by Lexi Cross
What was she doing right now? Had she undressed? Was she lying naked in her bed, touching herself and thinking of him?
After checking all the cameras to make sure she didn’t appear in any of them, he lay down in his bed. He was too hot and wired up to sleep. There was only one thing he could now after a kiss like that.
He grabbed a tissue and closed his eyes. He pictured Pia naked, imagined what she would feel like, how he’d make her moan and scream. It took only a few long strokes before he shuddered in orgasm and filled the tissue.
He threw it away and lay back down. It wasn’t enough, though. He was still half hard and his mind was full of her. What was he going to do about this?
Getting taken off the job wasn’t an option. He couldn’t very well go to Matteo and tell him he had a thing for his daughter, so he couldn’t be around her or he might have to screw her. That would get him killed. He couldn’t just quit. You didn’t quit the mob. Not alive anyway. He couldn’t mess up and get fired. Well, he could, but he wouldn’t live to tell the tale. And he certainly couldn’t give in and have his way with her. Matteo would probably chop off his dick, then kill him anyway.
No matter how he looked at it, he had no choice. He had to do his job and do it well and keep his hands off her. It was the only way to make it through this with his organs still in his body. One misstep and he was done.
He could fantasize, though. He’d just have to keep the tissues well stocked and find a moment of privacy as often as he needed to. She wasn’t worth it, he kept telling himself. She was a brat, anyway. The way she talked to him? She thought she was better than him by far. But even that…it somehow made it all the hotter that she wanted him, knowing that. She thought he was trash, she thought she was better than him, yet she wanted him. And he didn’t doubt for a second that, had he tried, he’d be in her bed right now. Or hell, they’d be downstairs in the kitchen and her bare ass would be on the counter while he thrust deep inside her.
He groaned and rolled over, his dick hard again. This was ridiculous. How was this one chick driving him so mad? Never before had one girl gotten inside his head and under his skin. What was it about her that did this to him? He could not stop thinking about her. It wasn’t just her beauty. He’d banged plenty of hot chicks and forgotten them the next day. It definitely wasn’t her money. He hated that most about her because it put them in two separate worlds permanently. She was higher than him and that would never change. It certainly wasn’t her attitude.
Or was it? Maybe the fact that she was the first woman to talk back to him, to not give in to him. She was the first one to stand up, to push back, to take control. To tell him what she really thought. Maybe her boldness was what did it. Maybe it was that she didn’t seem to want him like he wanted her. Well, her words said she didn’t, but her body said she did. She probably didn’t even know what she wanted.
Had he made it even harder for himself by kissing her? Maybe it would have been better to never know how she kissed him back, how she pressed against him, how she looked at him longingly. If he could have convinced himself that she didn’t want him and never would, he could have gone on with his life and put her out of his mind whenever she threatened to break in. But knowing was too much. He kept seeing her huge brown eyes and the way they yearned for him. Now, he’d have to follow her around, not touching her, but knowing what it felt like to touch her. Knowing that she wanted him. Knowing that every harsh word was a move in the game.
He loved these games. He couldn’t wait to see her next move. Would she grow colder, harsher? Would she ignore him? Would she turn and suddenly be nice to him? Fat chance of that. Would she tell her father that he’d kissed her?
That made his blood turn cold. She might. She might be vengeful enough, and if she wanted him and he didn’t fuck her, she might feel slighted. He scrambled out of bed and went to the videos. He brought up the footage on the laptop and scanned back through it to find their encounter.
Watching it made him hot all over again. God, he’d have to jerk off again before going to sleep. He shook his head. He opened the video file and cut out the part where they’d kissed. When he watched again after cutting it, it looked like they’d had words and she stormed off. Perfect. As long as whoever watched didn’t pay too much attention to the time stamp. Fuck. There was no way to fix that. He’d have to take his chances. At least if someone knew part of the video was missing, they couldn’t prove what was missing. It was still safer.
As much as he wanted to keep that clip to watch it over and over and see her leg swing up to hug his waist, he had to get rid of the evidence. He watched it one more time, then hit delete and emptied the recycle bin. He couldn’t afford to take any chances.
Of all the hits he’d ever done. All the times he’d had to sneak into tricky places, to hunt someone down and wait for hours and hours for the perfect shot. For all the tight places he’d gotten himself into and out of, this was the trickiest. This job was, by far, the hardest job he’d ever had. Shooting people was far easier than keeping his hands off Pia.
Chapter 4
It had been two weeks since Ryder kissed her. After the kiss, which still felt unreal to her, she’d gone to bed and hadn’t slept at all that night. She kept thinking about sneaking into his room or finding some other way to see him. She was so exhausted by the next day that when she finally woke, it had all seemed like a dream. She wasn’t sure if it was a nightmare or not.
