His thumb slipped to her entrance and danced across the thin material. “I think you heard me.”
She struggled to catch her breath. To hold on to a thought for more than a second. “I’m working.”
“And I want to sit out there in my booth knowing you’re walking around bare.”
“Bast, you can’t mean . . .”
“You won’t wear anything when you stay at my house.”
She planned on holding him to that promise . . . just not here. “That’s in private.”
“I’ve made myself clear.”
With any other man she’d think this amounted to a test to check her resolve. Not Bast. He touched her and watched her and meant every word. He was letting her know his expectations and leaving it to her to figure out if she could handle them.
Well, she had something to prove as well. “You do it.”
He glanced up at her and shot her the kind of smile that made a woman feel wanted and powerful.
“That’s a very good start.” His palm slipped up high on her thigh and his fingers eased under the edge of the elastic. With a tug, he had the material over her ass and caught in the wedge between her legs.
As the silk rolled down, her vision blurred. She tried to say something—anything—and the words caught in her throat.
“Open up.” He leaned in and placed a sweet kiss on the slim line of hair that covered her. “I can smell you.”
Her heart pounded hard enough to muffle the sound of his voice in her ears. Yet somehow she obeyed. Shaky and on the verge of falling into his lap, she moved one foot to the side.
The material slipped down but she barely felt it. Once he pressed a palm to her, she had to use all her energy to stay on her feet. Brushing back and forth, he caught her skin on fire. Her hips lifted forward as if begging his fingers to plunge inside.
He glanced up again. “Do you need to come before you go out on the floor?”
The words slammed into her. She knew he would be like this, sexy and open, bawdy and so damn hot her brain would fry. Saying no to him, holding any sort of line, was going to be so hard when all she wanted to do was surrender.
But a room full of obnoxious men sat not far away and she had to be careful. “I can’t—”
“I’m pretty sure you can.” One of his fingers, long and lean, slipped inside her. “You feel like you need to come.”
Her hips rocked in time with the gentle back and forth inside her. “I’m already running late.”
“You’re wet.” His other hand rubbed her against her ass, pulling her forward. “Can you work in this state? Right on the edge.”
Before she could say anything, his tongue swept over her. The combination of mouth and fingers took her mind to another place. She forgot about the mumble of the crowd and Becca’s wrath. The club, her shift, none of it mattered in that second. Not when he licked her, dipping his tongue in deeper and blazing a trail through her wetness.
“Ah, so that’s what you need.” He took off his glasses and put them on the bench beside him as the whispered words rumbled against her clit.
Her head dropped forward and her hands slid into his hair. One knee gave way as her bones turned to mush. If he hadn’t been touching her, holding her, she might have melted into a puddle at his feet. Instead, she felt him turn her. Without any help from her, he raised her leg and moved until she straddled the bench and his legs.
The new position left her totally open to him and he took advantage. His mouth worked on her as his fingers held her open. His tongue rotated around her clit and she grabbed onto his shoulders to keep from ending up on the floor.
The friction of fingertips and sleek tongue had her hips bucking and her breath hiccupping in her chest. She wanted him to plunge in deeper, to ride him. To feel him inside her. But he kept rubbing her sensitive flesh until her body tightened around his fingers. The constant torment had waves of heat crashing over her and her body moving without any direction from her head.
She tried to beg for more but the last of her air rushed out of her. Those inner muscles clenched and her blood pulsed. The orgasm hit her as she balanced her weight against him. She wanted to sit down, hold him—something—but he didn’t let her. He kept her on her feet with his fingers planted inside her.
After what felt like an hour, the sensations eased and her eyes opened again. She still stood in the middle of the locker room . . . with her panties on the floor.
She looked down in time to see him move his hand. Her wetness glistened on his fingers. She almost lost it when he touched the tip to his lips.
“Very nice.” The corner of his mouth lifted as he looked up at her. “Feel better now? If so, you should tell me so I know for next time.”
And to think he worried about being older. This man would be able to keep up with her just fine.
“Yes, thank you.”
“So polite.” He chuckled as he stood up. After smoothing down her skirt, he kept his hands on her hips, holding her steady. “And thank you, but next time you’ll scream my name.”
Her nerve endings jumped as if begging for more and the room smelled like sex. The bulge in Bast’s dress pants didn’t leave a lot to the imagination either.
She nodded in the general direction of his pants. “Do you want me to take care of you?”
“Not this time.” He reached for his glasses and put them back on.
She glanced again at the tiny scrap of black material by her foot. Thought about the hours ahead of her and how hard it would be to push the memory of this moment out of her head during that time. “What if the other club members can tell I’m naked under the skirt?”
He walked over to the sink and washed his hands and made a scene of drying them. When he turned around, he held a tissue for her. “Only I’ll know.”
That sounded like wishful thinking to her. And she would know, which could mess up her concentration. Some idiot could end up with ice in his drink by accident and then the world would end because these guys insisted on perfect service. Always.
