by Maya Banks
Evangeline blushed, but her eyes shone with pleasure. “How about I get y’all next time?”
“Deal.” Zander pounced.
“One would think you never feed your men,” Evangeline teased Drake as she settled back against his body.
He wrapped his arm around her, anchoring her against him, and settled in for the drive.
“They just know a good thing when they see it,” Drake said. “And they’re jealous as hell that I saw it first.”
“That ain’t no lie,” Hartley said.
They zipped through traffic in record time and several minutes later, Hartley pulled up to the restaurant and Zander hopped out to open the door for Drake. He got out and then reached back for Evangeline and helped her from the car.
She’d taken all of two steps when the entire world around her exploded in a myriad of flashing lights. Drake let out a savage curse that was echoed by Zander. Evangeline stumbled, but both Zander and Drake were there surrounding her.
“Get the goddamn camera out of her face,” Drake ordered. “Or I swear to God you’ll be eating it.”
There was the sound of a scuffle, but Drake urged Evangeline forward into the restaurant and off the sidewalk where they were exposed. The maître d’ looked appalled and immediately escorted Drake and Evangeline back to a waiting table, apologizing profusely the entire way.
“What happened?” Evangeline asked in bewilderment when she finally eased down into her chair.
“Photographers,” Drake spat.
“They bother you?” she asked in bewilderment.
He looked pained, but he nodded. “It will be worse now I’ve been seen with you.”
She sent him a stricken look. “I’m so sorry, Drake. I don’t want to be a problem for you.”
He reached across the table and picked up her hand, lifting it to his mouth. “Hush. You are not a problem. This will be a pain in your ass, Angel. They’re bloodsuckers and they’re relentless. Once they get their teeth into a bone, they refuse to let go. They’ll follow us everywhere.”
“I don’t care,” she hissed. “They’ll never make me regret being with you.”
Fire smoldered in his eyes and he squeezed her hand, holding it between them on the table.
“They won’t bother us here. Our table is private and we aren’t seated where photographs can be taken through the windows.”
“Then let’s enjoy our evening and forget about those leeches,” she said. “I can’t wait to get home and call Mama and Daddy. Oh, Drake. They’re going to be so excited that they get to come to the city for Thanksgiving.”
“I’d say you’re pretty excited yourself,” Drake said indulgently.
“You are so good to me, Drake. I’ll never forget all you’ve done for me.”
A waiter appeared and Drake ordered for both of them, choosing a shrimp variety platter for Evangeline. After pouring wine for both of them, the waiter disappeared, once more leaving them to their privacy.
Evangeline shifted in her chair and looked questioningly at Drake.
“Do you think I did the wrong thing by letting my girlfriends up to our apartment? Maddox insisted that I never let them up if I’m alone.”
“Evangeline, you don’t have to ask my permission to invite someone up to our apartment,” he said gently. “It’s your home as well as mine. I hope it feels that way to you. I think you did just right by listening and taking what they said with a grain of salt, and I also agree with Maddox that you shouldn’t allow anyone up unless I or some of my men are there with you. When it comes to you, I find it better to play it safe.”
Evangeline sighed. “They probably think I’m an unforgiving bitch holding a grudge, and I’ve never been like that before.”
“I think they will consider their own part in all of this and realize that you are leery of being hurt again. No one can blame you for not immediately accepting their apologies or their wishes to pick up where the four of you left off. I think you know that isn’t possible now. Too much has changed, Angel.”
“You’re right, of course,” she said with a sigh.
“I for one am not sorry,” he said in an unrepentant voice. “Their loss is definitely my gain.”
“Only you could make me feel like I did the right thing,” she said with a grin. “Clearly I need to take more lessons from you. My girlfriends always despaired of me for being too nice and too forgiving. Somehow I don’t think that’s the case now that they are the recipient of me suddenly being an unforgiving mean girl.”
“I like your mean girl,” Drake said with a lazy, sexy grin. “Feel free to be as mean as you like later on tonight when I get that dress off you.”
She arched one eyebrow at him. “I thought that was your job to keep me in line. You’re slacking lately, Mr. Donovan. I’m beginning to think you have secret fantasies about me being a dominatrix and I have to tell you, that image is so not sexy.”
He burst into laughter, his eyes gleaming with amusement.
“So I’m not doing my duties, huh. Is that what you’re saying, my angel?”
She sat primly in her chair with her hands in her lap as she looked across at him. Then she leaned forward so her whispered words wouldn’t carry farther than their table.
“You’ve been treating me like I’m made of glass. I won’t break, Drake. I want your dominance. I need it. I can’t even remember the last time you flogged me or spanked me. You’ve been exquisitely tender and don’t think I don’t appreciate your regard, but what I want most is for things to go back to the way they were before . . . that night. Or is that not what you want anymore?”
She was completely vulnerable in that moment, having bared her secrets and her desires to him. She caught her bottom lip with her teeth because she was trembling, afraid she’d gone too far and angered him with her criticism.
“My darling angel,” Drake said in a tender tone. His eyes were warm with desire and approval. No sign of irritation was present, to her immense relief. “Have you been feeling neglected by me? Have I not been doing what I should to keep my angel happy?”
