House Of Payne: Twist

by Stacy Gail

  She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t cry… “You were kind of busy making House Of Payne into what it is.”

  “Too busy to notice one of the artists that put the House on the map was getting more miserable by the day? That’s no way to run a successful business. The House is only as good as the people who make it what it is, and you’re the best at what you do, Angel. The best.” He leaned forward, elbows on knees and hands laced loosely between them. “I need to know if any of this shit is fixable.”

  “Um.” Her throat was so tight from holding back tears that it was a struggle to get any words out. “As lame as it sounds, knowing that I’m appreciated for what I do is actually going a long way.”

  “You are, believe me,” came the fervent reply. “What else?”

  “You know I was having a hard time with Twist, right?” At his nod, she lifted a shoulder. “Away from here, we seem to be figuring ourselves out, which is great. But I’ll be honest—I have no idea how we would be if I did decide to come back to work. The way he treated me was the main reason I wanted to get out of here.”

  Payne gave her a long, measured look. “Do you know now why he treated you like an overprotective crazy dude?”

  “He’s explained a lot.” She tried to look calm when she could feel her face was about to explode with heat, and for the millionth time in her life she cursed her fair skin. “Fresh out of prison, Twist didn’t want to rock his place here by getting involved with me even though he wanted to. So he antagonized me to keep me at arm’s length, while still trying to look out for me.”

  “While still making sure he had your full attention, you mean,” he corrected with a sudden grin. “Sort of like the adult version of the socially awkward little boy pulling on the pigtails of his crush, the cutest girl in class.”

  Her brows went up. “You knew?”

  “Yeah, of course I knew. Guys are simple, Angel. There’s not a lot of complexity behind our actions.”

  “So I’ve heard,” she muttered, shaking her head. If nothing else, this past week had been highly educational when it came to the mysteries of the modern man’s mind and how it did—and didn’t—work.

  “If we’re hot for a lady, we’re all up in her business one way or another. Take me, for instance. I basically stalked Becks until she finally noticed that I existed, and even then it was to tell me to quit bugging her—which is pretty much a direct quote, I might add. Lucky for her, I didn’t listen.”

  “Lucky for you, you mean.”

  “Hell, yeah, lucky for me. She’s my other half, my better half, and I’m smart enough to know it.” He smiled in a triumphant sort of way before focusing on her once more. “Is Twist something like that for you?”

  “Are you about to spring a No Fraternization rule on me that I don’t know about?”

  “Give me a break. You guys were knocking each other bloody without the fraternization angle, so I figure we can only go up from there. And you didn’t answer the question.”

  “Yes, that’s what Twist has become for me.” It came out far more easily than she’d anticipated, but there was still a black cloud hanging over her otherwise limitless horizon. “I just don’t know if that’s going to hold up if I come back to work and we’re both in this environment again. I need to know if I can trust him to not try to control me by hovering constantly and driving me up a freaking wall every time I turn around.” If Twist reverted to type, her heart would break. She could live with a lot, but having her every move controlled wasn’t one of them.

  Payne shrugged. “You won’t know until you try. The main reason you were leaving the House was because of the way Twist acted. Let’s see how things work now that you understand that everything he does stems from the fact that he’s crazy in love with you, and has been since forever.”

  “What?” It felt like her eyes bugged about an inch out of their sockets. “Payne, no. I mean, he’s not in love with me.”

  For a moment he looked surprised before he snorted with laughter. “You mean he hasn’t told you? Heh. Pussy.”

  “Seriously, Payne –”

  “Nope, I’m not wading into that shit,” he declared and held up a hand, palm out. “What I am going to do is lay all my cards on the table and tell you that I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to keep you—and these new designs and innovative new coloring technique that Twist told me about—right here at the best tattoo studio in the world.” He rubbed his hands together and grinned at her, looking downright happy. “All right. Let’s deal.”

