by C. J. Thomas
I shook my head as a flare of adrenaline fired my brain to act.
“Hey, look,” his voice dropped to a whisper, “There’s also an old designer friend of mine who lives out there. I’m hoping I can introduce you to him as well.” Then he sat back and let his voice return to a more normal tone. “It’s all work-related, so don’t sweat it.”
A flash of disappointment must have crossed my face.
“And we’ll have some fun, too.” He winked. “I promise.”
“But . . . but . . . what about . . . everything?” I could hardly speak, I had so many thoughts bumping around against each other in my brain. Nothing made sense. “I don’t even have clothes with me!”
“Don’t worry about that. There will be some waiting for you when we arrive.” He shrugged again, like it meant nothing for him to drop money on a new wardrobe and have it arranged by the time we got there. “It’ll be fine. Just relax and enjoy.” He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear and I melted into his touch.
When I took a deep breath, sitting back in the luxuriously soft, supple leather, excitement started to creep in. The Azores! When would I ever have the opportunity to see such a beautiful place? For all the opportunities Aaron opened up to me, without thinking twice about it, I wondered what made me the lucky girl.
“Better buckle in,” he said, smiling. “It’s almost time for lift off.”
“I hope so.” I bit my bottom lip as my eyes drifted down to his crotch.
CHAPTER 24
Aaron
Christ, she was amazing.
I smiled at her, relieved she had gone along so easily with the spur of the moment plan. If she’d fought me on it, I didn’t know what I would have done. Framing it in the context of a business meeting was an easy way to get her to agree without hesitation—she trusted me, she wanted to be with me, but I liked that she didn’t like the idea of running off with her boss when she was still proving herself in a new job.
I understood that, but I saw no other way to keep her safe from the shit-storm brewing.
It was then that I wondered how stupid Reed Kingsley had to be to treat her the way he had. What a fool he was, and I couldn’t wait to squash him. I hated him for bringing all this heavy bullshit upon us.
Kenzie was not only talented, but insanely loyal and hardworking. This trip wasn’t just for me, it was for her, too. I had to protect her from him. He was out to destroy the both of us and if I didn’t escape, I wondered who he’d get to first.
I’d put a trip to Europe in front of her, and she’d worried about her job—above anything else—without batting an eyelash.
I took note of that and wouldn’t forget it.
Besides, it was the only way I could think to get her out of the city for a few days—not to mention getting myself out of town before all hell broke loose. We had to be out of there while everything blew over or blew up, I wasn’t sure which.
It wouldn’t have done any good for me to go alone, since she would have heard all about the scam Reed was trying to pull on the world regarding my so-called actions. And if Reed would have caught wind of my own disappearance, he’d have swooped in and snatched her back in a heartbeat.
There was no way I could risk having that happen either.
I couldn’t send her off on her own, since I’d have no reason to and didn’t want her getting word of the impending scandal through a third party.
No, she needed to learn of this through me.
To hear me out.
And trust what I had to say. I just didn’t know how I was going to tell her. Or when.
I felt my blood pressure spike every time I thought about it. There was no easy way around this.
“Who are we meeting with first?” Kenzie asked, leaning toward me to be heard over the roar of the engines as the plane accelerated down the runway.
I smiled, appreciating how easy on the eyes she was. “Still waiting to hear back, but I should know once we land.”
But all these little details didn’t mean a thing. The important thing was to find a way to ease her into the trip and take my mind off of the stress Reed presented. I would find a way to distract her while we were there. And I’d find a way to take her mind off of work, too. It was no worry to me. The big concern was getting the both of us out of the country as fast as humanly possible, and we were only seconds from takeoff.
“I’m so excited. I’ve never been there before. You probably could have guessed that without my telling you.” She shrugged, smirking.
“It’s a beautiful place. I know you’ll love it.” We took off, airborne. I sighed in relief. Then I heard her squeal as the jet began to climb and I laughed softly to myself. If I hadn’t been so tense, I would have enjoyed her much more.
After speaking with Stephanie earlier in the day and giving it a lot of thought from all conceivable angles, I’d finally broken down and called my lawyers. I wanted to be proactive, I’d decided. I would be ready for Reed’s accusations and sue the shit out of him when he made them.
They were false, and I knew it. I never did what he was accusing me of doing.
“What are you saying? He’s falsified documents pointing to insider trading?” Patrick, my lawyer and most trusted advisor, had been beside himself. I’d never heard him lose his composure like that before, which told me how distressed the accusations made him.
“That’s how it looks,” I’d told him.
“And how do you know about this?”
“Let’s leave that to me. Better you don’t know.”
“Oh, Aaron.” He’d sounded like a disappointed father.
“Don’t worry about it. We won’t do anything until the story breaks. When it does, we’ll be ready—but not until then. Got it?”
A heavy sigh. “Got it.”
“Of course, we don’t know what this so-called evidence is, but since it’s all false I’m sure it won’t be difficult for you to punch holes in it.”
“I’ve never heard of anything so underhanded in my life,” Patrick had groaned. “Who does this guy think he is?”
