‘I only need this,’ she breathed, taking handfuls of his hair. ‘I need… oh God, Dax, I only need you.’
Opening her mouth wide, she screeched out his name and bucked up into his latest thrust. Orgasm clenched her abdominals, and as she rose from the bed, he took hold of the head board, giving himself more leverage to pound in harder. One orgasm became two, and when his climax eventually conquered him, she was tossed over the cliff again.
‘I don’t want his money,’ Dax panted, resting his head on her shoulder while he regained himself. Then he flopped onto his back and she rolled onto her side toward him, to keep their bodies in contact. ‘I’m sorry, I put you through all of this again.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘We had to come and see this.’ He shoved an arm around her and tucked her head down under his chin. ‘If we don’t want his money or the familial bribe, all that’s left to consider is this: the mansion, the offer of taking over here.’
‘Brad must know something about it, but I can’t see him happily signing over half the assets,’ Dax said. ‘Trystan too, he’ll go crazy if he thinks that I’m going to be in control of his budget, or any aspect of it.’
‘You think that Mauri is setting you up? Or that Brad will just pull the rug from under you when Mauri is gone?’
‘Maybe, I don’t know, the point is, I’m done. I told them when I walked out on that midnight meeting that I was through. I should’ve stuck to that. We should never have come back.’
‘I don’t see my things here, do you?’
His head moved above hers. ‘No. What’s so important to you in this bag?’
‘My birth certificate, all of my pictures, my memory stick, my jewellery… things that can’t be replaced.
Kissing her hair, he moved her body aside, away from his, and got off the bed. ‘Where are you going?’ she asked. But he was already getting dressed again.
‘Wait here, I’ll get your things.’
‘How will you do that? Are you going to tell Mauri how we feel about his offer?’
‘Not until after I’ve gotten your stuff back,’ he said, fastening his shirt and sticking his feet in his shoes. When he was dressed, he dropped a fist to the bed to balance his weight as he leaned down to kiss her. ‘Get dressed, but stay here. I’ll come back in a minute.’
‘I can come with you if—‘
‘No,’ Dax said. ‘I can be more persuasive if I’m alone.’
Still naked on the bed, she watched him depart the room then lay back to look up at the canopy over the bed. If they didn’t want Mauri’s money, family, or empire, then they could leave here and close this chapter for good.
Recovering from the exertion of their lovemaking, she took an extra few seconds to herself before she rolled off the bed and began to don her underwear. Being back here had been difficult for Dax, and she knew that he had high hopes of what he would get from Mauri, like maybe some respect and a bit of reassurance. Instead, he had received none of what he aspired for.
Ivy considered whether she should have been more forthright with her opinions of Mauri and what she expected, but it was difficult to dash Dax’s hopes. The fact that Mauri had trotted out Dax’s mother was conniving. It was a whole new level of manipulation that even she wouldn’t have expected from Mauri, but as Dax had frequently reminded her, she didn’t know Mauri well.
Picking up her dress from the floor, she was surprised to hear the door opening; Dax hadn’t taken as long as she thought he would. ‘That was quick,’ she said, unwinding the fabric.
‘Thought the same thing myself.’
The voice didn’t belong to Dax. In an instant, she was off the bed and facing the door, with her dress held to her chest. Fear didn’t invade her when rationale could be used to explain away the actions of men like Mauri. But the man who was in her room now didn’t work off any kind of sane rationale.
‘Trystan,’ she said. ‘What do you want?’
‘Don’t worry,’ he grinned. ‘I’m not here for a replay of the night we met. You’re safe.’
‘That’s debateable,’ she said. ‘So what are you doing here?’
‘Came to say hello, to say sorry for the way things went down.’ Though wearing a grin like that didn’t exactly scream contrition.
‘And you just walked into my bedroom to say that without thinking of knocking on the door?’
‘Sorry,’ he said, swaggering to the foot post of the bed closest to her. ‘But it’s not like I haven’t seen those before.’
