Family Business (Mixing Business with Pleasure Book 3)

by Ace Gray

  Nick moved behind me and gently swept my hair to the side. His arms wrapped around me and took the necklace from its box. Deftly he clasped the necklace for me. He leaned in and his warm breath brushed against my neck just before he kissed the bare skin below my ear. I couldn't help the MMMmmm that escaped my lips. He answered by swearing under his breath and stepping away from me.

  I turned to face him, missing his touch already. He reached out but just to zip up my vest so it stopped just below my breasts. The leather was tight but not uncomfortably so, just enough to press my breasts up and together. The gorgeous stone hung delicately in my cleavage.

  "Stay." It was a clipped command as he turned for the camera. When he spun back, he took a few photos in quick succession as he inched closer. The last would be a close up of the curvature of my chest as the leather pushed it toward the gem, delicate and artsy.

  When he popped out from behind the camera, he had his serious face back in place. He stepped around me to the driver's door and opened it. I slid in and adjusted the seat as needed. I wasn't particularly fond of driving in heels but I had a feeling we wouldn't be focusing on vehicle performance.

  Nick leaned across me to push the key in the ignition. I pushed in the clutch and he twisted the key. I couldn't help the groan that escaped my lips when the car roared to life. His head cranked toward mine, still occupying the small space between my nose and the steering wheel. His eyes were the color that signaled lust but they were questioning. I smiled and nodded quickly before pushing him out of the doorframe and revving the engine a few times.

  The rumbling of the machine along with the game made me extremely wet. Nick had disappeared for the moment and I knew it was to open the back garage door to the track. We'd added security measures that required manual opening. I adjusted the rearview mirror so I could watch his fine frame bend and haul the door up. When he had to stand on tiptoes to push it out of the way, I saw the dimples low on his back and the curve of his ass. Jeans without boxer briefs was a serious turn on. I let the engine roar again and he turned to arch an eyebrow at me.

  Moments later, he slid into the passenger seat, camera still in hand.

  "Take her out," he purred in time with the engine.

  34.

  I didn't even hesitate. I whipped the car out, even drifting a little, and then slammed into gear before peeling out. I couldn't keep the serious face anymore. Driving fast in a high performance car always made me smile. I effortlessly navigated the track, even though I could only see the small strip of pavement illuminated by the headlights.

  When I urged it past 180mph on the beachside straight away, I couldn’t help but giggle. Beside me there was only silence. Was he enjoying the drive too? Was he still snapping photographs? Was he happy? Or aroused? Or being ridiculously overprotective again?

  I had to slow the car significantly for the sharpest curve on the course and as soon as I went to accelerate out, I got the answer. Nick shoved his hand between my legs. I faltered with the car for just a second.

  As soon as I had control again he started stroking me through the fine lace of my underwear. The longer he stroked the more I wanted to surrender to him. As soon as the car decelerated and he pulled his hand away, I let out a staggered, halted groan. I was both grateful and disappointed that his hand was gone.

  On the next lap, on the same corner, he pushed his hand back between my thighs. His strokes were stronger this time and he used the lace to create a friction that had me whimpering. I heard a few clicks from the camera but was trying so hard not to lose control of the vehicle that I couldn't linger on the thought. He saw when I was about to give in again and his hand fell away. This time my groan was far more guttural. I wanted him to stop, or keep going, or perhaps for my brain to explode simply so I didn’t have to decide.

  My skin started tingling the second I saw the curve in my headlights. This time I tried to brace myself for his strokes. Of course, he read the tension in my body and slipped his hand underneath the lace this time, up against my sensitive skin. I moaned as his fingers moved against my bare slick sex.

  I was going to lose control. I couldn't help it. His touch had been devastating enough over top of fabric.

  My mind raced, waiting for him to pull away at any moment, knowing that I couldn't drive with him touching me so scandalously. One long finger was tracing me, back and forth between my thighs. I did falter with my driving but Nick didn't stop.

