by Cole, Aria
“Jenny just left.”
“Really?” she whispered, looking worried.
I wanted to pull her into my arms, stroke her hair, and calm her fears, but I didn’t think now was the time.
“Really.”
I decided to do exactly what I wanted to do and pulled her into my arms. She hooked her hand at my waist and snuggled into my chest.
“We’re not really going to be here all night, are we? There’s got to be a way…”
I tried to fathom some way to get out of here. I had a security company on call, but there was no way to alert them that we were up here. The cleaning crew would be in in a few hours, but they had no reason to come into this closet.
I didn’t even have a single person in my life who would worry when I didn’t come home. “Will anyone miss you?”
“What?” Ellis looked at me, clearly confused.
“When you don’t go home tonight, is there anyone who might notice?”
“No! This is hopeless.” Ellis rested her head against my chest. “I guess we could work through the night.”
I huffed. “That doesn’t sound like my idea of fun.”
“What kind of fun could we have locked in a closet all night?” She pouted.
My eyes dipped to the hint of cleavage visible from this angle. “I can think of plenty.”
Chapter 7
Ellis
“Age when you lost your virginity?” I laughed, laying my cards out between us.
Mr. Banger squinted as he laughed. “Too young.”
We were playing poker with an old deck of cards we’d found at the bottom of a dusty box. Whoever lost the hand had to answer a question—our own mashup of twenty questions and poker.
“How young?”
His gaze connected with mine before he pushed a hand over his face and mumbled, “Fourteen.”
“Fourteen!” I’d been prepared for a low number, but I wasn't prepared for that. “You were still a kid.”
“Yup. I went through a lot as a teenager. A kid left alone with a lot of free time is bad news. What about you?”
“Nuh-uh.” I shook my head. “That’s not the way the game works. You lost fair and square, buddy.”
“Well then, I’ve got a new rule.” He grinned, shuffling the cards as he watched me. “If the loser doesn’t answer the question, they’ve got to take off their clothes.”
I shook my head. “That sounds like a terrible game.”
“Well, I’m the dealer, and the dealer make the rules.”
“That is bullshit. I’m going to have a word with HR about you,” I teased.
“Well, I’m in luck because HR answers to me. It pays to be the boss.” He winked as he dealt out the next hand.
“You’re not much of a rule-follower then, huh?”
“Not when it comes to you.” His grin warmed my insides. “Whatcha got?”
I shuffled the cards in my hands, putting them in the right order, only to find that I had nothing. I frowned before remembering I had to keep a poker face.
“Not good, huh? Guess I’m going to learn a lot about you tonight.”
I cast him a quick glare.
“What are the rules if I fold?”
“You answer a question.”
I huffed, resigning myself to my fate. To a shit hand and the night spent locked in the closet with him. “Fine. I’m going to kick your ass next round though.”
Mr. Banger laughed as he tossed his cards on the floor between us. “I didn’t have shit either, just so you know.”
I shuffled the cards, dreading the question I knew was about to come out of his mouth.
“So how old, Ellis?”
I busied myself with the cards, agonizing over what to tell him. “Well…”
“Yeah…?” He leaned in a little closer, rocketing my anxiety up another notch.
“I’m…” God, I hated these words. “I’ve never been with…” I glanced at him, catching his wide eyes as he waited for my final words. “I’m a virgin.”
“Excuse me?” he asked, leaning a little closer.
“You heard me.” I swiped at his shoulder, trying to lighten the mood.
“I heard you. I just don’t believe you.”
His fiery gaze heated my insides.
“What? Why not? And I'm pretty sure I should be insulted by that.”
“No insult.” He shook his head. ‘You’re just too beautiful to be untouched. I mean, I have a hard time believing no one has come along and stolen you for himself.”
“I don’t take well to getting stolen.” I averted my eyes, wishing this entire conversation would end.
