SEAL'd Heart

by Alice Ward

He smiled — a real smile. “I hope today made you happy.”

  “It did,” I sincerely said, and as the words came out, I realized that the best part of the day hadn’t been all the shopping or the Broadway show. It had been getting to be with him. One day with Niall Lambert hadn’t revealed a crazy amount about him — he was still the reserved and calculating man I initially took him to be — but it had served to show me a bit more. He was a good listener, for one. And he was constantly aware of my presence, my safety. When we were out about the city he never once took his eyes off of me. At the show, he’d kept his palm on my back, guiding me through the crowd, parting it when necessary. There was a deep attentiveness to him that was calming.

  When the weekend ended, I would miss it.

  I bit my bottom lip. I couldn’t think about that. One weekend. That was all we had agreed to.

  After that, it would probably be best if I didn’t see him again, other than when he came in for the occasional dinner at Kristopher’s. The whole situation between us was too unorthodox for me to see how it could possibly lead somewhere good.

  Remember, I told myself. A man like Niall Lambert doesn’t do girlfriends.

  Niall stopped right in front of me. I tilted my chin up to look him square in the face. For a moment, he gazed back but then his chin dropped as his eyes swept down my body.

  “Take your clothes off,” he commanded.

  I swallowed hard, anticipation rising. So what if the weekend would be over soon? Right now was what was important, and right now I wanted to discover just what else Niall could offer me — what he had to give that didn’t involve diamonds and private jets to other cities.

  I did as he instructed, dropping each article of clothing at my feet. Niall growled at the sight of me fully naked in front of him, the noise making goosebumps rise all over my skin. He stepped forward, cupping my breasts in both his hands and rolling the erect nipples between his fingers.

  “Lay down,” he said, his voice husky.

  I went backwards onto the bed, sad to have his hands off of me, but knowing there was so much more to come.

  “All the way back,” he said.

  I scooted back and settled myself near the headboard. Niall went around the side of the bed and opened up the side table’s drawer to pull out a long piece of red silk.

  “Hands above your head,” he said.

  I followed orders, my heart thrumming away as he tied my hands to the headboard. I burned to know what was next, but also loved the mystery. Niall gave the silk a tug, making sure it was tight around my wrists. He dove his hand back into the drawer and pulled out some sort of leather whip looking thing with tassels at the end. Painstakingly slowly, he trailed it down my side, making me shiver as it got closer and closer to my hips.

  Going even slower, he ran the tassels across my hips, teasing my swollen clit. I whimpered, but Niall acted like he didn’t notice, instead trailing the leather up the other side of my body. The bed shifted under his weight as he climbed on the mattress to straddle me, he fully clothed and me fully naked.

  With a small but quick movement, he slapped the leather against my mound. I cried out, the sensation a combination of both pain and pleasure. I wanted him to do it again, but I also couldn’t stand for him to.

  Niall seemed to read my mind. “More?”

  I nodded. He complied, striking me again. And again. And again. I gasped for air, trying to stop myself from begging for him to enter me.

  Niall dropped the whip and slowly began to undress, the bed creaking more as he removed his clothes and tossed them on the floor. The muscles of his arms and chest cut the air, as chiseled as the diamonds he’d bought me earlier. His cock stood to attention, thick and smooth. I longed to touch it and even wriggled some to try and move my arms. They were securely fastened, though, and there was no hope of getting away.

  Niall trailed his fingers across my stomach and over my breasts, teasing one then the other. He grabbed one nipple and twisted it. I cried out, the shock of pain more than anything he’d yet given me.

  Niall cocked an eyebrow, halfway questioning. But I said nothing. Instead, I just waited for more. Without warning, his hand came up and slapped the undersides of my breasts. His hand was quickly replaced by his tongue, soothing me, taking my nipple into his mouth before biting down, causing me to scream in delicious agony.

