by M. S. Parker
She wasn’t even looking at me.
“Sorry?” I prodded, remembering what she'd said.
“Yes.” She gave me a distracted smile.
Her eyes were snapping, though. Snapping and hot. Fuck. It drove me out of my mind.
“I seem to remember you telling me that employees were supposed to call you Mr. Lang.”
“You work for Isadora, not me.”
Dammit. Why had I pointed that out?
Toni arched her eyebrows, a bemused look on her face. “You're right, I do. And Isadora doesn't seem to think it's a problem for me to call you Mr. Lang. And until she tells me otherwise, it's not going to happen. And I don’t see why she would change her mind.”
Her eyes laughed at me. “Do you?”
I wanted to bite her. I wanted to haul her out of the chair, turn her around and make every fantasy I’d had over the past week come true. Instead, I deliberately strode forward and put my briefcase down. As she watched, I gave her a cool smile.
“Very well, Ms. Gallagher.” She wanted to play it that way? Fine. “I tried being friendly. But that’s apparently not what you want.”
I took a file out of the briefcase and moved closer, sitting down on the heavy mahogany coffee table that was just a few feet in front of her. To her credit, she didn’t lean away when I crowded into her personal space. She held firm and steady. Again, I was overcome with the need to see just how far I could push her – how far I could take her – how far she could take me.
“I’ve done some research into your background.”
“I’m aware.” A smile cold as the arctic curved her lips. “But having someone follow me? Really? Wasn’t the background check done by Winter Enterprises enough?”
I was a bit surprised that she knew. Stanley Kowalski was good. He wouldn’t have slipped up. Unless he'd hired someone else to follow her and they'd messed up. But I kept my surprise hidden.
“Nothing is good enough when it comes to my sister.” Tapping the file against my thigh, I leaned in closer until she was just an inch away. Still, she didn't flinch. “I’ve got to admit, I’m not overly happy to have somebody who was arrested on felony drug charges so closely connected to my sister...Ms. Gallagher.”
Her face was blank for a moment.
Then her face went red and she surged upright. I moved with her, but the narrow space behind the coffee table didn’t provide for a lot of movement.
Shit. I probably just made a tactical error.
“You ass!” She planted her hands on my chest and shoved.
Hard.
She was a lot stronger than she looked, and I’d had more than a few looks at that tight body. I half-stumbled, and while I struggled to regain my balance, she darted away, placing herself in the middle of the room and staring at me with sheer loathing, as if she couldn't stand to be in the same room as me.
My head was spinning.
She’d just pushed me.
People didn’t put their hands on me. No one ever put their hands on me. Not even when I'd been a scrawny little rich kid who preferred to play on his computer instead of joining the other boys outside.
A woman more than half my size had just pushed me.
“You are an asshole!” she said, her voice low and raw.
“I’m voicing valid concerns–”
“Fuck your concerns.” She jabbed a finger at me. “My brother was arrested on felony drug charges when he was eighteen. That was nearly ten years ago.”
Her lip curled as she stared at me and I almost wanted to take a step back. I'd never been looked at like that by anyone. I'd had admiration. Jealousy. Mostly admiration. Never that look of disgust.
“You…” She shook her head. “Fuck, Lang. You’re a piece of work. Although, all things considered, I guess I can see why you think everybody is scum. After all, you are.”
“Now, that’s enough.” I took a step toward her, my temper stretched to the snapping point.
“No, it’s not enough! He was a kid. A stupid kid, and he came clean. He testified.” Her hands clenched into fists as she glared at me. “It all but tore our family apart, and I’m not going to stand here while some pretty boy born with a silver spoon in his mouth judges me for something my brother did as a kid.”
I gaped at her, trying to figure out just where I’d lost ground here.
She took a step toward me. The light in her eyes should have warned me.
“Now if you want to talk about questionable actions, we could talk about you following me to the club the other night,” she said, her voice silky. “You do realize stalking is illegal, right, Mr. Lang?”
