“Well, fuck. I’ve had the flu the last few days, so I’m not in any condition to call and argue over it. Let me make flight arrangements and withdraw the funds from my bank. They’re going to have to settle for a cashier’s check because I’m not walking around with that kind of cash in my bag.”
“Do whatever you have to do to save it, Alexis. We have too much money in it already to have it all fall through. I’m sorry to dump this on you. I’ll pay you back out of next month’s budget, assuming Kimmie doesn’t fuck up again.”
“Don’t worry about the money. Whenever you have it, it’s fine. I’ll call you once everything is worked out.” I terminated the call and practically ran to my computer to schedule my flight. I didn’t stop to think about the strange thrill running through me.
The next morning, I touched down at McCarran Airport, ready to do battle. I’d worked up a decent fit on the plane, again and again repeating to myself what a fucktard Kent’s brother was for threatening our agreement over a paltry fifteen thousand. In the grand scheme of things, it was only a small sliver of what we were paying them. I may not have the emotion to annihilate his brother, but I didn’t know this guy, and I was good and pissed. I’d even worn my red shoes to show I meant business.
Fourteen
Kent
I sat there nursing my vodka tonic, spinning the lime around in the glass with the swizzle straw. It was my third of the afternoon, and Gage and I had only arrived at Stan’s an hour ago. I was the same, mopey Kent I’d been for the last six weeks, drinking heavily and generally functioning at minimum capacity.
“Kingsley, just call her,” Gage said as he watched me with unconcealed pity. “You’re making my nuts shrivel, just watching you be miserable.”
I’d told myself the same thing—to call her that is—innumerable times over the last month and a half. But as each day turned into the next and I lacked the stones to do it, the more I got the sense it was too late.
“I’ve let too much time go by,” I said, resting my chin in my palm. “I should have gone to see her that same morning before she had a chance to leave.”
“No, ass-whistle, you should have run after her when she walked out.”
“What was I supposed to do, jump up with my cock flopping around in front of my little sister?”
“God, you’re stupid sometimes,” Gage politely pointed out before taking a sip from his bottle of beer. “You should have at least pulled your pants on and gone after her. So what if you ran through your own casino with nothing else on? It’s no worse than what she had to do.”
“Coulda, shoulda,” I sighed pathetically. “It doesn’t matter now. I doubt she’d take my call if I tried at this point. I’d give anything to hear her tell me to go fuck myself like old times.”
Gage howled with laughter. I gave him my best death stare, then finished my drink and asked Stan for another.
“I know Alexis is a force to be reckoned with, but how the hell did she get to you like this in only two days?”
“Asks the guy who was making wedding plans in his head four days after meeting Stacy,” I said as Stan hurried to put my next drink in front of me. Even he’d heard all about my broken heart.
“Touché. Look, you have two choices. You can either call her until she can’t ignore you anymore, or you can keep feeling sorry for yourself and drinking until it kills you. I fucked up with Stacy in the beginning, but it turned out she was just as useless as I was while we were apart. I shouldn’t tell you this, but I have it on good authority Alexis is too.”
My heart throbbed once at the thought there might be a tiny chance I could apologize to her and try to make things right. Then I remembered who we were talking about.
“Stacy is a sweetheart. Of course, she forgave you. Alexis is a demon. A super-hot, sexy demon. She’s more likely to crush my balls in her hand.” Damn, even that sounds hot at this point. I discreetly reached down to adjust myself.
“You aren’t acting like a man who only appreciates how sexy she is, and she is, without a doubt. But you forget, I’ve known you for years. You’ve scored with plenty of sexpots, and they’ve never turned you into the sniveling mess you are right now. What happened?”
“I wish I knew. I’ve been trying to figure it out these last weeks. She… I don’t know, Gage. She’s sharp, she’s witty, she’s determined. I’ve never met a woman more confident and capable of taking care of herself. That woman doesn’t need me for a damned thing, other than making this event happen. She’s made that perfectly clear with everything she’s said and done since I met her.”
