by Ace Gray
“This is the definition of a temper tantrum. And FYI, it doesn’t suit you.”
Nick had appeared and was leaning against the breakfast bar, watching me with arms crossed. There was a spark of humor in his eyes that made anger swell further.
“Funny, being an ass seems to suit you quite well."
I propped one hand on my hip, the other still holding the bowl, and glowered. He dropped his arms and righted himself. The humor evaporated from his beautiful face.
"I don't appreciate being called an ass."
His voice was frigid and I should have reined in my snarky mouth. Instead, I barreled on. "Then I would suggest you stop being one." I matched his tone perfectly as I held his gaze across the breakfast bar.
“What do you want me to say, Kate?” My name was sharp and pointed when it left his lips. “Do you want me to tell you that my foreign properties are still being dicked with? Or perhaps that I received my own cryptic message from Victor Alexander? Seems he's switched his attention from destroying your business to destroying me. Perhaps you need to know my personal favorite. Christopher, my delightfully fucked up brother-in-law, has liquidated his assets and is operating on a cash-only basis. Which is something I can’t track. He could be fucking anywhere.”
His hands fisted and his muscles flexed just before he cocked back to punch the stool closest to him. When it clattered and clashed to the floor, I jumped but otherwise stayed silent.
“Is that what you wanted to hear, Kate? Am I allowed to be on my fucking phone now?”
All the tension left my body. My anger too. I circled the bar, trying to hold his intimidatingly gray gaze.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t…”
“You weren’t supposed to know. This isn’t how our first Thanksgiving is supposed to go.” He spoke harshly, even as I wove my hands around his waist.
“It doesn’t have to go a particular way, baby.” I stayed soft and consoling but it wasn’t easy. “Tell me more. Talking about it might make you feel better.”
“That’s fucking ludicrous.”
The jagged, rugged notes of his voice echoed off the kitchen glass, and his hands didn’t move to hold me back. I circled my fingers to soothe him but he shrugged me off. I exhaled loudly, frustration back in full force, and dropped my hands from his body. I circled the bar and returned to prep work.
“Do you get tired Nick?” I cocked my head and dramatically timed a thwack of my chef knife through a potato on the cutting board. “I mean, constantly pushing me away has to get exhausting.”
“Excuse me?” Nick asked as his eyes turned darker.
“You heard me.” I halved another potato and arched my eyebrows.
Nick took two giant steps and positioned himself directly behind me. It made me nervous that I couldn’t see his eyes. I whacked the next potato anyway, doing my best to ignore him and the way he made my skin vibrate.
His hands came to the countertop on either side of me, and I watched his forearms flex as he gripped the marble.
Shit.
Despite our disagreement, my wayward mind imagined those hands flexing into my hips. I flushed automatically, even across the back of my neck, and Nick hummed with approval when he saw. The temperature in the room skyrocketed and the knife clattered out of my hand as my fingers scrambled to pull at the neckline of my shirt, desperate for extra breathing room. Try as I might, I couldn’t clear my throat.
"I won't be chastised like that, Kate." He pressed his body against mine.
"Then don't give me a reason to do so." My voice was almost a whisper as I crumbled beneath him.
"Perhaps I should teach you to stop questioning my motives."
I stared, steady and unblinking, down at the potatoes catching his meaning immediately. I had a decision to make. Get an answer or get some. I straightened my spine deciding on the former and to stand my ground. But then my ass rubbed against his solid erection and my body trembled in response. The heat was so undeniable between us I couldn't help that my breathing hitched. I held out as long as possible but caved, slouching against the counter. He read me like a book.
"Good girl." Nick’s voice was positively wicked.
I gulped as his hands came to my hips, and everything except pure, unadulterated lust flew right out the window. He pulled me along the countertop to a clear space and used his body to press my hip bones into the edge. His hands skated up and down my arms before he unceremoniously pressed my chest down to the marble.
