Sweetest Obsessions - Anthology

by Anthony, Jane

  “Where are we going?” I demanded.

  “To the police station,” Mosedale said. I was certain he was trying to be soothing, but I couldn’t imagine a world in which those words were not alarming. “We just want a more private place to talk to you about what’s been going on at Patterson Advertising.”

  I shook my head and fumbled for my phone in my purse. “Listen. Both of you. Listen to this.”

  “What are you doing?” Sawyer said, caution lacing his tone, hand disappearing into his coat. I realized too late that he might think I was pulling a weapon on them, but I didn’t care. I was determined to clear Aaron’s name at any cost.

  “Just listen, please. This is evidence, all right? It will help you. I promise.”

  Sawyers’s eyes flickered to his partner’s in the rearview mirror, guarded and alert. “You may not want to do anything hasty, Miss Miller …”

  His voice trailed off as I retrieved my phone and thumbed through the audio files. Please let this work.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather wait until we arrive at the—”

  Aaron’s clear, angry tone cut him off. I had started recording the conversation in the middle, and I prayed it would be enough to clear Aaron’s name without context.

  For a moment, irritation and confusion passed across Sawyer’s face, but then, his expression melted into open interest. “Is that Patterson?” he asked, reaching inside his coat to retrieve a small notebook.

  “Yes.” I sighed, relieved to have someone listen, instead of treating me like I was a crazy person. “It’s Aaron and his brother, Devon. Listen.”

  For once, Sawyer did as I asked, taking hasty notes in his notebook. When Devon started the bit about planning his sting for two years and seeding rumors among New York society, Sawyer grabbed the driver’s headrest and ordered his partner to pull over.

  It was a tall order in Manhattan traffic, but Mosedale somehow managed, sliding cockeyed into a tiny spot between a taxi cab and a bicycle on the curb in front of a kosher deli. The owner shouted at us from the window, pointing to the fire hydrant we’d parked in front of, but Mosedale waved him off, flashing the badge he had tucked into the interior pocket of his jacket. The deli owner retreated, shaking his fist at us, and the older detective twisted around and pushed his head over the seats to hear more clearly.

  Devon was really getting into it now. Threatening to send Aaron to prison, threatening to end my career. I caught Sawyer’s eyes slide over to Mosedale, and the two nodded at each other as though confirming a suspicion. Something told me that after hearing this, they would still want to ask me a few questions—but a very different kind.

  Sawyer fixed me with his intimidating gaze. It was still hard as steel, but now I could see the gears turning behind his intelligent eyes. “You recorded this yourself?”

  “Yes,” I said, shoulders sagging in relief.

  “Were you at the scene when this conversation happened?”

  “No, but—”

  “We’ll deal with it later.” He cut me off. “We can work with this. Assuming you’re telling us the truth, Miss Miller.”

  His voice had softened, but he didn’t need to bark at me to let me know what kind of legal trouble I’d be in if it turned out I was forging evidence.

  “I swear,” I said. “On my life.”

  “Call the precinct,” Sawyer told Mosedale, who already had his phone out and dialing. “Tell them we’ve got something they’re going to want to hear.”

  It took the investigators three days to clear Aaron of any suspicion of guilt, and a week for the rumor mill to die down. New York was sure to be gossiping for months to come about the hotshot CEO who almost did hard time for stealing a million dollars from his own company. Luckily for us, however, the gossip about that same CEO’s vengeful baby brother and an elaborate set-up was even hotter.

  Aaron and I spent a lot of our time with Detectives Sawyer and Mosedale during those few days, answering questions, explaining tapped phone calls and financial records, and sipping bitter coffee out of Styrofoam cups, while we waited for them to make their arrest. We didn’t have to wait long. At the end of the week, the detectives escorted Devon from his penthouse and into the back of a squad car. He professed his innocence the entire time, but, in the end, there wasn’t much he could do. After we’d pointed them in the right direction, the investigators had found all the evidence they needed to nail him on his personal computer.

