by Lexi Blake
Adam’s eyes went wide. “What do you mean?”
“I made you mad. I’d like to know what I did.”
“I wasn’t mad,” Adam protested. “Well, maybe a little because it seemed like you preferred Jake. And then I realized you were scared of me, and I can’t fight that. You have the right to feel safe. If someone else can do that for you, then I have to step away.” He sighed, his body relaxing. “Serena, I was mad because I made reservations at a really nice restaurant. I planned your whole day around getting to spend a couple of hours alone with you. I was trying, apparently in a ham-handed way, to seduce you.”
“You were?” God. The very thought made her head spin.
He flushed a little. “Yeah. Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. You’re not the first woman to turn me down. I suspect you won’t be the last. Jake thinks I come on too strong. I don’t mean to. I just tend to know what I want. I’m impatient. I didn’t mean to scare you. I apologize. I promise Liam will do a good job. He won’t throw himself at you. Of course, he’ll also take you to Hooters for lunch, but he’s a safe bet.”
Suddenly, though, she didn’t want safe. She wanted him. “Are you trying to seduce me because you think it will make me easier to control?”
Adam laughed, but it was a bitter little thing. “No. I’m trying to seduce you because I’ve had a hard-on since you walked into my office yesterday. I’ve been plotting and planning all day. When I slept in that chair last night, I decided to wine and dine you. I was going to make dinner for you tonight. Another thing you won’t get from Liam, might I add.”
She didn’t want Liam. She wanted Adam and Jake. She’d spent two years with her head buried in the sand. Hell, it had been longer than that. Most of her life she’d simply let things happen to her. What would it feel like to take what she wanted? If she went in with a clear head, knowing it would end, maybe she could keep her heart whole.
She moved close to Adam. “You still like me?”
Adam sighed. “Serena, what is this about? How could I not like you? You’re sweet and smart and funny. You’re entirely lovable, baby.”
That did it. Serena went on her toes and pressed her lips to his.
Adam took a startled step back. “Serena?”
God. Had she made a mistake? “I’m sorry.”
He reached out and grabbed her, hauling her close. “You better be sure. You better think about this before you make a move on me.” His lips curved up in the most deliciously decadent smile, but it was the tenderness in his eyes that pulled at her heart. “Don’t tease a man who’s already falling for you.”
“Adam,” she hated the insecurity in her voice. “I’m not dumb. I know I’m not some great catch.”
He gripped her hips and pulled her close, letting her feel every inch of his cock. Hard. Thick. Deliciously long. She had to swallow. She had to force herself to take a breath.
“Baby, if you don’t stop talking about yourself that way, I’m going to have to talk to Jake about punishment. Neither one of us will allow you to denigrate yourself. You’re gorgeous and sexy as hell, and I can’t wait to sink my dick in you. But I intend to be a gentleman for the time being because I don’t want you to use me.”
“Use you?”
“For sex.”
Sex? Yeah, she wanted to use him for sex. What else was he talking about? “You don’t want to have sex?”
He chuckled, his hands moving around her hips, skirting her ass. “Oh, I want the sex, but I don’t want to get dumped by the smart, successful author because she sees me as a ridiculously hot piece of ass. I want you to get to know me. I want you to like me.”
She was getting soft and wet. She liked him just fine. And he was talking like she regularly nabbed a boy toy for the night. “Don’t be ridiculous, Adam. I haven’t…”
Shit. She shouldn’t go there.
He tilted her head up, placing his hand under her chin. It forced her to look into those baby blues that pulled her in every time. “Finish that sentence, Serena. And don’t lie. Jake and I are taking you into a club soon. I would rather we spent the evening enjoying ourselves, but I can have fun spanking your ass red.”
She flushed. She felt that heat from the top of her head right down through her toes. A club. Ian Taggart’s underground club? She’d hoped that after a long while, Master Storm would be able to get her an invitation to one of the local play parties, but this was a real club, like the ones she wrote about. “Really?”
