Wilde Ink (Wilde Brothers Book 3)

by Susan Hayes

  “I love you too.” She finally managed to whisper the words when he lifted his head to catch his breath. He grinned and she rose on her toes to kiss him again. He groaned as she rubbed herself up against him, his cock springing to life in an instant.

  “Uh, guys? Parents in the room, also siblings who do not need that in-depth a glimpse into your love life,” Jared said, reminding Nick they were not alone. He broke their kiss to glance up and found they were the center of a great deal of attention.

  “Yeah, and I’m going to need a raise to pay for the therapy, boss man.” Janie chimed in from her workstation, where she was grinning like a lunatic.

  “No raises, and please, Jared, I walked in on you and the babysitter when I was eleven, you have nothing to bitch about.”

  Meg squawked. “The babysitter? Which one? I’ll kill her.”

  “Oh God, now you’ve done it. I’m out of here.” Jared groaned and started backing up toward the door.

  “I’ll drive,” Dave offered, and within seconds everyone was leaving, waving and laughing as they filed out, Meg still demanding details from a fast retreating Jared.

  “Janie, do you have a handle on things here?” Lia asked.

  “All taken care of. You two get out of here and I’ll see you when you get back. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

  “Get back from where? Did I miss something?” Nick asked.

  “We’re going away,” Lia announced.

  “When?”

  “Right now. You’re already packed, your stuff is in the car.”

  “How? Why?”

  “You’re really cute when you’re confused. I called in some favors. I’m taking a few days off, your brothers packed for you, and Janie’s covering the shop. My parents are going to take care of Mister Darcy, and you are coming with me to Las Vegas.”

  “Anyone ever tell you that you’re really sexy when you get all bossy?” he asked before kissing her again.

  “Only you. Did I mention our flight leaves in two hours? We need to get going.”

  He threaded his fingers through hers and grinned. “Then let’s get out of here. You can explain to me how this all came to be on the way to the airport. And Cin? I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the dancing thing.”

  She tugged him out the door, nearly bouncing with eagerness to get going. “You’re going to make it up to me when we get to Vegas. There’s a few things I need to tell you about, too, then we’ll both be done with our confessions. Clean slates all around.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  She grinned at him. “You know what sounds good to me?”

  “What?”

  “When you tell me you love me.”

  He looked at the beauty smiling up at him and knew without a doubt that she was it for him. The woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. “I love you very much.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Lia was bubbling over with happiness. She couldn’t stop smiling, and every time she looked over at Nick he seemed to be having the same reaction, because he grinned right back at her. They’d bounced through airport security and flirted and cuddled waiting for their turn to board. They spent the flight talking about nothing and everything, planning out what they’d try and see during their three day hiatus from winter and the real world.

  It wasn’t until they reached the hotel room that her mood dimmed. As much as she wanted to enjoy herself, there were a few things Lia needed to tell Nick, starting with the truth about where she was the night her brother died. It was a secret she hadn’t told anyone. She didn’t even like to let herself remember it, preferring to keep the memories of that night locked safely away. Lia knew she couldn’t do that anymore. It was time to change the way she lived her life, and who she was living it for.

  They explored the room together, especially the luxurious bathroom with its massive shower and marble tiling. Outside the window, the lights of Las Vegas sparkled in a never-ending display, while inside everything was plush and soft and designed for decadence. She was still unpacking when Nick came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her back into his arms. “Earth to Lia, come in, sexy goddess of mine.”

  “I’m here.”

  “Nope, you weren’t. You were lost inside your own head, overthinking something again. You had scrunchie-face going on, I saw it. So talk to me and tell me what’s going on. You said you had some confessions of your own to make, right? The sooner you tell me, the sooner we can put this all behind us and get on with enjoying our trip.”

  “It’s not that big a deal, really.”

  “Liar. If it wasn’t a big deal, you wouldn’t be stalling.”

  “You mean like you kept putting off telling me you stripped your way through college under the name, Nick Raven? I Googled you, by the way.”

  Nick winced a little at that bit of news. “I really am sorry about that. You still haven’t told me how you found out.”

  “Everything I have to tell you is all tied together.” She turned in his arms until she could brush a kiss to his jaw.

  “So tell me already.” Nick kept her in his arms as he led her back to the king-sized bed that dominated their room. Once he was seated on the edge, he pulled her down into his lap, and she settled into his arms. Having him hold her made this all feel easier to say.

  “The night Alex got shot… I wasn’t out with my friends. I’ve been telling that lie for so long, it feels like it’s the truth, but it isn’t.”

  “So, where were you?”

  “I was out with Jesse, the guy I was seeing. Dad had forbidden me to go out with him, called him a bad seed, but I thought he was perfect. He smoked and skipped classes and rode a beat-up old motorcycle.”

  “So, this thing about bad boys started early for you?” Nick asked, nuzzling her hair.

  “Apparently. Anyway, I was out with him, and we…I…that was the night I gave him my virginity. It should have been special, but it wasn’t. Neither of us knew what we were doing, and when it was over he didn’t seem to know what to say, so he just dropped me off a few blocks from home like he usually did. I was confused and feeling guilty, and when I rounded the last corner I walked into a nightmare.”

