Defensive Zone (The Dartmouth Cobras #2)

by Bianca Sommerland

  And if not, well, she'd made the offer to talk to Jami and hopefully Dean would consider it once he'd calmed down. It hurt that he hadn't wanted her around, but she got it. His baby was lying in a hospital bed and expecting him to be rational was pushing it.

  What if he can't get over you being a coke head? What if he wants nothing to do with you?

  Dean wouldn't do that. He loved her.

  You should have told him.

  Maybe she should have—she sank deeper into the tub—but she hadn't. There was no use second guessing herself. She didn't use anymore. Rarely wanted to even, come to think of it. She'd stocked up on candy only once in the last couple of weeks. A new record. She used to do it daily.

  The bathroom door creaked open and she turned her head, smiling as Landon stepped in. Dean must have called him to check on her.

  See, he still cares.

  But one look at Landon's face tightened her gut. He stared at her in the bath as though seeing something else, his face pale and tight. She sloshed out of the water and almost did a face plant as she tried to get to him.

  "Landon!" She yelped as her hip hit the sink. "Landon, look at me."

  He blinked and yanked her into his arms. "Sorry. I just—"

  "I know."

  "Your door wasn't locked. I heard the water and when I came in here I saw . . . ." He shook his head hard and kissed her forehead. "Forget it. You're obviously fine and you're too strong to . . . to do anything stupid." He bent down and sniffed at her throat. "Mmm. You smell good."

  "Do I?"

  "Fuck, yeah." He crowded her back towards the bath and lifted her by the hips to set her bruised butt on the ledge. "Hold on tight. I don't want you to slip."

  She winced at the throb of pain, clinging to the edge of the bath as he dropped to his knees and pulled her legs over his shoulders. His tongue speared her and she threw her head back. He gave her no time to prepare before licking and thrusting, but the oil slicking her body made it easy for him. Her body caught up quickly and he moaned against her as he lapped up the spilling moisture.

  "I could eat you all fucking night."

  "Damn it, Landon, what about you?" She tried to close her legs, but in that position, didn't get far. "I won't let you get me off without taking anything yourself."

  "You won't 'let' me?" His chuckle sent vibrations deep into her cunt as he nibbled lightly on her rapidly swelling clit. "I'd like to see you try to stop me."

  He teased her mercilessly, using his teeth and his tongue, driving her up to the peak and easing her down before adding his fingers and tossing her over the edge. He picked her up just as her arms gave out, milking the last spasms from her with several shallow thrusts. She squirmed as he watched her face and curved his fingers inside her, his lips slanted in a wicked smile.

  "You're not trying very hard. What happened to not letting me get you off?"

  "You dick." She smacked his chest without thinking. "That wasn't fair."

  His jaw ticked as he stood her up and turned her around. Her hands latched onto the tub as he gave her three solid slaps on the ass. Right over the ruler welts, waking each and every one like he'd lit a fuse of agony. She choked back a howl of pain as one last, stinging smack on fiery wet flesh bowed her spine.

  "What did you call me?"

  "Nothing!"

  "Get in the bath." He released her after making sure she could stand on her own. "I've decided I'm ready to 'get off' now."

  She scrambled into the bath, slowing as she slipped, and sat up to watch him strip. Her pussy throbbed, both from use and from need. His cock jutted out, dark at the tip as he rolled on a condom. He climbed into the bath and put his hand on her throat.

  Her eyes widened. "Landon?"

  "Dean says you like this, but he's been careful not to push you too far. You trust him." His fingers put more pressure on her windpipe, right under her chin. "Do you trust me?"

  The humid air didn't fill her lungs properly, and wasting the bit she had on words didn’t seem smart. So she simply nodded.

  "Good girl." He knelt between her legs and guided his dick to her entrance. He slammed in and shook his head when she reached for him. "Fingers laced behind your neck. I'll move you. You will focus on what I give you. Air." He lifted her with one arm around her waist, sliding her up the end of the bath and following with short dips keeping him just barely inside. "Pain." His forearm crossed her abused but and he smiled when she hissed. "Pleasure."

