I read the articles while we waited, and it relieved me to see that it was pure speculation and that they didn’t know my name. However, they had officially forced me to take Damien’s offer.
Someone was playing a game and was backing me into a corner. If the blog post and this tabloid leak were telling me anything, it was that it would only escalate from here. This person knew enough information to release as much information as they wanted when they wanted, and it was only a matter of time before my father’s money woes would be announced. I didn’t know if Monroe Media Agency could weather that storm.
The front door swung open, drawing all of our attention to Damien as he stormed in. He stopped in front of me and studied my face, searching for signs I was in distress. Once he was satisfied, he turned to the other men in the room.
“Where’s the tabloid?”
Carter handed him the paper and Damien snatched it out of his hand. When he was done searching for whatever he was attempting to find, he tossed the paper on the counter and looked at Kingston.
“I want to know every rumor that is circulating and what every tabloid in this city is investigating within the next twelve hours. This wasn’t supposed to leak until I said so. Anais and I have some unfinished business that needs to be taken care of in the meantime.” His eyes were trained on me and I knew he was referring to the proposal.
“No problem.”
A shrilling ring disrupted the room, causing Damien to snatch his phone out of his pocket.
“What?” Damien barked, adding to the tension in the room.
The heaviness in the room made me realize I was scared. Scared of the unknown, scared of what all of this meant.
“I think you can handle this and if I’m wrong, you’ll pay the price.” His simple words sounded deadly, and I felt bad for the other person. “Send an update to Dave and he’ll get everything to me.” He ended the phone call with a resounding click and turned his attention to me.
“Anais and I have to talk.”
Carter and Kingston needed no further prompting to leave. Damien’s gaze followed them out the door until it was closed and then all his attention was on me.
“Who’s Dave?”
“A private investigator who works for Cross Industries.”
I stored that tidbit away for later.
“It was only a matter of time before something like this leaked.”
“I know.” I looked everywhere but at him. His stare was burning a hole through me, one that might never be repaired.
“And it’s only going to get worse.”
“I know,” I repeated because I knew how the tabloids worked. Once someone latched on to the story, there was no way they were letting go.
“I’ve let you go without answering my deal, but that ends now.”
“Yes. I’ll accept your proposal.” The words came out low, and I almost wondered if he had heard them because he said nothing. “I’ll sign the contract.”
He was in front of me in two seconds flat, leaning down to take my lips. The kiss was powerful. I felt a slight shiver course through his body when my hands landed on his chest. When the kiss broke, I groaned, but before I could protest, he bent down and lifted me up in a fireman’s carry.
“Where are we going?”
“Bedroom. Now.”
The Neanderthal in him came out in full force, and I couldn’t deny that his words made me wet. He didn’t stop until he deposited me on the bed. I shifted my position and moved my hair out of my face to look at him.
“Pants off.”
My heart shuttered as he tossed his cellphone on the bed and started rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. I never thought that would be sexy, but here I was growing more and more aroused as fingertips migrated to my own clothes. His eyes were staring me down as I unbuttoned my jeans and lifted my hips so that I could push them down. He took over, pulling them down as my hands moved to my thong.
“Did I say to remove that?”
I shook my head and stilled my hands.
“It seems you still have a problem with following directions. That will need to be addressed.” He tugged at my pants until they were off and dropped them. “Spread your legs.”
I hesitated for a moment before I did as he demanded.
He leaned down on the bed and planted slow, tantalizing kisses along my left ankle. Damien made his way up my leg, building anticipation about what he would do next. Once he reached the inner side of my knee, he took his time planting kisses along the sensitive skin of my leg before he reached the apex of my thighs. His piercing blue eyes studied my mound and the scrutiny caused me to grow wetter. Damien’s hand moved to the thong and lightly played with the lacy fabric. “I’m glad you’re wearing one of the pieces I bought you.”
My eyes widened. Surely, he hadn’t picked out the new clothes himself. I figured he had tossed the task at his stylist to do the work for him. Before I could ask him more, I felt his fingertips run up and down my seam before moving the thong aside. As he bared my pussy, I swallowed any words that I might have said as I waited for what he was going to do next.
Without warning, Damien dove into my pussy, letting his tongue dip into my warm slit before settling on my clit. Before I could blink, my hands were in his hair, attempting to anchor him to his current position.
“Fuck...” I said as my voice trailed off. My body was in an uproar over the sensations that his tongue was causing. My head thrashed from side to side as Damien continued his assault, leaving me dazzled. Thinking straight was out the window, and my only thoughts were of when an orgasm would overtake me. My body was getting closer and closer when a ping from Damien’s phone briefly brought me out of the moment.
“Ignore it,” Damien said, lifting his mouth from my sex before going back down on me.
The phone pinged again, and Damien growled, “Read it.”
I grabbed the phone and said, “I don’t know your passcode.” My words came out in a breathy whisper. Damien’s mouth was short-circuiting my brain.
“Four, eight, nine, zero.”
