by Ivy Smoak
“Well…” she bit the inside of her lip as she looked up at me. “I mean, I guess that makes me feel a little less scared.”
“What else?”
She didn’t say a word.
I smiled at her. “It seems like all you really want is for me to get down on my knees and beg you for information tonight.”
She laughed as I got down on my knees in front of her. I leaned forward and kissed the inside of her thigh, right beneath the hem of her skirt. Her smile faded and her lips parted with a sigh that made me instantly hard.
I kissed a fraction of an inch higher. “Tell me what you want,” I whispered against her thigh. I’d been trying to go slow for her. A whole life of one-night stands made it difficult. I’d been dreaming of this moment. Waiting for her to say she was ready.
She didn’t say a word as I kissed higher, pushing her skirt up her hips.
“Tell me what you need.” I kissed higher still. “Or tell me to stop.” I ran my thumb along the front of her lacy thong. “Just say the words and I’ll stop, baby.”
“Please don’t stop.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
I slowly pushed her thong to the side, letting my thumb brush against her clit.
She shuddered.
“Do you ever touch yourself when you think of me?” I whispered as I slid my index finger along her wetness.
“Yes,” she moaned.
“I thought about you last night when I had my hand wrapped around my cock. About how your lips would feel wrapped around me. Have you thought about my lips on you?”
She gripped the back of my head, pulling me closer.
I took that as another yes. I leaned forward and tasted her for the first time. Fuck. She was so wet for me. I pulled one of her legs over my shoulder to get better access to her. And I tasted and tasted until she was practically shaking in my arms.
The elevator doors started to open. Kennedy stepped away from me. But instead of running out of the elevator she hit the doors closed button. And then hit the emergency button.
I stared at her. With random women, this would normally be the moment I fucked them. Where I told them to turn around and put their hands against the wall. Where I’d try to focus on them for a few minutes instead of the woman who haunted my dreams every night.
But Kennedy wasn’t most women. And she’d be the only one in my dreams tonight. I wanted her to feel safe with me. I wanted her to know that I’d take care of her. Always. I stepped forward, caging her against the wall as I kissed her.
“It’s impossible to resist you,” she said against my lips.
“How hard have you been trying?”
“Really freaking hard, Matt.”
I would have stopped there, just kissing her, but I couldn’t resist going a little further. She’d let me taste her. And I wanted to make her come. I wanted to hear her moan my name. I needed to remind her that we weren’t just friends.
“Spread your legs for me,” I whispered into her ear.
She did as she was told.
I slid one finger inside of her and then another, a whimper escaping from her lips. “I want you to come for me.” I ran my thumb along her clit. “And I’m going to make you come like this as many times as it takes for you to trust me.” I kissed the side of her neck. “Only with my fingers. And my tongue. Until you’re ready for more.”
“Matt.”
“Until you’re the one kneeling before me begging me for more.” I kissed her hard as her fingers dug into the back of my neck. “Come for me, baby.” I pressed my thumb down on her clit. I felt her tighten around my fingers as her whole body shuddered.
And she chanted my name like I’d just caught a touchdown pass. God I loved hearing her moan my name like that. I ignored the raging erection in my pants as I slowly pulled my fingers out from beneath her skirt.
She was breathing hard. “You.”
I had no idea what she was talking about. So I just stared at her flushed cheeks and mussed up hair. She looked appropriately sated. And I’d be picturing her just like this when I dreamt about her tonight.
“To answer your questions from earlier. About what I need? What I want?” Her eyes searched mine. “You. I think I’ve needed you for years. But I was scared you didn’t need me back.”
“I need you back.”
“As soon as you figure out the Poppy thing? I’ll be waiting for you, Matt.”
I smiled. “To be continued?”
She hit the button to open the doors and then pressed a soft kiss against my lips. “To be continued. Hopefully soon,” she said with a smile. “And next time, I get to please you.” She walked out of the elevator, knowing perfectly well how she’d left me dying for her.