“I’m sure you don’t. You’re kind of a hard-ass, aren’t you?” His thumb stroked my cheek.
God, why was he always touching me, always making me feel things out of control, wild, reckless? For the first time ever, I felt desirable.
“I have to be a hard-ass if I want to succeed in this business,” I said.
“That’s true, but there’s something more… there’s something at the heart of you. Why do you push everyone away?” His words were at my neck, his breath washing across my skin in currents of pleasure.
“I-I don’t push people away.”
“Bullshit.” He pulled away.
I swallowed, knowing his words were true whether I liked them or not. I hated that he got me, could see into my soul as if he had a damn magnifying glass.
“You drive me crazy.”
“I’ve got a secret—I like you a little crazy. Now where’re my cards, dealer? I’ve got a game to win.”
I dealt our cards, my stomach shifting as I thought about what other personal questions he might ask. Maybe it was true and I wasn't an open book, but who said I had to be? I kept my heart closed because I didn’t like to be vulnerable, but who did?
“How’s it lookin’ over there, darling?”
“Like I would tell you.” I moved my cards around to find another poor hand. But damn if I was going to tell him that. “Yours?”
He arched an eyebrow, taking this game much more seriously than I ever would have thought. He was adorable when he shed the businessman veneer. “I've got some good things happening over here. I’ll take two cards though.”
I dealt him the cards then watched his eyes flick over my face.
He grinned wickedly before nodding. “You drawing?”
“Mhmm.” I pulled three new cards from the deck, hoping like hell I’d draw something better than the random stack of shit I had.
“Ready to call it?” he asked.
I sucked in a breath, narrowing my eyes at him.
“Sure.” I set my cards in front of me.
His eyes ate up my cards before his smile deepened and he laid out his hand: a pair of jacks and queens. Damn. “So I’ve got a question for you.”
I groaned inwardly, thinking no matter what it was, I was sick of this game. “Shoot.”
“Last time you went on a date?”
My stomach twisted, and I squirmed before swallowing. “I’m not answering that.”
“What? You won’t answer that one?”
I shook my head fiercely, avoiding his eyes as I swiped up the cards and shuffled them into one neat pile.
“Wait—have you never…?”
“I told you I’m not answering.” He didn’t need to know my most recent dating history.
“Well, you know what that means: an item of clothing...”
I twisted my face into a comic frown before smiling and popping the buttons on my shirt, one slow movement at a time. “I follow the rules. Always.”
His eyes widened again when I reached the bottom of the shirt, unbuttoned the last button, and pulled it out of my waistband. I smiled brightly when I shrugged off the shirt to reveal a delicate, creamy-white lace-scalloped camisole underneath my button-down shirt.
“I think we’re going to need an addendum to the rules about underclothes.” His throaty tone made me really damn glad I’d worn this cami. Lin
gerie was one of my favorite things.
“I may be a virgin, Banger, but I’m not a prude.” I felt his eyes heating up the space between us as they crawled across the newly exposed flesh of my shoulders and chest. “Ready for another hand?”
“How the hell am I supposed to concentrate now?”
“Sounds like a personal problem.” I shrugged, passing cards between us.
“It’s a personal problem that’s about to become a very public one.” He shifted, and I caught him adjusting the erection tenting his pants.
Sweet Jesus. If that bulge was any indication, he was blessed in length and girth, and never in my life had I wanted to confirm that more than I did right now.
“I’ve got a rep to uphold, so you’d better bring your A game,” I bantered.
“I bring my A game every day.” His throaty words pummeled my mind as he swiped his stack of cards, brushing my hand in the process.
I lifted my own cards, peeking at him over my hand as I watched him frown.
I actually had a pretty decent hand this round, but I’d have to make him think it was even better than it was to get him to believe it. “You’re toast, playboy.”
Mr. Banger’s laugh echoed through the small space. “I’ve got shit. I’m not even going to try to defend this hand. I think it was a bad deal.”
