by Claire, Ava
He had to be 6’3 because I had to look up to meet his electric green eyes. They were the warmest eyes I’d ever seen. Like an embrace, a kiss that sent heat sprawling over my body. His hair hung long in the front, the dark brown waves dusting his green eyes and buzzed short on the sides. I bit my lip to keep images of running my fingers through his hair at bay.
His lips were luscious as they spread into a smile. Two dimples winked in his cheeks and I knew that he belonged in my bed. His cobalt blue button down shirt was rolled up to the elbow, and I saw the tease of color beneath the cuff. Tattoos? I dropped my gaze to what was going on beneath the equator – and it was just as muscled and tempting as the rest of him.
Desire clouded my view. The handsome stranger jutted out his arm to keep the elevator door from closing.
“Hi.” His voice was deep and hypnotic. “I’m Liam.”
Liam. I caressed the name in my mind, but the pulsing lust quickly stalled. Liam – the personal assistant that would be delivering me to Sol Cole.
I hesitated, time standing still. Should I go with the devastatingly hot guy who would take me to the devastatingly jerky guy? I swallowed, debating it until my mother gave me a small push in his direction. It was the smallest of motions – and it sent me crashing into a wall of muscle and scent. Liam smelled like Irish Spring soap, cloves, and heaven. I held on a little longer than was necessary, wondering if he was thinking what I was thinking as his smile broadened.
“Thanks for catching me,” I purred. Screw playing coy. I pushed my chest against his. My body approved, nipples aching. Lust, rooted deep in my core, came rushing to the surface. I bit my lip as my wet juices kissed my panties.
“Anytime.” His voice stroked me as his eyes darkened in a way that made me melt. Was there anything about this guy that wasn’t deliciously sexy?
Only one way to find out...
I wasn’t sure what was waiting for me at the end of the ride, what terrible plans Solomon Cole had to resuscitate my career, but of one thing I was certain.
I wanted to find out if Liam looked as awesome out of his clothing as he did in them.
“Ahem.”
Mom was far from entertained by the moment, eyebrows raised pointedly. The two of us separated, then Liam led us down the hall. There was no square inch of unused space. If the bottom floor was a modern kaleidoscope, this floor was a slice of Mad Men. Wall to wall cubicles were manned by women all dressed in little black dresses and heavy makeup. Those that strutted past us were in sky high stilettos. Even at Liam’s brisk pace, I saw there was no color, no family pictures, no smiles. Just Glambots that batted their eyelashes and purred into the phones and cameras attached to their computers.
Liam made a hard right, and then a left. The chatter of the bullpen was behind us. The walls were painted a muted charcoal gray and the floor was a soft pale wood. The music was even minimalist instead of throbbing and demanding.
Liam glanced back at us over his shoulder. “Like a whole other world, huh?”
I nodded, but the apprehension still festering built when I saw an office at the end of the corridor. A syrupy foreign accent cut through the calm.
“It’s not sexy enough, Peter. People should want to fuck when the beat kicks in. The only thing that song makes me want to do is get a coffee. It’s putting me to sleep before I can even get my dick out.”
I cringed, pausing when I saw Liam’s back muscles tighten. He couldn’t stand Sol either!
That brought other questions. Clearly Sol Cole was the kind of man who surrounded himself with beautiful women to boost his ego. A quick Google search revealed a balding, rotund man that leered instead of smiled. Why would he hire someone like Liam, someone who commanded female attention when he walked into a room?
Liam stopped a few feet from the door, Sol still spouting off about sex and orgasms and how terrible he thought some song was.
“He’ll be right out,” Liam said with a reassuring smile.
My eyes shifted to Liam’s rear, the toned muscles begging to be gripped. I could feel my fingers clutching it, pulling him deeper inside me.
Mom dragged me out of my lusty daydream. “Don’t even think about it, Mia.”
My cheeks betrayed me, but I played innocent. “Not sure what you mean.”
“Men are distractions.”
