by Aria Ford
I’m going out of my mind, but I can’t bear this any longer when she slides one hand up between my legs to graze my balls. I hang on tenterhooks, and every nerve stretches to the breaking point.
She swallows me into her throat while her hand works me to a frenzy. I can’t let this happen. I lay my hand on her neck and force her off. Her eyes lift to my face, and that delirious ecstasy written on her features stabs me in the nuts.
I push her back on the bed and get on my hands and knees over her. I kiss that mouth, the mouth that just sucked me. I nibble down her neck to nip at her breasts, but she’s all ready for me. She rubs one thigh against my hip, and I sink into her.
My prick nudges her opening, and I screw in between her delicate folds. Her wetness surrounds me, and her muscles close their grip around my shaft. She squeaks in my ear. Just for a moment, her tight channel resists. I withdraw an inch before I wind it in again, and her deepest recesses welcome me to the hilt.
She groans into my hair, and I jam both hands behind and under her to raise her ass off the bed. I bury my face in her neck while I circle her hips into my thrusts. The faster and deeper I go, the higher she whines. She stirs her honeypot with my cock, and her juices gush around my distended veins.
She locks her ankles behind my back and bounces with every penetrating blast. She clamps her arms around my neck and hangs on for dear life against my hardest strokes. Holy snapping duck shit, she feels so good.
I can’t stop the cataclysm now. Her tremulous cries rise to a screaming tempest in my ears, but it’s nothing compared to the unstoppable eruption building way down in the root of my being. I’m going out of my mind, and there’s only one cure.
She arches her back to match my thrusts. She meets me coming down into her, and her tissues crack open to suck me in to her limit. She shrieks in my ears.
All at once, I let loose a cannon shot of intense burning flame into her insides. I’m exploding into her, and I don’t even want to stop it. I have to keep pounding until there’s nothing left of me but a sweating pile of gasping breath.
She claws my skin off with her fingernails. She bites my ear until I roar out loud. She screams to raise the roof, but I don’t care. I’ll make her scream a thousand times before I’m through.
Even as I spend my life’s blood in her burning hole, I’m rising to take her all over again. Her spasming muscles stroke down my shaft and milk that last pearls from me. She makes me hard, and when I slide in and out against her tremors, she quickens under me. I pull back to kiss her, and she matches my lips and tongue with her own delectable sweetness.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Kira
Sunlight hits me in the eyes. I squint at the window overlooking the gardens when I feel a thick muscled arm wrapped around my waist. I freeze in place, and the glaring reality of last night comes rushing back. Even before he stirs in his sleep, I know it’s Isaac lying tucked in behind me, and we’re both stark naked.
He nuzzles his face into my hair, but I can’t move. I stare out at the trees beyond the window. I’m naked in bed with my boss. Ivy is right next door, and by the clock on my bedside table, it’s seven-thirty. She’ll be awake by now.
Did she hear us last night? How can I face her this morning after spending the night with her dad in the next room?
I can’t move, but Isaac’s already waking up. He draws back, and his hand glides over my stomach to rest on my hip. He sighs and coughs. I can’t turn around. What is he thinking? Does he regret what we did?
That hand disappears, and his weight shifts on the bed. “Well, it’s getting late, isn’t it?”
Yes, it’s getting late, and here we are, still in bed together, neither of us with any clothes on.
His weight shifts again, and he sits up to put his feet on the floor. He keeps shifting to turn around and look at me. At last, his voice touches my ear at a lower register. “Look at me, Kira.”
I roll over, but I can only glance up at him before I look away.
He touches my shoulder, but he pulls his hand away. “Are you okay?”
I nod and sit up to face the opposite way. I can’t look at him. “I’m fine. I better get next door.”
He turns away, too. We sit back to back, facing away from each other, neither of us daring to look back.
His belt buckle jingles when he picks up his pants. “I better get downstairs and take a shower before I head to work. I’ll see you and Ivy later.”