  He drove in so hard, the sensation echoed up her spine, and down again in a rush like water crashing from a broken dam. Each brutal slam sent her floating on the current, swaying, dipping under, her mind lost to the uncontrollable carnal flood. No holding back, she had nothing to hold on to.

  Changing the angle of his thrusts, Landon watched her, his misty grey eyes filled with heat. Water sloshed on the floor as he hammered in and out, gritting through his teeth. "Don't come."

  Don't . . . she scrambled inwardly away from the beckoning climax and clenched down to hold it at bay. His smile of approval almost did her in. She whimpered as his grip on her throat tightened a little more.

  "I want this to last, Silver. I love being inside you." His jaw muscles tensed. "I don't know if it helps, but I'm holding back too. I would love to let go, but not . . . yet."

  The room spun. Her lips moved. She needed to breathe. Maybe she should say her safeword—Only, Landon wasn't holding her throat hard enough to choke her. She gulped in as much hot air as she could and realized she'd stopped breathing, all on her own. Stupid.

  "There we go." Landon moved her over him, his hips rising and falling as his breaths matched hers. His hand rested slack against her throat. "Another big one. One more. Good. Keep going, just like that as I increase the pressure."

  Again the squeezing, but not so much that air couldn't pass.

  "Perfect. Now comes the hard part." He leaned forward, buried to the hilt inside her, and covered her mouth with his. He kissed her dizzy, then pressed his forehead against hers, exhaling on her inhale. Again and again, until every part of her fell in sync with him, all the way down to the rhythm of her pulse, deep in her core.

  Complete surrender and it was . . . amazing. In a daze she stared into his eyes and melted at what she saw there. He knew he had her completely in his power.

  "Come with me, mon coeur." His pace quickened and the corded muscles running up the sides of his throat tensed. "Arg!"

  A white haze wisped over her vision as she convulsed, clenching and unclenching around his cock, torn away by a tidal wave that crashed over and over, never releasing her from its violent pull. She screamed and slumped forward, twitching when his dick shifted inside her.

  "Fuck, I hope you came." She whispered with her lips on his slippery, cinnamon scent chest. She flicked out her tongue to taste him and giggled. "It doesn't taste as good as it smells."

  "Mmm." He kissed the top of her head and hefted her up, turning so he could rest again the back of the tub with her in his lap. "Either that or the tip of my dick just exploded."

  "I'm that good am I?"

  "If I say yes, will your ego get even bigger?"

  She lifted her hand to smack him.

  He grabbed it and groaned. "How about you not do that? I'm too worn out to spank you again."

  She smirked and sat back on her heels. The pain in her ass spurred her on. "I should take advantage of you."

  "You'll regret it tomorrow. I got a new cane."

  Yikes. "Okay. I'll be good."

  "Ha." His lips curled. "I doubt it."

  She stuck out her tongue, but his eyes had drifted shut, so he didn't see it. So she relaxed with her head on her chest. Or tried to. He looked like he wanted to take a nap, but she was wide awake.

  "Feel like watching a few more westerns?"

  "Now?"

  "Yes, now. Do you have something better to do?"

  "Sleep." His arm plopped over her shoulder. "Be a good girl and shut up so I can, okay?"

  Rolling he
r eyes, she pushed to her feet and stepped out of the bath. Then pulled the plug. "Listen, pal. First of all, you can't sleep in the bath. Second, I'm putting you telling me to shut up on my limit list. Got it?"

  He arched a brow without opening his eyes. "Are you really? So is that just during scenes? Because, with how rude you're being, if we're still in a scene, I should . . . ." He yawned. "Damn, my brain isn't working anymore. Between practice and those photo shoots . . . you have no idea the positions that woman put me in."

  Red sparks flashed in her eyes. How had she forgotten Scarlet? "I'm going to kill that bitch! Did she touch you?"

  "Do you honestly think I'd let her?" Landon's eyes were open now. "She came out from her session with Demyan wiping her mouth. I'm not into sloppy seconds, thanks."

  "But you'll share me with Dean?"

  He frowned at her and sat up. "That's not the same and you know it. I'm sharing you with another man who loves you as much as I do."

