by B. B. Hamel
I got up and headed out into the hall, walking toward him. It was definitely a bad idea, but I was tired and I was bored, and I wanted to know what the heck he meant by sending me black roses. I knew what pink roses meant, what yellow roses meant, obviously what red roses meant, but not black. Was he trying to make some kind of funeral joke or something? You never knew with Carter. That man seemed to live in his own little world and made his own little jokes that he found amazingly funny, while we normal people were left trying to figure out what the heck he meant. He had referenced the lingerie in his note, and maybe that really was what he was getting at. So then why roses?
I realized that I was reading too far into it, but I couldn’t help myself. I knew Carter was smart enough to have several layers of meaning to every gesture, or at least he could if he wanted to. Maybe it was just as simple as black lingerie, black roses.
I stopped just outside of the music room, realizing something. This was probably what he wanted all along. Carter wanted me to read into these roses, wanted me to think about what they could mean. He wanted me to think about him, to obsess about him. Just by thinking about his gift, I was playing directly into his hand.
“Damn,” I said out loud, shaking my head.
A second later, the door swung open and Carter poked his head out. He startled me and I took a few steps back.
“Hey,” he said, cocking his head at me and smiling. “Were you talking to yourself out here?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I was on the phone.”
“Right.” He leaned up against the frame. “What brings you here?”
“I got your gift.”
“Good. Do you like them?”
“They’re more confusing than anything else.”
He shrugged and walked back into the room, leaving the door open. I followed him in as he walked behind the bar. “Drink?” he asked.
“White wine, if you have some.”
He nodded, opened a bottle, and poured me a small glass. He refreshed his own whisky and came around the bar.
“Why are roses confusing?”
“They’re black.”
“I told you why in the note.”
“Where do you even get black roses?”
“You buy white ones then you have them dyed black.”
“Sounds expensive and a lot of work for something that I’m just going to throw out.”
“That’s okay. Nothing but the best for the girl that leaves me cuffed to a bed.”
“You asked for that.”
“I don’t recall asking to scare some poor maid.”
“That’s not my fault.”
He grinned. “Agree to disagree.”
“Besides, why would seeing you half-naked scare her?”
“She’s pretty young. Probably never saw a cock like mine before.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course. You and your unique penis.”
“Penis.” He scoffed. “You make it sound so clinical.”
“Good. You’re my stepfather, after all.”
He grinned at me. “Good point.” He moved closer, sitting on the stool next to mine, our knees touching very slightly. “Tell me something, do you always kiss your stepfathers the way you kissed me?”
I looked away. “That’s different.”
“I don’t see how.”
“I was drunk.”
“No, you weren’t.”
“High.”
“Nope.”
“Under the influence of gamma radiation?”
He laughed, grinning. “Okay, maybe that one. But it wouldn’t cause you to do anything against your will.”
“I don’t know, gamma radiation has some tricky properties.”
“Speaking of working too hard, you seem to be doing backflips to try and avoid admitting that you want to see my unique cock.”
“Believe me. I don’t need to work hard to avoid that.”
“What did you think when you saw the roses?” he asked, sipping his drink.
I sipped my wine, taking a second before I answered. “I thought you’re a total weirdo.”
He laughed again, clearly loving it. “I don’t believe that.”
“What did you think when you were sending them?”
“I was thinking how hard I get every time I think of seeing you in that lingerie. I think of how incredible that kiss was—and I know you know it.”
“It was a mistake,” I said.
“It was,” he agreed, “but that doesn’t make it any less incredible. Think about this, Emily. I can make you feel things I’m betting you’ve never felt before with just a kiss. Imagine what I could do if you let me have that perfect body of yours.”
I felt a thrill run up my spine as I imagined all of the possibilities, but I had to keep myself under control. “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “What would my mother say about that?”
“She’d be unhappy, but she’d get over it.”
I stood up and walked away, needing to put some distance between us. He leaned one elbow on the bar top and watched me, a cocky smile on his face, sipping his drink.
“I don’t know where you get off with all this,” I said, feeling a bit angry. “You send me lingerie, you flirt with me, hell, you even kiss me. You ran to my aid like you needed to defend me.”
“I was defending you,” he pointed out.
“Cox had it covered. I didn’t need you.”
“Yes, you did.” He stood and walked toward me. “You pretend like you’re all high and mighty, like you’re above this. But we both know you’re not.”
“I don’t think I’m above anything. I just know you’re an ass and this is wrong.”
“That’s it, right there.” His smirk was infuriating. “You don’t even see it. The only reason you’re so mad about all of this is because you know you want me, and you want me badly.”
I clenched my glass of wine and shook my head. “No. It’s not true.”
“The more you fight back, the more I know you want me. Stop pretending and give in to me.”
“Asshole.”
He stopped inches away from me, just like the other day out on the lawn. I stared up at his gorgeous eyes, my mouth hanging open, and I knew what I wanted. But I also knew that wanting something didn’t make it right.