  “He just left you on the street to walk home alone? What the hell kind of asshole does that?”

  “The jerky kind. I tried to call him the next day to tell him about Alex, but he didn’t want to talk to me. He dumped me by text the day after the funeral.”

  Nick growled and held her tighter. “You deserved better.”

  “Yes I did. I deserved someone like you, but I didn’t understand that back then. The day we buried my brother, I made some promises. I swore I’d be everything that Alex was, and do my best to make up for the fact he died because I didn’t show up for work. No more bad boys or bad decisions. I was going to be the perfect child, someone my parents could be proud of. I also swore that someday the ones who killed him would be punished. I didn’t know how, but I was determined. That’s why I became a cop. And those promises are the real reason I ran out on you that first night. You were everything I wanted and nothing that I was supposed to have.”

  Nick hugged her so tightly she could barely breathe, but she didn’t protest. How could she, when having him hold her felt so good?

  “You are perfect, just the way you are. And I promise I will spend the rest of my life proving that to you, if you’ll let me. What you did today, bringing my family together like that…no one has ever done so much for me. I thought I’d lost you, and then there you were, showing me what I hadn’t been able to see. My dad hasn’t hugged me in years, but he did today. He told me he was proud of me, and that was something I never expected to hear. You did all that for me. Whatever you need from me, you’ve got it. You just have to ask.”

  “As it turns out, you already helped me get what I needed. When we went to Leo’s last night, one of the guys on my shift realized he’d seen me before. He just didn’t recognize the buttoned up, all business,
version of me. He didn’t put it together until he saw me last night. Once he figured it out, he told me something I would never have otherwise learned. The guy who shot my brother was killed in a car accident less than a week later. His name isn’t in the file, because they never got a chance to make a case before he died.”

  “So the promise you made to your brother is done?”

  “All done. After I called your family, I called mine too. The three of us had a long talk and a few tears this afternoon. They didn’t know about my promises to Alex either, though my mom always suspected. I should have known, nothing gets by that woman. They want to meet you as soon as we’re back in town. When I left, mom was already planning the menu.”

  “I’m glad you got the answers you needed. Gladder still to know that you can put those promises behind you now. I’m happy to meet your parents and tell them what an incredible, hot, sexy woman they’ve raised.”

  “Better not use the words hot or sexy if you don’t want my Dad to lose his mind.”

  “I make no promises. You still haven’t told me how you ended up finding out about the stripping thing.”

  “Oh, God. It was Bill and a few guys from my shift. Your previous career wasn’t much of a secret apparently, at least not to those who spend all their spare time at Leo’s. I walked into work yesterday to find my desk plastered in pictures of you, half-naked, while Bill offered me a lap dance.”

  “I hope you said no. No one gives you a lap dance except me.”

  “Bill Nayer is fifty-three years old, balding and has two ex-wives. I am hoping I can do better.”

  “Damn right you can. I mean, you have. Me.”

  She laughed and lifted her head to brush a teasing kiss across his mouth. “Does this mean you’ll dance for me sometime?”

  Nick’s grin turned wicked, and Lia’s body came to life in an instant as heat flashed through her. Her nipples went hard and her pussy clenched in response to the desire she saw blazing in her lover’s eyes. “That depends. Did you like what you saw in those pictures?”

  “I did. I might have even downloaded a few of them, for posterity, you know.”

  “You don’t have to settle for pictures. You can have the real thing, any time you want.”

  “Is that so? Well then, I’m going to close my eyes and make a wish. I want to see Nick Raven dance for me.” Lia closed her eyes, and Nick’s next words made her entire body tremble with anticipation.

  “Your wish is my command.”

  ****

  Nick lifted Lia out of his lap and back to her feet. “Stay right there and keep your eyes closed.”

  “Now who’s the bossy one?” Lia asked, but she didn’t move from the spot where he’d left her. She trusted him enough to relinquish control, and that was the greatest compliment she could give him. It was a hell of a turn on, too.

  “Hang on one second while I find you a place to sit.”

  “I can’t sit on the bed?”

  “Not for what I have in mind, no.” Nick was planning on giving the performance of his life, and if he had her that close to the bed, he’d be tempted to cut it short. No, he needed to set the stage first.

  “How did the stripping thing happen? Did you wake up one day and decide you needed more colorful resume?”

  Nick chuckled as he pulled out his phone and called up one of the songs he used to dance to, cranking the volume before putting it down on the corner of the bed. “Nothing like that. I bussed tables at Leo’s from the day I turned fourteen, and once I was legal Dad had me behind the bar, pouring drinks.”

  He dragged out a chair to the middle of the room and closed the curtains as he continued talking. “It was a marketable skill, and I needed to eat, so I went to school during the day and wound up tending bar for an all-male revue. The pay was crap, but the tips were good enough to keep me afloat for the first year. We worked shirtless, just some cheesy tuxedo collar and cuffs. After I got the wing tattoos, tips got even better and I was getting enough notice the manager asked me if I wanted to make some real cash as a dancer. I was young, dumb, and fearless, so I did it. Turns out, I wasn’t half bad, and once I started practicing, I was making insane amounts of money.”

