I stopped and dropped a kiss on her downy cheek as I grabbed my jacket. “If I hadn’t met Ally first, I’d so go for you.”
Her laughter followed us out of the room.
I pulled Ally into the closest alcove and wrapped my arms around her.
“I can’t believe you did that,” she whispered into my neck.
“If you’re furious, I’ll drive you home,” I said.
She lifted her face to me, her eyes filled with wonder. “How can I be furious? You stood up to my mother and Ronald. In a way I’ve never seen anyone stand up to them before. You did it on their level.” She shook her head. “In a room full of their peers, you…claimed me.”
“I can work a room.”
“You’re shameless.”
“No. I’m in love with you. I want everyone to know you’re mine. They can either accept it or get the fuck out of the way.”
“They’ll never accept it.”
Slipping my fingers under her chin, I dropped a kiss on her sweet mouth. “I know this is going to explode around us. I only wanted to come tonight and let them see I exist. I didn’t plan the whole pissing contest with your mother.”
“What changed?”
“Seeing you. You weren’t beside me. I couldn’t touch you. He could and I hated it. He can talk to you, act like you belong to him, but you don’t.” I slid my hands down her arms, pulling her closer. “You’re mine, Ally. You belong with me.”
“Yes, I do.”
“You’re not angry?”
“No. I’ll be summoned soon, though.”
“I’ll go with you. You don’t have to face them alone.”
“You’d do that?”
“I’d do anything for you.”
I held her tight. “We’ll do this together.” I snorted. “Or I can call Elena. She’ll put them straight in a fucking heartbeat.”
“Elena adored you. I could see her talking to you.”
“I like her. She’s…wicked. She likes my ink.” I winked. “I think the old gal fancies me a little.”
Ally giggled. “I don’t blame her. You’re pretty hot stuff, Mr. Kincaid.”
“Can I take you home?”
“Yes.”
“My home?”
“Can I use my key?”
I tucked her under my arm
“Yes.”
“Okay. Home then.”
Chapter 12
Ally’s phone chimed again, but this time it was a different sound than usual. Bradley and her mother had tried several times to reach her since we left the gala last night, but she ignored them all. She glanced over from her spot in my arms, frowning.
“You need that?”
“That’s Vivian. She may need me to cover a shift.”
Reluctantly I handed it to her. I didn’t want her going in, but I knew I had no voice in the matter. She read the screen and rolled her eyes.
“What?”
“She’s reminding me about my holiday time.”
“What about it?”
“The fact I need to take some.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. This happens every year.”
“Why don’t you take your days?”
She sat up, looking out the window. “There never seems to be any point. I don’t have the money to travel or anyone to travel with. I went with Elena once on a brief trip to New York, but she likes her own kind of thing.” She sighed. “Mostly playing cards and gossiping with her cronies. I hate sitting around the apartment. I take a few days every so often when Vivian insists, and I play tourist here, but that’s about it.”
I sat up, running my fingers along her arm. I leaned in and kissed her V of freckles. “Take some time then—now. With me.”
She looked over, puzzled. “What?”
“Take a week off. We can take some road trips on the bike, sleep in, eat out, and get some time with each other.”
“What about your job?”
I grinned. I’d had another stretch of time here—something rare, but I was pleased to extend it. “I’ll shock the hell out of Sean and tell him I’m taking some time off. If anything happens he can get someone else.”
Excitement lit up her eyes. “Really? They can do that?”
“Yes. Can they get someone to cover for you?”
She clutched her phone. “I’ll ask.”
—
Leaning back on the tree, I smiled indulgently at Ally. She was aiming her camera phone my way, no doubt in retribution for the hundreds of photos I’d taken of her these past few days. The camera loved her. Smiling, laughing, sleeping, even crying while we watched some terrible god-awful chick flick she insisted we needed to see. I had captured all her emotions and the way her brilliant eyes projected them. The hues transformed all the time, and I wanted to capture the changes.
Vivian had been more than accommodating with her, finding someone to cover her shifts without hesitation, and Sean, once he recovered from his shock, simply laughed and promised to contact me in only the direst of circumstances.
The weather was great and we took full advantage of it. I purchased a helmet and gear for Ally and she enjoyed riding on the bike with me. I loved how she felt wrapped around my body, her chest molded to my back and her legs straddling mine.
Today we were having a picnic. She had cooked all morning, while I attempted to help. I was kicked out of the kitchen, after being told in no uncertain terms that trying to fuck her on the counter did not constitute “help.”
I did it anyway.
She was too sexy wearing one of my shirts, with her hair piled on her head and her bare feet thumping on the floor as she moved around, singing softly to herself. Around her ankle was one of my leather wristbands. I had slipped it on while she slept, the caveman in me liking how she now had a piece of me on her body. When she woke up, she had lifted her leg, the black of the leather a dark stripe on her ivory skin, and studied it, running her fingers around the thin circlet, then she smiled. She knew what it meant to me to see it on her.
Watching her hips move in time to the music as she stirred something in a bowl was too much to resist. My shirt ended up on the floor. She ended up on the counter and my face ended up between her legs.
