Midnight Seduction (Midnight Dynasty Book 1)

by CR Robertson

  “What have we done?” she groaned when we finally broke apart.

  “No regrets, beautiful. You’re mine now and nothing is going to stop me being with you.”

  Her eyes widened as she stared at me in confusion.

  I slid her glasses off. “Something tells me these aren’t real, although as a prop they’re definitely hot.”

  “Zee, we can’t.”

  “Cas, I hate to point this out, but we already did. Multiple times.” I stared at her until she lay limp on her desk with my cock still lodged in her. If she kept pursing her lips like that, he’d be ready for round two soon.

  “Be honest, Cas. Do you really want me to let you go again? Tell me you haven’t thought of me once and I’ll walk away.” It was a lie, there was no way I was ever letting her go. I wasn’t strong enough to let it happen a second time.

  She finally met my eyes. “I’ve thought about you constantly since our last night together. But we don’t know each other, and now you’re my firm’s client.”

  “If that’s your only objection then we can get to know each other, and I can move the deal somewhere else.”

  “No! Al worked hard for this deal.”

  I remembered her talking in the darkness. She’d been the one to do all the work. My lips tipped up in a smile. “I can’t believe I found you, I wasn’t even going to come to this meeting today.”

  Her lips quirked in reply, our eyes locked. Fuck, she was beautiful.

  I couldn’t stop my gaze running down her body to watch as I pulled out of her, my cum escaping her pussy.

  Cas squirmed. “I’ll need to clean up. Now I know what they’re talking about in the romance novels when the heroine runs off to the bathroom.”

  “Stop!”

  Her body froze and she looked around in confusion. Spreading her legs, I watched the mark of my ownership leak from her.

  I leaned over her until the tips of our noses were touching. “I’ve never ejaculated inside anyone before, Cas. My essence running down your leg is sexy as hell. The thought of you sitting there filled with my cum makes me want you all over again.”

  “What if someone knows?” Her voice was breathy and the way her pulse picked up when I kissed her neck told me she was as aroused as me.

  My hands held her wrists like cuffs to imprison them above her head. “Cassandra, let me clue you in to how this works. I’m a possessive bastard and I protect what’s mine. You were mine the first time we had sex and I took you to my private room. No woman has ever made it in there before.”

  Her jaw dropped before it snapped shut and she swallowed.

  “I searched for you everywhere after that first night, not touching another woman. No one knows my name down there and I have never arranged to meet someone in The Midnight Rooms. They’re there for casual sex and chance encounters.”

  She opened her mouth, and I shook my head in warning.

  “There was nothing casual about our encounters, Cas. I haven’t kissed a woman in years and then you wandered into my life and destroyed my control.”

  A tear escaped to trail down her cheek.

  “Give me a chance to prove to you that this can work, baby. All you need to do is trust me because I’ll never let anything happen to you.”

  “I want to, Zee. God, I want to, but…” My finger on her lips stopped her.

  “No buts, beautiful. We’re the same people who opened their souls to each other in the dark. Now we do it in the light. Just trust me.”

  Pulling her up, I straightened her panties and skirt. She was even sexier now that her cheeks were flushed and her nipples were rock hard under that red silk. Cas clamped her legs together and my hands cupped her ass to drag her against me. I knew she was uncomfortable because she could feel my cum leaking from her.

  “Keep it in there, baby, I intend to top it up later.” I peppered kisses on her lips until her mouth opened to grant me access. Even though I wanted to kiss her all day, I knew our time was limited before people were searching for us. Reluctantly, I stepped back and slid my phone from my pocket.

  “I need your number and your address.” I stared at her until she blinked.

  “I…” She cleared her throat. “I’m changing my number, so I have it turned off.”

  My eyes narrowed in warning. When she glanced away, my fingers on her chin brought her gaze back to mine. “What happened?”

  “Just leave it, Zee. Some guy got my number and has been sending me inappropriate pictures.”