She’d tried to pretend like it never happened. Like he was just her bodyguard and nothing more. She had nothing for him or against him. She only talked to him when she needed to and nothing more. She wasn’t nice or mean. She wasn’t really anything at all.
That was on the outside. But inside, it was turmoil. Every time she saw him or he came near, her heart leapt. She would steal glances at him when she thought he wasn’t looking. She’d think about him all the time, even though she tried her hardest not to. He was always there. How could she not think of him? She had no choice but to be near him constantly. And it was driving her crazy.
She clicked the fob of her car door and got in. A moment later, Ryder got into the backseat. She’d gotten good at ignoring him. Like he was nothing more than her shadow. She turned the music up and sang along as she drove to work. When they arrived, she unlocked the door and went through her morning routine.
First, the lights went on. The inside of the store lit up suddenly as the lights flicked on one by one. She walked to the back where the office was. There, she opened the safe and pulled out the register till. Once it was in place in the register, she walked through the store. The long rack along the sides of the store held her priciest pieces. They had the prime spot and were the most visible. In the center were the slightly less expensive items. Those hung on circular racks or folded displays, depending on the item. Of course, she’d never dream of hanging sweaters or something with delicate fabric that might get stretched out. Her lingerie collection was in the back, in small wooden squares for different sizes and pieces.
After her tour through the store, when everything looked in place, she checked the time. Close enough. She walked back to the front, turned the sign to say “open” and took her place behind the counter. The cashier she had scheduled for today showed up a short time later and Pia retreated to her office.
She spent the morning doing paperwork—the boring stuff. Which mostly meant collecting receipts and invoices to give to her accountant. She couldn’t be bothered to do any of that stuff. Then she opened her computer and got to the fun part. The whole reason she opened this store to begin with. The shopping. She loved looking through exclusive collections and having access to items that only a few other boutiques had access to. It made her feel even more special than she already did.
Sometimes she would order just one of an item, just for herself, and wear it in the store. When people asked if she had the item for sale, she’d smile and say, “Sorry. This is an exclusive piece.” Of course, other shops could purchase the
same item, but there were no shops like hers around. Someone would have to order online or travel far to find the outfits she owned. Her next step would be to have designers create an exclusive line that truly was all hers. That they wouldn’t sell anywhere else. She wasn’t quite big enough for that, but she’d get there.
She glanced over at the edge of her office. Ryder sat there, picking his nails. Gross. She quickly looked away. She got up to stretch and headed back onto the floor for a while. She walked around, chatting with customers as she saw fit.
She heard someone murmur something and turned toward the sound. It was two women, standing close to each other and leaning in to talk. They looked at Ryder and continued whispering, then hurried away to the other side of the store.
She went over to the women. “Is everything okay?”
“Oh…” One of the women glanced over her shoulder to look at Ryder, who was tagging along behind Pia, as always. “Everything is fine.”
“Are you sure?” Pia asked. She gave Ryder a pointed look. “He’s just my security, no need to worry about him.”
Ryder smiled at the women. Then he moved his jacket aside to reveal his gun, tucked under his arm in a leather holster.
The women’s eyes grew wide and they rushed out of the store.
“What the hell!” Pia stormed into the back room, then turned and waited for Ryder to follow her. When he did, she put her hands on her hips and gritted her teeth. “You just scared away two of my customers!”
He shrugged. “Didn’t look like they were going to buy anything anyway.”
“I don’t care! Don’t take out your gun, and stop looking all creepy when you’re in my store. I know you have to be here, but you don’t have to ruin my whole life.”
“Ruin your life?”
“You’re everywhere! I can’t get away from you. You’re just there, lurking all the time. It makes me very uncomfortable. I don’t like it.”
“Well.” He shifted his weight and smirked. “That’s not my problem. I’m just doing my job.”
“Well, I can’t do mine if that’s how you’re going to do yours. You don’t have to be so obnoxious about it!”
“You’ll find anything to complain about, won’t you?”
“I’ll complain when someone scares my customers out of the building, yes. Who knows what sales I just lost and who they’ll tell. These things spread, you know. If word gets out that there’s some creepy man who stares at everyone and has a gun, no one will come in, and I’ll lose business.”
“Oh no. And then what will you do? You’ll have to sit at home all day doing your makeup. I’m sure you don’t need the money from this place.”
She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “That’s beside the point. I don’t even like you being in the store anyway. You’re not exactly my target clientele and it makes the whole place look bad. I think you’ll have to start waiting in the back.”
“Nice try.” He crossed his arms and glowered. “If you have a problem with how I do my job, take it up with your father.”
