“Jesus, Tess, you feel better than I dreamed. Go ahead, take what you need, baby.”
He used his thumb to massage her clit, adding another finger as she anchored her hands on his shoulders, grinding down on his fingers. Adam loved this look on Tess, debauched and hungry, powerful and honest. She leaned down, claiming his mouth in a fierce kiss of teeth and tongues, tasting of the months they denied themselves the sating of this primal need.
They broke off the kiss, Tess’s cheeks flushed and her lips swollen and red. She threw her head back, her passion-coated shout of laughter ringing out into the night.
“You look like a queen with the stars making up your crown,” he whispered, letting the awe in his voice shine through. “And every true sovereign deserves to be worshipped.”
Adam slid her down his body, ending with her sitting on the half wall. He dropped to his knees at her feet, running his hands along her inner thighs, pushing the hem of her dress to expose the soft curls hidden beneath. He took his time, tracing the blue veins lying just under the skin, following with soft kisses and tender nips that made her gasp.
“I’ve never known anyone like you, Adam Redhawk,” she whispered, her nails digging into his shoulders in an attempt to drag him closer. He resisted with a smile; he was going to take his time.
“Well, that just means that you never had a man who appreciated what an incredible woman you are.” He placed a kiss next to her right knee. “Stupid men not knowing what they had.” A kiss on the left leg. “You’re smart.” A lick on the right inner thigh. “Beautiful.” A bite on a tender spot on the left. “Strong.” Another kiss. “Powerful.” Another lick. “Sexy as hell.”
“Lean back,” he said, watching as she leaned back slowly until she was resting on her elbows, looking down at him with eyes heavy lidded and dark with her desire. Her breasts rose and fell rapidly, her chest expanding with each ragged, panting breath.
“Tess, you are so damn perfect,” he confessed, his own heart beating like the rhythm he’d pounded out on the drum kit earlier in the evening. He leaned forward, taking the first long, thirsty look at her sex in the full moonlight.
With his hands trembling with excitement, Adam ran his thumbs over her lips, making sure to give special attention to the places that made her gasp and squirm. He didn’t want this to end too soon, needed to take his time to savor every second since he’d been dreaming of it for so long. So, he kept it slow, light, a gentle graze along the flesh designed to awaken every nerve and every pleasure.
Slick and wet, he couldn’t wait any longer to taste what was on offer. He slid his hands under her thighs, under the sweet, round globes of her ass and lifted her, gently tugging her toward the edge of the half wall. Tess was level with his mouth, her sexy, sweet body just waiting for his touch, and he wavered between teasing her a little longer or indulging the pleasure he craved. He was hard, throbbing in his jeans, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. His only thought was doing everything he could to make Tess come apart.
Her first taste was heaven, so sweet and edged with the spice of her need. It was a first kiss, a first taste, his first step toward total addiction. Adam lapped at her, long licks, slow kisses, all calculated to push her over the edge. Tess’s hands roamed over his shoulder, nails digging into his muscles and then traveling upward to tangle in his hair. He let her guide him, reading her pulls and presses and letting her control where she wanted his touch as he drove her desire higher and higher.
Adam watched her face when he finally—finally—grazed her clit. Tess moaned and grasped his hair tighter in her fist as she thrust her hips forward, greedy and begging. Delicious. It wouldn’t take much more to get her to the end but he wanted to stretch it out a little while longer. A trip to heaven shouldn’t be over too soon. Tess was very wet, so his finger slid into her easily, her body tight and hot on his skin. She cried out again, loud enough for it to echo in the ravine and Adam angled his tongue against her bundle of nerves, willing to do anything to hear that sound again.
Gently, he pressed his finger deeper inside, thrusting it slowly in and out, adding a second when she pressed down hard against it, seeking more and more friction, more sensual invasion. Tess rode his hand, her nails now grazing his scalp, and the pinpricks of pain shot straight to his cock, bringing him to the very point of the intersection of pain and pleasure.
Tess was writhing against his face, one of her hands now running over her breasts, her belly, fingers pinching the hard, tight peaks of her nipples through the fabric of her dress. Her eyes were closed tightly, lips parted on every sigh and pant of breath. She was a feast for his eyes and mouth and he rewarded her with intense focus on her clit.
Tess trembled, her thighs clenching around his head as frustrated and desperate moans passed over her lips. Her orgasm was right there, and he could not wait to see her fall apart around him, on him. With an addition of a third finger, Tess seized up, her body frozen as her pleasure hit her like a star shooting across the sky.
Adam rode out the pleasure with her, continuing to lick and suck and kiss her flesh until she pushed him away, her body limp and boneless above him. He rose up over her, kissing along her jaw and neck, claiming her mouth in a sweet tangle of lips and tongues as she came back down to earth.
Tess rose up, sliding to the ground in front of him on her knees. Her eyes were open as their tongues slid against each other, her hands trailing down his chest, fingers fumbling to undo his jeans. He broke off the kiss with a moan that rattled up from his gut when her fingers wrapped around his shaft. Her first touch was tentative, exploratory, her fingers tightening around him when he thrust up into her grip.
