I’ve been thinking about that and I have a few guys in mind already. “Let me see who might be available.” I’m reaching for my phone and going to the back of the SUV to take out my always-present laptop…never know when I might need one.
“Why don’t we go up and see the girls before we head out,” Travis suggests. Xavier agrees and I’m already heading that way. Seeing Ellie is exactly what I need right now.
*I stalk into the penthouse amid the clatter of boots against hardwood floors and sidearms being set on the long table just inside the door. The girls are spread out around the living room watching a superhero movie on the flatscreen. My eyes immediately seek out Ellie, but she keeps her eyes locked on the TV pretending that I’m not here while her friends rush to their men. Pissed and more hurt than I care to admit, I stomp into the dining room and set up the computer in my usual spot with a view of the city lights outside of the big windows.
Disappointed doesn’t even begin to express how I’m feeling that she didn’t even look at me when I came in. I slump into the chair and go to work, my fingers flying across the keyboard, trying to ignore the fact that she’s just across the room. Grayson watches Ana and Faye with an odd look on his face, a cross between longing and anger that doesn’t make any sense. I really need to find time to figure out what is going on with him, but not until I get things settled with Ellie.
Travis crosses to my side, Faye still clinging to him, to watch over my shoulder as I pull up K&S personnel files, reviewing who to bring in on this not-entirely-legal operation. I try not to show it, but every cell in my body seems to freeze when Ellie stands and shuts the TV off before hesitantly making her way into the dining room. My teeth clench with the effort it takes to stay seated when every cell in my body is screaming at me to lunge and pull her down onto my lap. I can feel her eyes on me making my skin prickle with awareness. My hands physically hurt with the need to touch her, but I don’t miss a single keystroke. Out of the corner of my eye I watch as she eases closer, the sweet smell of her natural perfume invading my senses.
Suddenly, with a sharp little intake of breath she stumbles back a step and I push my chair away from the table and turn, grabbing her hand and tugging her toward me. I thought she was going to fall, instead she lands in my arms where she belongs. Her cheeks flush as she rights herself, tugging free of my grasp and mumbles, “Thanks. Sorry about that,” before rushing into the kitchen with hot spots of color staining her cheeks.
Ana and Faye meet each other’s eyes, silently communicating, before they follow her from the room leaving me alone with the guys.
“How long are you going to avoid telling her how you feel?” Travis asks quietly.
“Did you stop to think that maybe she already knows?” I snap back, careful to keep my voice modulated enough that she can’t hear me from the kitchen even though I feel like a bomb that’s about to explode.
“If she knows... then you’re doing something wrong, brother.” Travis says, slapping me on the shoulder. He’s right. I am doing something wrong. I haven’t insisted that we talk this out. If these feelings weren’t so new to me, I would have acted sooner. It’s not like me to hesitate. Well that is something that I’m going to rectify right now. I’m fixing this, and the rest of the world can damn well wait.
Travis takes my chair without a word when I rise, taking over my task of perusing our files as I walk toward the kitchen. I slow at the sound of female voices trying to be quiet. They aren’t doing a very good job.
“Did you miss the part where I was hovering there like a creeper?” Ellie’s voice sounds watery, like she is crying. Or about to. Fuck! Tears are not something that I’m equipped to deal with.
“He’s the stupid one.” That’s Faye’s voice and I can’t help but smile because I know she’s she means me. Even though we have become friends I can’t deny that I like the thought of her, and Ana, having her back.
My smile gets wider when I hear Ellie give a little chuckle, but then she plaintively begs her friends, “Can’t I just go home?”
“No!” I can’t let her go home. Not like this. Not without talking to me! I walk into the kitchen, every single fiber of my being focused on Ellie. There’s no room for anyone else to even register as a blip on my radar.
“Why- why not?” she sputters indignantly. Her shaky voice giving away her tension. She’s afraid to hear what I have to say, and I have a lot, but for now I will give her the one reason that she won’t be able to argue with. I know it will scare her, but I won’t lie to her.