  Some asshole had been sending my woman dick pics, upsetting her and putting a shadow in her eyes. I wanted to find him and kick his ass.

  “Give me your address and I’ll pick you up at seven.” The way her lips pursed before she opened them to speak said she was about to argue. “Everyone has to eat, and since you like old buildings and architecture, I have somewhere I want to show you.”

  Cas gave me her best glare which make my lips twitch. She was a little kitten compared to some of the badasses I’d dealt with in the past. “Do you ever take no for an answer?”

  “Not when I find something I want.” I stalked forward as she took small steps back. “You’re about to find out that when I set my sights on what I want, nothing stops me from getting it.”

  Her back hit the wall and my gaze dropped to her breasts rising and falling rapidly.

  “You had one chance to walk away, but now you’re mine, Cas.” To drive home my point, my lips slammed into hers, my tongue taking control of her mouth, and I pinned her hands against the wall. She moaned, her back arching.

  My phone bleeped, meaning Ash and Jordan couldn’t hold my father off any longer. “Tonight?” I whispered.

  Cassandra nodded, her eyes heavy with desire.

  I typed her address into my phone and straightened my suit as she wiped lipstick from my mouth, grabbing one last, hard kiss before I turned toward the door.

  “Cas?” She glanced up from where she stood with her hands braced on her desk. “Wear something warm.”

  I winked at her and slipped out through the door.

  ***

  Chapter Twenty

  Cassandra

  Every instinct inside me screamed to run away from the man who spelled danger with every movement of his body. The trouble was that his danger excited me. I’d noticed the guys when they walked in, each of them gorgeous in their own way, but there was something about the way Zee, or should I say Xavier, held himself that marked him as the alpha of the group.

  The fact that he recognised my voice and followed me here made my heart beat faster.

  “What are you doing?” I groaned, burying my head in my hands.

  After pacing up and down in my office for twenty minutes, I phoned Megan, who arrived in under a minute. Even though I was pissed at her, every girl needed her best friend in a moment of crisis. After listening and chewing the side of her mouth, she told me to take a chance. She didn’t approve of relationships in The Midnight Rooms, but those rules no longer applied.

  Needing time to think and try and sort out my feelings, I slipped away early while Megan covered for me. No man had ever been inside me without protection, yet I let Xavier without protest. Either I was losing my mind, or he was right and neither of us could fight this.

  My apartment felt empty for the first time. It had always been my haven, the place that was exclusively mine. Now I stared at it through new eyes and saw that I’d created a fortress against the world. Everything in it had been placed with precision and purpose, every book standing to attention, every mug sitting with their handles in the same direction. I could control my emotions here because everything else was orderly.

  Lost in my thoughts, I wandered into the bedroom. Carl used to undress and leave his clothes on the chair by the door, roll a condom on and climb into my bed. The sheets and duvet were rarely disturbed by the end, and the only mess I needed to clean was the excess lubricant I’d squirted into my lady bits before he arrived.

  Xavier had pinned me to my
desk and fucked me until I wanted to scream his name. His semen was stuck to my thighs and waxed pussy. He was a tornado that ripped my restraints and barriers away. He took what he wanted and made no apologies for it.

  You’re mine now and nothing is going to stop me being with you. His words replayed in my head. Xavier was right, he was the only man I wanted to be with. As soon as his lips touched mine earlier, I’d been lost. In the past, I’d spent months with men who didn’t evoke the reactions in me that Xavier did.

  I threw myself onto my bed, covering my face with my arms. What was I going to do?

  Take a chance… a little voice in my head whispered.

  Walking away once nearly killed me. Xavier had the potential to destroy me.

  He has the potential to love you…

  I unpinned my hair and it cascaded down in messy curls. Part of me was tempted by a shower, but the other part of me wanted to obey Xavier and leave his mark on me. If I was going to try and make this work, I needed to set aside all my fears and phobias. He needed to see the real me, not the professional woman I created to hide behind.

