by Dani Wyatt
“What the fuck?” Carver is doubled over, screaming at me. “Dumb little bitch. You don’t know what’s good for you...”
I fling my head back and forth, looking from Marshall to Carver and wonder if Marshall is a part of this. But before I can say anything, he steps forward as I slink back, pressing myself against the wall.
“I do know what’s good for her.” Marshall grips Carver’s shoulders, bringing his knee into his gut before taking hold of his tie and slamming his face into the edge of the desk, dropping him to the floor.
There’s a loud clatter as the desk lamp topples over, falling onto Carver’s head and smashing the bulb into tiny shards scattering on the floor around him.
“Fuck you,” Carver mouths, spit dripping from his lips as he wheezes.
“You ever come near her again, ever touch her again, ever breathe her name or think of her, there will be no trace left of you. I told you to call her into the office, not to fucking touch her.”
Marshall is wearing a gray T-shirt and jeans, a contrast to his suits of the last couple days, and I see the thick muscles in his arms and chest tighten, making him look even bigger than before. I notice his tattoos more in the office light, dark indigo, primal, telling me there is more to this man than business meetings and deal-making.
“She’s my employee, who the fuck do you think you are?” Carver rolls to sit up, wiping the back of his hand over his face.
“I’m your new nightmare.”
“What are you doing here?” I finally manage, my hands flying to my cheeks the entire scene so surreal I wonder if it’s a dream.
“Getting you.” Marshall takes my arm and half drags me from the office, a low growl coming from him as we go.
My heart skips a beat. I’m letting one-man drag me away while the other one lies on the ground in a heap, along with the remnants of my meager career. Why it feels so right to let Marshall take control over me I’m not sure, but it does. Even as that hole in my chest reminds me of the woman that showed up at his place last night.
Without a word, we exit the office and head across the parking lot, where the morning sun is warming the air.
Marshall’s eyes are wild, his hair messier than when I met him the other times, a dark shadow of growth on his jaw, and he looks more like a backwoods mountain man than the millionaire businessman he appeared to be yesterday.
“Wait.” I pull my arm back, and he stops and looks at me with an intensity that hits me low in my gut. “What is going on? Why are you here?”
He takes a deep breath and furrows his brow, impatience in his face, and he looks tired. “You took off last night before I could get back to you. I called that piece of shit in there early this morning to make sure you were still going to come today, and if not, I wanted your contact info. He said he couldn’t give me that but wanted to know why I needed your number and if there was a problem. I told him yes, only because I thought it would motivate him to give me what I wanted. He said he would meet with you early this morning before you were scheduled to come to the house and get back to me. That wasn’t enough. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t wait, so I drove over here. The door was open, so I came in. Then I saw him trying to kiss you—”
He stops, jaw muscles tightening, and there’s a vein in his forehead that looks like it’s ready to pop.
“Yes, and now I don’t have a job,” I snap back, trying to control my breathing because being this close to him has me coming undone.
“You don’t need a job.”
“Really? That’s a dumb thing to say.”
“I’m hiring you. Full-time. To take care of Buddha.”
I chuckle, still not sure if I’m dreaming or I’ve bumped my head and this is all just a hallucination.
“Really? To take care of Buddha? Sure.” I release on a sarcastic laugh and he gives me a puzzled look. “I’m not going to be a notch in your belt. You clearly have women who think they have dibs on you, and I’m not into sharing.”
“What are you talking about?”
“How many women show up at four in the morning saying they’ve been looking for you? That you’re not answering your phone...”
“Jesus, that was my sister. Half-sister, really—” He shakes his head, putting his hands on my shoulders. “That doesn’t matter. She’s involved with my venture capital fund. It’s a long story, I walked out on a business meeting yesterday because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I jumped on a plane and flew back because of you. I’ve never done anything like that before—everyone thought I’d lost my mind. They were about to send out the cavalry to find me. I guess Dorothy is the cavalry.”
I pull my lips to the side. I don’t know why, but I believe him.
The only thing is, I think I’m the one losing my mind.
Seven
Marshall
“LET’S MAKE A DEAL.” I do what I can to keep my voice steady and civil, though everything about her turns me into a caveman.
I swear I catch the scent of fear from her, and I want her to know I will never cause her a moment of pain. Or allow anyone else to do so. And a part of that means that I’m in control. That’s the way it has to be.
She narrows her eyes. “Why do I need to make a deal with you?”
Of all the deals I’ve made in my career, I’ve never been nervous.
Until now.
“Because I came home last night and found you naked in my bed. My sheets soaked in your cum. I think you know that’s not exactly legal. Besides, what just happened in there...” I jerk my head toward the building we exited a minute ago. “You owe me.”
I’m playing it hard, harder than I’d like with this sweet treasure, but my gut tells me this has to be the way for now. She needs this push. I’ll show her a softness I didn’t know I had very soon, but first, I need to secure what’s mine in whatever way necessary.
“What do you want?” She brushes her hair over her shoulder and crosses her arms, jutting one of her magnificent full hips to the side and making my cock twitch in the process.
