I forced my eyes open.
“No. It was what you wanted. If you didn’t, you would have said no.” He lowered his lips to mine. “I respect ‘no,’ Brenda. I don’t respect ‘oh my god.’ In fact, I take the latter as one hell of a fucking compliment.”
“It is most definitely a compliment.” I smiled wearily. “But where the hell did the bullet come from?”
He grabbed it from the floor with a smirk and tucked it into his pants pocket. “Black trousers hide a multitude of sins, luckily for us.”
“Black is slimming.” I sat up straight and tucked the napkin into the pocket of my purse. “What?” I asked at Ivan’s amused look. “You think I want some waiter touching a napkin covered in my cum?”
“I’m not amused because you’re putting it in there. I’m amused because you’re learning.” He grinned against my
I swallowed twice. His card. Right. For lingerie. And shoes. And a dress. I rubbed my nose.“Well?” Day half-winced.“Um, what?”I folded the note into quarters and tucked it into my purse then grabbed my wallet and slipped my card into it.“Why aren’t you going batshit motherfucking crazy?”I sighed heavily and looked at her. “What can I do, really? He’s even more persistent and controlling than Aaron—but not in a bad way. And hey, if he’s telling me to buy things that will ultimately get me fucked, who am I to complain?”Dayton raised her eyebrows and opened her car door. I got out on my side and looked up. The Arc de Triomphe towers above us. I knew this place. The Champs-Élysées. The most expensive street in the world.My best friend stared at me for a long moment before we start walking. “I’m not sure what he’s doing to you, bu
I was going to make sure the shoot is nothing but pure torture for him.I shoved my clothes in one of my bags and wrestled myself into my coat. The bones of the light-pink corset dug in as I contort my body to maneuver myself into the thick fabric of my coat. One of the straps clipped to the top of one of my stockings comes undone, and Dayton reached over and redid it.“Here,” she said. “Do this and they’ll stay on. The trick of the trade.” She did some odd fabric thing I’ll never remember and orders me to turn over so she can do the back ones. I let her do it.“Thanks.” I threw her a smile as we pulled up outside the hotel.“Have fun.” She grinned and waved as she drove away.Okay. Bathroom.I entered the hotel lobby and detoured the restrooms to the right. I tugged my makeup from my purse and did a quick touch-up, making sure I didn’t have stray mascara or bronzer anywhere.
I lied back down and slid the thong over my hips and down my legs. I kicked it off my ankles and it landed…well, somewhere. I couldn’t see.“I want to see you running your hands down your body. I want to see you palm your gorgeous tits and tease your nipples until they’re hard. That’s it. Just like that.”I parted my lips as I rolled each nipple between my thumb and finger. A dull, desperate throb started in my clit. It was begging me to touch it the way I was touching my nipples.“Keep one hand there, teasing your tit, and slide the other down your stomach. I want you to imagine me watching. I want you to remember what you saw a few days ago, the way I looked at you when I walked into your hotel room. Remember how much I want you and how desperate I am to touch you myself. Now slide your fingers over that smooth mound and find your clit. Now rub.”I couldn’t breathe. Goose pimples were covering my sk
Lying on the bed on my stomach, with my chin propped on my hands and my legs kicking in the air behind me, I watched Ivan navigate the room with ease. He was conveniently forgotten how to put on a T-shirt, it seemed. Again. Not that it was a bad sight. The muscles in his back rippled as he bent over to pack his suitcase. His biceps flexed, and when he stood up, he stretched up tall. The smattering of hair that ran down the center of his stomach joined with the top of his pubic hair. Hair that was in my view thanks to his stretch. “Ivan?” “Yep?” “You know how you love challenges?” He paused, bending at the waist, and looked at me over his shoulder. “Only if it’s you challenging me.” “You know how you have to do it every time?” “Where are you going with this?” I tilted my head to the side. “I challenge you not to give me an orgasm for twenty-four hours.” He raised his eyebrows and turned back to what he was doing.
I said nothing, letting the moment linger. Letting his words hover between us, embracing them, holding on to them…getting addicted to them. To the underlying current of power in every syllable. To the smooth way he strung them all together and the way he never stopped to take a breath. To the inflection in the word ‘yours.’ Addicted to the way he didn’t have to think for a second about saying them. Addicted to the way they were making me feel. Safe. Warm. Cherished. Protected. Owned. I took a deep breath that shuddered through my body. The combination of his breath mingling with mine and the tingle of his palm against my neck was heady and intoxicating. The dizzy from his words and the response they’d elicited inside me, I wanted to give in. I wanted to tell him yes. I wanted to tell him we could do that. That, despite our addictions, two opposite poles, we could make it work. But I didn’t. I couldn’t—because I
“I’m not afraid of relationships. I have an addiction to sex, not a phobia of commitment.” His words stung. They did. Right from my head to my toes. “But yes. That’s the main reason I never pursued a relationship in London. Everyone there knew who I was and what I was worth. Here in Seattle, well. I guess I just never found someone worth having a relationship for.” His gaze burning into me. “Until now,” he finished. “I wish I could be that girl.” My words were so quiet that they were practically a whisper. It was true. I wished I weren’t afraid. I wished I could tackle him with the impulsiveness I tackled Aaron’s new bar with. I wished I could throw every piece of bullshit away and gave him the thing he wanted because He deserved it. He deserved happiness. He deserved smiles and security and certainty. Something I couldn’t offer. Ivan reached across the table and linked his fingers through mine. He lifted our ha
I stifled a yawn as I followed Aaron around the new bar. They landed back in Seattle minutes after Ivan and I did, and Day took one look at me and told Aaron to bring me there.She’d taken Ivan to get coffee, and I sworn, if she was pulling her matchmaking shit, I would kill her.“What do you think?” Aaron asked.I looked around the building. Then, it was carnage in there. Builders were everywhere. There was dust and wooden planks and whatever in every single possible place. But looking at the plans in my hand—Aaron’s vision—I saw it.“I think it’s gonna be the best damn cocktail bar in the city,” I said honestly.“Good answer.” He grinned. “It should be ready to go in two weeks. When do you have to tell Donny you’re leaving?”“I’ll go by when I leave here and tell him. I’ll give him a week’s notice then take a week off.”
“I don’t know his past and he doesn’t know mine.”“Because you’re refusing to talk about it. Yeah, we talk. Just because we’re guys doesn’t mean we don’t talk about this shit. I called him a hundred times with Dayton—he’s more like my brother than anything. I know how he feels about you, Brenda. He’s told me. And let me tell you if you’d asked me six months ago if I ever thought he’d be this serious about a woman, I would have laughed at you.” His lips twitch. “I did laugh when he told me. I thought he was kidding, but he isn’t.”“It’s not just a snap decision. I can’t clap my hands together and know. I’m not holding off to protect myself. I’m doing it to protect him.”“Ivan’s a big boy. He can protect himself. I’ve seen him do it several times.”I put my face in my hands then ran my finger