  Over and over, pain danced with pleasure. Teeth replaced by tongue. Stinging slaps replaced by soothing caresses. Harsh words softened by calming whispers.

  I writhed on the bed, needing to get away one instant then arching for more the next. I was nearly sobbing from it all when he leaned over me and reached into the drawer again, but instead of another toy, out came a condom. He sheathed himself, sweat already trickling down his brow, his breathing labored.

  He entered me with a vicious force, driving all the way to the end of me. I cried out as he conquered my body, the action of his pummeling knocking my head against the bed board.

  Niall sat back on his heels, watching his cock move in and out of me. One palm came down, and he smacked my clit. I shut my eyes and moaned, unable to take it all. With a vicious shaking, I exploded, the orgasm pummeling through me.

  Niall groaned and plunged harder into me, the sounds of our bodies slapping together filling the room. With a curse, he stilled. Our heavy breathing filled the room, joining nothing else but the ticking of a clock on the wall.

  Niall gazed down at me, his eyes smoldering. “You... are... more than just delicious.” His lips twitched. “You’re special.”

  My heart swelled at the compliment. Since it came from him, I didn’t want it to make me feel so good.

  But it did. It did, and I couldn’t help it.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Niall

  Lost in sleep, Emma nestled closer into the nook of my arm. Over her head, lights peeked in through the crack between the curtains. Over an hour had passed since I untied her wrists from the headboard. My bedroom sat just across the living room, waiting for me.

  But I didn’t want to go to it. There seemed to be no real reason to. Emma’s room was nice and comfortable, the sheets soft and the air the perfect temperature. Her hair was silky on my arm, her deep breath a fluid metronome.

  My eyelids grew heavy, each blink taking me closer and closer into slumber.

  Something soft trailing over my face woke me. I groggily blinked, sighing as I opened my eyes.

  Darkness still enveloped the room, making it hard to see. Someone hovered over me.

  Emma. Her hair skimming across my cheeks was the softness I’d felt. Slowly, she leaned down, her lips meeting mine in a kiss.

  She tasted like honey, felt like clouds. Still lost in a haze, I kissed her back. Our lips moved gently together, each kiss slower than the last. No one had ever kissed me in the way Emma did, like there was nothing else for her to be doing in the world other than kissing me. Her touch held a tenderness, a caring that no one else’s ever had.

  Her hand slid down, her palm going across my bare chest, then farther. It found my cock, made it pulse between her fingers. A second later, she was rolling a condom down my shaft.

  Still kissing me, she moved forward to place her hips above mine. Slowly, she slid down onto my length, a little sigh escaping her lips.

  She rocked back and forth, never speeding up but always taking it slow. My eyes adjusted to the darkness, showing me the outline of her soft face. I couldn’t see her eyes, but I knew they were there, sparkling like emeralds.

  I trailed my fingers up her shoulders, cupped her face. Everything about her was soft. Beautiful. Too close to perfect for me to bear. When had I begun feeling like this? Had it ever happened before with another woman? Not that I could remember. There had never been another woman quite like Emma. No one else could compare to her.

  She came on me, shuddering hard. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her down and tight against my chest, peppering her face with kisses as I pumped up into her, racing for my own
release.

  I kissed her and kissed her, the night stretching on till we eventually fell asleep like that — intertwined and locked together.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Emma

  “I’m sorry, miss,” the secretary told me. “Mr. Lambert’s instructions were clear. I can’t let you in there.”

  I stared down the secretary, a woman not more than a few years older than me. She blinked up at me, her false eyelashes sweeping her high cheekbones. She was pretty. I wondered if Niall had ever fucked her.

  “It’s an emergency,” I stressed.

  “I’m sorry,” she tartly said.

  I sighed and stepped away. “Fine.” I didn’t want to be a bitch to the girl, and clearly she wasn’t going to bend. If I wanted to get in to see Niall, I needed to find another way.

