Kisses for the Billionaire: Promised Kiss (David and Carrie Book 1)

by M. G. Morgan

  Of course, it wasn’t all nervousness: the thought of going back to the Sovereign Club excited me.

  And if I’d been going there with David…

  My eyes fluttered shut, that thought alone was enough to make me blush and I squeezed my legs together in an attempt to alleviate some of the pleasurable ache between my thighs.

  “Carrie?”

  David’s voice made me jump and I caught his eye in the reflection of the mirror.

  “I didn’t hear you coming up the stairs,” I said, smoothing my hands down over the dress before turning to face him.

  “You look beautiful—but I don’t understand, what’s going on?”

  “I have to go out for a few hours. I’ll be back as soon as I can and—”

  “Where?”

  “Where doesn’t matter, it’s just for a few hours. You’ll hardly even know I’m gone.”

  David shook his head and stepped into the room.

  “You called her, didn’t you?”

  He shouldn’t have been able to know and yet I could tell from the look in his eyes that he did. How was it possible?

  “David, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I was a terrible liar, always had been and probably always would be.

  But this was far too important for his fears to get in the way of them being able to get the information they needed.

  “Come on, we both know the only person who might have the information we’re looking for is Tamara. I’m not stupid, Carrie, I know she’s the first person you would call.”

  “How do you know I didn’t just contact the cops?”

  “Because the only reason you’d get that dressed up is for the Sovereign Club. The last time I checked going down to the police station didn’t have a particular dress code.”

  I sighed and turned to face him. “I’m going to do this and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

  “I know that but this is a mistake, you should have let me handle it.”

  “How could I do that? You can’t expect me to just sit back and pretend that everything will be all right, we have no idea who these people are, David. We don’t know what they’re capable of.”

  He nodded and stepped into the room. I watched him cross to his walk-in closet and pull his clothes off.

  “What are you doing?” I said, moving towards him.

  “I’m going with you. You’re right, we can’t just run into this blind, we need to know who they are and Tamara is our best bet.”

  “David, I don’t think that’s a good idea, she put my name on the guest list. They might not let you in.”

  The look he gave me as he slid his arm into one of his silk shirts was incredulous.

  “They’ll let me in, you don’t need to worry about that…”

  I smiled and turned away. At least with David at my side I would feel a little safer. Tamara wouldn’t risk doing anything to me with David there as a chaperone.

  I didn’t trust the woman, but she also wasn’t crazy and she wouldn’t risk angering David too much.

  He stepped out of the dressing room and faced me with a half smile. “Will I do?” he asked, sliding his hands into his pockets like an Italian runway model.

  Even with the bruises down one side of his face, he was still one of the most handsome men I had ever set eyes on.

  The suit fitted him perfectly, the dark charcoal of it emphasising his broad shoulders and tapering down over his narrow waist to his hips. The line of it drew the eye down and I let it draw me in.

  David’s laugh was a deep, masculine sound that sent the hairs across the back of my neck standing to attention, and without thinking I bit down on my bottom lip hard enough to make myself wince.

  “You’ll do very nicely,” I said, as I stood and crossed the floor towards him.

  He reached out and gripped my hips as soon as I was close enough, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of my body.

  Jerking me against his chest, I closed my eyes as his hands slid around to my ass. He pulled me tight against his body, and I could feel him press against me, his shaft hardening as he dug his fingers into my plush cheeks.

  “How am I supposed to keep my hands to myself when you look like this?” he whispered, his words tickling along the shell of my ear.

  “You’re not going to seduce me now, we’ve got things to do and I don’t think Tamara is the type of woman to keep waiting.”

  He sighed against my neck and released me reluctantly.

  “You can’t blame a guy for trying.”

  “No, but I can blame his timing,” I quipped back, a smile curling my lips as I headed for the door.

  The sound of the doorbell ringing had David instantly alert and he pushed past me as he stalked towards the door.

  “That’ll be Isabel, I asked her to come over and watch Jenson in case you needed to go out too.”

  My words instantly relaxed David and the moment he heard Isabel’s chirpy voice in the entrance hall the tension drained out of his shoulders.

  “You don’t think they would risk coming here, do you?”

  He shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know what they’ll do, but we can’t rule out the possibility. I don’t think anything concerns them. As far as they’re concerned they’re so above the law they can do whatever they want.”

  His words didn’t bring me any comfort and the thought of whoever was blackmailing us turning up on the doorstep left me uneasy.

  What if David wasn’t here when they did? Would I even know who they were? Would they out their intentions?

  It seemed unlikely and it left me in no doubt that we needed to get to the bottom of the matter. The more information we had the more we could prepare. And going to the Sovereign Club, no matter how nervous that made me, was the right thing to do.

  At least with David I was safe and I was free to worry about whether she would share her information with us or not. If she didn’t get her own way, if she couldn’t humiliate me in the way she had planned—and I knew that was what she wanted to do—would she be willing to help us?

