by Ace Gray
His cock poked between my thighs, and my hips bucked up involuntarily to meet his. He made a point to fondle me, letting his fingers leisurely walk along the wet flesh he’d already been exploring. He smiled against my lips just before he started back in on his fevered kisses.
Finally, he shifted, kicking his pants to the side. He lifted me up along the shelving, knocking over picture frames and books as he found a ledge to take a small bit of my weight. He kissed my breastbone then my nipple, keeping me perched on the shelf just out of reach of the rock hard erection below me.
"Nick…please," I breathed.
My head rolled back, hitting a vase. He held me still, despite my plea, and the water that was now slowly trickling down my shoulder and onto his lips where they were perched at my breast. Without warning, he switched to my other nipple and bit down hard.
“Please!" I cried.
"Jesus Christ, Kate.” His cock had barely brushed my inner thighs when he choked the words out.
He was breathing through barred teeth as he slid in the slickness there. His eyes met mine just before pulling me slowly down onto his cock. Nick peeled my hips away from the wall a tiny bit and pinned my shoulder blades firmly against one of the top shelves. He rolled his hips expertly against mine, excruciatingly slow. He wrapped one arm around the small of my back and shifted the other up to the shelf where my head rested. Something else clattered behind me.
A sweaty sheen glistened on our skin where our limbs entwined. Everything behind me jostled in time with his movements but I didn’t notice things falling or digging into my back anymore. I couldn’t feel my toes, or my bound fingers either.
Nick shifted again, pushing me fully back against the wood so both his hands could grip the shelf beside my head. I slipped slightly, my knotted hands catching on his neck quickly. The movement managed to settle him deeper inside me. Nick sucked in breath at the same time I cried out.
We sat nose to nose for a heartbeat but then he started thrusting slowly. Each time pushing so deep, filling me so thoroughly, I thought I might actually break. I don't know how long we were like that but my shoulders started to ache. His hands moved from planted next to me to holding my forearms. His forehead dipped against mine.
"Sweets, come for me.” Nick was barely breathing. "I need to feel you roll across my dick the way you did across my fingers."
The choked whisper was so hot everything in my belly clenched. He growled his approval and started the same, slow rolls of his hips. He took my lips with his again, biting and pulling. When he let his tongue wander along the teeth marks I’d given my bottom lip, I groaned.
One of his hands moved to my hip and dug in. The sharp pain that traveled across my bruises arched my back. I curved at the same time he shoved into me and the angle changed. Everything inside me clenched then damn near exploded as I came, exactly how he’d asked. My body vibrated around him and he started coming the second those vibrations rolled up the length of his cock. Hot cum was mingling with harsh squeezes and everything got slippery.
When we started sliding down the shelves, I realized Nick had spent every last bit of energy on me. We crumpled to the floor, tangled on the carpet and the disarray of books and debris. He slipped out of me, and I winced as his semi-hard self landed back between us.
He didn’t pause to ask if I was okay though, he just started kissing me again: my face, eyelids, neck, ears, and then finally my lips. I wove my legs securely around him and did what I could to hug tightly with my bound wrists.
"We're going to ruin the carpet," I managed in between his kisses; we were a mess of sweat and stick.
“If we do, we’ll redo the whole damned apartment.”
I laughed as he kept kissing me. My heart took one loud thud, just to ruin the moment.
“Shit,” Nick swore against my lips. “What was I thinking?”
“That Chinese acquisitions are sexy.” I only had a mildly difficult time getting it out.
“You’re heart isn’t…”
“Stop.” I gasped rather than growled. “Stop right fucking now.” I pinned his face between my elbows. “I’m going to be ok.”
“What if you’re not?”
“Then sex with you is one hell of a way to go.”
I unhooked my arms from around his neck and did my best to push him back.
“That’s not even remotely funny.” He made a point of staying perfectly still.
“I hadn’t meant to joke.”
I sat up and slumped against the bookshelf, letting my hands fold to my chest as my heart hammered a little.