I busy myself gathering my clothes together until he lets himself out. I take a deep breath, but I don’t have time to mull the events of last night. I have to catch a shower and get dressed so I can get next door to Ivy. Even as I fumble around the room, Isaac’s car crunches down the driveway and disappears out into the city. He’s long gone.
I hurry through my morning routine and tie up my hair in a loose knot behind my head. That will have to do until I can get a break later. I cast one last look around the room, but every corner reminds me of last night and Isaac. His smell lingers in my hair and around my mouth and on my skin.
Just thinking about him standing in front of me gives me a thrill of excitement. His presence fires my blood, and I can’t wait to get my hands on him again. What if last night was a fluke? What if he doesn’t want to see me again? What if he regrets the time we spent together?
Why would he regret it? He spent all night in my bed. We did it dozens of times, each more incredible than the last. Every time he erupted into me, he would get hard in seconds and be ready for another round. He did the same thing to me. I couldn’t get enough of him.
So why can’t I look him in the eye? Why am I embarrassed to be waking up with his arms around me? Is it because he’s my boss, or is it because he’s so irresistibly attractive I can’t look at him without melting all over again?
I shouldn’t have done that with him last night. I shouldn’t have cheated on Parker. What kind of Mrs. Parker Lynch would I make if I’m gonna fall into the arms of the first guy I meet? Parker has stood by me through thick and thin. He’s never looked sideways at another woman in all the time I’ve known him, and he never would. He’s a one woman man, so what does that make me? It makes me a cheating skank. That’s what it makes me.
What am I saying? Of course I should have done it with Isaac last night. Isaac is the hottest guy I’ve ever met. He’s ten times hotter than Parker, and it’s not his sultry good looks, either, cuz Parker has got it going on if anybody has.
No, Isaac has that extra special something that makes women weak in the knees at his approach. His voice, his flashing eyes, his jaw tensing—I couldn’t resist him if I tried, and I don’t want to try. I want him like I’ve never wanted Parker or any other man. I want him all over again right now.
I can’t think about that, though. I shake my head, but it doesn’t clear my thoughts. I hurry next door and burst into Ivy’s room, but when I step across the threshold, I stop dead in my tracks. Right in front of me on the window bench sits Jade.
Ivy sits next to her, and Jade wraps one arm around the girl’s waist to hug her close. Jade smiles up at me when I walk into the room, but Ivy only steals a furtive glance my way before burying her eyes in the book on Jade’s lap.
“Oh, look. Here’s Kira,” Jade purrs. “Ivy and I were just reading a story. I’ve missed out on a lot of stories with her, and I don’t want to miss out on any more.”
She gives Ivy another squeeze, and her syrupy-sweet voice throbs across the room. I stand stock still and stare at the two of them together. On the outside, they look like any other picture-perfect mother and daughter. On the inside, this scene stinks of rot and corruption.
Jade’s not supposed to be anywhere near Ivy, and she sure as blazes isn’t supposed to be sneaking into Isaac’s house to see her. My pulse screams in my brain. I have to do something, but I can’t alert Jade. I have to make her think she’s safe here.
I sidle the rest of the way into the room like nothing’s out of the ordinary. I start picking up toys
and slotting them into their places on the shelves. Jade reads Ivy a couple more pages and kisses her on the side of the head. Ivy hazards a small smile, but she still won’t look at anybody.
Poor kid! What it must have done to her to be batted back and forth by this hideous creature like a cat playing with a mouse. If Jade cared at all about Ivy, she would follow the court order and see her daughter under supervision instead of working overtime to disrupt her life and ruin Isaac.
No wonder Isaac has been dangling by a hair trigger. My nerves fray to the breaking point just being in the same room with Jade. He must be a saint for putting up with her for so long.
I wait for a pause in the reading to interrupt. “Have you guys had breakfast? I could go down to the kitchen and bring something up.”
I hate to leave them alone together, but if Jade thinks I’m coming back with food, she’ll probably stick around.
“We aren’t hungry, are we, Ivy?” Jade replies. “Ivy had breakfast before you came in, and I don’t want anything. We’re just enjoying each other’s company.”
