He lifted his gaze to her face and caught her smile. No doubt, she was pleased with herself.
She massaged his dick with her knee, easing back and forth. “No.” He pushed her leg down. “Not yet.”
He moved across her and sucked her other breast into his mouth, this time he took a harder bite, and she cried out. “You like disobeying the rules.”
“I’m not a rule-following kind of girl.” She bit her bottom lip.
“That’s what I was hoping.” He angled his hard-on between her thighs and lightly touched her still-slick folds. She eased her legs open without his orders. Damn, he wanted to thrust inside her this second, but then the suspense would be gone. No, not yet. He was almost done. Just one more test. He eased a finger inside of her and stroked until a hiss escaped from between her lips and her head pitched back. “That what you like?”
She nodded.
“How about a little more?”
“Y-yes,” she answered with a smile.
“Oh yeah…a little more since you’ve been a good girl.” He slid another finger inside of her, and she arched against his hand. He worked her with his fingers, pulsing in and out, driving her hips up and down until she began to swivel her pelvis in a circle. He stared at her face, and saw the heat building. His wild cat was panting louder than he’d heard her before.
His erection was so massive as it pushed against his hand, wanting to be inside of her more than anything. His own hips were pumping without his control, his shaft inching ever so deeper until his ridge was inside of her. She was so damn wet.
Jake reached up and pushed the blindfold over her head so he could see her eyes when he took her. Her cheeks were rosy, but when their gazes met, he saw exactly what he’d hoped. Lust. She didn’t need to tell him with words—her eyes said it all.
She needed him inside of her as much as he needed to be in her. Fuck control. He would take her with all the strength he had. Right. Now. He was already positioned and moved his hips forward. His hand came behind her knees, pushing her legs up and open, then inched inside her further.
“I’m sorry. I can’t take you slow like I wanted.” His breath exploded out of his lungs. He surged all the way in, his head fell back. “God, you fit me perfectly,” he croaked.
She moved her hands along his chest, her fingers lightly pinching his nipples, then feeling his muscles. Their gazes met again, and her hips began to buck against him harder. It was his turn to hiss. He enjoyed each stroke inside of her. “Fuck. Say something. Say anything.”
She wrapped her hands around his ass, tugging his hips into her harder, then she cried out. “Stop. I can’t. I can’t.”
Her actions contradicted her words. He grabbed her wrists and pulled them over her head, thrusting faster and faster. As he pounded, she tensed around his cock. Her squeezing him, and lasting for several seconds. Then he released her hands, and his orgasm slammed hard, racing through him, the force weakening not only his knees but his entire body. The after sensations lasted forever. “Did I hurt you, Ky?”
She touched his cheek. “Not like that, but God did I ache—for you. Jesus. I had no clue foreplay could be so…”
He cut her off with a kiss and then brushed her nose with his. “Just wait for the after-play, sweetheart.” He smiled. “Ready?”
Chapter Ten
Early the next morning, flying back was rougher in more ways than one. The wind and rain came down hard. Macon continually spoke on the headset. He seemed nervous, but she wasn’t sure if it was due to flying through bad weather or what he still hadn’t told her.
Whatever it was, she’d rather not be thousands of feet up in the air when she heard it.
By the time they landed and climbed back into the Rolls Royce, she was exhausted from fear. Plus Macon’s cell phone rang nonstop, which reminded her to check some of her own messages. Pressing the button for voicemail, she listened to her father asking how things were going. Shit. The next three calls were from Mark Williams and about ten more were from Brett.
She deleted them as soon as his voice sounded. Jerk. The last message was from Sara, checking in last night to make sure she was fine. Ky could hear commotion going on in the background.
“I’ve never seen those that hairy before either, Ash.” She thought she heard in the background noise of Sara’s voicemail. “There’s some crazy shit going down here girl. You’re missing the fun—or maybe you aren’t.” Ash screamed over Sara’s voice. “Ky didn’t miss anything. She was exactly where she had wanted to be. Getting a piece of ass again. Good girl. Talk to you later.” The voicemail stopped.