I typed in the numbers as a moan left my lips. As I tapped the zero something clicked… “That’s my birthday.”
Damien lifted his head and looked at me. “Maybe I just like those numbers.”
“That’s not a coincidence.”
He shrugged. “Read the text.” And he went back to work.
Once he started back up again, my head flew back.
“I’m going to stop eating your cunt if you don’t read that text message.”
That was enough to make me look at the phone again.
“It’s from Kingston. He said, ‘We’re outside.’” My voice was breathless as I relayed the message.
Damien gave me a wolfish grin and said, “Looks like we need to speed this up then. Tell him to give us five minutes.”
I texted Kingston and said, “You think you can get me off in five minutes?”
“Three.”
Damien sucked on my clit and started alternating his motions, driving me to the brink.
“Damien, I’m getting close.”
He took that as a sign to back away and stuck his fingers inside me to bring it home. His eyes were glued to me and I felt my eyes roll toward the back of my head.
“Yes!” I cried as my eyes shut and I felt my orgasm take over. My heart was racing, and it took a couple of seconds before I could focus on opening my eyes. His fingers were still inside me, and only when I opened my eyes did he slide them out and stick them in his mouth one by one, licking them clean.
“If we had more time, I would lick you clean before we fucked, but I need to go talk to Kingston and Carter. If you want to join, feel free, but I’m sure you need time to recover.”
He was correct.
Damien pulled back the covers and slipped into bed next to me. Kingston and Carter had just left for the second time that evening. I didn’t join them this time because I didn’t trust my legs to be steady enough to carry me into the l
iving room due to Damien taking me to his bed and setting a world record in getting me to orgasm.
I couldn’t deny that I loved the way he made my body feel, but that was where I drew the line. How would my life change with Damien’s ring on my left hand? I shifted the thoughts of Damien growing tired of me that plagued me throughout the time we had spent together and decided to bask in the happiness that I felt right now.
I looked over at him, half expecting him to leave the bed once more, but he didn’t. Instead, he was playing with my hair, twirling it around his finger. My head was resting on his chest and I felt completely at ease as I listened to his heart beating in my ear. I had something that I wanted to say, yet the soothing sound of his heart was lulling me into silence. But it needed to be said.
“I want to go into the office tomorrow.”
His hand stopped moving, almost making me wish I hadn’t said those words.
“Why? Don’t you have everything you need here?”
I sat up, pulling the sheet and comforter with me, and looked at him. “Damien, I do, but it would also be helpful for me to at the very least stop by. Also, my getting back to work would show leadership. I’ve been off for a few days, but maybe going back into the office would help me take my mind off of things.” I knew throwing out the word “leadership” might give me the upper hand since Damien owned a company and was all about leading by example to get results. “Plus, who knows how long my father will be out. I need to do my part to help Vicki make sure that Monroe Media Agency keeps a steady drumbeat.”
I could see him tossing ideas back and forth in his head. “Sure, but I want you to bring security with you.”
I knew a caveat was coming, but it didn’t mean I had to like it. “Fine. Are we two for two on compromising?”
“I guess we are.” He couldn’t stop the smirk that appeared on his face, even though I wanted to throttle him because sometimes he made things more difficult than they needed to be, but this time he was more reasonable when I had thought it might be a tug-of-war. What he said made sense and this was a compromise I was willing to make. It made sense given everything that was going on.
“Speaking of security, did you hear anything else about the case?”
“It’s been difficult to find all the people your father associated with even with the details he gave to you. Thanks for the information you gathered.”
“It wasn’t much of a hassle. I currently have all the time in the world, and I could find some information from calendar invites. That definitely isn’t everyone he associated with, because sometimes he forgets to put meetings on his calendar. As you and I both know.”
Damien’s smirk proved he knew I was alluding to when we first met because my father hadn’t noted his meeting with Damien on his calendar.
Dad was still in the dark about Damien’s involvement in his care and now in investigating the incident. I knew hearing Damien’s name would only upset him. It surprised me that my mother had kept everything a secret too, but I was happy about it because I wasn’t ready to see the disappointment on Dad’s face, along with the pain he was still in. But if having his help meant getting closer to whoever had shot him, I knew it was worth it.
The next thought that bubbled in my mind almost made me want to vomit. I knew that no matter what, I had to tell my parents about my engagement and Damien’s involvement in all of this. Even if the engagement was fake, my parents needed to hear it from me before they heard it from a reporter. I took a deep breath before I said the words that had been stuck on my tongue, refusing to budge.
“I’m going to break the news that we’re engaged to my mom and dad, and I’ll tell him you’re trying to help him find out who did this. Maybe that could help.” I made air quotes with my fingers when I said “engaged.” I never imagined that I would be indifferent about getting engaged, but given the circumstances, I knew I had to protect myself.
Damien said nothing, but I could feel his stare without looking at him.
“Is that a problem?” His voice was dangerously low, daring me to say something he wouldn’t agree with.
“No. I just don’t enjoy lying to my parents, and this is a pretty big lie.”