  Chapter 13

  David pushed open the heavy metal door that led to the steps into the Sovereign Club and I sucked in one last breath of the clean, crisp night air.

  I was more than a little nervous. Whatever Tamara would have waiting for us wouldn’t be a pleasant experience. She enjoyed the power her position afforded her and this meeting would only help solidify her ability to control everyone who wandered into her web.

  “We don’t have to go in, we can still turn around and go home,” David said, cupping my face and forcing me to look up into his eyes.

  “No, we need this, we need the information she can give us. We can’t stumble around blindly, not if they’re as dangerous as they seem to be.”

  He sighed and let his hand fall away from my face.

  “Fine, we go in. But if I think for one second that she’s stepping out of bounds then we leave. Agreed?”

  I nodded and bit down on my tongue. As far as I was concerned there was nothing Tamara could do that would prevent me from getting what I wanted. There was far too much at stake and I wasn’t going to sit idly by and allow a bunch of self-entitled pricks ruin the life I had built.

  David took my hand in his and started down the dark steps, the deep blue and red lighting made me dizzy and making it almost impossible to see one foot in front of the other. But I trusted David and I knew he wouldn’t allow anything to happen to me.

  We reached the bottom without a mishap and I swallowed back the butterflies in my throat as we approached the woman at the tall black-leather desk.

  The scarlet corset she wore emphasised the curvaceous flow of her body and her raven-black hair fell carelessly into her eyes as she watched us approach.

  I could feel her unnatural cobalt-blue eyes taking in every inch of my lace-clad body. They had to be contacts, no one could possibly have eyes that colour without some sort of help.

  When she smiled at us it was a sensu
ous curl of her lips that only enhanced her already beautiful face.

  “Tamara is waiting for you, Carrie.”

  A prickle of surprise trailed its way down my spine. I shouldn’t have been surprised that the hostess knew exactly who I was. Tamara had already said my name would be on the guest list.

  “But I’m afraid you can’t bring any guards with you, it’s the rules of the club. We provide the protection here.” She gave David a polite smile before returning her attention to me.

  I did my best to suppress my smile. Normally I was the one ignored in favour of David’s attention. I was used to it and to see someone dismiss him so completely as though he was there as my hired muscle.

  “I’m not just her bodyguard. I’m her husband, David Ashcroft.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, only those on the list specified by Tamara herself can enter the club. You’ll have to wait outside for Mrs. Ashcroft to return.”

  I could feel the tension in David’s body as it sang down his arm and into my hand, and before he even opened his mouth I knew he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

  “If you’d like to follow Graham, he’ll take you to Tamara—” the raven-haired hostess started to say, indicating a tall wall of solid muscle standing behind her, before David pushed forward to the desk.

  “I don’t think you understand, she’s not going in there without me.”

  “Sir, you’ll have to step back or I’m going to have you removed.”

  “David, leave it. I’ll be fine on my own, I…”

  He shot me a look that killed the words on my lips. I knew from the furious expression in his eyes that the only way we were going to get separated at the club was if they pried us apart.

  The one I assumed was called Graham leaned in towards the hostess and whispered something in her ear.

  She nodded and then faced David once more, a wide welcoming beam on her lips.

  “Tamara apologises for the inconvenience, David. Your name not appearing on the guest list was simply an oversight. One she promises not to make again.

  “If you’d both care to follow Graham inside, he will take you to Tamara directly.”

  The hostess clicked a couple of keys on the touchpad in front of her and the heavy sound-proofed doors swung open, allowing the deep sensual beat to flow out and wash over my senses.

  David didn’t say a word as he followed Graham into the club but I caught his dark gaze on me, studying my reaction to the stimuli surrounding us.

  The main room was full and I clung to David’s hand as we wound our way through the throng.

  Graham took us deeper into the club and I stumbled on one of the small steps leading down to the main floor, releasing David’s hand as I fought to keep my balance.

  The crowd closed in around me and I was crushed among the press of bodies, forced to move in the direction they chose rather than the one I wanted.

  “What do we have here? Tell me sweet, pet, whose collar did you slip free from? Because whoever let you go was a fool indeed.” The blond stranger trailed his hand down over the side of my face, his other hand snaking around my waist to pull me snugly against his body.

  “Get your hands off me, I’m not here to play stupid games,” I said, heat spreading up over my face as I fought to free myself from his grip.

  But every one of my movements only seemed to tighten his hold on me, allowing him to grind against me.

  “I’m not here to play games either, but you know the rules, no collar means fair game.”

  “Not for you.” I brought my knee up towards his groin but he moved as though he knew what I had planned, spinning me around so my back was against his chest as he pinned my arms down by my sides.

  “When I’m done claiming you—” His words were cut off as he abruptly released me.

  Scrambling away from him I spun around to see him struggling against Graham’s tight hold.

  “She said no,” Graham said, his voice low and gruff over the sound of the music.

  David appeared, his gaze searching mine as he grabbed my shoulders and drew me in against his body.