Dang. So much for that plan. I have to come up with some other excuse to let Isaac or somebody know what’s going on, but how? Then I remember my phone. I’ve got Isaac’s number in my log. I could send him a text, and Jade would be none the wiser.
I don’t dare turn my back, though. If she thought I was trying to hide something, she would be onto me like a shot. Besides, she doesn’t know I know the truth about her. That’s my ace in the hole. As long as she thinks I’m harmless, she’ll let her guard down and I can nab her.
I stroll over to the bookshelf and lean against it like I’m reading the book over Ivy’s shoulder. I pull out my phone and start cruising around, the same way I always do. I check my email and navigate to my messages. I pull up Isaac’s number on my log and hit the button.
My thumb dances over the keyboard. Jade is here. It looks like she was here before we woke up this morning. She’s hanging out with Ivy in the bedroom, but I don’t know how long this will last. Get home quick, and bring the police. Send.
There. That should do the trick.
Jade is murmuring into Ivy’s ear. “And the good witch touched the ruby slippers with her magic wand, and the slippers shone more than ever. Dorothy felt a sparkling sensation rushing up her feet into her legs and coursing all through her. And as soon as Kira finishes texting your dad, we can try again to have a nice friendly game of Monopoly.”
My head shoots up, and I gasp in astonishment. “I’m not texting Ivy’s dad. I’m texting my boyfriend. We have a date this weekend. He’s taking me out to the Fisherman’s Table, and he wants to know what time to pick me up.”
Jade smiles and turns away. How much of this does she actually believe?
She puts the book aside and saunters across the room to me. “Who’s your boyfriend, Kira?”
I slip my phone back in my pocket. Nothing to see here. Just keeping it natural. “His name is Parker Lynch. He came out here to see me the day I first started, and Isaac saw me talking to him. He got nasty about it—like he gets nasty about everything. He told me not to let Parker come onto the property again without permission. Ivy heard him say so.”
Jade grins in my face. “That sounds like Isaac, always rubbing people the wrong way.”
She warms to her subject. If I can just keep her talking until Isaac shows up, the Police can arrest her. My mind races in search of something to occupy her—something that will take a good long while. “What would you and Ivy like to do? We don’t have to play Monopoly. We could play a word game or something.”
“I was just suggesting to Ivy that we go for a drive in town—just her and me,” Jade replies. “I hardly ever get to spend time alone with her. We need some quality mother-daughter time, don’t we, Ivy?”
My blood runs cold. She wants to take Ivy off alone. She wants to get in the car and drive away. I’m not supposed to know what that means. I’m supposed to be taken in by her smooth demeanor and her expert charm.
My heart flip-flops into my throat. I can’t let this happen. I’ve got to divert her—but how? My eyes pop open, and I gasp like I just had a brainwave. “I’ve got a better idea. We could come up with a scavenger hunt. I mean, one of us could come up with a scavenger hunt and the others could look for the objects. What do you say?”
Ivy’s eyes snap to my face, and she lights up all over. “Yeah! Let’s do that.”
Jade purses her lips in annoyance, but a second later, she flashes her brightest fake smile. She can’t exactly show Ivy how much she detests my presence. “Okay, that sounds fun. Who will come up with the scavenger hunt? I suppose you want to nominate yourself for the lead role in this drama.”
Now it’s my turn to smile. She fell right into my trap, and she didn’t even see it coming. “Actually, I was going to nominate Ivy to create the hunt, and then you and I can go hunting for the stuff. What do you say, Ivy? Are you up for it?”
Ivy reacts exactly the way I knew she would. She leaps off the window seat and upsets the book. “Yay! I can’t wait. Oh, Kira, you’re the best. I’m gonna make this the toughest scavenger hunt you ever went on. You wait and see. You two stay here while I go figure out the clues, and no peeking! Anybody caught cheating will be disqualified.”
I raise my right hand. “I promise I won’t peek. I’ll stay right here and so will your mom. Won’t you, Jade?”