  The scent of bleach was strong as Twist gave his table and workstation one final spritz and wipe-down before he went on break. A quick knock on the frosted-glass door of his booth had him turning just as Angel poked her head in.

  “Hey there.”

  “Hey yourself.” Everything lightened at the mere sight of her, and he dropped the cleaning bottle and rag on the counter to hold out a hand. “Get in here.”

  Her smile, which had been oddly tentative, blossomed into the radiant one he had come to know so well. “I didn’t want to disturb you while you were working.” The door swinging shut behind her while she slid her hand into his. Perfect fit, he thought, closing his fingers over hers. “So after my meeting with Payne, instead of bugging you for my car keys—like I should have done before we even got here—I’ve been hanging out with Scout downstairs and shooting the breeze with Rocket. Scout said you’re on break now?”

  “I am.” Well aware that the scent of bleach wasn’t exactly the kind of thing to set the mood, he nevertheless bent his head to hers and focused on the all-important task of making love to her mouth with his until she melted.

  It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.

  He tasted her, stroking her tongue with his in a way he knew she liked. Deeper and deeper he took it until she had stopped breathing and his skin felt too small for his body. Heat washed over him like invisible fire, and when he at last raised his head and looked down at her, that caveman she said lived inside him gave a roar of triumph at the glittering hunger in her heavy-lidded eyes.

  “Wow.” Her tone matched her desire-drunk expression—breathy, turned-on. Excited for him to touch her again.

  His cock grew heavy, pulsing at the thought, and he had to fight back a groan.

  “I hope there’s more where that came from,” she whispered, her hands gliding down his back to do what she seemed to like best—squeeze his ass.

  What a woman.

  “You know it.” Smiling against her mouth, he walked her backwards until her butt came up against the padded lip of the tattooing table. “How was your meeting with Payne?”

  “Long. And weird.”

  “Weird?” He hadn’t expected that. “In what way?”

  “I went in there with every intention of telling him how grateful I was that he had allowed me to be a part of the House all these years and for all the opportunities my position had afforded me. But in all the two hours that I was there, I never got a chance to get those words out.”

  He ran the tip of his tongue along her upper lip, and smiled when she shivered. “Two hours? Damn, now that’s a long chat.”

  “He had a lot of issues to hammer out.”

  “He did?” As he spoke, he hauled her up onto the table, pleased she’d worn a cute little ruffled denim skirt that allowed easy access to so much skin. He was even more pleased when those slender legs of hers wound around him and pulled him in close. He fucking loved when she did that. “What kind of issues?”

  “First, I have to say that I always knew Payne was a great artist and a talented tattooist, but now I totally get why House Of Payne is so far above all other tattoo studios in the world. He’s got a brilliant business mind when it comes to getting what he wants.”

  “You don’t say.” Half of his brain was trying to pay attention to what she was saying. But the other half was wondering how quickly he could get her panties off. Since that half was far more interesting, it was winning the battle for his attention. “So
that’s what you talked about for two hours? What Payne wanted?”

  “Pretty much. Basically we were negotiating the terms for my next contract.”

  That had his gaze snapping to hers. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.” She shook her head as if she couldn’t quite believe it herself. “Apparently Payne is willing to reach deep into his pockets to keep me on and get those new designs and coloring technique I made up. Something you blabbed about, I might add.”

  “Blabbed?” He lifted a brow while watching her warily for any signs that she was about to scalp him. “That’s pretty harsh, little girl. If you’d wanted me to keep them a secret, all you had to do was ask.”

  “Well, I guess I can’t be too angry with you, since the raise he’s giving me as incentive to come back—just so he can make sure my new stuff stays exclusive to House Of Payne—is almost obscene.”

  That had him relaxing enough to smile. “You’re worth every penny, and then some.”

  “Amazingly enough, it seems that Payne would agree with you.” She smiled too, letting her hands drift under the hem of his henley shirt to drift caressingly up his back. “Oh, and there’s something else. On top of the raise, he’s also giving me a small percentage of the concierge service earnings for as long as it exists.”