She loved her friends and was truly grateful they’d dragged her out of her boring life.
The Rolls stopped in front of the casino, and they got out with their cell phones next to their ears. After deleting her last call, she threw her phone in her purse and scanned Macon’s face. His quick smile didn’t reach his eyes, and he hung up before she had the chance to speak. His arms pulled her into a hug, and then he kissed her like he was saying good-bye. I’d rather break it off not knowing.
“Excuse me, sir,” the driver said. “Sir? Mr. Royale.”
Kylie broke the kiss. What?
“Give me a moment,” Macon growled from between his teeth at the driver.
The driver stared at Macon. “Yes. Sir.”
Macon closed his eyes briefly, then his gaze met hers.
“I’ll move the car over here until I hear back from you, Mr. Royale.”
Ky’s jaw dropped. “Mr. Royale?” Heat burned her from the inside out and her body shook. “You’re Jake Royale?”
His gaze slowly met hers. “That’s what I wanted to tell you last night and the night before. And what I was going to tell you once we made it to my suite.”
“You have got to be kidding me. This has all been a lie?” She bit the inside of her cheek hard. Feel the pain, but do not cry.
“You’re wrong. It hasn’t all been a lie.” He stared her in the eyes. “Everything has been real, other than my name.”
She couldn’t think. Her pulse pounded so loud in her ears. Pain wrapped around her heart. Suffocating her.
“Really? The man you pretended to be is head of security, not the fucking owner of the casino.” She covered her mouth. Cursing wasn’t something she normally did, but she couldn’t control her anger. “So, that’s your car and your house?”
“Yes. Everything, including the plane, is mine.”
His driver. His hotel. His casino. Macon—no, make that Jake Royale—was the man she’d never wanted to fall for ever again. “Damn you.” It wouldn’t have worked out anyway. Just walk away. Let it go.
He shoved a hand through his hair and turned to his driver. “That is all, Alex.”
She stepped forward, stopping only inches from him. “You didn’t have to lie. You should have told me before we—you know. I thought I was with someone else.” Someone not like a CEO.
But he didn’t act like a CEO. Not with her. Damn. Pain lodged in her throat. “Why would you do that? Why would you let me sleep with you thinking you were an ordinary man?”
“I am ordinary. I just have money.” He placed his hands on her cheeks. “There’s no excuse for hurting you. I’m sorry, Ky.”
“Don’t call me that. Only my friends call me Ky.” Her body grew numb. She twisted around and rushed into the lobby, leaving Macon—no, Jake—outside.
As she entered, Mark was being escorted from the building once more. “Mark, wait. I’m coming with you.”
…
As strong as he was, Jake fell apart when Kylie walked away. But when he saw her on Mark’s arm, he completely broke in two. How on earth had the sexy designer put her spell on him so damn fast?
Several couples stood there waiting in the taxi line, staring at them. He didn’t give a shit. He ran after her. “Kylie. Wait. We need to talk.”
She shot him a get-the-hell-away-from-me glare over her shoulder. But the hurt in her eyes was so much worse. The anger. The
disappointment.
…
Kylie and Mark side-stepped Jake when another man grabbed Jake’s arm and held him back. “Where were you last night? You didn’t return my calls, Mr. Royale. I need to tell you what happened at the ball last night.” The man said to Jake. “Nobody was electrocuted, but some serious shit went down.”
“Electrocuted? Fuck. Where’s Macon?” Anger roared from Jake. “Kylie,” he yelled again. What the hell was he angry about? He was the one who lied to her. You lied to him too.
Kylie went next door with Mark without saying a word, but she didn’t enter his casino. She sat on the half wall near the entrance for a few minutes. She just needed a moment to think. Then it hit her and she knew it, clear as a bell. She needed to pack her things and leave. Her dream of designing the casino went up in flames, and the small hope of being with an average man was extinguished as well.