“Would this make the lie seem more real?” He mimicked my earlier motions of putting invisible quotes when he said “lie.”
He backed away from me and rolled over to get out of bed. My eyes stayed on him and I tried to hide the fact that I was checking him out. His body looked like a work of art when he moved with each aspect carefully sculpted to perfection. He didn’t bother putting on his boxer briefs as he strolled across the room to where his slacks had ended up. He pulled something out of them and walked back over to the bed. It was a small, velvety black box.
“Is this what I think it is?” I asked, my heart pounding in my chest as I studied the small black box. There was no question what was inside it, unless he was trying to pull a prank.
“Open it.” His voice made me jump, although he hadn’t said the words very loud.
I did as he said. A sparkling diamond ring stared up at me. It was an emerald-cut diamond that I knew had to be quite a few carats on a white gold band. It screamed expensive, yet I was disappointed.
“It’s beautiful?” My statement came out as more of a question. I glanced up at him and his eyes were focused on me, his expression once again unreadable.
He pulled the ring out of the box and I reflexively held my left hand out. When he placed the ring on my finger, it fit perfectly, but sadness flowed through my veins. It was a stunning ring, but it wasn’t what I had in mind, nor was it my style.
My heart had always been set on something smaller no matter the type of stone with smaller diamonds on the band. This wasn’t it.
I tried to find what words to say as I stared at the foreign object on my hand. I felt like an asshole for judging this ring so harshly, but it just wasn’t me. Then again, this wasn’t a real engagement, so why did it matter?
“Thank you.” My fake smile was in place when my eyes drifted back to Damien. I found him studying my face, so I further pushed up my lips to convey a more sincere smile, hoping that I didn’t appear as if I were grimacing in pain. “I hadn’t thought about a ring being needed to seal the deal.”
Damien stared at me for a second longer, before he said, “You will wear this to show everyone that you are mine. The ring on your finger will give people something else to talk about besides your father’s shooting.”
“Okay.”
“You hate it.”
His words took me by surprise, and I knew my face fell, showing the truth of the matter.
“No, it’s fine.” I gave him a small smile. It’s a fake engagement that I will have to endure before everything gets back to normal. “I promise, it’s fine.”
Damien stared at the ring, moving it back and forth with his finger before looking back at me. He stopped to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, and I stopped myself from leaning into his touch.
I cleared my throat and said, “Please don’t tell me how much this cost. If you do, I’ll never wear it because I don’t want something that could be a down payment on a mansion.”
He chuckled. “Okay, I won’t,” he said before he went back to playing with the ring on my left hand.
I smiled at the light-hearted moment before I moved my hand and pulled the covers off of my body.
“Where are you going?”
Damien’s question stopped me, and I turned to look at him. “Back to the guest room.”
“Stay.”
The gravity of that one word weighed on my shoulders as I placed the covers back where they were and laid down on the bed, just before Damien brought me into his arms.
13
Anais
I paced as my eyes darted back and forth between the clock on the wall and my laptop sitting on the coffee table. It was only a matter of time before I wore a hole in the soft carpet beneath my feet. I glanced at the door that led to Damien’s office before m
y eyes drifted back to the computer. Hopes that Damien would be able to sit in on this call had been dashed because a last-minute meeting pulled him away.
Dad was doing better since he had been released from the hospital. Damien set them up in a secret location in the Hamptons to keep them safe while Dad recuperated. Damien told me he was tacking that on to the list of things I owed him.
My nerves flipped around in my belly and I debated rescheduling, but I’d rather rip the Band-Aid off now. Another glance at the clock told me it was time. I walked over to the couch and sat down on the cool black leather seat before starting a video call with my parents.
“Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad.”
“Sweetie, how are you doing?”
I snapped my head back with my eyes open wide. Mom’s voice came through my laptop’s speakers loud and clear, with an emphasis on loud. My fingers rushed to turn the volume down and I bit my lip. I rubbed my hand down the side of my denim-clad leg. I could do this. “Good. How about you guys?”
“Not too bad, not too bad.” My father’s words temporarily put a grin on my face. He looked much better than he had when he was in the hospital after his surgery.
“How is physical therapy going?” I asked.
“Pretty good. Things are moving slowly, but there have been no setbacks so I can’t complain too much.”
“That’s good. You’ll be flying around like Superman in no time.”
My father chuckled. “If only.”
“What’s going on with you, Anais?”
Mom’s question didn’t surprise me. She could always tell when something was wrong, which made it hard to get away with some things as a teenager. “Well, I was hoping to tell you both something.”
My nervousness increased and I placed a hand on my knee to stop it from bouncing. I was scared to say the words, because there was no question what Dad’s reaction would be.
“I’m engaged.”
“You’re what?” Dad’s eyes widened as he tried to connect the dots. “We didn’t even know you were dating someone.”
Scarred Empire: An Enemies to Lovers Dark Billionaire Romance (Broken Cross Book 2) Page 7