Ogling her breasts, his grin morphed into something more salacious, and she stood tall, unwilling to shrink in the face of his intimidation. He’d seen her breasts before because he’d ripped open her shirt in Vegas, he’d violated her, and now that stare was designed to remind her of that sequence.
‘You’ve said you’re sorry, you can leave now.’
‘Oh, I have more to say,’ he said.
Where he stood blocked her from exiting the room, she could make a dash for the door, but she’d have to pass him, and she didn’t trust him not to intercept her and the last thing she wanted was his hands on her.
‘Then say it.’
‘Dax was a bit rough downstairs, don’t you think?’
‘He has reason to be.’
‘Sure he does, he’s jealous. It’s a shame things never worked out between you and me.’
‘A shame? I don’t think so. You wanted a wife you could lock up at home to satisfy your father’s urge to see you married. That’s not the kind of life I could ever embrace.’
‘We knew that, we figured it out,’ he nodded. ‘Dad came up with the ideal scenario, this could all have been settled if Dax had agreed to Dad’s suggestion.’
‘What suggestion?’
‘He didn’t tell you?’ Trystan asked. ‘You remember that meeting you were supposed to come to? That Dax was supposed to bring you to before he ran off?’
The midnight meeting. ‘Yes.’
‘Dad floated an idea that I think Dax would have agreed to if it wasn’t for the big bombshell he dropped at the same time.’ She didn’t like letting Trystan know that he had power over her, and that was what he was trying to exert by not just coming right out with what he had to say.
‘Nothing you can say will interest me,’ she said.
‘You sure?’ Trystan pushed out his lower lip and took his eyes from her for a brief moment. ‘Seems you’d want to know when your husband agreed to share you.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Yeah,’ Trystan said. ‘I guess we could’ve worked out a timeshare or something. I mean you were mine first.’
While he sauntered closer, she backed away until the dresser blocked her retreat. Though they were in shadow, she made out the unmistakable line of a scar on his cheek; that had to be the place she’d bitten him, the way she’d freed herself from him in Vegas. She’d left a mark on him, which would mean he would think of her every time he looked in the mirror.
‘I was never yours,’ she spat out. ‘And Dax would never share me.’
‘I guess not, I mean he’d probably worry that after you got a taste of me, you would never go back to him.’
‘Unlikely,’ she said, resisting the urge to laugh in his face. Trystan was a volatile sort, as displayed when his grin fell away and he grasped the top of the dresser to lean down into her face.
‘Dax would’ve given you to me. I’d have had you and everything would have stayed the same. You took him from dad, from me, from all of us, this is where he belongs.’
‘No, he’s not your lackey anymore,’ she said. ‘Dax follows his own orders now, not yours.’
‘I’ve been locked up in this damned building for weeks. Weeks and weeks of nothing, all because of you and that damn betrayer.’
‘He’s a better man than every one of you.’
‘Still think that, knowing that he would’ve handed you over to me? You’d have been in my bed, for me, for my pleasure and nothing else. He’d have given you up to keep me happy because
he’s a Stark underneath all the rest of that bullshit. He’d have done it if Dad hadn’t revealed that Dax was the spawn of the guy he despised.’
‘I don’t understand what—‘
‘Bruno,’ Trystan said. ‘Have you seen him around since you got here? No, you haven’t. He took off a few days ago. Dad told Dax the truth, told him that Bruno was his father and that the bastard never wanted a thing to do with the squirt. Imagine that? Your father turning his back on you.’
The snarl in Trystan’s voice made her go cold, but she wouldn’t let tears form. She wouldn’t let him see any weakness or let him know that her heart was pumping so fast she could feel it in her throat.
‘You’re lying.’
‘No, I’m not,’ Trystan said. ‘Dad signed Bruno’s share of the will over to Dax, Bruno took off a few days ago after he and Dad had this huge blow out about it, we haven’t seen Bruno since. You better watch your back, Lucky, Bruno holds a grudge.’