What I want is to bury my face in her hair, grip her body with my fingers and make her beg me for what I know she wants.
“Two things. First, you accept my offer of employment. Full-time, taking care of Buddha. I’ll pay you well, of that you can be sure, benefits whatever you need.”
“That’s stupid. He doesn’t need me full-time.”
But I do. “He may not need you full-time, but it will be good for him. Don’t you want what’s good for him?”
I play to her sympathy and she rolls her eyes, but her cheeks turn a deeper shade of pink, telling me I’m easing her down the path I’ve chosen.
“You said two things. What’s the second?”
“You’ll never run from me again.” Her eyes filled with confusion. “If there’s ever anything I do that you don’t understand, anything I’ve done or said...anything, you ask me about it. You don’t run. Got it?”
Her eyes dart from me to the ground, and she shuffles a foot on the pavement, crinkling her nose in thought before she raises those sparkling green eyes and nods.
“Okay. No running.”
“Good.” I return her nod, then reach down and take her elbow in my hand. “Because, just for the record, I’ll chase your ass down, Now, you’re coming home with me.”
“What?” She scoffs. “I’m not going with you.”
I don’t stop walking us toward my car. “You accepted the job; it starts right now.” She stops and I turn to remind her. “And no running.”
“But, I have my car...”
“Don’t worry. When we get to my place, I’ll have a service come and bring it to the house.”
“This is so dumb. I’ll just drive it...”
I shake my head. I need her next to me, with me. After what I saw inside that office, the feeling I had when that fuck was touching her, there’s no way I’m letting her out of my sight. No one will ever soil what belongs to me again.
In my heart, I know i
t’s impossible to keep her with me every second of every day, but for the moment I am not taking any chances. Every man in this world is now suspect, and if I have to chain her to my side to keep anyone from touching her again, so be it.
“I am not an easy man to please, Emmy. You may need to get used to me having things my way and understand there is a reason behind everything I do. It is your best interests that I will have at heart. Always.”
She considers that for a moment and finally puffs out an annoyed breath but eases forward, and I take her by the hand, leading her to my Bentley and securing her in the front seat. As I lean in close, I take a deep draw of her sweet, cherry scent.
When her body tightens, I ease back. I want her. But I will wait until she’s ready. I will not force this; I will restrain myself to the best of my ability until she’s half-crazed and begging for all I plan to give her.
I only pray it doesn’t take long, because there’s only so much a mortal man can take.
AS I WALK HER THROUGH the front door, all I can think is I don’t want her ever to leave. I want to build walls around this place to keep the world out and her in.
This monstrosity of a house I’ve lived in for nearly ten years finally feels like a home, and I swear, in some faraway echo, there’s laughter, the sound of children’s voices and the scent of fresh-baked bread. It’s like coming home only to a home I never knew before now.
Now that she’s safe inside the house, I feel a weight lift.
I’m not done with that fuck Carver, but she is my priority, so I will deal with his harassing ass another time. But I vow that he will pay more dearly than with a minor beatdown. Once upon a time, I thought violence was the only way to hurt someone, but it isn’t. There are many more effective methods, and I have them all at my disposal.
Emmy walks in front of me toward the kitchen and watching her ass move in those too-tight jeans nearly gives me a stroke. On top she’s wearing the company polo. She doesn’t dress overly sexy, but from now on, if I have my way, if she’s ever out in public without me, she’ll be wearing a potato sack and those black orthopedic shoes.
Even so, she’ll be the most beautiful thing in the world to me.
“Buddha!” She exclaims as the slobbering dog lumbers around the corner into view.
The dog that hates everyone breaks into a little jog, and I swear he pulls back those droopy lips, exposing his underbite and crooked teeth in a sort of canine smile.
She’s once again on her knees with the fucking dog, only this time, it’s worse—she rolls onto her back and he climbs on top of her, lapping his tongue all over her face as she laughs and scratches him down his back in a way I pray someday she does to me while I’m on top of her.
Wingman my ass. More like cock blocking traitor.
“See?” I step around the two rolling around on the floor, making me jealous as fuck, and into the kitchen. “He needs you. I had Hank here for three years, and he could barely pet him. He bit every other person that tried. Even my mother and everyone loves my mother. Made my last housekeeper quit.”
She rolls Buddha off and he tumbles onto his back like a fat turtle, then she gets up on all fours, putting her chin to the floor, her ass high in the air, and I have to bit the inside of my cheek until I taste blood to keep from blowing my load in my pants.
“He’s a marshmallow.”
Buddha mimics her position, wagging the little stump of a tail just above his ass.
“He’s never done that before.” I shake my head. “I’ve never seen him want to play with anyone before. Even me.”
She turns her head toward me with a smile so bright I feel the warmth of it across the room. “Guess you just don’t have the touch.”
I’m going to show her my touch just as soon as my cockblocking dog gets out of the way.