I swallowed hard and tried not to look like I'd done it at all. “It was hardly stalking.”
Except it sort of was.
“Really?” She cocked her eyebrow, a derisive smile tugging up the corner of her mouth.
Damn her. I wanted to take that lower lip between my teeth, suck on it. Bite it. Nibble on it. Make her moan.
She sidled a little closer, and now she was near enough that I could have fisted my hand in her hair – exactly the way I’d fantasized.
“Then what would you call it, Mr. Lang? You just happened to be going the same way I was? Visiting the same club? Staring at me numerous times because you...what? Mistook me for somebody else?”
“Ash,” I corrected her, ignoring the rest. If she called me Mr. Lang one more time...
She clucked her tongue. “I’ve already explained that, Mr. Lang–”
I snapped.
Without thinking, I grabbed her upper arms and pulled her to me.
The slight weight of her crashed into my chest and I let go of one arm, shoved my freed hand into her long, silken strands of hair. Still staring at her, I twisted the heavy strands around my hand and wrist, cranking her head back until she had no choice but to look up at me.
There was a look in her eyes, expectant. Waiting.
Challenging.
“Ash,” I said again, my voice rough.
Then I lowered my head and kissed her, exactly as I’d wanted to almost from the first second I'd seen her.
Chapter 10
Toni
Oh. Shit.
Those two words circled around in my head as his mouth closed over mine.
He didn’t kiss me though.
Not exactly.
And a hell of a not exactly.
His tongue slid across my lower lip.
Then he caught it between his teeth and bit down, lightly. When he sucked it between his teeth, I felt my legs go a little weak. I moaned, and he wrapped his other arm around my waist. I was in trouble.
I was in so much trouble.
His knee pushed between my thighs as he lifted his head a little. “Open your mouth,” he whispered. It didn't matter how soft he'd spoken. There was no doubt it was a command.
With a slow blink, I tilted my head back and studied him.
Was he serious?
When his mouth came back to mine, I didn’t open. At least not right away. When his tongue probed my lips, I resisted long enough to let him know I wasn't going to just do what he said. Then he started to tease me, taunt me, into relaxing, and that was when I opened. But it wasn't because he told me to, and I intended for him to know it. I caught his tongue between my teeth and bit him, then sucked on him.
It drew a harsh, ragged moan from him, and he jerked me up into his arms, lifting me off my feet.
Blazing green eyes met mine as he half-staggered, half-walked to the nearest chair. He fell backward on to it while his hands slid over the narrow skirt I’d worn that morning. There was no fumbling, no hesitation, in his touch.
And I was doing touching of my own. Through his dress pants, he felt thick and hard, making my stomach tighten. I slid my hand up, then back down his chest to his crotch, closing my fingers around him as best as I could.
He arched into my touch, and then grabbed my hand, curling my fingers tighter around him until I knew it had to be just this edge of painful.
Still, I tightened them even more, and leaned down to bite his chin, run the tip of my tongue along his bottom lip.
He growled and yanked my head up, kissing me again.
It was a rough, hungry kiss, and it filled every empty, aching spot inside me.
Shit.
His hands went to my hips, and he hauled me closer. It threw me off balance and I grabbed his shoulders, steadying myself. His eyes gleamed with satisfaction, and I shivered as he caught my hips, dragging me up and down over his cock. My skirt had ridden up, and my panties were no protection from how wet he was making me.
The slacks he wore, something pricey and elegant, were starting to show my arousal. I thought maybe I should get embarrassed about that. Isadora would be coming in soon.
But I didn’t care.
I didn’t care about anything except the way he felt, the way his body felt beneath me, against me.
And his mouth –
I cried out when he sat up and closed his mouth over my breast. Through the material of my bra and blouse, I could feel him. Wet tongue, the sharp edge of his teeth.
There was nothing subtle, nothing hesitant or reluctant.
He didn’t even slow to ask permission.
