Nyssa: Annnnnnd this conversation is officially over. Good day, madam.
Alana: If you’re hoarse when you come back, can we pull a Key & Peele with me as your anger interpreter?
Nyssa: I said good day…
“Hey!” Sansone shouted from inside the bathroom. “My naked glory waits for no one, female! Move it!”
With a snort, she replaced her phone and padded through the room until she stopped in the doorway, blinking. “Why do you have a bubble beard?”
Giving her a haughty look, he spread his arms and leaned back into the tub that was large enough to double as a Jacuzzi, complete with jets. “For someone who was thought to be a beard the first four years of our friendship, you sound awfully judgey.”
Would the insanity ever end? Would she ever stop laughing in his face? Probably not. But Nyssa wouldn’t have it any other way. The look in his eyes when she walked toward him, the feeling of his arms enveloping her when she sank down into the steaming water, and the sensation of his lips sliding just over her temple completely overrode the nervous tension in her belly. The moment she told Sansone about Monday, he’d probably flip his shit, but as she’d discovered over the last few days, Nyssa had ways of making him see reason. Even if he denied that they made him weep…
Chapter Twelve
There was something to be said about the anticipation of the kill…or in this case assault, because Sansone waited in what could only be absolute patience by the office doors of Blackwell & Sultana for Woodard. Mr. Wayne had done him the favor of letting him know exactly when the prick had parked and was headed their way. So there he stood, casually leaning against one of the concrete walls, hands in his pockets in a completely non-threatening position.
The sound of Woodard’s footsteps kept time with Sansone’s own mental countdown as the fucker got just that much closer. The steps stopped abruptly, and he knew it was because James had noticed him.
“Sultana?”
Sansone’s lips hitched up on one side. “Woodard.”
He seemed suddenly uncomfortable. “I’m uh…I’m supposed to meet Nyssa here today.”
“Heh,” was all he got from Sansone.
Woodard shifted back and forth. “We’re finally going to talk—which is good because I’m supposed to leave on Wednesday, and I really don’t want to keep chasing her all over, begging.” Bitterness tinged his voice. He obviously hadn’t expected Nyssa’s reaction.
What a dick…
“Unh-hunh…” The bastard needed to be grateful for the opportunity because the second Nyssa told Sansone what was supposed to happen today he’d dug his heels in and told her no. But then she did something with her hands and mouth that left him torn between calling an abuse hotline and giving her his Audi. Evil sex sorcery!
Woodard must’ve stopped feeling so uncertain because he suddenly straightened out, his chin lifting. “Is there a reason you’re out here?”
Sansone blinked slowly. “Yes.” Then he grabbed the motherfucker by the throat and slammed him up against the wall, pinning him there with his forearm.
“What…what the fuck, Sultana!”
Shaking him, Sansone pressed down harder. “Stop. Moving.”
“This is assault!” Woodard choked out.
“The very definition,” he confirmed before shaking him again. “Stop.”
Woodard finally stilled.
Leaning in, Sansone made sure they were at eye level. “You’re not here to just talk, you’re here to fucking listen. You sit, you shut the fuck up when she’s speaking, and you listen. You don’t touch her. You keep your hands folded in your goddamn lap, and if she puts distance between the two of you, you keep it. You stay wherever you’re seated and you. Keep. That. Distance. You don’t insult her. You don’t insinuate anything. You nod like a good little boy. You don’t raise your voice. And most importantly, if you forget for a moment—even a second—that I am just outside the door and violate any of the rules I have so kindly laid out for you, I will break and reassemble every fiber of your being. By the time I am finished, not even the FBI database would be able recognize the crushed essence of your DNA. Capiche?”
Whatever Woodard saw in his eyes made him nod as much as he could with his throat under the weight of Sansone’s hold.
Smiling now, Sansone took a step back and brushed imaginary lint off the other man’s shoulder, enjoying how he flinched. “Good. Now run along.”
With wary eyes, Woodard slipped past him and into the doors of the office.
Sansone took a deep breath and looked down at his loafers. “Goddammit! Four hundred dollars’ worth of Italian leather scuffed to shit!”
***
“Er…where’s Sunny?”
Alana looked up from her MacBook and tucked in her lips. “I dunno.”
“You were supposed to watch him!”
She threw up her hands. “I was trying to do my job!”
“You finished your job an hour ago! Now you’re tossing green pigs at birds!” Nyssa started past the desk. “He could be stuffing James’ unconscious body into a wheelbarrow and rolling him down the parking garage incline as we speak.” Sansone had done exactly as she’d expected and all but pounded his chest while roaring when she’d informed him of this little meeting. This morning he’d been suspiciously quiet and entirely too agreeable for her comfort. When she’d gone to take a call in her office, she’d told Alana to keep an eye on him. Which she’d failed epically at!
“Can’t say I’d be opposed to that…” Alana murmured. She’d happily told Nyssa she’d be front row and center should Sansone choose to smack James into sobbing uncontrollably. Nyssa really didn’t need to ask what had happened when he’d come looking for her while she was out of town. She’d known him long enough to know how much of an entitled prick he could be when the mood suited him.
