A shrill ring filled the room. The noise was unrecognizable for a moment until he realized with a start that the source of it was his cell phone. He fumbled to get the tiny device out of his pocket and answer it. When he finally heard the voice on the other end, his fingers tightened almost painfully around his cell and he shut his eyes in a relief so sharp it was almost painful.
********
What Rei liked about civil servants was that they were efficient.
It didn't take long to subdue Bethany, despite the fact that she was struggling and hissing like an alley cat. Backup arrived soon after and she was even checked out by a nice paramedic who gave her some lovely pain meds. It dulled the roaring in her head and subdued the nausea.
It had been a relief to finally get out of the bonds, to finally leave that house with its expensive knick knacks and pristine furniture. Everything was so clean and neat it was making her skin crawl. It was almost as if no one lived there at all. They dragged Bethany out of the door ranting, and it was only when they had her safely secured in the backseat of a squad car that Rei felt safe enough to step outside after her.
The paramedics didn't want her walking around, but she compromised by gripping the arm of the Officer who had originally saved her life. Laying on a stretcher made her feel all too helpless and she'd had enough of the feeling to last a lifetime. It was a few hours after midnight when she finally looked up to see Justin standing in the entryway of her hospital room. There were lines of strain around his eyes and mouth and stubble on his chin that bespoke of restlessness and worry.
It soothed something wounded and petty inside of her that he had been scared for her. As he stepped into the room she began to honestly consider Bethany's words from earlier that night. Was Justin really different, and was Rei the one responsible for the change? Even if it were all true, Rei had no idea what that meant for the two of them. Though the possibilities left her breathless. After all, he'd broken off the engagement before he'd found out that Bethany was a crazy stalker woman, which meant something else had changed his mind. Had Bethany been right about that too? Had Justin chosen Rei over everything else?
He was searching her face, cataloging her features and drinking in the exhaustion he saw there. The sight of the bruises wasn't what made his heart ache. Instead it was how wounded she looked. There was a wide eyed regard to her that said that she wasn't sure whether to classify him as a threat or not. She swallowed hard and his attention snapped to the black and blue coloring her throat. His fists clenched at his sides.
“I'm surprised you came.”
“I'm surprised you called me.”
She ducked her head. “I didn't know what else to do.”
His laugh was a shaky thing, uncertain of its welcome. “I'm not complaining Rei. Even if you hadn't asked me to, I would have come for you.”
Her throat grew tight and she had to fight back the rising moisture in her eyes.
“Why?” She finally managed. She looked at him through a haze of tears. “I thought you were mad at me.”
He shook his head and suddenly he was crossing to her side, hunkering down beside where she perched on the edge of the bed. He gripped her hands with his own and angled his head so that he could see her face beneath the fall of her hair.
“I wasn't mad at you.” he admitted. “I was taking something out on you that wasn't your fault and I'm sorry about that.” reaching up he brushed a thumb across her cheekbone and Rei found herself leaning into the caress. “So very sorry. You have no idea what it did to me when I found out what had happened.”
She shook her head in confusion. “Who told you?”
“Detective Richards.”
“You know Detective Richards?”
“We were never properly introduced.” He said. Then he smiled. “But let's just say I owe him one. Or two. Or a couple hundred.”
Feeling just as lost as before, but unable to dredge up enough energy to care, Rei simply nodded her head. There were things still nagging at her however, and rather than ask him to bring her home as she'd originally intended, she decided to get a few answers first. Figuring that knowing would help her rest better once she was able to crawl into her own bed.
“Why did you do it?” her tone was so solemn that he didn't bother asking what she meant. He slid onto the edge of the hospital bed with her and drew in a deep breath. Her scent filled his nose beneath the smell of medicine and antibacterial soap. Coconut. The memory of how she tasted, how she felt against him, her laugh, her moans of pleasure, were all wrapped up in the scent of her. A sensory overload that made him heady.
It was an effort to focus on the conversation.
“I couldn't go through with it.” he answered her finally.
“What about your company?”
“I found an alternative so I’m not really concerned about it.”
“Did you have this fiscal epiphany before or after you decided to call everything off?”
“Before.”
She winced, and he lifted her chin. Knowing what she must be thinking, he continued.
“But I decided not to go through with it when I saw you walk out of my office last night and imagined you never coming back.”
She glowed. There was no other way to describe how Rei felt in that moment. In that instant of unadulterated pleasure. She beamed up at him and his lips quirked in reply.
“So what now?” She asked lightly. “Where do we go from here?”
He shrugged, but the kiss he placed upon her lips was soft and brimming with affection.
“I don't know.” He spoke against her lips, “But I can't wait to find out.”
Chapter 9: Five Months Later
Rei couldn't believe that it had been nearly six months since she'd met Justin. The details of their first week together still managed to astound her, but even now there were some aspects of it that she simply refused to think about. While she was no longer working with Justin as his personal assistant and secretary, she was currently attending business school. She wanted to open her own book franchise, and Justin was helping her work out the details of it. By this time next year she planned on having her first store in a chain of stores and it was hard to contain her excitement about seeing her dreams come to fruition. After the bookstores there was no telling where she would take things, and that too was its own brand of excitement.