Mercifully, the stone was cool beneath my cheek, the perfect contrast to my skin, which caught fire as he rolled up the soft fabric of my oversized t-shirt. My heart thudded when I was fully exposed to him. I knew better than to shift but when his finger swept from my clit to ass, I couldn’t stay still.
I breathed deeply despite the sizzle of my skin and tried to still myself; he would only start playing once I was composed. But the longer he kept me waiting, the greater my desire became. My wiggling started without any conscious thought.
Knowing it would still me, but not even remotely satisfy me, Nick started tracing a circle on the small of my back with a single finger. His touch worked me up into a tingly frenzy even though he was barely throwing me a bone. My body melted and I exhaled, my breath fogged against the stone. I was focused on the circle evaporating when a loud swat landed across my backside. I gasped at the delicious sting that moved through me then pooled in the shape of an exceptionally skilled and incredibly manly hand on my ass.
"If you hadn't left my bed, I wouldn't have woken." Nick’s voice was even and businesslike. Another smack landed firmly across my ass, just to the side of the first. "If I hadn't woken, I wouldn't have checked my phone."
Everything in my body clenched in anticipation, but before he spanked me again he shoved me further up on the counter so my toes couldn’t touch the floor any longer. They swung the slightest bit when a third swat landed far harder and closer to the mark left by the first. I cried out and my hands scrambled to defend my bare ass.
“You didn't even give me a chance to explain."
His voice betrayed that his irritation was quickly being replaced by lust. A fourth smack landed harder and lower than the others. I couldn't help but moan his name, even as my hands moved to shield my raw skin.
“And I was going to," he breathed.
Nick shifted behind me and before I could even think, his hard cock shoved into me. He began thrusting deep and urgent making me cry out beneath him. His hand gripped at my t-shirt, fisting between my shoulder blades. He kept me pinned down while rolling his hips against mine, zinging the fresh welts from his smacks each and every time. My hands scrambled to grasp at anything and, depending on the intensity of his thrust, sometimes still my ass.
Nick bent over to reach for my wrists. As he did, he moved deeper inside of me, and I shrieked. He yanked my arms back and used his vise grip to pull my body back onto his erection. Repeatedly. My forehead rolled on the marble as I lost control of every fiber in my body, simply at the mercy of his rhythm. The countertop remained fogged beneath my whimpering lips, and after a few fierce rolls of his hips, I couldn’t feel my toes. I honestly wasn't sure if it was from the stone digging in or pure ecstasy.
When I’d become completely nonsensical, he lifted me to yank my shirt up and over my head. My toes returned to the floor, tingling, and couldn’t gain traction. When my balance faltered, Nick cupped my breasts and used them to pin my back to his chest. He hadn't moved from inside me, just shifted, and he started thrusting again, using my nipples to pull me down to meet his motion.
My ankles rolled repeatedly forcing Nick to pull out and turn me so our chests could press together. He violently kissed me, his teeth digging into my lip. He still had my wrists trapped in his or I would have pulled his face roughly to mine. He picked me up and pushed me onto the counter. The second my backside hit the stone, I winced. Nick didn’t falter as he yanked my hips to the edge so my legs were wide open and I was completely accessible to him. He pushe
d back in making me scream, then returned to a punishing pace.
Everything in my world was consumed by his touch, his taste, his feel. I loved this man, and I loved the things he did to me. Even the edgy things.
Particularly the edgy things.
The wave of desperation to hold his skin against mine hit me hard and fast. I tried to sit up and press my body to his. He stopped me part way with his hand against my throat. He gently pressed to keep my body angled, hovering above the marble. My hand splayed back across the countertop to help support my weight while the other reached out for him. I pulled again, this time harder. I only meant to get his bare skin against mine, but he slipped out of me and climbed onto the counter top instead.
He hovered over top of me, studying my trembling chest, and gasping lips. His long lean muscles rippled, and his blue eyes churned with lust. That look was enough to make me come but I bit my lip and made myself wait for him to get back inside.
