by R. R. Banks
Darby takes my face in her hands and pulls me to her, kissing me hard and deep. I can feel every ounce of her pain, her pleasure, her passion, and her doubts in that kiss. I pull her to me, wrapping her small body in my arms, relishing the feel of her warm body against mine.
“I love you, Darby,” I say. “I've always loved you. Ever since we met again outside of Pops' bar all those years ago. I fell in love with you that day and that love hasn't diminished one iota since then.”
Tears roll down her cheeks and she kisses me again. When she looks at me, I wipe away the tears, completely captivated by those vibrant green eyes, just like all those years ago.
I pull her to me and kiss her again, hoping she can feel the depth of my emotions through the action. She gasps softly as I kiss her neck, sliding my hands through her hair and down her back. Darby presses herself harder against me, grinding against my rapidly thickening cock.
This is not how I expected this evening to go, to be honest. But, I'm liking this turn of events. I'm liking it a lot. And I'm guessing this is her way of saying she believes me.
Taking her hand, I get off the barstool and lead her through the house, and take her into the master bathroom. Turning the lights on, I quickly dim them to a more romantic setting, and add some bubbles and salts to the tub as I turn on the warm water, filling the jetted tub that could easily accommodate four people.
“I never took you for a bubble bath kind of guy,” she says softly.
I laugh softly, more than glad to hear her sarcasm return. “Nothing beats coming home from a long day to a warm bubble bath and a drink.”
“I can probably think of a few better things.”
I pull her to me and kiss her again. As our tongues swirl together, I unbutton her shirt, tossing it onto the counter. Standing behind her, I unhook her bra, then slide the zipper down on her pencil skirt. I take both items and throw them onto the counter. They land on top of her shirt as Darby kicks off her heels. I turn around to let her watch me pull my shirt off over my head. I drop it to the floor and then unbutton my slacks. I kick my own shoes and socks off, and then let the slacks fall down to the floor, pooling around my feet.
Darby bites her bottom lip as she takes me in from head to toe. I step over to her. I lean down and kiss her again, a little more gently this time. I lead her over to the tub, and guide her into it. Feeling optimistic, I also grab a condom from my bedside table as Darby sinks down into the water, letting out a soft sigh of relief. I join her in the tub, setting the condom to the side. When the water is high enough, I shut off the faucets.
We sit side by side in silence for a minute or two, simply relaxing in the warm water and staring into one another's eyes. It's intimate and I can feel the bonds between us growing and strengthening as the icy atmosphere around her begins to thaw.
“Why haven't you told me before?” she asks softly. “That you love me?”
I let out a breath. “I was afraid to.”
“Afraid?”
I nod. “I keep thinking – fearing, actually – that one day you're going to wake up and realize you can do better than me. That you should do better,” I explain. “Your brother isn't wrong – you really are too good for me, Darby. I was afraid to tell you how I really felt because that would make it real. And when feelings are real, people get hurt.”
She puts her hand on my cheek, leans forward, and kisses me softly. “None of that is true.”
I shake my head “It is though,” I say. “You are better than me.”
Darby kisses me again, but lets her lips linger. Slowly, our kiss grows more passionate and heated than before. The look in her eyes is one of absolute desire, which only fans the flames inside of me.
“Fuck,” I moan as I feel her hand beneath the water gripping my cock.
She starts to move her hand up and down, stroking me firmly and with purpose. It feels so fucking good and I softly call out her name until I can’t take it anymore.
I reach over and pull her into my lap. She sits astride me, her hands wrapped around the back of my neck, her eyes burning with a feverish intensity. I kiss her, sliding my hands up her back, slick with the water and soap, and bring them around, cupping her breasts. I lean forward and take her stiff nipple into my mouth, giving it a nip that makes her moan. The feel of her wet, slick body pressed to mine makes me impossibly hard. I can't get enough of this woman. I want to completely consume her.