  Without any kind of a warning, he slipped a finger inside of me and I cried out. For a moment, I shut my eyes and forgot I was driving all together. The car decelerated quickly and when the transmission started to hitch I remembered myself and quickly downshifted.

  He didn't stop his assault. Even though I was having severe trouble handling the vehicle, he added a second finger to swirl inside of me. Luckily, I was going slow enough I could slam on the breaks all together.

  “Nick." My voice wasn’t really mine, it was just a feverish moan.

  He moved his fingers again, this time swiping across my G-spot. I forgot myself completely and pulled my feet from the pedals. The car stalled out beneath us, shuddering as it went quiet. Nick simply chuckled and snapped a few more photos.

  Is he photographing getting me off?

  Arousal dripped down my thigh and onto the seat at the thought.

  “Jesus, Kate," his voice was ragged.

  All I could do was bite my lip and whimper as his fingers moved in, out, and around in a hypnotic rhythm. I was building. Quickly. My body started tingling and my muscles clenched involuntarily on his fingers.

  Without warning, he pulled his hand out and shoved his fingers in his mouth. He made a show of sucking them, and I could barely keep my eyes from fluttering shut. My body was a wreck. My chest heaving, my heart hammering, and my fingers clenched on the steering wheel. When he hollowed his cheeks and drug his fingers back across his lips, my body started tingling again.

  “Fuck, you taste good.” His voice was even more shaky now.

  He busted out of his door and rounded the car. If it was possible, I got more turned on by the animal urgency he rounded the hood with. He yanked open my door and leaned across me to pull the seatbelt free.

  I let him drag me from the car and pin my front against the metal frame. His muscled front was pressed hard against my backside. His erection poked against my bruised ass and the car's contours against my hip bones. It was slightly uncomfortable but my need for him was downright painful.

  Involuntarily, I whimpered when the soft sound of his fly unzipping came from behind me. I could feel his warm, hard shaft resting against my flesh as his hands roughly shoved the lace down to my thighs. His fingers circled for the briefest moment against me then he pulled the wetness backward and plunged two fingers into my ass instead.

  I hadn't anticipated that and I cried out when he pushed in further and further. His fingers slid easily in and out as he spun them, stretching me. My fingers tried to dig into the car frame below me. His free hand moved to the crease of my hip and he pulled my body back onto his fingers. Hard. I cried out and the sound pierced the night sky. Luckily, we were far away from everyone courtesy of the back half of the track.

  My wetness was dripping down my leg and I was acutely aware of how cool it was when the breeze caressed it. Nick shifted so his cock was between my legs, his fingers still gliding in, out, and around. I had to be dripping onto his shaft now.

  Both of his hands flexed, his fingers inside me moving in a new direction, his hand at my hip digging in. I swore almost as loudly as I’d screeched earlier. That's when he replaced his fingers with his cock. I’d gotten him wet enough that I couldn't have resisted him if I tried. It was still tight but he pushed in quick and deep. My body seized and slumped over the car.

  He clawed at my hips just before he started wildly rolling against my bruised backside. It was pleasure and pain and perfection. Each thrust seemed to go deeper and push me harder into the car. One of his hands snaked down and around,
repositioning me then plunging into my sex.

  His fingers rolled along the back of me so he could press against himself through the thin bit of sensitive skin that separated his fingers and cock. We both shuddered. Then he started alternating thrusts. He'd slam into my backside and pull out as he explored with his fingers. It was too much. Without any warning I starting coming.

  Nick’s name was tripping repeatedly from my lips. He kept leisurely thrusting with both fingers, tracing the outline of his shaft where it was buried inside of me. My body was clenching onto both. Repeatedly. My fingers scrambled for something to hold onto so I wouldn’t crumple to the ground. My body was a big puddle of sensation, the waves of pleasure slowly rolling through every inch.

  I was barely aware when he pulled me up off the hood of the car and pressed my back against his chest. In a swift move he unzipped the vest and his hands started roughly pulling on my nipples. He was pulling hard and using his grip to meet his thrusts. The hand that’d been inside me wove around my hip bones and held me flush to his body as he pumped furiously into me.