She did scream my name—twice.
Once while I fucked her with my tongue, and once when I buried myself deep inside and took her hard and fast.
The way I told her I would.
Even now, looking at her across the blanket from me, I wanted her. I glanced around at the trees—they were thick and plentiful, and the place mostly deserted this time of day. We were in a private little area we’d found on the edge of the park.
I could pull her onto my lap and bury myself inside her. She was even wearing a skirt.
How convenient.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she sang out as she popped a grape into her mouth.
“Mind reader now, are you?”
“No.” She indicated my lap and the prominent bulge I was sporting—a constant state it seemed when she was around. “Body language.” She shook her head. “Is that all you think of?”
“Not my fault you’re so fucking sexy.” I patted my knee, leering at her. “Why don’t you come over here and we can talk about whatever…pops up?”
She started to giggle. The giggling became laughter, and she clapped a hand over her mouth trying to hold in her mirth.
I began to laugh with her. I loved seeing her like this. She was rested and relaxed, the dark circles under her eyes vanished and the worried look gone. She had cut off all communication with her parents and Bradley, refusing to listen to their objections or to see them until her break was over. It had done her a world of good.
She said I had done her a world of good.
I pushed off the tree, lunging and catching her around the waist, pinning her underneath me.
“You think that’s funny? You find my cock funny, Ally?” I growled and thrust forward.
Her eyes widened, all the l
aughter ceasing as she felt how hard I was for her. A small moan escaped her lips.
I ran my tongue up her neck and pulled her earlobe into my mouth, swirling and teasing. “You like that, don’t you? Feeling how hard you make me.”
“Yes…”
“You want me, Ally? You want me to fuck you outside, knowing someone might see us?” I bit down on her neck gently, sucking the skin between my teeth and rolling it. “Tell me, my wild girl. Tell me what you want.”
I slipped my hands under her shirt, ghosting up her torso and tracing her lace-covered nipples with my thumbs.
“My hands? You want my hands on you?”
I tickled her skin with my lips, dipping between her breasts and nuzzling.
“My tongue? Is that what you want?”
I sat back and pulled her against me, my cock hitting her heat. “Or my cock?”
She whimpered, the sound making me harder. I stroked her leg, inching my hands higher until they reached the satin of her panties. Her very small, very damp panties.
“Oh, my girl is ready,” I crooned, slipping my fingers inside and stroking. “So ready.”
“Please, Adam,” she pleaded.
“Tell me what you want, and I’ll give it to you.”
I loved hearing the dirty words she only ever said to me fall from those sweet lips. Her head thrashed as I flexed my fingers, stroking that spot that drove her crazy.
“I’ll give you everything. Just say it.”
She arched, forcing my fingers deeper. “Oh God…Adam…I want…I want you to fuck me.”
“With?” I demanded.
“Your cock…I want your cock.”
I moved her panties aside, tugged my jeans down, and lifted her onto my lap, sinking in deep. “Good answer, baby.”
I held her tight, her face buried in my neck as she rolled her hips, pressing down as I thrust into her. She whimpered and moaned, her breath hot on my skin. She fisted my shirt as she rode me hard. The feel of her teeth biting down into my skin as she quivered sent me over the edge and I groaned as I emptied myself inside her.
We stilled, wrapped around each other. I weaved my hands in her hair and lifted her face to mine, covering her skin with kisses, murmuring endearments as I brushed my lips against hers.
“God, I love you, Ally. I love you so fucking much I think I’ll burst.”
She hummed in agreement.
“You’re everything to me, baby. Everything. I can’t imagine life without you anymore.”
She drew back, her expression radiant.
“You’ll never have to.”
All levity left me as I gripped her face between my palms. “Promise me.”
Her hands covered mine. “I promise. I’ll never leave you, Adam.”
I clutched her to me, overwhelmed at the strange emotion. “Thank God.”
—
“You both look well rested.” Elena smirked at us.
I leaned back in my chair, holding a glass of scotch. We’d been given the nonnegotiable invitation to appear for lunch. I brought the promised scotch and the biggest bouquet of orchids and roses the florist could create.
Somehow I knew extravagant was the way to go with Elena. Nothing less would be right.
She accepted both as if it was her due, as well as the kiss I bestowed to her silky cheek.
“I convinced Ally to take some time off.”
“Well, that’s a first.”
I winked. “There’ve been many firsts, Elena.”
Ally slapped me on my arm. “Adam!”
I grinned. “What?” I asked innocently. “You rode my…bike for the first time, didn’t you?”
Elena scoffed as Ally’s cheeks darkened. Chuckling, I brushed a kiss to her heated skin.
“Behave,” she admonished quietly.
“I’ll try.”
Elena clapped her hands. “No! I like seeing the two of you like this. It’s like a breath of fresh air.” She sighed as she picked up her glass. “My Theo and I couldn’t keep our hands off each other. We—what is that phrase you young ones use nowadays—we fucked like rabbits all the time. I remember getting kicked out of the country club for inappropriate behavior on the golf course.
“Of course, it wasn’t the first time; the only difference was we got caught. That man knew his way around my putting green, let me tell you.”
