by Molly E. Lee
“Oh well,” I said. “At least we know it could’ve worked. And we have Paititi. I know the studio won’t fund it anymore, but I want you all there for the return trip.” I tilted my head. “Once I find a backer, that is.”
“We don’t mind waiting,” Connell said.
“I can help you look for someone.” Wade cocked an eyebrow. “I could call in favors from some of the directors I’ve worked for in the past.”
“We don’t know where our show stands,” Dash said, glancing at Blake, “now that Daniel is on leave, but once we figure it out we can ask around.”
I smiled at each of them as I squeezed Rain’s hand. It felt good to be on the same page as a crew, a family, and the sting of losing my show after a decade became a little less painful.
“You don’t think Robert will send anyone to make the claim before you, will he?” Dash asked, motioning toward the door where my ex-producer had run out.
“No,” I said. “Not with the case we’d have against him. The footage alone proves we found it first. That, and if he fucking crossed me like that I’d make sure he ended up in a cell next to Corrine’s.”
The guys nodded, a collective silence stealing over the room.
“Does the backer have to be in the business?” Sadie asked, breaking the bubble.
“Not necessarily,” I said, sighing. “Basically we need someone with as much or more money than this studio, and the readiness to support us when we aren’t positive what we’ll come back with. With Paititi we know. Anything beyond than that we want to do? It’ll be a gamble.”
A slow smile spread across her face. Connell studied her for a few moments before something clicked behind his eyes and I couldn’t tell if he was happy or pissed off. “Really?” he asked her, his voice raspier than usual.
Sadie arched an eyebrow, challenging him to question her again. After a silent stare down, which Sadie won, she turned to the rest of us and grinned again. “No one has flights out today, right?”
There was a collective shaking of heads. No one had planned that far, unable to see past the outcome of today. Of course, we would all have to leave at some point. Return to the places we called home, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t miss them.
“Perfect,” Sadie said, clapping her hands together. “Let’s all have dinner tonight. I have to make a few calls, and then I’ll text each of you the address. Sound good?”
Connell leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head.
“Good,” Wade said, smacking his hands on the table as he pushed back from it. “Hotel shower is calling my name.”
“We’re heading out, too,” Dash said as he and Blake followed Wade toward the door. He shook my hand before leaving and kissed Rain on the cheek. I was glad I hadn’t fucked things up beyond repair with Dash after I’d gone after him when Rain had been taken. He was a good friend to have. They all were.
I nuzzled Rain’s neck after they left; Connell still sat beside Sadie, who was typing away on her phone. “Are you with me?”
A soft gasp parted Rain’s lips when I touched her thigh under the table. She turned to me, those blue eyes igniting a fire in my blood. I hadn’t been able to stop touching her since I’d pulled her out of that godforsaken cage. The physical confirmation was something I not only craved now, it was a primal need right down to my bones. She was my air, and I couldn’t breathe without touching her.
“Always,” she responded.
“Then let’s get out of here.” I teased her bottom lip with my tongue, not giving a shit if Connell was across the table or not.
A flush dusted her cheeks and she nodded, quickly rising from her seat. “See you two later,” she said, waving at Sadie, who was now on her phone in the corner of the room.
Connell cocked an eyebrow at me and smirked as we left.
I flipped him off for good measure.
“YOU CAN?” SADIE’S giddy tone both elated me and made me scowl at the same time.
I wanted to help the crew out if we could, but damn I’d be lying if I said I wished we knew another billionaire besides Casey fucking Williams. The dude had helped Sadie out in a massive way on the site we met on in the Bahamas—digging into his partner Slade’s dirty dealings enough to get him tossed out of the company they owned together as well as keep the sunken ship Sadie had fallen in love with preserved—but he had also hit on her, which made the instinct to hate him run in my blood.
He hadn’t known we were together, or well, we weren’t at the time, but Sadie had owned my heart regardless that I’d pushed her away. And him trying to sneak in—even if he didn’t know I had claimed the woman—was grounds for dislike in my book.
