by Blue, Kaye
Besides, I could be patient.
Erin had my attention, and I wouldn’t rest until I possessed her completely.
Four
Erin
The walk from Adora’s house to mine was quick, my mind distracted, but not too distracted that I didn’t notice something changed as I approached my apartment door.
I couldn’t quite name the awareness that came over me as I got close to the door, but as I inserted the key, I realized what it was.
I’d felt the same way with Sasha.
After twisting the key, I pushed the door open and saw him standing in the middle of my modest living room.
I wasn’t surprised.
I closed the door and locked it, a habit, something I probably shouldn’t have done, not with him in here.
Too late now, so rather than think about that, I did what I usually did when I entered my home.
I removed my shoes, tossed my keys and bag on the console table, walked to the kitchen, and washed my hands.
I’d done the same thing a million times before, but it had never been quite like this.
Because the entire time, he watched me.
I felt his gaze on me, as real as a caress, intense, unnerving.
I wasn’t sure if I liked that feeling, how close it felt to being out of control.
Realized how much the idea of letting that control go, giving it to him, excited me.
Scared me too.
I hadn’t felt that way, ever, with anyone else, and knew I couldn’t indulge it now.
So, with nothing left to distract myself, I turned.
He stood exactly as he had been before, still, his solid body looking as though he had been carved from stone.
Even at this hour, his clothing was immaculate, the two open buttons on his shirt giving him a touch of humanity and realness in what otherwise would have been overwhelming perfection.
I risked meeting his eyes again, almost looked away.
The searing heat in them was enough to make me reconsider my earlier refusal, something I wouldn’t do.
I realized again I didn’t deny him because of morals but because I so desperately wanted to give in.
Wanted to be weak for him.
And that couldn’t happen.
“You’re out late,” he said.
At the rumble of his voice, my sex clenched, but I ignored my reaction and forced myself to meet his gaze.
“So are you,” I volleyed back with a confidence I didn’t feel.
“I came to see if you had reconsidered my offer.”
I had, more times than I cared to think about, but I shook my head.
“No,” I said, not allowing my gaze to drop below his neck and certainly not to look at the bulge I had seen tenting his pants. But not looking wasn’t enough to suppress my reaction, and I curled my fingers against the tingling in my palms, the image of me touching him, stroking his length, coming on strong, unwanted but powerful.
“A shame,” he said, moving toward me.
He moved with grace and athleticism that didn’t surprise me, and when he stopped in front of me, I craned my head back to meet his eyes.
Not the thing that I should be doing if I didn’t want to test my resolve, but I refused to back down, and I knew not looking at him would be just that.
My heart kicked at the heat I saw in his gaze, fiery enough to incinerate me if I let it.
As it was, my heart was pounding in time with the rhythm of my sex, the emptiness there becoming an ache, one that was almost unbearable.
One that I knew he could fill.
“I hear your words, Erin, but what I see tells a different story.”
His voice was soft but not gentle, not coaxing, all more devastating for it.
He was simply stating the truth as he saw it, a truth I couldn’t deny.
He took my silence as a reason to go on.
“I see how your heart is racing. You’re trying to hide it, but your breath is short, and those little pants do amazing things to your tits.”
As he spoke, he traced his finger along my jaw and down my throat but stopped at my collarbone. My nipples pulled tight, tingled in anticipation of his touch, and it took everything in me not to lean closer, to beg him for more.
He brushed his thumb along my padded collarbone and then back up to my neck again, where he no doubt felt the racing heart he had described seconds ago.
“I know you’re wet for me.”
He breathed deep, the action making my pussy clench and sending another rush of wetness to coat my panties.
“And I can’t wait to get a taste.”
He moved his thumb up, brushing the tip against my lip.
I wanted to take it into my mouth, have some part of him inside me, but I fought the urge down, since I knew that he could see my arousal, but I refused to acknowledge it.
“We would be so good,” he said, his whispered voice sinfully sexy, drawing me out, tempting me beyond all measure, his eyes only adding to the allure.
“I’m afraid the answer is still no, Sasha.”
I could barely force the words out, knew that they were filled with desire, knew that he could hear how much I wanted him.
I wasn’t embarrassed. I didn’t allow myself to be.
I met his eyes and again almost lost my will.
I held his gaze, his warm thumb against my lip, the heat in his eyes threatening to undo me.
“As you wish, Erin.”
He turned then, moved fast, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
I stood there for a long time, so long that I had almost convinced myself that he hadn’t been there.
But the way my heart raced, only now starting to slow, and the throb low in my belly, both of them are proof that he had been there.
Proof that I had done the right thing by sending him away.
* * *
Sasha
I got into the waiting SUV, willing my hardness to go away and having no luck.