  It seemed tasteless, adding unnecessary pain to attend the trial, but Aaron and I had to testify, so we sat together in the gallery. Devon’s eyes burned holes through us; the intensity of his stare and hatred he’d felt was palpable. We held hands the whole time, ignoring the journalists seated behind us as they ogled our public display of affection. After being put through the wringer in the media, it seemed like nothing, and we refused to deny ourselves the happiness of each other’s company.

  As soon as we’d finished playing our parts with the police, signed our paperwork, and received our dismissals from the court, I felt so much lighter—as though a weight had finally been lifted from my chest.

  Even Aaron seemed brighter, more willing to smile despite the pain his brother’s betrayal had caused him. I tried to convince him that none of it was his fault—that he couldn’t have stopped Devon either way, but I didn’t think he believed me. Aaron was too used to taking responsibility for everything within his field of influence.

  He doubled down on taking personal inventory of his company’s clients, profits, and services. This resulted in Patterson going into a much-needed sort of rest-mode, as he put a pause on accepting new clients or starting new projects. I was certain everyone who worked for him was grateful for it, especially after the months of staying late at work and pulling brutal hours.

  I, for my part, came to an agreement with Ronny and resumed my work for Pace with a substantial pay boost and an upgrade to a corner office, becoming an equal partner in the company. However, this didn’t come without its trials.

  I’d learned after the detectives had gone through Devon’s personal effects, and Ronny finally fessing up, that it had been Devon’s blackmailing that had frightened him. Upon their first meeting at Pace, Devon had propositioned Ronny with an offer he couldn’t refuse: sabotaging Patterson from within, along with a handsome settlement and promised stake in the company, if everything went according to plan.

  He’d thought he was making a sound business decision by taking out the competition. That was, until I had been inadvertently involved due to my relationship with Aaron.

  When I was threatened and my reputation called into question, Ronny had tried to back out. But, Devon had kept recordings of every conversation, every detail, playing upon Ronny’s anxiety of a failing company and my finding out.

  What Ronny had done was nothing short of extortion. He was lucky to have not been charged and thrown in prison. But thanks to his testimony, it helped seal the prosecution’s case against Devon.

  Needless to say, our relationship was somewhat strained for a while, but in the end, family was family, and we stuck together. I now had free reign over my comings and goings at Pace, and, made sure things were kept professional around the office.

  There would be no more secrets, or I would take necessary precautions and leave without a backward glance.

  One afternoon almost a year later, when golden summer was just starting to turn toward fall, Aaron and I were strolling through one of the ritzier parts of East Manhattan, sipping coffee and holding hands. Aaron had learned to relax a little since his brush with the law.

  I suspected that Devon’s betrayal, no matter how unpredictable and devastating, had been the wake-up call Aaron had needed to realize the consequences of some of his actions. Devon had gone far beyond the boundaries of what could be considered “skimming off the top,” and straight into felony embezzlement, far worse than we’d realized—and the criminal justice system of New York agreed. But Aaron still felt he had, in some part, pushed D
evon toward his crimes.

  While I doubted that Aaron would lose his fearsome reputation as a media mogul any time soon, I’d noticed he was now more patient with his employees. He was more likely to hear them out before telling them that their ideas were ridiculous, and more willing to give out some occasional well-earned praise—along with his usual verbal criticism. It made me proud to see him growing into a better boss and a better man. I could hardly imagine the new heights Patterson Advertising would rise to.

  Aaron paused in front of a modern high-rise apartment building, an edifice of chrome and glass among the more antique buildings of the quarter and cocked his head up at it. He had a mischievous look in his eyes, one I usually saw in the bedroom rather than on the city streets below.

  “Come on.” He squeezed my hand. “I want to have a look inside.”

  “Inside?” I echoed, already following him through the spotless glass doors held open by men wearing crisp red and blue uniforms with white gloves. “Why? This is an apartment building, Aaron. Don’t tell me you’re looking to buy it.”

  He chuckled, summoning the elevator with the touch of a glowing green button. “No, not all of it. Just trust me on this one.”