That we could agree on, but what I didn’t say was that I wanted to be distracted. Ever since I declared my independence from my wholesome image, I’d given into my sexual nature. And if I was going to stay away from the pills and the alcohol, I needed some way to escape. And from the look in Liam’s eyes earlier, he offered the best kind of escape. Something hot and sweaty, up against the wall, pressed against the door...I bit my lip mischievously. Or bent over the fax machine.
Liam turned back to me, and my smile spread across my face like wildfire. When I saw Sol behind him, it was extinguished immediately.
Sol bypassed my mother’s outstretched hand and pulled my limp arm from my side. He brought my hand to his lips, and I swore he added tongue to the usually respectful gesture. “Miss Kent...in the delicious flesh.”
CHAPTER FIVE
One would think recoiling in horror would have set the pace, and Sol Cole would realize that his casting couch seduction plans were dead in the water. You’d be wrong.
After physically separating myself from the handsy man who had zero respect for personal space, I used my mother as a shield. For once, she followed through.
Mom squared her shoulders and locked her eyes on the bug-eyed man. He kept licking his lips like he was so close to having me that he could taste it.
“I’m sure you’re a busy man, Mr. Cole.” When that didn’t register, Mom added, “We’re pretty busy ourselves. I’m so glad we could fit this in between meetings.”
That got his attention. His onyx eyes shifted to my mother. “Meetings? With who?”
Mom plucked his strings expertly, an airy giggle dismissing his question. “That’s not important. Mia and I are here because of the vision Cole Productions has for her music career.”
His eyes didn’t leave hers, but his command was directed at Liam. “You can go.”
I caught his gaze, wishing I could ask him to stay, or at least ask if he could take me with him. But he left without a second glance. When I begrudgingly brought my eyes back to the front, I gulped when I realized I’d recaptured Sol’s attention. His thick, slate gray eyebrows danced.
“It’s okay, babe. You can look at him. All the girls do.”
My face burned hot, but I didn’t apologize or shrink away as he was likely used to.
Sol’s eyes flashed disapprovingly, but his slimy lips broadened into a grin. “Everyone under my employ is here because they’re easy on the eyes, after all. But Liam Walker comes with a nice little story as well. Once upon a time, he was gonna be something special. The next Daughtry, some said. I even approached him, but he went with someone else. Fast forward two years later, he only had one hit song and no one was interested in him anymore. Then he approached me.” He winked at me and my skin crawled. “All roads lead to Sol, babe.”
I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t nor ever would be his ‘babe’, but my mother steered the conversation back to the matter at hand.
“We certainly didn’t come here to get your personal assistant’s backstory, Solomon. We’re here to talk about what Solomon Cole can do for my daughter’s career.” My mother lacked the mothering gene, but she still had the ability to turn a full name into a scold.
I actually did want to hear Liam’s backstory, among other things. Like the sounds he’d make while my lips were wrapped around his—
“How does that sound, Mia?”
I blinked, eyes shooting between my mother and Sol. I had no idea what he’d been talking about, but I figured the sooner I agreed, the sooner I could flee. “Yeah. Sure.”
When Mom moved to the exit, I followed, nearly colliding with her when she slammed on the brakes.
Mom
threw a confused look over her shoulder and I answered it with a confused one of my own.
“I’ll be right outside, Mia.”
My mouth fell open in a silent screech of horror. “You’re leaving me alone with him?”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Sol chuckled. “I don’t bite. Much.”
It wasn’t ‘babe’ but somehow, it was even more disgusting. I turned my back to him, lowering my voice for my mother alone. “Mom. Just...don’t.”
She didn’t budge. “I’ll be right outside.” She leaned in, her lowered volume matching mine. “We need this. I’m counting on you.”
And then she was gone. If I had any heart left, my mother leaving me alone with a skeevy man who made no secret of what he expected of me would have broken me irreparably. But it wasn’t the first time Mom had fed me to the wolves for wealth. And it wouldn’t be the last.