I shouldn’t have come here, but knew that I wouldn’t be able to rest until I did.
Knew I wouldn’t be able to rest now because of thoughts of her.
Her reaction to me was explosive.
She put on a brave face and wanted to deny it, but I could see how much she wanted me. I knew that when I took her, it would be beyond explosive.
Because I would have her.
Somehow, I knew I wouldn’t rest, knew I wouldn’t be able to move on until I had a taste of her.
Erin had come to me for help, but both of us had gotten something we didn’t expect.
I knew what I wanted now, and I wouldn’t stop until I had my fill.
A voice at the back of my head whispered that one taste wouldn’t be enough, that getting my fill of Erin wouldn’t happen.
I ignored that voice and instead focused, content that it was only a matter of time before I would have her.
Five
Erin
Sleep was difficult to come by that night.
I drifted off easily enough, but dreams about him being here with me only ended with me waking up frustrated with twisted sheets in an empty bed.
I finally gave up trying to rest and got up to face the day.
I showered, took the time to make myself a leisurely breakfast, went through the motions of relaxing, though the anxiousness—and want—were there, ever present at the edges of my brain.
I refused to indulge those feelings and instead enjoyed my breakfast and coffee, and then, around noon, headed to my store.
I tended to keep very strict schedule, but I was going to arrive earlier today, and I hoped that the deviation would go unnoticed.
As I approached, I felt a measure of calm that had been missing come over me.
The shop wasn’t much, but it was mine, my legacy, and I took great pride in it.
I turned the corner then slowed, a feeling of uneasiness creeping up.
I walked toward the store slowly, hoping that I was just freaking m
yself out for no reason, hoping that everything was in order.
Somehow, I knew it wasn’t.
The few shards of glass were the first thing to catch my eye.
I looked at them on the sidewalk, my stomach dropping.
I shifted and looked at the front window of the store.
Or rather, the place where the front window used to be.
It was gone now, but it didn’t appear that any of the sewing machines that I kept on display there had been taken.
The relief that the machines were there was no match for the worry that was threatening to overcome me.
But I couldn’t allow that, couldn’t allow panic to get the better of me. I continued toward the store, saw that the glass in the door had also been broken and the door had been kicked in and pulled away from the frame without breaking the lock.
I pushed the twisted door in and went into the shop.
I checked it, made sure everything was in place, and when I saw that it was, my heartbeat slowed, but only a little.
They’d said I had a week, and that time would have been up tomorrow.
Not that I should take the word of the kind of people who would extort money, but still…
There was another possibility, one I didn’t want to consider, but one I’d be an idiot to ignore.
I found a pair of thick work gloves and began picking up the glass, my mind working as my body did.
Four hours and money I didn’t have later, the front window had been boarded up, replacement glass ordered, and a new door installed.
This one was reinforced steel and would present at least a little more challenge, so I was happy about that.
And happy that everything in the store was intact.
But that was all I was happy about.
Those hours spent putting the store back to right had given me time to think.
And left me with only one choice.
* * *
Sasha
I was in my office at the restaurant, the place I usually chose to handle business, but one that I was at today specifically to remind me of my time with Erin.
She hadn’t left my thoughts, not for more than a minute or two all day, and I found myself driven to distraction.
The sound of her voice, the way that her emotions lit her eyes, the calm she struggled so mightily to maintain but often lost sight of.
The way she tried to present herself versus what she really was.
I could see in everything about her, from her plain clothes to her open posture, that she tried to present a small, unobtrusive demeanor, but I wasn’t convinced.
I saw fire that burned in her, fire that beckoned me, called to me on an elemental level.
The way this woman made me feel—the fact that she made me feel anything at all—was something I didn’t know how to handle. I knew the only cure would be to have her.
While I waited for that eventuality, I could solve her problem.
Yet another indication of my weakness.
I hadn’t been kidding when I told her I never did something for nothing.
Yet here I was.
I glanced at my watch, and not a second later heard a knock followed by the door opening.
“Ghost,” I said, nodding at the other man as he entered and sat.
He’d been a part of the Brotherhood for years now but still maintained a distance. He had his story just like we all did, but it was no concern of mine if he didn’t want to share it.
“What did you find out?” I asked.
“When Etienne divested in those smaller rackets, they got scooped up and parceled out,” he said.
I nodded. “I remember.”
“So it looks like a small crew has stepped in. Their supplier raised prices, and they need capital to keep up.”
“So they’re scraping nickels from shop owners?”
He shrugged.
“It’s an old business, safer than some others they could get into. And with enough time and enough people afraid enough to keep paying, a relatively safe stream of income,” he said.
His nonchalance shouldn’t have bothered me, but it did.