He groaned and Tess smiled, causing a shiver of lust to race through him. She stroked him, her grip firm and hot and slicker with each pass. It was hot, sexy as hell, but the connection that kept his eyes locked on hers was visceral, elemental. He moved against her, snapping his hips up into her grip in a rhythm calculated to drive him closer and closer to the endgame.
“Come on, Adam. I’m your queen. I demand it.”
Her tone was all it took. He was already on edge, tuned up to one hundred times his usual level of endurance. The tingling started in his spine, racing through his veins and under his skin and then spilling out of him with a shout and a deep, greedy kiss.
Long moments stretched into minutes as they leaned against each other, heartbeats slowing down to a normal pace, sweat cooling on their skin in the chilly evening air. Adam leaned back against the half wall, pulling Tess against him and tucking her against his chest as they both looked up at the stars.
The silence wasn’t awkward, sex hadn’t changed that between them, and Adam breathed out a sigh of relief. He’d wanted Tess but he’d wanted her body and her mind and the way he and she worked together, the way they’d moved in sync. This way when their affair was over, they could still be friends, still be in each other’s lives. That prospect made the sex even sweeter, hotter.
“That was amazing, Tess,” he murmured, brushing a kiss against her temple.
“Of course it was,” she murmured. “It’s why we avoided it for so long.”
Adam felt the truth of that statement, knowing in his gut that was why he’d steered clear of giving in to his obsession with Tess until now.
Lights moved on the long drive that led to the observatory and they both sat up a little straighter. It could be another pair of lovers ready to do some star-gazing of their own or it could be the police. Either way, it was time for them to leave. Adam rose to his feet, helping Tess as they searched for her underwear in the shadows. Laughing, they snatched them up from the ground and Tess shoved them in her pocket.
“How much did you say your donation was again?” Tess asked as they strode over to the bike, grabbed the helmets on the back and slipped them on. “Enough to get us out of this?”
Adam glanced quickly at the approaching car. “Let’
s not stay around to find out. Run for it?”
“Like Bonnie and Clyde?”
Adam considered this option, willing to go with it...to a point. “As long as it’s the version with more sex and no murders or bank robberies, I’m in.”
Tess jumped onto the bike, blowing him a kiss. “Well, hop on, Clyde. Let’s go chase some stars.”
It was the best offer he’d had in a very long time.
Eight
“A woman cannot live by takeout Chinese alone,” Tess declared as she dug into her Szechuan chicken with a pair of chopsticks.
The food was delicious, delivered hot and fresh from her favorite restaurant, and normally she would have loved it except that tonight was the most recent of too many nights eating out of cartons or pizza boxes in the offices of Redhawk/Ling, trying to find the mole. They were racing against the clock and Adam and Justin and Tess were killing themselves to win that race. Adam and Justin had the business to run so most of the time it was just Tess and the IT guys they’d put at her disposal. Tonight, Justin had a family thing to attend so it was Tess and Adam in his office digging over piles and piles of information.
And the piles of information—physical and digital—kept growing. Tess was skilled at searching databases and sites to uncover people and their secrets but the volume that had to be processed during this short time was more than one person could tackle. So, the gift of the IT guys meant more eyes on more data and a quicker elimination of dead leads and people who could not be their mole. The last piece of the puzzle was out there, she just needed to find it.
“We could always order something different,” Adam offered from his place at the table across from her, his carton of shrimp with pea pods in brown sauce sitting by his stack of documents. He cocked his head to one side, observing her, a slow grin taking over his face and showing off the dimple that made her want to kiss it and then him—all over. He picked up his food, scooping up chopstickfuls to eat. “Or we could always go out.”
It was past midnight and the building was dark, empty except for the two of them and the guards settled in down at the entrance. She was exhausted and so was Adam, the dark circles under his eyes testifying to how little sleep he’d been getting these days. But Tess couldn’t claim being the cause of his fatigue. They’d yet to spend an entire night together, opting to have sex at the office or in a car. But the encounter always saw them sated and separately in their own beds at the end of the night.
Though they couldn’t keep away from each other, neither of them wanted to take this fling to their homes, content to exist in this half state in between work and their personal lives where nothing mattered except that they wanted each other. Tess squirmed in her seat, her body still aching a little from the last time they’d been together—hot and fast on her desk in her office. It had been fun, the need to be quiet only ramping up the pleasure and making it hotter.
But they’d never suggested adding any activity other than sex to their time together.
“Go out?” She knew what he meant but she was stalling for time, trying to figure out how she felt about his suggestion. Did she want to take this out of the shadows?
Hell. It didn’t matter what she wanted. No strings. Nothing serious. Adding anything that resembled dating was something she should not do. It was something she might not be able to live with later.
As long as it was just sex she was comfortable walking in the gray area of her real reason for staying close to Adam. He got her one step closer to Franklin and avenging her father.
And that was why she was here. Not to date Adam Redhawk. Not to fall for Adam Redhawk.
It didn’t matter that she wanted him. That she liked him. None of that mattered, even if she wanted it to.