Why did he always argue with her? Couldn’t he see how unreasonable he was being? The women had left the store because of him. Of course she was going to be upset. She had every right to be. And her father would agree, that she was sure of. He was a businessman himself. If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t have this store. He was the one who’d pushed her and helped her along the way.
“You’re right. I will take this up with my father. Thank you for the suggestion.”
She huffed and bumped into him when she walked past. But he didn’t let her pass. He grabbed her waist and spun her to face him, then held her close to him.
“I know you think about,” he said. “Our kiss. You think about it all the time.”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about. What kiss?” She stepped, trying to get away from him.
“Don’t play like that.” He bent down and breathed in her ear.
Her body tingled with delight. Everything she’d felt that night when they’d kissed rushed back to her. Was he going to kiss her again? She wanted him to so desperately. But she couldn’t show it. Not for a second. He already thought he had her.
“I said let go of me. Or do you want me to add sexual assault to the list of things I tell my father that you’ve done?”
He licked her neck and she flinched away from him, but from willpower, not disgust. She wanted him to lick her all over.
“I can’t stop thinking about that kiss. The way your breasts felt in my hand. The way your leg wrapped around me. The way my hard dick made you all wet.”
She gulped and tried feebly to push him away.
“I know you have to pretend you don’t want me,” he said. “That’s fine. It makes it that much hotter.”
“Ryder.” She meant it to be stronger and harder. A demand to let her go, but it came out with too much longing. She was no good at hiding her feelings. The desire was too strong. His name on her lips sounded like a request, like the longing she felt in every nerve in her body.
“Pia,” he whispered. “You make me so hard. Every time I think about that kiss or your hot body. And right now, I’m like a rock.” He grabbed his crotch. “Want to feel?”
“I have a store to run.”
How badly she wanted to reach down and grab him. To make him moan, to feel just how big he was. He had to be huge, like the rest of him. But if she did that, she wouldn’t be able to stop, and neither would he. This wasn’t the time or place to do that. If she was going to touch him like that, it would be when she could really do something about it.
He smacked her ass hard. “Get back to work, then. We can save this for later.”
She turned from him and shook her head. She looked back over her shoulder. “Pig.”
He grinned and followed her out of the back room.
She didn’t want to admit that the sting on her ass felt good. She wanted him to smack her again. She pictured herself straddling him, feeling him deep inside her, and him slapping her ass while she rode him. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had to calm this heat before facing customers. Luckily, no one was right around her.
She went to the register to check on her employee. She had to carefully glance at the name tag to recall the woman’s name. She was terrible about that.
“Everything going well, Cindy?”
“Yup. We’ve been pretty busy today. Are you okay?”
“Yes, why?” Pia looked down at herself. Nothing looked out of place in her outfit.
“Your cheeks are all red and your face is flushed.”
“Oh, is it?” She put a hand to her cheek. It did feel hot, even to her. Stupid Ryder getting her all worked up. “I am a little warm. Maybe I’ll change into something lighter.”
She pulled a short sleeve top off the rack and took it to her office. She closed the door before Ryder could get in the room, then locked it.
“I’ll just be a second. You can’t be in here while I’m getting changed.”
“I’ll be waiting.” Then, quieter, he said, “And imagining you naked while you’re in there.”
She quickly yanked off her sweater and slipped the top on. She felt much cooler now, but knowing that Ryder was just outside the door made her feel hot all over again.
What was she going to do about him? Just screw him and get it over with? But what if that made it even worse? What if she wanted him more and more? What if she couldn’t get enough of him and they ended up just having sex all the time? They’d get caught eventually. And then what?
Well, he’d be fired. And maybe that was okay. Maybe that was what she needed. To be away from him. Then a great idea crossed her mind. She could tell her father. Tell him that she was into him, had feelings for him even. Her father would get rid of him fast. No way would he take the risk of his little Pia messing around with his hired help. But the thought of him gone made her sad like it never did before.
If he was gone, she wouldn’t have him to lust over,
but was that a good thing? She kind of enjoyed their rare exchanges, full of sexual tension. His words came back to her. “We can save this for later,” he’d said. Did he expect something to happen, then? Of course he did. He wanted her as much as she wanted him. No doubt about it. The way he kept grabbing her like that. The way he looked at her and talked to her. He had it bad for her. And that gave her power.
If she did sleep with him, she’d have even more power. Though, would that even benefit her? What would she do if she could get him to do whatever she wanted? What did she want from him? Maybe nothing more than to know that someone was so hot for her. That he was following her around, watching her ass the whole time, wanting her. That he imagined her naked and imagined taking her right there and everywhere they went. She liked feeling desired like that.
