by Sasha White
The air whipped through her hair as she pumped her legs and went higher and higher. She knew she’d forgive Joey her outburst. She loved her, and that was what friends did.
She also knew that she would say good-bye to Val soon, because she wanted a man who was willing to romance her, to be her friend and her lover, and the only way she was going to get what she wanted, was to hold out for it.
37
Samair slept on the loveseat that night.
Joey was sound asleep in the bed when she got home from the playground, Mike right next to her, but above the covers. The sight had made Samair’s heart swell, and she was glad her friend had decided to smarten up.
After a restless sleep she woke up to Joey’s make-up breakfast of bacon and eggs, with a side order of serious conversation.
“Mike’s gone already,” Joey said when she saw Samair’s quick glance at the bathroom.
She reached out to pull the full plate in front of her and Joey’s hand snaked out and covered hers. When their eyes met, Joey’s green ones were bright with tears. “I’m sorry.”
Samair turned her hand over to link their fingers. “I know you are, baby. It’s okay.”
“I don’t know what got into me, Sammie. I was hurt, and it just made me want to hurt someone else so I wasn’t alone. I didn’t mean any of it.”
“Yes, you did mean it. Maybe not all of it, but those things had to come from somewhere.” She squeezed her hand and smiled. “And it’s okay. You’re my soul sister, and I know you love me, just as I love you. That gives us permission to kick each other’s ass every now and then.”
A few sniffles and a hug and they dug into their breakfast. “So, you’re going to really give Mike a chance? No more temper tantrums if he makes you wait for the nookie?”
Color flooded Joey’s cheeks and she turned to the fridge for more orange juice. “He’s a good guy, and he was right. You were both right. I need to stop thinking that all I have to offer is my body.”
A pang went through Samair. “It sounds like true love might really be happening here.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “I’m going to let him romance me, and when we make love, it’s really going to mean something.”
Yay for her.
* * *
Samair was late. Again.
It was Tuesday afternoon and she was meeting Vera for a late lunch. The morning had been a bit of a hectic one, to say the least.
Val had called to see how Joey was, and when Samair mentioned her lunch date there had been a tense silence. Then he’d just had two words. “Be careful.”
Not knowing quite what to make of that, Samair had struggled with nerves over meeting his ex-wife, and what to wear. And when she saw the polished brunette looking sophisticated and beautiful in a simple gray silk sheath, she felt a bit overdressed.
Instead of going with something flowing and carefree as had been her style of late, Samair had chosen to go with her own personal version of a businesswoman. An electric blue clinging pencil skirt with a slit up the middle and a plain white button-up blouse. And, of course, a matching electric blue bra that could be seen through the blouse.
Pushing aside her insecurities, Samair straightened her skirt, summoned her inner vixen and strode up to the booth Vera occupied. “What a lovely restaurant, Vera. I’ve never been here before.”
It was a bit out of her normal price range, but she figured Vera’s invitation, Vera’s bill.
“A family friend owns it and it’s one of my favorites.” She waved the waiter over and waited while Samair ordered her drink.
Samair fought the urge to order coffee, the grown-up drink of choice, and stayed true to herself with a Diet Coke. They exchanged small talk and Samair relaxed. Vera was being charming and flirtatious, and it was fun.
After the waiter brought their meals, the subject of the Fetish and Fantasy show came up.
“It was a lovely show the other night,” Vera said with a smile. “You’re very talented.”
A flush of pleasure mixed with pride. She’d worked very hard and it was nice to hear the praise from a virtual stranger. “Thank you. All I did was make the lingerie, Val did the rest.”
“Yes, Valentine is a very…driven man.”
For the first time Samair felt a tingle of unease over being with Val’s ex-wife. The hair stood up on the back of her neck and her instincts perked up. She asked Vera what she hadn’t been able to ask Val. “Is that what came between you two? His being driven?”
Sleek eyebrows rose. “He hasn’t told you?”
“We don’t talk much when we’re together.”
“Ah yes, he’s always been very lusty as well.” Vera set down her fork and put her hands in her lap.
Samair sat straight and silent, waiting.
Finally Vera spoke. “Valentine’s first and only true love is that club, and when he didn’t spend a sufficient amount of time with me, I found other ways to amuse myself.”
“You mean other men?”
“A married couple, actually. It was mutually satisfying relationship for us, and when Valentine showed no interest in swinging, I selected another partner to take part with me. Valentine didn’t like that, and he left me.” She picked up her teacup and met Samair’s gaze. “He still loves me, though, and I’m close to winning him back. I believe his affair with you makes him feel as if we are even.”
“Even?” He’d left Vera because she’d had sex with someone else.
Pain knifed through her chest. If she’d needed confirmation that she was nothing more than a sexual partner to Val, that was it. He’d left his wife because he couldn’t stand to share her, and he’d invited another man into bed with them.
“That’s why I’m here, Samair. Valentine and I will be back together soon, and I’m not willing to share him anymore. I’d like you to leave him alone, and I’m willing to make it worth your while to do so.”
Be careful.