Nick prolonged the torture, resting his cock on my stomach as his breathing slowed infinitesimally. He could always read my body, and how close I was, then choose whether to keep going or let me explode. Today he wasn’t being kind. When I whined, he smirked then sunk back in. Slowly.
He began to thrust purposefully, prolonging each movement, each moment. He was just so good at this.
Passionate kisses trailed across my lips, then my chest, both in time with his expert thrusts. Each kiss pressed hard then lingered on my skin. Thank God my hands were free to roam up and down his body. My nails drug down his back, eliciting a primal moan from him just before his lips locked back on mine.
One of his hands slid to my hip and dug in. I arched my back off the counter in response. The slight shift of my pelvis allowed him to slide slightly deeper, and I couldn’t stave off my orgasm any longer. I cried out desperately, unable to stay focused on anything but the waves shaking my body. My hands fell from his body, and my head rolled to the side, gasping.
Nick kept thrusting, using my body to reach his own climax. He groaned through gritted teeth when he shot into me, then again when he collapsed on top of me. We stayed a pile of flesh on the countertop for a few moments, both of us trying to breathe again.
"Better?" He moved his forehead to rest against mine.
"Yes." I sucked in a giant breath. "I'm sorry I got so worked up."
"I know you're exhausted but cut me some slack. I'm more than happy to fuck the attitude out of you on the kitchen counter but it's not always an option." A brilliant smile spread across his face and it paired perfectly with breathtaking eyes.
"It has nothing to do with being exhausted." I rolled my eyes. “It's about you keeping things..."
"I'm..." he interrupted me but I stopped him in his tracks. He’d been saying one particular phrase on a loop since we met.
"If you say I’m trying, I will murder you. It won’t matter that you’re still inside me.”
“Sweets, I was going to say I'm sorry.” He glared playfully and nudged his semi-hard cock inside me. I rolled my eyes then swatted him. “I really was. This all just happened. I'm not trying anymore, I simply will be better."
His head fell against my chest and his lips pressed to the skin above my heart. I took a deep breath and let any irritation go, determining to enjoy the smell of sweat, sex, and Nick.
“Kate, I'm thankful you're mine. That you somehow manage to deal with me.” He kept his lips against my skin and I liked the way he growled mine at me.
MMMmmm.
Only one phrase made my heart thump more furiously than that.
"I love you.”
That was the one.
My heart jackknifed in my chest and I trembled against his cheek. He murmured my name and arched up to take my lips roughly with his.
"I love you too, Nick.”
I gasped in between fevered kisses. He twitched inside of me and my fingers slowly returned to his skin, my nails raked across his broad shoulders again on their own accord.
MMMmmm.
A BlackBerry buzzing from the floor interrupted my pleasured purr. Nick hesitated against my lips. A small part of me wanted to spank him the way he would have me—No, had spanked me—but the other part of me understood.
"Go ahead. Grab it."
He slid out of me and I whimpered. It never ceased to amaze me how much I missed him the moment he was gone. My pained sound brought out his beautiful crooked smile, and he flicked my clit just before bending to snatch the buzzing phone from his discarded pants pocket. The second he had it, his hand moved back toward my still trembling sex.
I swatted his hand away and jumped off the stone as quickly as my Jell-O legs would allow.
Nick’s hand pushed back between my thighs and danced across my slick slit while he barked into the phone. We’d played this game before but I shoved on his arm, having zero desire to stay silent while being fondled today. His brow knit together, and he pinched on the sensitive nub between my thighs hard enough to make me cry out. His eyes swirled at the sound.
“Don’t,” I hissed.
He tried to push his fingers inside me, insistent. My temper swelled. Every ounce of me wanted to shout fuck off! but I knew we’d brawl if I provoked him. Instead, I waited for the moment he relaxed to shove him again. I used both my bodyweight and momentum, which caused him to stumble.
I managed to scamper just out of reach while he recovered. He let me walk away but the tone of his conversation betrayed his aggravation.
