by Cole, Aria
“Thank you,” I said.
Tobias’s lips found mine softly before he pulled away. “Stay with me.”
A lazy smile turned my cheeks. “Tonight?”
“Forever.”
Chapter 13
Tobias
I woke to beautiful Ellis snuggled soundly next to me, the soft dips and rises of her chest as she breathed like a balm to my soul.
I’d never felt this way. For a long time, I’d thought I could never feel this way. Life had burned me one too many times throughout my childhood and adolescence. But I was here, I liked to believe I was at least a little damn stronger for my past, and I’d found her.
If she was the reward, all the fighting to get here was worth it.
I sighed, reaching for the phone on my nightstand and opening my emails to confirm I had the appointment I’d asked Jenny to make yesterday.
It had surely taken her by surprise, but if the calm that washed over my body was any indication, Ellis was the right girl for me, and I didn’t take kindly to waiting. When I settled on something, I wanted it now. And I very often got it.
I swiped through the new emails in my inbox, surprised to find one from the Chicago Daily News titled “Shady Connections.”
I frowned, opening it suspiciously and reading off the first few lines.
My vision blurred.
My head pounded.
What the fuck was this?
After all these years?
I grunted, fingers shaking as I dropped the phone back on my nightstand and slipped out of bed, trying not to wake Ellis but too fucking pissed off to contain myself a second longer. I sped across the room, launched down the hallway, and stormed into my office. I pushed open my laptop and forwarded that email to five people who could figure out the who, what, where, when, why and how.
I’d buried this story, left it dead in the ground decades ago. Damn if I’d let it all come back to rip away everything I had away now. Especially Ellis.
God, not Ellis. If this came out, what would she think of me?
My fingers twitched with anger, my heart rattling violently before I heard her soft footsteps behind me.
“You okay?” she asked, hands on my shoulders.
I looked up. The sight of her wrapped only in my sheet, hair cascading in waves around her shoulders, made my chest ache.
She was too fucking beautiful, too damn good for me.
Much too good.
“Will you tell me about this tattoo?” she asked sweetly, fingertips trailing across the eagle wings etched across my shoulder blades.
I shook my head, burning with too much fucking emotion for me to handle right now, before I slammed the laptop closed and stood.
“We’d better get in to the office.”
I placed a kiss on her forehead before twisting her fingers in mine and pulling her back down the hall.
I had to hide her from this shit.
I’d been too blinded by primal goddamn desire to realize that her getting involved with me could cause problems for us both. I wasn’t just a nobody anymore. I’d worked my way up to becoming one of the most eligible businessmen in the city, and with success came vultures.
People looking to tear you down and eat you up.
“Are you okay? You don't look well.” She pressed a palm against my forehead, eyes furrowed with worry.
“Yeah, just I’ve got some unexpected shit to deal with today.” I pushed a hand through my hair, forcing a smile for her. “Should we get in the shower?”
She nodded, smiling at me as though she was completely smitten.
Breaking her heart was off the table.
I’d just taken her virginity. She’d given everything of herself to me, and I’d fallen a little deeper into her.
I couldn’t give her up now, but would she want me after she knew the truth?
Chapter 14
Ellis
Worried, I chewed on my finger while watching Tobias through the glass door that opened into his sparkling office. High above the clouds, the man who’d stolen my heart was on the phone, hair wild from pushing his fingers through it all day, a permanent frown etched on his face.
I’d never seen him like this.
I’d popped in at lunchtime, asking if he wanted me to order anything, and he’d only shaken his head and picked up the phone again with an irritated expression.
My heart had fallen a little.
I’d never thought he’d be the type to ignore me after… especially after I’d…
I’d let him fuck my ass! I’d loved it. I’d loved the way he’d eased me into it and been so gentle, so loving, so aware of my every single response.
But he’d woken up agitated, and he’d barely glanced at me in the shower. Maybe I had been foolish to hope for shower sex, but he’d never before shied away from my naked body. Or my clothed body. He’d never passed up the opportunity to have his hands on me, and I’d practically begged him to do it with the way I’d brushed against him in the shower. My nipples had been rock hard and aching for the swirl of his tongue, the pinch of his fingers, the dark heat in his gaze that sent my hormones into a barreling mess of molten lava.
I shot up a few minutes later when Tobias stood, shrugged on his suit coat, and swiped his briefcase and phone. His eyes cast across the room and found mine through the thick glass. He watched me intently before taking measured steps through his office and out the door.
“I’m leaving early today,” he murmured. “Been a long one. Please, take the rest of the day off, Ellis.” He moved a little closer to me, his words oddly pinched, his face weary from stress. “I’ll call you later?”
I nodded, unable to form words and unable to figure out why I had a stubborn lump lodged in my throat. “Good night, Mr. Banger.”
Tobias blinked, pain burning across his irises before he pulled me close, planted a kiss on my lips, then rested his forehead tenderly against my own. “I’ll call you later. There’s just one thing I’ve got to do.”
I swallowed that stubborn damn lump then nodded. “Okay.”