I slowly faced Sol, fighting the wave of nausea that threatened to bring me to my knees.
“Come closer, honey.” Sol’s tongue jutted out of his mouth, thick and profane as he stripped my clothes off with his eyes.
I didn’t move a muscle.
“I have big plans for you. Very big indeed. But we have to be friendly. Can we be friends?”
My eyes drifted downward when he shifted and I saw his erection, disgusting and vile, as he leered at me.
“You want a closer look, babe?”
He brought his hands to his fly and I shook my head profusely. I’d seen all I cared to see of Sol Cole. From his bald scalp peeking out from sparse salt and pepper strands, to his insect eyes that crawled all over my body, to the stomach he kept rubbing like he saw something appetizing.
This? I wouldn’t do this. There wasn’t enough money in the whole world.
I turned on my heels, escape so close. I’d disappoint my mother, but who fucking cared? She could suck Sol’s fat cock for money if she was that hard up.
I cried out as thick, sausage-like fingers wrapped around my wrist and I was yanked backward. I collided with Sol’s fleshy, overly perfumed body. His other hand snaked around my waist, unbuttoning my jeans.
“You can fight if you want.” His breath stank of cigarettes and rape. “Scream. No one will come for you. No one cares about you. Hell, your own mother left the room, knowing full well what I would do to you. Success comes at a price, my dear.” His tongue slithered down the side of my face as his grip became ferocious, twisting to the point that I had no choice but to do what he said.
I screamed.
Only a blunted note was heard as his hand clamped over my mouth. He wouldn’t take me and walk away unscathed. I bit down hard until he squealed and something coppery filled my mouth. It barely fazed him. His other hand had already unzipped his pants and he was groping at my underwear, trying to climb inside.
We both froze as the door to Sol’s office was hurled open. I blinked through my tears, relief flooding me. My mother had come to her senses. But my heart clenched when my vision cleared. It wasn’t Mom.
It was Liam.
I staggered forward, clutching my jeans closed as Sol stumbled backward.
The authority was gone from Sol’s voice. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Get the hell out of my office, boy!”
Liam’s whole body shook with a rage that had me backing up to the door. I knew I should run for cover and get as far away from ground zero as possible, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Liam.
“I heard the rumors,” he seethed. “But I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Were you going to rape her, you fucking piece of shit?!”
I trembled, shame bringing fresh tears to my eyes. Would he say the words? Would he admit what he’d almost done?
Sol was a head shorter than Liam, but he rose to every single inch, glaring at him with hatred. “She wanted it.”
The punch happened in a split second. I barely had time to register it at all. Liam’s right fist cut toward Sol’s face and the thwok resounded through the room, followed by a trembling thud. Sol crumbled to the ground, moaning in agony.
Liam was still shaking, but from the way he was holding his fist, I gauged that he was done. I took a step toward him, gasping when I saw Sol clutching his nose, blood pouring between his fingers.
“You little shit!” he gurgled, rocking back and forth in agony. “You broke my fucking nose!”
“You got off easy, asshole,” Liam said darkly. I knew he’d hurt his hand, but he looked like he was seriously contemplating punching Sol a second time.
“You’ll pay for this.” Sol spat, his eyes wild and crazed. “I’ll ruin you.”
“I work for a B-list producer,” Liam snorted. “I did a good job of ruining myself the day I became your employee.”
“I’ll call the police!” Sol said, his voice high and indignant.
I stepped in, towering above the broken man. “No, you won’t. Because if you do, they’ll be arresting your ass for assault.”
Sol’s bug eyes scurried over to me. In all the action, he’d forgotten the reason his nose was gushing blood. The violation that was almost...I covered my mouth and dashed to the trash can near the door. I gagged, squeezing my eyes shut. Why didn’t I tell my mother to go to hell? The real question that made me sick stole my breath away. How could my mother leave me alone with Sol?
The answer was too much to bear.
I heard Liam’s voice following me back into the corridor. He was asking me to wait, something I couldn’t do. I wanted to look into my mother’s eyes. I needed her to see that this changed everything. There would be no forgiving this betrayal.
