Intertwined (Redemption #2)

by Sasha Brümmer

  I’m not someone who tends to hold back on anything when it comes to something I want that is attainable. I hold my own, and I’m damn proud of it. Fuck the world’s perceptions of women who make a life for themselves. I’m single, I’m independent, and I’m happy.

  At least that what I tell people.

  I look up from my post at the bar and scan the crowded room in front of me. This is the other thing I live for. Blended is my sanctuary, and it’s the one place that I don’t feel like I have to try to convince people of who I am. I smile to myself before I readjust some of the bottles of whiskey along a wooden shelf before it happens again. A heavy hand lands on my ass, leaving a stinging pain in its wake. I spin around to see who the hell just had the audacity to land one on me again. It’s him. The same dude from ten minutes ago and I swear to God, I’m going to have to toss a fucking bottle of whiskey at this asshole’s head if he touches me once more.

  My customers at Blended are usually laid back and tend to be higher on the social ladder than regular bars, and I’ve never seen this fuck here before, but I can tell that nothing good comes along with him.

  One of my librarians, Eden, has been keeping an eye on him for the majority of the evening, but he’s recently fallen in love with my ass while I reach for bottles of some of the world’s most unique and expensive whiskey.

  “Hey Isla?”

  I spin around in the direction of Eden’s voice and give her a weak, exhausted smile. “Yeah?”

  “I think that we need to call the cops or something on him. He just leaned over and groped that woman’s breast,” she says, pointing to one of my regulars.

  “Dear God. I’ll get his tab taken care of, and you call Colin Jacobs. His number is in my phone.”

  “Mr. Brass’s driver, right?”

  “You’ve got it.”

  With our little plan underway, she walks to my office while I purposely give him a great view down the front of my shirt as I hand him his bill back. I don’t know how that amount cleared his card, but it did, so I’m not complaining. His eyes remain on my breasts as he scribbles on the receipt, leaving Eden a tip that is twice the amount of his bill. I try to hide my laugh as Eden comes back out and hands me my cell.

  “Liam Jensen said that he’s on his way with Jacobs.”

  “Liam?”

  “Yup, Jacobs answered and then handed the phone off to him.”

  I raise my brows and take my phone from her, glancing down at it and expecting to see a missed called from Liam or even a text message, but there’s nothing. Odd.

  A good fifteen minutes pass while I serve my regulars throughout the library before a pair of muscle-laced arms come around my waist from behind.

  “There she is.”

  I throw a glance over my shoulder and roll my eyes at his beautiful cocky grin. “What the actual fuck are you doing here, Liam?”

  This man will, at some point, be the death of me. He does what he wants when he wants. He’s reckless, stubborn, and inconsistent. Needless to say, he’s untamable, even though countless numbers of women have tried. He brings chaos wherever he goes, but through all of it, I wouldn’t change the man that he is. Most people look at him, and that’s all that they can see. When they are able to look past his physical features, though, they’ll see that there’s more to him than that.

  Although, I will admit that it’s sometimes difficult to look past his sturdy and well-defined features and a body that was molded from granite. Liam is more than the full package, but not every woman out there will be able to handle him. He’s got this dark-brown tousled hair that I’m dying to run my fingers through again, and that smile, fuck me. He’s an Adonis that seems to make all other men pale in comparison. He’s handsome all right, but inside, he’s beautiful.

  “Are you complaining? I swear that I could hear this pussy beg for me from across the ocean,” he says through a cocky smile.

  Damn, that smile.

  Whenever Liam Jensen smiles like that, all that I can think is oh shit.

  He moves his hand down as if he’s about to cup my sex, but I stop him with one of mine and manage to cough out a laugh before moving out of his arms. I nod in the direction of the asshole sitting at my bar with his head on the counter. “Make him leave, and I’ll blow you.”

  “Ah, doll, you’ll blow me regardless.”

  I huff and push on his hands until he releases me. “Will you just help Jacobs, please?” I say as I glance over to where Jacobs now has the man over his shoulder, and he’s leading the drunken loon out of Blended.

  “It looks like I’m no longer needed.”

  “Neither is your cock,” I shoot back at him and walk off in the direction of my office. I close my office door lightly behind me, and step to my desk, counting down the seconds before Liam barges in, and as if right on cue, the door swings open. He gazes at me with want in his eyes from across the room before slamming the door closed and turning the lock.

  “I’ve missed you, Isla.”

  “Is that so? Did you miss me or my body?”

  “Both. You’re one hell of a bundle,” he says as he walks up to me and slides a large hand down my ribcage to my hip. He pulls my body into his and I brace my hands against his chest.

  “I didn’t know that you were back. How long are you staying for this time? Just long enough to get the tip of your dick wet?”

  His eyelids lower in deep need as his other hand moves to my back, pushing the thin material of my sweater out of his way until he’s able to touch my bare skin.

  “How about I keep my travel arrangements to myself, and you give me what I want?”

  I toss my head back and laugh at him. To him, I’m a sure thing, but little does he know, I’m not so sure I want it anymore.

  Isla Madden belongs to no man. At least not if I can help it.