Jade grits her teeth, but she has no choice to go along with this. “All right. You go ahead.”
Ivy grabs a pencil and a piece of paper and races out of the room. I’m sure she’ll make this scavenger hunt so tough no one on God’s green Earth could solve it. In the first place, finding the clues and creating the hunt will take hours. In the meantime, Jade won’t be anywhere near her. Ivy will be out and about on the estate grounds while I keep an eye on Jade in Ivy’s room.
After Ivy creates the hunt, we have to go on it. That will soak up more time. As long as Jade can’t get off alone with Ivy, we’re safe. All I have to do is keep Jade out of mischief until Ivy returns, and that part is easy. Jade already wants to pretend to be my friend, so I’ll play the part to the nines.
After the door swings shut and Ivy leaves us alone, I smile at Jade. I make it a real smile because I’m so delighted with how my plan worked out. I check the clock. It’s only eight o’clock in the morning.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Isaac
I burst out of the conference room with a gaggle of businessmen on my tail. I turn around in the hall and extend my hand to all and sundry. “Thank you fellas so much for stopping by. I’m sure we’re gonna have some great times working together over the next ten years.”
I pump their hands, one after the other. They slap me on the shoulder, and the chief even gives me a hug. I laugh and pat him on the back before I push him away. “Cut it out. I’m your consultant, not your girlfriend. Now go out and have yourselves a drink. Then get back to your offices, and we’ll get cracking on this thing.”
They laugh and jeer and congratulate me before they flow into the elevator and out of the building. When the last guy disappears, Connor sidles up to me. He bumps his fist into my shoulder. “You’re the man, Isaac. You really socked it to ‘em.”
I shrug and turn away, but I can’t hide my delight. “I didn’t do anything. The figures spoke for themselves. We’ll be rolling in the clover for the next ten years with them as our clients.”
I set off down the hall toward my office, and Connor falls in at my side. “You did this all by yourself, man. You presented the figures in a way they couldn’t help but understand. Then you pitched your own services to position yourself as their best option. That kind of action is what got you to the top in the first place.”
I wave that away. “It was nothing.”
He grabs me and spins me around to face him. “It was definitely not nothing. I haven’t seen you like this in years. You’re back, back at the top of your game. What happened?”
I break away.
“Nothing happened, man. Maybe I just finally got tired of being miserable.”
I get into my office before he can say anything. I don’t want to answer any awkward questions. If this is what it feels like to be happy, then who am I to question it?
He’s right, too. I’m jubilant after making that client jump on my puppet strings. I’m the puppet master, and the whole world is my puppet. I can do whatever I want, and success falls into my hand for the taking.
I haven’t felt this way since I first started the company, and I don’t have to ask myself what caused it. It was Kira and her beautiful body, her tits swaying in my face when she rode me to screaming ecstasy, her intoxicating sighs and her screams in my ear.
This is what loving a woman like her does to a man. It heals all his wounds and makes him king among his fellow men. I don’t have to say it out loud. I can repeat those words in the privacy of my own mind, and it’s enough. I love her. I love her, and I want to spend every night the way I spent last night, drinking her in and smelling her pungent fragrance and feeling her all around me.
I could never explain that to Connor, though. I already told him nothing could happen between me and Kira because she’s with Parker. I curse that name: Parker Lynch. I hate him. I’ll twist his head off his neck if I see him again.
I slide behind my desk and open the top drawer. I take out my phone and hit the power button. I turned it off and left it behind for this last crucial meeting, and I’m glad I did. Giving the client my full attention with no distractions made all the difference, and it paid off. I think I’ll do that from now on.
The phone takes a few seconds to power up. I set it aside and get out my laptop. I log onto the company system and start cruising through my schedule for the rest of the week. I need to rearrange some things to do extra research for this client. I have to stay on top of it so the whole house of cards doesn’t crumble around my ears.
My phone chirps its notification, but I don’t look at it. I’m too engrossed in this new contract. It’s everything I dreamed of and more. I had bagging a client this big on my long-term bucket list, and now I’ve done it.