  My body was responding again. I would come again if he kept playing with my breasts. He switched nipples and twisted. I didn't think it was possible but his thrusts inside me got both faster and deeper. Thankfully my thighs were still braced against the car; I needed all the help I could get staying upright.

  The waves of an orgasm started building again at the same time his legs bunched underneath me. When the first shot of cum poured into me, hot and fast, it set me off or kept me going or whatever. My knees buckled but his grasp on me was so tight I hardly moved. I couldn't help but sag against him, gasping for breath.

  When he’d emptied himself into me his hands pushed down to the wetness between my thighs. His fingers skated up along my leg then gently pressed inside of me. He used the opportunity to rub himself through the thin wall again. I shuddered when his cock twitched inside me.

  Nick chuckled and kissed the back of my head as he pulled his fingers out of me, then his shaft. With one hand he turned me so I could face him. He saw me wobble and let me lean back against the car. Nick shoved his two fingers back into his mouth and licked. He stole my MMMmmm then pulled them out and unceremoniously bent to zip his pants back up. He sagged over top of me against the car. His forehead rested against mine for a moment before he kissed me deeply and passionately.

  We stayed like that, making out against the car, for quite some time. When I got the feeling back in my fingers I let them wander through his hair, combing it back away from his deep blue eyes. Finally, he pulled away.

  "I should let the bride get a good night sleep before her big day." He laughed lightly to himself as he found the edges of the vest and zipped it back up, though still only part way up. He pulled my lace briefs up and adjusted the straps back into place. His fingers skated across the exposed skin.

  A slow, piercing clap rang from the darkness across the grass. Each one snapped across my skin and reverberated through my eardrums. I hadn't been able to catch my breath because of Nick, but now, my chest constricted and my stomach bottomed out the way it had before every terrible event over the past few years.

  "Your whore still puts on quite a show.”

  Christopher.

  My stomach churned as Nick's arms wound around me.

  "I will kill you for calling my wife, the mother of my child, a whore.”

  We were a tangle of arms and legs as Nick tried to shove me toward the car and redirect toward Christopher at the same time. I couldn't talk my fingers out of clutching onto him.

  The next few things happened so quickly it was difficult to process. Nick pushed me into the driver’s seat and tried to slam the door. I couldn’t get out of the way fast enough and the door caught my shins. I screeched as it bounced back and smacked into Nick as he rounded the hood of the car; it didn’t slow him. A haunting shock of blonde hair came into the flood of the headlights. I wasn’t thinking when I scrambled out after Nick.

  “Get back in that car, Kate.” Nick’s icy roar was the most terrifying one yet.

  “No, she should see this.” Christopher’s fist was flying toward Nick’s kidneys before he had a chance to react.

  I screamed as Nick doubled over in pain and Christopher drove an elbow down into his back.

  Nick groaned and his knees wavered. I thought he was going to crumple face first onto the pavement, and I ran to try to catch him. Christopher hooked his hand around my waist and yanked me away though. I growled and smashed down on his foot with my stiletto.

  His grip on me didn’t even falter. Matter of fact, it got tighter, becoming downright painful. Christopher wound his other hand up around my throat. He squeezed as he laid my body back against his. I almost vomited when I felt his erection against my body.

  “I said I would kill you,” Nick gasped as he barreled toward us.

  I knew I was going down when he careened into us but mercifully, Christopher’s hands slipped away from my body. I needed to move but Nick consumed every thought and I instinctually spun to defend him.

  That’s when a shot rang out. The loud, metallic explosion that vibrated my bones. I hated that I recognized the sound. My body wasn’t reacting to the gun just the wave of horror that overtook me. I didn’t know who was shooting or from where. Or even at who.

  Screams rang out piercing the breeze and my ears. Screams that weren’t Nick’s. I started to push up off the ground when strong hands were on me. Strong hands that weren’t Nick’s.

  What the fuck is happening?

  I was shaking as I turned to meet eerie green eyes.

