by Melody Anne
After she and Byron left Rafe and Ari, McKenzie was introduced to a number of other people, but the night became a blur of names and faces. How could she remember any of them when her mind was too focused on what Byron was doing with her and why he was telling everyone she was his date? And then there was the real question, the one she was afraid to ask.
What was going to happen when the two of them left the party?
Chapter Twenty-Five
Trust wasn’t an easy thing for Byron to give. He gripped his glass and tried to pay attention to what the woman, whose name he’d already forgotten, was saying to him. But all he could do was watch as McKenzie leaned back and let out a peal of laughter.
It was a beautiful sound.
And the man making her laugh didn’t realize his life was in jeopardy. Byron didn’t do jealousy, but at the moment, the green-eyed monster had him in its grip, and his testosterone was spiking to dangerous levels.
No, he didn’t think McKenzie was interested in leaving the fundraiser with another guy, but, again, trust didn’t come easy for Byron.
His mother —more accurately, the woman who had given birth to him — had laughed like that, had flirted with men right in front of her husband. But there was a difference. His “mother” had gone to those men’s beds, and she’d flaunted it in front of her husband, Byron’s father.
She had been a stone-cold bitch — a whore to end all whores — but all women were basically the same. Byron knew that. Sure, McKenzie was there with him tonight, but only because he had promised her she could meet all sorts of people who would come running in through her doors to buy her services.
Which services did she want to provide?
He downed the champagne in his glass, then took a step toward her. But he stopped himself. For the past few hours he’d been by her side. He could easily spend fifteen minutes without her.
And yet if that were so, why did everything inside of him want to walk up to her and stake his claim? She was bad for him, so very bad, and he couldn’t seem to care that she was messing with his head.
He’d had an easy out. She was no longer working with him at Knight Construction. All he’d had to do was not call her, not ask her to this function, just go on with his life and forget he’d ever even heard about McKenzie Beaumont. But no. That’s not what he’d done at all.
And now here they were. And he was furious with her and with himself. She hadn’t done anything wrong this evening — in fact, she’d been the perfect companion, and his colleagues adored her. So he had no reason to feel this anger.
Maybe it was because he couldn’t forget her taste or her scent. He couldn’t get the sound of her voice from his head. Everything that she was lingered with him, refused to let go. He needed her, and he was a fool to think he didn’t. He just wasn’t sure how long he would need her for.
When she looked up and their eyes collided, her laughter stopped and the smile on her lips fell away. Ah, there it was. There was the passion he wanted to see. He refused to let her gaze go. He took another step forward, but someone passed in front of him, breaking the connection.
In that instant, McKenzie was no longer looking at him, but he saw the tension in her shoulders. She knew he was walking toward her, and he enjoyed that she was so aware of everything he did. He enjoyed everything about this woman. Even if he hated that he did.
When he finally reached her side, he slid his arm around her and he looked at the man she was chatting with. “I’m sorry I took so long,” Byron said, his lips an inch from her ear, causing a shiver to run down her.
“I was just visiting with Lance Storm. He’s one of Joseph’s nephews. He’s been entertaining me with some interesting work adventures,” she said, her smile returning.
“That’s nice,” Byron said, not meaning it in the least. “I didn’t know Joseph had any nephews with the last name Storm.” Was this good-looking guy some sort of pathological liar?
“That’s a very long story,” Lance said. “We didn’t actually know we were related to Joseph and George until a couple of years ago.”
Byron snorted, and he asked, “How is that possible?”
“Our father was stolen at birth.” Lance didn’t even blink as he said it.
“Wait! I think I did hear something about this last year, but your family has done remarkably well at keeping the story from the papers,” Byron said, the pieces coming together as he remembered how Joseph and his twin brother, George, had discovered they were actually from a set of triplets.
“My uncle Joseph is a great man, and people love and respect him.” Lance said. “Yes, whenever the Anderson family does something, it’s newsworthy, but there’s been very little said about my father coming into their lives. I don’t expect that to last forever, unfortunately.”
“Joseph did a pretty good preemptive strike with his press release, though,” Byron replied. “He beat the tabloids to it. That’s why the story temporarily fled my mind.”
“Well, Byron, it’s been a pleasure to speak with your beautiful date tonight, but I see my brother calling me, so I’m going to have to continue this conversation later.”
He left, and Byron turned to McKenzie. He was more than ready for this party to end, to take her home, take her clothing off, and have her writhing beneath him. The night had dragged on long enough, and the last thing he wanted to see was her speaking with any more single men, or men who appeared single because they wore no wedding ring.
“Have you had a good evening?” he asked her in a tight voice as he began leading her toward the ballroom doors.
“Yes, it’s been wonderful,” she said. Then she realized where they were going. “Are we leaving so soon? It might be considered rude,” she warned him.
“There are so many people here that no one will notice we’ve gone. I’ve already written my check,” he said, still pushing her toward the exit.