  Without another look at her, I stomped around the corner and pressed myself against the wall to hide between the giant ferns. Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

  I still couldn’t believe it. Although I’d wondered if I would hear from Niall after our weekend together, the text I’d gotten that morning had been the very last thing I’d expected.

  Quit your job at Kristopher’s. I will give you the money needed to finish school. All of it. You won’t have to work at all.

  I’d been completely perplexed. Why? I texted back.

  It’s better we don’t see each other.

  That was it. He didn’t respond to any of my questions after that. And so I was there, at his office, a slew of demanding questions in my pocket.

  Was this what he did to all of his girls? Expel them from his world the second he was through with them? Was I just another one in the long line of females showing up at his office, pleading to speak to him? Or was I different?

  Something changed in him over the weekend. I’d felt it Saturday night when I climbed on top of him in the dark. The way he’d touched me, the way he’d kissed me... that had been anything but a fuck.

  And when we woke the next morning, things were different. He smiled more. Asked me more questions about myself. It gave me hope — hope that maybe something would come out of what had gone on between us.

  It was all so unexpected, but also so welcome.

  Because I was falling for him. I was falling for Niall Lambert harder than I’d ever fallen for any man. It was crazy, so quick, and with anything but the right person. What about his reputation? Servers quaked in their black loafers the second he walked through the doors of Kristopher’s. Horror stories abounded, claiming he made the hostesses cry just for the fun of it.

  But what about everything else? What about the part of him that had come out over the weekend?

  I pursed my lips. Niall felt at least a fraction of what I did. I’d seen it in the way he looked at me when he dropped me off at my apartment building the day before, felt it in the kiss he planted on my mouth before going.

  So what was his game? Why was he pushing me away?

  I peeked around the corner to get a view of his secretary’s desk. A man approached it, an envelope in his hand. He gave it to the woman and they said a few words before she stood and walked down the wide hallway. This was it. My chance.

  As quickly and as quietly as I could, I dashed past her desk and towards Niall’s office. Without bothering to knock, I opened the door and let myself in.

  The room sat empty. That was good. It would give me some more time to think about what I would say, since I hadn’t exactly prepared a speech. I softly closed the door and took a deep breath. The space was just as I would imagine Niall’s office to be: finely furnished, well organized, and immaculately clean.

  There was a rustle behind me, and I jumped. A second later the door opened.

  Niall stood there, staring at me with wide eyes.

  I swallowed hard, not sure how to even begin. Now that I was there, the right words seemed to escape me.

  “Why are you here?” he asked, stepping in and closing the door behind him. His attitude was already a far cry from the one I’d experienced the day before. Clearly, the secretary hadn’t been lying. Niall didn’t want to see me.

  There were dark bags under his eyes, and a bit of his usually perfect hair was off, pushed to the side like he’d been pulling on it.

  “I need to talk to you. Why are you telling me to quit my job? Why can’t you bear to see me anymore?”

  He kept his gaze down as he walked around me to take a seat at his desk. “It sounds like you truly believe I owe you an answer.”

  I blinked heavily. “It’s not about what’s owed, Niall.”

  He flinched a little and kept his gaze down, shuffling through some papers on his desk like I was nothing more than an irritating fly.

  I pushed on. “But I just have to know. We had a great weekend, and I don’t mean the sex. Tell me you don’t have feelings for me.”

  I watched his face, saw his jaw tick. Slowly, he looked up, his cold eyes staring me down. “You knew the agreement for the weekend. You’re a good fuck, but it’s a stretch to think I’d fall in love with some sweet little pussy. And as for your job, it would dampen my appetite to walk into that restaurant and see your face.”

  My mouth opened to ask the question burning on my tongue, but he said it for me.

  “Why?” he sneered.” Because you’re a whore who sold her body just so she could keep her job. How’s that for an answer?”

  My vision swam. I didn’t want to believe any of the words — couldn’t believe them. How could Niall himself actually believe anything he was saying? He was the one who propositioned me, the one who threatened to get me fired if I didn’t do as he said.

