by C. J. Thomas
Nash reached down and took me by my arms, pulling me to my feet while he reached around and unzipped the back of my dress. He helped me step out of it and I undid my bra, tossing it to the floor behind us, just before shimming out of my thong.
The way he let his eyes fall over me had me gasping for air.
It was just me and my heels and this leather collar strapped around my neck. Everything else—all my bare and exposed flesh—was his for the taking.
He reached between my legs and touched my bare pussy. “Good. You’re keeping up with it.”
My pulse pounded in my neck. “It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” I held onto him, hanging off his massive shoulders, and hooked one leg around him as he fucked me with his finger.
He licked his lips. “It is.”
“Now, what are you going to do with it?” I traced my finger over his jawline.
He arched a brow and growled. “Devour it.”
In a split second he picked me up and tossed me to the bed.
I yelped and giggled the entire time I flew through the air. As soon as I landed on my back, I snapped my knees shut, letting my head rest on my forearm as I watched Nash rid himself of his clothes.
Then he dove and landed on all fours as he hovered over me.
Our eyes danced and I wondered what he’d do to me next.
It all happened so fast, I wasn’t even sure I knew how he managed to do it, but somehow he wrapped me up in his arms, rolled me onto his chest, and flipped me around so that his gigantic pulsating cock was now staring me down.
Then his tongue spread my folds and he began licking me.
I dropped my head, opened my mouth, and sucked him off at the same time.
Nash was my only hope.
His tongue swirled over my clit and I was on fire.
Nash was the only one I could truly rely on for protection.
My cheeks hollowed and I bobbed fast and hard to match the intensity he inflicted on my swollen nub.
He was right. I needed him just as much as he needed me.
His tongue flicked over my clit and I was about to spill over the edge.
And if I’d learned anything tonight, it was that we were in this mess together.
“I’m going to come.” I swirled my tongue over his hotness.
He continued the onslaught.
I felt him swell in my mouth. “Do it.”
And I did.
I spilled, and rolled over the edge, screaming his name, just as he said to do.
For better or for worse, there was no way I could turn back now.
Nash owned me.
56
Nash
ALEX DUCKED at the first flash.
Her arm flew in front of her eyes at the second.
And by the time the third flash hit, I had her wrapped up inside my arms so tight it would have been impossible to breach as I shielded her from the dozen others that quickly followed.
I quickened our pace and Alex followed a close step behind.
My keys were buried deep inside my suit jacket pocket, but the moment I found them, I dug them out, pointed the remote at my car, and hit the unlock button.
The headlights flashed. When we reached my car, I opened the passenger side door and put Alex inside before her face had been stolen by any more of those assholes.
Fuckin’ paparazzi.
“Nash, care to share the name of your new lady friend?” a reporter barked.
“Not a chance.” I moved around the hood.
“Don’t worry. I know it.” Sylvia Neil looked in the direction of the first reporter and nodded. “The real question is if she’ll end up like the last intern.”
My eyes zeroed in on her and I could feel the pulse in my neck beating hard and fast. “Why don’t you all get a real fucking job?” I opened the driver side door. “Maybe one that can actually pay your bills.”
“This time it’s different, Nash.”
I stepped inside my car but didn’t sit.
“It’s personal for me.” Her lips curved into an evil smirk.
“Is it?” I turned my head and laughed. “Like you’re on some kind of crusade or something?”
“Something like that.” Sylvia stepped forward and she snapped another photo of me. “This time we’ll have evidence of you sleeping with your intern.”
“And why would you need evidence of something like that? You of all people already know how big my cock is.”
She snapped another photo. “Just in case anything were to ever happen to her.”
I flipped them all off, jumped behind the wheel, and shut the door.
Alex was sitting quietly with her knees drawn together, staring down into her hands.
“I’m sorry.” I reached over and twisted a lock of her hair between my fingers.
“It’s not your fault.” She turned to the window and stared at the cameras.
“No, not that.” I lightly tugged her lock. “For keeping you out all night.”
She looked at the dashboard and saw the time. “Fuck!”
I laughed. We both had to be at the studio in an hour. “Don’t worry.” I turned the key and revved the engine.
Her face was pale as she glanced in my direction.
“I’ll drive fast.”
Her lips tugged upward into a sexy smile.
When I rolled out of the parking lot, Alex looked behind her and asked, “Why were they there?”
I shifted gears and passed a couple of cars hurrying across town.
“When you’ve been in this town as long as I have,” my grip tightened on the wheel as I glanced in her direction, “you start to develop a reputation for yourself.”
Her arms stiffened as she turned her head and looked away.
I continued to speed across town as we sat in silence.
“Why now?” Her voice was as soft as a feather. “Why there?” She twisted her body and faced me head on.
My heavy foot pushed further down on the gas and I accelerated around the corner, sending Alex’s hand flying for the handle.
