Inked Persuasion: A Montgomery Ink: Fort Collins Novel

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  “I have court most of the week, and one of my paralegals is finally coming back from maternity leave after having moved up here with us, so it’s going to be a tough week for me, as well.”

  “They moved with you?” I asked.

  “Not everyone did. Some of them stayed with the old practice or found other jobs. I didn’t require any of my staff to move with me. I asked, hoped, and it worked out. I got the best of the best, and I know some of them will stay long-term. Some will move on when the time is right, but we’re making it work for now. I’m just a little shorthanded.”

  “I would offer to help you, but I’m not quite sure I know how to help with any of that.”

  “And it sounds like you’re a little busy yourself,” he said.

  “Just a little,” I joked.

  Our waiter came back with the first small plates, and my mouth watered.

  “Is that bacon?”

  “Candied bacon, as well as a few other delicious items.”

  He started to explain our meal, and as I laughed and joked over small, beautifully presented plates of beef and chicken and sea bass with vegetarian options on crisp greens, and little pieces of fruit to whet our palate, I knew I might pass out later from gastronomic joy.

  When we were through, we made our way back to Jacob’s car, our fingers tangled, and I leaned against his shoulder. “You may have to lower me into your car. I’m exhausted,” I joked.

  Jacob turned then and pulled me into his arms, sliding his thumb over my mouth. I swiped out my tongue, and he grinned before lowering his face to mine, his hand moving to cup the back of my head. I moaned, kissing him back with the same ferocity he approached the embrace.

  “I think I would do anything you wanted tonight, Annabelle. I’m yours to command.”

  I went wet at that and pressed my thighs together. The damn man knew what he was doing. “I thought it was just dinner and drinks tonight,” I nearly panted.

  “We both know that’s not the only snack I’ll be having tonight.”

  “You’re about to fuck me on top of your car, aren’t you?” I asked, laughing.

  “No, because we parked under a light, and I’m not really in the mood to spend the evening in jail.” His hands slid up my dress ever so slightly, and even though we were alone in the parking lot, I still shivered, wondering if anyone could see.

  “I need you,” he growled. “Watching you slowly taste and savor your food all night, your tongue constantly flicking out as you nibbled and sucked on everything you ate…I practically came right there. I didn’t realize watching a woman eat and enjoy her food could get me hard, but here we are.”

  “Then I guess you’d better drive very carefully yet very quickly to get us home.”

  He kissed me hard on the mouth again, and then we raced to the car, laughing as we tried to put on our seat belts. Jacob barely remembered how to put the car in gear. It was only a five-minute drive, but I was breathing hard the whole time, and Jacob’s hand was on my thigh, my skirt pushed up slightly, his fingers playing with my delicate flesh. He didn’t touch anywhere inappropriate, and anyone watching wouldn’t be able to see anything, but it was the tease, the knowledge that he would be there soon.

  He pulled into his driveway, and we piled out of the car, both of us looking at each other, at our homes, and then we made a dash to his house, only because it was closer. I didn’t care that any neighbor outside could see.

  Jacob slammed the door behind us, and then my back was against the hardwood, his hardness pressed to my stomach. “I’m going to fuck you right here against this door. What do you say?” he asked, growling against me.

  “I’m saying you’re wearing too many clothes.”

  He kissed me again, a bruising force against my mouth, and then he pulled back, stripping off his black shirt and pulling it away from his body. It fell to the floor, and then he shucked off his shoes and pants in one go. Suddenly, he was naked before me, his body long lines of muscle and sinew. His dick was hard, a little moisture at its tip, and thick.

  “Whoa,” I whispered.

  “And you, my dear, are wearing far too many clothes.”

  He came forward, and I gripped him at the base of his dick, pumping him once, twice. He groaned before tugging up my dress to plunge his fingers into me as he shoved aside my panties.

  I let out a shocked gasp; my entire body clamping around him as I came at the first touch.