“He thinks he’s one of the most powerful people in the city, and he’s probably right. No matter what, Patrick, just remember I’m innocent, okay?”
“Oh, you don’t need to tell me that, Aaron.”
I’d smiled. “Just the same, whatever he has might be pretty convincing. I’m sure he can afford just about anything, so it’ll look legit.”
“Don’t you worry about a thing. All you have to do is lay low for a while.” I’d taken his advice to heart. I’d then called him again, only ten minutes later, asking if his passport was valid. I wanted him and my entire legal team to meet with me.
Once we were at cruising altitude, I unbuckled my seatbelt. “You said something about being hungry, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I’m starved.” She settled back into her seat.
I pushed a button beside my seat and, as if by magic, an attendant appeared. I relished Kenzie’s response—the wide eyes, the open mouth.
“Zoe, this is Kenzie. She’s flying with me today. Can you prepare something for her to eat?” I turned to my co-passenger, who looked flabbergasted. “What would you like to eat, Kenzie?”
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Zoe smiled graciously. “I have salad ingredients, fish, chicken, fruit, pastries, bagels . . .”
“A salad with fish would be great,” Kenzie whispered. Zoe nodded, smiled at me, then went back to the kitchen.
“How many other people are on the plane with us?” Kenzie whispered, eyes still wide.
“It’s just Zoe, the pilot, and co-pilot.”
“Wow. Sorry, I just thought . . . I thought we were alone.” The slight disappointment in her voice told me what I wanted to know—she had been looking forward to a little alone time. The same as me.
“Don’t worry,” I said, taking her hand and stroking her knuckles with my thumb, comforting her. “There’s an entire second cabin if you would rather
be alone.”
Kenzie blushed deep red. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
But she did, and I knew she did. I had already taught her to obey me. I needed to teach her to be truthful with me next.
I could hardly wait to get started.
She looked around the cabin again, as she had when we’d first boarded. “I can’t believe how beautiful it all is,” she said, shaking her head.
I tried to look at it with fresh eyes, as she was seeing it. I wondered how I would feel about it years earlier, living with my brothers and sisters in a house meant only for my aunt and uncle, not for their nieces and nephews as well. Or when I’d started out on my own and had to fend for myself on the streets before working my way up at a seemingly go-nowhere job delivering mail at a design agency.
I guessed I would have been as impressed as Kenzie seemed to be. Probably much more.
And had anyone told me the jet would be mine one day, with its plush seats and walnut-paneled walls, I would have told them to fuck themselves.
“Have you ever flown in a private jet before?” I asked.
“You know I haven’t, so why do you ask?” I loved her smart-ass attitude—she was overwhelmed, stunned, but still able to call me on my bullshit. And I had been showing off a little, for sure.
Her salad came out and I took advantage of her busyness to lose myself in thought. I couldn’t have eaten had I been paid to do so—my stomach had been in knots all day, more from rage than anything else. Certainly not fear. I had no doubt I would emerge victorious from the situation with Reed.
I just had to be patient and wait to be dealt the perfect hand.
In fact, he didn’t know it, but I would probably benefit. Once he’d been proven a defamer, it would be easy to step in, take the company from him, and have what should have been rightfully mine all along.
He didn’t know it, but he was signing his own death warrant.
I smiled to myself, looking out the window. The sun was just setting, sparkling off the ocean. How many times had I flown internationally? More times than I could count, for certain. Yet I never grew tired of looking down at the vast ocean, wondering how deep it really went.
I looked over at Kenzie, enjoying my view of her just as much. She had no idea how sexy she was, even eating a salad. Every bite she lifted to her mouth left me wishing I could lick the taste from her full, glossy lips. Few women could look sexy while eating without intending to, but she managed it and had me rock hard and my balls tight.
“Everything okay?” she asked, smiling.
“Just fine.” She would find out how fine later, while I distracted myself with her body.
I’d never taken as much pleasure from a woman’s body as I did hers, though I had no idea why. It could have been the way she so fully enjoyed herself, how responsive she was. I didn’t need to work to make her come. It was a joy I’d rarely felt.
After I drank my fill of her, I wasn’t sure how okay things would be. I wanted to believe I could keep her from the building chaos Reed was bringing into my life, but it wouldn’t be easy. Not with how close I kept her to my side.
My name was internationally known, so even leaving the country wasn’t as foolproof as it might have been for any ordinary person. The media wrote articles—both true and false—on me everywhere. Keeping her busy would be a distraction, at least.
And there was something to be said for long, lazy days in bed with no television, newspapers, internet . . .
But I did have to meet with the lawyers. I would need to find a way to keep an eye on her while I was busy. It wasn’t a meeting she could have any part of and I didn’t even want her to know about the details of it until I was good and ready to tell her myself.
The plane shook a bit with turbulence and I jumped in my seat. Kenzie laid a calming hand on my arm. “Are you all right? Just a little turbulence. Nothing to worry about.”
I nodded with a grin. “Sorry. I’m just a little jumpy today. I’ll be fine.”
I didn’t even care that she spoke to me like she’d speak to a fretful child. As long as she didn’t have a clue as to why I felt so jumpy.
