by Ravenna Tate
He obviously wasn’t fazed by her curt answer that she’d think about it. Did he know how disappointed she was? Did he even care? Julianne pretended to watch the game, but her mind played over everything he’d said on Monday and earlier tonight. Patti had taught her to put herself in the place of the subject when she was having trouble understanding resistance or outright refusal of a story. In this case, the subject of the article wasn’t Kane or the other Weathermen. It was the hackers.
If she had been one of the people, or the single person, who had sent The Madeline Project on a course of destruction, she’d do everything possible not to be found. If an article were printed online that detailed how the men whom everyone knew by now were searching for the hackers had found a way to track their IP address or even their machine ID, they’d go deeper into hiding. Just like Kane had said on Monday they would do.
He was right, of course. She couldn’t print anything about the covert teams. And what was she going to do about Isabelle? She hadn’t spoken to her since Monday, and still recalled the unsettling conversation that day during lunch. She didn’t want to get anyone fired, but what if Isabelle’s resentment went deeper than Kane turning her down?
She hadn’t been able to find anything on Rob Marin, and she had done some serious searching. Would Kane tell her? No. Not likely. Would he tell her whether Isabelle had pursued him? If she asked, he’d be suspicious why. Julianne had never named a source. It was a time-honored code. If she refused to name Isabelle, would she still get the other two stories?
Julianne shifted her weight so she could see his face. “If I give up on the story about the covert teams, do I have to name my source to write the other two?”
Kane stared at her with unbridled shock on his face. He turned the sound all the way down on the game. “You’re giving up the story?”
“Yes, because you’re right. If I print that you all have secret teams and what they’re doing, the hackers will disappear again. The other two stories won’t have that same effect.”
The look of admiration he gave her made her traitorous pussy wet, and she recalled what he’d said before the game started. He hoped this night would end in them having sex. Would that be here, in this loge?
“Julianne, you really have changed. I’m impressed. No, you don’t have to name your source to write the other two, but tell me one thing, please. Is this source a threat to me or one of the other Weathermen?”
She sighed. “I’m not sure yet, and that’s the truth. How about if I make you a deal? If she tells me something I think might be a threat to your company or one of your friends’ companies, I’ll tell you who it is and what she said.”
“You’d break the confidence of a trusted source?”
“I prefer to think of it like a priest in a confessional. If they hear about a crime, they have a moral obligation to report it to the police. A source is one thing, but a threat to your business is quite another.”
He narrowed his eyes, and the skin on her neck prickled. “It sounds like you already have reason to believe this source might be a threat to my company.”
“I’m honestly not sure, but she did say a few things that made me wonder where her motivation lies.”
“Such as?”
He’d backed her into a corner again. What the hell was wrong with her? She never let people do that. She was either losing her touch, or this man fucked with her head in a way no one else did. “Well, specifically, she said you asked her out but she turned you down.” She held up a hand. “Before you say one word, I know she was lying. It was that evident.”
“Glad you clarified that because I’m assuming this source is one of my employees, correct?”
“Yes.” It didn’t matter. He’d already figured that out.
“I don’t date employees. I have a strict rule about that. My friends aren’t as careful where that’s concerned, but I was burned badly once before we all moved underground, and I don’t intend to let things get that out of control again.”
So that’s why he turned down Isabelle. Or Isabelle could still have lied about the entire incident. Would he have gone out with Isabelle if she didn’t work for him? Watch it, Wallis. Your jealousy is showing.
“So who is it, Julianne? You might as well tell me now. You’ve already broken the girl code, and told me she’s a liar on top of it.”
Damn him! “The girl code?”
“You told a guy another girl said he asked her out.”
She had never heard that and suspected he was making it up as he went, but his grin sent shivers down her spine anyway. She cut her gaze toward the bedroom. He’d left the door partially open, and soft light bathed the room. When had he turned on a light in there? Had he done it when he’d come back in here for the chairs?
Kane followed her gaze, and then he cut his back to her. The most delicious lust filled his sexy eyes, and she found it difficult to take a breath. “Tell me who it is,” he said, his voice soft and seductive. “Think of what she said as a security risk.”
“It’s not.”
“It might be. Especially since she lied about it.”
“She didn’t lie about your cyber security. She lied about you asking her out.”
“That might be the tip of the iceberg.”
“I can’t make that leap,” she said, shaking her head.
He shifted toward her. “Maybe I can persuade you.” Even before he bent his head and kissed her, Julianne knew he was going to do it. She reached up to wrap her arms around his broad shoulders, and welcomed his warm, soft lips on hers with all the pent-up passion and frustration of the past five years. She’d waited too long to kiss Kane Bannerman again.
Chapter Six
Julianne could kiss like no woman he’d ever locked lips with. Kane’s dick was rock hard, and it took every ounce of willpower not to push her back on the cushions and fuck her into next week. She parted her lips before he teased them with his tongue, and when he slid it into her warm mouth, she moaned deep in her throat.