Ally sputtered into her glass as I threw my head back and laughed. “I bet you got kicked out of a few places, didn’t you, you minx, you.”
“A few. He was a very physical man.” She paused, then chuckled. “Thank God. So many of the men I’d met before him were dreadful, boring people. As if they had sticks up their asses—like that Bradley. What a tool.”
I promptly decided I was arranging for flowers to be sent to this woman weekly. I adored her.
She turned to Ally. “I like this one. Sassy and good looking.”
Ally rolled her eyes. “Don’t encourage him. Stroking his ego only makes it bigger.”
“That’s not what you said this morning when you were stroking my big…ego,” I deadpanned.
Ally dropped her head in her hands, laughing. Elena chuckled.
“I can’t do anything with him,” Ally groaned.
“Do you want to?” Elena asked, tilting her head.
“No. I love him just the way he is,” Ally admitted with a smile.
Elena leaned forward and patted my hand. “I’m glad she found you, boy.”
Lifting Ally’s hand, I kissed her knuckles. “So am I.”
Ally excused herself to clean up from lunch. I watched her walk away with a grin, loving the sway of her hips as she moved.
Elena cleared her throat, and I dragged my gaze back to her.
“You have it bad.”
“It’s terminal.”
“I want to see lots of you, boy.”
“Ditto. On one condition.”
“Oh—negotiations. Excellent. Let’s begin.”
“Only one.”
“Name it.”
I leaned forward, earnest. “I get called away a lot. Promise me when I do, you’ll watch out for Ally.”
“Keep the monsters at bay such as it were?” she asked with a wry grin.
“They know exactly how to destroy her. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “How serious are you about my girl?”
I met her gaze unwaveringly. “She’s my world now. She feels the same about me. Her parents…”
“Hate you,” she finished.
“I’m not acceptable.”
She scoffed. “Ronald. There’s another tool. My brother was the biggest snob that ever lived and he passed that along to him. My nephew is so worried about keeping up appearances, he forgets to actually look and see anything. He’s built Ollie up into a saint in his own mind. He will never forgive Alexandra for his death.”
I nodded, having figured that out. “I’m worried what they’ll do and say to her when I’m not around.”
“They’ll try. But I’ll say this, boy. I’ve never seen Alexandra look at anyone the way she looks at you. It won’t matter what they say or do. For the first time in her life, she’s made up her mind about what she wants. And she wants you.” She patted my arm. “But I’ll keep an eye out. Now I have a request for you—two actually.”
“Name them.”
“I know what you do is dangerous. Promise you’ll be careful and come home to her.”
“Always.”
She paused, her eyes becoming distant for a moment.
“Ollie was a gift to me. I never understood how two such uptight people had a son like him. He was pure sunshine. I adored him.” She looked at me purposely. “And he adored your Ally. She’s paid an unnecessary price for his death. He would have hated his father for it.”
“Ally loved him, as well. She still misses him.”
She frowned. “They drummed so much shit into her head for so long she believed it. I’ve only ever been able t
o do so much.” She gazed into space for a moment. “Ronald has always been rigid. Always in control and demanding. His first wife was much the same as Sarah. She did whatever he told her to do. When he lost Oliver, it was as if he snapped. His bitterness was so strong it twisted him, and he needed to punish someone.”
“And he chose to punish a defenseless child who did nothing wrong.”
“I wanted to take her away. I spoke to my lawyer, but he told me it was a lost cause since her natural mother was alive and in her life. He told me if I tried, I would probably never see her again, and I couldn’t take that risk. So I played his game to stay close. I knew if I showed her affection he would send her off to some boarding school as far away as possible. I’ve always had to hide my affection for her. It’s only been lately I’ve been able to be more open with her, but it’s still not enough.”
I held her frail hand. “She knows, Elena. Believe me. She calls you her guardian angel.”
She shook her head. “Some guardian. I wanted to pay for her education and an apartment for her, but Ronald insisted he would. I had no idea of the terms until it slipped out one night after Ronald had a few too many drinks in him. But Alexandra refuses to let me pay him on her behalf, even now.”
“She’s stubborn,” I agreed. “She won’t let me pay him off, either.”
We’d had our first argument when I had made the offer to pay off the so-called debt.
“It’s my debt, Adam.” Ally’s eyes flashed with a spark of anger.
“An unnecessary one. I can pay it, and you’ll be free.”
“Money won’t free me from the guilt.”
“There should be no guilt. It wasn’t your fault. Stop letting them make you think it was!”
“Stop telling me how to feel!” she snapped back, her rare temper showing. “That’s no better than what they do!”
I held up my hands, shocked by her vehemence, yet pleased at the way she spoke her mind. It showed the strength she had inside. “Sorry. I only want to help. I hate seeing you struggle.”
Her face softened. “I have to do this my way. I need you to understand that, the same way you need me to understand your need to travel and capture the kind of images you do.”
I pulled her into my arms, knowing I had to accept it. “Okay, Ally. I hate it, but okay.”
Elena’s voice pulled me back to the present. “She still suffers with guilt.”
My Image of You Page 13