But the corridor was eerily silent.
There was no Zen music.
There was no muted buzz of conversation from the bullpen.
I put one foot in front of the other and the women who couldn’t be bothered to even look in my direction before watched me with sympathy in their smoky eyes. Brown ones, green ones, blue ones, all held a disturbing truth. They knew what happened to me in the office. Sol Cole had assaulted us all.
But their mothers didn’t lead them to slaughter.
The elevator shuttled me back to the lobby. Tempest didn’t even make eye contact. I was too busy freaking out to notice. For the briefest moment, I took a small measure of relief in thinking my mother had gone back to the lobby, unable to stand outside the office while Sol had his way with me.
My eyes dropped to the wastebasket where a name tag was crumpled and discarded.
The name on it read ‘Charlotte Kent’.
A sob ripped its way from my mouth. My mother had left me.
CHAPTER SIX
My whole body ached. My ratty t-shirt hung sweaty and soiled as I flicked a dark strand from my eyes with a yellow, rubber-gloved finger.
My apartment reeked of bleach, a nauseatingly clean aroma. Every square inch glittered, from the Venetian blinds to the claw foot tub. I even tackled the vomit stain in my bedroom. Instead of a soured memory of how far from okay I really was, a slight discoloration remained. Febreze had left the room smelling like a Hawaiian garden covered in throw up, but when I leaned against the door jamb and inhaled deep, there was only the scent of bleach.
The knocker sounded at my door, followed by the chime of the bell. Yesterday, I had cringed every time the sound echoed throughout my apartment, magnifying the dread in the pit of my stomach. After leaving Cole Productions, my first call had been to my building’s management, and by the time I got back home, the locks were being changed. Even after what my mother had done, it took a whole night of staring at the door, listening to the woman who had brought me into the world threatening everything under the sun, before I finally called security. Charlotte Kent was officially banned from the building.
I practically skipped to the door, hoping it was Leila...and that she came bearing something greasy and delicious because I was starved.
I pulled open the door without even looking through the peephole, and my jaw dropped. Leila? Not so much. Liam Walker stood in the doorw
ay, holding a bouquet and a sheepish expression.
An involuntary smile stirred at my lips. This towering man with muscles rippling beneath his v-neck tee and even more masculine delights beneath his jeans looked positively adorable with his unsure smile as he awkwardly held out the flowers.
“Hi!” he said gruffly, green eyes roping me in.
I’d gazed into a guy’s eyes before, on set when I was playing a lovestruck teen, and in person when I halfheartedly dated my co-stars. I acted like a single look could melt me instantly, pretending that I could see their soul in their eyes. But this? This was different.
His eyes thrust past my defenses. They saw things I’d never told anyone. Secrets that I never spoke aloud. That I was frightened. And in a blink of an eye, he was my gladiator, my champion, willing to slay anyone who threatened me harm. And then the green depths softened, sending a tingling warmth dancing over my flesh.
I took a step back, accepting the flowers and ripping my eyes away from his before something crazy took root. This connection, the chemistry, was sexual and nothing more. That or my inner damsel in distress was mistaking gratitude for happily ever after. The memory of Sol’s office cured me of any romantic notions. There was only Sol’s fingers digging into my wrists, his body holding me hostage. His hands inside my jeans...
I forced the memory away. From the awkward message Tempest had left a few hours ago, Sol Cole was losing no sleep about what he’d done to me. In fact, he was ‘rethinking whether we were a good fit’. I tilted my chin up defiantly. Good riddance.
Liam combed his fingers through his hair, his voice a far cry from the confident one I remembered. “I wasn’t sure which flower was your favorite.”
I glanced down, smiling at the wild flower arrangement. “I’m surprised you didn’t go with roses.”
“You don’t strike me as a roses kind of girl.” He was relaxing, the cool, confident edge that drew me to him returning.
I watched him, curious. “What kind of girl am I?”