“Firing you!” Nyssa bellowed as she weaved through different departments on their floor. She’d just passed the interns when James came stumbling past the security check, looking…rumpled.
He saw her standing there and immediately straightened. Nodding in her direction, he coolly greeted her. “Nyssa.”
Her brows lifted but she chose not to comment on the redness around his throat. “James.”
Sweeping a hand out, he said, “Lead the way.”
This was all so perfectly casual, wasn’t it? He was coming in as if they were discussing business and not his harassment.
She drew in a deep breath and headed back toward her office, the sound of his steps echoing behind her.
“This is…nice,” he commented, following. “I’ve heard a lot about you and Sultana’s accomplishments over the years.”
Something about the way he used Sansone’s last name, the tone, grated her. She lifted her shoulders. “We’ve done all right for ourselves.”
James snorted as they crossed the threshold. “You rank as number four in the top ten agencies in the country, Nyssa. That’s better than all right.”
She didn’t respond, but as she closed the door she saw a flash of Alana giving him the finger behind his back.
He took a place on the love seat and she chose to stand.
“You’re not going to sit?”
Nyssa shook her head and watched him. He didn’t look that much older; he hadn’t gained weight or lost hair. All the things she’d wanted to happen to him when they parted. She didn’t know exactly what she should’ve felt the moment they were closed off from the rest of the world, but Nyssa felt nothing. No resentment, no anger, not even irritation at the way he ran his gaze over her like he could remember every inch. She simply felt nothing.
“This won’t take long.” She retorted.
Exhaling, he looked from her to the window. “You didn’t keep any of the flowers.” James observed.
“Nope.”
“I take it there’s no chance you have them at home?”
“Nope.”
His blue stare returned to her and he sat back. “Did Sultana not appro
ve?”
Her lips lifted. “What, exactly, is it that you want, James?”
Mouth tightening at his unanswered question, his eyes narrowed on her. “Tell me, Nyssa, is he the reason you never tried fixing things with me?”
She burst out laughing. “You’re fucking off it!”
His brows lowered. “What?”
Nyssa waved her hands. “Look at you. You’ve strolled into Philadelphia for all of what, five minutes? And you’re questioning me. You just can’t stop, can you? Even after all this time, the thought of me doing something outside of the range of your knowledge eats at you.” She stopped laughing. “And I love it.” Her voice dropped. “I love the fact that the very thing you set into motion torments you. You’re going fucking mental because you’re not sure if I’m spending my nights resting on Sansone’s tongue.”
A muscle in his jaw leapt. “I did what I thought was best.”
“For who, you?” She pushed off the door. “You were a selfish coward. What you did, you did because you wanted to bend me. You wanted me to feel as rejected as you did when I turned down your proposal. Sadly for you, you failed to remember exactly how flexible I truly am.”
He stood and jabbed a finger in her direction. “You couldn’t stop chasing so goddamned hard after approval that would’ve never been voiced. You closed us off to having anything real because of your need to prove yourself. So I took a step that seemed viable at the time.”
She bit the inside of her cheek. “I was worthless to you.”
James shook his head. “I never said that to you. All I wanted was for you to need me, but you couldn’t stop and see that. You had to do everything, be everything. I grasped for a straw and pulled a short one but I never called you worthless.”
“You didn’t have to.” Nyssa dug her nails into her palms to keep from shouting. “You told me what I really meant the moment you went over my head and handed something that was meant for me to a complete. Stranger. Every smile. Every laugh. Every moment that I told you how much I loved you didn’t mean a fucking thing in the wake of your pride. The minute—the very minute—you allowed Sansone to sign the dotted line of the contract, you sealed our fate. You did that. Not me. Never me. I wouldn’t have done that to you. I wouldn’t have attempted to fuck you over just to prove that I held weight in our relationship.” She sucked in a trembling breath. “What you did was to destroy me and at the time, it did. You’d won. I was willing to pack up my closet space of an office and walk away from it all, but I didn’t, and you can’t comprehend why, but I can.”
He stood there, glaring back at her, and she took a step forward. Nyssa said a name that came as easy as her own. “Sansone.”
James sneered and she smiled. “He was the reason I rooted myself to the spot until the bitter end. He dusted me off, tapped me on my ass, and sent me flying right back out onto the field. He saw something in me that you didn’t, and he ran with it. He didn’t allow his own insecurities to overshadow how much I meant to him. He holds my hand and doesn’t let go. He handles the utter insanity that surrounds me on a day-to-day basis and doesn’t bat a lash. And he loves me. He honestly, truly, loves me.” Nyssa wrapped her arms about herself. “Even when I run from it. Even when I’m being difficult. Even when I won’t compromise, he never takes that love, that adoration away.” She swallowed. “And despite the paralyzing fear that we could hurt each other, I’m more than willing to give him everything I have. Everything that you didn’t deserve. I don’t know what made you dredge up something that pales in comparison to what I feel when he grins at me, and I don’t really care, but I have to say thank you. Because if you hadn’t, what I’m experiencing now—how he kisses me, touches me—wouldn’t exist.”