I forced a smile, but my heart was thundering as if a stranger was holding me. Gone was his warmth. The tenderness seemed staged, the thoughtfulness now an afterthought.
“Good night, sweetheart.” He squeezed my elbow before he pulled away, nodding once before spinning for the elevators.
I watched the broad stretch of the gray suit across his shoulders as he left. The muscles were taut and pulling at the fabric, and his dark hair lay a little messy across the collar.
He was heartbreakingly beautiful.
My own America's prince come to life. So why did it feel as if something haunted him?
After a quick dinner of ramen noodles and peanut butter and jelly, I curled up on the couch, sadder than ever that I still hadn’t heard from Tobias. The way he’d left the office earlier, so despondent, made it clear something was on his mind. I was worried. I’d thought about picking up the phone half a dozen times already, but something had told me not to push him. My mother’s warnings looped through my head. Men like him don’t like to be chased. Men like to do the chasing.
My stomach hurt as I thought of all the things we’d done together in the last few days, all the ways he’d taken me, all the ways I’d begged him to take me.
This couldn't have been a one-night stand, could it? His words about me being special only a farce?
I picked up my e-reader and nestled it on my lap as I tried to will my brain to focus on the baseball player with the troubled past and the nerdy girl next door who loved him.
My intercom buzzed.
I launched off the couch, e-reader crashing to floor, and sped to the front door.
“Who is it?”
“Me. I need to see you.” Tobias. My stomach sprouted butterflies.
I buzzed him in and waited against the doorjamb as he barreled up the stairs, hair messy and heartbreakingly sexy.
“I tried to stay away from you.” He caught my hand and pulled
me to him. He pulled me up his body, wrapping my legs around his waist as we stood in my hallway, him in a suit and me only in panties, socks, and a tank top. We were such an unlikely pair, and everything about him was so unexpected and thrilling.
“Please don’t stay away from me anymore.” I breathed in his comforting, spicy scent.
“But I have to tell you something.” His words were thick with anxiety again.
“God, just spit it out, Tobias. You’ve been driving me nuts all day with your broody looks.”
His eyes flicked up, shining and doing that twinkling thing they did right before he burst into a laugh. He shook his head, chuckling as he carried me into my apartment. He shut the door with his foot before settling me on the couch in his lap.
“I got an email this morning.”
I arched an eyebrow.
“From a reporter at the Chicago Daily News.”
The Chicago Daily News was a rag mag. They were always the first to write scathing exposés on the movers and shakers of Chicago society.
“They dug up a story about me,” he continued.
“Okay…” I linked my hands with his, urging him on.
“I’ve had my lawyers on it all day. They're trying to get the judge to sign off on a cease and desist, but…”
“But?” My stomach was sinking fast.
“The story is true. Everything about it. I don’t know how they got their hands on it—the records were supposed to be sealed.”
My stomach ached.
“Records? Court records?”
Tobias’s eyes shot to his lap, his beautiful face twisted into a devastating frown. “I got into some trouble as a kid.” His thumb worked small circles at my wrist as if he was pulling strength from the tiny gesture. “It was just my mom and I growing up. My dad left when I was three. I hardly remember him, but my mom was my entire world. She worked a lot, but no matter what, she always made sure she was home to meet me after school. We’d have dinner together, and she always asked how my day was. She cared. Life was hard. She did her best to keep me away from the gangs that were slowly taking over our neighborhood. But then she got sick.”
Tobias paused then, his eyes glistening with the memory and sending a knife into my stomach. This was the painful part. Whatever was coming had changed him forever.
“She battled leukemia for two years, slowly getting sicker. She had so many appointments she was fired from her job, but it didn’t matter. Within a few months, she was too sick to work anyway. But I was old enough to work. I knew I could take care of us. So I hit the streets, but no one is willing to hire a kid under the legal working age. There was only one place for me to go. I did a lot of bad things, Ellis. I made a lot of money, and I gave it all to my mom for bills, to put food on the table, to cover her medical expenses. There were so many medical expenses. But it was the only way I knew how to make enough money to keep us afloat. I witnessed some horrible shit. I was never involved with the violence, never, but then one night, it all went wrong. The cops showed up, and we were all arrested…”
Horror flooded my veins.
“What happened?”
His eyes shut closed, and I could tell this was where his demons lay. Whatever had happened had scarred him for life.
“Someone was murdered.”
The words roared in my ears, my hands shaking and tears burning in my eyes.
“Tobias…?” I shook my head, the reality refusing to settle in.
“The wings on my back are for him… the kid who lost his life that night,” he muttered, eyes glazing as he fell back into an awful memory. “It wasn’t supposed to happen. The guys said he just needed a tune-up—the kid had stiffed them on a few deals gone wrong. I didn’t know they had a bat, Ellis. I swear to you I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have gone if I’d known… I would have found a way to stop them if I’d known…”
“Shhhh…” I linked my arms around Tobias’s neck and pulled him close, nuzzling his hair as he spoke.
