Covetous

by Natalie Bennett

  I sipped my drink and ignored the hungry stares of those trying to catch my eye.

  "Are you sure about this?"

  I glanced at my brother and gave a subtle nod. His green eyes were focused on a redhead's ass across the lawn.

  "When?" he asked next, still staring.

  "As soon as possible," I responded, just as quietly. This time, it was Jax who gave a subtle nod. He knew just as well as I did that this could get messy.

  Seth Borgia had been a thorn in our sides for far too long. It took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to take a hammer to his head. The last time I tried to kill the slimy bastard, everything went wrong.

  Too many innocent people were killed from my lack of planning. But that was then, and this was now. You couldn’t simply kill a founding Black Onyx member. I knew that now. Everything had been perfectly planned down to the last detail this time.

  My attention was snagged by the beautiful young woman going off on her own. Her hair was pinned up, and she was in another tight little dress. The blazing sun shined down on her, adding a glow to her smooth skin.

  Jax followed my line of vision. "What are you going to do with her?" The answer to his question was simple.

  I didn't take my eyes off her when I replied. "I'm going to do what I do best. I'm going to break her."

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Whoever thought it was a good idea to have an outdoor wedding in the middle of the summer needed to be bludgeoned.

  The white tented gazebo I stood under offered a slight bit of relief, but even with my hair pinned up and wearing a short strapless dress, perspiration coated my skin. I was ready to strip down and go dive in a lake.

  I had tried everything to get out of this, but my father was close with the bride's brother. So, here we were.

  Abigail had pretended her cycle had started. As soon as Seth heard the word period, he dropped the subject and told her she could stay home. Lucky bitch.

  Oh well, this was just another event I could claim I attended to atone for my past behavior. The wedding was over the top extravagant and a giant waste of money. The champagne fountains were a bit much, as were the wild doves still lurking about. The venue, though, was gorgeous. Lush green grass, beautifully designed centerpieces of white, blue, and silver, and the ocean as a backdrop.

  Too bad Lucy Tidwell was a tramp. Everyone knew this. Clearly the woman was doing something right because she still got a giant ring and a good husband. Go Lucy.

  "Rebel." Hearing his voice sent tremors of awareness racing along my skin.

  I cursed under my breath and turned to face him.

  My stomach did that stupid little dip it always did when I saw him. It couldn’t be helped. This man was gorgeous. He looked like he had just stepped off the pages of GQ magazine. He was in an immaculate navy tux, not a hair on his head out of place, and there wasn't a dribble of sweat on his tan skin. It was as if the sun had given him a reprieve from its wrath.

  "Do you need something?" I forced clipped politeness into my voice. Ever since he had shoved his fucking card down my top like I was some cheap call girl, I'd avoided him at large functions.

  "I have to want something to speak with you?" He sounded amused.

  "Well, I guess not." With a shrug, I looked out at the water, wishing he wasn't standing so damn close. I could feel his eyes on me, and it was unnerving.

  "Actually, I was wondering why I haven't heard from you." He circled around so that we were even closer, face to face once more.

  "Are you serious?" This was rhetorical.

  Pierce didn't have a filter. If he wanted to fuck you, he'd tell you. Checking our surroundings, I saw no one was paying any attention to us, other than a mousey brunette.

  "You're right, you deserve better than that."

  "Better than what?"

  "You deserve more than me bending you over my dining room table and fucking you after I bury my face between your thighs to savor your pussy."

  Our eyes locked, and my mouth turned into the desert. What could be better than what he just described? Why was I even wondering? God, why couldn't I have been a shy little virgin and ran away blushing?

  Why did I want him to fuck me against a wall while I left scratch marks down his back? The visual alone almost caused me to moan. It didn't help any that his voice was smooth as honey, wrapped up in a masculine bow. This is so wrong.

  "Wow. So, what do I deserve, then?" I quirked a brow and tried to pretend he had no effect on me. My hardened nipples and racing pulse said otherwise. Pierce smirked and made a humming sound.

  "We can start with me eating your pussy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Massaging every part of your body after you've had a long day. And for me to bury myself so deep inside you that the only thing you'll be able to say is my name." He leaned so close to my face I could smell the liquor on his breath. I'm almost positive I'd stopped breathing altogether. My pussy was weeping at the unfairness of it all.

  Based on the cocky smile that spread across Pierce's face, he knew exactly what he was doing to me. Not caring who saw me at this point, I stepped forward, so our bodies pressed together. I tried to ignore the feel of his cock pressing against my lower stomach as I rose on my tiptoes so I could whisper in his ear.

  "My panties would literally be soaking right now because of you, but sadly, I'm not wearing any."

  Without waiting to see his reaction, I brushed past him and headed back towards the crowd of wedding guests. I knew I was flirting with disaster, but I no longer gave a shit.

  Crickets chirped, fireflies buzzed about, and the wedding still raged on. I'd danced with a bunch of suits, the bride, and took some complimentary shots before wandering off.

  I had my heels in one hand and a glass of coke and rum in the other. No one cared if I drank; I could do almost anything aside from selling my ass for dollar bills, and no one would bat an eye. I wandered off to another private gazebo, seeking some quiet and a place to rest without being bombarded by stupid questions.