  He stood, the chair violently scraping back on the hardwood floor. “I need to drop something off down the hall. You better not be here when I come back.”

  “Niall,” I gasped.

  He surged past me, keeping his distance as he left the room. The door slammed behind him.

  The first sob racked my chest, escaping in a pathetic gurgle. Hot tears spilled down my cheeks, blurring my vision even further. No way could the man who just called me a whore have been the one I’d spent the best weekend of my life with. How could he have turned on such a dime?

  I took in a shuddering breath, trying to calm myself. I couldn’t leave the office crying, couldn’t stand to be seen in that state. I had to get hold of myself. He would be back any minute, and I didn’t want to do it all again: the confrontation, the anger, the tears.

  Niall Lambert really was as callous as they all said. Unfortunately, I’d been burned more than anyone else.

  I took in another breath and stared at his desk, trying to fix my eyes on something solid in order to ground myself, to bring myself back down to reality. My gaze fell on a folder laying at the corner. The name written on the tab said Ander Williams.

  Puzzled, I stepped towards it. The name was familiar and unusual enough that it could only belong to one person. Ander recently became a regular at Kristopher’s and happened to be one of the nicest men I knew. He was one of my favorite customers, always taking time to chat and ask me how my life was going.

  Unable to resist myself, I flipped open the folder and scanned the first sheet in it. My eyes bugged out as key words popped out at me.

  “Oh my God,” I whispered.

  Quickly, I shut the folder and set it back down the way I’d found it. The entire page had been notes on Ander, the margins filled in with ideas on how to bring him down, as the first scribble had said.

  My jaw clenched. Would there ever be an end to Niall’s madness, his ability to inflict pain?

  Not only was Ander a nice man, he did a considerable amount for the world. He was committed to philanthropy; his main interest being aiding single mothers. He’d told me several times about his own mom, who raised him all on her own by working two jobs.

  I had to tell Ander about the little bit of information I’d gleaned. Had to get to him before Niall hired out Ander’s employees from under his nose — that was the plan undersc
ored twice in the folder.

  Spinning on my heel, I rushed out of the office, my own pain momentarily forgotten thanks to the need to help someone else.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Niall

  I kept it together during the walk back to the office. Workers scurried out of my way like ants, eager to not engage with me. My stomach rolled, Emma’s pained face surfacing in my mind.

  Would she still be in my office? As much as I wanted her to be gone, I also needed her to still be there.

  It didn’t make sense. How could I feel two things at once? How could I crave her presence but always desperately need her to go away?

  Her smile... I couldn’t forget it. Or the tender way she touched me. Or the caring attitude she had about every other person. Emma... she was perfect.

  And I was pushing her away.

  My heart flipped. I cared for her, I realized, and maybe there could even be more. Yet, I was pushing her away... the only woman I’d ever wanted. The only woman I knew I could ever love.

  I sped up, rushing the last few yards to the office. I was an idiot. I shouldn’t have said those things, no matter how hard it was to have her around. She was the last person to deserve my fury.

  I yanked the office door open. “Emma!”

  The room was empty. She was gone.

  I had to make things right. I had to find her.

  Rushing across the room, I grabbed my briefcase. Before I took so much as one step towards the door, though, I halted.

  Everything on my desk had its place. It always did. I liked things that way. With everything always to my specifications, it was easy to know when something wasn’t right. And if anything in my space changed, I knew automatically. I had the best memory of anyone I’d ever met. It was like everything I saw became a picture I never forgot. It was one of the reasons I soared through school. Teachers called it an eidetic memory. The reason I excelled so much in life while only being a year shy of thirty. I forgot nothing.

  The folder at the corner of my desk had been moved. Though the angle was correct, the placing put it several inches off from where I’d left it. I stared at it, absorbing what it might mean. It was the Ander Williams file. Other than that, the only sure thing was that Emma was the only person who’d been in my office.