“The guys had already kicked him so many times the kid was coughing, then they pulled out the bat. I screamed as one of them landed his first swing. By the second, red and blue lights were flashing all over the park. Someone must have seen us out there and called it in. We were all taken in. I was only given six months in juvenile detention, and the judge promised to seal my records since I was underage, but the kid lost his life. He was only fifteen.” Hurt radiated through Tobias’s voice as I wrapped him in the tightest hug I could manage.
“My mom passed away while I was in juvie. She was already in hospice when I was sentenced, but they didn’t even let me see her before…” Tears hovered in his dark lashes. “I was only allowed to go to her funeral. I used to wonder if what I’d done, gangbangin’ and getting in the system was too much it, that maybe... it pushed her over the edge. I was so fucked up after that. I came out of juvie with something to prove. It took me five years to get my shit together and stop fucking everything up.”
His words, so harsh, so callous, broke my heart.
“Tobias… how old were you when that happened?” I asked cautiously.
His gaze darted up to me, and I could feel the remorse, the pain, the agony pulsing through his eyes. “Fourteen.”
“God…” Tears streaked my cheeks as I wrapped my arms around him again, desperate to soothe away his pain and feeling so helpless that there wasn’t a thing in the world I could do.
He held me for a long time, his palms working circles on my back before he spoke again. “When I got that email this morning, I flipped. I was just a kid back then. I did a horrible thing, but I don’t want it to haunt me now. I’ve worked so hard to get past my mistakes.”
“I know, baby.” I pushed my hands through his hair. “I’m sure the lawyers will squash it. No one can hold what you witnessed at fourteen against you now.”
“You don’t know these people—they’re a cutthroat crowd. That’s why these charities mean so much to me. Kids deserve to know they matter. They need place to go to keep them busy and teach them that they’re smart, worthy, and can achieve more than their wildest dreams. I was that kid, Ellis, and I don’t want any kid to live the same life I did.” His words burned with helplessness. “That’s why I need you in my life more than ever. You keep me sane, grounded, and on my toes.”
I snuggled into his neck, breathing in the heady mix of all things Tobias Banger.
“Come home with me tonight?” He pressed his lips to my knuckles.
“Every night,” I whispered before kissing his lips, thankful that he’d come clean about what had been haunting him. I refused to let that dark glint take over his eyes for long. Tobias was too good, too loving, and too giving to be chased by a demon that wasn’t even his own.
“For a lot of years, my life was dark. A kid raised on the streets doesn’t have much hope, but I worked hard to prove myself, to become the success I am. But there’s one thing I never had.”
“What’s that?” I whispered.
“You. I needed you all along.”
First Epilogue
Tobias
“I think we need round two in the closet.” My hands slid up her curvy thighs, thumbs brushing across the heat between her legs.
“You already had me once this morning.” Her dainty fingers trailed up my biceps and sent shivers shooting through my balls.
“And it wasn’t enough.” My hips pressed against her, my cock throbbing between us. “Give me five minutes.” I slid a hand between her thighs and hooked my thumb in her panties.
She shuddered, her fingertips clutching at my chest as she sighed. “They’re waiting on us.’
“Let them wait.” I pulled aside her panties and sank two fingers inside her, nice and slow, watching her twist with pleasure.
“Oh, Jesus.” Her body arched into me like a dancer’s, her tits full and pressing against my chest.
I nipped at the peaked little nub stretching the fabric of her dress, enjoying the mewls that fell from her lips
“Tobias, baby…”
“Just keep singing my name. Let them hear you.” I fucked her with my palm. I wanted every goddamn man in this building to know she’d been claimed by me, but I also wanted to keep her sweet sounds to myself.
I was jealous, possessive, refused to let her out of my sight for a single second. I was afraid she’d realize she was too goddamn good for me and leave me wrecked.
There was only one way to fix that.
Claim her for mine, claim her for good.
Sink my seed inside her precious cunt and put my baby in her belly. I dreamed of her round belly, the blush on her cheeks as I sang to our son or daughter. I wanted to make her the happiest woman that ever walked the face of the earth, and I didn’t have much patience.
I pushed my pants past my thighs, not giving a fuck that the entire office was down the hallway at a party, waiting to celebrate the founding of our charitable giving division.
My cofounder was creaming all over my hand at that moment.
“Tobias, oh my God.”
I shoved my cock deep inside her just as the first wave of an orgasm fluttered through her body. Her pussy clenched around my cock, sucking me in farther and stealing my mind a little more.
“This is all I need, you and me.” I caught her lips in a forceful kiss, enjoying the way her lipstick smeared.
Her heavy black eyelashes fanned across her cheeks with every erotic breath. I stroked the curve of her throat with my tongue, kneading at the flesh of her tit and swirling one roughened thumb around her nipple.
She squealed and sighed as my thrusts grew frantic and our bodies slapped against the door.
The one that separated our work spaces.
I made a mental note to rectify that first thing tomorrow morning. I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before. I’d move Ellis’s desk right in here next to mine, hire a brand new secretary, and make Ellis the head of charitable giving full time. We’d work side by side every day. I could wait on her hand and foot, make sure she was eating enough, and kiss her whenever I damn well pleased.