  When I opened the door to him an hour later, I was dressed in tight jeans and knee-high boots with a loose cashmere jumper.

  A slow grin curved his full lips as he ran an appreciative gaze over me. “I was terrified you gave me a false address,” he admitted. “You look fantastic.”

  I slowly gave him the once-over. His soft faded jeans hung low on his hips, a white T-shirt peeking over the top of a black sweatshirt. His black hair had a wind-swept quality that made me want to smooth it into place.

  “You don’t look too bad yourself. Come in until I get my coat.”

  Xavier grabbed me as soon as he was inside. “I’ve been sitting outside for half an hour because I couldn’t stay away,” he muttered against my ear, his chest flush with my back.

  “You should have come up, you could have helped me dress…”

  His hands slid around my waist to span my stomach. “We both know if given the choice I wouldn’t let you put clothes on.” He nuzzled my neck. “Tell me you didn’t wash.”

  I knew what he wanted to know. “Your mark is still on me.” That didn’t mean I hadn’t changed my panties and given myself a quick freshen up down below.

  His lips twitched on my sensitive skin before his teeth grazed over my flesh. “You’re driving me crazy. Let’s go before I decide to take you in every room in your apartment.”

  My thighs tightened at that suggestion. I certainly wouldn’t object.

  Outside sat a huge, shiny black motorbike. I didn’t know what to expect, but this hadn’t been anywhere near my list. A tremor of fear and excitement in equal measure made my heart flutter.

  “I’ve never been on a bike before,” I whispered, my hand seeking his.

  “All you need to do is hold on tight, baby, and we both know you can do that.”

  Xavier fitted my helmet, his teeth skimming his bottom lip as he concentrated. He flung a muscular leg over the metal beast and beckoned me over to climb on behind him. Terror curled up my spine and settled in my chest.

  “Just wrap your arms around me and hold on,” he said before snapping his visor shut.

  My pelvis settled behind his, my body moulding around him until I gripped him with my arms and knees. Xavier gave my hands a squeeze before he started the engine. It vibrated under us, sending pulses through my flesh and deep into my core. Without warning, he moved the kickstand up and pushed us into movement. My eyes squeezed shut and my fingers grabbed the soft leather of his jacket.

  My body contracted around him as I desperately tried not to fall off. After the first few bends, I relaxed my boa constrictor hold on him and naturally started to sway with Xavier and the movement of the bike. In the end, I even started to look around me, as curiosity got the better of me. We crossed an old-fashioned stone-cobbled bridge that belonged in a period drama.

  Time became irrelevant as I lost myself in the new experience. It sounded silly, but I’d expected him to take me to a restaurant somewhere like any other dates I’d had. I should have known Xavier would do something different.

  He stopped at a set of new metal gates attached to old stone gateposts. A gatehouse sat inside the perimeter. Red lights flashed on the device at the side before the gate gradually swung open to admit us.

  His bike slowly crunched over the driveway until an old house came into view. It reminded me of something in an Austen novel, with the moon emerging from behind clouds to illuminate it. Xavier stopped his bike at the bottom of a sweeping stone staircase up to the property. He climbed off the bike before coming to help me.

  My legs resembled jelly after clinging onto him for so long, the quirk of his lips telling me he knew exactly what my symptoms were. Xavier released my hair from the confines of the helmet, his fingers combing through it as he grinned down at me. I’d discovered the real Xavier in the darkness and now I was finding out who he was in the light.

  He wasn’t the man the tabloids made him out to be. A quick Google search when I got home had me groaning and hiding behind a pillow. There was no way I belonged in his life or him in mine. That didn’t mean that my heart felt the same way. My body certainly didn’t.

  “Where are we?” I asked, linking my arm into his to support my trembling legs.