  “You just disappeared and there were people everywhere, I couldn’t see you. I’m sorry,” he said, whispering against my hair.

  “It wasn’t your fault, I shouldn’t have let go.”

  The other people around us had cleared aside, leaving a small circle of space in the middle of the floor. The pulsing music cut out suddenly, plunging the room into an uncomfortable silence and we were at the centre of it.

  “Did he hurt you?” Graham said, his voice carrying through the hollow air.

  My ears were ringing as they attempted to return to normal.

  “No, I’m fine,” I said, shooting the blond stranger a dirty look.

  Graham studied my face for a second longer, as though trying to gauge whether I was being completely honest. He nodded curtly and turned on his heel, taking the blond stranger with him.

  He held him by the scruff of the neck as he marched him out in front of us and the crowd parted without Graham ever having to say a word.

  David wrapped his arm around my shoulders, his grip secure as we followed Graham through the club towards an exit at the back of the room. The moment we reached it, the music clicked back on, flooding back around the floor and the people grouped there.

  * * *

  The door led to a dark and narrow corridor, and as we stepped out of the main section of the club, the blond stranger’s protests became discernible.

  “She said she was fine, I was simply following the rules of the club, no collar is fair game!”

  Graham didn’t say anything to him but I knew the moment he tightened his grip on the stranger because the other man’s knees started to buckle beneath him.

  There was a second door at the end of the hall and it swung inwards before we reached it, allowing Graham to push my attacker through the opening at full force.

  Stepping through the room I quickly realised we were obviously in what had to be the Sovereign Club office, but it was like no office I had ever seen.

  Tamara lay across a velvet-covered chaise lounge, the plunging black dress she wore leaving very little to the imagination, and I watched the blond stranger’s eyes latch on to the hint of her nipples through the fabric.

  “Eric, how many times have I warned you about hassling the guests? There are plenty of willing women in the club, you don’t need to pick on the ones with Masters.”

  “Tamara, I…”

  She cut him off with a wave of one perfectly manicured hand, her red nail polish flashing beneath the soft light in the room. Part of me wondered what exactly she had done to get that effect.

  “Don’t Tamara me, we both know this isn’t your first offence, Eric, so you’ve got a choice. You can take your punishment like a man or you can get the hell out of my club.”

  “You can’t do this to me, you need to remember who I am and what I could do to this place if I wanted to.”

  Tamara laughed, a high, tinkling giggle that sounded more like glass on tile which hurt my ears to hear it.

  Eric cringed, the red colour slowly draining from his face as he realised Tamara wasn’t interested in taking any of his threats seriously.

  “I won’t be ‘doing’ this to you, Eric, it will be your choice. You know the rules of the club. You’ve received fair warning about your behaviour. Now make your choice. I don’t have time for this, I have other business to attend to.”

  “What sort of punishment?”

  “Well, considering you’re a dominant, it’ll be something particularly humiliating and utterly fitting to the crimes you committed, but that’s all I’m willing to share with you. I want it to be a surprise.”

  He considered it for a moment and I could feel David’s muscles tense and corded beneath the hand I had on his arm. I knew what he wanted to do to Eric, but I had a feeling that whatever punishment Tamara would visit on him would be far worse than any beating.

  “I’ll take the puni
shment, I’m not moving to one of the other clubs. You’re a cold bitch, Tamara. I won’t forget this.”

  “Promises, promises,” she said with a giggle before indicating for him to approach her.

  He started towards her and Tamara shook her head, an exaggerated pout on her red lips.

  “Crawl.”

  Eric instantly bristled, his hands balling into fists by his sides as he stared daggers at her.

  I expected him to refuse, to turn and walk out. Instead he dropped to his knees and crawled across the cement floor towards her.

  “Be a good boy and curl up beneath my feet,” she said, a wicked glint in her eyes as she stared down at him.

  Eric did as she asked but the room was heavy with tension, like the air just before the lightning strikes. I could practically taste it on my tongue and all I wanted to do was turn and run before whatever was going to happen exploded into violence.

  And that’s what it would be. There would be violence and I knew from the smile on Tamara’s face that she would enjoy it.

  “What are you going to do to him?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper, but she heard me anyway.

  “That’s not your concern, unless that was what you came here for? But somehow I have my doubts.”

  David stiffened next to me.

  “You know, don’t you?” he said, his voice as quiet as mine. The only difference being that David’s voice was filled with the threat of what he would do if he thought she was lying to him.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, David.” Tamara practically purred as she slipped her legs from the chaise lounge and dug her spiked heels into Eric’s side.

  “Don’t play coy with me, I’m sick and tired of your games. We helped you the last time, we removed the issue and saved your skin—”

  Tamara’s face darkened, the anger that flashed behind her bright eyes had Graham stepping forward towards David.

  “I gave you the information you needed to save your family. Without it, sweet Carrie and little Jenson would both be dead. I gave you the information because it was convenient to me.”