I open the condom wrapper, sliding it down my cock as Darby reaches down and grabs hold of my hard length. She guides it into her warm, sweet opening and lowers herself down on it. Her forehead pressed to mine, she bites her bottom lip as she takes me inside inch by inch. When I'm fully sheathed inside of her, Darby pushes me even deeper before throwing her head back and crying out.
I slide my hands back down beneath the water and grab hold of her firm, tight ass, helping set the rhythm as she starts to slowly move up and down on my cock, the water gently splashing around us. I kiss her neck, running my tongue down to her breasts and back up again. Darby moans my name as she rides me. It never fails to amaze me how good it feels to be inside of her.
The water in the tub is sloshing, spraying above the rim, as Darby's movements start to grow frantic. Her pace growing fevered. She's thrusting herself up and down, impaling herself on my cock, crying out with every thrust.
“Yes, Carter,” she gasps. “Fuck, baby.”
After all the uncertainty of the past few days, we both needed this validation of our love. We needed to feel connected. Bonded. Electric sensations course through my body, and it feels like my skin is on fire as rides me, her warm, wet pussy gripping me tight. I feel her muscles tensing up, and she grows even tighter as she comes closer to the brink.
A moment later, she digs her nails into my shoulders, and I gasp as she throws her head back and screams. It's primal – a release of every pent-up emotion she's been carrying with her the last few days. Shuddering and breathing heavily, she leans forward, pressing her forehead to my chest, as she rides out her orgasm.
“Oh my God, Carter,” she cries out.
After that, her words break down into an incoherent jumble of sounds. Darby grinds her pussy against me, her body shaking hard as her orgasm tears through her body.
Slowly, her grip on my hair loosens and her body begins to relax again. Her breathing slows and when I look at her, I see that her cheeks are flushed, and she's smiling wide at me.
“That was amazing,” she says.
I give her a smile. “I can't get enough of you, baby.”
She bites her bottom lip, a sultry look in her eye.
“Fuck me,” she whispers.
As if she's cast a spell on me, I do exactly as she commands. I start pushing my hips harder and faster, plunging my cock in and out of her depths, unable to control myself. Unable to slow down. The water sloshes higher and higher in the tub, and I hear it slopping onto the tile below, but I don't care. It'll get cleaned up.
“Yes, oh God,” Darby moans. “Just like that.”
My pace is torrid, my breathing ragged, and the pressure inside of me is building to one powerful crescendo. I know I'm not going to last much longer.
“Come for me, Carter,” she moans softly. “I want you to come so fucking hard for me.”
As if that is the magic key that unlocks the dam, her words send a bolt of white lightning through me, searing my every nerve ending. A sound that's nowhere near human erupts from my throat and I feel my body tighten to the breaking point. I grit my teeth as I explode inside of Darby.
We stay like that, linked together, looking deep into one another's eyes as that post-coital glow wraps us up in its warm embrace. It's as if after everything that's happened the last few days, we needed this life and love-affirming act.
“I think there's more water on the floor than there is left in the tub,” Darby says and laughs.
I shrug. “That's why I have a cleaning service.”
She laughs and smacks me in the shoulde
r. Her smile is wide and bright – and is easily the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I catch her gaze and hold it, letting my eyes bore deep into hers.
“I love you, Darby,” I say.
“And I love you,” she replies softly.
“I'm sorry I haven't told you that before now. I should have.”
She gives me a funny little grin. “But, now you have. It's a Christmas miracle.”
I laugh and shake my head. “Yeah, let's not get carried away.”
“Scrooge.”
“That's me.”
“Yeah, I know better than that,” she says. “Tell me you love me again.”
“I love you, Darby White.”
“I'm never going to get tired of hearing that.”
“That's good,” I say. “Because I'll never get tired of saying it.”
* * *
“You have got to be kidding me,” she says.
I shake my head. “Wish I was.”