  He pumped into me with hard, fast strokes of his fingers that pressed against my clit and the bundle of nerves inside me. I wrapped one arm around him, teetering on my heels as I used my other hand to dig into his flesh, reaching for strength and control.

  I came again, never having orgasmed so quickly in quick succession before. And then he was pulling at the top of my dress as well as my bra, my breasts falling heavily into his hands. He lapped at my nipples, pressing my breasts together as he bit and sucked.

  My hands were all over him, both of us needing, and then my dress was near my feet, and I was kicking it away, still wearing my heels. Jacob lifted me by the thighs, and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, needing balance. When he met my gaze, he plunged inside. There was no finesse, no soft touches. Just hardness inside me, and both of us panting. He pummeled me into the door, and I held on for dear life, moving with each stroke and still needing him more. I kissed him hard and raked my nails down his back. When he pushed even harder the last time, I came again and felt him filling me up, my name on his lips as he came.

  He kissed me again, biting my lip, and both of us shook. He wore nothing, and I only wore my shoes, my heels digging into his skin.

  “I am going to be completely marked up tomorrow,” he growled, kissing me again.

  “That’s all your fault,” I teased. “You’re the one who had me keep on the shoes.”

  He looked between us, and I did the same, watching as he continued moving slowly, leisurely, pushing inside me again, his cock disappearing before he gently pulled out. I shook, the sight of us connected in the most intimate way possible, hitting me harder than I thought.

  I wasn’t supposed to feel this. I wasn’t supposed to want anything more, but when I looked up at him, I knew I was in trouble.

  Because something was there in his gaze, something he blinked away quickly as if he were as afraid of it as I was.

  I didn’t think, I just kissed him again and held him as if I hadn’t seen. Pretended I didn’t feel the same.

  I did what I had to do.

  I made believe.

  Chapter 12

  Annabelle

  * * *

  The next morning, I rubbed my temples and drank my third cup of coffee. I was probably teetering on the edge of a caffeine addiction, but I didn’t care just then. Jacob and I had continued our evening using pieces of furniture in his house, and then I had fallen asleep, both of us passed out from exhaustion and bliss. I had woken up the next morning, my phone alarm scaring the crap out of me, and practically scrambled from his bed, neither of us talking, just nodding at one another since there was nothing really to say.

  We couldn’t get too serious—that would ruin everything. And he knew I had to work.

  I hadn’t been running from him. We had just ended our evening a little later than planned, and now we had work to do. I needed to focus on the mess in front of me, not the mess that was the rest of my life, thank you very much.

  “Hi. Annabelle? I was sent in here with coffee as well as a stack of notes, but I don’t know if you want more or not.”

  I looked up at the sound of Clay’s voice and smiled. “I will always say yes to coffee. I was just thinking that I’m already on cup three. I think four is fine.”

  He looked dubious. “Maybe you should have some water.”

  “Oh, I have. I’m allowed one cup of coffee to every cup of water. It’s the only way I can function. Otherwise, I start getting jittery.”

  Clay just stared at me.

  “I’m fine, promise. You can ask
the others.”

  “It’s true,” Beckett said as he came in and stole the coffee from Clay. “And I know Paige gave this to you on her way to answer the phone, but this is mine now,” Beckett said.

  “I cannot believe you just stole that,” I said, standing up from behind my desk.

  “Of course, I stole the coffee from the kid. He’s my second. Therefore, it’s my coffee.”

  “Clay is near our age,” I said, shaking my head. “He’s older than Paige.”

  Clay cleared his throat. “I’m older than you, too,” Clay said, and my eyes widened.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I had to take a gap year, and then, with the kids, it took me five years to graduate. So, yes, I’m two years older than you.”

  Beckett just blinked. “That means you’re only two years younger than me.”

  “Yep. So, not a kid. In fact, I’ve raised three kids. Maybe I’ll take that coffee,” Clay said before Beckett took a drink, then grabbed the cup and took a sip himself.

  I beamed. “Welcome to the family.”