‘Like someone else I know,’ she said, trying to pass his arm, but he brought his hand to her hair and stroked downward until his fingers reached her breast. Unable to hit him, or use her hands in any way because she was still using her dress as a shield for her body, Ivy remained tense and used her tone to convey her disgust. ‘Get the hell off of me.’
‘Dax isn’t here to save you now, Lucky,’ he breathed, leaning in to whisper in her ear. ‘You’re all alone, why don’t you drop that dress? You give me what I want and all the trouble goes away.’
‘You’re the only trouble here,’ she said. As much as she wanted to push him away, Ivy didn’t want to touch his body with her own for fear he would take it as an invitation.
‘You give yourself to me once, and Dax can have everything that he wants. He can have the family back, he can have the life that he was supposed to have, the life that you stole from him.’
The stifling weight of Trystan’s body vanished. Bewildered by the sudden turn of events, Ivy opened her eyes to witness Dax hitting Trystan so hard that he staggered back and hit the floor, unconscious. This was another first-hand example of why living with a fighter could be advantageous.
‘Did he touch you?’ Dax had hold of her now, but he couldn’t capture her attention, the prone man spread out on the floor behind them transfixed her.
‘Dax,’ she whispered, he’d come in and taken care of business like it was nothing to him. Still caught in the adrenaline of having Trystan up close, it took her a few seconds to rest her hands on Dax’s arms, and be reassured that she was back where she was supposed to be.
‘Tell me,’ he demanded, shaking her, forcing her attention onto him.
‘Yes,’ she said but dug her fingers into his arms to stop him from going back to Trystan to finish the job. ‘His hands on me were enough to make me feel sick, but he didn’t… he didn’t assault me.’
Pushing Dax aside, she dropped to her knees beside Trystan to check that he still had a pulse. Sorry that he did, she got back to her feet and stood over him with her hands on her hips.
‘What do we do with him now?’ she asked.
‘He’ll wake up soon,’ Dax said. ‘Get dressed. We’re getting out of here.’
‘You can’t… I mean… are you just going to leave him like that?’
‘Are you sorry I hit him?’ Dax asked, snatching her dress from the floor. He bent so he could lift her feet into it, then he pulled it up and forced her arms into the garment.
‘Dax,’ she said, grabbing his arm when he tried to pass her. ‘What did Mauri say?’
‘That he’d have your things brought over to our apartment. I already told him that we weren’t staying.’
‘You’re sure?’ she asked, touching his jaw. ‘You’re sure that you’re ready to walk away from this, from the Starks, and the fortune that Mauri is offering.’
Linking his fingers with hers, he lowered her hand away from his face. ‘I’ve got my fortune right here.’ He kissed the back of her hand, waited while she slipped on her shoes, then they went back downstairs.
Dax knew his way around, and they exited the building through a side door, which prevented them from having to run the gauntlet of party guests. Mauri would figure out that they were gone eventually, probably sooner rather than later.
Ivy was proud of her husband for making such a bold decision, and he didn’t seem uncertain of it at all. But something told her that the Starks weren’t about to give up on their prized asset quite as easily as Dax had given up on them.
Chapter Twelve
Spending the rest of the night at Dax’s apartment was stress-free for the first time. It had been a long night, so by the time they got back from the Stark mansion there was nothing else to do but go to bed. Making love with Dax had been slow. Much of the tension that he’d carried over the last few days had waned, and he didn’t mind taking his time to explore all of her.
It was reassuring when Dax slept in the following day. This was just like at home where she would get up and work out then shower and tidy up before making breakfast. Today, it was almost noon by the time Dax fumbled his way out of bed and into the shower. Ivy had already eaten and cleared up, but she brewed a fresh pot of coffee for him, which was ready by the time he joined her.
‘Good morning,’ he grumbled and slugged great hulking mouthfuls of his coffee until the mug was empty, after which he held it out to her for a refill.