“Because they’re vultures and will do anything to sell a story they think is juicy.” I sped past another car.
“And what story would that be?”
I opened my fingers and curled them back over the wheel. “The story that will eventually welcome you to the big leagues.” I smiled.
She sank into herself and went quiet, just staring out the window, letting the world pass on by.
It wasn’t too much longer after that, that I pulled up to the curb and parked outside her building. I rested my arm on the back of her seat.
“This is my future, isn’t it?” She turned to lock eyes with me.
Her plump lips were swollen from our night, more beautiful than ever. “Depends.”
She arched a brow and opened her door.
“If you let me take control of your career.” My tongue slid over my bottom lip as my gaze fell to rest between her tits.
“Why not?” She shrugged. “You already own everything else that is mine.” She stood and stuck her clutch beneath her arm.
“See you at the studio.” I leaned across the center console so she could see me.
She stepped away from the door. “Yeah.”
“And don’t be late,” I yelled as she shut it.
My tires screeched on the pavement as I sped away.
57
Alex
THE HAIRS on the back of my neck stood on end.
A strange man was following me and I didn’t know why.
Ever since stepping foot outside the night club this morning and being attacked by paparazzi, I’d been on high alert. It was impossible to keep my thoughts straight and I’d kept thinking that I heard someone inside my apartment when I was in the shower.
Except there was no one.
It had all been inside my head.
I tightened my grip on the shoulder strap of my bag and dropped my head.
This was crazy.
May
be I was just being paranoid, but every turn I took on the way to the studio, this strange man mirrored.
I didn’t have a good feeling about this—or him—and picked up the pace in hopes of getting away.
Why couldn’t Nash have just come up and waited for me to get ready?
Especially considering the attack of cameras we both experienced less than an hour ago. I wasn’t ready to live this life of celebrity.
Nash was the famous one.
Not me.
I was nobody compared to him.
He could deal with this.
But not me.
There was nothing worth writing about when it came to me. My life was boring, predictable, and a struggle from one day to the next.
But now, thanks to him thinking that I was okay with being alone, I had to rush across several city blocks and hope that I didn’t cross paths with one of those nut cases, or worse, miss the bus entirely.
I shook my head and weaved through the crowd knowing that catching the bus was going to be close.
Real close.
When I glanced back over my shoulder, the man was still there keeping his focus clearly on me. He wasn’t too close, only a couple hundred yards behind.
It was a safe enough distance to keep me from having a heart attack, but definitely too close to keep my palms sweating.
“Shit. Sorry,” I apologized after bumping shoulders with another pedestrian.
I wanted to convince myself that whoever this man was, he was just another paparazzi asshole left over from the scum we’d encountered this morning. Because that was easier to swallow than what the dark alternative of who he could be was.
Paparazzi, I could live with. Stalkers, not so much.
My fingers touched my neck and I was reminded of how Nash collared me.
My cheeks flushed hot as memories of the night drifted over me.
I’d never had sex like what we had last night. There was so much electricity zapping the air that kept me wet and hungry for more. Once we did get it all out of our systems, Nash told me enough to understand that he had plans for what he wanted to do with me. If what he said was true, then he was right when he said that sex with him wouldn’t ever be the same again.
And that, too, had me a little nervous.
When I rounded a corner block, I looked back and saw that the man had closed more of the distance that kept me safely out of his reach.
My heart pounded hard and fast as I hurried to break free from his pursuit.
This all started with that fucking first camera flash.
That was when the uneasiness drowned my strength and left me treading water.
Those uneasy feelings that came with having my photo taken without my consent—that was the start of it all. And since then, all I wanted to do was vomit.
That was what really had me questioning what the hell it was I was doing.
My entire adulthood, I’d always chosen to keep my life private. Even with my friends. Sure, I shared my life with them, but I preferred to be the one to tell them stories. Even on social media, I was careful what I posted, not wanting to share too much, knowing that someone I didn’t know might be lurking and watching and thinking God knows what.
And now, here I was, clouded with paranoid thoughts about what those assholes were going to do with the photos they stole of me this morning.
I saw the bus coming and was glad I chose to wear flats instead of heels, because the only way I was going to make that bus was if I started jogging.
My arms pumped and my lungs burned.
I ducked and brushed past people and kept my legs moving.
There was no way I could afford to be late. Nash would use it against me. Giving him a reason to punish me. But, lucky for me, I made it just as the doors shut behind me.
I flashed my pass, smiled at the driver who smiled back, and made my way to the back where I found an empty seat.
As soon as I sat down, I leaned my head against the seat, closed my eyes, and smiled. Today, I wouldn’t be late for work.
“Hi, Alex.”
My eyes popped wide open, and when I turned to look up at the man hovering over me, my heart stopped.
It was him. The man who had followed me.
How did he get on the bus?