  “Holy shit.” A huff of incredulous laughter burst out of him before he caught her lips with his. After a thoroughly satisfying exploration of her mouth, he looked into her eyes, still laughing under his breath. “Damn, I’m proud of you, baby. You took Payne to the cleaners.”

  “We did.” Her palms rested against his shoulder blades a second before they flipped and lifted the shirt up and over his head. “We both know how I came up with the concierge idea—I was ticked off at you. If anyone should get credit, you should. I just put the finer points on the concierge thing to be a smartass.”

  If his shirt had to go, then so did hers, he thought, and wasted no time in doing so. Then he decided those panties she wore weren’t necessary, either. “Being a smartass is your default setting whenever I’m around.”

  “Pretty much. So, since the idea wouldn’t have come about without you pissing me off so much, it seems only fair that I share whatever I make out of the concierge business with you, fifty-fifty.”

  His hands that were busy sliding under her skirt stilled. “No.”

  Her eyes widened. “What?”

  “I’m not going to touch your hard-earned money, baby.” His breath grew shallow as he yanked the tiny strip of cotton and lace off the swell of her bottom, and he stepped back just far enough to pull the panties down her legs. “But I am going to touch you. And while I’m going to love every second of that, it’ll be nothing compared to how much you’ll love it.”

  “But Twist—” A jagged breath interrupted her as he unerringly found her clit hidden between her slick folds. Then he made her gasp again and clutch at his shoulders when he entered her with his finger that pushed up and into her.

  “I don’t want this to be a problem between us,” he said, his voice turning ragged as he kept at her. He felt like roaring in victory when she seemed to dissolve against him. “If it means that much to you, you can put that money into some kind of trust for future kids, or whatever. I’d like that, actually.”

  “T-Twist… oh. Oh. Oh, God.”

  “But I don’t want a cent of it. All I want is you.” His thumb stroked her without mercy on the outside while his finger worked her on the inside. A tremor of ferocious excitement shook him when her hips began to ride his hand like her life depended on it. Her knees came up, a shift that deepened the angle of penetration, and a long moan of blissed-out abandonment whispered from her.

  That thread of sound shattered him.

  “I need you.” One-handed, he dug into his back pocket, got a condom out of his wallet and ripped the foil open with his teeth. “I need you, I need you… baby, hold it back, I love being inside you when you come.”

  “Hurry.” She was panting now, her voice distracted, lost.

  Delirious.

  Despite his urging to hold back, he couldn’t stop himself from making it almost impossible for her to do so, stroking her with a rhythm building into a frenzy. Her slick interior began to convulse around his finger, and he pulled out only to fill her once more, this time with his throbbing cock. The tight walls of her sex expanded to welcome him inside, only to immediately contract on him in a convulsion that racked her whole body. A helpless cry escaped her before he muffled her with his mouth. The sounds she made stole whatever sanity he still had, and he plunged into her hard and fast in a blind effort to catch up. He got there so fast it took his breath away, and he gripped her ass with gentle violence to pull her more fiercely to him as he pounded into her. The ecstasy of release blew his world apart, his nerves alive with it, his whole body straining to reach for every last drop of pleasure that he could get. Only after it was done and things came back into focus did he begin to laugh.

  “Twist?” Carefully, because it was clear she wanted to keep him inside her for as long as possible, she hooked her feet together at the small of his back. “What?”

  “Rocket’s going to have to find another lunch buddy.” Thoroughly exhausted and more satisfied than he could ever remember being, he nuzzled his face against hers and tightened his arms around her. “From now on, we’re spending our breaks together just like this.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  As fun as it was, Angel was fairly certain they couldn’t exist on sex alone.

  With forty minutes of Twist’s lunch break left, she dragged him across the street for a quick bite at a twenty-four hour diner that saw a lot of business from House Of Payne employees. Then, because she had serious doubts about her car’s hybrid battery after being ignored for a week, she took the time to turn it over while Twist kept watch over her despite the new security guard in clear view of them just inside the building.