Not that she regretted any second or the smug look of satisfaction on Bast’s face. She put that there and she would keep it there.
She took the tissue and balled it in her fist. “Does this mean you’re really taking me up on my offer?”
“What do you think?” He put his hands in his pockets, which only highlighted his impressive erection.
Rather than evade, she stared at it, letting him know she intended to be as active as him during the sex. “You want me.”
“That’s no secret.”
The attention proved intoxicating. Having him focus on her turned out to be an even bigger rush than she expected, but she had to know he understood her terms. “You get that I insist on being your only?”
“I heard your requirements.”
She wasn’t totally convinced they’d agreed on anything but she refused to ruin the moment figuring out his verbal gymnastics. “Is that what you came to tell me tonight? That we’re on.”
This time he broke into a full laugh. “No. I didn’t come for any of this, but I did enjoy that last part.”
It seemed indelicate to give herself a cheer, so she refrained. “Okay.”
He picked up his jacket and shrugged his way into it. With a few steps, he stopped at her underwear. Without any fanfare, he picked up the black silk and slipped it in his pocket. “I have your bag. I wanted to get it back to you. Seeing you was the bonus.”
She stood there like an idiot, not moving or speaking until he raised an eyebrow. “Oh . . . yeah. Right. The bag. I wondered where it got to.”
With his hand out, he stood in front of her. “Give me your keys and I’ll put it in your car.”
Never mind the fact she had to bite her lip to keep from chanting his name a few minutes ago, or how he stuffed her panties in his jacket. The conversat
ion was so normal. So mundane. Something people dating might talk about and it threw her off.
“Kyra, you’re going to trust me to enter your body, I think you can trust me with your keys.”
“Right.” Still she couldn’t figure out how to move.
He snapped his fingers. “Hello?”
The clicking sound broke through thoughts barraging her brain. “It’s not that.”
Not that she could tell him where her thoughts had wandered. She’d barely gotten him on board for an offer of unlimited sex. One whiff of the word “relationship” and he would bolt. No way did she want that.
“Then what’s wrong?” he asked.
But she could give him something to think about while she walked around the club half naked. If she was going to feel uncomfortable and on display, so was he. “I want you outside of this building. Over me. Inside of me.”
Heat flashed in his eyes. “Soon.”
She opened her locker and dug around her purse for her keys. The move seemed to take forever but she knew it was more like seconds. Turning, she returned to him. The keys jangled when she reached over and dropped the chain into his jacket pocket.
“I thought you’d want to spend more time with me . . . what was the word you used?” Refusing to move back, she straightened his tie, taking her time with the task and making sure her body rubbed against his. “Bare.”
“Oh, you will be naked.” That sexy voice had plunged even deeper.
“Good.” The word didn’t come close to expressing how she felt or the nerves jumping around in her stomach.
“Oh, I’m betting it’s going to be great.” His satisfied expression didn’t change. “Slip me your phone numbers at some point tonight.”
If she waited one more minute before going out on the floor she’d likely get fired. Worse, Becca could come hunting for her.
Despite the risks, Kyra couldn’t drag her mind away from Bast and to where it should be. “Will you call me tonight?”
“We’ll see each other tomorrow.”
Close enough plus the delay would give her time to look perfect. “What do we do about Becca?”
“You worry about pleasing me and I’ll take care of everything else.” He cupped the back of her head in his palm and treated her to a lingering kiss.
Just when Kyra lifted her hands to join in, he broke away. He went to the door and removed his impromptu lock. After a quick glance both ways down the hallway, he stepped out.
She didn’t want it to end, so she called him back. “One request.”
He looked at her over his shoulder. “Yes?”
“When you finally get naked for me, wear the glasses.”
His smile promised the scenario would be happening very soon. “They turn you on?”
“Everything about you does.”
“Good to know.” He winked at her and left.
It took her another few minutes to adjust her stockings again.
SIX
Elijah sat in the club booth and counted to twenty for the second time. Then he tried a third round. The mindless activity didn’t do anything to ease the twitch in his neck or his pants. Seeing Wade had the same effect it always did. The churning started, then the rush of heat. It had been that way from the beginning and the epic fight that ended with Wade kicking Eli not only out of his bed but out of the building hadn’t cooled Eli’s need one bit.
Watching Wade flirt with the blond with the swimmer’s build and expensive suit forced a different kind of heat through Eli’s veins. So did the way Wade smiled before the guy returned to his table across the room.
Eli knew the other man. Recognized him from a photo he saw in one of Wade’s nightstand drawers in the condo above the club. Eli hated the live version of the man.
But Wade’s smile brought back memories. Eli remembered months ago waking up from his wounds, including the one Jarrett inflicted when Eli showed up on his doorstep after almost being killed in an attack made to look like an accident. Wade had stood guard over Eli’s bedside. He was the six-three enforcer with shoulders as wide as a doorframe, or so it seemed.