Kane was a man possessed. He had to have her and now. Fuck the hockey game. Fuck the source who had lied about him asking her on a date. Fuck the stories Julianne wanted to write, and fuck everything else. He only wanted this beautiful, sexy woman again. He’d wanted her for five years now, and this time he’d have her for longer than forty-seven minutes.
He tangled his fingers in all that copper-colored hair and deepened the kiss. She started to fall back against the cushions so he released her mouth. “No. Not here. I want to do this right.”
She smiled at him with so much tenderness in her beautiful eyes that he wondered if he was dreaming this. “Define right. We have all the time in the world, Kane. I want you now. Please. I’m on the pill, and I have no social diseases.”
He let out a sound that was halfway between a gasp and a laugh. “I love your directness, Julianne. It’s so damn refreshing. I have none either.” Fuck the condoms. He’d save them for the back door action he hoped she’d give him later.
Kane crawled off her long enough to turn off the game and dim the lights. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to look at her, but he was trying to make this as romantic as possible. Last time had been raw and animalistic, and then he’d never called her or acknowledged it, even after that horrible story had come out. He’d simply dismissed Julianne Wallis as a liar and a cheat. She had been both back then, but she clearly had worked hard to change all that. He would never again treat her that way.
When he crawled back onto the sofa, he helped her lie down, and then he covered her body with his and took that mouth again. She arched her hips into his erection and moaned once more. Jesus. He was going to come in his pants. Forty-one years old and his body reacted like a horny pre-teen around this stunning girl. Did she know how damn seductive she was?
Kane forced himself to release her mouth. He sat back on his heels and grinned down at her, taking her wrists in his hands. “You have on way too many clothes.”
Her soft giggle sent his
arousal to crazy heights. “Do something about it then.”
“Oh baby, I will. Promise.” Kane pulled her to a sitting position, and then he removed her sweater. “Goodness, that’s pretty.” She had on a one-piece satiny thing that was low cut but covered her breasts, torso, and pussy. “Unfortunately, it has to go. It’s in my way.”
He moved aside so she could stand, and then he pushed the straps down her arms. He caressed her skin until she whimpered softly, and only then did he allow himself the privilege of pushing the top of the teddy down over her breasts. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered.
Kneading them in his hands, he teased her nipples into taut points until his cock was so damn hard it caused him physical pain.
She reached underneath his hands and started to slide down the rest of the teddy, but he let go of her breasts and fixed her with a hard look. “Don’t do it. Keep your arms above your head or pinned to your side. If you touch this exquisite lingerie even one time, I’m turning the game back on.”
Her smile was knowing and so damn sexy he had to bite back a groan. “Right. ‘Cause you aren’t ready to burst yet. Just like me.”
Kane shook his head slightly. “You’re an infuriating woman, you know that?”
“Yes.”
“Seriously. Let me do this. Please? I’m enjoying it so fucking much.”
“So am I.”
“Then keep your hands out of my way.”
“Yes, sir.”
Oh lord. Julianne acting the part of a submissive. He couldn’t handle that. He’d lose his mind. He returned to playing with her breasts, and then when she tossed her head back and let out a loud, sexy moan, he couldn’t take anymore.
Kane bent his head and sucked her nipples, alternating, while he tried to keep from coming in his pants. He’d never been so ready to fuck in his life. This was even more arousing than their quickie sex five years ago.
****
Julianne tangled her fingers in Kane’s soft hair as tiny jolts of electricity shot straight to her throbbing clit. The man knew how to tease nipples. She was out of her mind with excitement.
“I told you to leave your arms over your head or pinned to your side.”
“You were serious about that?”
She giggled at the look of incredulity on his face. He removed his glasses, which only made her moan again because now she could better see his sexy eyes, and then he picked up her sweater and told her to put her hands over her head.
“Why?”
The look on his face took her breath away. It was a combination of molten lust and sheer dominance. Julianne had no idea he’d be like this, and she loved it. “Because I said so.”
She did as he asked out of curiosity, and then let out a soft groan as he wrapped her sweater around her wrists. “There. Now where was I?” He bent his head and returned to torturing her nipples until she was begging him to fuck her. How did the man have so damn much self control?
When he finally released them, she was panting. He held her gaze, and then he picked her up in his arms as if she weighed nothing. Julianne kept her arms overhead as Kane carried her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
“May I blink?”
He chuckled softly. “Very funny. You may blink, but don’t do anything else or I’m going back out on the balcony to watch the game.”
She smiled and watched him return to the main room, knowing he wanted to watch hockey right now about as much as she did. When he came back into the bedroom, he placed his glasses on the night stand and two bottles of water next to them. Then he crawled onto the bed and straddled her thighs. “Time to see the rest of you.”
She gasped as he pulled the teddy off, taking her jeans and boots with it. He tossed the clothes on the floor, and the look on his face took her breath away. No man had ever looked at her with such reverence and lust. “You’re shaved.”
