Billionaire Bash: The Complete Steele Series

by Natalia Banks

  Well, Kerri wondered, why does it have to? Things may have started off this way, but it doesn’t mean they can’t take on a life of their own, develop into something entirely different; but still kind of the same, in a lot of ways exactly the same.

  It only occurred to her then that there was still so much about Harden that Kerri didn’t know, that she needed to know those things before the end of the weekend.

  She found her moment on the big Ferris wheel, slowly rising in a big loop that brought them hundreds of feet above the pier. The sun was just setting; the sky was burning with shades of red, orange, and blue, streaks of purple cutting through that celestial fire.

  Clutching her big, fluffy bear, Kerri said to Harden, “I, um, I wanted to thank you for a wonderful day, Harden, and a wonderful weekend.”

  He smiled. “Neither one are quite over yet.”

  Kerri smiled too, but it didn’t last. “No, but it’s gonna be over soon, isn’t it?” Harden’s smile also faded. “I don’t suppose I’m the only girl in your life; and that’s okay, I don’t have any right to ask that.—” Harden said nothing, allowing Kerri to prattle on, despite her better instincts. “I notice there’s no ring, but … I wouldn’t want to go on being one of your, um, your regulars, y’know ? That’s just not my style.”

  “Are you really willing to say, definitively, what your true style is? I’d have thought you’d be ready to reconsider all that by now.”

  “Oh, well, I’ve … I’ve reconsidered a lot, believe me, and I’m ready for whatever’s coming.”

  “You may think you are.”

  “Why don’t you try me and find out?”

  They stared into each other’s eyes, hot lust unspoken between them, the temptation to throw themselves into each other’s arms and legs and tongues almost irresistible. But the wheel was just passing low, at the level of the pier, and a familiar face sent a blot of cold terror through her body.

  Mister Death, the New Jersey loan shark, was standing with his partner, Mr. Kill. They wore their black dusters and were staring directly at Kerri when she noticed them. She gasped and looked at them, Harden turning to follow her line of sight. “What is it, Kerri?”

  “I … that man, those two men in the black jackets.”

  Harden fixed his glare at them even as the wheel brought them back up again. “What about them?”

  “I owe them money; well, they say I do. My late husband’s gambling debts.”

  “Really? How much?”

  “Two hundred grand. They’re hooked up, I think.”

  “Mafia.”

  “From Jersey, if I’m guessing the accent right, maybe Philly. It’s why I’m here, among other … financial difficulties.”

  Harden gave it a little thought, keeping his eyes on them, still in the crowd. “You’ll have more than enough to cover that, but even so; what proof do they have that you owe them anything at all? And how do you know that, once you pay them, they won’t come back for more later?”

  Kerri cleared her throat. “I guess I don’t.”

  Harden shook his head. “No, that’s unacceptable.—” He pulled a smartphone from his breast pocket and swiped the screen. “You got names on these puds?”

  “Um, Mr. Kill and Mr. Death, but I don’t think those are their real names.”

  “What was your first clue?—” He turned his attention back to the phone just as the wheel brought them down again, both mobsters holding their position, glaring at Kerri and Harden. Harden clicked a photo of them on his phone as the wheel passed, breaking their menacing stillness to exchange worried glances.

  Kerri asked, “What did you do ? What’s going on?”

  On the way back up, Harden swiped the screen a few times, pressed it a few times more, then raised it to his ear. After a pause, he said into the phone, “Yeah, it’s me … put him on.—” He waited, Kerri looking on in silent awe. Harden said, “Paulie, it’s the Iceman.—” After a quiet moment, Harden chuckled. “Yer still a riot, Don Paul, funniest man in the Garden State. But lemme ask you a question, Paulie, you got two jamokes down here, collecting on some croaked actor, Mark McCall? -I just sent their picture.” Harden listened, nodding and glancing at Kerri as the wheel paused with them at the top. “Ahh..Dino Palermo and Chaz La Blanca.. that’s them” They looked down, Kerri still able to spot their twin black leather dusters in the lighted crowd below.