Adam leaned over, a smile on his face. He touched his forehead to hers. “All I have to do is find a place for you to do a little research and you’re putty in my hands. Really, baby. I’m supposed to get you a collar and everything. Now finish that sentence.”
The fact that he was so close and he understood what she wanted made it easier to be honest. “Adam, I haven’t had sex in almost four years. Even before the divorce, Doyle lost interest in me. I’m not some crazy player. I’m not just trying to get into your pants.”
“Well, I want to keep it that way, baby.” His voice was lyrical, magnetic. His lips hovered above hers. “But I do believe in giving you a little taste of what I want.”
His lips met hers, and this time it felt right. This time he was in charge, and all she had to do was be brave enough to follow. His mouth covered hers, rubbing their lips together. His hands moved in a restless pattern across her back and down her hips, finally cupping her ass and pressing her into him. His tongue licked along the seam of her lips, and she opened for him. How long since she’d been kissed? Forever. Like this? Perhaps never. Adam devoured her. He drank her down like a man who had been dying of thirst.
She softened, wanting to sink into him.
“Touch me, baby,” Adam whispered. “Don’t be shy. I want your hands on me. It’s the best of both worlds. I’ll let you play with me all you like, and Jake will tie you up. We can be everything you want.”
The words were seduction in and of themselves. Everything she wanted. Everything she’d fantasized about. She could tell Adam her desires, and he wouldn’t make her feel like a freak. She kissed him again, boldness taking over. She let her hands play along the lean muscles of his shoulders and down his biceps. Adam was cut everywhere. She kissed the strong line of his jaw, reveling in his scent. He smelled clean and masculine. His hair was just a little long. He looked like he belonged on the cover of a magazine, and he was offering himself up to her.
“That’s right, baby. You explore to your heart’s content.” He took her right hand and pulled it down. “I think there’s a part of me you missed.”
His cock. She could feel it pressing against the fabric of his pants as though trying to get out. She cupped him, feeling his strength. What would it be like to ride that cock? Would she finally find the pleasure she wrote about? She’d come before, but never without the aid of something that required double A batteries. Adam didn’t seem to need such aids. Adam seemed like he could handle the job just fine.
She kissed him again and wondered how it would work. Would he throw her against the elevator door or would he get down on the floor and let her lower herself on him inch by inch?
It was getting out of control. She kissed him, and somehow her hands were slipping past his belt, trying to seek out hot flesh.
And his phone rang.
“Shit.” Adam kissed her again, hugging her with one arm as he reached for his cell with the other.
“That fucking better not be you in the goddamn elevator, Adam. Maintenance just called and said some asshole stopped the elevator and guess what? They started out on my floor. Are you fucking the client in the goddamn elevator five minutes after I told you not to fuck the fucking client?”
She tried to pull away, Ian Taggart’s voice filling the elevator even though he was fifteen floors up.
Adam put the cell to his chest and gave her a reassuring grin. “He has a horrible potty mouth, baby. Don’t worry about him.” He brought the phone back up. “Well, boss, if you remember I did say I probably w
ouldn’t try very hard.”
“Goddamn it, Adam.”
Adam reached out and started the elevator again. It dinged, and Adam put an arm around her and began to walk out like nothing had happened. “I’m joking, boss. You need to develop a sense of humor. We’re on our way to her agent’s. Someone else must be fucking in the elevator. Trust me, when I get around to fucking the client, it’s going to be someplace more comfortable than an elevator.”
“One of these days I’m going to fire your ass, Adam.”
He clicked the phone off and slid it into his pants. “Come on. Let’s get this meeting done so we can have a little lunch. I’m hungry.”
Serena was, too, but not for lunch. She’d just developed a huge appetite for Adam Miles, but she wondered if it wouldn’t be bad for both of them.
Adam smiled at her, a look she was starting to call his “don’t worry about it” face.
But she was falling. And she was definitely worried.
Chapter Eight
Jake pulled his SUV up to the small bungalow-style house in a rundown neighborhood. Doyle Brooks hadn’t fared as well as his wife in the last few years.
“Do we have a workup on this guy?” Jake sighed as he steeled himself for meeting Serena’s ex-husband.