Life with Justin was nothing if not interesting. She liked the fact that he treated her more like a partner than an apprentice. Most people thought that had something to do with the fact that they were seeing each other, but Rei knew that wasn't the case at all. The man was scary good at keeping business and pleasure separate from one another. It was probably thanks to his new mindset. After what happened with Stan and Bethany, Justin was very careful to keep personal feelings out of any of his business dealings. He treated employees like employees and often checked and double checked their information before allowing their findings to progress to the next level.
Rei was proud of him. She was sure some of his paranoia would wear off as time passed, but she knew he'd always hold a part of himself back. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Astoundingly enough, Stan had managed to spend most of the money he'd stolen from Justin. But that didn't necessarily mean that Justin had to walk away without some sort of recompense. After liquidating everything that Stan owned and digging through his myriad of bank accounts, Justin's lawyers had managed to get back some of what had been taken. It didn't hurt that some investments that Justin had made around the same time had begun to pay off. He wasn't as wealthy as he used to be, but he was still considerably well off.
The amount of time Stan and Bethany would spend behind prison was emotionally satisfying enough to make up for the money they weren't able to get back. Meanwhile, no one could prove that Bethany had been Stan's accomplice. There was too much room for reasonable doubt to take Stan's word over Bethany's, so attempted murder was the only sentence that Bethany would have to serve. It was unnerving to thin
k that the woman would be free again in just a few years.
Absently, Rei rubbed her head, fingertips running over the area of her skull where she still felt a phantom ache every time she thought about Bethany Marcus. She may feel as if Bethany should have been put away for much longer, but she had learned not to dwell on it. Instead she focused on just how much she enjoyed being with Justin. Aside from the way he made her feel whenever he touched her, she'd found that he was one of the most descent people she'd ever met in her life. He was frank and open with everyone and he never sugarcoated anything. There was a new fire in him, a new purpose that drove him. It made him smile more, laugh more. Rei liked to think that Bethany had been right that night. About Rei being the reason that Justin was a stronger person.
Being with a multimillionaire had its downsides of course. Other than the publicity that came hand in hand with dating someone so well known, Justin was invited to attend a lot of functions. Functions that he expected Rei to accompany him to.
Rei hated them with a single minded focus she usually reserved for rats and very large spiders. No matter how many parties she attended, she just couldn't get used to rubbing elbows with the super elite. If she'd been a wallflower maybe things wouldn't have been so bad. But no. Rei was much worse than that. She was a klutz. The unwitting center of attention. The topic of the story that people regaled their friends and family with. She'd asked Justin after their last disastrous party why he kept inviting her to these gatherings at all. He'd admitted, in a shame faced sort of way that it was solely for his own personal amusement.
“You make me happy. Just go with it.”
Sage advice. If he had said anything else she would have staunchly refused to accompany him to any more social events. It was why she currently found herself smiling benignly at an older couple she neither knew, nor particularly liked if the last few moments were any indication of their personalities.
“-and the Hampton social was simply awful.” Mrs. Fuller huffed.
“Quite awful.” Mr. Fuller agreed, staring holes into his champagne glass.
“I don't know what Clarissa was thinking, hiring a bunch of minorities to plan her party. It's one thing to let them mow your lawn or build your house, but it's quite another to trust them with a budget.” She laughed gaily and took a swig from her glass. “I can't even leave them alone with my purse, isn't that right Henry?”
She nudged Henry and he lifted her tiny clutch in silent agreement. Mrs. Fuller tittered and then she looked at Rei's carefully blank face in dawning horror. It seemed to have just occurred to the woman that the person she was talking to was, in fact, a minority.
“Nothing personal dear.”
Rei gave a tight smile and opened her mouth to say something rude when she felt a warm hand caress the small of her back where her green dress dipped low around her waist. She looked over at Justin with a smile and he winked at her before turning the full force of his charm on the Fullers.
“You don't mind if I steal her away for a bit do you Mrs. Fuller?”
The older woman blushed and waved a dismissive hand.
“Of course not. We've kept her occupied for long enough. You two love birds go and enjoy yourselves.”
Justin's grin was wicked.
“Oh we will.” he assured her earnestly and Rei found her own face flushing scarlet at the promise in his words. As they walked away from the Fullers she struck him in the chest with the back of her hand.
“What was that for?” he asked with a laugh. Rei simply shook her head.
“For being a constant pain in my ass.”
He hummed low and his gaze turned speculative.
“Speaking of things being in your ass-” he began.
“No.” she said, cutting off whatever he'd been about to say.
“You promised you'd try.”
“I promised I'd think about it.”
“Well how about this? I'll start while you think about it, and hopefully by the time I’m finished you'll have made up your mind.”
“Do you want to get hit again?” but she couldn't quite fight back a smile.
“Yes please.”
This time she laughed out loud and several party goers turned to stare.
“You're ridiculous.”
His sigh was dramatic. “Why would I deny myself the pleasure of your touch?”
