When they come on the phone, I swipe away all my annoyance, and I calmly up the offer. It’s a little more money than I want to spend. But I won’t lose them. Not to anyone.
“We want them. Let’s make it happen.”
Five minutes later, they say yes.
Ivy grins at me like I’m magic.
I don’t feel like magic. I feel like fire. And fury.
I say goodbye to my sister, telling her I have something to take care of at The Invitation. And I go across the street to pay a visit to my rival.
24
Sage
I am fuming. Red billows from my eyes. Anger floods my veins.
This is war.
I won’t lose. I march through his casino, cursing the slot machines, flipping the virtual bird to the poker tables, and seething at the sleek, elegant, absolutely magnificent design of this place. It’s silver and mirrors, chrome and elegance, black and white. It exudes sophistication, and I detest every square foot of it right now.
I imagine myself as a Marvel superhero, spraying fireballs at the floor from my palms while wearing a black leather suit and stilettos. Unleashing my rage.
Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but their flattery feels more like theft. Like plagiarism.
I make my way to the stairwell leading up to the executive suites, stalking down the hall.
When I reach the CEO’s offices, I rap hard, then open the door. A receptionist with a sleek black bob raises her chin, gives me a professional smile, and says, “May I help you, Ms. Carmichael?”
She knows me. She should know me. And because I am known in this town, and because I have a reputation that matters, I practice what I’ve spent my whole life learning—how to be a woman of grace even when the world around you goes up in flames.
Even as I go up in flames.
I tamp down my anger. I set it aside, since there is no place for it in front of her. “I’m here to see Cole Donovan,” I say in as even and professional a tone as I can.
“He’s in a meeting right now. But I can let him know you’re here.”
“Daniel, then,” I say with a huff. Then I breathe, correcting myself. I will not huff. I will not puff. “Please. I would love to see him, please.”
Another smile comes my way. “Actually, they’re in the meeting together. They should be available shortly. I don’t believe they’re expecting you, but I’m sure they’ll be delighted to see you.”
A voice drifts down the hall, growly, sexy. “‘Delighted’ is precisely the right word.”
My neck turns hot. My chest tingles.
Against my damn wishes. I didn’t come here to be aroused, dammit. I turn in the direction of Cole’s deep, raspy voice, as he says, “Please join us, Ms. Carmichael.”
I fight the desire by whirling toward the dark-haired receptionist and focusing on her. “Thank you so much. By the way, your hair is stunning. Truly striking.”
She pats it, pleased, clearly. “Thank you, Ms. Carmichael.”
I stride to where Cole holds open a door.
Daniel is at the edge of the office suite, standing by a sliding glass door that leads out to a balcony overlooking the city five floors below. The two men wear suits, but in that delicious state of afternoon undress that powerful men often find themselves in—jackets off, sleeves rolled up. Daniel’s, I surmise, is the one slung over the back of a chair on the balcony. Cole’s is off too, tossed on a couch. His blue silk tie is slightly unknotted, while Daniel’s purple one is still tight around his neck. The Englishman’s eyes twinkle devilishly, flickering with I know what you did last night.
My eyes swing back to Cole. His eyes twinkle with mischief too as they roam my frame. “What a pleasure to see you.”
I stalk in, my teeth clenched, my jaw ticking. “Is it? A pleasure to see me?” I ask, crossing my arms.
“Always, Sage. Always,” Cole says, shutting the door with a resounding click.
Daniel gestures to the balcony. “We were just about to have a five o’clock drink. Why don’t you take part?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think I want to.”
Cole walks closer to me, setting a hand on my arm. I shirk away. “Sweetheart, join us.”
I tense. Back away. “Do you know why I’m here?”
Cole, to his credit, says, “I can guess.”
From his vantage point by the balcony, Daniel raises a brow, a little coy. “We do?”
I point a finger at him. “Don’t play me.”
“Sage,” Cole implores me.
I swivel back to him. “Don’t play me for a fool.”
“You are not a fool. So how could I ever play you for one?”