That didn’t matter to Carter. Without another word, he pulled me against him and kissed me deeply.
That feeling came over my again. It was a rush of desire, intense and powerful, something I’d never experienced before. He kissed me hard, tongue in my mouth, and I pressed my body closer against his large, hard chest. He took the drink from my hand and placed it on a side table as we walked together toward the couch on the far wall.
We continued to kiss, my hands on his strong arms and his hands on my hips, as he steered me to the couch.
“Wait,” I said suddenly. “Wait, wait.”
He broke off the kiss, his lips lingering on my neck. “What?”
“Bathroom,” I said, breathless.
“Why?”
“Where is it?”
“Down the hall, on the right.”
I pulled away from him, turned, and practically ran out of the room.
I didn’t need to use the bathroom, but I did need an excuse to get myself away from him. I knew that if he got me onto that couch, I’d give him exactly what we both wanted. But I also knew that if I did that, I’d never want to stop, and that was so much more dangerous.
The only way to make sure that didn’t happen was to physically remove myself from the situation. Otherwise, I wasn’t going to be able to resist him.
I hurried down the hall toward the bathroom, not really thinking about anything but Carter. His lips, his arms, his body against mine . . .
My foot knocked into something that felt like a soccer ball and I stumbled. Frowning, I looked down at the ground.
Thick, red moisture all over the carpet. I took a step back, my heart racing fast in my chest. I followed the trail of blood toward th
e thing I had kicked.
Staring back at me was the head of a dog, blood dripping from its severed neck.
I screamed, and kept screaming, until someone came to pull me away.
12
Carter
“How the fuck could you let this happen?”
I glared at Cox, anger swelling through me. I couldn’t believe security had been so goddamn lax, and that Emily was the one to stumble across that fucking head.
“Sir, I checked the logs. The tapes have been destroyed. I don’t know how this happened.”
“That’s the problem, isn’t it?” I knew I was lashing out at Cox because I had nobody else to blame, but fuck, it was his job to keep the mansion safe.
As soon as I heard Emily scream, I was out into the hall running as fast as I could. I found her standing over the dog head, her eyes wide in horror, and I quickly pulled her away from it. I signaled to security with my phone while I took her back to her room.
She was visibly shaken up, but I thought she was going to be okay. I left her there alone and sent a message to Evelyn to make sure she was fine. She got back to me immediately and said she’d check in on Emily once she understood the situation.
Back in the hallway, Cox and his team had secured the area and were carting off the dog head. I ordered them to stop before they could get too far.
I walked over to the head and turned it over in my hands. It felt heavy, surprisingly heavy. I dug my thumbs into the skin and fur on the back of the skull, making one of the security guys gag. I found what I was looking for and slowly peeled the skin away.
Revealing a robotic cage and circuitry.
“It’s fake?” Cox asked, surprised.
“Fake,” I confirmed. “I recognized it right away. We’ve been working on animal robot prototypes, and this was meant to be our mascot’s robot. I guess we’ll have to rebuild it.”
Cox shook his head, clearly surprised.
Valor Tech’s logo included a little dog and always had, even back when I first started the company. Whoever did this was sending me a message, and it was clear: Valor was going to be destroyed.
After chewing out Cox, I took the head back into the lab. I couldn’t find any signs of someone having broken in, but I did find the prototype robot’s body sitting in its case, headless as I suspected. The “blood” was actually ketchup, water, and some more food dye to darken it a bit. Pretty ingenious, actually, and the exact same formula we used in the lab.
There were some very dark implications around the severed robot head as I left the lab, locking it down. I changed the passcode to something only I knew, and although there were going to be some annoyed scientists in the morning, they could wait. We were going to have to screen and vet each and every one of them all over again, anyway, until we found the culprit.
I went down the hall and over toward Emily’s section of the house. I stopped outside of her door and knocked. A minute later, Evelyn answered.
“How’s she doing?” I asked her.
“She’s okay,” she said. “A little shaken up.”
“I think I can help with that.”
She frowned at me. “Black roses, Carter?”
I grinned and shrugged. “Friendly gesture.”
She sighed, shook her head, and let me inside. “I’ll be back later,” she said pointedly as she left.
I waved at her as I walked into Emily’s apartment. I found her sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and watching The Office. She paused it when I came in.
“You okay?” I asked.
She nodded. “That really freaked me out.”
“Well. Would it make you feel any better if what you saw wasn’t a real dog?”
She blinked. “What was it then?”
“A robot prototype, stolen from my lab.” I took out my phone and showed her some pictures I took. “Whoever did this stole it, cut it up, and used fake blood to set the scene.”
“Jesus,” she said, shaking her head. “It looked so real.”
“Thank you,” I answered, grinning.
“That does make me feel better, though. But it begs a bunch of other questions.”