I shifted my erection in my pants, hoping to hide it from the concierge at the front desk. I didn’t make eye contact with him as I hurried outside.
But apparently I’d done a bad job of hiding my erection, because Nigel was waiting for me outside and his eyes traveled right down to my tenting pants.
“Oh,” Nigel said. “This isn’t about my connections is it, Mr. Caldwell? You have something else in mind for us tonight?”
“What? No. I mean, yes, it is about your connections. Eyes up here,” I said.
“Did Master Tanner do that to you again?”
“No.”
Nigel’s eyes traveled down to my groin again.
“Nigel, focus. Like I said, I could have just told you this via text, but you insisted on meeting. I need to find dirt on Poppy. That’s it. I just need something on Poppy that will make her leave me alone.”
“Leave you alone? In what way?”
“In the way of making me not need to fake date her. I just need something that either connects the Pruitts or Cannavaros to murders they’ve been behind. Or money they’ve laundered. Or any laws they’ve broken. Or shady business dealings. Or something. Anything.”
“You’re only faking with her?” he asked, ignoring what I was asking for.
“Yes.” I thought Tanner would have told him that.
Nigel shook his head. “I will take care of it then, Master. I mean, Mr. Caldwell.”
This was getting hella creepy. “Okay, great.”
“Give me 48 hours to serve you.”
“Sure,” I said.
“I’ll make sure to remove your plus one from the modern Thanksgiving feast as well.”
I didn’t bother correcting him. I had a feeling that if he knew about Kennedy, he wouldn’t help me out of this mess with Poppy. And I really needed his help.
“Is there anything else I can help with?” Nigel asked.
If he was talking about helping me with my boner, he actually already had. Talking to him had made it disappear in a flash. “Nope, that’s it.”
“Do you want to share a taxi back home? I have some free time. We could play a round of cards. Or I can draw you a bath and we can chat.”
I couldn’t help but think about the fact that he had time for this but not for helping me move out. That didn’t matter right now though. I needed him to be on my good side, and calling him out would probably not help matters. “I wish I could, Nigel…”
He looked so excited.
“…But I have a stupid date with Poppy tonight. Boy do I wish I had some dirt on her so I wouldn’t have to do stuff like this. And have more time for my new friend.” I lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
He looked more excited than before. “So that we can have more time together.” Nigel nodded. “I will get to work. What time will you be home tonight?”
“Um…midnight?”
“Perfect. I’ll have your bath ready.” He hailed down a taxi.
“Nigel?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for this. I owe you one.” What the hell possessed me to say that? I didn’t want to owe him anything.
“Anything for you, Mr. Caldwell.”
I nodded. “Just email me anything you find out right away.”
“Email? I p
refer faxing.”
I just stared at him. “Why? Faxing is the absolute worst.”
“Oh. When did that happen? I thought everyone faxed things.”
“Maybe like twenty years ago.”
Nigel nodded. “Right, faxing is the worst. Don’t you think? It’s terrible. I agree with you 100%. Who would want a piece of paper that you wanted to immediately show up with very little work? Lame.”
Okay.
“But forget texting and stupid faxing. It’s best to do this in person. We don’t want to leave a trail. I’ll text you the time and place we can meet once I find what you are seeking.”
“Sounds good, Nigel.”
A taxi pulled up in front of him. “Have a pleasant evening. Text me if you’ll be late for your evening bath.”
“Will do.” I was pretty sure I’d just promised him a favor. And to meet up with him in 48 hours in some most likely weird way. And that we had another bath date tonight. I shrugged. It was worth it. Getting my life back was worth it. Kennedy was worth it.
Nigel rolled down the window. “And if Master Tanner asks where I am, tell him I’m picking up the dry cleaning. This is going to be our little secret.” He winked at me.
It’s going to be worth it, I reminded myself. I smiled and winked back. For some reason I even pointed finger guns at him. Apparently I’d lost my fucking mind.