He couldn’t see me roll my eyes or that my previous pique returned despite the sexing. He probably figured it out when I bent and snatched up my shirt with far more force than was necessary. If not then, perhaps when I stomped up both flights of stairs, knowing full well he could hear every sound as I went.
2.
"I'm done fighting with you today." Nick’s quiet decree came while I was yanking on skinny jeans despite my smarting ass.
A heartbeat later, he wrapped his arms around my still naked chest; I struggled against him.
“Kate,” he warned as his grip got tighter. “I mean it.”
I sighed and sagged into his grip.
“Yes, sir.” I rolled my eyes.
"I like that."
Nick nuzzled into my hair as he started circling on my skin with his fingertips, but his grip didn’t lessen. Matter of fact, his hold got tighter the longer we sat there. When he started fidgeting behind me the all too familiar boulder of anxiety dropped into my stomach. All the telltale signs were present, Bryant bad news was coming my way.
"Spit it out." I made a point to stay relaxed in his arms, his fingers clenched anyway.
"I have to go to Hong Kong in two weeks."
"For fuck's sake Nick!" I pushed against him, wanting to throw my arms up. He managed to keep me pinned.
“Knock this shit off right now," he commanded roughly against my ear.
“Don’t tell me what to do.“ I still wrestled with his grip.
“Kate,” he warned.
“Let go of me Nick.” His name was equally pointed on my lips.
“Not until you calm down.” He squeezed. “Why are you losing your shit over this?”
”I don't want you to go, okay?” The admission just vomited out. “It scares me. And for a whole myriad of reasons, not the least of which is the shit you told me this morning."
Every muscle in his body tensed when I brought up the list he’d snarled not long ago.
"You're coming with me."
"Like hell I am."
He let me go and I swiveled to look him in the eyes. I caught him staring directly at my swaying breasts rather than up at my face. I couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"You're a dirty bastard." I shook my head and went back to picking a shirt.
“A dirty bastard who's taking you to China December 14th."
"Not possible. I'm too busy with Vesper. You know that."
“I’d never jeopardize Vesper, you know that. Look, Kate." He sighed and circled away to sit on
the ottoman. The tufted leather creaked underneath him as he slumped to rest his head in his hands. His posture and tone changed so dramatically that he had my attention. "I'm asking, not telling, okay? I need someone smart who I can trust to help me figure out what the hell is going on over there. You're the most intelligent person I know, and you're the only one I trust. Please.” He spoke with starling sincerity.
Please?
He never said please. That word on those lips made my stomach flip. I knelt down and gently pushed his hands aside so mine could cradle his face instead.
"What's going on, Nick? And don't placate me."
He leaned into me but kept his gaze on the plush carpet.
“In the last week, I had the tires of an entire armored car fleet slashed, an assembly line fall apart, and a security checkpoint leveled. Then there’s this facility that keeps toying with me. I was trying to buy the plant but they’re fucking with me and don't think I can tell. I need to figure out why.”
Nick went quiet and his face morphed into the one I hated. The one I was always compelled to fix, no matter the personal cost.
“Why not send Jaime? And fuck the plant.” I climbed up onto his lap, straddling him, and making the leather furniture protest against my shuffling. My arms wrapped around his neck and I pulled him to my chest.
“I can’t. I have to figure out what’s coming. I have to stop it.”
I half expected him to tell me he had to protect me. But he buried himself in my breasts instead.
“Nick.” I laughed lightly and playfully smacked him. “Stop.” He paid no attention, nuzzling all the further.
“I like Thanksgiving. I’m quite thankful for your perfect breasts.”
“Oh my God.” I pulled away. “I don’t think that’s quite the spirit of the holiday.”
I took a breath and studied him. As much as I wanted to question him on the whys of Hong Kong, or insist he didn’t have to personally go, I caught the turmoil in his eyes and folded.
“I’ll go. Of course, I’ll go. I’ll just need to arrange it with Gemma.” I stood and yanked on the nearest shirt.
