by Shayla Black
She needed to stop this.
But when he kissed her again, instead of pushing him away, she latched onto him, arms around his waist, and tilted her head back to give him unfettered access.
With a growl, he delved into her mouth again, possessing and devouring, while he slipped a hand inside her bodice and cupped her breast, thumbing her sensitive nipple.
Tori’s breath caught, then she groaned.
“You feel so good, love. I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you,” he murmured against her lips. “Let me make you feel good, too.”
“We can’t do this,” she managed to say.
Tori was well aware her actions didn’t match, but she couldn’t stop herself from pulling him closer when she should have pushed him away.
“Not here, anyway.” He pinched her left nipple and gave it a sharp pull.
The sensation startled her, penetrated her. Her breast swelled against his hand as though asking for another tug. That little bite of pain had her panting.
“Just let me touch you now.” He stroked his way from her breast to her thigh, curling her leg over his hip. “Let me show you how good it’s going to be between us. It will be my punishment for tricking you into the dress. You’ll know all night that I’m aching and hard for you. After your pleasure, we’ll return to the ball, and I’ll keep your secret from my brothers. We’ll do nothing else until you’re ready, but let me have this moment with you, Tori.”
She nodded before she could think twice. What would it really hurt? With her heart pounding and her body poised, she felt so close to something she wanted so badly. Yes, she’d experienced orgasm…but not one given by another person. She ached to know that sensation, why Piper glowed when her husbands entered the room. No one ever had to know. She could keep her heart intact. And when she returned to Texas at the end of her contract, she would have a special memory of them together.
Callum moved quickly, pushing her skirt up higher. Then he dropped his hand right over that spot, barely covered by her lacy undies. “You’re so wet.”
She hadn’t realized that. “Sorry.”
He groaned and slipped his fingers under the elastic, directly over her flesh. “Don’t be. That’s all for me. If I had time, I would get on my knees and lick up all that cream. Would you like that? Would you like my tongue in your pussy?”
She didn’t know from experience, but if he did so with the same gusto and finesse with which he kissed, Tori bet having his mouth down there would feel divine. “Yes.”
“Good, because eventually we’ll get to that. We’ll get to all of it.”
She couldn’t breathe. He dragged a single finger up her thigh, over her labia, before finding her clit and rubbing in soft circles. Tingles and heat rushed her. Sure, she’d touched herself, but experiencing a man’s deft fingers made it different. Callum’s hand was huge and deliciously callused. So masculine. She spread her legs, wanting more of him.
“There’s something you haven’t asked about,” he whispered in her ear as his thumb kept up the decadent torture. His fingers played at the entrance to her sex.
Tori could barely maintain her train of thought. “What?”
Was that her voice? She sounded so breathy and come-hither, like a vixen capable of tempting a man to insanity. Tori had never imagined she could sound so seductive. She liked it.
“This is my punishment,” Callum ground out. “I’m going to please you. Then I’m going to walk around with my cock in knots all night. Eventually, there will be punishment for you too, love, for lying to me, for keeping me away from what belongs to me. Don’t you want to know what I’ll do to you?”
“God, Callum, that feels so good.” Why did he keep talking? She writhed closer, moving against his hand, trying to steal more of the shocking pleasure. “Don’t stop.”
His free hand tweaked her nipple hard. “No. You don’t control this. If you move like that again, you’ll get the punishment I’m promising you much sooner.”
She stilled. His voice had gone so hard, so rough. She’d never heard him be anything but gentle with her. “What are you doing?”
He circled her clit again, so achingly soft. He took her right to the edge again. “I’m taking control. You’re excellent at your job and you should know I will attempt to follow all of your advice when it comes to the boardroom, but I’m the Master in the bedroom—or wherever I happen to be fucking you.” He inserted a finger inside her, and he hissed. “You’re going to squeeze my cock so tightly. You’re so hot and wet and ripe. It will be hell to wait to get inside you.”
His words melted her, along with his touch. It took everything she had not to move against him. By forcing her to remain still, he robbed her of all control. He took the power, drew out the sensual torture. Stole her ability to think. Normally, her mind didn’t have an off switch. Now, she could only focus on doing whatever necessary to keep his hands on her.
“Please, Callum.”
His finger worked inside her, marking perfect time against the thumb at her clit. Pressure built between her thighs. So much glorious pressure. She was moving toward something she’d never felt. All those little pleasures she’d managed to give herself were nothing compared to the shimmering explosion she sensed right around the bend. So close. With her body poised and on the edge, she knew she was close.
“Oh, all of this pleases Callum,” he murmured. “But you’re going to give me even more. Once we’re settled in and we’ve negotiated all the terms—yes, we’ll negotiate, despite what I said earlier—you’ll pay for the lie. You owe me for all the long months you kept us apart. I would have seduced you the day we met had it not been for that silly ring on your finger.”
She sat, spread open wide, trying to be so obedient. She clutched his free arm and held on as he eased his thick finger in and out of her. He pressed his hard cock against her thigh. As often as she’d fantasized about being the woman who made him ache, the reality felt surreal. But it was true. Gorgeous Callum Thurston-Hughes had an erection for her. The bad boy of the football world wanted her and he was proving it.