She flushed and ducked her head, mortified by his words. “Oh, Drake, no! That’s not it at all.”
“Baby, I was teasing you,” Drake said, reaching over the table to touch her cheek. “Look at me, Evangeline.”
There was authority in his voice and it sent a delicious shiver chasing down her spine. Chill bumps danced down her arms, prickling the flesh as he caressed her face.
“Never hold back from me your thoughts, your needs, your desires. You are right. I have been discreet with you lately. I’m sorry for that. I couldn’t bear the thought of pushing you too hard or doing anything that made you uncomfortable with me. This is new territory for me, Angel. I’ve never overly concerned myself with what a woman thought of me. I’ve always been a take-it-or-leave-it kind of guy. But you, I care about. You, I don’t want to lose. And I’ve already fucked up so much with you and I came so very close to losing you. As a result, I fear I’ve been too cautious with you and for that I apologize.”
“You aren’t going to lose me, Drake,” she said softly.
This time it was she who reached across the table and pulled his hand into hers while his other hand remained at her cheek, caressing her softly.
“I want to be the woman you want and need me to be. I want your authority and your control. I never want to change who and what you are because then it wouldn’t be real. I need you,” she whispered. “However and whenever you want me. However you need me. I want to be the one who makes you happy. It’s important to me.”
She was pleading with him with her eyes, and his gaze softened as his hand lowered from her face. He gathered her hands in his and laced their fingers together.
“I once told you that you would never have to beg me for anything I can give you, Angel. That still stands true. Whatever you want, whatever you need, it’s yours. I am yours,” he said in a serious voice. “Do you understand that? Do you get that? Yes, you belong t
o me and I am a very possessive man, but I am also yours and, Angel, you are also a very possessive woman.”
His eyes gleamed wickedly.
“I like it. I have to tell you it’s a huge turn-on to have a woman so possessive of me,” he said with a grin.
She blushed, her cheeks flooding with warmth, but she didn’t look away from him in embarrassment. There was no censure in his voice or words. No admonishment.
“Okay, so I totally admit that I would kick a bitch’s ass if she looked at you wrong,” Evangeline muttered.
Drake chuckled, a grin flirting with his lips. “Then we’re even, because I’ll kick a man’s ass if he looks at you for a second longer than necessary. Even if I can understand the urge to stare shamelessly at you. I may not blame the man for breathing and for having eyes in his head, but I can and will beat his ass for looking too long.”
She snorted. “You are so full of it, Drake. I’ll never understand what you see in me, but I’m not complaining.”
He scowled at her and shook his head in disapproval. “Now that will get your ass spanked, Angel. You don’t talk down about yourself. I’d never let anyone else get away with that shit, so I’m damn sure not allowing you to perpetuate a complete lie.”
She looked at him, flustered, with no idea what to say, so she shut up and didn’t say anything at all. But she felt a burst of warmth in her chest at the way he was so quick to call her out on talking down about herself.
He leaned over the table so that she would hear his next words. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known,” he said in a husky voice. “Now if you think I make it a habit of saying that kind of shit to every woman I meet, you couldn’t be more wrong.”
She fidgeted in her chair. Would dinner ever get here? The sexual tension between them was so thick it could be cut with a knife. She was dying to get out of public view and back to their apartment and to Drake’s promises.
His gaze swept over her face and he smiled, as though he knew exactly what she was thinking. The damn man probably did. He knew everything else.
Just then the waiter approached the table and Evangeline nearly wilted in relief. The food looked and smelled delicious, but she couldn’t keep her eyes—or thoughts—off Drake.
“Eat, baby,” Drake said with a smile. “I’ll take care of all my angel’s needs later. Promise.”
She sighed and glanced down at her plate. It was going to be a long night.
14
The ride back to the apartment was mostly silent. Evangeline was snuggled into Drake’s side, her head resting on his shoulder as she took in the twinkling lights of the city. It was a comfortable, companionable silence, not one borne of awkwardness.
She liked that they were so comfortable around one another and so at ease. Who would have thought all those weeks ago when she’d gone to Impulse to rub Eddie’s nose in what he was supposedly missing that she would be where she was now.
Her mother had always said that life was full of surprises and that it wasn’t meant to be predictable. She’d taught Evangeline from a young age to embrace each day as the gift it was because no one was ever guaranteed tomorrow.
She turned Drake’s wrist toward her so she could see the time on his watch.
“Everything okay?” he murmured. “You have another pressing appointment to get to?”
His teasing made her grin saucily up at him.
“As a matter of fact, I have a hot date lined up with some hunk I met at Impulse. I told him I’d sneak out at midnight and meet him.”
Drake smacked her on the ass with enough force that fire broke out on her skin and a soft moan escaped her lips.
“Maybe I should tie you to my bed for the night,” he drawled.
“Mmm, maybe you should. After all, I can be a very bad girl, remember?”
“I think you’re just asking for the crop or my belt.”