He sat down next to me. “Hope you don’t mind me sitting, but there are some questions I need you to answer for me.”
58
Nash
LIGHTS, camera, and soon, I was ready for action.
The set was buzzing with energy. Today was supposed to be a big day. Except my mind wasn’t in the game. And it wasn’t because I spent all night out with Alex. No, that energized the fuck out of me. The reason I was feeling off was because that journalist bitch, Sylvia Neil, knew something that she shouldn’t.
All I could hear inside my head were her words and the tone of her voice when she said it. Neither of which I liked.
Her intention was clear.
She wanted to make my relationship with Alex available for all to see.
That, I also didn’t like.
You think public displays of affection are bad? Try having your entire relationship documented for all to see and read. It made my sexual tastes a little bit harder to keep from leaking out to the press.
Fuck, that woman had me by the balls.
And I had a pretty good idea as to why that was.
She’d been pissed ever since our one—and only—night stand. And now it seemed like she was out to settle the score.
Dealing with journalists had always been tricky. I’d learned that early on in my career, right around the time I blew up. It didn’t help that Sylvia was damn good at what she did. And I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if she took a lesson from Julia Mabel’s playbook either.
Because she really was that good.
Julia Mabel was the Queen of Hollywood reporting.
And that was what kept me from focusing on today’s tasks.
I moved through the hallways and toward my office in hopes of finding a minute to myself. My mind was a scrambled mess of incoherent thoughts and I needed a minute to gather them up and straighten them out before I really fucking lost it.
An empty feeling in the pit of my stomach left me with a grave feeling about all this.
Sylvia had me concerned with what she knew. She made it sound like it was something that I didn’t even know about, but should. Because that was the exact feeling that I got from her. Like she sure as hell knew there was more to the story than even I knew.
And I knew everything.
Or so I thought.
As soon as I was inside my office, I closed the door, hung my head, and inhaled a heavy breath of air.
“Nash!”
I jumped back to keep from getting hit by the door swinging open and found Alex staring up at me with big round eyes. I stepped forward and curled my fingers around her shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
She fell into my chest and wrapped her arms around my waist.
I patted her hair and kissed the top of her head. “Alex, you’re shaking.”
She tightened her hold on me and I felt my body heat rise.
I leaned back and hooked a finger beneath her chin, needing to see her face. But as soon as I did, she buried her face inside the palms of her hands.
“Hey, you need to tell me what’s wrong.” I could feel her body trembling in my hands and I didn’t like knowing that something, or someone, had spooked her. Especially after I swore to protect her and keep her safe.
She shook her head. “It’s awful.”
“What is, baby?” My hands smoothed down her arms.
She dropped her hands and stared at me with tears threatening to spill out of her swollen eyes. “They followed me. Cornered me on the bus.” Her eyes darted across mine. “Nash, they asked so many questions. Oh, God. I don’t even know what I said.”
My gut twisted into a tight knot.
Christ, I’d hoped to God that this day wouldn’
t come.
But the way her body trembled in my arms, it had me believing that the men whose money she’d found had finally caught up with her.
My fingers clamped tighter around her elbows. “Who asked you these questions?”
“The paparazzi.” She blinked, thinking. “No, that can’t be. They didn’t seem like the people from this morning.” She tilted her head back and stared into my eyes. “There was something different about them.”
My chin tipped forward as I tried to make sense of what it was she was telling me. The blank look on her face had me starting to sweat.
“They knew everything about me, Nash.” She refused to let go of me. “They knew about my past, how broke I was—I am—and began speculating on where I got my new fancy clothes.”
“What did you say?” I reached my hand around and cupped the nape of her neck as I let my forehead come to rest against hers.
She swallowed hard “I don’t remember.” Her eyes hooded over as she shook her head. “They knew I was living in the apartment building you own and said that I should keep my eye on you.”
I leaned close to her mouth and brushed the soft flesh of her cheek with my thumb.
“Why would they say that?” She looked to me for answers as she hid her fear behind her lashes.
I held her face inside my hands and let my gaze rake over her soft, delicate features. There was nothing I wanted more than to claim her lips and suck her tongue over mine just to have a small taste of what drove my cock hard and to let her know that I’d fix this.
“Alex, baby.” We locked eyes. “You need to listen to me really carefully, okay?”
She wet her lips and nodded.
“These assholes will say, and do, whatever they need to just to sell some made up bullshit story. You don’t need to talk to these guys.”
“I don’t like this,” she sighed. “People are following me. I know it. This man wasn’t a journalist. He was creepy, Nash.”
I kissed her forehead. “Alex, where’s the money?”
When she tilted her head back, her eyes were the size of silver dollars.
“I need to see it, Alex.” I licked my lips. “You need to give it to me for safe keeping.”
She nodded and started to cry like she suddenly realized the severity of her situation.
