Bind (Manhattan Lux Book 1): Manhattan Lux

by Olivia Devon

  “Why not?” He stepped closer, slipped a boot between her heels, nudged her feet apart and settled one hard lean thigh between her own.

  Oh now that got her attention. Smartass thought he was cute. Jinx whipped her gaze back to his and narrowed her eyes.

  “Easy cowboy. You think you know who you’re dealing with. Trust me. You don’t.”

  “Oh kitten.” Wyatt smiled, lowered his head to her neck and purred his way up to her ear. “I know exactly what I’m doing. C’mon, show me those fangs. I like a bit of pain with my pleasure. Remember?”

  His words vibrated against her skin, sending little tickling shivers up her spine, the kind that had her biting back a smile despite herself, despite her resolution that she would continue to deny this thing, whatever it was, no matter what he said, no matter what he did.

  But then those big hands circled her waist, dipped under the edge of her shirt and found bare flesh. Her skin buzzed and came to life. Want. Need. Recognition. She hadn’t expected that, or the strange sense of familiarity. Wyatt’s hands on her skin felt right, felt whole and firm and steady. His lips found her neck, pressed soft kisses there, up along her jawline, over her cheek, the corner of her mouth.

  “Whoa,” she said. Flattening her palms against his shoulders Jinx pushed, diverting him before he had a chance to end his path of kisses at her lips. No way her blood pressure could handle that right now. Nope, she had to get this brute off her before all her excuses were worn out, before she forgot why she was making excuses to begin with. “Wyatt, seriously. We’re working together. We can’t get involved. ”

  That lazy grin, the one that seemed perpetually pinned to Wyatt’s face slid right off. A muscle tensed in his jaw, and the look in his eyes grew darker, deeper, maybe even a little dangerous.

  “No more teasing,” he said.

  “I haven’t been teasing—” she protested.

  “No I mean me. I’ve been flirting, pushing, trying to provoke you.”

  “Well you’ve succeeded!”

  “I know. But I’m not teasing now, Jinx.” His voice was low, husky, and intimate in a way that made her think that whatever he had to say next, he meant it as solemnly as any oath he’d ever taken.

  “Okay,” she said, her gaze searching his, wondering what was going on in his head that had shifted his mood so dramatically.

  “Listen, I know better than most that life is short, and your luck, it can turn on a dime. I’ve seen…” His eyes grew wide, distant.

  Jinx lifted a hand, but stopped, paused it in midair, hovering next to Wyatt’s face. The urge to touch him was so strong, it was shocking. She longed to comfort, to soothe, to chase away the ugly memories that had clouded those blue eyes. Did she dare?

  She did. Her fingers brushed his skin, grazed over the stubble of his jaw to cup his cheek in her palm.

  Wyatt’s gaze sharpened at the contact, his eyes cleared and focused back on her.

  “Never mind that,” he said, shaking his head. “The point is, I don’t waste a second in this life. It’s the only one I’ve got. I aim to make it count. I go after what I want, Jinx. I don’t let other people’s rules or expectations get in my way.”

  “No?” she said. “So, Jack, if he doesn’t want us involved?”

  “Fuck him. What’s he going to do? Fire me? I’m family. Fire you? Never.”

  “What about…” she began, ready to offer up her staff and her professional reputation as further barriers to their involvement. Excuses, all of it. She knew that. But something about this man made her want to drown, to lose herself in his touch, his words, his kiss.

  Scary.

  Wyatt’s hands slid over her shoulders, and up her neck, tangling in her hair.

  “Let me be plain,” he said, pinning her in his gaze. “I want you. I want to fill my hands up with your curves. I want to feel you writhing under me, feel your skin hot and sweaty against mine, feel you clench around me when you come. And when you scream my name, I’ll feel that too, because I’ll take it, my name from your lips, every time you say it, again and again and again—”

  Her breath hitched sharply, and she whispered it like an involuntary reflex, his name, coming out in a rush so urgent and strange that the sound of her own voice took her by surprise.

  “Wyatt.”

  He kissed her, his lips on hers before she’d finished speaking.