He pointed his own back at me. “Pew, pew! Secrets!” He blew on his pointer fingers like his gun was smoking.
I couldn’t even make fun of him. I’d started that weirdness. And now I had a weird secret thing that Nigel and I did together. What had I just done?
The taxi pulled away.
I’d worry about how to get out of a bath chat later. Right now I had to go appease Poppy for the last time.
Chapter 42
Friday
“What the hell are you wearing?” Poppy grabbed my arm and pulled me back towards the ballroom entrance.
“I didn’t have time to change,” I said.
“I told you to wear a tux and you don’t even have a suit jacket?” She looked like she wanted to scream. “It doesn’t matter. Hopefully everyone will be staring at my dress.” She stared at me like she was waiting for me to comment on how she looked.
The answer…she looked fine. I wasn’t attracted to her. At all. I couldn’t help it, but whenever I looked at her I saw Isabella. I’d never been attracted to Wizzy either. “Or you could just tell everyone the truth. That you’re blackmailing me and I had no choice but to be here tonight.”
“Very funny. Just stand there and look pretty and don’t say a word.” She pulled me back into the ballroom. “God, people are staring.”
She’d told me not to speak, so I didn’t bother telling her that people were probably staring at her because she was demon spawn.
“Maybe someone took off their jacket before dancing.” She perused the room for a jacket to steal.
“I’m not going to wear an ill-fitting stolen jacket.”
“So now you care what you look like?” She leaned in to whisper. “This wasn’t part of the deal. You’re embarrassing me.”
“I don’t actually remember impeccable dress being part of the deal.”
“New amendment. Dress better.”
I looked fine. Why did people always diss my clothes? “If I’m embarrassing you, I’m happy to leave.”
“Not until Uncle Richard sees us being a happy couple. Come on, let’s find him.” She grabbed my hand, her nails digging into my palm. She probably didn’t even realize her fake nails were stabbing me.
I wasn’t sure what was worse…being clawed to death by Poppy or having to see Mr. Pruitt. The last time I’d seen him, I’d said a lot of nasty, albeit true, things. He brought out the worst in me. But tonight I had to be on my best behavior. Angering him wasn’t going to help matters. It would probably just lead to Poppy realizing a relationship with me was useless and offing Scarlett without any kind of deal. That couldn’t happen.
“Where did he go?” Poppy asked. “I swear he was just here.” She froze. “You know what? I have a great idea to pass the time while we wait for him. Let’s dance.” She pulled me to the dance floor, moved my hands to her hips, and laced her fingers behind my neck. Her eyes darted around, searching for her uncle.
But when she led us over to a table of men much younger than Mr. Pruitt, I had a sickening feeling this had nothing to do with her uncle. “Is he even here?”
“Who?” Poppy asked.
“Mr. Pruitt.”
She looked up at me. “Yeah. Of course. He probably just went to the bathroom or something. Dip me.”
“What?”
“Dip. Me.” She started leaning backward.
Fuck. I caught her before she fell onto the dance floor. “What are you doing right now?”
She pulled back up and started laughing. “You’re so funny, Matthew. You always make me laugh,” she said way too loudly for polite conversation.
“Poppy, what the hell is going on?”
She leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “Be cool. My ex is here. And now he’s staring at us and just…just be cool, Matthew.” She moved in a little closer to me, pressing her hips to mine.
For fuck’s sake. It was one thing to pretend for Mr. Pruitt. But making her ex jealous? Now I understood why she was so insistent on tonight. Definitely not part of the deal. “Poppy…”
She grabbed both sides of my face and kissed me.
Gag. I was pretty sure I threw up in my mouth a little. I turned my head away from her. “Cut it out. I’m not here to make your ex jealous. I’m here to convince your uncle that you’re ready to take over the company. Period.”
“Two birds, one stone.” She leaned in for another kiss.
