The edges of the place were dimly lit, like the bar where I sat with Aria. As were the stairs leading to the second floor and VIP section. A big guy with a black T-shirt at the bottom of the steps nodded at Jackson and let us pass.
He firmed his grip every time I tried to pull away. My heart was running amuck and even vagina was questioning her logic.
He took me down a dark, empty hall full of doors, before we stood in front of one at the end. After waving a card he took out of his jeans pocket in front of a scanner on the wall, he opened the door and pushed me inside.
The room has black walls, except for one wall of glass overlooking the dance floor below. Large modern art hangs on each wall not made of glass and a black leather couch faces opposite the glass wall.
I press myself against the glass hoping someone might see me. The way Jackson was acting and how he blocked the door made me realize this night would not end well for me.
“I would like to leave, Jackson.”
His panty dissolving smile morphed into a sickening sneer as he crept toward me shaking his head. “No.”
Jackson pins me against the glass and grinds his very stiff erection into me. Bile rises in my throat and my mind races with how to get him off me.
“Okaaay. What if I told you I have crabs, oh and gonorrhea. It’s all very inflamed right now.”
He laughed. I felt the vibration down to my stomach and it just added to the nausea.
“Aria told me you are feisty but she never mentioned how funny and fucking sexy you are. This is going to be fun,” he said.
“Uh no, not fun. Nothing is going to happen, Jackson. Remember, no means no and I am saying no, no, noey-no, no, no right now. Can’t get anymore no than that.”
I tried to push at his chest but those sinewy arms were strong. My mom had told me to take self-defense classes. I really wished I had listened to her.
“Keep it up, Morgana, I really like feisty. Really like it a lot.”
My mind scrambles and finally comes up with something. To go limp. Jackson likes the struggle. What if there is no struggle? Maybe he won’t want me anymore.
My body relaxes so he is supporting me but instead of Jackson getting irritated or bored, it only helps him do more. His hand grabs at my breast and squeezes too hard causing me to wince in pain.
He groans and his gyrations become more prolific.
Despite him not being deterred from my limp body, it did give me one advantage. He lightened his restraint of me so when I pushed him I managed to break free.
I quickly moved over toward the couch as he was still blocking my way to the door.
“Jackson, you are acting really rapey right now.”
“Rapey is not a word, Morgana,” Jackson said with a snicker.
I try to move around the glass coffee table in front of the couch but he follows me. Finally, I stop and put my hands on my hips in irritation.
“It is a word. You plus rape equals rapey. You are rapey.”
Jackson shakes his head and a dark, ugly laugh erupts from his mouth. Did he grow up taking tips from every villain on TV?
“It’s not rape if you want it and I know you want it, Morgana.”
“What did I just say earlier? No means no. It doesn’t mean yes or maybe or I kinda do but I am saying no because I’m a stupid tease. It means no.”
In that moment, I lost. My heart plummeted before slamming against my chest as Jackson lunged for me and pushed me down onto the couch.
He pinned my hands over my head with one hand and with the other he tried to push my jeans down. My one saving grace, I wore tight jeans.
In all the chaos, I hear the door handle jiggle. Then some pounding on the door. Jackson lifted his head but then turned back to me and smirked. He was about to lower his head to me again when the pounding at the door turned into a loud thud, like something large slammed against it.
Jackson muttered something but I was so focused on the door and prayed whoever was behind it would make it inside. Maybe the bouncer at the bottom of the steps saw me at the window and was trying to stop us.
Suddenly the door splinters open. The doorknob ripped to shreds and Henrik stood in the door way. His chest moving up and down and eyes locked on Jackson. Henrik’s black sweater clung to his body as he flexed his arm muscles making fists.
“Get the fuck off her now!” Henrik growled and didn’t wait for Jackson to respond. He walked over to the couch and grabbed Jackson by the belt and tossed him into the coffee table, causing it to crack.
I scooted off the couch and made my way to the doorway. The bouncer from downstairs and another large man were racing down the hall. They moved past me and grabbed Henrik, dragging him out of the room.
I glanced back at Jackson, who was curled in a ball on the floor.
“I told you no means no, but you didn’t listen did you,” I said just before dashing through the hall and down the stairs.
TWELVE
Payne’s Rule
Nothing good ever happened from a bar fight.
Morgana’s a dream.
Her hand gently dabbed at my forehead with a tissue. It hurt. Those bouncers did a number on me, specifically my head, before they dumped me onto the cold sidewalk outside the club.
“Did he hurt you?” I asked because I had to know.
When Aria called me from Morgana’s phone I was surprised. But when she explained that her boss had taken Morgana to a private room against her will I couldn’t get there fast enough. I don’t even remember getting dressed, as I had just stepped out of the shower when I got the call.
No matter what Morgana had done to me at work, she didn’t deserve a man hurting her like that.
“No. Thank you for coming to help. I am quite surprised you did.” She shook her head. I stared at the rip on the shoulder of her blouse. Anger rose in me and woke me from the cloudy fog I had been in from getting beaten up.
“I’m surprised too but as much as I never wanted to see you again I couldn’t let anyone hurt you. In fact, if those two guys had not shown up I would probably be facing murder charges right now.”