  Discussion about her car led to the inevitable disagreement over whether or not she was going to head on home without him. Things had been so harmonious between them up to that point that Angel half-feared it would all fall apart at this, their first real difference of opinion. But Twist didn’t yell or call her an idiot, and she forced herself to avoid being defensive and actually listened when he explained he was on edge now that that letter had popped up. When he pointed out that whoever wrote it had walked right up to her front door to put it in her mailbox, she had to admit she suddenly had no desire to go back to an empty condo just to prove the point that she could take care of herself.

  When she told him her decision to stay so they could leave together, he hugged her hard and he pressed his mouth to her ear so he could whisper, “Thank you for helping me keep you safe, baby.”

  Now she was sorry she couldn’t agree with him again, just to get that kind of reaction out of him.

  With nothing left to do until closing time, Angel wandered into her own booth to work out a new design that had been in her head for a while now. The design was a simple undulating rainbow, no outline or black of any sort, using the pastel watercolor technique she’d been perfecting on a synthetic skin that the House always had on hand for its tattooists. She was so engrossed in her work, she didn’t notice the passage of time, so when Scout knocked and came in with tablet in hand, Angel was shocked to see it was close to closing time.

  “Damn, it’s good to see you back where you belong.” Looking genuinely happy and more than a little relieved, Scout swooped in for a quick hug as Angel turned off the tattoo machine. “I haven’t had a chance to ask you, how are you feeling? Any more concussion symptoms?”

  “Nope, thank goodness.” She smiled as Scout settled a hip comfortably on the padded tattooing table. “I’ll admit it was pretty weird for a while, especially the dizziness and nausea, and the whole talking without being aware I was going to say anything issue. It’s very strange listening to yourself talk without having had any conscious memory of deciding to speak.”

  �
�Yikes, that is a little weird.”

  “Thankfully all that weirdness has faded, but Twist is still convinced I need to be watched like a hawk twenty-four seven.”

  Scout pursed her lips. “Who knew our rough and tough Twist could be such a softie?”

  “I’m as pleasantly surprised as anyone.” She paused. “Emphasis on pleasantly.”

  “Awwwww. Twist and Angel, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

  “How old are you, five?” Angel kept talking over the singsong teasing until Scout gave in with a laugh. “At the very least I’m proud of us for getting back into this environment and not falling into old habits. I think things are going to be better here at the House between me and Twist from this point on.”

  “Thank God. The two of you getting along better makes my life so much easier.”

  “We’re definitely getting along better. A lot better.”

  “Ooh. Gimme details.” Scout leaned forward, clutching her tablet to her chest. “Start with measurements and go from there.”

  Angel snorted. “All I can say on that score is not only is he impressive, he’s impressively talented. The man is an artist on several different levels, and his imagination is unending.”

  “Wow, talk about getting the official stamp of approval.” Scout grinned then pointed upward. “Though I kind of guessed things had progressed to the hot-and-heavy level with you two when I came up here during break and, uh… heard some stuff. Do me a favor and remember that while these cubicles are made up of thick, frosted glass for privacy, they don’t actually have a roof to enclose any sounds you might, er, make.”

  “Oh, my God,” Angel groaned, her face going up in flames.

  “If you can manage to keep quiet, these tattoo booths are an awesome place to get a little something-something during working hours,” Scout confided, happily ignoring Angel’s embarrassment. “Ivar dragged me into one of them when he wanted to have me all to himself, something he wasn’t getting when we were in my office. So he hauled me into Payne’s booth, shut the door, turned on the ‘Occupied’ light outside and…” She sighed, her eyes going hazy with memories that clearly held more than a little delight. “Come to think of it, I didn’t keep quiet, either. But when you’re in the moment, who really gives a shit? It is what it is, and what it is, is fucking spectacular.”