“You’re taking the whole week off.”
He finally bent to untie me.
“Oh for fuck’s sake Bryant.” I snarked as I rolled my eyes.
“Do not call me Bryant,” he growled. “Not on this, Kate.”
Surprisingly, I let it go.
22.
Oh Jesus Christ. Ouch. Oh fucking hell. Shit. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.
My heart was thundering again, and worse than ever before. I clutched my chest, which usually seemed to help. But not this time. I was gasping and looked down at my hand to see it shaking. Violently. Faint marks still adorned my wrist from Nick’s tie a few nights ago. I focused as hard as I could on the memory of him inside me.
He wasn't in the apartment, I wouldn’t be falling apart otherwise, but I called out anyway. It was more of an impulse than anything else. And a small part of me prayed I was wrong, that he’d burst through the door any moment. I even tried to force myself to imagine what his face would look like, whether his eyes would be flat or glistening. Both of the colors were familiar, both of them were mine.
Instead, Ari burst in, the door clattering to the wall, while I writhed on the bed.
Thank God.
Her arrival helped me catch my breath.
"Kate?" Her head swiveled until she saw me clutching my heart. "Oh shit!” I whimpered as she gathered me in her arms.
"Do you need a doctor?" Her hands were rubbing furiously against my skin.
I shook my head and closed my eyes to picture the image of Nick I had conjured up. It helped me mellow enough to squeak out words.
"Something's wrong Ari."
"Well, yeah. It’s been getting worse all week.” She eyed me warily, worry written plain on her face.
Between her and Julia, they’d comforted fewer attacks as the week went on but each had been more intense than the last. She got up and grabbed water for me. I was still pinned to the bed by the jackhammer in my chest.
"No. This isn't my heart. This is something else. Something’s actually wrong.”
The harder I tried to soothe myself, the less it worked. My gut knew this was a combination of heart trouble and instinct. My intuition was using an internal blow horn to tell me shit was going sideways.
"Huh." Ari was processing. "I saw Laura this morning, she's still a little mad but she’s fine. Nick and I chatted briefly when he left. And Jaime’s in the living room, he'd have left if things had gone awry. Any messages on the cell?"
She arched her eyebrows as I reached for my phone. I didn't even realize I’d taken my hand from my chest until Ari snatched it mid-grab.
"Oh my God, what is on your wrists? What happened?” Her eyes went wide. “Wait is this what I think it is? Do you use handcuffs or rope or zip ties or what?” Of course Ari was revving up and speaking a million miles an hour. "I always knew you guys were ridiculously kinky. Kate, these are downright scandalous! Are they from the night mom and I were gone?”
My heart crashed into my ribs at the mention of Julia. Ari had purposely been distracting me.
“Where is your mother?” The words burned in my throat.
“She’ll be back tomorrow for the launch,” Ari said nonchalantly, but she wouldn’t meet my gaze.
Everything in me seized.
“Ari.” I meant her name to come out as a forceful warning but it was an unmistakably desperate plea.
“Kate, you need to calm down.”
Ari rolled her eyes but her face wasn’t light or breezy.
Dread seeped thick back into my blood, and my hand crept back to my chest even though I was decidedly detached and numb.
“Where’s your mother?” My heart let out one, truly explosive beat when I asked again.
Ari caved when she saw the agony I was in.
“Okay, if I tell you, you can’t tell Nicholas.” My heart jackhammered in my chest. I tried to keep from gulping. “I promised Mom I wouldn’t say anything.”
“Where?”
“She went to Connecticut. She’s serving Francis divorce papers.”
No, no, no. Fuckingshitpiss.
If my heart hadn’t been going crazy before, it sure was now. Blood thumped through me, painfully tunneling my vision. I couldn’t breathe. Guilt mingled with terror in my veins and choked me. Sure, it had been my idea, but not like this. Not without all of us there to protect her. If Francis beat her for someone else’s willful actions…
Do not go there!
“Why isn’t someone serving them for her?”