Before they reached the doors, his brother Tyler stepped in front of them.
“Where are you two off to in such a hurry?” he asked, and he looked at them slyly.
“We’ve done the rounds,” Byron practically growled. If they got interrupted one more time, he might do something stupid like throw her over his shoulder and make a serious dash out of there.
“You can’t possibly be thinking of leaving, not when McKenzie looks so absolutely ravishing,” Tyler said, turning his complete attention on McKenzie and making Byron’s gut burn. Tyler leaned in and kissed her cheek before letting his eyes glance downward at the modest amount of cleavage she was showing.
Byron’s gut clenched tighter as he thought seriously of smacking his little brother. He hadn’t done in a lot of years.
“Thank you, Tyler,” McKenzie said. That musical laugh came out again.
Tyler sent her a salacious grin, then turned his focus to Byron. “So… When did you two start hanging out outside the office?”
Byron sent a withering look to his brother.
“It’s not a big deal,” McKenzie said. “Byron just wanted to introduce me to his business associates. He’s trying to help drum up more business for me.”
Before Byron was able to contradict her, Tyler got a gleam in his eyes. Byron knew right then that he was going to have to stomp his little brother for sure before the night was finished.
“Well, McKenzie, if this isn’t a date, then could I talk you into a dance?” Tyler asked.
“We’re together,” Byron said, the Rs sounding fiercely when he spoke.
“Wait, I’m confused,” Tyler replied, looking far too innocent. “I thought you were just here for business.”
“Tyler, why don’t you go find an eligible girl? McKenzie is off limits.”
McKenzie stiffened beside him, but he didn’t care. There was no way in hell he was going to watch his woman waltz off in his brother’s arms. She was his and only his.
Tyler guffawed. “That was way too easy,” he said. He patted Byron on the back, told McKenzie to have a great evening, and wandered
off.
“What was easy?” McKenzie asked.
“My brother likes to play stupid little games,” Byron told her, his temper settling down as he started to realize what an idiot he’d just been. “He’s very good at them.” Of course Tyler wasn’t trying to make a move on McKenzie. The brothers liked to poke at each other, but they’d never do anything that crossed a certain line.
One of those lines was not to poach on the others’ territory. Female territory. It had never been done, and it wouldn’t be done.
“Okay, then…,” she said, but she backed off and didn’t complete her sentence.
He turned to her and looked into her eyes. He wanted no misinterpretation of what he was about to say. She sucked her breath in as he pulled her against him and brought his mouth to within an inch of hers.
“We are very much here on a date, McKenzie. We will leave here and go back to my place, and we will wake up in the morning very happy. Very laid-back. Very laid.”
Her face heated and her breathing deepened, but she didn’t say a word. He waited several heartbeats before he bent down and brushed his lips against hers. If she was going to tell him no, then it had better be now.
The flavor and savor of her lips exploded in his mouth, and Byron prayed to anything that would listen that she didn’t suddenly decide she didn’t want this. He was now, more than ever before, ready to leave and ready to take her to bed.
The desire he’d been living with from the moment they’d first kissed was now a flow of molten rock through his veins. It had been almost a week since he’d had her, and his need to possess her was so overwhelming that he didn’t know if he’d even make it back home.
“Tell me you’re ready to leave, McKenzie.”
She licked her lips, making him throb with need. He waited.
“Take me home,” she finally whispered so quietly he barely managed to hear it. But hear it, he did.
He didn’t waste any more time.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Pleasure and pain, pain and pleasure. They were all the same, and they were so very different. As Byron’s lips glided down her throat, circled her peaked nipples, and trailed down her body to suck on the point where her throbbing was centered, McKenzie cried out.
The pleasure was to the point of pain — the agony and the ecstasy, to borrow a phrase. If she didn’t come, didn’t have release, she might actually vanish from existence. He made her body sing, and that was something no other man had done for her.
She had thought sex was solely for men, that there was no real pleasure in it for women, but in Byron’s arms she found that wasn’t true at all. Yes, he was a demanding lover, but he gave so much more than he took. She couldn’t get enough of his touch, of his kisses, of the power of his lovemaking.
“Let’s play, McKenzie.”
“What?” she gasped, and she didn’t even recognize the sound of her own voice.
“I want to play. I want to put your body on display — for me, and only for me — and do whatever I want with you,” he said, his lips winding their way back up her body. “Do you trust me?”
Did she trust him? No. She knew he was going to break her heart. But did she think he would hurt her? No. She knew he wouldn’t physically hurt her.
“Yes,” she sighed as he sucked her nipple into his lips and scraped it with his teeth. Her back arched in the air.
Then he was taking her hands, raising them above her head, and suddenly she couldn’t move them from the binds. Panic filled her as she struggled to break free. “What are you doing?”
Her eyes shot open and she looked into his passion-filled gaze. “I’m taking you to a whole new realm of pleasure,” he assured her.
“No, not like this.” She wrestled to break free.