“Jake’s an idiot. Forget about him and come stay with me.”
She shook her head. “What’s the deal between you and Jake? Seems like some bitter rivalry going on.”
“When someone who is supposed to be your friend steals your dream job from you…” he paused. “I should’ve become the owner of Masquerade, not Jake.”
“But you have this gorgeous new casino. The Masquerade is old and needs lots of updates.”
He patted her hand. “When I heard you were coming I knew I was in trouble. I knew Masquerade would look better than The Vault.”
She half-smiled. That was a nice compliment coming from him, even though it was direct. “I’m sorry, Mark. Would you mind a rain check? I’m not feeling well.”
He kissed her hand. “He broke your heart, didn’t he, dove?”
She glanced at him. “No. We just met.”
“Time means nothing where love is concerned.” He stood and gave her a hug.
“Love? Ha.” What did the employee-stealing Romeo know? She certainly didn’t love Jake. She couldn’t.
Twenty minutes later, Kylie found Sara and Ashlyn in their room. Tears teased her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Not in front of them. Not again. Before they could grill her, she blurted out, “Macon is Jake Royale.”
Their eyes almost popped out of their heads.
“No freaking way,” Sara said.
“Why’d he say he was security?” Ash asked.
Kylie thought back to when they’d met. The cashier told her he was Macon. When they officially met, Sara told him they knew who he was. He’d never said he was Macon. But it didn’t matter. He allowed her to think he was.
“I’m going to lie down for a little while.” She turned to enter her room.
“Wow. You really like him,” Sara said from behind her.
“Doesn’t matter anymore.” She closed the adjoining door. He lied. He was pretending. I was just a distraction. The truth stung more than she ever thought it could.
After several minutes of feeling sorry for herself, surprised that her friends had respected her needing time alone, Kylie heard a knock at her door. “Go away.”
“Delivery. We can’t leave them out here, ma’am.”
Kylie dragged herself from bed. “Hold on.” She swung the door open. About a dozen hotel employees stood in the hall with massive bouquets of flowers. The hallway smelled like a florist. She wasn’t the flower type of girl, but it was hard not to like the dozen or more gorgeous arrangements. A part of her would love to take them all, but she couldn’t.
“I can’t accept them. Please deliver them to different people on this floor.” She shut the door and climbed back into bed. Whether they were from Jake or Brett, she didn’t want them. She was done.
Her adjoining door burst open. “Would you look at this? Someone just sent flowers to our room, but we don’t know who.” Sara held a bouquet of carnations in her arms.
Then it hit hard. Kylie swallowed as she stared at her mother’s favorite flower. Sara handed her a single pink carnation. “For you. I know how much you like them.”
“I do.” Sara hadn’t a clue that more than likely Jake had sent them, but how did Jake know it was her mother’s favorite flower? She rolled over, ignoring her friends until they left, and then she did something she’d done too many times this year.
She cried.
Kylie woke with a start when the call to finalize the color schemes with Carol and Tad came. After getting over the shock that they still wanted to use her, she verified that Jake wouldn’t be there, but she still hesitated when she stepped out of the elevator, making double sure he wasn’t around. The tenth floor was completely empty, from what she could tell.
Since it was a Sunday, she’d been surprised Carol had called in the first place.
“Hello?” A light shone from the conference room where she’d left her designs. “Carol? Tad?” She entered into the room with caution, then noticed someone sitting in the tall leather chair on the far side of the room, facing the window—the chair swung around.
A man built like he belonged in the boxing ring faced her. His hair color and cut was similar to Jake’s, but his nose must have been broken once or maybe twice before. “Who are you?”
Wait—she remembered him from the casino. He’d been with Jake outside of the gift shop, and she’d seen him escorting Mark out of the building.
“I’m the real Macon.” He stood and stepped closer. “Tad and Carol aren’t coming. But I had to meet the woman who stole Jake’s heart.”