Ouch, ouch, ouch.
“She couldn’t take it anymore. She saw how bad you’ve been, how upset Nicholas is, how hurt we all are. She finally saw that the Winthrops would be our demise.”
I clamored across her body for my phone, heart be damned.
“Kate, please! Mom made me promise.”
I wasn’t listening anymore—I wasn’t sure I physically could. But my fingers could dial.
“Sweets.” Nick’s voice answered roughly after half a ring.
“Your mom,” I gasped.
“What about my mom?” He shifted on the leather chair behind his desk.
“Ari,” I breathed.
“Wait, what about you? Kate, what the fuck is going on?” When I couldn’t answer, he called out again. “Kate?” Each time his voice got a little more harsh.
I shoved the phone in Aribella’s face as Nick barked. They went back and forth while I rubbed my heart. When Ari spoke, her voice was small, but “She’s divorcing Francis” echoed through my soul.
Nick’s answering boom was so loud Ari pulled the phone from her ear. I could hear him perfectly, his words an echo of my unspoken thoughts.
What will Francis do to her?
Ari bolted the second she was off the phone. I’d tried to keep up with her as she barreled out of the apartment but my heart forced me to stop on the stairs more than once. The elevator had sealed behind her before I even got down the first flight.
I made myself as comfortable as possible draped across the couch, unable to physically make it back upstairs. I’d resorted to counting the ceiling panels, hoping that would soothe my body, when the main elevator dinged. I held my breath wanting it to be Julia, magically back from Connecticut so quickly. Or if not her, Ari. I’d control my temper, tell her we’d face anything, even her brother’s wrath, together.
But it was loud, angry, stomping footfalls that echoed through the cavernous living room. When glass scraped sharply against the wood of our bar, and was followed by the shatter of shards, I forced myself to sit up.
“Aribella!” Nick’s roar shook every single window in the apartment.
“She left, Nick.”
He whirled to look at me, his eyes a tumultuous tempest that even I hadn’t seen before.
“What?” His howl started my heart up again.
One hand flew to my chest and the other clenched at the couch cushions.
“Kate.” His whole face changed and he took two powerful steps toward me. “Sweets?”
“Is she going to be okay?”
I sagged against the couch as Nick threw his arms around me. He said nothing. He simply pulled me as close as his stance would allow. My chest unclenched at his touch but I couldn’t get my shoulders to relax.
“What are we going to do?”
“We aren’t going to do anything.”
I had no desire to fight him. It had nothing to do with my heart, either.
“Okay, what are you going to do?”
“I have to try and stop her. I have to get out there, but… His voice trailed off and I knew exactly how he intended on finishing that sentence.
“Fuck the launch, Nick. It’s just business. This is family.” My hands shook as I brought them up to trace the backside of his palms. “I’ll deal with the launch.”
“I know your heart was bothersome today.” That tone said his eyes were the agitated, unruly eyes of a mad man again.
“Yes.” I couldn’t hold in a sigh anymore. “But trust me when I say I can handle this. I'll even see Dr. Chambers tomorrow. You have to go. Please trust me. Please. I know something’s wrong with your mom.”
I was ready to elaborate when he cut me off.
“I know.” He ran his finger across my collarbone. “This time I feel it too.”
Nick had shuffled out only moments after and I hadn’t heard from him in the twenty-four hours since. Ari hadn’t slunk back into the apartment and Julia never returned. I’d called out for all of them each time my heart started slamming around—which it’d done repeatedly—or rather hadn’t really stopped doing.
Jaime had come running each and every time instead, with his face drawn, a furrowed brow in place and dark circles under his eyes, looking more and more gaunt. I refused to let myself think about what that meant. Mostly because it would send my heart thundering.
Dr. Chambers made a house call. When I told him what had been happening he insisted I check back into the hospital. The thought of lying in a bed while my world was teetering on the brink, being poked and prodded when Vesper had business and Nick was in Connecticut and Julia was... I just couldn't wrap my head around it. I simply turned my back on him and asked that Jaime showed him out.