“Well duh,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I mean, what does a girl have to do in order to get punished these days? You’re getting soft in your old age, Drake. If you aren’t careful, you won’t be able to keep up with me anymore and I’ll have to put you out to pasture and retire you from stud services.”
He choked on his laughter and then coughed, his body heaving against hers.
“Is that some kind of Southern-speak? Because I have no clue what you’re talking about. Cheeky wench,” he said without heat.
She laughed. “Putting someone out to pasture is a polite way of saying that person can’t keep up any longer. In other words, you’re getting to be an old man and I’ll have to find someone else to satisfy my needs.”
“I have a recommendation, should you ever want or need one,” Zander drawled from the front seat.
She clapped her hand over her mouth in mortification and practically dove between Drake and the backseat in an effort to hide.
Drake’s body shook against her. “Forget we weren’t alone in the car, Angel? I’d say Zander just gave you back some of what you were dishing.”
“Can I crawl in a hole and die now?” Evangeline said with a groan.
“That’s what you get for being such a smartass,” he said smugly. “And I’m very much looking forward to spanking that ass when we get home.”
“I was checking the time on your watch because I was seeing if it was too late to call my parents when we get back home,” she said anxiously. “They’re an hour behind us, so they should still be up if you don’t mind me calling them tonight.”
He squeezed her to his side and pressed a kiss to her brow. “Of course I don’t mind you calling them, baby. I know how excited you are to tell them the news. How about I sit in on the call with you, that is if you don’t have any objections, and then afterward you can express your gratitude in very creative fashion.”
He said the last with a wicked grin and an evil gleam in his eyes.
“I’ll see how quickly I can get through the call,” she murmured.
“No hurry,” Drake said in a casual voice. “No hurry at all. We have all night, Angel. And I plan to make the most of every minute. I think it would be a good idea for you to stay home tomorrow and sleep in. I have the feeling you won’t be up to much else after I’m done with you.”
She stared at him through narrowed eyes, and there was a firm set to her lips.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Mr. Badass. So far you’re all talk and no action, so I’ll expect you to back up all those words.”
He lifted one eyebrow in her direction. “That sounds very much like the gauntlet has been thrown down.”
She shrugged nonchalantly. “Just make sure you don’t trip over it. I wonder what all those tabloid photographers would think of the great Drake Donovan if it got out that he wasn’t satisfying his woman.”
“I think you’ve created a monster, Drake,” Hartley said in a dry voice.
Evangeline groaned again. “Shut up! Can you at least pretend not to hear what we’re talking about? I’m not saying another word.”
She glared toward the front seat, where Hartley and Zander were both laughing. When Drake joined in, she elbowed him firmly in the gut, causing him to grunt and gasp for breath.
“My angel is getting sassy on me,” he said, his statement laced with approval. “I like it.”
She continued to glare between him and the men in front, her lips pressed tightly together in silence.
Luckily for her, they arrived at the apartment a few minutes later, and she refused to meet either Zander’s or Hartley’s gaze when they opened the door for her and Drake.
“Don’t be too rough with him tonight, sugar,” Zander called just as Evangeline and Drake entered the building.
She slapped both hands over her ears, but the sounds of the men’s laughter still filtered through.
When they got on the elevator, Drake waited a few floors and then punched the stop button, and the elevator stopped its ascent between two floors.
“Drake?” she asked carefully. “What are you doi
ng?”
“We have a few minutes before we have to call your mom and dad,” he said, his voice gruff with arousal. “I’ve been hard as a fucking rock all night. All you have to do is breathe and I get hard. Take your panties off.”
Her eyes widened and she stared back at him in stupefaction.
“What were you just told to do?” he asked in a dangerously velvety voice.
She reached underneath the short skirt of her dress and slowly peeled the lacy scrap of underwear down her legs until it hit the floor between her feet.
“Now unzip my pants and pull my dick out of the fly.”
Her hands shaking, she slowly unzipped his pants. His cock surged into her waiting hand, utterly rigid and straining.
“Pull your dress up around your waist and hold it there,” Drake said, his eyes glittering with a hard edge.
As soon as she complied he reached down and hooked his arms underneath her ass and hoisted her up his body. He walked her back until her shoulders hit the wall of the elevator, and then he positioned his penis at her opening.
“Are you ready for me, Angel? Can you take me this way? We only have about two minutes before security opens the elevator after the alarm went off. Or we can finish and I can hit the button to resume,” he said silkily.
Nothing on earth would make her drag this out so long that his security found them naked and in a rather awkward position regardless of whether she was ready. Excitement licked up her spine instead of the mortification she would have expected. The risk of being caught spurred her desire instead of squelching it.
“Yes,” she hissed out. “Please. Take me hard, Drake.”
In one brutal push, he was balls deep inside her and her gasps echoed through the elevator. God, he was so huge this way. She could feel him in every part of her deepest core, pulsing and throbbing.
“Wrap your legs around me and hold on,” he growled.
She curled her legs around his waist and hooked her ankles together and then clutched at both his shoulders with her hands as he began slamming into her. Her head rolled back to rest against the wall and she closed her eyes as he continued to power back and forth into her damp heat.