“Of course. It’s me reason for living,” Liam said, his accent thick. When Liam was alone, he preferred to let his Irish flow, but the minute they stepped outside the SUV, Jake knew his natural accent would be replaced with a flat, Midwestern cadence. It helped the Irishman blend in.
“Give it to me.” He should have done this himself last night, but no, he’d been reading Small Town Sweetheart and wanking off in the shower, all the while envisioning himself and Adam as the men of the book and sweet little Serena as the heroine, Gabby. He was a dumbass. And Adam had been fucking her in the elevator. Damn him. He didn’t buy that it wasn’t Adam. Not for one minute. It had been there in the self-satisfied voice that had come over Ian’s speaker phone. So much for taking her down together.
But then he hadn’t given his partner a lot of hope that he would be amenable to taking her at all. And nothing that had happened today made him more likely to fall into bed with her. She was trouble. Sweet, sexy, hot as hell, submissive trouble.
“Am I talking for my own benefit here?”
Damn it. He had to get his head in the game. “Sorry. What did you say?”
“I could have said the sky was falling and my dick is the only thing holding it up and you wouldn’t have noticed.” Liam sat back, his deep green eyes narrowing. “Adam’s not the only one crazy about this girl.”
“Adam is the only one crazy enough to do anything about it. We don’t even know if she’s lying to us.” He didn’t think so, but he’d been wrong before.
“God, not again. I swear, just fuck her and get a ring on her finger and spare the rest of us. Sean nearly killed me last year. I had to watch Gracie twenty-four seven because he couldn’t just get his shit together. You want my advice?”
“No.” Jake didn’t want anyone’s advice, especially not “love ‘em and leave ‘em before he really even knows their name” Liam O’Donnell. It was like taking ethics advice from a politician.
“Good,” Liam said, ignoring him entirely. “Here’s my advice. It don’t matter if the girl is a con or not. She’s cute and sweet and obviously submissive. If you want her, take her. Spank her ass, fuck her until she can’t see straight, and lay down some ground rules. No more fake stalking and no more of that pussy-Dom, BDSM-romance shit that makes women think they can walk all over us. That second bit is important.”
Jake laughed a little. He could imagine what Serena would do if he told her to stop writing. His balls would need close-cover protection. But the rest of it was a bit intriguing. What if he could control Serena? They’d never tried a D/s relationship with any of the women he and Adam had lived with. What if he could come to trust her? “Stop with the love advice, man. Just give me the rundown on this asshole.”
Liam pulled his tablet out. “Well, he’s not the redneck asshole I suspected. It’s far worse.”
Jake knew a whole bunch of redneck assholes. He’d grown up around them. Hell, he still was one half the time. It was only through Adam’s influence that he knew about shit like gourmet food and what constituted a good suit. He didn’t like the thought of Serena with a guy who spent all his time hunting. Serena seemed so delicate in some ways. “What is he then?”
Liam made a gagging sound. “He’s a college professor. God spare me from intellectuals. He teaches English, for god’s sake. Do college students really need a class in a fucking language they already speak? Me mother would roll over in her grave if I spent good money on an English class.”
“Your mother probably would have been shocked that you could make it into college.” Jake liked fucking with Liam.
“Me mother was pure IRA, boyo. Trust me, she wouldn’t pay for anything that included the word English. Now, Professor Doyle teaches at a community college. North Lake. Damn me. He couldn’t even hit the big leagues. No wonder he’s jealous of his wife. At least she’s doing something productive.”
Obviously Liam wasn’t big on higher education. “So he divorced Serena and moved out here?”
Liam shook his head. “Nope. This is the house they lived in. He kicked her out.”
Asshole. “Is he still alone?”