  I got a solid ten minutes of the peace I was seeking before footsteps alerted me that I had company. Without opening my eyes, I knew it was him. His cologne gave him away every time.

  "I'm starting to think you're following me, Pierce." Opening my eyes, I was met with a sexy grin.

  He lifted my outstretched legs from the wooden bench and sat down, settling them on his lap.

  "Maybe I am. Does that bother you?" He rested a hand on my knee land I had to suppress a shudder.

  "Um…no?" I hadn't expected him to admit or reply to that.

  "Even if you hated it, I couldn't stop. Your father asked me to keep an eye on you," he confessed, starting to trace imaginary patterns into my skin.

  "I'm not a little kid," I sighed, fighting off a groan. His fingers were heavenly.

  "I think that's the point. You’ve always been a handful. I suspect that’s only gotten worse. And should you really be drinking?" His brows raised when he realized I had a glass of liquor in my hand.

  "Don't worry, Pierce. I'm not going to try and straddle you again."

  "That's a shame. I swore you said you didn't have anything on under your dress."

  A laugh slipped out. "When did it become appropriate for us to talk like this? If you think this is going to make me email you, it's not."

  "I already told you, you deserve more than that. And we've never been appropriate. Do you remember the fair?"

  "Oh, my God." I covered my face with my hands to hide my grin.

  "You challenged me to see who could win the most prizes." His smile was infectious, his eyes swallowing me. I probably should have removed his hand from my legs, been terrified of being caught like this. But I didn't. I wasn’t. I liked this. It had been so long since we'd sat and talked to one another‑‑ though before, we weren't throwing out sexual flirtations.

  "I remember. You cheated by intimidating everyone."

  I laughed, remembering the way he walked right up to the vendors and demanded the bigg
est prizes they had. Those poor men and women were terrified.

  At the end of the day, all I had was a penguin whose eye was about to pop off, and a permanent glare on my face.

  The other suits thought this turn of events was hilarious. I'd been pissed up until Pierce gave me every single prize and bought me a funnel cake loaded with powdered sugar goodness. I still had all twenty-six stuffed animals in the back of my closet.

  "I liked seeing you smile." He looked at me and all the oxygen evaporated from the air. This was the laid-back Pierce. The one I adored when he let his devil horns disappear for a while.

  "Well, I like when you decide to smile. Your sexy smile, though, not your demented one." Did I really just say that?

  "You’re sweet, Rebel." He looked at me with a warmth in his eyes I'd never seen before. His hand started to move up my leg, gradually growing closer to the hem of my dress.

  Stop him. I didn't.

  I kept my eyes locked with his before dropping them to his lips. I could always blame it on the alcohol, right? Leaning forward, I reached out and rested a hand on his cheek. He turned his head and kissed my open palm.

  My heart was pounding in my chest. I so badly wanted him to touch me. Wanted him period. Gripping his hand, I slid it all the way up my thigh, straight to where I wanted him.

  "Little minx," he teased, wasting no time rubbing his fingers up and down my slit.

  Somehow, I did end up straddling him.

  Not sure how that happened.

  I sucked in a quiet breath as his fingers pushed inside me.

  The slight stretching sensation gradually faded as he began to move them at a steady pace. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth to stop moans from spilling out of my mouth, burying my face in the crook of his neck, gripping his suit tightly in my hands.

  "Fuck, your pussy is drenched," he murmured.

  I breathed him in, the smell driving me that much more insane. If this made me a whore, then I would wear that badge with a smile on my face. This, what we were doing, it could get me locked away on an island somewhere and him a bullet to the head. The thrill of being caught by someone while I straddled him, and his fingers pumped in and out of me pushed me closer to climax.

  "Pierce," I breathed into his ear.

  I moved my hand and gripped his hard cock through his slacks. Things were about to take a whole new turn.

  We probably would have gone at it right on the bench, but a voice calling his name shattered the moment.

  "Pierce?" Millie, the brunette that had been watching us from before, called out to him. Pierce pulled his fingers from me and sucked them into his mouth. My own mouth parted as I watched him.

  He lifted me up and sat me back down on the bench beside him, quickly adjusting my dress and then himself. I clenched my teeth, felling my pussy quivering. I was so close.

  "There you are. What are you two doing out here?" Millie sauntered up to us with an oblivious smile on her face. She took Pierce's arm and gave him a look that was meant just for him. I studied her critically. She had chocolate brown hair and green eyes, a killer set of breasts, and legs for days.

  I was pissed I wasn't going to be Millie tonight.

  I could feel Pierce's eyes on me, but I couldn't meet them. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know they were leaving together.

  "I was just checking on her before I left. Are you ready to go?" He played off what we had really been up to effortlessly.

  "Yep. Goodnight, Willow." Millie gave me a little wave and let Pierce escort her away. He didn't look back once.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Abigail's laughter broke the stare down I was in with Pierce and pulled my attention back to the present.

  My sister smirked at me with thinly veiled amusement written across her face.

  "Did you hear anything I said? Or were you mentally undressing your Adonis the whole time?"