‘Afternoon actually,’ she said. She couldn’t even blame jetlag for his late hour because his shift at the club didn’t usually start until late afternoon, and if he was still on Eastern Time then he should’ve woken up earlier as opposed to later. ‘You missed your work out.’
‘Do we have plans today?’ he asked, accepting the mug she handed over.
‘No, but—‘
‘Then I’ll do it this afternoon, I could use a run.’
‘I thought we might be leaving LA today.’
He cleared his throat and yawned while placing himself on a stool at the other side of the breakfast bar. ‘I thought I’d call a realtor, get this place on the market.’
‘So we never have to come back. You’re serious about this, aren’t you?’
‘And you’re not?’ he asked, taking another mouthful of coffee then setting the mug aside. ‘I know that you want to get out of here. We can leave tomorrow, I’ll tie up my loose ends and—‘
‘What loose ends?’
‘You don’t have your shit from Mauri yet, do you? I’ll get it. I have to pack everything in the storage unit, we can have it shipped cross-country. And there’s my bike… unless you want to ride bitch back east?’
‘Uh, no,’ she said. Ivy loved his bike, but after more than three thousand miles on the back of it, she might feel differently. ‘So do you want me to start packing the apartment?’
‘Can if you want,’ he said. ‘But I figure we’ll just sell it furnished, let the new owners figure out what they want to keep.’
‘There’s nothing in here that you’re attached to?’
‘You,’ he said. Snagging her wrist when she came out of the kitchen, he pulled her into the space between his open thighs. ‘How do you feel about last night?’
She’d had some time this morning to think about everything that had happened at the Stark mansion. Time to think about what they were sacrificing by shunning the family who had saved Dax in childhood only to dragoon him into fulfilling their own nefarious needs later in his life. To say that she was angry at Mauri and the Starks for what they had put Dax through was an understatement.
Trotting out his mother and Ivy’s sister had been a low blow meant to manipulate the couple. Maurice Stark didn’t think about anyone other than himself. He would do whatever he had to in order to get what he wanted, which in this case was Dax.
‘I don’t like that my sister is staying in Mauri’s house,’ Ivy said. ‘She has no idea what’s going on or what the Starks are capable of.’
She and her sister hadn’t seen each other for years. Although they weren�
�t close, Ivy would never wish her sister harm.
‘We can get her out,’ Dax said.
Rosie did what Rosie wanted to and no one would tell her different. ‘She won’t do what we tell her to, she’s headstrong.’
‘I never would’ve guessed,’ he said, brushing her hair aside to kiss her neck. ‘Must run in your family.’
‘I’m a delight compared to my sister,’ she teased.
‘I love strong women, I’m sure she’s a scream.’
‘Her chest is smaller than mine,’ Ivy said, arching her back to present her breasts with a smile. He kissed the top of her cleavage, but his hands snaked around to cup her ass.
‘You don’t have to worry about me taking an interest in your sister. I found out recently that brunettes are my thing.’
‘Rosie is a brunette, the blonde came from a bottle.’
‘Oh, then I’ll definitely consider banging her,’ he said and stole her mouth when her jaw fell loose.
Dax wasn’t an easy man to rile, but he sure knew how to press her buttons, and here now in his arms she licked the roof of his mouth and urged her body closer. Calling the realtor could wait until after she got her rocks off with her rock hard man. Just to be sure that he was as willing as she was, she skimmed her palm down his torso to fondle him through his jeans.
‘You should’ve joined me in the shower,’ he said, sliding down the straps of her dress.
She grabbed the bottom of his tee-shirt, but before she could raise it, his phone made a noise indicating that he had a message. Resting an arm around her hips, he elevated his own to pull his phone from his back pocket, after he read the text, he slunk off the stool onto his feet.
‘Who is that?’ she asked, eyeing his cell.
‘My mistress,’ he said, kissing her brow then easing her out of his embrace to put the device back into his rear jeans pocket.
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