  Some people wouldn't see the difference, but those people didn't matter. Her sister was with three men and no one would dare call her sloppy seconds. Besides, hearing Landon tell her, again, that he loved her . . . damn, it was impossible to feel worthless and disgusting.

  "Okay, you're right, Sir." She grinned as she pulled out two towels, then wrapped one around herself. "I should give you more credit anyway. You managed to snag yourself a chick like me. What would you want with her?"

  "Exactly." Landon slipped out of the tub and took the towel she handed him to dry his face. "Now—"

  He cut himself off so abruptly, Silver froze. And bit her lip as he stared down at his naked cock with the ring of useless rubber around the base. No. Oh god, no.

  "Silver." Landon rubbed his lips with his hand. "Tell me you're on birth control."

  She didn't hesitate. "I'm on birth control."

  The relief in his eyes wrung her stomach like an old rag in his big fists. Which made it impossible to elaborate. All she could do was fucking pray she didn't get caught telling a half-truth.

  No way did I miss more than once or twice.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Silver nibbled on a jujube petal and put away the little pack of pills. Her friends back in Hollywood wouldn't see this as a big deal. At least once a week she'd seen a couple doing damage control. Two now and two tomorrow. She took them back out and tapped the edge of the pack on her desk. Four pills and she'd have nothing to worry about.

  She had plenty to spare.

  Idiot.

  Not that she'd never forgotten before, being drunk or stoned made it easy to forget, but she'd been with Asher and Cedric and the risk had been negligible. Except when she slept around. But she'd always used condoms. Never had a problem with them.

  Well, there's a first time for everything. Just get it over with. Landon won't have to pay for your mistake.

  "Silver?" Asher knocked on the door as he entered her office. His brow lifted as he caught her hiding her pills under some files. "You're taking them early today? You used to take them at 9:00pm every night."

  "I'm not taking them early. Just checking . . . ."

  "Ah. Did that again, did you? Guess sticking to anal for a few weeks isn't an option?" Asher gave her his most superior look, which tempted her to bitch slap him with her shoe. And, naturally, he couldn't just drop it. "Any reason it's an issue this time?"

  "Why the fuck would I tell you?"

  "I'll take that as a yes?"

  "Do you want this job or not?" She crossed her arms over her breasts when he nodded and tried to turn on the charm, not giving him a second to sweet talk her before continuing. "Sit down and shut up then while I make one thing perfectly clear." He sat in the chair in front of her desk and his briefcase hit the floor with a dull thud. "I know you, Asher. I understand how you operate, and I didn't care when you were handling jobs for my 'friends' out in Hollywood, but things are going to be different here. You try to use anything you have on me, or learn about me, to get more money or anything else and we're going to have a serious problem."

  Tiny lines showed on Asher's smooth cheeks as he gave her an amused half-smile. "Are you going to sic your boyfriends on me?"

  Head tilted to one side, Silver tapped her chin and smiled back at him. "You think I need them to hurt you? If we start sharing, some uncomfortable truths might come out about me, but the things you don't want anyone to know could get you killed."

  Asher paled slightly, but his expression didn't change. He actually laughed. "You'd do it too, wouldn't you? I forgot what a cold-hearted bitch you could be."

  "Very bad idea if you want to work for me."

  "I'll keep that in mind."

  "Good." She put her hands on the desk and grinned. "So, you write up the contract? I'd like you to get to work on a few things right away if you're not too busy."

  He scowled. "You know I'm not busy. I let Cedric take the rest of my cases and cleared my schedule. Just like you asked."

  "I hope you remembered to include in the contract that you work for me. Not the team."

  "I did, but I don't get why—"

  "You don't have to. Now hand it over, I'd like to read over the fine print before we go any further." She bit back a smirk as Asher dug into his briefcase, grumbling under his breath. "You didn't seriously think I'd just sign it, did you?"

  "I figured you might be a bit distracted . . . ." He shook his head and laughed again. "Then again, considering you got spanked after signing something without reading it, I should have guessed you'd be more careful."

  "You taught me not to trust anyone too quickly, Asher. One of the few things I can actually thank you for."