“Because Dominic’s men have been watching Lumin0so, and they know that you are friends with Analise. That means you could be in danger.” Her eyes reflect shock at my words. “Just like Ana. Just like Faye. Until that danger has passed, you stay here, where I know you’re safe!”
I’m vaguely aware of Ana and Faye quietly moving toward the door behind me, wisely choosing to let us have this conversation before I tell them to leave us alone.
“What about my family?” she cries, genuine fear in her voice. “Auggie?”
I’m glad I already thought of this and planned for it. “I already have someone watching your house, angel. Nothing will happen to them. I swear.”
A shuddering breath escapes her lips. “Thank you,” she whispers, her voice finally trusting and sweet again, and I won’t wait any longer to have her in my arms.
Wrapping my fingers around the delicate bones of her wrist I tenderly draw her toward me until she is just a breath away and I can feel the tremors she is fighting to hide wracking her slight body. I hate that my words scared her but letting her leave now could put her in jeopardy. I know it’s unlikely, but we already know that Dominic isn’t above taking women to use for nefarious purposes, whether it’s for profit or strategy. I’m not about to let Ellie be used as a pawn in a fight that isn’t mine or hers.
Before Ellie there wasn’t anything that mattered to me more than K&S and my brothers in arms. I will always be here for Travis and my business, but I’m discovering that there are limits to what I’m willing to risk. I will always choose to keep Ellie and her family safe from any of the shit that could blow back at them because of my work, no matter what the repercussions. There is no job more crucial to me than doing anything within my power to guarantee that nothing bad touches them. They’ve had enough of tragedy to last several lifetimes.
“Don’t worry, Ells.” I close my arms around her, my world righting itself instantly as I rub soothing circles on her back until her trembling stops and she softens in my embrace. “I’m not ever going to let anything bad happen to you or your family, babe.”
“I know.” She whispers against my chest, pressing a feather soft kiss over my racing heart. Her arms slide around my waist with a shuddering sigh.
“I’ve missed you,” I admit, somehow knowing that she needs me to say it first. Nuzzling my lips against the cool satin of her cheek I whisper against her skin, “So much, Elinor.”
She turns her face slightly, the corner of her mouth brushing against mine as she murmurs back, “I’ve missed you too,” her voice wobbles a little and she sighs my name.
I don’t need anything else. She just gave me everything. Sliding my hands slowly up her arms I trap her cheeks between my rough palms, resting my forehead against hers and capturing her watery, topaz gaze with mine. For long moments time stands still. There is nothing but the two of us. No friends in the next room, no kidnapped people needing rescue. No unspoken words between us. None of it exists while my girl is in my arms for the first time in days.
A small moan crosses her lips, the only sound in my universe, spurring me to move, to capture and inhale it. To make it mine for eternity. So I do, slanting my parted mouth across hers, my tongue riding the seam of her lips until they part, welcoming my invasion with a tentative stroke of her own. With one careful touch the precarious wall she hastily erected comes tumbling down around our feet.
I don’t hold back as I groan into her mouth, still holding her face carefully in my
hands. I want to devour. To claim. An electric thrill explodes through me when she moans my name urgently, the syllables muffled against my kiss. Her fingers twist into the soft cotton of my shirt, the perfect ovals of her nails biting through the thin fabric and into my skin like a kitten. The tiny pain fuels my need for her. Without a care about where we are, I grip her hips and lift her onto the counter spreading her toned thighs around me, her uniform dress bunching up between us as I press as close to her heat as I can get. I need this. I need her.
“Blake,” my name tumbles from her lips, a litany of need, repeated over and over as she grinds her heated core against the tense muscles of my abdomen, lost in the sensations flowing between us. Slipping my hands up her legs and under the elastic of her panties I dare to go further than I have with her, sliding the tip of one finger along the slippery seam of her sex.
She’s drenched. Her low throaty moan encourages my exploration and I add another finger, stroking her silken folds and spreading the pooling moisture over the tight little nub of her clit. She moans again, louder this time, and some miracle makes me aware of our friends in the other room. Reluctantly I start to retreat, fully intending to put her back to rights and apologize for losing control.