I wondered if I would feel any better once we landed.
I wondered if she could provide the sort of solace I so desperately needed. There was only one way to find out.
CHAPTER 25
Kenzie
I’d barely finished eating my salad when I felt Aaron’s hand on my knee.
“Hey, you.” I laughed lightly, trying to brush him off. I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of getting frisky while Zoe moved about the jet. I knew she’d be coming around to pick up my plate at any moment, so it felt best to hedge our bets until she did.
“I want you,” he growled. I couldn’t stop my body from responding eagerly, as always. But still, I had my reservations.
“Right here?” I whispered, scandalized.
“No,” he said. “In the bedroom.”
“A bedroom?” My arousal was cut short by skepticism. How could they fit an entire bedroom on a jet, no matter how luxurious it was?
“You don’t believe me?” he asked.
“I’ve seen photos of sleeping cabins on planes before. I’d hardly call them bedrooms—more like cubbies on a train.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Commercial travel. You have no idea what you’re in for.” He stood, taking me by the hand. I followed him to the back of the seating cabin, then through a door that led to the small kitchen area. I looked around, marveling at how it was roughly the same size as the kitchen in my first studio apartment.
“Zoe, Kenzie is finished with her meal.” Zoe nodded, keeping her eyes discreetly away from me.
I hated feeling like everybody knew what we were going to do. Just how many women had he inducted into the Mile High Club? I didn’t think I wanted to know.
He led me through another door after that, and into what I would have mistaken for a five-star hotel suite. From the plush carpeting to the four-poster bed with its mountains of pillows, it could easily have been the bedroom of a luxury retreat.
“Holy Moses . . .” I walked around, mouth hanging open. I would never have believed it existed if he hadn’t shown me.
“It’s good for long trips,” Aaron conceded. “Or this.”
Before I knew what was happening, he had me pinned to the bed. Adrenaline rushed through my veins with every beat of my heart, and my core burned with lust the moment his knee parted mine.
I could have resisted.
Hell, I could have told him I wanted a minute to let my food digest.
I didn’t.
I wanted it, and he knew it.
He could read me like a book.
I sighed, closing my eyes to absorb the sensation of his mouth on my throat. He took my wrists in his hands, pinning them above me. One hand held them fast while the other ran a long, slow trail down my body. I shivered deliciously, anticipating more.
Then he hiked up my skirt in a quick, almost vicious, movement. I gasped, but his mouth covered mine again. His tongue invaded me, plundering, taking rather than giving. I shivered again at his forcefulness—I was used to him dominating me, but he’d never gone ahead without giving me any notice.
He didn’t say a word as he used his tie to bind my wrists to one of the bedposts. I reminded myself that I trusted him as he tore my panties from my body.
I tried not to think about the supply of condoms in the dresser drawer, one of which he unrolled over his rigid length. I didn’t want to think about how many women came before me.
I only wanted to feel.
And I did feel as he skewered me with one long, sharp thrust.
“Oh, God,” I whispered, the force of his motion pushing me backward. He held me still, fingers gripping my hips so hard it almost hurt. Again and again, he drove himself into me, heedless of the little cries coming from my mouth. His eyes were closed, his mouth open as he panted like an animal. That was how he took me—rough, hard, his body taking what it needed.
And I loved it.
I burned, scorched by the heat of the passion he aroused in me. I told myself I shouldn’t like it—nice girls shouldn’t like it like that. I shouldn’t like him tying me up, rendering me helpless thousands of feet in the air on our way to an exotic island away from it all. I shouldn’t like the way he fucked me without thinking of my pleasure or my needs. He only wanted to come, to use me. I never knew I wanted somebody to use me. But when it came to Aaron, he could use me again, and again.
Maybe it was just him, just the effect he had on me. I didn’t know, and I certainly didn’t care.
It didn’t take long for him to come the first time, and I still pulsed with aching desire as he slid from me. He untied me. “Take off your clothes,” he ordered while taking off his own. He’d only unfastened his pants before taking me that first time. I made quick work of unbuttoning my blouse, unzipping my rumpled skirt.
Within seconds, I wore nothing at all.
“On your hands and knees,” he growled. I turned around, doing as he told me. He pushed my shoulders down to the mattress, baring all of my most intimate parts to him. His thumb ran slow circles over my virgin back entrance, and I flinched.
“Shh,” he whispered. I couldn’t deny how the nerves back there jumped in response to his attention. He didn’t do any more than touch me, and I settled into it.
Once the surprise passed, the pleasure grew.
“I’ll have this, too,” he muttered. “I’ll have all of you. But not yet.” Then he entered me again, this time with his fingers. I groaned, my muscles tightening around him. He pummeled me, slamming his knuckles against my delicate folds. I met his thrusts, riding his hand, my gasps more urgent the longer he went. Soon I cried out in ecstasy, pressing my face into the mattress to muffle the sound.
I hadn’t come down from that first burst before he slammed into me again, his thickness parting my still-quivering walls. He groaned, taking in the feeling of my orgasm, riding me while I came down.