  “I can only imagine. Sex sells, right?”

  He caught the note of doubt in her voice and was at her side in a second, taking her hands in his and leading her to the chair, keeping his hands on her every step of the way. “What really sells is the illusion. Hell, half the guys I danced with were gay. It didn’t matter though, because having sex wasn’t what most women were there for. They wanted to have fun, flirt and misbehave a little. No harm, no foul, no threat to their marriage or boyfriends.”

  “So you’re trying to tell me you were a choir boy?” Lia asked, her tone one of completely disbelief as she took a seat, her hands in her lap and her eyes still closed.

  “Choir boy? Me? Fuck no. But I was also working and going to school full time. I was too tired to get into too much trouble. Then when I left school, I was working for Tor. I was no better than any other college boy, Lia, but I wasn’t any worse, either. When I had enough cash, I was very happy to turn in my G-string and head home to Chicago. I think I slept for a month.”

  “Would you do it again?”

  “No. That part of my life ended years ago.”

  “Well, now I know how you learned those moves you made on me that first night we danced. Speaking of which, how much longer until I get to see this money-making performance?”

  “Patience, Cin. Good things come to those who wait. You can open your eyes when the music starts.” He took up a position right in front of her, his bare feet sinking into the plush carpet. The last thing he did was hit play on his phone, and the opening strains of Def Leppard’s Pour Some Sugar On Me filled the room. Lia’s eyes flew open, and he let the music take him back to his days on stage.

  He rolled his hips and moved in close, teasing her with his body without ever making contact. When she reached for him, he shook his head and moved out of reach before slowly peeling his T-shirt up his body an inch at a time.

  The tip of her tongue came out to wet her lips, and Nick’s dick went instantly hard as he imagined those lush lips wrapped around his cock. He lost sight of her as he whipped his shirt over his head, and when he could see again she had moved forward in her chair. He let the shirt fall to the floor and strutted up to her again, letting her see just how turned on he was. Her gaze dropped to his crotch and she reached for him again, and once again he danced backward, out of her reach.

  “No touching,” he whispered and then laughed as her lower lip jutted out in a full blown pout.

  “Is that always a rule?”

  “Uh huh.” He nodded, fingers already undoing the clasp of his jeans as he went through his routine.

  “Even for special customers?”

  “For you, I might make an exception…eventually.”

  Lia grinned and leaned back in her chair again, giving him more space. He took every inch of it, gripping the back of the chair as he caged her in and rubbed his aching cock against her thigh. She gasped and he couldn’t resist stealing a kiss before stepping back again, leaving her panting.

  “I thought you said no touching?”

  Nick started peeling off his jeans, desperate to free his cock from its denim prison. “You can’t touch me. I can touch you all I want.”

  “I think this game’s rigged.”

  “Now you’re getting it.”

  “No, I’m not. Not yet.”

  He worked his jeans down and away, working his body in time to the heavy beat of the music. “Soon.”

  This time when he moved in close, she didn’t play by the rules. She grabbed his briefs and tugged them down, freeing his dick. Her nails scored his skin as she pulled him in close enough she could take the head of his cock into her mouth. The song played on, but he didn’t care about dancing anymore. All he cared about was getting more of his dick inside the incredible heat of Lia’s mouth.

 
“Holy fuck, that’s good. I love it when you suck me off like that.” She hummed low, her tongue circling the slit at the top of his dick and his knees nearly buckled from the pleasure of it. She worked his cock with lips and tongue while she stripped him out of his underwear. When she cupped his balls in one hand he groaned her name, not wanting her to stop but not wanting to come yet, not before she did.

  She took him deeper and he bowed his head to watch, feeling every stroke of her tongue and seeing the way her cheeks hollowed as she sucked him deeper. She pushed him right to the edge before he pulled away, and his breath was coming in ragged gasps as he fought to stay in control.

  Lia sealed her fate the second she raised her eyes to his, licked her lips and uttered a single word. “Mine.”

  “Damn right I am. And now your man wants what’s his.” He drew her to her feet and tore away her clothing one piece at a time until she was standing in front of him, naked and perfect. He had her on the bed seconds later, stretched out beneath him so he could look into her eyes as he made love to her. He wanted to see every second of pleasure, and witness every breath while he claimed what was his.

  He kissed his way down her body, not stopping until he reached her pussy. She was so wet that her arousal was smeared down her thighs. He dove in, licking and sucking, hell bent on making her come before he finally got to fuck her. She was a wild thing, clawing at the bed sheets as she ground her pussy against his mouth and tongue.

  “Please, Nick. I need you inside me, need you to love me.”

  “Come for me first,” he ordered, slipping two fingers into her tight passage before latching onto her clit with his mouth and sucking hard. She arched off the bed, crying out in wordless need. He pushed her harder, and finally she began to shake, her moans growing more frantic until at last she came, chanting his name as her inner walls pulsed around his fingers.

  He didn’t give her time to recover, didn’t want to waste another second before taking what was his. She opened her body to his, taking him in eagerly as he moved over her, driving his cock in deep.