“Isn’t that what you want, what you’ve lacked all this time? Someone who sees you for who you are, not what they think you can give them?”
I rubbed a drop of condensation that had dripped onto the bartop with my index finger, watching as I smeared it until it was gone. Was that it? Was I drawn to how self-possessed and assured she was? I had to admit, it was what I needed—someone who wanted me, only for me. The question was, did she?
“That might be it,” I said forlornly. “How do I fix this?”
“Buddy, just make the fucking call. Here, you can even use my phone, then she’ll be more likely to pick up,” Gage offered, sliding his iPhone across the bar top to me. I stared down at it, thinking maybe I could, but something took hold inside me. Gage was right. I was being a pathetic Nancy-boy and needed to man up. A phone call wasn’t going to do the trick. I needed to show up at her door and not give her a choice but to listen to me. It’d worked in the past.
“Thanks for the offer, man, but you know what? I’m going to pull her address from our records and go see her. I’ll corner her again. So what if she comes out swinging? I can take it. Hell, I even like it when she does.”
“You’re some kind of fucked up,” he noted, “but you finally have the right idea. Go on, go book a flight.”
“Screw that. I’m going to go take care of some minor hotel details, then I’ll jump in my Audi and drive my sorry ass there,” I said as I stood up, swaying only slightly.
“You might want to wait until you’ve sobered a little, partner. Do yourself and all the other drivers on the road a favor and book a flight.”
“Excellent idea. Good talk, bro,” I said, slapping Gage on the back before doing my best not to stagger out of the bar.
After spending a couple hours in my room, sucking down cup after cup of coffee and taking another shower, I was better than ever. I’d booked a flight for that evening, and since I didn’t know when I’d be back, I had to take care of a few small operational instructions to the staff and let Faith know to follow up.
As soon as I stepped off the elevator to my office floor, I heard her yelling at the top of her lungs. I’d know that scream anywhere. Kent Jr. apparently did too because he sprang to attention. I rushed down the hallway in search of the source of the commotion, skidding to a stop in the doorway of my brother, Dustin’s office.
“I don’t care if you want cash, a cashier’s check is just as good. You’re out of your effing mind if you think I’m going to prance around this town with fifteen thousand smackers in my purse. Do you want me to get shanked and robbed?”
Dustin stood behind his desk, his fingertips pressed to the top as he leaned forward. His eyes darted up to me, filled with amusement, the right corner of his mouth tilted up with humor.
“Well ma’am, here’s the boss. You can take it up with him. I’m done here.” Dustin moved around the desk, clapping me once on the shoulder as he passed me in the doorway, whispering, “I was just about to call you. You owe me, bro.”
Alexis whirled around on her heel—in those sexy as fuck red shoes—and stared daggers at me.
“You!” she screamed. “Is this bullshit your doing? Haven’t you treated me like shit enough?”
I had no fucking idea what she was talking about but damned if I cared. I would stand here for the rest of the day, and most of tomorrow, listening to her yell at me. Of course, my self-control would snap,
and I’d tackle her to the ground and kiss her senseless, but I could wait. She was a fucking hurricane. Sooner or later, I’d reach the eye of the storm, then I’d pounce.
“I honestly have no idea what’s going on, Alexis,” I offered calmly.
“Which part? The part where your brother is trying to fucking strong arm us for cash like we’re shady gamblers who’ve run up a debt or the part where you treated me like shit?”
“Um, that first part. I’ve wanted to talk to you about that second one,” I said, gingerly stepping into the office, wishing I’d worn an athletic cup. At some point, this situation was going to wreak havoc on my testicles, I just knew it. Her stare spoke of nothing but my bodily harm and possible death. She looked like a fiery goddess bent on destruction but a goddess, nonetheless.
“The bookkeeper at Andrea’s company fucked up and didn’t send the first installment on the catering bill on time. I came here with a cashier’s check to make it right. Dustin is demanding actual cash. As if there isn’t already an abundance of it running through this place. You can take a cashier’s check and like it, or we can break the contract. Your call, Mr. C-E-O,” she spat.