Adam nodded, still picking at his food. His movements were jerky, nervous, but he plowed ahead anyway. “Yeah, like a date.”
“Ummm...this had a shelf life...we agreed.”
“And having a meal together in an actual restaurant and not surrounded by a stack of papers covered with ridiculously private information about my employees is a deal breaker?” he asked, giving her an innocent look banked in an otherwise unreadable expression.
She couldn’t tell if he was kidding or not but if she couldn’t be honest about the real reason she was here, she could be honest about the sexual relationship between them.
“It might be. I think it should be.”
“I’m not talking about what it should be,” he answered. “I’m talking about what we want, which I think is really all that matters.” Adam set his carton down, grabbed his beer from the table and took a sip. “And I’m not asking for us to go steady or to even change our Facebook status. I just thought we could have a meal at a restaurant before we do wicked things to each other.”
Tess shook her head, letting her laugh bubble past her lips as she put down the carton and reached for a spring roll. Now she was stalling, attempting to parse through the butterflies doing somersaults in her stomach. But one sensation came through loud and clear: she wanted to go to that restaurant with him. Adam was the real deal. A good man, smart and ambitious and so incredibly determined. When he set his sights on you—when he set them on her—she felt like she was the only woman in the world, like she mattered beyond taking care of other people and righting old wrongs. It felt like she might matter to someone, to him, just because she made him happy. And that was a feeling no one had ever given her.
Damn. This was getting complicated. Sex she could handle. Amazing, off-the-charts sex, leaving-her-limp-and-wrung-out sex, ruin-her-for-other-men sex; she could handle all of that but this was new territory. Scary. Enticing. Not a good idea at all.
But she still couldn’t say no.
“Can I think about it?” she asked, inwardly rolling her eyes at her own cowardice at not being able to say what she knew she should. She should just say no.
She was lying to Adam. She was lying when she pored over the all-access files on Franklin he’d given her. She was lying when she tucked away in a private file tidbits about Franklin that she would use later to connect the dots between Franklin’s greed and the destruction of her father. Everyone said to follow the money, and she now had unprecedented access to just how his deep pockets had been filled with dirty money. It wasn’t a complete picture yet and it wasn’t pretty, but she was close. Very close.
This wasn’t going to end well. Not for her and certainly not for Adam when he realized that she was only here, was only helping him because she was looking for any inroad to take down Franklin. There was no love lost between the two men and he might applaud her exposure of Franklin but Adam would never forgive the deceit that made it happen.
“Yeah, sure. You let me know.”
Tess needed to fill the next few moments with some other conversation so that she didn’t say something she knew she would regret.
“How does it go with your brother and sister?” It was a cheap move to change the subject to his newly found family, but she wanted to focus on the one good thing they’d done together. She selfishly needed to be reminded that she’d done something right for Adam.
“Nothing much has changed on that front. We’ve talked on the phone every few days, video called. I’m trying get them to come out here. Roan is on board but Sarina sends me to voicemail most of the time.” Adam wiped his hands on his napkin, picked up his beer and settled back in his chair. He rubbed his face with his free hand, running his fingers through his hair in a mixed move of frustration and concern that told all the tales on how he was handling the extraordinary situation. “Let’s just say that I’m much better at figuring out data analytics and computer coding than I am at being a good brother.”
“No, I don’t believe that.” She interrupted him, not wanting him to put that on himself for one second longer. She moved over next to him, pushing his tousled hair out of his eyes, the black strands sliding silkily against her
fingers. “You found them. You never stopped looking for them. That’s being a great brother in my eyes.”
“I’m not so sure that disrupting their lives is the act of a great anything. They were living...doing fine on their own and I sent you to find them, dig up all their secrets and drop a bomb right in the middle of all of it.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I feel like I’m driving this reunion, doing all of this just to make myself feel better. I never had a chance to stay connected to my community, my traditions and my culture. I never had anyone ask about my life before coming to California, never had anyone try to help me remember. So...this feels...selfish. I wonder if I should just leave them alone. Let them live the lives they’ve made for themselves.”
He looked at Tess, scanning her face for an answer she didn’t even know the question for, and her heart pulled tightly for him. This man carried so much on his shoulders, she couldn’t help but reach out and cover the broad expanse with her hand, giving him a squeeze in an attempt to absorb some of the tension coiled there under his skin.
“Adam,” she ventured, breaking off when it was clear he had more to say.
“I found them out of guilt, you know. You never asked and I was glad you didn’t because I didn’t want to explain that it was all my fault. I didn’t want to admit that I was the reason we were taken away.”
This time she wouldn’t be stopped. There was no way she letting him take the rap for what had happened. “Adam, no. Your family was blown apart because some overzealous white social workers decided that you would be better off completely ripped away from your family, your tribe, your history and your culture.” He opened his mouth to speak and she placed a finger on his lips, asking him with a smile to let her finish. “These people, everyone from the social workers, to the police, to the judge, violated the Indian Child Welfare Act. They did this to the three of you. I did the research and I know this. Trust me.”
Taking on the Billionaire Page 6