Val’s warning echoed in Samair’s mind and her spine stiffened. “Worth my while?”
“Yes,” Vera smiled and for the first time Samair saw it as more predatory than seductive. “I think you have an amazing talent and I’d like to invest in your design label, on the condition that you stop chasing my husband.”
Samair’s mind raced. She fought through the emotions swamping her to focus on what was right in front of her. Was this Val’s way of making sure her one last fantasy came true at the same time he was cutting her loose?
Be. Careful.
She clasped her hands together under the table to still their trembling. “Invest how much?”
Victory shone in Vera’s eyes as she described how she would set Samair up in a studio, set up accounts for her use at various wholesalers for fabrics and notions. She’d use her family name and connections to see that Samair got a chance to show her stuff to some industry friends in New York.
Basically, Vera offered her the sun, the moon, and the stars, if she would agree to stop seeing a man who only saw her as a sex partner anyway.
A man that she’d somehow come to care for, without even really knowing… No. She knew him. She knew he was strong, and safe and sane. He was honest and straightforward. He was also a nice guy, despite the tall, dark, and dangerous thing he had going on.
She did know him, even if she didn’t know his life story.
Shit, she’d spent four months getting to know Kevin before they’d ever slept together, and they were together for almost two years before she caught him and Lisa together. She’d lived with Lisa for three years. Time together doesn’t always mean you know someone. And she really did feel she knew Valentine Ward.
She knew him enough to trust him, even when he didn’t tell her everything.
“It’s an amazing offer, Vera. It truly is, and I’m so very thankful you think I’m talented to back like that. But I’m afraid I’m not interested.”
Vera’s eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. “He won’t stay with you. His nightclub means more to him than anyt
hing or anyone, and he’ll give you up when I make him the same offer.”
“That’s okay.” A weight lifted off her shoulders and she reached for her backpack. “I don’t know what the future holds as far as Val and I are concerned. What I do know is that Trouble is mine, and it will remain all mine. If I’ve learned anything from the past it’s that I need to stay true to myself and my dreams, being the sole power and inspiration behind Trouble is something I’m not willing to give up for anything.”
She took all the money from her wallet and tossed it on the table as she stood to leave. She didn’t want anything from Vera, not even lunch.
38
Val stewed all day, wondering what was Vera was up to with Samair. That bitch of an ex-wife of his was out to hurt him and that was fine, but if she fucked with Samair he would show her what true hurt was.
“Will you calm the fuck down, man? My head hurts just watching you.”
Val didn’t slow his pacing. “If you don’t like it, leave.”
“Shit, man, I’m sorry. I know how much this club means to you.”
The club? He wasn’t even thinking about the club. And that showed just how far gone he was. He was still short on the money to make the final loan payment, he had less than twenty-four hours, and no idea how to make it. And all he could think about was Samair.
As if his thoughts had conjured her, she was there. “We need to talk.”
Karl stood and clapped him on the shoulder. “Call me if you need me, buddy.”
When they were alone Samair closed the door to his office and went to sit on the sofa. He watched her, every muscle in his body tense as she sat back and crossed her legs. She met his gaze and he could read nothing in her baby blues.
“Your ex-wife says you’re getting back together.”
“She’s lying.”
Her lips tilted in a soft smile. “I figured that one out for myself when she tried to buy me off of seeing you again.”
He leaned back against the edge of his desk and scrubbed a hand over his face, giving himself a moment to get his emotions under control. “That woman is amazing.” Hungry for a hint to what was going on, he studied her posture and her expression.
Val had never seen Samair look so closed off before. He wanted to ask what else Vera had said, but he couldn’t. Instead he asked what she’d offered.
“Pretty much everything I could want. A studio to design in, account with suppliers, connection with the fashion industry.”
Her gaze was intent on him as she rattled off the list, and a sour ball of disappointment settled in his gut. What irony that he was going to lose the club, and the woman that had reminded him there was more to life than work, at the same time, to the same woman.
After all, Samair had gotten everything she could want from him already. They’d covered the majority of sexual fantasies, with the exception of serious kink—which he didn’t think she was interested in—plus he’d helped her get her own business up and running. He really had nothing else to offer her.
“It sounds like a dream come true. I’m happy for you.”
“I turned her down.”
His breath caught in his throat. “You turned her down?”
“As much as all of her promises sounded like a dream come true, they took away the most important aspect of making Trouble exactly that.”
Christ, she was killing him! Most women talked too much but getting information out of Samair was worse than pulling teeth. “What’s that?” he asked.
“If I let her do that for me, it wouldn’t be mine,” she said simply.
The sourness in his gut eased and relief loosened his tense muscles. All was not lost. “That’s true. Vera likes to control everything, and everyone, she’s involved with. I’m glad you turned down her offer.”
“I turned it down because I want my business to be mine, not because of you.” She stared at him. “In fact, all but two things have been crossed off my list of fantasies.’
It hit him then that if he didn’t start giving a bit more of himself, if he didn’t take a chance and open up a little, she was going to walk away. And he still wasn’t ready to let her go.
But, she’d said… “Two more things?”