“Give me one minute. If you still want your so-called freedom in one minute, I will undo you. You can take the reins. You can ride me to your heart’s content. Hell, I won’t object — not for a minute.”
Desire burned in his gaze, but something else, too, something she had never seen before. If she were a fool, she would have thought it was affection, but she knew that couldn’t possibly be. He desired her, but he didn’t in any way care about her.
She couldn’t speak, so she nodded her head, and his mouth descended, his lips ravishing hers as he ran his hands up her sides and cupped her breasts, tweaking her nipples with his eager fingers and making her cry out again, making her forget all about the way he’d bound her hands.
He moved down her stomach and then his mouth was on her core, his tongue moving rhythmically against her quivering flesh, her arousal growing, nearing explosion.
Somehow he knew each time she came closer and closer to release, and he backed off, moving his tongue down her soft folds and then slowly drawing it up again to the point she wanted his touch most.
“Please, please…” she cried out, but she couldn’t grab his head, couldn’t keep him where she so desperately wanted him.
“Not too fast, McKenzie,” he growled, his words vibrating against her thigh.
He let his mouth move back up her body, and then he was on his knees, rising above her, his beautiful satin manhood so close to her face. “Taste me,” he commanded her, and he rubbed his arousal against her mouth.
She opened her lips greedily, and she circled her tongue around the head of his desire, tasting the muskiness and wanting more. He gave her only an inch, then two, but he refused to give her what she wanted. “I’m the one who controls this,” he said, his words strained.
“You want my mouth around you. Admit it, Byron.”
He stroked her breasts while she sucked on him as far as he allowed. Then he pulled away, only to drop down her body and suddenly he was pushing two fingers inside her. He began driving them in and out at the same speed as he thrust his arousal in her mouth.
But she wanted more. She wanted him buried inside her with his mouth on hers. She wanted release. She wanted to make love — yes, love — then make love again. This moment could last an eternity and it still wouldn’t be long enough.
Without warning, her body exploded, her core grabbing his fingers and holding them inside her as wave after wave of pleasure washed through her. He pulled his arousal from her mouth and his fingers from her heat, and then she was alone.
She nearly fell asleep when she heard a sound, and instantly her body reawakened. She wanted more. And she knew she was going to get it.
Byron untied her hands, then rubbed her arms from wrist to shoulder and back again. All the while, his body lay next to hers, his manhood pushing up against her leg, making her squirm beside him.
Then he rose up and pulled her from the bed, so both of them were standing beside it. “You are so unbelievably sexy, McKenzie. I could almost come from nothing more than looking at you,” he said as he moved his hands down her naked torso, making her knees nearly collapse.
“I hope you plan on doing more than looking, Byron. I’m not finished,” she said, a throaty groan escaping as he tweaked her nipples with seductive fingers.
“I’ll never be finished with you,” he said, and she almost wished that were true. She could do this forever.
He turned her around, and she nearly protested, but he encircled her with his hands and rubbed the underside of her breasts. And as he held their weight in his palms, her nipples peaked painfully hard.
One of his hands drifted up past her throat and settled on the back of her neck, while the other dipped to her stomach and held her tightly against him, letting her feel his thickness on the crease of her shapely ass.
He pushed against her back, and she leaned forward, arching her derrière into the air, his solid erection resting against it. Then he moved back, sliding his arousal downward along her swollen folds and wet the head with her juices.
McKenzie wriggled against him, wanting him inside her, ready to feel more of the pleasure only he could give her.
“Patience,” he whispered as he bent down and ran his tongue along her sp
ine. He dropped to his knees and kissed his way along her backside and down to her thighs before pushing her legs apart and coating his tongue with her heat.
When she was just about to release again, he stood, and before she could take a single breath, he was back behind her, gripping her hips and then thrusting forward, forcefully pulling out and pushing back in.
She exploded around him, her legs shaking, her body clenching his thick arousal as she nearly wept with the pleasure of his movements. He was inside her up to the hilt in this position, and she was greedy for every single inch of him. Those inches certainly added up.
When her pulsations finally stopped, he slowed his thrusts. For a brief moment she felt again both the pain and the pleasure of overstimulation. She wanted to push him out — it was too much. But he let his hands glide back around her body, and while one found a breast, the other touched the sensitive bundle of nerves right above where his hardness was penetrating her.
And she felt her pleasure build once more. Greed. This was what greed felt like, because she wanted it all. She wanted him over and over again.
With desperation born of that greed, she began pushing back against him to meet his thrusts. The sound of their bodies slapping together served only to heighten her pleasure. He groaned loudly, and she reached back to find his tightened balls, and she squeezed gently. He let out a cry and then began shaking as he pumped hard inside her.
With a cry of her own, McKenzie shattered again, their sounds of pleasure blending together as they collapsed forward onto the bed. Byron lay on her back, and neither of them breathed evenly.
After several moments, he shifted off her, then climbed up onto the bed, pulling her with him, locking his arms around her.