“Thank you so much, Casey,” she said, smiling and throwing me a thumbs-up from where she paced the other side of the conference room. She had been full of nervous energy since we got back, and while I was happy she was happy, I wished she’d get off the phone. We were finally alone, and I didn’t want to waste one more second not touching her. “You have no idea what this means to us.”
My heart expanded in my chest at her declaration of us. Sure, I’d put a ring on her finger and made an honest woman out of her, but I was constantly in disbelief that she loved me. She was so bright, and I was so dark. She helped me break the shadow that was my life, little by little, each day, and I still didn’t think I deserved her.
Fuck, she was amazing. All glowy-eyed and cheesy-grins as she locked eyes with me but listened to what Casey said on the other end. She was going well out of her way to reach out to him to help support the team, and the gesture made me fall for her just a little bit more.
The long white skirt she wore swished around her ankles as she continued pacing, her bright blue top making her eyes pop. She looked ready for a long day on the beach—lazy walks where we let the ocean be our background noise. I wanted to take her there, return to the life we led, but I also wanted to show her the new world that had been opened up to us with my initiation among the E.D.G.E. crew.
“See you soon.” She finally hit the end button on her cell and set it on the table in front of me. “He’s flying out now,” she said, leaning over me. “Should be here by dinner.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Must be nice to have a private jet at your disposal.”
“Hey.” She pinched my bulging bicep, but I didn’t flinch. “You can’t still have issues with Casey . . .” She arched an eyebrow at me, forcing me to look her in the eyes.
I shrugged. I wouldn’t lie to her, but I wouldn’t admit it either.
She shook her head. “Do you doubt me?”
I furrowed my brow. “Never.”
“Then please let whatever qualms you have go.” She traced her fingers over the clenched edge of my jaw. “If he agrees to help, he’ll be your source of funding and you’ll probably have to see him on the regular.”
The notion made me flex, but I took a deep breath when I saw the pleading look in her eyes.
“I know you want this,” she said. “I saw the way you were around those guys . . .” A slow smile shaped her perfect pink lips. “I’ve never seen you like that with anyone outside me. You were happy.”
I shrugged again, and she threw her hands up, huffing. “You’re insufferable sometimes.” She turned away from me, her black sandals scraping against the tiled conference room floor. I snapped my arm out, gently grasping her wrist to stop her movements.
A good tug and she was against my chest. I used my other hand to grip her hip, holding her against me as I looked up at her from where I sat. “I know,” I admitted. “But I can’t help it. You make me this way.”
Her mouth dropped. “Me? I do not.”
I nodded, brushing some of her blonde hair away from her face. “I love you, Sadie. More than anything I’ve ever loved in this entire fucking world. I know I don’t deserve you and yet, somehow, you decided to marry me. Changed my life. Gave me something worth living for.” Her eyes glistened. “So, fuck me if I can’t find the strengt
h to like a man who was vying for your attention the same time I was. I mean, shit, Sadie, he’s a billionaire. Smart, too. Way better suited for you than me.” I shrugged, the truth in my words stinging my chest.
She shook her head, hiking up her skirt so she could straddle me. Pressing her forehead against mine, she sighed. “If it takes me everyday until I’m ninety-six, I will make sure you understand how I could never love anyone else the way I love you.” She swiped her tongue between my lips, her arms around my neck. “You and I are the same.” She pressed her hand against the center of my chest. “Regardless of what you think of yourself.” She trailed her hand lower and lower until it rested between her warmth and my rapidly hardening cock. “No one is better suited for me than you, Connell. Do you understand?”
I nodded, claiming her mouth in way of an answer. I flicked my tongue against hers, clutching her hips to move her against my dick. A breathy sigh left her lips, and with a quick movement of her hands, she had my shorts unzipped, and her hand wrapped around me.
I arched my head back, hissing with the relief from her touch. “I missed you,” I growled.
