by Katee Robert
It took effort to soften his tone, but yelling at Keira would only make her plant her feet and refuse to yield. “Did you ever stop to think that Romanov has as many enemies as we do? More, even. The second the news that you’re marrying him gets out, you’ll be a target.”
“What? Like I’m not a target now?” She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Lock me up or throw me in the basement or do whatever you’re going to do. I don’t give a fuck anymore.” The tremor in her voice gave lie to her bold words.
“Keira, come here.” He stood and pulled her into a hug. She was so damn frail in his arms, and he called himself seven kinds of a bastard for putting her in this position. It’s only for a little while longer. “I wouldn’t ask anything that I didn’t think you were capable of handling.”
“That’s a comfort.” She lifted her head and glared at him.
While Aiden had no intention of letting his sister marry Romanov, he wasn’t above using her as bait and a distraction. His endgame involved layers upon layers, and he couldn’t afford to let wanting to protect Keira from a little hurt be the reason she ended up married to that bastard. He set his hands on her shoulders. “Trust me. Please. Just … trust me.” Everything he did, he did for the love of his family. He’d do everything in his power to keep her safe, and Aiden tried to convey that truth with his gaze.
She pressed her lips together, her hazel eyes holding too much pain for a woman her age. “I trust you to take care of the family. I don’t trust you to take care of me.”
He took a step back, keeping his hands on her shoulders. Trying to browbeat her into submission wasn’t working—hadn’t been working for a long time—so it was time to try a new tactic. “We’re in a precarious position with negotiating, and I need you to be on your A game. I can’t have you doing anything to jeopardize my negotiations with Romanov.”
Her eyes shone, though she blinked back the tears before they fell. “You’re a real asshole, you know that?”
Damn it, she would take it as criticism instead of as an olive branch. “I’m better than our father. At least I’m giving you a seat at the table. He would have locked you up, and you damn well know it.”
Keira laughed. “So I should be grateful? You’re two sides of the same fucking coin. Just because you pretty it up doesn’t mean anything. I’m still being sold like a cow to the slaughter.” She shoved to her feet. “Don’t worry, Aiden. I’ll be a good little puppet. God forbid someone shoot me like a dog in the street the way they did Devlin, because I didn’t listen to my older brother who thinks he knows everything.” She gave a mock gasp. “How would you live with yourself then?” Keira strode out of the room before he could come up with a fitting reply.
Not that he had one.
Some days it was like dragging his naked body over hot coals to stand here and appear unaffected while the seas of change raged around him. One wrong step and they could lose everything.
He wouldn’t let it happen.
Not on his watch.
Aiden glanced at the clock on the wall and cursed. It was damn near midnight, and he’d left Charlie unattended. If she wanted, she could have spent the last few hours exploring the house to her heart’s content. There wasn’t much in the way of incriminating evidence left sitting around in the open—even their files were digitized and encrypted thanks to Cillian—but that didn’t mean the thought sat well with him. He rolled his shoulders to relieve some of the tension.
Liam met him at the door. “You need to sleep.”
“Speak for yourself. You’re running on just as little as I am.”
Liam fell into step beside him as they headed down the hall. “Mark will take over for tonight. We don’t expect trouble, but with the new face in the house, I’m not taking any chances.”
Aiden wanted to ask Liam what he thought of all this. Once upon a time, they’d been good friends—they were still friends, he thought. But when he’d made the changeover from heir to the head of the O’Malley family, a new distance had cropped up between them. He didn’t know how to fix it or even if it should be fixed. Too many lives rested on Aiden’s shoulders, Liam’s included, and he was required to play his cards close to his chest.
So all he said was, “Good.”
He headed upstairs, not stopping to think about the fact that Charlie would be sleeping in his room until he was through the door, and nearly tripped over a massive pile of shopping bags on the floor. A light was on next to the bed, bathing the room in a golden glow, but Aiden had eyes only for her.
She looked so deliciously rumpled, her blue eyes hazy with sleep, her hair less than perfect for the first time since they’d met. Charlie frowned. “What are you doing?” She shook her head as soon as the words were out of her mouth. “Silly question. Of course you’re sleeping here. We’re engaged after all.” Her lips twisted into something vaguely resembling a smile.
It was the first time they’d been alone since he brought her to orgasm in the office, and he didn’t know what to say. Explaining what he’d been doing was out of the question—sharing his concerns over Keira even more so.
She seemed as at a loss as he was. “I don’t know what side of the bed you slept on. I just chose one at random.”
“It’s fine.” It struck him that he’d never had a woman in this bed. He’d been in serious relationships, but they’d always played second to his family, and so he’d never brought the girls home. That was ultimately why each relationship failed—no woman wanted to be with someone whose top priority wasn’t them.
This isn’t a relationship. It’s an alliance.
That didn’t stop him from liking the picture of Charlie in his bed, or keep the possessive instinct he’d fought so hard to subdue from raging to the forefront. He wanted her naked and beneath him and coming on his cock with his name on her lips.
He had no business wanting those things from her.
Sex was on the table. She’d put it there.