  Clay smiled and shook his head. “You know, Storm introduced me to your family and welcomed me, and it’s been crazy ever since.”

  “No, Storm introduced you to his family. Now you’re with the real Montgomerys,” Dad said from behind him, and I winced, shooting a look at Clay, grateful my dad couldn’t see.

  Clay gave me a tiny shake of the head, and I was glad to see he understood. I was honestly a little tired of the undercurrents when it came to my dad. And Clay didn’t need to deal with this.

  “We have a meeting?” Dad asked.

  “Yes, but we’re heading into the conference room for that,” Beckett said, his voice low. He was doing his best to sound professional because we were at work, but I knew he was also angry. Dad kept wanting us to go over every single minute detail, even though we had already done so many times, and it was taking time and effort we didn’t have.

  I understood needing to be careful, wanting to be cautious, but it was even grating on my nerves, and I had more patience than Beckett did when it came to our father.

  “I thought you liked to meet in offices, said it makes it a little warmer or whatever.”

  I shook my head. “There’s a few of us today, and we’ll all be more comfortable around a table rather than standing around my desk.”

  “Come on, Mr. Montgomery. I’ll make sure you get the best seat,” Clay said, and my dad shook his head.

  “I know where the conference room is. I helped build the damn place, didn’t I?”

  I sighed as my dad walked out, Clay behind him.

  “I think Clay already needs a raise,” I said.

  “I think we all need a drink,” Beckett grumbled.

  “I wouldn’t say no to a drink,” I agreed.

  Beckett narrowed his eyes as he looked at me. “I don’t know. You look a little tired. Maybe you had too much to drink last night.”

  I blinked. “Excuse me?” I asked, keeping my voice light.

  “Don’t excuse me. I heard from Paige that you went out last night with Jacob Queen.”

  “You heard nothing of the sort,” I said quickly.

  “No, he stole my phone to check the weather—or so he said—and saw my text telling you to have a good night. I’m sorry,” Paige said as she elbowed Beckett in the gut.

  “I wasn’t stalking, but my baby sister is going out on a date with the man who said he hated her. No, not going to happen.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him as I poked him in the chest with my finger. “First off, no, we’re not doing this. You don’t get to go all big brother on me. Second off, we’re at work. We’re not going to do this now. And if you make a scene in front of Dad, I will never forgive you. We’re all dealing with enough right now. You know that. I cannot deal with his anger over his precious baby girl dating someone.”

  “So you are dating someone,” he mumbled, and I narrowed my eyes. He held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. Not here. But I reserve the right to hound you later, just like you hound me.”

  I shrugged. “Okay, fine. It’s only right that we’re even, I guess.” Not that I’d let him come at me again. I’d place myself strategically away from the office when the time came.

  “Good, now we can get to work,” Paige said, putting her hands together in front of her. “We have a lot on the docket today, and I have a feeling it’s already going to be a thing.”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Red alert,” Archer said as he ran back to where we were standing.

  “What?” I asked, alarmed, looking around for a fire.

  “I accidentally moved my sleeve up a bit more than usual, and he caught the tattoo.”

  I scowled at him, my heart racing. “Archer. I know you wanted a half-sleeve, and it looks wonderful on your forearm, but you had to know that Dad would eventually notice the Montgomery Iris on your skin,” I whispered, frantic now.

  My dad did not like the Montgomery Iris. He didn’t want his children to be branded with the other Montgomerys.

  Archer rubbed his forearm and tugged his sleeve down.

  “It’s just getting ridiculous. He saw the ink, narrowed his eyes, was about to say something, and I kind of ran.” The tips of Archer’s ears reddened. “I know our dad is amazing and nice and a good person. It’s just…he’s not acting like it right now.”

  Benjamin walked into the building at that moment, saw the four of us huddled together in the corner by Paige’s desk, and shook his head.

  “What did you do?” Benjamin asked, running a hand over his hair.

  “Well, Dad is double-checking all of our work again, saw Archer’s tattoo, and is in a bad mood,” I answered.