Her lids fly up and her lust glazed eyes lock on mine. Her small hand grips my wrist holding my hand in place, my fingers still pressed against her wet folds.
“Please…” she whimpers, her cheeks flushing as her pearly teeth sink into her kiss reddened lip. I can’t deny her anything when she begs so sweetly. I really can’t. Giving in to her plea I lower my mouth back against hers, inhaling her small sounds, my tongue thrusting inside to tangle with hers while resuming the slow, steady strokes of my fingers against her wet, swollen pussy lips.
This moment, right here, it’s everything. I will take this memory to the grave with me. She moans again, her head falling back, exposing the long line of her throat. The modest bodice of the ugly dress pulls tight over the round curves of the breasts that I want to worship eternally with my teeth and tongue.
Later.
Later I can have her naked under me. Naked over me. Right now, this is for her, to show her how good I can make her feel, how much I love her.
I love her! Oh shit! There’s no denying it now that I’ve let the words loose inside my mind. I love her, but there is no way I’m going to tell her for the first time while I finger her pussy on Xavier’s kitchen counter. I should stop this now. There will be time later.
Doing the right thing battles with my need to give her pleasure and when she shyly thrusts her pelvis against my fingers while staring into my eyes, I lose the fight. Fuck doing the right thing. I’m going to make my girl come on my hand and then I will do the right thing.
“Shhh, angel. You can’t make a sound.” I breathe the command into her ear before taking the sensitive lobe between my teeth and gently biting. She nods, pressing her lips together to muffle the small startled noise my nipping teeth draw from her.
My dick throbs in my pants. I’m harder than I’ve ever been as I resume my careful exploration of her slick folds, using two fingers to pull the damp fabric to the side. When I look between us at the perfection revealed to me, I can’t hold back a muttered curse. More blood rushes south until I swear I can feel the teeth of my zipper digging into my cock. A small patch of neatly trimmed, dark curls nestles at the apex of her thighs above her plump, glistening folds. She has the I most gorgeous pussy I’ve ever seen. And it’s fucking all mine.
I can’t tear my eyes away from the sight of my big, blunt tipped fingers as they slip into her sweet crevice and stroke upward, shining with her slickness, to make tight circles around her clit, over and over until her breasts are heaving inside her dress with ragged breaths and tiny sounds of pleasure.
It takes everything I have to stop myself from roaring my satisfaction to the world when her eyes squeeze shut and she slaps her hand over her mouth, muffling her pleasured cry as I insert the tip of my middle finger into her wet hole and work it into her tight channel. I stop when I feel the unmistakable barrier of her virginity. Not now. My palm grinds against her clit at the same time my finger finds the small bundle of nerves on the inside wall and she detonates around me. Her eyes fly open meeting mine in shock as her whole body stiffens and shudders with the intensity of her orgasm. The sight of her enormous pupils and her lush mouth open in a surprised O almost makes me bust in my jeans like a teenager. Almost. Gathering my self-control, I carefully remove my soaked finger from her still fluttering pussy and slip it into my mouth, tasting her.
“Mmmm,” I moan, popping it free, “so sweet, angel. So good.” I praise her, carefully putting the gusset of her panties back in place and cupping her there for a long moment before kissing the tip of her nose and lowering her back to the floor. I step back and straighten her clothes. I can’t do anything about the hazy eyes and flushed cheeks, but I won’t take her out of here with her clothing in disarray. She opens her mouth, but no words come out, so she closes them and steps into my arms, hugging me tightly.
“Thank you for that, baby,” I murmur against her hair just as a loud knock echoes down the hall making us both aware again of where we are.
“Dinner’s here,” Ana shouts from the living room, “If you two are finished making up, could you bring the iced tea and some glasses out with you?”
I think I hear Travis laugh and say, ‘making out’, but I’m not sure. Then Faye’s giggling voice chimes in, “Don’t forget to wash your hands!” Bawdy laughter follows and Ellie’s cheeks blossom with renewed embarrassment. I prefer when her being turned on makes her blush.