  Hot. Firm. Demanding. Wyatt’s tongue swept over the seam of her lips, and she yielded, melting into the kiss, drowning…drowning…

  He pulled away first, rested his forehead against hers and took her hands, weaving their fingers together.

  “I want to drown in you,” he said, as if he’d just read her thoughts.

  This time, she stopped breathing completely.

  “Just yes or no Jinx.” His voice was soft, almost pleading. “No more sparring. Yes or no.”

  Jinx stared down at their hands, her gaze tracing the strong lines of the fingers that held hers. Firm. Steady.

  She sighed deeply, and lifted her gaze to meet his. There were half a dozen reasons more she could offer to stall this moment, but as her mind worked to summon them, the excuses flew away, one word alone left in their place.

  “Yes,” she said, and he kissed her again.

  Chapter Seven

  He could have kissed her for hours, lost years of his life and all sanity, willingly, just reveling in the taste of those sweet warm lips against his.

  Something crackled loudly at his hip and then buzzed.

  “What the fu—” They broke apart and Wyatt stepped back to unclip the radio from his belt. He grinned at Jinx. “For a second I thought you’d Tasered me again.”

  “Well it crossed my mind.” Jinx smirked, and smoothed her hair back into place.

  Damn. That was sexy. She was so tough, so together, so determined to be in control at all times that the sight of her disheveled, lips swollen from his kisses, hair mussed from his hands, that was a hell of a turn on.

  I did that.

  “Listen,” he said. “That buzz was for me. I gotta go, and I bet you’ve gotta get ready for your nudie show.”

  “Demonstration.” Jinx sighed and rolled her eyes.

  “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say. Point is…” He cupped her cheek and ran his thumb over her lips. “I intend to pick this up again later.”

  “Okay,” Jinx said softly. “Tonight.”

  Wyatt smiled, dipped his head for one last kiss, took her hand, and escorted her back through the busy club to the long hallway that led to the employee lockers and Glow’s staff offices.

  “Aiko’s here,” he said as they stopped outside Jinx’s office. “She’s going to help me with some techy things tonight, so she’ll need access to your office.”

  “Of course. Whatever you need.” Jinx leaned against the doorframe and glanced inside the office. Aiko was sitting at the desk, her fingers flying over the keyboard of the computer.

  “Great.” Wyatt glanced at Aiko and back at Jinx. “Don’t worry, she’s not messing up your bookmarks or anything. She’s just looking for traces of the intruder in the network. We know when they’ve gotten in, but not what they were after.”

  “Not yet.” Aiko spoke from the desk, her eyes never leaving the computer monitor. “They got in through the Wi-Fi. We have one set up with free access to the customers. But we have another one that’s supposed to be closed and secure. Whoever got in cracked the encryption, so now they can come and go when they want. But the catch is, they have to be in range to do so.”

  “Oh?” Jinx asked.

  “Yeah,” Wyatt said. “That’s how I know that Daisy was working with or for someone. She’s not technically inclined. She couldn’t do this on her own.”

  “But she can follow instructions,” Jinx said, frowning.

  “Exactly.”

  “She hasn’t been working at the club for a while,” she said. “Yet the breaches have continued. How do you know she was involved at all? Maybe it’s always been someb
ody else.”

  Aiko spoke up. “The first breach came from your computer, when you weren’t even in the building. We’ve got surveillance footage from the hallway outside your door. The only person that entered your office at that time was Daisy. Of course, she didn’t know about the hidden cameras.”

  “Right,” Jinx said. “I forgot. You said at lunch that you had her on tape. She wouldn’t have known to watch out for cameras. Only the security team knows about those.”

  Wyatt nodded. “It’s not her we want, it’s the people she’s working with. Jack and I are still hoping I can get Daisy out of all this. Now I’ve got the security team on strict orders to detain her if she shows up on the premises again. In the meantime, they’re on the lookout for anything suspicious, whether it’s an employee or a customer.”

  “The fact is,” Aiko said, “we want them to try again. We still don’t know why they’re hacking into our network. That’s what we really want to find out.”

  “Is that why you’re on my computer?”