  “And we left him alone with Clay,” Paige added.

  My eyes widened. “Crap. Clay’s amazing, we can’t have him quitting.”

  “Damn it. I’ve got this,” Beckett said and stormed off, leaving us behind, shaking our heads.

  “And you’re late, bro,” Archer said, glancing at Benjamin.

  My brother shook his head. “It is too fucking hot for me to spend the coolness of the morning inside, dealing with Dad’s plans, when I could be working on what I need to out at my sites. I get that Dad wants us to work on this as a family because he feels like this is his project, but I’m exhausted. My team needs me to be out there helping them, not in here in a nice air-conditioned unit, when they’re out there sweating to death.”

  “I’m sorry, Ben,” I whispered.

  “I’m sorry, too. Now let’s get through this meeting so we can get back to our real jobs.”

  “You know it’s Saturday, right?” Paige said. “I mean, we all know it’s Saturday. We’re not even supposed to be working today. That was our deal as a family. That we’d take weekends off to protect one another and our staff.”

  “We know,” the three of us said, and I sighed again. We made our way to the conference room where Beckett was glowering at Dad, putting his body between Clay and my father.

  Clay didn’t seem to mind. He had his chest out as if he were ready to stand up and protect us, as well. This infighting was ridiculous. It hadn’t always been this bad. We used to go to family reunions, and Dad had gotten along decently well with his brothers-in-law.

  But then the Denver Montgomerys got a little more press, made a lot more money, and while we were doing just fine, we weren’t exactly in the same league as the rest of them—at least according to my father. I might disagree with that sentiment, but it wasn’t as if I had a voice. Not really. My dad was just as grumpy about me wanting to do my own thing as he was about being compared to the people he always compared himself to.

  “Okay, come on. Let’s get this meeting going,” Paige said and looked around the room. “Is Mom coming?” she asked, and Dad shook his head. “No, she went down south.”

  I held back a groan. Well, that explained the mood. Mom was visiting the new babies down in Denver or maybe in Colorado Springs. That meant Dad w
as alone at the house and grumbling about it.

  And we were dealing with the consequences. I loved my father, I truly did, but sometimes he was such an asshole.

  “Okay, let’s get this shit on the road.”

  “Dad, language,” Paige said.

  “We’re family here, and I thought you were all adults.”

  “We’re in the workplace, and some of us aren’t related to the Montgomerys.”

  My dad narrowed his eyes at Clay. “Fine, then. Sorry for the sentimentality.”

  I held back a groan. “That’s enough of that,” I said.

  “Where are we on the up-keeps?” Dad asked, and Beckett rolled his shoulders back.

  “We’re where we need to be. The permits are either already in or well on their way. We are in different stages for certain areas, and some of our inspections are already complete. We’re in a waiting game for team members as we finish a few projects, but we’re doing well.”

  My dad narrowed his eyes. “We’ll see about that. Let’s go through it again.”

  I held back a groan, exhausted by all of this already. However, maybe going through it for the fiftieth time would ensure that we didn’t miss anything important. Or maybe it would just give me more of a headache, and I would cry to myself about it all later. I hated this feeling. The one that came from my father acting like a stranger. He asked so much of us, tried to take even more, and I knew he didn’t understand us. But he was fantastic at what he did, and sometimes his pushing helped us in more ways than I could count. So, I would deal with this. At least, for now. If it got too bad, we’d have to think about it as a family.

  I didn’t have answers, but I was too tired to worry about it right now.

  “What do you mean, you’re not doing it?” Dad asked, and I brought myself back to what was being said.

  “What I’m saying is, we decided to go in another direction,” Beckett said slowly, and Benjamin met my gaze.

  “What?” I asked, and he sighed. I hadn’t meant to miss some of the conversation. Oops. My bad.

  “You know the way we used to do things isn’t as good for the environment. We’re working on this plan. It’ll be easier to add the solar with the layout we’re moving on.”