Back then the military haircut and scruff around Wade’s chin had Elijah wishing for something other than an escape from the building. And when he’d brushed the back of his hand against Wade’s fly and got a look of smoky interest in return, it was fucking game on until Wade called an end to everything.
They’d lived and slept together upstairs for months while Eli recuperated and after. As he began investigating who was systematically eliminating his CIA Spectrum front and why, the rage inside him had simmered. Most of it was directed at Becca, and finding her back in Jarrett’s protection set Eli off. His hate spewed and Wade walked in at the wrong time.
It all ended after that. Wade refused to listen back then and they’d been apart ever since. Eli could count almost down to the hour since he’d last run his hands over Wade or been inside him. Wade put up the wall. All the calls and texts did nothing to knock it down.
And now this fucking blond popped out of nowhere.
Elijah couldn’t sit still another second. He walked up to the bar and stood right in front of Wade to force a confrontation. Up close, Eli saw the ease on Wade’s face. The comfort, as if their time apart had been good for him while it scratched and scraped at Eli.
Wade used his towel to dry out a glass. “Elijah. It looks like you’re getting along well with Bast.”
“The job is fine.” The last thing Eli wanted was mundane bullshit chatter, but since some old guy with a bad comb-over sat at the bar two chairs down and didn’t seem to be moving on, Elijah had little choice.
Without asking, Wade put a glass in front of Eli and poured a beer. The right one. His favorite.
“Not exactly like your last job,” Wade said.
“Bast prefers if I don’t kill people on company time.”
That comment got the intruder moving. He grabbed his glass and headed for a booth filled with three other men in gray suits.
“Sounds like Bast. Lawyers are funny that way.” Wade actually smiled as he looked at the retreating man’s back. “You scared that guy away.”
“He shouldn’t eavesdrop.”
“That’s a favorite pastime at the club.”
Enough mindless talk. Eli had a point and jumped to it. “You were talking with Shawn a few minutes ago. When did he start sniffing around again?”
Elijah knew exactly who the blond was and what he once meant to Wade. They were together for months before Eli arrived at the building.
“Excuse me?” Wade’s smile was long gone now.
“You heard me.”
Wade slammed the glass against the counter with a loud whack. The rattle of silverware and rumble of conversation in the club’s dining room covered it, but did not hide the scowl. “It was your tone that ticked me off.”
“If the problem wasn’t the subject, then answer me.” Elijah did a quick look around before lowering his voice even further.
“Maybe you forget but I’m not a fan of being ordered around.”
A rule that didn’t apply to the bedroom where Wade had ceded control to Eli but he didn’t point that out. “I thought you had a rule against screwing club members.”
“I’m trying to figure out what makes you think you get a say in who I talk to.” With the towel draped over one shoulder, Wade balanced his palms on the edge of the bar and leaned in. “You gave up that right when you made it clear sleeping with me was nothing more than a way to pass the time and not something that meant anything to you.”
“I never said that.” Elijah had no idea what he’d said back then. In his fury, words had spilled out of him until even Becca went silent. That was when he noticed Wade in the doorway and knew he’d blown it.
“I was standing right there. You said I was easy, a diversion, and one you could wal
k away from.” Wade shoved away from the bar and stood up again. “So I gave you your wish.”
What Eli wanted was the stubborn man standing in front of him. Before Wade sex amounted to a release or a job requirement. Eli had been with men and women and it all blurred together into one forgettable pile.
No matter how hard Wade had pushed, Eli refused to tag his sexuality with any sort of label because that never mattered to him. And he’d spent years running away from that and the judgment and all the other crap heaped on him by his father. If Eli had known back then a few simple words meant so much to Wade, Eli would have said them. Would have said anything.
“You missed the part where I was in the middle of a fight with Becca when you walked in,” Elijah pointed out.
“You’re forgetting the part where I’ve moved on. We’re done.”
The blow landed right in Eli’s gut. He felt the devastating thud of the killing blow and forced his body to stay upright. “You think kicking me out of your bed changed anything between us?”
“Everything.” Wade’s word came out rough, grating. “Every damn thing.”
“Don’t fuck him.” The words shot out of Eli louder than he wanted, enough to have a few heads turn in their direction.
Wade’s eyes bulged. “Who the hell—”
“Do not fuck Shawn.” Eli hesitated between each word, forcing them out through clenched teeth. The anger raging inside him boiled and sprayed until it washed through him and drowned out everything else.
“You no longer get to have a say in who I see and who I sleep with.”
The fury in Wade’s voice matched Eli’s. They traded whispered rage, neither one giving any ground.
Eli wanted to reach across the bar and shake Wade. Shake him, then draw him in for a kiss that would knock the shitty words right off his tongue. “You’re angry with me, fine. Then talk to me. Yell at me so we can get past it.”
Whatever Wade was going to say died when he opened and closed his mouth, once then twice. Each time he moved back until he stood away from the bar with his back tight up against the shelves of bottles behind him. “We said all we needed to say to each other.”
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