He looked as though he wanted to say something else, argue his point but she held up a finger. “Stop…just…stop. Whether I planned to listen to you or not, this needed to happen. I needed to allow two thousand nine hundred and twenty days’ worth of resentment to unleash itself.” She angled toward him, holding his gaze. “You are now officially dismissed, James.”
Nyssa stepped toward the office door and opened it. “I meant it when I said this wouldn’t take long.”
Searching her face for a brief second, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks and shook his head. Not another word left him as he walked past her and out of the office. And still, Nyssa felt nothing.
With a sigh, she looked through the opening and pulled up short.
“Sunny?”
“Yes, cara?”
“What, pray tell, are you doing?”
“Nothing, cara.”
“Really?”
“Yes, cara.”
“You’re seated in your executive chair outside my door and reading the paper, but you’re not doing anything?”
“No, cara.” He casually turned to another section.
She rubbed her temples. “I want you to tell me something, and you need to be completely honest with me.”
Sansone flipped to another section, still not looking up. “Yes?”
“Is there a history of mental illness in your family?”
His mouth twisted, and he stopped as though he were thinking. “Well I have this uncle…”
As Alana laughed, Nyssa just backed into her office and closed the door behind her.
“Fired!” she shouted. “All of you!”
“Love you too, sweetheart!” he yelled back. “Love you too…”
Chapter Thirteen
“Move in with me…”
“Jesus, Sansone!” Nyssa yelped as he lightly bit down on a nipple while punching his hips and holding her legs at the knees, pushing them farther apart so he could delve deeper. His cock tapped a delicious new angle that made Nyssa briefly dizzy from the sensation. Insatiable. He was so insatiable, could go for hours, leaving her on edge, bringing her back and then pushing her over. It didn’t matter when or where, he worked her over as many times as she allowed him, and since she couldn’t deny him anything because he loved her so fucking well, she always gave in, willingly.
She’d never had someone who was so in tune with her needs, had never sat in with a client over lunch and wondered how long their meeting would take so she could spend time leaving half-crescent nail marks in Sansone’s shoulders and begging God for release. Nyssa’s interaction with friends and family had been few and far in between over the last several weeks because she was hardwired to enjoy doing things with the man she now considered to be all hers. If someone had told her six months ago that she’d be in his bed with his mouth on her pussy and her hands pushing through his hair, she would’ve laughed them out of Philly.
To know that this unequivocally amazing man loved her was sometimes beyond comprehension. Nyssa had no delusions about herself. A pretty face and sharp wit could only get you so far in the world, and yet clearly, when he looked at her, he saw what all others weren’t able to—that despite the hard-edged attitude she fought to curb, she was vulnerable. He didn’t take advantage of that, play on it for his own amusement. No, he cradled her as though she were fragile and fucked her as though she were unbreakable. It was the perfect combination of adoration and brute force. They’d spent so much time learning one another from the inside, and now they were spending time learning one another from the outside.
It was very rarely sweet and slow between them unless he was tormenting her like now. He’d spent hours bringing her to the crest of an orgasm just to suddenly stop and start all over again. Nyssa would have killed him, but she really wanted to come, and she preferred to do so with him powering inside her.
He soothed the lash of his teeth with his tongue before letting go of her nipple and rising over her, placing his hands against the headboard. “Hold your legs.”
Nyssa gripped the pits of her knees and lay there as he propelled into her dripping sheath. Flames licked the tips of her toes then spread upwards, enveloping her calves then her thighs and settling right in her womb. “Sansone!”
“
Yes, cara?”
“Please.” She heaved, her back arching upwards as he slowed down and screwed his hips in a leisurely, winding motion. He was killing her!
“Please what?” Nyssa watched his chest contract and expand with every breath, the artwork on his side taking on a dewy sheen as he resisted the need to pound into her harder.
“Let me come.”
“Ask me nicely.”
“Per favore fatemi venire, signore.”
Sansone chuckled above her. “Those language lessons have been taking, I see.”
“Sansone!”
Still laughing, he dropped to his elbows and put his mouth to her ear. “I love the way your pussy grips me like it never wants to let me go.” He nipped her neck and sped up the pace. “Did you like the way I woke you this morning, tonguing your clit until you were breathless before I turned you over and made you scream?”
That image alone was enough to break her. Nyssa drew in a lungful of air before it came out on a wail, her back bowing. Her eyes snapped shut as she let go of her legs and wrapped her arms around Sansone. He placed his mouth to hers, swallowing her screams as he continued to spear her sex steadily. Tension in her belly built toward another climax.
“God help me…”
“Move in with me, cara.” She knew he’d had a purpose to this. The manipulative bastard.
“Sunny…”
He changed the angle again and she gasped. “Move in with me.”
She shook her head. “Sansone.”
Withdrawing briefly, he pushed back in once again. “I want you with me. All the time.”
He’d been trying to convince her for the last month to leave her loft and settle into his place, since it had more than enough room, but she wasn’t exactly ready to give up her customized closet and the beauty that was her kitchen. Of course he didn’t understand that, now did he?
Beauty and the Barracuda Page 13