  I revolve around multiple men, just as he revolves around myself and Adriana Hugh, yet for some reason ever since we started fucking these last few months, the mere sight of her pisses me off. I cannot stand the fact that she gets to taste him after he’s been inside of me, buried in my aching core while he made me cry out in pleasurable bliss.

  I huff out a breath and look up into his dark, almost-black eyes. “Honestly. Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming back?”

  He must notice my body language change because his touch goes from demanding gropes to gentle strokes of his fingers.

  “I didn’t tell anyone.”

  “Chicken shit.”

  His light chuckle fills my office before he wraps my loose hair around his wrist. “Not one bit, but I thought that I’d need to ask your permission first before I just crashed at your place until I found my own. That’s why I’m here.”

  “Ah, so you’re here to use me.” I pause and scrunch up my face. “Wait. You’re looking for your own place? How come?”

  “I will be. I’ll be staying longer than my usual week or two.”

  “And how long will that be, Jensen?”

  “Indefinitely.”

  For some reason that I cannot explain, that one word calms all of the blood raging through my body at the thought of having to say goodbye to one of my best friends and fuck-buddy again.

  I shrug to look as unaffected as I possibly can before moving out of his touch and grabbing my keys from the top drawer in my desk. “Grab your shit. Let’s get you settled.”

  “It’s currently all at Wade’s place.”

  “Well, are you going to be crashing there or with me? You know that I won’t approve of your fucking Adriana in my bed, so maybe it’s wiser that you stay with Brass.”

  “Addy and I are over.”

  I don’t think that I conceal the shock on my face enough to hide it from him because he gives me the cockiest of grins.

  “Don’t look at me like that.”

  “Like what?” I ask hesitantly.

  “Like you thought that Addy and I may have developed into something more.”

  “Uhm, after all of those yea
rs, I’m not entirely sure how you two hadn’t.”

  He clears his throat and pulls my winter coat off the back of my chair. “You know how I feel about having a woman rely on me. I don’t trust myself enough to support someone.”

  “You’ve mentioned that more times than I care to think is true.”

  I slide my arms into my coat before buttoning it up and wrapping a scarf around my neck. He reaches for my hand without my having to prompt him, and he leads me out of the office and into the main room of Blended.

  I scan the library for Eden, and when I spot her, I call out and tell her that I’ll be leaving for the evening and that she’s in charge to close up.

  She gives me a thumbs-up as Liam and I walk out of the rear entrance and into the back lot, which is covered in more snow than it was when I first arrived. I dig my car keys out of my coat pocket and toss them to him.

  He catches them and grins. “It’s been a while since I’ve driven in this shit.”

  “Well, there’s no time like the present to get back into the swing of things.”

  We walk up to my new pearl-white Porsche Cayenne, and I get into the passenger seat while he shuts the driver’s side door and turns on the ignition.

  “What happened to the Jeep?”

  “I needed an upgrade. Plus, this baby has a lot more power behind her.”

  He winks at me and then gets a faraway look in his eyes.

  “What is it? You look like a lost puppy.”

  “Fuck you,” he chuckles before running his hand through his short, dark-brown hair and then down the side of his face, over his sideburns to his chin that is covered in just the right amount of growth.

  My eyes automatically roam down this sexy specimen of a man, and I take in his six-foot-something frame, which is covered in jeans that fit him seamlessly, a plain black shirt, and a leather jacket. The man could kill with his looks alone, and it’s one of the reasons why our friendship over the years has always harbored some sexual attraction. Sure, we’ve occasionally fucked throughout the years, but since December of last year when Wade and Hadley become something incredibly serious, so did my and Liam’s naked antics.

  We graduated from the occasional drunk fuck to multiple-times-a-week fuck when he’s here, and I don’t regret it. He knows how to work my body over, and I love watching him do it. It’s a win-win situation without having to hardball anyone.

  I unconsciously toy with the ripped fabric around the knee of my black skinny jeans as he pulls out of the lot and around the building onto the Magnificent Mile.

  “So are you going to tell me what you’re really doing here?” I ask while I stare out my window while we pass some of Chicago’s most gorgeous architecture.

  “I needed a change.”

  “That’s it?” I turn to look at him as he slides a hand onto my knee and laces his fingers with mine, forcing me to stop toying with the frayed material.

  “It is.”

  “You mean that you’re done with Sydney? What about RW? I’m sure that it can’t run itself without your taking control of every fucking decision that needs to be made.”

  “They’ll survive without me for a while. I’ve decided to take a step or two back and try to salvage some of this messed-up life that I’ve been given.”

  I raise my eyes to the heavens and shake my head. “Liam, there are plenty of people out there who are in far worse situations than you are currently in. Maybe in the past, you could have beaten them in the whose life is the worst contest, but not anymore.”

  “I didn’t say that. I’m not complaining, and no, I don’t compare what I’ve been through with others because we are all living through challenges that we need to get through, and this just so happens to be mine. I’ve decided to move forward rather than dwell in the past.”

  “Liam Jensen, when did you become a man who knows what he wants in life, and what did you do with my pessimistic best friend?”

  “He’s right here, doll.”