I settle into a stool at the kitchen island counter and watch them play. Emmy gets up and runs around through the great room and down the hall with Buddha’s fat ass chasing behind and think I’ve never been happier than at this moment.
I’ve met lots of women in my life, but I’ve never had anything close to the feelings Emmy brings out in me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been with anyone. My last date was probably five years ago. I never had the drive to settle down until now, but what I feel for Emmy is a wild combination of primal lust, wicked protectiveness and joy.
Yes, pure joy that makes me feel like my heart has just woken up from a cold slumber.
I thought I was happy before. Making deals, making money, running my company. I was content. I had some friends, went on trips, read biographies on men and women I admire. Mostly corporate CEO’s and the like. Life was good.
Or so I thought.
Now I realize if I didn’t have Emmy, I would be miserable. None of what I had before would fulfill me. I’d be an empty man.
I need her to love me. Want me. Need me.
This craving for her is eating me alive, but I know better than to rush her. I want to jump on her like a predator, wondering what she would do if I grabbed her by the hair, bent her over the countertop, ripped her clothes off and drove into her with a roar.
I don’t even recognize the primal man she has awakened in me, but somehow, I’ve finally found my true self. I finally realize the man I was meant to be; now I just need her to come along for the rest of the ride.
For the rest of our life.
“Phew.” She comes in the kitchen out of breath, her face flushed, with the lightest sheen of sweat along her hairline.
A few seconds later, Buddha comes panting around the corner and plops down on his belly at her feet, looking up at her with something I understand.
Devotion.
She’s small yet lush at the same time. A woman-child in her own sort of way, and for a split second, I wonder if I’m a depraved heathen for wanting her the way I do.
I shake away the thought, my gut telling me everything I need to know.
“He’s not moved that much in the entire three years since I got him.”
“Why did you get him? I mean, I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just you don’t seem like a dog person. And, well, your life is so busy.”
I laugh. “No, you’re right, I didn’t think I was a dog person either before I got Buddha, but I don’t think I’d know what to do if I was without him now. We’ve grown on each other. I came around this corner. There was a house half boarded up, and as I stopped at the stop sign, Buddha got to his feet, pulled to the end of his chain and stared at me. It wasn’t aggressive, it was pleading, and I guess something inside me just snapped. I could see his ribs and hip bones....” My voice cracks when I think that if I hadn’t come along, what his life could have been.
Emmy tips her head to the side and I swear she’s about to cry. “How could anyone do that?”
“No fucking clue. I couldn’t even drive past and go back later, I had to do something. The neighborhood was shit, where if you slow down, your car will be stripped before you can dial 911, but I didn’t think about that. Something about him staring at me from the front yard littered with beer cans and choked with weeds....” I shake my head blowing out a long breath.
“He was lucky.” She glances at Buddha, who has settled down to watch her with a look of absolute adoration on his face. “I guess you’re not just a hard-ass CEO deal maker like everyone says after all.”
“I very nearly wasn’t anything. Nearly got myself shot unchaining him when the owners came out to act like they gave a damn. Came at me as I carried Buddha to the car.” I shrug. “I told them they were lucky I wasn’t calling the cops and to do what they needed but I wasn’t leaving him there. Took him straight to a vet, got instructions on how to take care of him and get him back to the healthy, happy lump you see before you today.”
Emmy smiles, pushing her shimmering red hair back behind her ears, and when I see those pink cupcake earrings, I want to run my tongue along her ear and ask her if she’s wet.
I need her to be wet.
“Well, you’ve done well with him. But he could use more exercise.” She fists her hands on her hips. “You should walk him. Outside and even maybe get him a treadmill.”
I shake my head. “I tried. I put the leash on him, and he lies down. I can’t very well drag him around.”
She twists those cherry lips and replies, “You didn’t have a problem dragging me around.”
I see her swallow, and her cheeks redden. It’s subtle, but it’s there. She’s flirting with me, unsure, but it’s all I need.
“I’d like to drag you to a lot of places.”
To my shock, she steps forward again, close enough that the cherry scent from her hair hits me like a punch in the chest, and the tops of her thighs brushing against my bent knees.
“I don’t know what’s happening here.” Her honesty hits me low in the gut, and there's a heat between us that whatever this is, she’s feeling is too.
“I do know,” I reassure her.
There are other words I want to say, but I hold back, afraid I’m going to scare.
I love you, Emmy.
I think them instead, hoping somehow her mind will read mine and understand the feeling, not just the sound of the words so many people utter in falsehood.
Words I’ve never said to anyone besides my mother and that’s not the same fucking thing.
She could crash my world around me. The power this delicate, funny girl has over me already...I’ve never given it to anyone before.
“Well,” she starts, pressing one of her hands to her mouth, then turning it and touching it softly against my chest as she nips into her bottom lip. “Why don’t you show me?”
She swallows, our eyes connected for what feels like forever. I’m reining in the beast that wants to tear into her flesh with my teeth and my fingernails, to chain her to me forever, dripping with my cum, her body marked by me for the world to see.