I was lying on the green bedspread that covered her bed. The taxi driver helped me out of the cab and into her apartment. She directed him to her bedroom and despite what she said at Mimir a few days ago, I’m glad to be here with her.
“But if you did that it would just make it easier for me to take your job?” Morgana said and then snorted as if she said something amusing.
It wasn’t funny.
“It was a joke, Henrik. Not a very good one but still a joke. I don’t want your job . . . well not if I have to hurt you to get it.”
I stared at her to see if she was telling the truth. This time, she looked me in the eye. Was she lying before? Why would she say what she did to Evaleen knowing it would get her fired?
“But you admitted that you knew Bechmann was showing up so you could get me in trouble.”
Instead of answering me she rolled her eyes and left the room. She couldn’t answer me. I closed my eyes and tried to will away the pain of having hope in a woman. In this woman.
I was foolish to believe she might care for me.
When Morgana returned, she had a first aid kit in her hand. She got down on her knees on the floor next to me and tried to lift my sweater. I grabbed her wrist to stop her.
“Why did you lie to us or did you, Morgana?”
She sighs but answers my question, “So you wouldn’t lose your job, Henrik. As much as I want to get into the Executive Development Program, and believe me I want it almost as much as I want cake. If you lost your job with the company it would not just hurt you but also the people at Mimir.”
Morgana shook her head before continuing, “Even if they hired a great executive to take your place I honestly don’t think that person could ever do as good of a job as you. Mimir is like family to you and it would be their loss if you went away. If I got fired, well . . . it may be a nuisance for you to have to find another as
sistant but the company would be fine without me. If anyone has to leave, it’s best for the company if I leave.”
I stare at her, surprised by her answer. No wonder she couldn’t look at me when she told Evaleen she had set me up to get caught. Morgana was lying, but to save me.
No one has ever done that for me before. They had never taken the fall to help me.
Now I was angry again, but this time it was at myself. I grabbed the first aid kit and struggled to get up. Morgana tried to stop me but I managed to find her bathroom and set about cleaning myself up.
Staring at my reflection in the mirror I looked bad. My eye was swollen and my lip and chin had dried blood covering the right side. I couldn’t help but laugh as I realized my outside matched how I was on my inside.
I was a broken, bloody mess who didn’t deserve someone like Morgana.
When I emerged from her bathroom she was standing there with a mug in her hand. Even a bit tattered she was beautiful.
“I made some tea. It will help with the pain.”
I wish she would stop being so nice, so helpful. Doesn’t she realize I’m a horrible person?
Taking the tea, I had a sip and immediately regretted it.
“Ugh, that’s awful. Are you trying to kill me, Ms. Drake?”
She smirked and pinched the air. “Just a little, Mr. Payne.”
I laughed and searing pain shot up my side. Morgana noticed and tried to guide me back to bed. “Here come lie down and I vow not to make you laugh, but I can’t promise anything about poison.”
I do as nurse Drake suggested and put the cup down to lie back in her bed.
She goes to take some things out of her dresser. “I’ll sleep out on the couch if you need me. I know the tea tastes bad but it really will make you feel better by morning so try and drink it.”
She should go but I don’t want her to. Morgana should get as far from me as possible.
“Morgana?”
“Yes,” she said, standing in the doorway.
“Stay with me tonight.”
She’s the sweet one, not me. Morgana may be selfless, but I’m not.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea, Henrik. Besides you are hurt, you need your rest. I’ll be right out here if you need anything.”
With that, she closed the door and the pain grew worse.
I try to drink more of the tea but it’s making me gag after each sip. Lying in her room and gazing at her framed movie posters I realized these were all the movies I loved.
That’s when I heard it. The sounds of Jeff Bridges talking about a rug. I got up and walked out to her living room.
Morgana was sitting with her legs tucked up on her old couch with a saucer of cake in her hand. She had an old, almost see-through T-shirt on and pink PJ pants. She glanced up from what she was watching on her television with surprise on her face.
She put the plate on the coffee table. “I’m sorry, is this too loud? I can turn it down.”
I pointed to the couch. “No, do you mind if I join you?”
She nodded and I walked over to sit next to her. After watching the movie for a few minutes, I say, “God this is a great movie. When I heard it I had to come out here.”
“Oh, that’s what led you out. Well if I knew The Big Lebowski was the way to your heart I would have worn a mask of The Dude around the office,” she said with that husky laugh of hers.
I looked at her and smiled. “Don’t ever wear The Dude mask at the office. I think that would scare me more than anything and you already do enough stuff to shock me to an early grave.”
Not that she would be in the office anymore. There was a sharp twinge at my heart realizing that.
“You love it.” She scrunched her nose.
Morgana was so cute, so sexy, so sticky sweet that I wanted to taste her. My eyes dipped to her chest and I couldn’t help but focus on her nipples. So hard they pointed straight at me.
“I do,” I said.
Her eyes dipped too. Straight to my lips. God, if she only knew what my lips wanted to do to her. But for now, I wanted to see what her lips would do.