He just took.
I should have been appalled.
But when he flipped me over onto my back and pressed me into the couch, I wasn’t appalled.
I was...turned on.
So fucking turned on.
He moved between my thighs and started to rock his hips against me.
I shuddered.
One big hand cupped my ass, and I couldn’t stop the startled whimper when he moved his fingers, partially exposing the crevice between my cheeks.
“I want to feel you, hot and wet, and wrapped around my dick,” Ash said against my lips. “I want to hear you, begging and desperate, screaming my name as you come.”
I bit his lower lip.
He jerked his head up, staring down at me, eyes glittering.
I stared into his eyes. “I don’t beg.”
Curling my legs around his hips, I arched up.
Through my lashes, I could see his eyes narrow. He drove his cock against me, and I felt a shudder go through his body.
“I make men beg,” I said, smiling at him tauntingly.
A look of challenge came across his face and he caught my wrists.
I didn’t resist as he dragged them over my head. It sent a hot, delicious little thrill through me as he stretched them higher, almost to the point of discomfort. It arched my back, lifted my breasts to him. He lowered his head until he could nuzzle the delicate skin of my breastbone.
“I don’t beg either, Toni.”
“Then I guess it’s a stalemate.” My voice was breathless.
“No.” He licked me. I felt the blazing heated path of his touch all the way up to my neck. Then he stopped and whispered in my ear, “For it to be a stalemate, we’d have to start the game.” He ground his hips against me. “I haven’t started yet. Are you sure you’re ready to play?”
Hell, yes.
I rolled my hips against him and he growled.
“Are you?”
His mouth came down on mine and this time, there was a savage intensity that hadn’t been there before. His hand slid down to grab my thigh while the free one now pinned both of my wrists. He started to move between my thighs with deliberate slowness and my breath caught.
I knew in an instant I was in trouble.
He rocked against me until he had me hovering on the edge of orgasm and we hadn't even taken any clothes off.
Then he stopped, his lips leaving mine to feather teasing little kisses over my face until I lost the edge.
Oh...he was evil.
He settled between my legs again, but this time, instead of kissing me, he raked his teeth down my neck and began to work his way down, down, down...
“Tiger cubs need milk!” I blurted out.
He stilled, then lifted his head, looking at me with confusion.
I closed my eyes and started the mnemonic I'd learned in my anatomy elective two semesters ago.
“Tiger cubs need MILC. Ankle bones of the foot are talus, calcaneus, navicular, medial cuneiform, intermediate cuneiform, lateral cuneiform, cuboid.” I finished it and opened my eyes.
Ash was staring at me, flabbergasted. I'd actually made him speechless, which I suspected didn't happen often.
Narrowing my eyes, I started on the muscles of respiration. “Don’t exercise in quicksand. Diaphragm, external intercostals, internal intercostals, quadratus.”
“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded.
It was hard to shrug with your hands stretched out over your head, but I tried. “I’m...amusing myself.”
He surged up over me, and pushed his face into mine, his eyes burning. “I’ll fucking amuse you.”
“Oh, honey.” I kissed his nose, mostly because I knew it would piss him off.
He growled at me before letting go of my hands to shove his fingers into my hair. I watched his control slipping, and I loved it.
Hands freed, I slid mine down his chest and cupped him through his pants. “Sex organs...” I traced my thumb over the faint ridge at the head of his cock. “The glans.”
Ash shuddered and shoved himself into my hand.
I squeezed my hand around the width of him and stroked down, wondering if he was really as big as he felt. “The shaft.”
“What, no cute little word puzzle?” he muttered, his voice hoarse.
“Who needs one?” I smiled up at him, having fun despite the heat that felt like it was going to swallow me whole. I was determined to show him that I wasn't his toy. “Everybody knows what a cock is. Sadly, not everybody knows how to use one. Do you?”
He pressed his mouth to my ear. “Get naked. I’ll show you.”