  “Yep.” Aiko stopped typing and looked up. “Wyatt set me up with one of his ex-SEAL buddies who works for the NSA now—”

  “Hey,” Wyatt said. “I did not confirm or deny that so—”

  “Whatever.” Aiko waved him off. “I took a peeky-poo at the code in that worm he gave me. Scary stuff man. Witchcraft of the kind only a Spook would use. I may have nightmares. After I steal it, of course.”

  “Of course.” Wyatt sighed. Aiko flipped him the bird and then went back to her typing without missing a beat.

  “Enough distractions you two,” she said. “I’ve gotta finish setting this worm loose, so when they do break in again, we can follow their every move. And you’ve both got your jobs too, so get your hormones out of the doorway and get to work.”

  “Hormones?” Jinx and Wyatt said in unison.

  “You two reek of angst and sexual tension. It’s nauseating. Please, for all our sakes, bone each other’s brains out already, or get the fuck over it.”

  Jinx’s jaw dropped and she stared at her sister, huffing like she was coughing or choking, Wyatt wasn’t sure which. He rested one hand on the doorjamb above her head and grinned at Aiko.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “We just decided a few minutes ago. We’re gonna take care of the ‘boning each other’s brains out’ tonight. After work.”

  “Well alright then.” Aiko stopped typing, stood from her chair and put her hands together in a slow dramatic clap. “I heartily approve, dear sister, and as a show of thanks…” Aiko sat back down. “I’ll be sure to spend my night here, monitoring the witchcraft ops, while you two get your freak on.”

  “Oh, extra privacy? I like.” Wyatt nodded at Aiko with approval, and then glanced down at Jinx.

  She was still gaping.

  Jinx was in a daze. As a rule, she didn’t do dazes, didn’t really believe in anything other than clear-headedness and control at all times…but yeah, she was definitely kind of—

  “Well you look out of sorts.” Jane, her partner for this evening’s show was waiting for her when she entered the dressing room. “What’s going on?”

  “Men!” Jinx hugged her friend, then went to the wardrobe, found her costume and began changing.

  Jane smirked at her, propped her foot on a chair, and began spreading a glittery moisturizer all over one leg. “Care to elaborate?”

  “New guy.” Jinx grumbled. “Head of security, completely immature. Loves to tease, totally inappropriate—”

  Jane switched legs. “And let me guess. Smoking hot.”

  “He’s…yeah…I mean…well…” Jinx slipped her arms through the sleeves of the skintight mesh and Lycra bodysuit and laced the front up halfway. This outfit always looked best with a lot of cleavage showing.

  “Oh my, he must be a Norse God, because you can’t even string together a coherent sentence.”

  Jinx sat down in the chair opposite Jane and ran a hand through her hair.

  “He’s completely beautiful,” she admitted. “Funny. Charming. Definitely sexy.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “We just made plans. For tonight. To fuck.”

  Jane laughed and pulled on what little there was of her costume for the evening—a simple G-string and a bandeau bra in nude. “Hot, funny, wants to fuck. I fail to see the problem.”

  “My dogs love him.”

  “Oh.” Jane stopped fussing with her outfit, and looked up.

  “Yeah, oh,” said Jinx. “If I was sure this was just sex, I wouldn’t be tripping. But…”

  “But it feels like more.”

  “I just met this guy,” Jinx said, shrugging. “I’m not looking for more.”

  “That’s when it happens,” her friend said, her eyes brightening with emotion. ‘When you aren’t looking for it. When you least expect it. One day you just meet someone, and it clicks. It just—”

  “Feels right,” Jinx finished for her. “When he touches me, it feels like…like—”

  “Home,” said Jane, smiling wistfully.

  Jinx sighed. “So what do I do?”

  “You go for it.”

  “I’m so tired of wasting time on men. It’s exhausting.” Jinx groaned with frustration, picked up her hair brush, and began aggressively tackling the knots in her hair. “What if it doesn’t work out?” she said. “He’s my boss’s cousin. That could get messy. I’m not sure it’s worth it.”

  “It is.” Jane’s gaze locked on hers. “Absolutely.”

  Jinx arched an eyebrow. She wasn’t so sure.