* * *
The only way to get what she wanted wasn’t to hold out for it. Instead, she was going to go after it.
She’d met Val because she hadn’t been scared to let her inner bad girl out, to cause a little trouble, and that was how she was going to keep him.
She stood and sashayed closer, looking up at him from beneath her lashes. “Yes, two things.” She put a hand on his forearm and urged him around the desk. “One of which is to have you sit in your chair, and do absolutely nothing while I show you something.”
With a gentle push she had him in the high-backed leather chair behind his desk. Despite the heat that was creeping into his eyes as she eased up onto the desk in front of him, he looked quite…severe.
Almost principle-ish. It wasn’t the clothes; he was still wearing his usual daytime outfit of jeans and a T-shirt, with his luscious locks loose about his face. It was his rigid posture, and the stern expression on that handsome face.
She wondered if he’d put her over his lap and paddle her for being bad.
Before her mind could go too far down that path she started to inch the hem of her skirt higher up her thighs. A surge of adrenaline went through her. Her body heating, softening. This might be the last time she saw Val, and if it was, she wanted to be embedded into his memory forever.
Val sat in front of her, hands curled lightly on his muscled thighs, eyes steady as she reached up and undid the clip in her hair. She ran her hands through the fine strands and fluffed it. She wanted that just out of bed look that made his eyes gleam with hunger.
“Don’t move,” she warned. “Just watch.”
Her hands drifted down her neck and brushed lightly over her breasts. She cupped them, thumbs rubbing over the nipples until they stood hard and proud through her clothing before traveling down over her belly. She spread her legs a little, lifting her skirt higher so he could see the tops of her stockings and the inches of bare flesh before her electric blue panties blocked his view of her dampening sex.
“Do you like what you see?”
“Very much,” he met her gaze. “But I like it better when you’re not wearing panties.”
A thrill went through her. He always picked up on exactly what she wanted. “Your wish is my command,” she said softly and slipped fingers up under her skirt, and pulled her panties down. She dropped them from her knees and hooked it on them on her foot. Straightening her leg she waved it in front of Val. “For you.”
He slipped it off her foot and lifted it to his face for a deep breath. Heat flooded her body and the intense rush of arousal made her sex clench.
Leaving her thighs spread so he could enjoy the view, she brought her hands back up and began to slowly unbutton her blouse. She watched Val’s eyes flick back and forth from her hands and the skin she was slowly uncovering to her thighs and the skin that was already uncovered. Once all the buttons of her blouse were undone she spread it off her shoulders, so that it caught on her elbows. She arched her back and cupped her breasts through her bra. She lifted squeezed and teased with Val’s eyes glued to her movements.
He wanted that bra undone, it was clear in the way his hand started to reach out before his fingers curled and he stayed his movement.
“Good man,” she murmured. “Don’t touch, just watch.”
One hand dropped to her thigh and began a leisurely walk toward her pussy. She could feel herself thicken as blood pooled between her thighs and she spread her thighs farther. A naughty thrill filled her soul as she traced a fingertip over her swollen lips before slipping in between to test the warmth and spread the juices.
With eyes closed she let her mind go and began to pleasure herself. Her finger circled her swollen clit and the other hand pulled her breast out of the bra cup and began to tweak a
nd pinch her nipple. With eyes closed, she concentrated on the sensations rushing through her, and the sound of Val’s harsh breath as he watched her work herself towards orgasm.
As good as it felt, this was for him.
She bent her knees, tilting her pelvis and shoving a finger deep into her hole to fuck herself. A low groan reached her ears and she cracked her eyes open to see Val rubbing his cock through his pants.
“Stand up and take it out,” she commanded.
He stood and, eyes glued to her hand, unzipped his jeans. Saliva pooled in her mouth when he pushed his jeans low on his hips and his cock jutted out into his hand. He stroked it slowly, the head gleaming purple, his hand visibly tightening when she licked her lips.
Knowing he was watching, feeling the heat of his eyes glued to her while she watched him made her blood run faster and her clit swell. The hard little nubbin was itchy and begging for the more focused attention she’d denied herself because she knew as soon as she focused on it again she’d come quickly.
Not holding back, Samair pulled her wet finger out of her hole. Slowly she brought her finger to her mouth and when Val’s eyes met hers, she licked it like a lollipop.
“Oh, baby,” he growled and stepped forward.
“No!” she said sharply. “Stay there.”
He froze in place, jaw clenched and nostrils flaring.
“Come with me. I want to watch you make your self come.” She placed her finger directly on her clit and began to flick it back and forth quickly.
When Val saw what she was doing, he gripped his cock, his strokes picking up the pace until he was pumping fast and hard. Their panting filled the room and she bit down on her bottom lip. The sight of him—hot, hard, and completely human as he put on a show for her had her heart swelling and tears welling in her eyes. He was beautiful.
Thighs spread as wide as could be, her skirt was rucked up around her hips and Val’s eyes were locked on her fast moving fingertip. Her breath shortened, her belly tightened and the room shifted as pleasure crashed through her in waves.