  "He deserves to be mentally undressed," I shot back, unashamed that I'd been caught staring.

  We hadn't spoken alone since the night of the Tidwell’s’ wedding almost two months ago.

  "I second that statement," Abigail agreed, raising her glass of champagne and winking at me. I shook my head and hid my smile.

  We were at the tenth-anniversary dinner for Vitech, the company Seth and Jackson Serban had been in the process of investing in together before he was murdered. It was another big cover up venture to make illegal things look legal.

  I did my best act in pretending I wanted to be there, trying to ignore that a man I was borderline obsessed with was in the room. It irked me to no end how much he occupied my thoughts when he should have never been in them in the first place.

  I didn't even know how old he was. Close to thirty, I imagined.

  I was careful to never discuss him with my sister around Seth. That would bring a whole shit storm spinning into my life I wasn't prepared for.

  Our eyes met again, and I held his gaze this time for a few seconds. We seemed to be having a private conversation without either of us saying a word. Everyone and everything faded into the background.

  Maybe that was it; so many suits were cloned copies of one another. Pierce stood out. He wasn't like anyone else around us. He was a wolf in a room full of sheep.

  The mousey brunette from the wedding, Millie, was the one who broke our connection. She walked right up to him and laid a well-manicured hand on his arm. His mouth moved and a few seconds later, she tossed her head back and laughed.

  There was a slight pang in my chest I brushed off as annoyance with myself for being so attracted to him.

  I wasn’t jealous. Not at all.

  Pierce pulled his phone out and looked down at the screen, before slipping out of the room with the brunette in tow. I glanced over into Abigail's hazel eyes and a knowing look passed between us.

  "Let's go check out the dessert table," she smiled and took my hand to lead me across the room.

  "I'll handle Vitech; you just worry about not fucking this up." Pierce's harsh whisper had me freezing outside of the ladies’ room. What did he mean by he’d handle Vitech?

  The hall was dark enough that I could slide down the wall and peer around the corner.

  Pierce's back was to me, and he was walking the opposite direction. I waited a few minutes before making a stealthy dash to catch up with him. His pace was brisk and trying to speed walk in heels was slowing me down.

  He suddenly stopped, and I quickly ducked down behind an office cubicle. Did he know I was behind him? I breathed out a nervous sigh of relief when I heard the elevator doors ding open, and he got on. As soon as the doors slid shut, I crawled out from my hiding place and made a beeline for the stairs, making note of the floor number he was trying to get to.

  Level thirteen? What would he be going up there for? Saying screw the heels, I slid them off and left them behind, forcing myself to ignore how dirty the tiled stairs were.

  By the time I hit the eighth level, I was thoroughly regretting my decision.

  My chest was heaving, and I was more or less dragging myself up using the thin railing. This was karma for all the nights Abigail and I had gotten way too drunk and stuffed our faces with greasy pizza and fudge brownies.

  When I finally got to the thirteenth floor, I realized how dumb my whole mini mission had been. I had no idea where Pierce would have gone. No lights were coming from any of the private offices, and all the doors were shut. With a groan, I slid down the wall and pulled my aching legs to my chest.

  "While I appreciate the view, I have to ask. What are you doing up here?"

  I jumped out of my skin, lifting my head to see Pierce casually leaning against the wall a few feet away from me, making no attempt to hide the fact he was staring between my legs. Right at my pink thong.

  Hastily rising to my feet, I tugged my navy dress down and glared at him.

  "Funny. I was going to ask what you are doing up here?"

  Based on the look that came across his face, Pierce didn't like being i
gnored or questioned.

  "I have an office up here. Now, I will ask you again. What are you doing up here?"

  “An office?”

  "I own the building.”

  Is that why my dad was so eager to invest? I needed way more information than I had, and the only man privy to all the shit I wanted to know was right across from me.

  Seth surely wasn't going to tell me. If he found out what I was up to, he'd lock me inside the house and never let me back out. Or put another embarrassingly obvious detail on me again.

  "I was looking for you," I finally answered, with much more confidence than I felt.

  "Really? After we've been looking at each other all night?" Pierce drawled sarcastically.

  What a smartass.

  "I can't talk to you?" I went for a flirty approach. Maybe not the wisest choice, but it was better than blurting out I knew he was up to something and was going to find out what. Whereas most people were terrified of Pierce, I wasn't. My stupid brain wouldn't allow it.

  He emanated raw power, and there was something a little twisted lurking in his eyes. Maybe I was a glutton for punishment, because I wanted to find out just how twisted it was.

  Pierce looked me over with a slow perusal, one that had my blood rushing through my veins. He removed his hands from his pockets and moved forward in a predatory way, placing them on either side of me, effectively caging me in.

  I pushed my head back against the wall, as if that would put some space between our nearly touching lips. His breath smelled strongly of peppermints, with a faint trace of whiskey. My imagination ran wild as I felt his muscular body through the fabric of his clothes and stared up into his gorgeous eyes.

  Taking slow, even breaths, I struggled not to breathe directly into his face, mortified my breath would smell like the peanut butter cookies I'd been eating all night. My tongue darted out and swiped over my bottom lip. Pierce's eyes tracked the movement.