Julianne was grateful for the low light because heat crept up her neck. “Um … I wasn’t sure you’d like it, but I was hoping you would.”
He tilted his head slightly and grinned in a way that sent a fresh gush of wetness to her pussy. “So, you had this planned.”
“Not exactly, but I was hoping it would happen.”
“Julianne, you flatter me, and you surprise me nearly every time you open that delicious mouth of yours.”
“At least I keep you on your toes.”
He chuckled and scooted down her legs, then spread them with deliberate slowness. She wanted to move her arms but wasn’t sure if she should take a chance on ending this before anything happened, so she forced them to stay put.
Kane teased her pussy lips with feathery touches from both his fingers and his tongue until she was out of her mind with need. She writhed on the bed and whimpered, but he didn’t do so much as spread her pussy lips or touch her clit. She couldn’t take it any longer. “Please, Kane. Please!”
He lifted his head and grinned, and she let out a cry of frustration. “Please, what? Tell me what you want, Julianne.”
“Oh my God, seriously? Fuck me. Lick me. Suck me. Shove your fingers inside me. Anything!”
“What will you give me in return?”
“What?” She was hallucinating. That was the only logical explanation. Was the man even human?
“I asked what you’ll give me in return. I’ve given you two stories, and you’re naked with your wrists tied together. What do I get out of this?”
“A naked woman tied up in your bed.”
He shook his head. “Not good enough. If I do what you want, what will you do for me?”
She narrowed her eyes as shivers ran up and down her spine. Decadent images raced through her mind. Exactly how kinky was Kane Bannerman? “What do you want?”
He brushed a hand up one thigh and down the other, and Julianne couldn’t stop the moan in time. The smug grin he gave her should have angered her, but all it did was fuel her excitement. “Are you sure you want to know?”
“Yes!” He was torturing her with the mere promise of sex.
Kane flipped her onto her stomach before she could do more than let out a breath. He caressed her ass cheeks, and then he smacked each one, hard. “This is what I want. You, over my knee, taking a good, old-fashioned spanking because you are such a damn brat, Julianne. When my hand gets tired, I have a paddle to use on your lovely round ass.”
He covered her body with his and turned her face sideways toward his. She had to struggle to take a full breath because she was so aroused she could barely think. His beautiful eyes blazed with desire. “After I spank you and paddle you hard enough to thoroughly punish you for what you’ve done to me, I will fuck you. I will fuck you hard and rough. I will fuck your pussy, your delectable mouth, and your very pretty ass.”
Kane kissed her, shoving his tongue into her mouth, but just as quickly released it, leaving her wanting so much more. “That’s what I want. Your move, gorgeous.”
Chapter Seven
Julianne’s mind reeled. Holy fuck. Where had he been hiding this? “Um, okay. Yes.”
As if she could say “no” to this man now.
Kane let out a whoop that had her laughing. He turned her over and untied her wrists, and then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard and deep. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and pushed closer to his warm, hard body, desperate to have him naked against her. He was still fully dressed, and that was sexier than she’d have imagined.
Images of him spanking her and paddling her danced through her head. She’d never done anything like that but had always wondered how it would feel. To realize she was about to find out, and with the object of her undying lust for the past five years, to boot, was almost too much to take in.
When he released her mouth, he pulled her to her feet. “If you have to pee, I’d suggest doing it now.”
She shook her head slightly. “Um, yes, I do have to. Okay. Be right back.” She sounded drunk, but she wasn’t. This was nothing like s
he’d been expecting, and she couldn’t wait to see where it led. Once she used the bathroom and returned to the bedroom, he told her he’d be right back, and then she glanced around.
He’d placed a box of condoms, a large bottle of lube, and a long black leather paddle with holes in it next to his glasses and the water on the nightstand. She sucked in a sharp breath as she caressed the paddle. That would hurt like a motherfucker, but she couldn’t wait to feel it.
“Would you prefer I skip the spanking and go straight to that?”
She whirled around at the sound of his voice. “I don’t know.”
He held out his arms. “Come here. I want to kiss you again.”
Julianne’s heart fluttered at the tender tone in his voice. If someone had told her last week that she’d be here on Friday, about to have the most erotic night of her life with Kane Bannerman, she’d have wondered what that person was smoking.
He pulled her close and kissed her, cupping her face with one strong hand. She moaned into his open mouth and rubbed her body against the rock-hard bulge in his jeans. She remembered that dick inside her pussy as large and thrusting with wild abandon. She couldn’t wait to feel it inside her again, in every hole this time.
When he released her mouth, he grinned again. She already loved his grin. It was full of promise and humor, and there was nothing sexier than a man with a wicked sense of humor. “I’m not naked. We need to do something about that.”
“Yes, we do.”
“I meant you need to do something about it.”
“Whatever you wish, sir.”
He tugged her hair and forced her head back. It didn’t hurt, but rather it sent a crazy rush of endorphins through her body. “Careful. I’ll hold you to that.”
“That’s what I’m counting on.”