I march over to Daniel, close enough that I can inhale him, close enough that his heady scent drifts into my nose, pine and soap and so sexy that my nipples stand at attention. I do my best to keep my cool as I speak in a low voice. “This is a game to you, isn’t it? You’re a games man. I can tell.”
He lifts his chin, a smirk across his far-too-handsome face as he steps all the way out onto the balcony, walks over to the railing, surveys the city briefly, then parks himself in a chair. He takes his sweet time. “No, it’s not a game. It’s simply the way it goes. There are rock stars at nearly every hotel on the Strip, Sage,” he says, sweeping his arm out grandly to my city.
My city.
Goddamn him for being logical. Goddamn him for being right.
I want to be righteously angry.
And my latent rage simmers in me, but so does desire. It’s burning higher, hotter, the closer I am to these two. I’m embarrassingly turned on.
I press my thumb and forefinger against the bridge of my nose.
What is wrong with me?
Why is my skin so hot?
Why do I like this?
Why is my body betraying me?
I drop my hand and look at Daniel.
“Nobody played you, Sage,” he says, his tone softer now, conciliatory. “I thought this was best for all of us.”
I knit my brow in question.
Cole strides out, joining us on the balcony, moving in behind me and dusting a kiss across the back of my neck that makes me shiver. I hate it and I love it at the same time. “I’ll admit it. When I left your office after we fucked by the window, I was driven mad with wanting you. With knowing I couldn’t have you again. And when I saw your hotel had landed a show with Stone, I wanted someone too. I couldn’t have you the way I craved, so I zeroed in on business. I set my sights on a business goal, even though I wanted to have you again and again,” he says, and I heat up. Fire licks my body, and a needy, desperate pulse beats under my skin.
“So you stole my idea,” I bite out.
“Sage,” he says.
He doesn’t need to say more.
I know what he’s not saying. It’s not an original idea. The city is lined with rock stars.
Still.
“I wanted you, and I wanted a show. I want to have you, and I want this hotel to be the best. Both are true,” he says gently.
I hate that he’s gentle. I love that he’s gentle.
“And yet it feels personal,” I say, since I’m not ready to give in.
Daniel crosses one leg over the other. “We’ve all vaulted over the personal line, haven’t we? Everything between the three of us is personal. Is it not?”
I exhale sharply, taking that in, finding some truth in it. “Perhaps,” I say, barely giving an inch, but maybe giving a millimeter.
“And so, here we are. The personal and the business are played together, like a violin and a piano sonata. In this case, you wanted Cole and you had a rock star. Cole wanted to have you again and also to have a rock star. What happened then in this situation? I booked her. I secured the rock star for us.” He taps his chest, emphasizing his role in this situation. “And it’s for the best for everyone, for every reason. You have Stone. We have Jane. You have poker. We have poker. You have rooms. We have rooms.”
I
snap my gaze to the man with the smooth accent. “Don’t patronize me. That is the problem.” I swivel around to look at Cole, who’s inches from me, his brown eyes blazing with lust. “We want the same things.”
Cole slides a hand down my arm, and I should step away. But I don’t. Not as his hands trail along my skin, making me shiver. Not as he laces his fingers between mine in a delicious, erotic slide. “We do want the same things,” he says, all low and smoky.
I hate that I want him so much. I love that I want him so much.
But he’s not the only one I want.
That’s part of the problem.
I am here wanting so much. Craving so much. More than I ever expected to. And I don’t know how to reconcile all these desires twisting and coiling inside me, winding around my organs, taking over my mind.
Daniel, from his spot in the chair, stretches out an arm and wraps his hand around my calf. Maybe he knows how to reconcile these parts of me. “We do want the same things,” he says, as a ribbon of heat unfurls in my body. “But we didn’t take anything from you, love.”
Cole dips his face against my neck, whispering along my skin, “Just let us give you what you want.”
“We want it too,” Daniel murmurs, his hands tracing dizzying lines up my leg as Cole’s lips trace my neck.