  Despite our past differences, our spats, and our struggles, I trusted Aaron more than anyone else in the world, so I let him lead me down a plush carpeted corridor, watching as a smirk played at his lips. He stopped at an innocuous door and pushed it open, ushering me inside.

  “Aaron.” I giggled. “I don’t think this is the time for a quickie in someone else’s … Oh.”

  The apartment was breathtaking and had the spotless shine of a unit freshly cleaned for new tenants. There were beautiful hardwood floors, a row of built-in bookshelves along one wall, and an impressive copper-finished open-plan kitchen.

  “Wait a minute,” I breathed. “Is this—?”

  “Yes,” he said with tenderness, dropping his keys on the kitchen counter. “I bought it yesterday. Figured I might need a little more room than my current digs offer.”

  I drifted through the gorgeous apartment, marveling at the views from the floor-to-ceiling windows, the solid granite bathroom countertops, and the sunny master bedroom with double walk-in closets. A few pieces of furniture, such as a bed—already made—and a dining room table and chairs, sat ready and waiting, but the rest remained a blank canvas, begging for decoration. I could just imagine it with colorful throw rugs, inviting sofas, and tasteful wall art that would liven it up. It seemed built for entertaining, for having a dozen people over for dinner parties and cocktails to celebrate promotions, birthdays, and holidays.

  “More room?” I wondered aloud, although I was pretty sure I already knew the reason. My heart was fluttering inside my chest, hoping against hope.

  Aaron, who had followed me on my meandering tour, took my hands in his. “I love you, Audrey. You’re the woman I want to spend my time with and wake up next to and plan my future with. You never lost patience with me. You were my rock through all that insanity. Sex with you is great.” He gave me a charming yet sexy smile. “Basically, you’ve been the most perfect girlfriend a man could ask for. Move in with me.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh—the surprised laugh of someone who’d just won an all-expenses-paid trip to Tahiti. My stomach felt as if someone had filled it up with champagne, and my head was spinning as though I were drunk.

  “Move in?” I asked. “Here?”

  “Of course. We’re already sleeping at each other’s apartments every night. It’s high time we made the arrangement more permanent. I hate seeing you living out of a suitcase and cramming your makeup next to my razors on the sink. You deserve your own space—right next to mine.”

  He slid his hands around my waist and laced his fingers at the small of my back, pulling me closer. I snuggled against his chest as he smiled down at me, delighted he could still surprise me after all the time we’d spent together.

  “I’ve already got a fleet of movers on standby.” He reached up and placed his hand on my breast. His thumb teased my nipple through my dress. “They could pack up your belongings and bring them over here as soon as you’re ready. I’d give you a credit card, and you’re welcome to fill the place with all the furniture and home décor you want. Just say the word.”

  My nipples responded to his touch, tight and erect, pressing against the fabric of my dress. A shiver of anticipation ran through me, and heat spiraled to my core. I smiled, leaning in to kiss him. He tasted like home.

  “Word,” I said with a teasing quirk of my mouth. Then, with a little nip to his bottom lip. “I call the right side of the bed.”

  “Oh?” Aaron began to pop open the top buttons of my dress. His voice took on that hungry growl that always made me weak in the knees. “I already claimed it. You’re going to have to fight me for it.” His hand slid below the soft lace of my bra to my breasts.

  I pressed my hips against him, smiling against his mouth. “Ohhh … I … can do that, I think. What do you say … we … move this domestic dispute … to the bed?”

  Aaron exposed my breast, leaned in and sucked on my hardened nipple with fervor, driving me crazy. “Look at these delicious tits.” His words whispered across my breast and he took a soft bite. He scooped me up in his arms, crushing my mouth in a desperate kiss, and carried me bridal style to the bed. I giggled as I sprung against the mattress, a bit out of breath, my breasts bouncing. The rush of spontaneity and the euphoria of our new life together heightened my arousal to the point of delirium.

  “Deal,” he said, lowering his mouth to my neck and continuing to undo the buttons on my dress.