  “I bought this a few years ago after finding it on a bike ride. No one knows that I own it. The place was falling down, the garden in ruins, but it called to me. I tracked down the owner and we came to a deal since he couldn’t afford to maintain it. Every year, I fix something else in it. Some of it has been fully modernised and other parts still need a huge amount of work. Since you like old buildings, I thought you’d like to see it.”

  The building was beautiful, with the original architecture and unique artistry still in place. Cherubs stared down at us from their resting places here and there.

  “It’s beautiful,” I whispered.

  Every aspect of Xavier I discovered made him more and more perfect.

  I could see the sections of the house that still needed a lot of work, but as we wandered inside, the areas that had been reconstructed had preserved all the original details. This was a home that should be filled with children and laughter.

  The massive kitchen had been fitted with modern appliances, but in a way that they were almost hidden to make it look authentic.

  “Do you like it?” Xavier asked, a strange emotion burning in his eyes.

  “You have no idea how much.” My fingers trailed over the black marble counter.

  A slow, sensual smile curved his lips that made my heart skip a beat. “I come here to hide from the world. Everyone expects me to be the person they want, but here I can be the person I am.”

  His words echoed what he’d told me in The Midnight Rooms. The world saw Xavier Bartholomew, but very few people saw Zee. His smile became infectious and an echoing one appeared on my lips until we were standing sharing one of those moments that would live in my memory.

  “Come on, let’s make dinner,” Xavier said, moving around his kitchen with familiarity.

  Here was another aspect of this complicated man. He chopped the ingredients for a stir-fry with a competence that said he knew his way around a kitchen.

  “Do you cook a lot?” I asked, popping onto a stool to watch him at the cooker.

  Xavier shrugged. “I hated the glorified nannies Dad employed when I was home from school, so I spent most of my time with the housekeeper in the kitchen. To keep me from under her feet, she put my hands to work.”

  “The media portrays you as a party animal who spends his spare time frolicking with models in the sun.” It was petty, but some of the stuff I’d read earlier evoked the green-eyed monster in me.

  His lips twitched. “Do a little research?”

  Pinching my fingers together, I stared at him. “Maybe a little.”

  His deep chuckle washed over me. “Jordan organises most of those leaked photos to keep the real photographers
away from us. The best way to stay hidden from the press is to give them juicy gossip to feast on.”

  Propping my elbows on the counter, I rested my head on my hands. “Is life in the public eye terrible?”

  “Sometimes,” he replied before taking a deep breath. “There are times when you need it to launch a new business, but it’s a two-edged sword. The press is there, even when you don’t want them. Over the years, Ash, Jordan, and I have devised options to ensure we have private lives while remaining in the public eye.”

  Every second I spent with him dragged me deeper into this whirlpool of emotions that bound us together. I was drowning and there didn’t seem to be any life preservers for me to cling onto.

  “Dinner’s ready.” Xavier filled black plates with steaming noodles, vegetables, and chicken. He deftly lifted two bottles of beer from the fridge and flipped the caps off them.

  “If you keep feeding me, I’ll get fat,” I pointed out, nodding at the heaped plates of food.

  “I’ll just have to ensure you burn off the calories later.” He winked before carrying the plates to a table in a sunroom area off the kitchen.

  Lifting the bottles of beer, I followed him, admiring the view of his ass in the faded jeans that clung to him in all the right places.

  I kept expecting the conversation to dry up or the awkwardness to set in, but it never happened. We talked and laughed, each of us bouncing off each other as we shared stories from our pasts the same way we had in the darkness. I’d walked away because I’d been terrified that what we found would never translate into a relationship in the light.

  Instead, I had fun and enjoyed every moment in Xavier’s company. He was intelligent and funny, laughing at himself in his tales. The arrogant businessman didn’t exist in his home, only the warm man who was slowly claiming my heart. Dinner disappeared too soon, the huge plate I complained about a delicious cacophony of flavours that tempted my palate into eating all of it.

  I lifted the plates from the table to rinse them off since Xavier had cooked and he followed me back into the kitchen.