  “Kate, are you okay?” Brooklyn Hart was holding the still-warm steel of a gun against my skin.

  I managed a nod before he dodged past me toward the howling. I turned to see blood. Everywhere. The crimson in headlights made my stomach lurch again. Jaime and Colton sprinted past not a second later.

  Why are they sprinting?

  Then I realized all three men had taken off in a singular direction. I also realized that there wasn’t a pile of shocking blonde hair in the sticky, thick crimson. Nor was there a doubled over Nick anywhere. I was alone with the Hennessey on the track, hearing only shouts and footfalls fading into the distance. Further and further until eventually only the rhythmic splash of waves upon the sand filled the empty night sky.

  My mind raced. Where were they? I guessed Christopher had been shot but I still didn’t know for sure. Could Brooklyn have hit Nick? Could they have caught up to Christopher? Could this finally be over?

  Will it ever be over?

  My stomach flipped when gravel crunched beneath footsteps.

  "Get in the car right now." That voice could call to me from the depths of hell. And with how harsh and icy it was, Nick sounded like he was Satan himself.

  "What about…"

  Jaime, Colton, and Brooklyn are still out there.

  "Kate, for once, just do as you’re fucking told,” he growled and wrapped his fingers around my arm, yanking me toward the car again.

  Part of me wanted to slap him but the other part of me was scared. No, terrified. He opened the passenger door then paused.

  "Please." His soft, tortured word was all it took for my anger to ebb.

  I guessed at the color of his eyes. It had to be the color that always compelled me to comfort him. I slid into the seat without complaint and I bit my lip as he rounded the hood and flashed in the headlights. I thought about the blood that he’d have to weave around and my stomach lurched.

  The second Nick slipped into the car beside me, his hand came to my thigh. He didn't say anything, his face pinched and his brow furrowed but he didn't let go of my thigh as he drove back to the garage. Nick stayed silent as we walked back to the house too. His hand shifted to the small of my back but I'd known him long enough to feel something was off in the way he touched me. Something I recognized from one time before.

  No, not now, not tonight.

  My heart hammered in a way it hadn't si
nce Christopher had poisoned me.

  I didn’t speak up until I shut our bedroom door behind us. Nick’s hand fell from my body and he walked away from me and toward the bathroom.

  “You couldn’t have prevented this. No one could. Please don’t blame yourself, Nick.”

  “Don’t, Kate,” he spoke with his back still toward me.

  “I mean it. After everything we’ve been through please don’t go there. Not now, not right before our wedding.”

  “I should’ve taken the hint. There’ve been a million after all. I shouldn’t be marrying you tomorrow.” He started skulking toward the bathroom. “I shouldn’t be with you at all.”

  “Nick, you can’t mean that. I never…” He pulled off his shirt and it stopped me mid-sentence. “Baby!” I gasped as I ran to him, my hands fluttering around the already deep purple bruise from Christopher’s elbow.

  “Stop.” He shoved my hands aside. “With all of it.”

  He pushed me far enough away to slam the bathroom door in my face. I went straight for the handle, more than ready to fight for him. The lock popped just before I jiggled it.

  “Nick.” I jiggled again. “Let me in.” My heart picked up pace again. “Baby, please!”

  I won’t lose him now.

  There wasn’t a single sound from the other side of the door. I slid down along the wall, still in leather and lace, to set up post. I could be every bit as stubborn as Nicholas Bryant.

  I started tracing shadows on the wall, counting all the spots that overlapped. Twice. When I got tired of the view in front of me, my fingers started counting individual carpet strands. There still wasn’t a single sound from behind me.

  The last time I remember seeing the clock it read 3:37 a.m.

  14 hours until…

  I must have fallen asleep wondering if we were going to get married after all. Panic that we might not welled in my chest and I shot straight up in bed.

  Bed?

  I started a frantic scramble in the covers to try and get back to the bathroom door. It took me a moment to realize that I’d been undressed, the bathroom door was wide open and steel gray eyes were watching me from a chair next to the bed.