  I arched my back and pressed into his body, already wet and ready for him. “Loser makes breakfast in the morning.”

  “You shouldn’t get too cocky,” Aaron warned, grinding against me, making me bite my lip from the friction.

  I could feel the evidence of his arousal and knew what was to come. What I wanted. What I was going to make him work for.

  I clawed at the buttons on his shirt, exposing his flesh to my wandering hands and hungry mouth. His skin was hot against my lips. In a quick sequence, I wrapped my knees around his waist and flipped him over onto his back, straddling his chest, and giving him a wicked grin while he gasped in surprise.

  “No, you shouldn’t get too cocky,” I whispered. “I like to win.”

  I began to grind my heat against his hard length. Tremors of pleasure rang up my legs as he dug his fingers into my hips and groaned, pulling me in harder. I controlled the pace, though, teasing him with every movement of my hips. I loved seeing his head tipped back, and his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. In no time, I was breathing heavily, running my hands up my stomach to squeeze and tease my breasts. Maybe I wouldn’t be able to last quite as long at this game as I’d thought.

  Aaron bucked his hips against mine, one hand slipping between my legs to smooth over my already soaked panties. I whimpered as he pulled them aside and ran his finger along my opening.

  “God, you’re so wet,” he said, his voice rough. “You want it, don’t you?”

  In one swift movement, Aaron lifted my hips and pressed my back to the bed, yanking off my panties. He spread my legs wider for greater access. He licked my swollen clit in one long, slow stroke. Then another one. And another one.

  “Yes,” I moaned as I plunged my hands into his hair, pulling him closer.

  Aaron licked and sucked on my clit in slow repeated motions. When he slipped two fingers inside me, I rolled my hips, panting while he fucked me with expert fingers.

  “God, yes. That’s it. Just like that.”

  Pushing him up and taking control, I fumbled for his belt, and, in a matter of seconds, his cock was free. I pumped his hard length in my hand, trying to bring him as close to orgasm as I was. Aaron responded by slipping his fingers out of my pussy, and pulling me forward. I slid against his cock, already slick from our foreplay, but he didn’t penetrate me. Instead, he rocked his hips back and forth, s
lipping his hardness between my legs and against my wet entrance. I whimpered and muttered incoherent words, not sure what I was trying to say.

  “That’s it, baby,” Aaron murmured, picking up the pace as I ground myself against his cock. “See how long you can last like this. Don’t come. I want to hear you beg.”

  God, I wanted to beg. I wanted to beg him to fuck me, to fuck me until I couldn’t remember my name. But my competitive streak ran deep, and I wanted to win our little battle. I braced one hand on the bed behind me and began to ride him without taking him inside me, slipping my wet pussy all the way down his shaft and then back again, moving in small circles around the head, making me quiver with need. Don’t come, I begged myself. Not yet. God, try not to come.

  Aaron almost beat me at our little game, but it was too much for him.

  With a growl, he flipped me over onto my stomach, face against the mattress, ass in the air.

  “You want me to fuck you, don’t you?” His voice was hungry.

  “Yes.”

  “Tell me what you want, baby.”

  “I want you inside me, Aaron.”

  He gave my ass a slap, sharp enough to make me gasp in surprise.

  “Tell me again,” he demanded.

  “Aaron, please …”

  Another slap, a bit sharper, followed by another one, this time on my pussy. The sharp sensation on my swollen clit sent waves of tingles throughout my body, and I had no idea how it was possible, but I became slicker with need.

  “What do you want?”

  “Aaron, please …” I gasped. “I’m begging you, fuck me.”

  He gripped my hips, and with a hard, deep thrust, filled me to the hilt. Then, he picked up a merciless pace. I shoved my ass against his hips, writhing and moaning beneath him as I mumbled a string of curses, his name and, “yes, harder, faster.”

  I tried to squirm away with a giggle, hoping to play our game a bit longer, but he pressed me down while yanking my hips farther up and pounding me even faster, nearing his orgasm. I loved it when he took me like this, like he couldn’t get enough of me, and I felt my own climax welling up inside me.