He tossed his cards between us, faceup, showing his random bunch of playing cards.
“Bad deal or not, you know the rules…” I threw down my cards, smiling at my pair of kings and nothing else.
“Ask me any question.” He threw up his arms. “I’m an open book.”
I worked over the many questions I had in my head. There was so much I wanted to know, so much mystery around him. The tattoos, the childhood, the women—but those were all obvious questions. I wanted to know something he didn’t tell anyone else…
“Well?” He smirked, resting back against a shelving unit.
“Tell me about your parents,” I blurted.
His eyes rose before his jaw tightened and he glanced away. The air hung thick between us before he answered. “No.”
“That’s it? Just no?” Hadn’t he just said he was an open book?
“No way.” His fingers worked the buttons of his dress shirt until he was shrugging it off and throwing it into a heap on the floor next to us.
“Uh… okay.” I felt awful for ruining the bubble of banter we’d been living in the last few hours.
“You know, being locked with you in this closet isn’t easy for me either.”
“Really?” He growled, and before I knew it, he was hovering over me, his broad shoulders and wide biceps caging me against the file cabinet. “Does it feel like a thousand tiny bolts of lightning zapping through your bloodstream? Does it feel like you’re getting too close? Like you want to open up but something inside you just won’t quite let you? Does it feel like the only person you've ever wanted in your entire life wants nothing to do with you?”
His heavy breaths washed across my face, his lips hovering over mine as we shared the oxygen between us. I felt suffocated and wildly aroused and incredibly excited. He was my perfect storm, a heady concoction of lust and charm wrapped in one addictive package.
His head dipped, and his tongue slid in one decadent stroke up my throat. “Everything about you makes me crazy.”
Chapter 8
Tobias
Her body shuddered beneath my touch.
Goosebumps raced along her skin when I dragged my tongue up the delicate line of her neck. A small moan escaped her lips when I caught the bottom of her earlobe between my teeth.
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
Ellis’s fingers pushed through my hair, sending currents of need racing through my body. For the first time in my life, I could feel. I’d spent so many years with a wall around my heart, but after just one look from Ellis, a few hours in the presence of her generous heart and her radiant smile, I was hooked.
“I shut my eyes at night, and I see your smile. I’m a fucking crazy man, thinking about what you’d feel like under my hands.” I slid my palms up either side of her body, slipping my fingertips under the creamy straps of that thin excuse for a top. “I can't stop wondering what noise you’ll make when I taste you.”
Ellis’ eyes fluttered closed, her fingers clutching at my hair before I crushed her lips with mine.
I pressed my lips to hers in a kiss that was meant to say one thing—I owned her.
Her body softened, and her lips parted, and I plunged my tongue inside hard and fast, tasting her and desperate to show her she was mine.
“You're all fucking mine, Ellis.”
Soft gasps racked her body, her lips bruised and calling for more. Our mouths met again, tongues twisting together as I slowly pulled down the zipper of her skirt. Ellis pulled away, wriggling her skirt past her curvy thighs and revealing her gorgeous body to me for the first time.
“Jesus, I'm gonna explode.” I palmed my cock jerking painfully against my zipper as she lay on the floor beneath me, only her scrap of a thong separating her sweet cunt from my mouth.
Pulling her thighs apart with my hands, I nestled my hips between her legs and ran my palms up the soft dip of her stomach, pushing her thin top up her skin and enjoying the blush that crept up her chest and neck. I pulled the scrap of fabric over her head and dropped it, my hands at her neck as I kissed her again. I couldn't get enough of her fucking taste, her touch, her everything. Ellis intoxicated me.
“I can’t wait to feel you.” Her hand slid between us, palming the ridge of my cock and driving me goddamned insane.
“I’m going to fuck you so deep you’re gonna feel me tomorrow morning.” I grazed my thumb across her tender nipple and watched it pebble and darken, desperate for more of my attention. “Are you ready for that?”