I close my eyes, feeling wobbly, like I’m going to fall. When I open them, I swing my gaze toward the vast expanse of the city, staring across the Strip at my very own luxury hotel towering gorgeously over there. It’s flanked by so many others. By the Wynn, by The Venetian. By MGM down the way. By Paris. And here on this side is the Bellagio, Caesars, The Cosmopolitan, and The Invitation.
They didn’t take anything from me. I don’t need Jane. I have Stone.
And they might have won The Exquisite Show, but I landed Max and Alex.
So why am I here, then? To confront them? Or am I here because of what Cole promised in his text messages earlier today? When he swore he’d put me on all fours in his office?
“Besides,” Daniel continues, as they both touch me, “it’s good for all of us to have a little healthy competition. It’s good for the two of you.”
He takes a beat to stroke a tantalizing line up my leg, and in that pause, I am reminded of last night, of what he said. You’d be good for Cole. This man is masterful. He’s been moving the chess pieces of Cole and him and me around the board.
But I’m not voiceless. I’m not without agency.
“Why? Why is it good for the two of us, Daniel?” I ask, my tone gentler now as Cole’s hands glide down my arms.
“Because you two love competition. You wouldn’t be where you are if you didn’t. Competition is what this city is built on. It’s what makes all of our businesses thrive. You have plenty, Sage.” He leans forward to press a soft kiss to my leg, then settles back in the chair, his hands working their way up my thighs. “I could certainly say you made it harder for us to open up. In less than two years, you’ve turned that property across the way into the it hotel, the feel-good hotel. You do all of these incredible things with it, and then you got Stone with his fantastic show. I could turn this all around and say you were trying to squash us before we even came to town.”
I swallow, knowing he’s right. Knowing that he could indeed say all of those things. This is just the name of the game. This is who we are, these men and I. We run billions of dollars in business. We walk tightropes every day. We fly on the trapeze of our own ambitions, our own riches, and we take wild, daring chances with dollars, with property, with cities.
And maybe sometimes, every now and then, with hearts.
That’s why I’m here.
I’m not here for Cole’s wicked promise to put me on all fours.
I didn’t show up just for sex.
I marched over because this news cut deeper. It hurt because of last night in the limo with Cole, the things we shared, the things we said. Because of the way we talked before dinner too.
And because of this morning.
Our messages.
Our connection.
It’s only days old, but feels soul deep.
Our intimacy is more than physical, and he knows it.
And I feel blindsided, though rationally I have no right to be.
But tell that to my heart.
My heart that can’t bear to speak the full truth to Cole. Not now. Not as I’m discovering it.
Not as I’m understanding what I want, what I need. So I speak their language—dealmaking, reconciliation, compromise—since it’s mine too.
“It’s true that our business and personal lives are entwined. It’s true, too, that we all have something for our hotels,” I say diplomatically.
“We do indeed. Also, I believe you won Max and Alex,” Cole says, weighing in. “We got the call that you landed the contract with them. You have something. We have something.”
He breathes these words against the back of my neck, and goosebumps rise in the wake of his hot breath. A flush spreads down my spine from his closeness. Heat pools between my legs from Daniel’s hands on my knees, sliding up my legs.
“You got The Exquisite Show,” I say, but my voice is so breathy. It’s so transparent. I sound like a woman on the edge of desire.
A woman about to beg, borrow, and steal. To have these men.
Daniel’s hands slide up my thighs. Cole’s run down my arms. “You have Stone,” Cole whispers in my ear, like a seduction.
“And you have Jane here,” I say as I stretch my neck to the side, letting him rain kisses down on my skin. “And you have the Renegades football team staying here,” I murmur.
Daniel’s fingers glide higher, perilously close to my center. “And you have the local team’s business. I’d say we’re all good.”
I lift my face, caught in this sensual haze, trapped in the cage of my own desire. I look back at Cole. I turn my gaze to Daniel.
“No,” I say, my voice firm as I take back the control, as I wrest it with my words, and now with my deeds. “We will be all good after this.”