The thought of Erin being at risk over something so petty was enraging.
“And the cops are turning a blind eye?”
He shook his head. “Not really. The crew has a couple guys, cousins, I believe, who work that district, but no real reach.”
Not something Erin wouldn’t know. She’d see the uniform, think there was no way out.
That had ultimately worked to my benefit, was the reason that I even knew she existed, but enraging nonetheless.
I looked at Ghost, sensing there was something else. “That all?”
He shook his head. “The crew is leasing the protection business. From the Fedorovs.”
“Fuck,” I muttered.
That was a complication.
“Are they involved?”
“Not directly, but the crew has permission and pays the Fedorovs a percentage.”
“They control half the drug trade in this city and they make time for this bullshit?”
“Money’s money,” Ghost said.
I knew that, but it was still a surprise. The Fedorovs were powerful, connected, both here and in Russia. Which made this more interesting, especially with the recent history between the Brotherhood and the Fedorovs.
Erin was trouble. I’d known that from the start. But this was something else altogether. A reason that made even considering seeing her again folly. But there was—
“Hey!”
At the commotion I stood, instantly on alert, as did Ghost.
A second later the door swung open, a guard entering two steps behind Erin.
“Sorry, boss, I’ll take care of this—”
“Don’t put your hands on her,” I said.
Something in my voice froze Erin and the guard in place.
He blinked a moment, then nodded.
“You shouldn’t be back here,” he said to her, though I noticed his tone was far gentler than it had been moments ago.
“I’ve got it,” I said.
The guard nodded and then left, clearly happy to be leaving my presence.
Ghost didn’t look at Erin or at me as he did the same.
She stood quietly, and I did too, drinking her in, the sight of her a release I didn’t even know I’d needed.
But after a moment, she seemed to come to herself and remember why she was here.
“Did you do it?”
I didn’t answer immediately, still taken by the sight of her.
“Well?” she said, her eyes flashing anger, her usually calm features animated, giving her a wildness that only made her natural beauty more apparent.
“Do what?” I finally said when I was sure my voice wouldn’t give too much of what I was feeling away.
And what I was feeling, the explosion of emotion, need, that went deeper than any I’d ever felt was something I wasn’t equipped to deal with.
I didn’t focus on that.
Instead I focused on her.
“The shop…” she spat.
“What about it?”
“Did you break the window, bust my door?” she asked, her anger still there but not nearly as potent as my own.
I stared at her for a long moment, letting my emotion show through.
She didn’t respond, didn’t change her stance, her arms hanging loosely at her sides, though I didn’t miss the way her fists clenched.
I stared at her longer until the tightness in her jaw relaxed.
Until I saw the woman who had come here first, the one who had been the focus of my thoughts ever since.
“You don’t know much about me,” I said, my voice even, words slow. “But do you think I would stoop so low?”
She glanced away, looked ashamed, but then stiffened her spine and met my gaze, though I could see it was hard for her to do so.
“So you’re saying that you didn’t?”
“You didn’t answ
er my question, Erin.”
“I don’t know enough about you to answer that question, to know how low you would stoop.”
“A lie, but I won’t press the matter. I take it you’re here because your store was damaged?”
She nodded. “Like I said, window broken, door kicked in.”
“I’ll send someone over to have those take care of,” I said.
“Not necessary. I’ve handled it.”
“Were you there when it happened?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head.
“To answer your question no, I didn’t,” I said, ignoring the relief in my chest. If she’d been there, she would have tried to stop whoever was behind it, and I refused to let me mind go down that road.
She stared at me, looking as though she were trying to decide something, stared at me for so long it was my turn to be somewhat unnerved.
A novel experience for me, but one I found I rather liked, at least with her.
Then, after another long moment, she nodded sharply, apparently having found what she was looking for.
“Then yes,” she said.
My heart started racing, but I ignored it, wouldn’t allow myself to claim victory until I was sure.
“Yes what?”
“You see that those…people leave my store alone, then yes, I’ll do it,” she said.
“Do what?”
“I’ll give myself to you.”
She seemed to struggle to say the words, but the look in her eye, one that she definitely hadn’t wanted me to see, was something I didn’t miss.
“Come here,” I said, staying where I was, watching her as she walked toward me.
She stopped just short of touching me, and I allowed it, knowing the distance between us would be closed soon enough.
“So when…” She trailed off.
“When what?” I said, wanting to touch her, doing everything in my power to stop.
“When do you want to, you know…?” she said, gesturing between us.
I smiled, the expression genuine, one that only scarcely touched the excitement that was racing through me.
I leaned closer and down and brushed my lips against hers so faintly that it was barely a touch. But it was enough to send my blood racing and had my cock standing at attention.