As much as she should, Tori wouldn’t refuse him now. If he stepped between her legs and tried to make love to her, she would likely welcome him. Decorum and professionalism didn’t stand a chance against the blistering want he created inside her. Therein lay the danger of getting too close to any of them. She’d always known it, felt the sizzle from the moment she’d met them all, but now the roar of arousal drowned out the warning bells gonging in her head.
“Your punishment, love? I will spank that gorgeous backside of yours,” he promised. “Very soon. Until it’s pink and perfect and you’re begging me to fuck you.
Tori sucked in a breath. She wasn’t shying away from his soft threat. Instead, she envisioned how he would spank her. Would he lay her across his lap or tell her to bend over in front of him? Would he slowly draw her skirt up or order her to stand naked in front of him?
The concept of Callum smacking her backside with his hand shouldn’t be appealing. She’d always considered herself a strong, independent woman, so taking such a punishment from a man who meant to control her sexually should horrify her. Instead, it just made her flesh slicker and more ready for Callum’s cock.
“Let me see you fly, love. Let me see how beautiful you are when you surrender.” Callum pressed against her thigh, his erection nudging her insistently. “Come for me.”
His thumb pressed down hard and his finger curled inside her channel, finding the exact spot that sent her straight over the edge. The pressure converged. The burst of pleasure dazzled. Euphoria swam through her veins as her body bucked. With his kiss, Callum captured her cry, swallowing down the sound of his name on her lips.
Then bliss took over, and she sagged in his arms, perfectly content with the haze of pleasure she found herself wrapped in.
Suddenly, a stronger beam of light flooded in from the door and she heard a familiar voice speak. “So while I’m dealing with one of your ex-lov
ers, you’re in here with another.”
Oliver.
Tori’s haze lifted and cold reality set in. She gasped and tried to scramble off the table.
He froze and stared. “Tori?”
She closed her eyes, horror spreading through her. What was she doing? No, what had she done?
In no hurry at all, Callum slipped his hand out of her panties and threw his arm around her. “Sorry, Ollie. We tried to keep quiet.”
She realized what she must have looked like when Oliver opened the door and saw her with her dress askew, her legs spread and wanton. She’d looked every inch like Callum’s mistress. Like his whore.
She scurried out of Cal’s embrace and wobbled onto her heels. Oh, dear god. The best of London society and many of the worst of its tabloid reporters were not a hundred feet away, separated by a few thin walls, and she’d allowed herself to be groped by a playboy who’d taken hundreds of women to bed because the instant he’d touched her, her brain had melted.
Tears filled her eyes as she pulled the bodice of her stupid dress up higher. When she’d first tried it on, the silky green gown had made her feel elegant and sexy. Now, despite the expensive dress, she felt cheap.
What kind of twit behaved this way and expected to keep her job? Only a stupid one.
“Tori?” Callum was at her side, smoothing her skirt. “Love, let me help you.”
She jerked away from him. “No. I have to go. Oliver, I understand that my services are no longer needed. Please let me know what I owe you to buy out the contract and I’ll send you a check.” She’d figure out how to raise the money later. “I’ll leave you the name of that PR person in New York I mentioned yesterday.”
But no way could she walk back into the Thurston-Hughes offices with her head held high. Never again. Certainly not, given the pure ice in Oliver’s eyes. She shrank back from his seeming fury and contempt.
“We’ll discuss that at a later date,” Oliver bit out. “If the two of you are through, rejoin the ball. Miss Glen, you should take a moment to make yourself more presentable, unless this fundraiser was merely a pretense to focus the tabloids on you. If that’s the case, then feel free to enter the party looking like you’ve just had intercourse. The press will write a nasty story about you, but don’t think a little embarrassment will have any effect on my brother. He’s used to getting caught in the act.”
Callum stepped in front of her as though he meant to shield her. “If you’re angry, take it out on me. Don’t you be a prick to her.”
She hated standing in their shadows, feeling like a piece of white trash, when only moments before she’d felt so close to Callum. That was the lie of sex for women, she realized. The act could feel so beautiful and intimate. The minute it was over, she was nothing but a whore.
Tori trembled, cold seeping down to her bones.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to get cleaned up.” Her voice shook.
“I’ll take you home. We can leave here quietly,” Callum offered. “Oliver, I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“No, you’re staying. You’ve got a speech to make in twenty minutes for your fundraiser,” Oliver snarled. “Do your fucking job.”
She wished they would both leave. “You have to go, Callum. If you don’t thank the people for attending and donating, they’ll remark on it. Given the bad press of late, it won’t do the company any good.”
He clenched his teeth and reached for her hand. “I don’t want to leave you. You’re rattled, vulnerable.”
She couldn’t touch him now or she’d throw herself into his arms and cry. He couldn’t shelter her from Oliver’s wrath. She had made a terrible lapse in judgment, and he couldn’t save her from that. “I’ll be fine, Callum. Just give me a moment.”
His jaw tightened. “This isn’t over, Tori. I’ll see you in the ballroom. Oliver, why don’t you come with me?”