  Harden went on, “Tell you what, Paulie; call ‘em off, I’ll cover the debt. And any … further responsibilities, so the widow’s completely well.” He listened, giving Kerri a wink. “No, I wouldn’t say they offended me personally, I just want the matter taken care of to everyone’s satisfaction, and I want that done right now. Sure, five minutes will be fine, no rush.” Harden smiled. “In fact, that should be perfect.—” During another long pause, Harden looked Kerri’s body up and down, his eyes resting on her pretty face and grateful smile. “Yeah, she sure is.” Harden chuckled into the phone. “I’ll have someone take it out of petty cash and hand-deliver it to your office tomorrow. Still in the Boom Boom Room, I take it?” Harden chuckled again, the Ferris wheel resuming its cycle to inch Harden and Kerri back toward the pier level. But the wheel kept stopping to let out the riders, and Kerri knew they’d soon be out on the pier with Dino and Chaz, and nobody could say what would happen.

  “Thanks, Paulie. I owe you one.—” Harden swiped the screen and slipped the phone into his breast pocket before turning to Kerri. “Done.”

  “I … I don’t understand. Did you just pay that debt for me?”

  Harden nodded. “And made sure they won’t pester you again.”

  “Well, Harden, thank you, but … that’s too generous. I am getting money out of all this, that’s what it’s for.”

  “Pay it forward if you like, it’s all right. The main thing is those foot soldiers are out of your face, and that you’re off the mob’s books. You never know when that’ll bite you on the ass.” He offered up a seductive little smile. “Or when I might.—” He clacked his teeth closed and Kerri chuckled, setting a hand on his chest.

  But Kerri’s nervousness returned when the Ferris wheel brought their carriage to the pier and the operator opened the door. Harden led her out with a gentle, “It’s all right.—” She took a deep breath and stepped out of the carriage, slipping her arm into Harden’s and stepping away from the Ferris wheel.

  Dino and Chaz were standing there, intimidating, legs splayed and posture loose, staring Kerri and Harden down. Harden walked Kerri directly toward them, despite her gentle pull in the other direction.

  Chaz was about to speak, but Harden simply said, “Aren’t you going to answer your phone?”

  This took Chaz by surprise, twitching and turning his head. “Wha?- What the hell’re you talking about?”

  “Your phone,” Harden repeated, “I asked you if you were going to answer your phone. Or are you deaf as well as stupid?”

  “Stupid? Man, I’m gonna rip your head off and piss down your neck.—” He glared at Kerri. “And that’s nothing compared to what I’m gonna do to this little-”

  But Chaz’s smartphone rang, surprising him again. He looked at his partner, then at Harden and Kerri as his phone rang again, a chorus of Speak Softly, Love, the theme to The Godfather.

  “Your phone, dumb ass,” Harden said, “I suggest you answer it … now!”

  Chaz hesitated, sharing curious glances with Dino. With that familiar melody playing muffled in his jacket pocket, Chaz pulled his phone out, swiped it, and raised it to his face. “Yeah?” Harden and Kerri stood, silent but stalwart, as Dino looked on in confusion. Chaz said into the phone, “Yer kiddin’ me!” Another pause later, Chaz nodded exaggeratedly. “No, of course not, Don Paulie, whatever you say, but … Yes, sir, a wife ... and a son, barely out of diapers, sir.”

  Kerri glanced at Harden, who was focused on Chaz and his phone call, not a single word missing Harden’s attention.

  Chaz finally said, “Okay, yes sir, whatever you say, of c
ourse, absolutely.—” Chaz pocketed the phone and glared at his partner. Then the two men turned to Kerri and Harden, Chaz putting his hands up, palms flat and head low, as he and Dino backed away, fading into the crowd, sheepish, defeated.

  Kerri turned to Harden, who offered only a wry smile in return. Kerri was breathless, and since they had only one more night together, Kerri didn’t want to waste another minute of it on talk.

  Chapter 8

  “This is what you wanted,” Harden hissed from just behind Kerri’s head. The cleave gag pressed her cheeks back and her tongue down, intrusive. He tied it tight behind her head, letting her blonde hair fall over the knot. Mocking her simpering voice, he said, “‘Are you going to tie me up? You should have heard yourself, Kerri, so transparent. You were dying for this!”