“I stole Jake’s heart?” She caught herself from rolling her eyes. “Sure.” Even if she did, it didn’t matter. He’d lied. “So were you in on the scheme too? The old switcheroo.”
“No, but he told me about you.” The real Macon leaned against the conference table and folded his impressive arms. Was he trying to intimidate her? “It was all a misunderstanding. He’s never pretended to be anyone other than who he truly is before he met you. He’s really one of the good guys.”
“Ha. I can tell.” Her voice came out sarcastically.
“Look, Jake would be pissed if he knew I was telling you this, but he liked you the moment he saw you and wanted to see if you would like him for who he is, not what he has.” Macon stood straight and headed toward the door. “He’s always been liked for what he has. Understand what I’m saying? Give him another chance. You won’t be sorry.”
She didn’t like that Macon was here instead of Jake, either, but at least what Macon said made her feel somewhat better. However, little did they know, she was done with second chances. Every time she’d given someone the benefit of the doubt, it had backfired on her.
She watched Macon leave before she grabbed her charts from the table, accepting that the design project was over before it began. Much like her and Jake.
He didn’t want her to judge him by his financial status, and yet she’d done exactly that, only opposite of how others had.
She judged all CEOs by the few who’d hurt her in the past. You’re an idiot. Judgmental. Unfair. But why? It couldn’t have been all because of Brett. She thought about her life for a moment, realizing it was more to do with her father, with her parents’ relationship more so than with hers. She knew this already, but this time it had really sunk in.
The door creaked. “Still hate me?”
She spun on her heel and found Jake leaning against the doorframe. Her entire body stiffened like one of her design boards, but at the same time a warmth spiraled down her stomach and even lower. Damn him. How could he still control her body’s reaction to him when she couldn’t control it herself? Ugh.
She dropped her boards back on the table and threw her hands on her hips. “Hate. I’m not sure if I would call it hate.” She shook her head. “Why’d you have to be so successful?”
“I’ve been poor before, too. Didn’t like starving much.” He waved his hand in the air. “I don’t like being who I am now either, but with you, I’m different.”
Her heart banged against her chest. “Different? Seriously?”
“Yes. A part of me had
been missing. Now I feel complete,” he said. “No longer alone.” He hooked his thumb through his belt loop.
She caught a glimpse of nervousness and remorse in his gaze. She realized he’d walked both sides of life, but it still didn’t excuse his actions. “You should have told me who you really were.”
“I should have and you should have, too. We both started off pretending to be someone else, and I think we both did it for the same reasons. We didn’t want to get hurt. Am I right?”
“I suppose.” Other than the fake identity, Jake was different from other men in his financial status. She moved toward him to get to the door. “I’ll come pick up my boards later.”
“Hold on. You see that I never intentionally wanted to hurt you. But when I heard you tell your ex that you wanted nothing to do with men like me, I was disappointed that I would never get a chance to get to know you. I only wanted one moment to be with you, to see if my attraction to you—if what I felt—was real. So I waited to tell you. I was wrong.”
A part of her ached to believe he was sincere. More than anything, she wanted to start over. Start from scratch with no lies between them. Could they? Could she let her guard down one more time? If anything, she did feel better that he admitted doing wrong.
“You don’t owe me any explanation, Jake. It was fun.” She tried to go around him, but he caught her by the elbow.
“We did have fun didn’t we?” He pulled her in front of him and lifted her chin. “Was I wrong to believe there was something more between us? Didn’t you feel it, too?”
His gaze held hers captive. “I don’t know, Jake. Was there?” There was, but she was scared to admit it. Fear gripped her. Keep your guard up, she warned herself. But if you do, you could be missing out on much more.
“I thought there was.” He brushed his lips on her temple. “Can we start over?”
“I didn’t come here looking for a relationship.” She really liked him, she admitted, or else she wouldn’t be hurting this much.
“I get it. You don’t want to be hurt again.”
“No. I don’t, but that’s not the entire reason.” She thought about the pain she was feeling right now without him.
Masquerading With the CEO Page 9