I tried to keep my mind blank as I curled in a ball on the ottoman in my closet. I reminded myself to take on one task at a time. Here, all I needed to do was stare at my expansive wardrobe and repeat calm down. When I had the strength, I could pick a gorgeous outfit. I’d get through the evening by staying focused on baby steps.
Sighing, I shoved myself up from the leather to leaf through the fine fabrics in front of me. My heart thumped and my stomach churned even at the slight movement. I settled on a vintage Yves Saint Laurent tuxedo and, with a Herculean effort, slipped into the black pinstriped high waisted, wide-legged trousers. I paired the perfectly tailored single-breasted jacket with a simple, sheer white v-neck. I added black patent alligator pointy-toe stilettos and a long gold pendant necklace that paired with my contoured McQueen cuff. I left my hair down and wavy just the way Nick liked it. I kept my eye makeup simple and painted my lips a dark crimson.
My exterior made it seem like there were no heart problems, like there was no Christopher, like Julia wasn’t in Connecticut, or that Nick was MIA. The facade was convincing until the light fabric of my shirt or dainty chain of my necklace betrayed my stuttering heart.
I faltered when press swarmed outside of One Madison, and my heart jackknifed. Jaime noticed and all but bear hugged me to actually shove through the crowd. He was the only reason I stayed standing.
When I looked up to thank him, I noticed something was off. His eyes were red and puffy. I was focused on catching my breath or I would have questioned him.
We waded into the launch in much the same manner. I let out a massive breath when I saw Laura standing in the staging hallway, waiting. She noticed I was rubbing my chest and all but sprinted over to me. Her arms were around my shoulders, and she’d started speaking before I had a chance to apologize.
"It's fine. It's always been fine. I just don't want you to get hurt,” she said, heading off the sorry on the tip of my tongue.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t want to apologize. I feel like an ass.”
“Because I let you get drugged? Or because I screamed at your fiancé?”
She was gently rubbing my back where she held me.
“Because I didn’t even listen to you, Laur.”
&nbs
p; “Honey, if I had a dollar for every time you didn’t listen…” She waved me off. “Besides I was the one that stormed out of the hospital remember?"
“Sorry.”
“Don’t get all soft on me now, Elliott.” She stepped back and smiled. “And speaking of the devil, where is Nicholas?”
She asked the very question running through my mind. Jaime pocketing a phone beside me pulled my attention from Laura. One look at Jaime’s face and that heavy boulder of dread fractured in the pit of my stomach to form a million pinpricks of worry. A dramatic line of questioning barreled through my mind just as Gemma, Callista, Elena, and Brennan all whirled down the hallway, effectively stopping that train of thought in its track.
My heartbeat turned erratic, picking up speed and losing any kind of real rhythm. I kept it together though. Everyone except Jaime scrutinized my every move. If nothing else had happened, that would have told me something was off. Even when my knees buckled pulling Laura and Gemma to my side, Jaime kept his distance.
Oh no. Oh fucking serious no.
It took me a little while to shift my focus from the pummeling in my chest to charming the crowd, but I managed. There were lots of hands to shake and people to greet. I tried not to watch Jaime but when I looked up my anxiety skyrocketed; he was visibly upset. And he never got upset.
After cocktail hour, I was slated to give a speech and be a part of a question and answer panel. Bryant was supposed to be up there with me. I didn’t know if I could do it by myself. My slightly ragged breathing said probably not.
Jaime didn’t see me watching him from where I hid, crumpled behind the stage in the hopes of catching my breath. He didn’t feel my gaze on him when he pulled his glasses off and wiped a tear from his cheek.
My insides skittered then froze. My chest, my breathing, my knees were all problems, but none of them even remotely compared to the fear that gripped my throat. I vaguely registered that my name boomed from the podium. On autopilot, I stood and righted my suit. For a moment, I walked toward the person introducing me, but my body had other plans. I abruptly changed directions and cornered Jaime.