“Of course, a cashier’s check is fine. You and I both know it’s the same as cash. I don’t know why he’d do something so asinine.” Then, of course, it hit me. Dustin just wanted to get her to Vegas and us in a room together somehow. I made a mental note to kiss the little shit when I saw him next. Or better yet, just give him a raise.
Her anger seemed to deflate a little—but only just a little. She slid a rectangle of paper off Dustin’s desk and thrust it at me.
“Here’s your money. Andrea promises there will be no further issues, but if there is, contact me immediately before you go siccing your brother on her with his threats.”
“I didn’t sic anyone on anybody, Alexis,” I said. “I think Dustin just wanted to get us together to talk.”
“Well, we’ve talked, and everything is settled. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go down the road and check into a better hotel,” she sneered as she moved to step past me.
I grabbed her elbow—my second favorite move with her—stopping her in her tracks.
“You’re not going anywhere until you hear me out,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Fuck you, Kent. You can’t make me stay if I don’t want to.”
“Watch me,” I said as I hauled her into my arms and kissed her the way I’d been dying to ever since she’d walked out on me.
Fifteen
Alexis
His kiss was fierce as he slammed his mouth to mine, a brutal assault on my lips that had me nearly stumbling over myself as I tried to climb inside him. A bolt of rationality shot through me, and the hands that had been scratching at the thermal cotton pullover he wore roughly shoved him away. He staggered back in surprise. I was more furious than I had been, every ounce of sadness I’d felt over the last six weeks bubbling up inside and spilling out as rage.
“You can’t just kiss me like that!” I hollered. “You don’t have the right.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart,” Kent said, beginning to circle me. “I told you not to walk out on me again, and you did. This time, I’m going to make damned sure you don’t.”
I turned with him, my eyes on his, just waiting for him to make his move. Just when I saw his hand twitch in anticipation, I launched myself at him, tearing at his shirt, pulling it out of the waistband of his jeans.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do. You don’t get to tell me anything, you bastard,” I whispered between hungry snarling kisses, the kind where tongues and teeth collide, lips becoming bruised and swollen. “You don’t get to explain shit. You hear me?”
He started to unzip the skintight white pencil skirt I wore, but then pulled back and grabbed my hand.
“I’m not making this mistake again,” he said, pulling me through the door. What the fuck? Now I’m a mistake?
“You rat bastard! You think you can toy with me? That you can play with my feelings? For the last time, Kent Kingsley… Fuck. You.” I tried halting in place, but he merely pulled harder on my hand, nearly knocking me off my feet. I dug my heels in deeper.
“All right, sweetheart. I warned you,” he said before lifting me up and throwing me over his shoulder like he did the day after we met.
“Put me down, you son of a bitch! I don’t want to go with you!”
He slapped me on the ass as he marched toward the elevator doors.
“Too bad. Best get comfortable up there. It’s a decent walk to my suite. You can either kick and scream, or you can quiet down and make this much easier for both of us,” he said as the doors opened and he stepped inside.
“It wouldn’t be the first time I made a spectacle of myself in your hotel. I’m not afraid to do it again!”
“Be my guest, Alexis. No one is going to stop us. Scream as loud as you like, swear like a sailor on shore leave while you do. None of it matters, you’re still coming with me.”
I pounded on his back and tried very hard to kick him in the nuts on the trip down to the lobby, but he just wrapped his other arm across the backs of my calves as he balanced me on his shoulder. A moment of genius descended, so I grabbed the waistband of his jeans and gave him an epic wedgie. We’ll see how he manages with his pants hiked up his crack and cutting into his nutsack.
I heard him clear his throat, but other than that, there was no outward sign he was in any sort of discomfort. I sort of ran out of steam after we passed the five-dollar poker tables, so I just rested my elbow against his spine and held my chin in my hand. I noticed Jasper standing in the lobby, speaking to one of the security guards. The guard looked at me peculiarly, but Jasper just glanced over.
