucas?” I ask him. “If I don’t tell you what you want to hear, you’re going to hurt me? Assault me? Threaten me with rape? Haven’t we done all of this before? Wasn’t it enough then?”

  His body stills at my accusation but then continues as if I’d never spoken. One of his hands caresses my cheek with the back of his fingers, and then he drags those fingers down my arm. It is a delicious feeling, and it feels so good it makes my breath hitch. My body feels him, smells him, and it wants him. It equates danger with passion, fear with arousal.

  He continues his caress, trailing up and down my arm, my neck, my cheek. “Allie, I’m not going to hurt you. I could never hurt you,” he whispers while his fingers gently caress my skin. “But there is no doubt that I’m going to fuck you.”

  Before I can respond, he puts his hands on the back of my chair, leaning in to me with those eyes piercing me again. “But if you’re so desperate for me not to fuck you, then tell me where the money is.”

  I shake my head no, looking him dead in the eyes. “I don’t have it,” I repeat.

  He eyes lift back to mine, seducing me with his hot gaze. “Then we’ll have to find a way for you to pay me back. Which means I own you, Allie. I own every fucking inch of you until that money is paid back.” He stands up and backs away. “After tonight, I’ll let you know how much I think a ride between your legs is worth. That’ll give you an idea of how long I’ll be here.”