“Like who did this?”
“And why.”
I nodded. “We’re working on it.”
“They knew where you were, Carter. They left that head there for you to find.”
“I know.”
“I’m guessing they didn’t expect me to be around.”
“Probably not.”
“But that means someone is watching. Someone very close.”
“Also true.” I frowned, not liking where she was going with this, but it was a place I had already gone myself.
“All of that means we need to stay away from each other.”
I didn’t answer, just looked at her. She was so gorgeous and earnest, and I hated the idea that some asshole could push me away from having her.
“No more kissing,” she continued. “No more pranks. No more pictures or roses or lingerie. No more coming to the rescue. You’re married to my mother and that’s all there is between us.”
“That’s not all between us.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said quickly. “If we get caught? It would destroy everything.”
“I know,” I said softly. She was absolutely right, but I hated it. “If that’s what you want.”
She nodded, her face drawn and serious. “It is.”
“Okay then. I can’t argue.”
She looked away, down at her feet, and I couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking. It was obvious that this wasn’t what she wanted, but we both knew this thing between us was fucked up and dangerous. I was technically her stepfather, for starters, and the media would go ape-shit over that if it ever came out. My position within the company and with the media was tenuous at best at the moment, and I couldn’t afford any screw-ups.
More than that, she was just a normal person who got thrust into this situation. She was young and had her whole life ahead of her. She didn’t deserve to have some scandal fuck shit up for her already.
I sighed and walked over to her kitchen cabinets. It took me a minute, but I found a bottle of whisky. I poured myself a drink, knocked it back, and placed the glass down on the countertop.
“Listen,” I said after a minute. “There’s this charity event thing coming up. You should come.”
She looked up at me. “What kind of event?”
“Fancy,” I said. “I’m going with your mother, but it would look good if you showed up as well. Try and pretend like we’re a family or some shit.”
She nodded. “Okay, sure.”
“Good. I’ll let your mom know.”
She nodded again but didn’t answer. Her wide gorgeous eyes were so fucking sexy, and the last thing I wanted to do was leave. I poured another drink, knocked it back, and then grinned at her.
“I’ve had worse dates, you know,” I said.
She cracked a small smile. “Really? I pretended that I had to use the bathroom to get away from you and then I found a severed dog’s head in the hallway. You’ve had worse?”
“Sure,” I admitted. “One time my date stole my wallet and bought a boat on my card.”
“No way.”
“True story. That one never made it to the media.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “A whole boat?”
“A whole boat. It was actually pretty nice so I kept it.”
“You’re crazy.”
I grinned at her then nodded. “See you later, stepdaughter.”
She sighed, but the smile didn’t leave her face. I turned and left her apartment, feeling a weird chasm in my stomach.
We had to back off. She knew it and I knew it, and this whole thing just made it that much clearer.
Still, I fucking wanted her, and no amount of robot dog heads would change that fact.
13
Emily
I felt uncomfortable as hell in my tight black dress with a low cut dow
n the back, but that didn’t seem to matter. Frankly, nothing seemed to matter to Mom and Carter so long as they smiled nice, held hands, and played it up for the cameras.
The charity gala was held in some expensive hotel in downtown San Francisco. The people were mainly old, white and rich as all hell, and some of the women were wearing jewelry that were probably worth more than my college education. When we arrived, Mom and Carter were mobbed by reporters and well-wishers, and I was basically an afterthought.
Normally, I would have been fine with that. I didn’t want to go on camera talking about my mom’s fake marriage to some age-inappropriate rich tech billionaire, especially considering all I wanted to do was fuck that rich billionaire. I didn’t want to pretend like everything was okay when clearly everything was so far from okay.
Unfortunately, I didn’t know a single person aside from Carter and Mom, which meant I was stuck sipping a glass of champagne and standing off to the side, observing everyone around me.
After twenty minutes of standing there watching old people greet each other, I still couldn’t figure out what the charity was supposed to be for. I got some vague idea about public education, but nothing more concrete than that. I figured the actual charity didn’t matter to these people so long as they got the opportunity to show off how much money they had and to make new business connections.
The whole thing was gross and boring and I regretted showing up. Nobody cared about me, and I didn’t care about that, and that should have been the end of it.
Unfortunately, I was stuck in high heels and a dress that made me feel way too sexy at an event I really didn’t want to be a part of. I should never have let Carter talk me into this.
Too late for all that, though. As I sipped my champagne (surprisingly delicious), I slowly made my way over to the table where I would be spending the next few agonizing hours. Other people were starting to filter in, and I figured Mom and Carter would be busy for a while, so I might as well go sit where I belonged.
I found my spot after about ten minutes of searching and avoiding small talk. I didn’t know the elderly couple decked out in their militaristic finest sitting across from me, but fortunately they didn’t seem too interested in chatting. A waiter came by with some water and another glass of champagne, which I eagerly accepted.