I reached forward to the coffee table and swiped some of the buttercream from her slice of cake.
“Open up, Ms. Drake and take it. All of it.”
She does exactly as I command. Her lips suck on my finger and I can feel her wet tongue swirling around my finger. When she looks up at me as she laps my finger I groan.
I had to taste her. Removing my finger, I paint a trail down her neck and dip my lips to it. Her skin is sweet and salty and everything I imagined it would be.
Her hand lands on my erection, pushing hard against my jeans. She rubs and it feels incredible. I gyrate into her hand, slipping my hand under her shirt to tease her nipple.
Searing pain shoots up my body and I realize I can’t do much so I pull away. I can see the rejection on her features and want to do anything to help her feel good.
She deserved it. Morgana should have every wonderful and fantastic whenever she wants.
“Touch yourself, Morgana.”
THIRTEEN
Morgana’s Problem
Kisses
Henrik made me.
He placed my hand on my breast and told me to touch myself. How could I refuse? Not just that, but it was the hottest thing a man had ever said to me.
His voice was dark, like chocolate, and so smooth. Henrik’s lips twitched just slightly but enough to cause my stomach to clench, and just about every muscle in my body to tense too.
I did as he said. My finger travelled up the curve of my stomach. Taking the pebbled nipple in between my thumb and finger and pinched. The pleasure travelled down from my chest to between my thighs. I arched my back because the roughness of doing it over my shirt mixed with the pain of the pinch and the heat of his gaze.
If he walked out right now and I had to finish myself off alone, that’s the thought I would use. How Henrik savoured what I was doing was better than any porn.
He reached over pulling my waistband down and slid his fingers down until he found my clit.
He stroked. Slow at first, matching what my hand was doing to my chest. But then Henrik’s fingers slipped down, so easily that I hadn’t noticed until he plunged. Deep inside me.
“I notice, Morgana, always. When you enter a room, I notice. The way you look at me, I notice. Those fucking sexy glasses of yours, I notice. But then I think I want more.”
Sitting there, with heavy, lust filled eyes his fingers languidly playing with me. If it wasn’t for the thick erection in his jeans, trying to break free and his sex fuelled gaze, I would have thought he was bored.
But, I had learned since working with him, that’s Henrik. He’s reserved, controlled, and never animated. No one can tell what he’s thinking. Well, no one but me.
“I want to hear you laugh, but then that’s not enough. I want to hear you sigh. But that still isn’t fucking enough. I want to hear you whimper, moan and then I want to watch you break apart for me as you come,” Henrik said as his fingers moved a little faster.
His thumb moved back to my clit and as we worked together I felt my muscles tighten inching closer to release.
“That’s it, Morgana. Come for me.”
I did. The room went black as my head fell back and I closed my eyes. I cried out his name and maybe cursed a little because whenever he touched me it felt incredible.
I opened my eyes to find him grinning at me. It was soft but unusual. Henrik never smiles. It was so different that it made my heart hitch in my chest.
Just a little hiccup of emotion, but enough that I pulled myself to him. Taking his face in my hands my lips sought out his mouth. You would have thought from the orgasm I had just had I’d take a break from pawing at Henrik, but the opposite was true.
He groaned as I straddled him and curled my fingers through his hair. His arms came around me and held me firm, but not too tight. I was able to grind on him.
My hand began to s
lide down his chest. My aim, the fly on his jeans. I wanted his cock. Even if he was too bruised for sex, I wanted to feel it and maybe even to taste it.
But Aria ruined everything.
The doorknob jiggled and we both turned our heads to see my roommate, Aria, walk in the apartment.
Her head lifted after she closed the front door to find us staring at her. Luckily, I had straightened my top so she hadn’t noticed too much. But, she was the expert at the sex stuff so there was no fooling her what we were up to.
“Oh God. I’m sorry. Don’t mind me,” Aria said as she covered the side of her face with her hand and quickly moved down the hall to her bedroom.
“Buzz kill. Aria has the worst timing!”
Henrik’s laugh rumbled and I found his smile quickly faded to pain.
“You’re in pain. We shouldn’t have done that,” I said as I gently laid a hand on his shoulder.
“Even if I knew I wouldn’t be able to walk again after what we just did, it still would have been worth it to watch you come.”
I brought my lips back to his and deepened our kiss. It’s warm and his mouth was made for kissing, but I realize something and lift my head.
“Henrik, do you realize tonight was our first kiss?”
His lips curve into a wicked smirk and he leaned forward to nibble on my neck. I try to focus on what I had just said but he made it very hard to concentrate. Damn him and his amazing lips.
A moan escaped, which only fueled his mouth more. But despite his hypnotic mouth I keep talking, “That’s funny. It never really occurred to me. Usually people kiss first and then the sex stuff happens.”
Henrik’s hand slid to my breast and with just one pinch I arched my back. My brain had officially turned off. I would only respond to physical distractions and lustful lips.
“I never kiss before someone has an orgasm,” Henrik mutters into my neck. It’s muffled but I hear every word.
And just like that everything he has been doing to me suddenly doesn’t feel so good anymore.
Rules of Payne (Cake Love Book 1) Page 7