“Oh, hey, Kent. Hey, Alexis,” he said politely.
“Hi, Jas,” I said with an exhausted wave. “Would you kindly detain your brother and rescue me?”
“Not a chance in hell,” he said as we passed. “Good to see you though. Don’t be a stranger.”
“See you soon, I hope,” I replied as Kent approached the second set of elevator doors, the ones that lead to his suite and stabbed the call button.
“Hey, bro,” Kent called back to him. “I’m taking a few days off. Mind the shop, okay?”
“You got it,” Jasper replied. “Try not to demolish the property while you ‘rest.’”
The elevator arrived, and Kent carried me inside.
“Just make sure Tallulah doesn’t show up at my suite uninvited this time, please,” he said as the doors began to close.
“Would you please put me down now?” I asked as we passed the third floor.
“Nope. You comfortable enough?” he asked as though I should be.
“I’m fine. I’m not the one with an ass full of denim.”
“That was a cute trick, by the way. Don’t think you won’t pay for it.”
“Bring it on, cocksucker!” I shouted, reaching down to yank harder on his jeans. I was rewarded with yet another harsh slap on the ass.
Finally, the doors opened to his suite. He stepped out and slid me down his body until we were chest to chest. He was breathing heavily, but I doubted from having to bear my weight for the trip. No, judging by the look in his eyes, my fighting him had only stirred the hunter in him. Again.
He pushed me back, back, back until I bumped up against the sofa. With just his fingertips, he pushed me down onto it, then crawled on top of me. His hands gentled as he smoothed the hair from my face.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he whispered. It was all I needed. I gripped the sides of his face and kissed him with every remaining ounce of passion I felt. I poured it all into him, every trace of sadness, hunger, misery, fury, and desire. I laid it all on the table for him in that one kiss, and I’ll be damned if he didn’t scoop it right up, his tongue searching for more.
Within seconds, he had my skirt hiked up around my waist and my panties in a tangle on the floor. He pulled back long enough to
fumble with his belt and get his jeans undone. As soon as his cock sprang free, pulsing and throbbing with excitement, I lunged at him and pushed him to his back. I crawled over him and quickly seated myself in one swift motion. We both moaned loudly as his thick cock spread and filled my pussy, the heat between us all-consuming. He quickly undid my blouse, pulling the cups of my bra down under my breasts and dove at them like a starving man. I rocked on him slowly at first, getting used to that feeling of perfection, of completion as though we were puzzle pieces meant to be joined only to each other. It didn’t take long however before my fluid rocking became a jolting thrust of my hips.
Kent seized control from me, gripping my sides and driving up into me every time I moved back. I growled when the head of his cock hit my cervix, but I just pushed against him that much harder. I wanted to pound this craving for him out of my body and soul. I wanted to relieve the ache, the pain that had accumulated over the last six weeks. I wanted the relief the pleasure would bring, hoping it would make me whole again.
I leaned down and took his mouth, letting him kiss me again until I was perfectly senseless, entirely abandoned to the ecstasy we made and the beating of our hearts.
“You’re still mine, Alexis,” he whispered roughly as he pulled his head back, his hips thrusting n time with his words. “I don’t care where you go, what you do, or how loud and long we fight, you will always be mine.”
I shuddered hard as the first tremors began to ripple through me. I screamed his name loudly as I spasmed again and again, the convulsions tightly gripping and releasing his dick. With one final push, he came with a long, loud shout of his own. I laid heaving against his chest as I tried to come down. I was shaken and spent, more so than I was the first time we were together but in an entirely different way. The tears came to my eyes unbidden, cutting a merciless path down my cheeks. For all my relief at being back in his arms with him deep inside me, I was shivering in fear. Though I’d been mostly clothed through the entire act, I felt naked and vulnerable to the point, it was unbearable. I’d shown him my figurative soft underbelly, and I was terrified. I buried my face in his chest as I shuddered, hoping he’d just think I was recovering.
Quick Dirty Luck: A Love Between the Pages Novel Page 10