I was so tempted.
He slid his hand up my thigh and then between, cupping me. “I know something about female anatomy, Miss Gallagher. Shall I demonstrate?”
My eyes almost crossed when he ground the heel of his hand against me, but I still managed to keep myself coherent enough to speak. “By all means. I appreciate the educated lay person.”
“This is your clitoris.” He flicked it lightly through my panties and I shivered.
“Sometimes called the clit. Stroking it, biting it, can bring one hell of a response.” He gave me a wicked smile. “Allow me to demonstrate.”
My wail was cut off by his kiss, his tongue thrusting into my mouth, plundering every inch as he stroked me through my soaked panties. I was going to die if he didn’t bring me to climax.
And he didn’t.
He raised his head to look at me. He slid inside the leg of my panties. He didn’t touch me where I ached to feel him, not yet. “Your mons.”
I shuddered and arched before I could stop myself.
A grin canted his lips up. “Your labia.” He stroked my folds, separating the larger, fuller lips from the smaller to demonstrate that he knew the difference there. Not that I was doubting his knowledge of anatomy. Not anymore.
“And here...” He circled my entrance, dipped the tip of one finger inside. “Your vagina. I prefer cunt or pussy, but I would assume someone as educated as you would want to be technical.”
“We’re not in class.” My voice came out breathy and rough.
“True.”
He dipped his head and bit my nipple through my clothes. To my chagrin, I let out a sound that was very much a squeak.
“That being the case...” Ash thrust two fingers inside me and my body jerked, arching up to ride him. “I want to feel your pussy wrapped around my dick, Toni. And I will. As soon as you beg me.”
I might have, in that moment, with my body throbbing and aching.
But I couldn’t breathe. The need was too much and I couldn't form the words. Shooting my hand down, I caught his wrist and moved against him, harder, faster.
Fuck him and his demands.
He stared a
t me. “You think you can just...”
I flicked my thumb against my clit and came in a rush, the pleasure coursing through my body as I shuddered beneath him.
For a moment, Ash just stared at me.
Then he started to laugh, a slow, throaty chuckle that made things low in my body throb.
I lay there panting as he sat back on his knees. A look of amused incredulity settled over his face, and I started to snicker. It bloomed into a whoop of laughter when he shook his head, his eyes still hot as he stared at me.
But my amusement faded, fizzled, and then died as he lifted his hand and lazily licked his fingers.
I gulped, heat exploding through me like a series of mini-fireworks. Pop-pop-pop.
“I think next time, I’ll tie you up…”
Next time? I wanted to sneer at him, laugh at him, show him that he had no power over me. But all I could see was myself stretched out underneath hum, my hands tied up, bound to something over my head. My body stripped bare under that hot gaze. I wondered if he'd even ask before slipping the first rope around my wrist.
“Mr. Lang!”
The voice from the hall had us both bolting upright.
Ash was on his feet and moving while I half-rolled, half-fell to the floor.
I fumbled my skirt back into place while Ash strode across the room and yanked the doors closed.
Fuck.
He turned his head to stare at me, and the look in his eyes almost sent me to my knees. It was pure naked lust.
I’d never felt so wanted in my life.
Then there was a fist pounding on the door, breaking the spell. Someone tried to open it. “Mr. Lang!”
“I need a few minutes,” he said, his voice remarkably calm as he kept one hand on the door without looking away from me.
Nice that he could be calm. I couldn’t. Reality had just slammed into me, and as blood rushed to stain my face red, I thought I might be sick.
What had I been thinking?
He was practically my employer! He was Isadora's brother. An obscenely wealthy man who moved in circles I could never even dream of breaking into.
Fuck!
“I…” I swallowed and looked around, feeling strangely lost. “I need a restroom.”
He jerked his head off to the right and I nodded, feeling foolish. I’d known there was a bathroom in there. I’d even used it before. My face was on fire, and my legs were stiff and awkward. They didn’t want to move at all.