Possession was not. He wouldn’t allow it to be. Aiden realized he was staring at her, and cleared his throat. “I’m going to take a shower.” Maybe that would give him back a modicum of control.
“It doesn’t have to be weird.” She made a face. “Okay, so this is the very definition of ‘weird.’ But we’re both adults—adults who have a healthy attraction to each other. There’s nothing wrong with you fucking my brains out while I’m here. I won’t let it be a distraction.”
He went rock-hard at her words, and it was everything he could do not to fall on her there and then. Aiden took one step back and then another. “You’re playing with fire, Charlie.”
“Maybe I like the burn.” She slipped out from under the covers, and he saw she was wearing an artfully slouchy shirt with only a pair of panties. “The truth is that I’m feeling out of sorts and twitchy.” She crossed her arms and pulled her shirt over her head, dropping it on the floor as she kept walking toward him. Gone was the strange hesitance he’d seen in her earlier today. There was nothing but lust in her blue eyes. “I don’t want to think about tomorrow or what I’m risking by being here with you, and you look about half a second from trashing the room because you can’t risk showing any of that pent-up emotion to them.”
She went to her knees in front of him, as graceful as a dancer. “Let me make you feel good. Let me make us both feel good.” She gave a tentative smile. “If you let that ice-king facade slip, I promise not to tell a soul.”
He allowed her to undo the front of his slacks, stifling the voice that said this was a mistake—just like earlier in his office had been. She stroked him though his boxer-briefs, licking her lips, but he laced one hand through her hair and held her immobile until she looked at him. “If we’re doing this, Charlie, there are two things you need to know.”
“Yes?”
A man could drown in the blue of her eyes. He tightened his hold on her hair as much to ground himself as to hold her back. “You put my cock in your mouth and you had damn well better suck it like you mean it.�
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“As if I would do anything else.” Her smile gained a bold edge. “And the other?”
“If you think this is going to result in me fucking you tonight—it’s not.” He gentled his grip, smoothing her hair back. “But, Charlie, I’m going to make you feel so good, you’re going to beg me to let you ride my cock. You’re not going to be able to help it. It won’t make a goddamn bit of difference—we fuck when I say, how I say. Do you understand?”
* * *
Charlie was in over her head and sinking fast. If she was smart, she’d beg off and go to bed without tempting fate. All her assumptions about Aiden O’Malley being cold and freakishly controlled completely changed as she knelt before him, looking up into his green eyes. The man was an inferno. One wrong step and he’d incinerate her.
Say no. Leave this alone.
But those weren’t the words that came out of her mouth. “Yes. I understand.”
His expression was every bit the patient wolf. He had her exactly where he wanted her, and she’d just agreed to his terms. There was no way to convince herself that she had the advantage in this situation—in any of it.
She didn’t.
Aiden unbuttoned his shirt with quick, efficient movements, and her mouth went dry at the slice of his chest revealed. This wasn’t a man who left anything to chance. He would see his body as a weapon at his disposal, to keep as finely honed as his wits.
“You’re staring.”
Yes, she was. “Just appreciating the view.” She reached up and ran a single finger along the light trail of hair that ran south from his belly button, disappearing into his boxer-briefs. His stomach flexed beneath her touch, but his expression didn’t change. He was devouring her the same way she was currently devouring him.
“You’ll keep the panties on tonight.” His gaze lingered there, heating her straight through. “I like the look of black lace on you.”
“You should see me in red.” Not knowing how this first night would go, she hadn’t been willing to whip out the red lingerie. Red was a blatant invitation, and if that encounter in the office was the exception to the rule, she didn’t want to feel like a fool … But if he was going to delve into power games in the bedroom, she’d meet him every step.
It made sense in a way. Aiden had put together an insanely detailed plan to take out one of his enemies. All evidence pointed to the fact that this wasn’t the first time he’d orchestrated someone’s downfall, either.
She’d seen more than a few control freaks in her time, and he put them all to shame. The man had his emotions in a stranglehold, and it stood to reason that he’d bring that same attitude to the bedroom. She had a feeling Aiden wouldn’t know vulnerable if it bit him in the ass, let alone how to bring down his walls enough to enjoy himself.
What does he look like when he loses control?
Am I brave enough to push his buttons and find out?
She grinned. Bring it.
For the first time in a very long time, a thrill went through her. Getting involved with Aiden might put her heart in danger, at least in theory, but she just didn’t see it. She wasn’t even sure she had a heart left to lose—though the organ in her chest was beating hard enough to leave her breathless.
Aiden slid out of his slacks and stood before her, gloriously naked. His fingers laced through her hair, the movement strangely soothing even as it made her body tighten. “Second thoughts?”
It struck her that her silence could be misconstrued as regret or wanting a way out. Charlie gave a sharp shake of her head. “Not in the least. Just contemplating my plan of action.”
His dark chuckle curled her toes. “Charlie, you’re not coming out on top of this encounter.” He pulled lightly on her hair, and she had to bite back a moan. “But you will be coming. Now, bright eyes, if you’re going to suck my cock, stop wasting time. I crave the taste of you and I’m not a patient man.”