We're both sitting in fluffy blue robes at the bar in the living room area, eating takeout Chinese. She's on a stool and I'm standing behind the bar as we eat out of the cartons – and it suddenly occurs to me, what a cliché this is. But, after our session in the tub, we were both feeling pretty ravenous, so I'd ordered in from my favorite place, stereotypes be damned.
I pick up a big bite of chow mein with my chopsticks and slide it into my mouth, savoring the flavor. As I chew, I slide the piece of paper over to her, so she can see it for herself. As she chews on some Mongolian Beef, Darby unfolds the sheet of paper and reads it to herself, shaking her head the entire time.
“I cannot believe he actually found a judge who would sign off on this crap,” she says. “This can’t be freaking legal.”
I shrug and finish chewing another bite of chow mein. “It pays to have friends in high places, I suppose,” I say. “They can make anything legal, if they want to.”
“This is unreal,” she says softly. “That he's willing to go to these kinds of extremes, just to further his own political career.”
“And keep a tight leash on you, let's not forget that charming little bit,” I say. “I think his deal is less about ruining me, and more about keeping control over you.”
She chews thoughtfully on a bit of egg roll for a moment before turning to me. “What are you going to do?” she asks. “I mean, if he's opening investigations into your company –”
“His investigations are completely without merit,” I say. “If he sends his hounds around the office, I'll happily let them look at anything they want. They're not gonna find shit. Like I told him, I run a clean shop. I have absolutely nothing to hide. So fuck ‘em. Let them come look, and waste their time. It's like I told him, at the end of the day, he's going to be left with nothing but his dick in his hand, and a lot of questions from his bosses.”
“He's relentless, Carter,” she says. “He’s not going to stop.”
I shrug. “Let him,” I say. “Like I also told him, I made the mistake of letting him get between us once. I'm refuse to let that happen again. Not for anything. I love you. You're mine. I'm yours. Fuck Mason. End of story.”
She smiles and looks away as blooms of red rise in her cheeks. I know I need to address the other elephant in the room – the one we've been actively avoiding talking about. The girl.
“Listen, the other thing I needed to talk to you about was the girl the other night,” I say.
I see her body tense up, and she freezes with a piece of food halfway to her mouth. She recovers quickly, but I can see in her eyes just how wary and uncertain she still is about the other night. The presence of that woman rattled Darby down to her core, and she still hasn't fully recovered from it.
“Mason was here that night,” I say. “He was the one who hired that girl to be here. Paid her to make that scene. This was his plan – since using Pops against me backfired on him, he wanted to make you think I was cheating on you and drive a wedge between us again.”
She looks at me, the expression on her face inscrutable for a few seconds, but it’s quickly followed by a look of horror, mixed with indescribable rage. I can see on her face that she's trying to wrap her mind around it all, trying to come to grips with just how shady her brother really is, and the depths he'll sink to in order to control her.
“Mason was hiding in the back room while all of that was going on up here,” I say. “Once you left, he came out and had a good laugh at my expense. I'm going to fucking bury him for that. He really picked the wrong person to fuck with this time.”
I can see the conflict on Darby's face. She hates Mason for what he's done – what he's doing – but, he's still her brother. Her last remaining family member. I can understand why she'd be so leery of turning me loose on him. Despite the fact that he's a raging asshole, she doesn't want to see anything bad happen to him simply because they share DNA. I get that, I guess.
But then, this isn't really her choice at this point. He fucked with me – again. He'd fucked with me, with Pops, and with my relationship with Darby. Repeatedly. The son of a bitch needs to learn his place. He needs to learn that our consequences have actions. That if we punch somebody in the mouth, you best expect to get punched back. Twice as hard. That’s one of the life lessons I learned in St. Aggie’s. I
survived Hells Kitchen, and I'm ten times stronger than Mason will ever be because of it.
“Carter, I – what are you planning on doing?”