  Harden sat her down on the bed and turned her to face him, holding her wrists together while he lashed a long stretch of thick black nylon rope, folded over, around to bind them. “But why not ? You’ve been trained since childhood to want this, and to be ashamed of your desire. But on every TV show, in every movie, the pretty girl gets kidnapped, tied up, frightened but never hurt, marauded but not raped, always rescued by her loving hero, adored and adoring.”

  After a few passes around Kerri’s wrists, he looped the rope between them, securing the tight grip and tying it off. Tugging the remaining length of one end of the rope, Kerri scooted back on the bed, her head coming to rest on the pillow, as he drew her hands over her head, to tie them tightly to the thick, walnut beam along the base of the headboard.

  “The special pretty thing that every man wants, women too.—” He pulled the rope tight, securing them to the headboard, her breasts rising and falling faster with her increased heart rate. “You’re every man’s fantasy, good man and bad. You’re what everybody wants, and they’ll do anything, risk anything, to have you!”

  He stepped off the bed and retrieved another long stretch of nylon rope, folding it in the middle to create another double-cord. “And you love that. You loved being in the movies, pursued and desired, a helpless damsel for men to jerk off to, to dream about, to fantasize about capturing you and rescuing you, your villain and your hero.”

  Harden grabbed Kerri’s bare ankle and pulled her leg tight, muscles instinctively flexing to pull away. Even though Kerri wanted what Harden was about to do, she wanted to struggle against it too.

  “And that’s what you want from me,” Harden went on. “You want me to be all things, your rescuer and your kidnapper; you want me to take you and have you, with all my predatory aggression, and then rescue you and be rewarded by your virtuous affection.”

  He tied the knot around her ankle, leaving the other leg free.

  “You love it, but you need to be able to deny it, to put it all on me; the bad man who took your virtue, the one to blame. But you want to give me your virtue, only to me! You want me to take it, only me !”

  He approached her on that side of the bed and she kicked at him, landing a good blow against his ribs before he wrapped his arm around her calf, pinning it. “Good, Kerri, very good.”

  Harden grabbed Kerri’s panties, the only garment she still wore, and tore it to the side, ripping apart against her flanks. He held her free leg, which she jutted with feeble attempts to throw him.

  “Well, Kerri,” he asked with a grainy smile. “How does it feel? Haven’t you ever been tied up before, arms pinned down no matter how hard you try? You never had your ankles tied, pussy exposed, open and vulnerable to anything, helpless, with nothing you can do? Have you ever felt this completely out of control, Kerri?”

  Kerri started to whimper, a moan leaking up from the back of her throat.

  “Maybe you can get free, Kerri, regain that control, any slight bit of power, any way at all to defend yourself. Pull your hand free, Kerri, just so you can hold me off. C’mon, you can do it, Kerri!”

  She pulled her arm at that tight bond, then the other.

  “Go on, Kerri, try to break free, see if I can’t give you what you want, what you need.”

  She pulled at the ropes again and with a bit more vigor, but those ropes were more than secure enough to hold her. Harden leaned in and yelled, “I said struggle, damn you!” The sheer volume and aggression of his command stunned and frightened her, sending Kerri’s body into a state of tense spasm, hips rising, body twisting, arms craning, legs rolling on her calves. Her free leg had a little give in Harden’s grip, but her other limbs were locked down tight, the gag starting to hurt her cheeks as it bit against her mouth.

  “Atta girl,” he said with a vicious smile. “Now you’re warming up, now you understand.” He ran his hand up and down her bound thigh, her pussy emanating heat and glistening with readiness. “You think you’ve lost control? You think I’ve taken it away from you? But all eyes are on you, pretty Kerri. When you walk into a room, when you run through the woods screaming with some masked killer on your trail, when you’re lying here on my bed all tied up and gagged, it’s all about you, Kerri. Every twitch is gorgeous, every pull and wriggle is ecstasy. We live for it, we live for you! That’s control, Kerri. It’s natural for us to want to dominate, but it’s natural for you to be able to manipulate. Use that helplessness as a deadly weapon. You’ve learned to control yourself, and to give up control. Now you’ll learn how much control you really have!”

  Kerri knew Harden was right, that while she had given herself up to him, she had also taken her place in a long and honorable tradition that included some of the strongest females and female figures in history.