  He dropped his gaze to the papers he set before her and sighed. "So you don't trust anyone?"

  "Not until they've earned it."

  "And your men?"

  My men. Just thinking about them gave her the silly warm fuzzies. She took the contract and shrugged because she didn't want to share too much with Asher. But she had to say one thing. "They've earned it."

  It took about an hour to go over all the details of the contract, and to Asher's credit, he hadn't tried to slip in anything over the top. His retainer was higher than they'd agreed on, but he was worth it. She signed and handed him his copy.

  Asher looked a little surprised, but didn't comment. He sat back and folded his ankle over his knee. "So, where do I start, boss?"

  She patted a stack of files on the corner of her desk. "I'd like you to look over the proposal for the renovations. They have to be in today." She pulled out a set of keys from her top drawer and tossed them to him. "Enjoy your new office. You're going to be spending a lot of time in there."

  "Gee. Thanks." He stood and stuffed the keys in his pocket before grabbing the folders. "Anything else?"

  Her lips slanted. "I'll let you know."

  The door to her office opened just as he approached it. Asher made a strangled sound and tripped backwards as Dean strode in and reached for him.

  Dean let out a feral sound. "You son-of-a-bitch. You've got some nerve—"

  "Dean!" For some odd reason, she wanted to giggle as Asher scampered across the office to put her desk between him and Dean. She cut in front of Dean before he could follow. "I just had the carpets cleaned. Don't kill him in here, please."

  The solid chest under her hand rose and fell with Dean's measured breaths. "What is he doing here? He almost got you killed!"

  Asher sidestepped behind her. "I almost did what? What are you talking about?"

  "Ford Kingsley threatened her! After you sent her to him! Getting her shot once wasn't enough?"

  "That was an accident. I wasn't expecting—"

  "I don't want to hear it." Dean's lip curled away from his teeth. "Get your pathetic ass out of here before I pitch you out that fucking window."

  "Dean." Silver hooked her finger to his collar and tugged. "Look. At. Me. Asher isn't responsible for what happened with Ford. He couldn't have known—"

  "Bullshit. He's fucking
dirty enough to have figured out who you were dealing with. I don't want him anywhere near you." Dean cupped her cheek and bent down to kiss her. "Maybe I didn't act like it yesterday, but I care about you. If you're still . . . if that shit is still a problem, I'll help you however I can."

  "It's not." She wanted to ask him about Jami, but not in front of Asher. So she focused on what they both already knew. "I told you, I've been clean for nine months."

  "But you keep that vial in your purse . . . ." He sighed and shook his head. "I need you to know I believe you. You're not doing that shit anymore, and I'm damn proud of you for quitting on your own. It's just a bad idea for you to have that crap on you. I understand why you do, but—"

  "Her little vial?" Asher laughed. "So she finally told you about that?"

  Dean dropped a fisted hand to his side. "You can leave now."

  "Actually, I can't. My new boss gave me tons of work." Asher sidled around the desk. "I wouldn't worry too much about her 'stash' though. It's not coke."

  Silver spun around and her and Dean spoke as one. "What?"

  "I tossed it about a month after you quit. Just in case. Replaced it with icing sugar." Asher shrugged as he inched closer to the door. "You fucked up your life when you were on that shit. Hell, I'm no fucking saint. You were my meal ticket, but I also considered you a friend. I knew you wouldn't tell me if you slipped up, so I made damn sure I'd find out if you did."

  "You didn't trust me."

  "You hadn't earned it." Asher glanced at the door. "I'm gonna head to my office now, if that's okay?"

  "Go ahead." Silver stared after him as he hustled out. Damn. Just . . . damn. All this time, that was all she'd wanted from him. To know he cared. And maybe he hadn't in any romantic sense, but he'd still looked out for her in his own way. She bit the tip of her tongue and peered up at Dean. "So . . . are we good?"

  Dean inhaled and nodded slowly. "I don't like that you've got him working for you."

  "I know."

  "But, so long as you don't let him get you involved in anything dangerous, I'll accept it." He groaned and dropped a hard kiss on her lips. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I was . . . cruel."