“Nope. A grad student moved in with him about six weeks after he’d filed for divorce. Professor Doyle likes them young.” Liam shoved the tablet back in his case. “He hurt her. You can understand that, right? From what I hear, she finally gets up the courage to do something she’s wanted all her life and her husband tries to drive her into the dirt. What did that other girl on the tape say? He can’t sell his own shit? What do you want to bet that asshole in there has a crap-ass novel he’s been trying to sell for years? Some shit he thinks will change the world. He probably writes about morose yuppies and their sad-sack lives. He was jealous of her. He tried to stop her the only way a bully knows how. I’m just saying that if a woman wanted a little revenge against a man like that, maybe it’s not so horrible.”
Maybe not. And still, he needed to know the truth before he started anything with her. He couldn’t walk in blind again. But he knew what it felt like to have everything he wanted dissected under a cruel microscope of so-called morality. He wasn’t going to get to the bottom of anything if he stayed here. “Let’s go. He seems to be home.”
The car was in the driveway. Just one, like Serena had said. It seemed the good professor still made his woman take the bus.
Jake knocked on the door, Liam behind him.
A pretty blonde opened the door. She couldn’t be past twenty-three. She was dressed in a sweatshirt and shorts that rode up her ass. “Hello.”
“We’re looking for Professor Brooks. We called earlier. My name is Jacob Dean. I’m with a firm called McKay-Taggart.”
Her blue eyes went wide. “You’re here about his ex-wife. Amber Rose?”
That was her pen name. Jake felt a deep need to correct the young woman. Amber Rose was a front. Serena was a woman. “Serena Brooks.”
She turned her head as though watching for someone. When she turned back to them, her voice was hushed. “Don’t tell Doyle about it, but I just love her books. I read all kinds of romance, but I just love erotic romance. Do you think she knows Eliza Gayle? That would be so cool. Amber Rose is good, but Eliza rocks, if you know what I mean.”
Dear god, he’d found a groupie. “I don’t miss.”
She chattered on. “I think it’s horrible that someone is trying to hurt her. You should find this guy. It would be sad if she didn’t write anymore. I have all her books on my e-reader. Doyle doesn’t believe in e-books—like they don’t exist or something. He’s a little behind the times. But I read one because I was curious. He talks about those books all the time. I mean, he hates them. Doyle is just jealous because he can’t get anyone in New York to buy his two thousand pag
e book about single people in Manhattan. He has the grossest descriptions of venereal diseases. What’s with that?”
Liam put an elbow in his side.
“Ginny, who is it?” A deep voice called out from the back of the house.
“It’s the dudes who called earlier,” Ginny screamed back. She scrunched up her nose. “Don’t you tell him I read his ex’s books. He thinks I’m all about the American masters. I need my thesis to pass muster. He’s really good friends with my professor.”
She opened the door and let them in.
Unlike Serena’s place, Professor Brooks’ home was a pin-perfect model of efficiency. Jake’s heart clenched a little at the thought of messy, fun Serena being forced to keep everything perfect. There wasn’t a book out of place or piles of notes scattered around. The home didn’t look lived in. Though it was inexpensive, it was obvious the man who lived here aspired to much more.
Doyle Brooks walked into the living room. He looked the part of the upwardly mobile intellectual, dressed in slacks, a dress shirt, and a blazer. “Gentlemen, please join me in my office.”
His office was a renovated extra bedroom refitted with dark panels and an enormous desk that looked about as full of itself as the man who sat behind it. There were numerous degrees and plaques hung neatly on the walls proclaiming just how smart and educated Doyle Brooks was. The man was only thirty. That meant he’d achieved many of those degrees while married to Serena. Serena, who had supported his ass while he went to school. Serena, who he’d dumped the moment she became difficult.
Poor little sub.
Introductions were made, and the professor seemed to take everything with a cool calm.
“So, Serena is still attempting to malign me.” Doyle sat back with a sad sigh as though he didn’t want to believe it, but knew it to be true.
“She’s attempting to figure out who’s stalking her, Professor Brooks.” Liam’s Midwestern accent was in full force. The Irishman stared at Serena’s ex-husband with dark eyes, sizing the man up. Liam didn’t have Eve’s profiling credentials, but he’d spent years learning to read men and women. He’d had to. He’d had to learn who was going to try to kill him and who wouldn’t. Just like Jake.