“Liar.” She wrapped her fist around his length, giving him a quick but thorough exploration, and then licked the head of his cock. She flicked a glance to his face. The man watched her like he was glimpsing heaven, seeming to enjoy the view as much as he enjoyed the act.
Next time I’ll wear red lipstick.
That would give him the show of a lifetime.
Charlie held his gaze as she took him deep, exploring him with her mouth the same way she had with her hand. There were times when a hard-and-fast blow job was the name of the game. This wasn’t one of those. She wanted to push him to the edge of his legendary control.
And then she wanted to push him a little further.
His cock bumped the back of her throat, and she made an effort to relax and take him deeper. His muttered curse was reward in and of itself. Aiden’s grip tightened on her hair. “Enough. You’ve had your fun.”
She released his cock reluctantly. “I’m just getting started.”
“Not tonight.”
Because it’s too good.
The truth was written across his tense body and the deep lines bracketing his mouth as he watched her. He’d told her that she would be the one begging tonight, but he looked in danger of doing exactly that if she kept going.
Next time.
“Bossy, bossy.” She allowed him to guide her to her feet and ran her nails lightly over his chest. “It’s sounding like the game is rigged. How am I supposed to convince you to change your mind if you take away all the tools at my disposal?”
Aiden laughed again, the sound just as dark as it had been the first time. “You try my control just by standing there looking like you do right now, your body aching for me and your lips wet from sucking my cock. I’m doing my damnedest not to throw you down on the bed and sink between those sweet thighs of yours. You’re ready for me, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” There was no point in lying, and she liked the way he talked to her. Right now, he wasn’t the head of Boston’s most powerful family. He was just a man who wanted a woman—who wanted her. She still couldn’t believe this was happening, but she’d do anything to avoid putting on the brakes.
She grabbed his hand and pressed it between her legs. “Feel me.”
“I feel you.” He stroked her through her panties, toying with the edges of the lace.
“I won’t be begging tonight.” It felt like a lie when she said it—especially given the way he watched her. He likes a challenge. Charlie would do her best to give him exactly that. She rolled her hips. “But you’re welcome to try.”
He took his hand back. “The bed—on your back with your legs spread.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then the game ends. You want this, I want this, but it will be on my terms.”
Charlie took a half a second to consider disobeying, just for the sake of seeing the look on his face and knowing he’d spend the night with an epic case of blue balls.
But she wanted the pleasure his green eyes promised more than she wanted to push back. For now. She crawled onto the bed and lay down, arching her back and slowly spreading her legs. It had nothing to do with modesty and everything to do with dragging out the show for him.
He stood at the edge of the bed, every muscle straining as if he was holding himself back. “Your tattoos are exquisite.” Aiden coasted his hand up her body. He didn’t touch her, maintaining a bare breadth of distance between them. He traced the ink that wound up from her ankle to her hip, and over her ribs to her sternum.
She quivered, shaking with the need to move enough to press against his touch but held in place by the forbidding expression on his face. There was no mistaking who was in charge of this encounter.
As if she was in any danger of forgetting.
“We’ll talk about the ink. Later.” He didn’t request the information. He demanded it. So damn sure of his power that he had no doubts she would fall in line like a good little soldier.
That snapped her out of her haze of lust and allowed her to think a little beyond when he’d actually touch her. “I might be letting you c
all the shots right now, but that doesn’t extend outside the bedroom door.”
“Wrong.” His index finger ghosted over her nipple. She sucked in a harsh breath, not sure if he’d actually touched her or if she’d imagined it. Aiden did the same thing to the other nipple. “I’m going to keep us both alive, bright eyes, and that means I call the shots and you obey, no matter how much taking orders from me chafes.”
He moved back down her body. Every muscle shook as she fought to keep still, even as a small voice in the back of her mind called her a fool seven times over. Aiden reached the band of her panties again and dragged his fingers over the lace. “We’ll fight about it tomorrow.”
“Fine.” She tried to snap out the word, but it emerged breathy. Irritation rose. “Touch me or let me go to sleep. I’m tired of these games.”
“No, you’re not.”
She got no warning. One second, she was seriously considering telling him to fuck off, and the next, he grabbed her hips and dragged her to the edge of the bed. Aiden went to his knees and pulled her panties to the side. “As pretty here as everywhere else.”
And then all she knew was his mouth.
Aiden went after her clit like it was his favorite candy. He sucked and licked and nibbled, emitting these little growls as he did. Charlie stopped trying to hold back after two seconds, giving herself to the sensation of pleasure rising and falling, pushing her closer and closer to the edge. Every time she teetered too close, he drew back, gentling his kisses or diverting himself to worshiping her thighs.
She managed to hold it together until the fourth denied orgasm. “Aiden, please.”
“Please what?”
“Stop teasing me.”
He dragged his mouth over her and, for one eternal second, she was sure he’d give her what she needed. Then the bastard laughed. “No.”
She lifted her head and glared. “If you don’t let me come, I’m going to do it myself.”
Those green eyes were so bright, they could have been on fire. “You even try and I’m going to tie you down and make you wait longer. You agreed to the terms, Charlie.” His grin was downright feral. “Unless you want to stop?”