“They’re just teasing, Ells. They don’t know what we were just doing.”
“I know,” she nods, nervously redoing her ponytail and fidgeting with the collar of her dress.
Leaning down I kiss both of her hot cheeks before giving her lips a light kiss. “You get the tea, babe. I guess I need to wash my hands.” I exaggerate a pout, making her smile and turn her toward the fridge with a light tap on her ass to get her moving. She peeks over her shoulder and sticks out her tongue at me teasingly. “Keep that in your mouth, little lady, before I teach you what it’s used for.” I grumble, making her giggle again.
Relief pours through my veins at the happy sound. I think things are going to be okay. I just need to get through this mission tonight and then I can focus all my attention on making my girl happy, every day from now until forever.
Chapter 24
Ellie
I sit, pinned by Blake’s unflinching gaze, picking anxiously at the food on my plate. His protracted observation coupled with the self-satisfied smirk twitching at the corner of his sexy-as-sin mouth practically melts me to my seat. If my panties weren’t already soaked, they would be from that look alone. It’s all I can do not to squirm under his continued perusal. I just had an orgasm on Ana’s kitchen counter! From my seat I can see the exact spot that it happened. Every time my eyes wander in that direction my cheeks, and other body parts, burn with the memory of Blake’s long, hard fingers slipping against my slick flesh.
I’ve never felt so utterly relaxed and completely wound up all at the same time. After what just happened, I know I need to explain my reasons for freaking out. I’ve already been doubting them, and I’m not sure if I deserve his forgiveness. I’m still going to tell him and hope that I don’t push him away even more because of my weakness. Now that I’ve decided I don’t want to wait. I want to get it over with so that I don’t have to worry about it anymore.
I know that he has to go tonight, even though I wish he didn’t have to. Pride burns in my heart when I think about what he is going to do to help liberate those people from the man responsible for what happened to Ana and Faye. He’s trying to act like his part in it is small and unimportant, but I can tell that isn’t true. When Blake insists that all he’s doing is waiting in the car and playing with his computer while everyone else does the heavy lifting Travis shakes his head with a roll of his ey
es.
Ana keeps looking at me with a speculative gleam in her eyes. The knowing look sends blood rushing into my face again. At least I’m not a ginger like Faye, when she blushes her face glows.
Rising from her seat Ana starts stacking dirty plates. I rise to help her. I’m not going to finish eating anyway. Faye does the same and the men excuse themselves and make their way to Xavier’s office. It’s getting easier to think of him by his given name the more time I spend around him.
“We are so lucky,” Faye says, “I heard Blake tell Travis that he only saw six guards at the place where Grace is, and I think he said they have five extra guys going with them.” I don’t know how she manages to sound so calm. I have been freaking out inside, but knowing that they will outnumber the criminals helps ease my anxiety. I release a breath that I didn’t even realize I was holding while she was talking.
I focus my attention back on the dishes I’m rinsing and pretend I don’t notice the smiles they share when they look at me. It’s obvious that they suspect something is going on between Blake and me, but I’m not going to discuss it with them until we talk about things. I know I made a huge mistake by shutting him out, but he deserves to hear that from me before anyone else does. I bite my tongue and keep my mouth shut. It’s a good thing that I’m comfortable being the quiet one.
We are planning for what sounds like could be a crowd, so it doesn’t take long for them to abandon the curious looks. The fridge is stocked, and the plan is to make a bunch of sandwiches. Enough for anyone who is hungry, including Xavier’s men and K&S people and anyone else who turns up over the course of the evening.
“We’re going to need blankets,” Ana says thoughtfully, and she’s right. The only traumatic experiences in my life were when we lost dad and the night of Lizzie’s accident. I remember how the shock of the news had made me shiver uncontrollably, even in the warm Las Vegas air. Blankets are sure to be welcome. I quickly load the rest of the dishes into the dishwasher while Faye pulls out trays and cups as well as packages of instant hot cocoa and tea bags from the pantry and organizes them on the counter.
Embracing Ellie: K&S Securities Series Page 17