  I lift his hand up in mine and bring it to my mouth. Most men would assume that I’m about to kiss or suck on their fingers, but he should know better by now. I turn his hand and bite at the inside of his wrist.

  “Fuck! What the hell was that for?” he says as he pulls his hand out of mine and pinches the inside of my thigh.

  I screech and squirm away from him while I try to fight off the fit of laughter that wants to take over. “For not telling me that you were coming back. I may be a piece of ass for you, but we’ve always put our friendship first, and don’t you dare forget that, you dickweed.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  I lean over and bite the outside edge of his elbow, causing him to swerve a bit in his reaction.

  “When did you become this intent on biting me? This shit is new, and I might need you to take it to the bedroom with me.”

  He glances at me from the road and raises an eyebrow in question as he messes up his hair even more with his left hand.

  “The bedroom? Who said that you’d be sleeping in my bed with me? I think that you deserve the couch . . . actually . . . nope. Scratch that. I’ll give you a pillow, and you can sleep in the bathtub.”

  “Feisty bitch,” he says with a laugh and places his hand back on my thigh, rubbing circles on the bare skin of my knee that’s available to him.

  We pull into Lake Point Tower’s parking garage, and I don’t have to direct him to my parking spot. He knows exactly which one belongs to me.

  I’ve lived in Lake Point Tower for the last two years, and I’m in love with my loft apartment as well as its phenomenal views. The building itself sits directly in front of Navy Pier, providing me with a view that many won’t have the pleasure of living with. It stands alone on a private two-acre park and is surrounded by Lake Michigan on three sides of the building. I was lucky enough to get one of the three sides when I purchased here.

  Sure, I paid far too much for it, but then again, I get paid far too much for my own good. I know that from working similar positions throughout my life, but Wade has always spoiled me, and he refuses to take no for an answer. The first paycheck that he gave me a couple of years ago when he bought the hotel where I was working was more than my annual salary. I tore it to pieces in front of him in an act of rebellion. I remember his glare the moment I shoved all of the pieces back over his desk to him. A little later that week when I was checking the balance of my bank account, all of the money was already there, sitting pretty. Fucker.

  I jump out of my SUV and check my pockets to ensure that I have my cell phone and walk around to Liam, who offers me his arm, but I nudge his side instead as we walk to the elevator banks and hit the up button.

  Two women who I recognize as being my neighbors from a few floors below me walk up to us. Both of their gazes fall on Liam, and they both manage to look him up and down before turning to each other and sharing a knowing look.

  A flash of heated jealousy rolls over my skin, and I couldn’t have done anything to anticipate it or even stop it. How fucking awkward and great, I chastise myself. I’m jealous of two sets of fake tits eyeing one of my best friends.

  I should be used to it by now—both of the guys who have been close to me for years are the two most gorgeous men I have ever laid eyes on. For some reason, though, one that I cannot explain right this minute, I want to pop these women’s fucking silicone-enhanced breasts for staring at him like he’s something attainable.

  I shift from one foot to the other and Liam looks down at me, scowling before his attention is shifted to the two women standing beside us. He ducks his head down to whisper in my ear, “Do we not like them?”

  I chew on the corner of my lip and stare up at him before saying, “Not with the way they are looking at you like they’ve already imagined you naked and hovering on top of them.”

  He glances from me up at them again and smirks. I know that I said that too loud, but I don’t give a fuck. Fuck them for wanting him.

  He shocks me when he bounds his arms around me a
nd lifts me into his arms when the elevator doors open. He walks me into the metal death trap and pushes my back up against one of the four corners, causing me to lock my ankles at the small of his back.

  I can feel his cock pushing into the apex of my legs as he gives me a sinful grin before taking my mouth smoothly. It’s a rushed and heated kiss, one that would make any woman drop to her knees in submission. He must be enjoying putting on a show for the two of them as they follow us into the elevator, not caring that I’m clawing at his back.

  Am I shocked by this kiss? Absolutely, but I’m more than stunned that he just turned both of them down for a threesome without having to say anything.

  I have not, in all of my years of knowing this dickweed, seen him turn down easy pieces of ass like that before. He’s like any other man when it comes to sex. He wants it and all of the time, but unlike other men, he gets it whenever he wants it, and dear God does he deliver.

  Thoughts run through my head as if trying to come up with an excuse for his behavior but the moment his tongue flicks against mine as it would against my clitoris, I lose all of them.

  I can feel the warmth of her pressed against my cock as it swells. I can also sense the two pairs of eyes at the back of my head as the elevator comes to a stop.

  Instead of hearing their heels against the marble flooring, all I hear is harsh, heavy breathing. I tear my lips from Isla’s and turn my head to look at them as Isla runs her fingers into the back of my hair and tugs me back to look at her. The heat that’s flaring in her eyes would scorch and damage any other man, but not me—I can’t wait to provide her with the fuel to keep it burning. I grin and thrust my hips into her, conjuring a quiet whimper from her lips.

  Fucking hell. I need her.

  “Ladies, if you’re not going to get off—the elevator, I mean—hit the close-door button, so I can finally bury my length inside of her while she’s wet and ready. I cannot stand another second of not being inside her warmth. I need to fuck her until she’s raw.”