I turned it into an awkward hug in the middle of the dance floor.
She started swaying to make it look like we were just a couple in love instead of strangers arguing. “Just kiss me,” she hissed.
“No.”
“Fine. Deal off.” She shoved my chest in a playful way like I’d just made another pretend joke. All just a show for her ex apparently. But her eyes were deadly serious.
Damn it. I caught her hand and pulled her to my chest. I could still taste Kennedy on my lips. I didn’t want to kiss Poppy again. I’d literally rather be doing anything else. A bath and chat with Nigel included. “Deal not off,” I said. Yet. “But you got it all wrong. You don’t make an ex jealous with sloppy kisses with someone new. You do it with dance moves. And it just so happens I’m a pretty great dancer. So let’s make him jealous of our sick moves.” I backed up, spun around, and pointed at her.
“What are you doing?” she said. “Don’t draw attention to yourself.”
“Don’t leave me hanging here,” I said and shimmied my shoulders.
She actually laughed. “You’re an idiot.”
I wasn’t going to stop until she joined in. I started doing the robot.
She grabbed my arm. “If I say deal back on, will you please stop?”
I nodded.
“Deal back on.”
I froze on the dance floor, my arm still dangling down in the perfect robot. I moved it just an inch.
She slapped my robot arm and then pulled me back in. “Sorry,” she said. “I just figured since you were here it wouldn’t hurt to rub it in my ex’s face that I’m so happy.”
“You know what will probably make you happy?”
She looked up at me. “Don’t tell me you moonlight as a therapist. I hate therapists.”
Yeah, me too. “No. But I do know that being in a real relationship is better than being in a fake one.”
“That’s the plan. We’ll grow on each other.”
I clenched my jaw. That wasn’t what was going to happen. It was hard enough to stand here with her, let alone thinking about being in a relationship with her. Please, Nigel. Do your thing.
“Ah, there he is.” She pointed over to Mr. Pruitt. “Let’s get him to beli
eve we’re in love. He’s going to be thrilled. Look at me like you can’t see your life with anyone else.”
I tried to picture her like Kennedy. But I couldn’t. But the thought that Kennedy popped into my head made me smile.
“Perfect.” She looped her arm through mine and walked us over to her uncle.
“Poppy,” Mr. Pruitt said and leaned in to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “And…Matthew. What is this?” He looked back and forth between us.
“We’re dating, Uncle Richard.” Poppy reached out like she was about to straighten my tie, but then remembered I wasn’t wearing one. She laughed and patted my chest.
“You’re dating…each other?” He lowered his eyebrows.
“That’s right. When I went to visit him the other day we got to talking. And talking. Talking at his office turned into dinner.” She shrugged like it had all happened without threats and bribery. “And we have so much in common. Plus, he’s such a finance whiz. I know you mentioned that a while ago.” She waved her hand through the air. “But I’d completely forgotten. He’s so smart. And I was telling him how I’m not so great with budgets and all that. He’s been kind of tutoring me on the side when we’re not busy canoodling.” She booped me on the nose. “Isn’t that right, sugar tits?” She batted her fake eyelashes at me.
Sugar tits? What the hell kind of nickname was that for a grown ass man?
Mr. Pruitt just stared at her. And then his scrutinizing gaze landed on me. “Is this true?”
Honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was lie to Mr. Pruitt. But I was kind of in a sticky situation here. I just nodded.
“I thought you loved my daughter,” he said.
It felt like a slap in the face. “I do.” I shook my head. “I did.” A lump had formed in my throat and it wouldn’t go away. “She’s gone.”
“We really need to talk,” he said. He glanced at Poppy and then back at me. “In private.”
“Anything you need to say in front of my boyfriend you can say in front of me, Uncle Richard.” Poppy snuggled into my side like a leech.
“Very well.” Mr. Pruitt stared at me. “Then both of you come with me.” He turned around and walked toward a door marked Personnel Only.