She sucked my bottom lip into her mouth before biting it with just enough pressure to sting. “No idea how much,” she said.
I nipped back at her. “Oh,” I hissed as she teased the smooth silk covering her warmth with my cock. “I think I have an idea.” I was trying to keep up with what we were talking about, but each sweet stroke against what I ached for had my brain shutting down. Pure, primal want rushed through my veins, everything in me screaming to take what was mine.
My eyes darted toward the door to the conference room. “Someone could come in,” I said, not knowing who could just happen upon us.
Sadie released her hold on me, leaning back enough for me to see the heat flash in her eyes before she shrugged. I don’t know if it was the fact that she’d used my signature move on me, or that she didn’t care if we got caught, but I had her silk panties pushed to the side in seconds. A blink later and she was sinking on top of my hard, aching cock. Her white skirt billowed around us, covering everything, and it made it almost as hot as having her completely naked.
Sliding up and down, she took me in inch by inch completely slick and hot for me. “God, Sadie.” I fisted her shirt as she rolled her hips.
She moaned, clamping her mouth shut like she was trying to prevent herself from calling out my name. The face she made, her eyebrows pulled together and her bottom lip between her teeth, had me shaking inside. I slipped a hand under her skirt, situating to where I could stroke her clit as she rode me. Fucking hell, this woman threw her head back upon contact, gasping as she rocked on top of me.
I snaked my free arm behind her, drawing her up slowly until we were chest to chest. I swallowed her moans with my mouth, stroking her tongue with mine at the same pace as my fingers worked her below.
“So wet,” I said between her lips. “So tight. Fucking perfect,” I hissed, as she clenched around me. Her thighs squeezed my hips as she bucked harder, her nails clawing at my shoulders.
“Connell,” she whispered, the strain to cry out evident in her voice. She trembled above me, around me, and I fucking lost it as I watched her fly apart. She took me with her, heart, soul, and fire.
Slowly, she loosened her grip on my shoulders, but I continued to hold her close as we came down. I pushed away the hair that had gone wild from her throwing her head back and grinned up at her. “I should go away more often,” I teased.
That earned me another light smack on the chest, but she laughed. The sound was almost as sweet as her breathy moans, and I kissed her, silently thanking her for the perfect welcome home party.
“I WANT TO shower again,” Rain said as the hotel room door closed behind us. “Is that bad?” She chuckled.
We had both showered before the meeting with Robert, but I understood the urge. A week in the Amazon will do that to a person. “Of course not,” I said, dropping her hand to give her freedom to go. It had been difficult as fuck to let her out of my sight since I got her back, even to go to the bathroom, and I wasn’t sure the panic that wreaked havoc on my soul would ever go away.
She turned but stopped with her hand on the bathroom door, glancing at me over her shoulder. “Come with me?”
A sigh of relief left my lips and my shoulders dropped. “Thank God,” I said, planting a kiss on her lips. “I’m sorry, Raindrop. I’m trying not to be clingy-guy, but I can’t fucking help it.”
She ran her fingers over the beard I’d yet to shave since we’d gotten back. “I want you there.” Her eyes dropped. “I don’t want to be alone either.”
A sharp pain twisted in my chest followed by a white-hot fury. Damn Corrine for doing this to her, to us. Fuck Robert. Fuck them all. I swiped an arm behind her knees, cradling her to my chest as I opened the bathroom door, carrying her inside. I sat her on the counter, kissing her neck, her jawline, the space just beneath her ear that drove her crazy.
Leaving her only for enough time to turn on the shower, I came back already stripping my shirt off and tossing it on the floor. She went for her own, but I stopped her, wanting that pleasure for myself. Slowly, I peeled her clothes off until there was nothing between us, and helped her into the shower.
The warm water cascaded off her beautiful skin, and my fingers followed the water’s trail everywhere it went. I kissed here gently, taking my time to memorize the feel of her tongue against mine, the way her mouth fit perfectly against my lips. I’d known every curve of her body since we were teenagers, and yet, now, it seemed like something so much more precious. Having her forcefully taken away had nearly shattered me, and I wanted to erase our hurt with new memories. A forever’s worth of memories.