  “You’ll never know if you don’t give it a chance,” said Jane. “If it’s not meant to be, then at least you had a little fun. But what if it’s the real thing? You’d kick yourself if you missed that.”

  “Would I though? Plenty of dick out there. Is this one that special?”

  “You said yourself that it is just a second ago.”

  “Right.” Jinx sighed, set down the brush, and fluffed her hair in the mirror.

  “Do it,” said Jane. “Even if you end up with a broken heart. It’s still worth it.”

  “Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all huh?” Jinx scoffed. “Who was that? Shakespeare?”

  “No,” said Jane. “Lord Tennyson.”

  “Really?” Jinx picked her ropes and toys up from the props table and opened the dressing room door. “You sure?”

  “Positive.” Jane strode down the hall, stopped, and turned back. “Go for it,” she said. “I mean it. If you chicken out, if you give up what could be your one chance at happiness with the man that’s possibly the love of your life…you’ll regret it.”

  The look on Jane’s face, so serious, so pained, had Jinx closing the distance between them and embracing her friend. She knew Jane meant well, but this speech felt a little too based on personal experience. Love of her life? That was hilarious.

  Jinx decided she wasn’t going to layer too much meaning on this thing with Wyatt. Better to just have fun. If she felt like fucking him tonight, she would. In the meantime, cowboy was going to have to learn that working at the Club meant following Jinx’s rules, not making his own.

  Jinx brushed away a tear from her friend’s cheek as it rolled free. “Hey, you okay to go on?”

  “Yeah.” Jane nodded, sniffed, smiled. “I’ll be fine. You know I live for this shit. I’ll be perfect as soon as we get out there.”

  “Okay.” She rubbed her friend’s shoulders, and pulled her in for a hug. “Showtime then,” Jinx said. “Let’s leave them hard, and drooling for more.”

  Wyatt wove through the crowds, scoping out the perimeter of the club and finally climbed the staircase to the crow’s nest adjacent to the DJ Booth. The people on the floor below him looked like the sea during stormy weather, whirling and crashing against each other as the music pounded.

  He had a lot of guys on his security staff at Glow, and a club this size, that housed a small restaurant, three dance floors, nine bars, VIP booths
and private party rooms, needed every last one of them. The club was three stories high, with broad balconies on the top two floors that circumnavigated the whole lower floor. Wyatt figured that was the stupidest idea for a club he’d ever seen, drunk assholes hanging over the rails, dropping drinks, and sweating on the people below them. It was a miracle no one had fallen yet.

  Thankfully the balconies only had two ways up or down. The first thing Wyatt had done was station a few guys at each location—anybody going up had to relinquish their drinks and buy a new one upstairs, where, as of tonight, the bartenders were only serving in plastic.

  His eyes darted to the exits. There were a dozen entrances in and out of the club, and Jack wasn’t able to tell Wyatt exactly who had access to them all. This entire place was a logistical and security nightmare.

  He was having a ball.

  Of course, he hadn’t exactly cleared some of his changes with Jinx. But he hoped that when she heard his reasons, she’d see things his way. New guy comes in, starts shaking things up, people get upset. There was no way he was going to be accepted, trusted as one of the tribe within his first few weeks. Jack wanted this shit solved ASAP. So a few weeks was all he had. If Jinx didn’t know about the changes Wyatt was initiating, she couldn’t be accused of turning her back on her regular staff. They’d still acknowledge her as an insider, and Wyatt needed her to keep that status, so they could find the mole.

  Good cop, bad cop. Yeah, they’d make a great team.

  Wyatt caught the eye of one of his security guys on the floor below him. Dude gave him a discreet nod then continued on his route.

  “You the new security chief?” The DJ shouted at Wyatt from across the soundboard.

  “Yeah.” Wyatt reached across the booth and shook the man’s hand. “Just checking out the view from up here. Pretty great.”

  “Oh yeah,” the DJ said, shifting his headphones to his neck. “Just wait till the sex show starts. Best seats in the house man. Prime viewing.”

  “Sex show?” Wyatt asked. “I thought it was just a demonstration? But with ropes?”