“Keeping my promise to him,” I say. “I told him if he came at me, I was going to tear his world down and set it on fire. He came at me. Now, it's up to me to hold up my end of the bargain. I'm a man of my word, Darby.”
“You're not going to – hurt him are you?”
I laugh and lean forward, kissing the tip of her nose. “Physically?” I ask. “No. I'm not going to lay a finger on him. I swear to God.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“I'm going to ruin him. His reputation. His political ambitions,” I say. “The way he's tried to destroy mine.”
A shadow of uncertainty, and that look of conflict, passes across her face once more. Darby is a kind soul, and a compassionate person. Those are some of her greatest strengths, but also one of her biggest weaknesses. Especially when it comes to Mason. Her kind heart is blinding her to the fact that her brother is a monster, who needs to be dealt with, once and for all.
“Destroy his life?”
“Darby, if I don't teach him a lesson and put his ass in check, he's going to keep thinking he can operate with impunity,” I say. “If I don't teach him a lesson, he's going to keep coming after me. Coming after you. Coming after us. I need to put a stop to this shit once and for all.”
She nods. “I understand,” she says, her tone filled with a little more conviction than before. “What are you going to do?”
I give her a grin. “It's already done,” I say. “Now, I just need to present him with what I have and my list of demands.”
I lay out the plan Rupert and I had put together and executed. It had all gone without a hitch. I knew Mason wouldn't be able to resist. His ego alone guaranteed he wouldn't be able to. We'd laid a trap and he'd been so fucking blinded by his hatred of me that he'd walked straight into it. It's a beautiful fucking thing.
When I’ve finished my story, Darby sits back, chewing on a bit of food, looking thoughtful. She shakes her head and looks sad. Though I can understand it a bit, I can't let sentiment get in the way. Mason has fucked us over too many times – and now it's time to retaliate.
“It's going to be okay, Darby,” I say. “It's all going to work out.”
She nods but can't quite wipe that expression of sadness and uncertainty off her face.
“Yeah,” she says. “I know.”
She looks up and gives me a weak smile. I come around the bar and pull her to me, holding her tight. I hold her for several long minutes, trying to give her strength to see this through. I want her to believe that this will all work out.
I'm going to bring this to an end and get Mason fucking White out of our lives once and for all. His reign of terror is about to come crashing to an end.
He won a few battles, sure, but I'm about to win the fucking war.
20
Carter
I walk through the office, feeling light and happy – which doesn't match the mood of the staff. Not at all. They cast wary, uncertain looks at me, all of the holiday sucked right out of them once again. Which can only mean one thing. Mason is already here. I glance at my watch and realize I'm twenty minutes late.
Oops.
“Ahab is waiting in the conference room for you,” says Alice, the office administrator. “He's been in there for half an hour and he's getting upset.”
“Gee, that's too bad. Did you offer him coffee?” I ask. “Danishes?”
She nods. “Of course, Mr. Bishop.”
“Then he can shut the hell up,” I say and give her a wink. “Good job, Alice.”
She smiles but scurries back to her desk. Alice – hell, everybody – looks like they're bracing for a nuclear blast. They're not wrong, they’re just confused about who has their finger on the button. I step to the front of the room and clap my hands.
“Good morning, everybody,” I call out.
All business stops, and an awkward, hushed silence descends over the room. All eyes turn to me and I can see the questions – and fear – in their eyes.
“First off, I want to thank you all for your hard work over the past few weeks,” I say. “We have been having some extraordinary success and I appreciate all of your diligence. I know a lot of people say it – mostly because they feel like they have to – but I really do have the absolute best staff in the world.”
Praising my crew normally gets some cheers and applause, and gets the room pumped up. This time, however, the silence is practically deafening. I give them my best attempt at a comforting smile.
“I know you're all tense about the fact that Ahab is sitting in our conference room,” I say. “And we all know nothing good comes of Ahab sniffing around people's shops, am I right?”