Looking at him from the corner of her eye, she bit her lip in thought. Finally, she nodded.
“Speaking of touching and pleasure-” she began absently.
His eyes narrowed as he surveyed the area. “Quickie in the coat room?” He guessed.
She nodded and smiled a greeting at a woman who waved at her from across the room.
“Quickie in the coat room.”
“I'd thought you'd never ask.”
His fingers intertwined with hers and he pulled her after him. The benefit they were attending tonight was being held on the first floor of a hotel. The room was specifically designed to host large functions like weddings, fashion shows, and live concerts. Which meant that while the coat closet was relatively close, it took them a few minutes to work their way through the crowd that had managed to squeeze themselves within the space.
They stumbled into the coat room, hands already fumbling with one another's clothes. Rei had grown especially fond of wearing skirts and dresses in her time with Justin and even now she thrilled in the gentle glide of silk across her thighs as he lifted her off of her feet and slammed her back against a wall. Hangers swung and coats cocooned them in a cave of faux fur and leather.
Rei lifted her legs, wrapping her legs around Justin's waist and lifting herself so that he could reach between their bodies and fumble with panties and zippers alike. He entered her with a groan and she couldn't help but whimper at the sensation. Even after all these months it felt good to have him there, between her thighs, inside of her. It was like finding her other half and it only doubled the pleasure, made it sharper, sweeter.
They moved together and it was like dancing. Hips grinding, thrusting, straining. A slide of flesh in flesh. Dragging her nails across the length of his back and stifling her cries against his shoulder. He rocked inside of her, and the motion set the coats to swinging. She locked her ankles at the small of his back, and held him there. Allowing her muscles to clench around him, lifting her bottom half so that she ride him in short bursts.
Leaning his head against her breasts, his fingers dug into her hips. Pulling her forward so that only her back touched the wall. He watched his cock pumping between her tight folds, eyes darkening at the play of light on dark skin, at the stretch of muscle and the way her cream made his cock glisten in the weak light of the coat room.
She was just beginning to feel the first stirrings of orgasm when Justin slipped out of her and pulled her to the ground with him. She felt his hands guiding her, the soft murmur of his voice against her skin as he trailed kisses along her body. He turned her around and Rei found herself kneeling in front of him on all fours. Her body was still primed, still ready, and she was hungry enough for orgasm that when she felt his fingers spreading the cheeks of her ass, saying no never even entered her mind.
'If it hurts, I’ll just ask him to stop.' she thought to herself. Having him take the decision out of her hands and knowing that he would stop the second she seemed uncomfortable, stole the last of her resistance. It did nothing for the excited beat of her heart as she lowered the upper half of her body to the ground. Pressing her cheek into her cupped hands to protect herself from lying flat out on the carpet, she tried not to jerk away at the first swipe of Justin's tongue across the tight rose of her anus.
Pulling back slightly, he ran his forefinger against her, pushing against the muscles there to test her resistance. Then he leaned forward and licked her again. He bathed her asshole under the weight of his tongue and the wet heat of his breath. His fingers teased her, pressing forward before retreating and soon she found herself gasping beneath his ministrations. Pressing back to meet
his greedy mouth and questing hand.
When his first finger slipped inside of her, her body gripped the digit, involuntarily pulling it deeper and clutching it tight. His tongue came back, and it was if she were already conditioned to respond to it, to relax when his mouth made contact with her. Her cunt was dripping and her body rocked in rising frustration. She sobbed out loud when he took pity on her, free hand rising so that he could finger fuck her pussy at the same time he worked against her ass. One finger was replaced by two, then three and she groaned, blood rushing too her head as she tried not to fight against the pressure pushing against her asshole. Even with three fingers in her, the intrusion didn't hurt. It was just difficult to get used to.
Then his fingers started to move, thrusting in time with his other hand as it teased and pulled at her clit. She felt lightheaded, aching. When he finally removed his fingers from her ass, he didn't waste any time rising to his knees behind her and placing the head of his cock against the gaping hole his fingers had created. Even as he worked to push into her ass, he could feel the walls of her anus closing around the length of him. Like his fingers, once he pushed through that first layer of resistance her body accepted him. Even pulling him in deeper.
She made a low, groaning sound in the back of her throat. Once he was seated to the hilt he had to hold them both still. His body screamed at him to push forward, to fuck her raw, but if he listened to that part of himself he'd last a minute, maybe two, before blowing his load. Even if he did cum quickly he wanted it to be because they were good together not because he lost control. Justin like to plan ahead. If she didn't enjoy herself this time there was no way in hell she was going to let him have a second go at it. So in this case, first impressions were everything.
He probably shouldn't have initiated this in a coat closet now that he thought about it, but hindsight was a bitch that wouldn't allow him to pull out. The feel of her inner muscles were like a fist around his throbbing length and there was a heat to her that was nearly searing against his overly sensitive skin. He tested her, pulling out slow and watching the way her body tensed and shuddered beneath him. He did it again, and then again, until she started to relax, shuddering now in pleasure rather than discomfort if the little sounds she made were any clue.
Bad Behavior (BWWM Romance) Page 10