Fingering the strands of her hair, I washed it, savoring every second as she soaped my body up, too. We were slick from the water after rinsing off, but when I reached down to tease her, it was her warmth that shot heat straight to my dick, which had been hard and dying for her since we’d stepped inside.
I didn’t push, though. I hadn’t since I’d gotten her back. The trauma of her being taken had exhausted us both, and I didn’t want to do anything that Rain wasn’t ready for.
“Compass.” She sighed, eyeing me when she spotted my hesitance. “I’m yours.” She clutched the back of my neck, bringing her body flush with mine.
I cupped her ass, growling from the sensation the slick water created between us. “Are you with me?” I asked, wanting us . . . desperate for us to be on the same page.
“Yes,” she said, clutching the railing on the shower wall. She hiked her leg around my hip, slowly moving against me. “Are you?”
I wrapped a strong arm around her lower back, supporting her as the water continued to soak us. “Always,” I groaned as she rolled her hips until she was slowly sinking on top of my cock. I hissed, her warmth enveloping me, hugging it in the tightest, most perfect fucking way. “Damn,” I growled, pumping hard, slipping in and out, relishing each pleasured cry that left her lips.
“Oh my God, Easton,” she moaned, her balance wavering the more she shook around me. I held her to me, knowing the only thing I’d let her fall from was the edge on which she was teetering.
“Yes,” I growled, increasing the pace as she bucked against me, greedy for the pressure only I could give, which drove me fucking wild. “Here?” I asked, strengthening my hold on her with one arm and freeing the other to roll my fingers over her clit.
An incomprehensible moan tumbled from her lips and her warmth tightened around me. “Easton. Please,” she begged like I held the power over her, like I was the one holding her in such beautiful torture. But it was her. She owned me. Every fucking inch. And with each roll of her hips, flames licked my skin.
“Now?” I demanded her answer, needing to hear her say it.
“Yes. God, yes.” She slipped her tongue between my lips, breathing her sighs into me like life.
Sparks shot across my spine as I felt her pulse around my di
ck, a rapid tightening that had me coming right along with her. I slowed our pace, giving her long, slow strokes as I worked her through her orgasm. Her already pliant body went softer after a while, if that was possible, and I gently kissed her.
After we shut the water off and dried each other, I came up behind her as she squeezed her wet hair with a towel, her eyes catching mine in the mirror. I kissed her neck, inhaling her scent that made me drunk. “Now what?” I asked.
She dropped the towel, spinning around to face me. A smirk shaped her mouth as she gripped my shoulders and gave a little hop, locking her ankles around my hips. “Let’s test out the bed.”
I held her ass and rushed us out of the bathroom, splaying her beautiful naked body on the king-size bed before tucking myself between her legs. She didn’t have to tell me twice.
The hostess escorted Rain and myself through the packed restaurant, guiding us into a private room in the back. A live band was rocking the front of the house, but as soon as we crossed into the room, all we could hear was a minimal thumping.
“Who’s floating this bill?” I teased Sadie as we took our seats across from her and Connell. Wade, Blake, and Dash had beaten us there, too.
Not hard, since I hadn’t wanted to leave the bed and Rain’s naked body in the first place. She’d had to force me into clothes and out the door. Something I knew she’d be doing a lot of now that I had her all to myself again.
“I’ve got it covered.” Sadie winked as the hostess took our drink orders.
“Connell has a sugar mama,” Wade joked, sipping on what looked like straight bourbon.
“I’ll have what he’s having,” I said, pointing to Wade’s drink.
“Good choice,” he said, taking another sip. “Better than lukewarm water any day.”
I tilted my head back and forth. “I don’t know. When you’re dying of thirst, that water is just about this side of heaven.”
“True.”
“She’s not a sugar mama,” Connell said, brooding over Wade’s joke.