Her stunning eyes slammed closed before she caught her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded.
I caught her chin with my hand. “Look at me.”
Her eyes shot open, holding my gaze intently.
“Now tell me you want to feel me,” I ordered.
Her eyes burned with something dark, sexy, uncontrollable. “I want to feel you, Mr. Banger.”
My heart hammered when her fingertips popped the button on my pants and slid down the zipper. My cock flexed eagerly. The brush of her knuckles drove me fucking insane.
“Tell me, little one, are you on birth control?”
Fire burned in her eyes before she opened her pretty mouth. “No, sir.”
An uncontrollable growl tore through my throat as my hands instinctively sought her flesh. “Good. I want my cum buried deep inside your pretty little pussy.”
I slid a finger between her sopping folds. “You ready to cum for me, kitten?”
Her eyes flicked up my body, her grin deepening as she pushed my pants and boxers down my hips. I kicked them off then settled my aching cock, thick and heavy, between us.
“I want to taste you first.” Her eyes were wide as she watched how her words almost killed me. I sat up on my knees, devouring every smooth movement she made as she leaned towards me and wrapped her little fists around my dick, almost driving me over the edge with her slow strokes. Her tongue ran up the base of my cock, and she smiled at the tip.
“Jesus, Ellis.” I threaded my hands through her long hair, holding her gently as she sucked down the length of my cock, her cheeks hollowing, then she licked and swirled again. “God, you can’t do that anymore.”
She froze, glancing up at me as though she’d done something wrong. “Why?”
“Because if I don’t taste you, I’m going to lose my mind, sweetheart.” I gripped her hips and flipped her around, my palms covering the curvy ass cheeks I’d been dreaming of. “You’re fucking irresistible.” I slid a finger along the fine thread of fabric that ran between her cheeks. “It’s a goddamn good thing I didn’t know you were wearing this little thing under those skirts.” I pulled the fabric of the tho
ng tight across the lips of her cunt, enjoying the way her arousal soaked the fibers. “Everything about your body wants me. I can smell you begging me to take you.”
“Oh God.” She groaned and wiggled her hips as my cock throbbed.
“Am I the first man to taste this sweet cunt, Ellis?”
“Yessss, Tobias,” she said once I’d slid the panties from her legs.
My palms on her ass, I kneaded the flesh. I was desperate to claim every last inch of her.
“That’s a good girl.” I fisted at the globes, my fingertips working closer to the center of her puckered bud. “Then I assume I’ll be the first to have this too.” I swiped a knuckle at her ass, enjoying the way she shuddered and gasped with shock.
“I want to own every piece of you, Ellis. No exceptions.”
Her head whipped around, a current of dark hair flying across her creamy shoulders before her eyes met mine. “I can’t wait for you to own every inch.”
“Fuck,” I growled, unable to control myself a second longer.
I ducked and slid my tongue up the seam of her soaked pussy, enjoying the way her thighs quivered and shook against me. I curled my tongue around the bud of her clit and flicked, refusing to let up until her cunt flooded my face and my tongue lapped up her juice as if I’d been dying of thirst for her. With pleasure, I slid one long finger into her wet pussy, her tender muscles shaking as her pussy sucked me in. Slowly, with delicate strokes, I primed her, allowing my fingers to stretch her open so my cock wouldn’t be such a shock.
Pulling my finger from her body, I slid my slick index finger over the rosebud of her back entrance. “I can’t wait to feel you here, but we’ll save that for another night.”
I nestled my cock between her thighs, and slid my thumb inside her cunt, thrusting in slow strokes to get her ready for me.
“I’ve been dreaming about this.” Ellis locked her arms around my neck then, kissing up the hollow of my throat until her lips were against mine, our hips moving in rhythm together.
I pulled my thumb from her body and dragged it against her puffy pink lips before planting a kiss against them, sealed with her desire. “Your dreams are about to turn into reality.”