Here on the balcony, I grab Daniel’s jacket, toss it to the ground, sink to my knees, and unzip his pants.
As I take out his cock, Cole breathes a feral yes.
25
Daniel
I don’t object to a five o’clock blow job.
Not at all. Not from this beauty, down on her knees.
Lush red lips encircle the head of my cock.
“That’s right, love. That’s what you came for, isn’t it?” I rope a hand through her blonde locks so I can see the side of her face. She looks up at me, her eyes blazing. “I’m sure that’s why you’re here. I heard you like to have your throat fucked.”
She shakes, her whole body trembling, her hips rocking as she draws me deep into her mouth, wrapping those gorgeous red lips tighter around my dick.
My friend heads to the table with the liquor, lifts the decanter, and pours a glass of scotch. “She loves it deep. She can take you all the way in,” he says, exceedingly casual, like he’s making a simple observation.
One that drives her wild in its offhandedness, judging from the way she exhales sharply, her eyes glimmering with fresh flames.
“Good. I like to be sucked hard and deep,” I groan, thrusting my hips into Sage’s lush mouth as she shows me how well she can take it, as she seems to savor the praise from Cole, and the attention from me. I push her hair to the side so I can watch her cheeks hollow out. I growl at the gorgeous sight between my legs, lust rattling through my body as she sucks harder, deeper. “Love that. Love how you show us how much you like it. Love how hard you can suck my cock.”
I drag a finger across her top lip. Cole knocks back some scotch as he watches her, like he can’t look away. As I curl my fingers tighter around her skull, I glance over at him, then say, “Do you think this is why she came here?”
He swallows his drink, then moves closer to Sage, running his hand along her hair so he can whisper in her ear, “Didn’t I t
ell you what would happen if you came to my office? That I’d put you on your hands and knees?”
She nods and takes me deeper, her eyes falling shut, a hum coming from her lips.
Pleasure barrels down my spine from her reaction. From how she’s losing control. From how she’s spiraling into a filthy kind of bliss on her knees as she takes me deep. Then Cole asks me, “How do you want to fuck her?”
I laugh. “Cole, it’s always lady’s choice. You know that, don’t you? And right now, the lady is choosing my cock,” I say, stroking my fingers across her cheek as my dick fills her. “You want to taste my come, don’t you, love?”
She nods, a ragged groan ripping from her even as she takes me to the back of her throat. One hand of hers grips the base of my cock, and the other slides between her legs. “But I’m not quite there yet, Sage. Maybe you need a little help while you keep sucking me off?”
Cole lifts a brow in question as he takes another drink of scotch, then sets the glass down on the table. He moves behind her, kneels down, and brings a hand between her legs.
She gags against me, maybe from the pleasure, maybe from the way I’m fucking her throat. But she doesn’t stop sucking as he hikes up her skirt, pulls her knickers to the side, letting me see her wet pussy as I fuck her lips. He yanks the fabric of her skirt all the way up to her hips, and my God, she is a stunning sight. So wet, so pretty. So fucking aroused. My cock throbs, my body tightening with pleasure. He drags his fingers between her flesh, pushes them inside her. She lets out an epic moan against my shaft, one so strong it makes me feel like I’m vibrating inside her mouth.
And that’s a good fucking feeling.
“That’s right, love,” I murmur. “I knew that would make the difference for me—you getting pleasured too. Turns me on to see you like that, all hot and aroused. Makes me want to shoot into your mouth.”
She cries out against my shaft, but keeps going.
“Makes me want to give you all my come,” I groan.
And as he fingers her, I close my eyes and let my release take over, let it barrel down my spine, let my balls tighten as it spreads throughout my entire body. I shoot into her mouth, my come filling her throat. My vision blurs; my body floods with endorphins. She moans against my cock, and when I pull out, I set a hand on her chin, lifting her face. She’s panting, licking her lips, and she’s still fucking high from his fingers. “How do you want him, Sage?” I ask.
One Exquisite Touch: Book One in The Extravagant Series Page 16