  So Kerri let herself squirm and strain, mewing a bit into her gag as Harden kissed her neck, breath growling and hot. He kissed his way down to her breasts, Kerri arching her back to raise them up to his lips, but he withdrew making her groan in frustration. Her hard nipples yearned for his wet kiss, to meet that wandering tongue, but he denied her in a way they both loved.

  He jutted his face forward, lips over his teeth, as he took one nipple into his mouth, and applied enough pressure to send little electric crackles of pleasure through her chest. He gave that breast a squeeze before making his way over to kiss the other, nipple erect and ready. Kerri cooed as he kissed her nipple and the underside of her breast, blowing a warm stream of air against her sensitive skin.

  He lingered just far enough away from her breast to be a tease, and Kerri whimpered her frustration and pulled at her bonds. But her wrists were secure, and the harder she pulled at them, the more that thick nylon dug into her wrists. The harder she wanted to pull them, the more she wanted it to hurt. The harder she struggled, the more she wanted to struggle and the less she wanted to escape. Her mind reeled with the realization as her body strained against the binds holding her in place, helpless.

  Harden’s kisses descended, following a glistening trail of sweat down the center of her flawless torso, her stomach quivering and spasming, as he lightly kissed his way down. Kerri shifted her hips in a vain attempt to avoid what she knew was coming, what she could hardly wait for. She was almost ready to cum just thinking about it, and as Harden pressed one hand against each thigh, more pressure against her unbound leg, he seemed to know it.

  She flinched as his tongue first found her pulsing labia, heat radiating to mix with his own hot breath. Despite her feigned unwillingness, her clit was glistening and already popping out to greet Harden’s powerful, skillful tongue. The two fleshy tissues met in a glorious swirling of tastes and sensations, Kerri’s legs tensing as her muscles contracted with little juts of joy.

  Harden only held those strong legs down with greater strength as his tongue began to cover every bit of her exposed, pink perfection. His cheeks brushed against her thighs as he slowly dragged his tongue up and down, adding a quick side-to-side motion that delighted all the different clusters of nerves gathered around and within that amazing and mysterious organ. At that moment, her clit was controlling her entire body, legs and arms pulling and twisting with every masterful motion; it was controlling her, and he
was controlling it.

  A faster flicking and flutter gave birth to another lusty orgasm, stirring in her loins. Her hips writhed as if to resist, to wriggle free, and her orgasm delighted in her struggle. She pulled harder, and that orgasm began to swell even more.

  Harden lifted his head up, tongue barely within reach of her flexing, burning labia. Kerri’s body was torn with desire, craving more attention, harder and deeper. To have nothing at all, merely the trace of his breath, the suggestion of his tongue, so close and still unreachable, was something Kerri couldn’t bear. She screamed into her gag and tried to pull her hands free so she could jam that handsome face deep into her hot cunt but her arms were bound tight, and her legs immobile under Harden’s handsome authority. Her pussy burned for attention, her scream becoming a sob, her orgasm taking full advantage of her helplessness.

  Kerri’s body quivered as she came, groups of muscles fluttering inside her, juices stirring and splashing, heaving and frothing, rising with every break. Kerri had to have Harden inside of her, to wrap herself around that massive meat and hold on tight and never let go.

  And she was about to have it.

  Harden slid his hand under Kerri’s free leg and pushed it up, her knee approaching her breast. Harden’s cock found its familiar position between her hot, firm labia, clit already throbbing in time to her heart beat, her body straining to reach out to embrace what he teased her with, to pull his cock in and devour it. But Harden waited, arms resting on his thighs, her one leg slung up and over, his muscular torso seeming to hover over her. His cock head slid in just a bit, sending Kerri’s already percolating orgasm to rupture yet again, swelling with every eruption. Kerri tried to wriggle into position to push herself up and around his rigid wand, but Harden evaded her with barely a move. He even smiled as he glowered down at her, mocking her gagged whimper with feigned sympathy. “Oh, poor thing. You want it all, don’t you? You want me to fuck you so hard. You wanna break free so you can pull me in? Go ahead and try, baby, wriggle free and have me the way you want, the way you need!”