The eldest Thurston-Hughes looked her up and down, lingering on her rumpled skirt and swollen lips. Tori felt three inches tall before they both turned and exited, leaving her alone.
She’d ruined utterly everything. Now, she had to hope she could leave with some smidgeon of dignity. She feared that asking for a sparkling professional reputation was too much to hope for. And she wouldn’t even consider her heart.
With tears running down her face, she planned her escape.
* * * *
Oliver watched the conference room door. He wasn’t a fool. Tori meant to run. No way she would choose any other path. As much as he seethed with anger, he didn’t want her gone from his life. He might be a stupid bastard, but he couldn’t abide the thought of her no longer near him.
A young woman in a daring evening gown stepped up to Callum and said something, rubbing against him as if she was in heat. His brother flirted back with ease. Oliver scoffed. So much for true love.
“What happened?” Rory moved in beside him, asking his question in a low tone.
“What do you think happened? I found Cal with his hand in Tori’s knickers. He was two bloody seconds away from another paternity suit.”
Rory sighed and leaned against the wall. “Hell. Where is she? Is she all right?”
“She’s still in the conference room. I suspect she’s pulling herself together, though she should really be here so she can see how quickly Cal moves on.”
Rory frowned as he looked Callum’s way. “What are you talking about?”
“The blonde. He walked straight out of Tori’s arms and into hers. I don’t know. Perhaps she won’t care. Perhaps she’ll do the same thing with the next man she meets.”
Why had he thought she was any different? Why did he still care, for that matter? He’d caught her cheating on the man she’d promised to marry before they’d even exchanged vows. And here he was, loitering outside the conference room, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. He really was a self-torturing fuckwit.
He also had terrible taste in women. But at least now he knew what cloth Tori was cut from. No need to treat her with kid gloves anymore. If she didn’t care about her fiancé and wanted a fucking on the side, why shouldn’t he give it to her?
Something nasty took root in his gut, and it warmed him. Oliver welcomed the sensation because he’d been cold and almost numb for so long. Any change felt good, including the need to get a taste of what his brother had gotten—before she left for good.
“He’s just being polite, Oliver.” Rory’s voice drew him out of his thoughts. “And now he’s actively trying to escape her.”
Sure enough, Callum was extricating himself from the handsy blonde. His brother turned away and began pointedly speaking to a portly member of parliament.
“Really, Rory. Give him time,” Oliver drawled. “He’ll be back to his old habits.”
“No, I think you’ve got it wrong. He’s serious about Tori and he won’t give up. At this point, I understand completely.” Rory hesitated. “You know I like Tori quite a bit, too.”
He turned on his younger brother. They were all mad for the girl, and she would destroy his family if he didn’t stop her. “You would have liked her even more if you had seen her a moment ago. She was spreading her legs for your brother while still wearing her engagement ring. Is that the kind of woman you want? Do you fancy Callum’s leftovers?”
Rory’s eyes narrowed. “Watch what you say about her. She isn’t some object, and she isn’t a whore. She’s a woman and she has feelings. I understand that you went through something terrible with your first wife, but Tori isn’t Yasmin. I don’t know what happened between her and Cal tonight, but I’m willing to bet she got caught up in the moment because Cal has more experience with sex in his little finger than she has in her entire body.”
“She looked pretty experienced to me.”
She’d also looked stunning, like a woman claiming her pleasure. Oliver had watched, and she’d been uninhibited and raw. Her beauty had shocked him. As soon as she’d caught sight of him, she’d utterly shut down, shame smothering her like a bla
nket.
He’d done that. He’d shut down her glow.
“Because you see everything through a set of pitch-black lenses, and I don’t know that you’re smart enough to ever take them off. I’m going to talk to Cal. Try to behave yourself around her. Just because you can’t see how pure and kind she is doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t. If you drive that woman off, you’ll have problems with more than Callum.” Rory strode away.
Oliver watched him go, blinking, bereft. All this time, he’d believed he could count on Rory when the chips were truly down. He’d genuinely thought his youngest brother understood him. All his siblings had closed ranks around him after Yasmin had nearly destroyed him. They’d sat at his bedside and nursed him back to health and assured him that he wasn’t at fault. But after a time, they’d fallen away as though they’d grown weary of waiting for the smiling, laughing Oliver again. Only Rory had understood that man was gone for good.
Finally, the door down the hall opened, and Tori stepped out, smoothing her gown around her. Oliver retreated to the shadows as she wiped at her eyes. When she glanced up, as if she sensed his eyes on her, he noted that most of her makeup was gone. She looked young and vulnerable and impossibly innocent.
Only he knew that face masked a cheating wanton.
Before she returned to the ballroom, he planned to have a talk with her. She would not jump beds from her fiancé’s to his brother’s. No matter what, he refused to let Callum fall into a relationship with a woman who would ruin him. Yes, Cal would be furious, but if he saved his brother future anguish, then Oliver could live in peace, knowing he’d served the greater good.
Of course in showing Cal the error of his ways, Oliver didn’t mind if he got a little pussy for himself.
Tori turned and fled the opposite direction, not toward the ballroom—but the exit.
