by Vi Keeland
I looked up, “Mike, are you going to say something…” The question fell from my lips. He gave me a small grin and I knew that Carter already knew. It was why Gene had appeared, Carter’s personal bodyguard. Then I frowned. “Is Carter already here?” But Mike had resumed his original bodyguard stance back up against the wall. He blended with the shadows to be invisible so I knew he wouldn’t be answering that question.
“That was…odd…” Theresa was frowning to herself as she poured a glass of wine from the tray a server had left. She shook her head. “Oh well. Emma, would you like a glass?”
I nodded, relieved, as I crossed back to them. My knees were a little unsteady.
It was an hour later, after two bottles of wine and most of the time spent on the small dance floor, when Theresa went in search for the private bathroom. As I limped my way to our seats, Noah handed me a bottle of water and patted the chair next to him. I collapsed onto it, but I wasn’t expecting what happened next.
“Thank you.” He cast a glance over his shoulder to make sure Theresa was out of earshot. “I hate that guy. He makes my skin crawl, but I never knew if I could say something to Carter or not. I know you did that tonight.”
Shivers went down my back again as I remembered his sick laugh. “I just didn’t like him.”
“You shouldn’t. There are rumors that he broke whores in for the Mauricio family.”
My stomach dropped. “Why would Carter have him work here?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, as a favor maybe? He won’t anymore, not if he gives you the creeps. I know that much. Thank you. You have no idea. He’s been sniffing around Brianna for the last six months. I’m sure he had something to do with her getting a job here.”
I nodded. I shouldn’t have been surprised. “Why did you seem so happy to see him?”
Noah snorted, taking a sip from his beer. “You can’t let a guy like that know what you really think of him, not until you’re in the position to actually do something about him and I’ve never been in that position.”
I nodded. That made sense, somewhat. I murmured, “Theresa seemed to like him.”
“He’s charming to most females.” He cast me a sidelong glance. “You seem to be the exception. Thank god.”
An image of Jeremy raping Mallory flashed in my mind. My hand flew up to my mouth as I felt vomit come up, but I took a deep breath and swallowed it.
“Emma?”
I recovered, shaking my head. “I’m fine.” A dark feeling came over me. “I’ve seen men worse than him before.” I would’ve killed Jeremy Dunvan again, if I was given a choice, but I would’ve enjoyed it the second time.
“Ma’am?” Mike was at my side. At my look, he corrected himself. “Emma?”
“Yes?’
“Your ride is here.”
“My ride?” Carter. “Oh!”
Noah chuckled. “Go ahead. Theresa wants to stay out awhile longer. I can tell. I’ll tell her you got a ride home. Tell Carter hello for me.”
Nerves and excitement took over me when I realized what Mike was insinuating. I was distantly aware that I reached out and gave Noah’s shoulder a squeeze as I rose, but then I was walking out of the box area and following Mike. I was barely aware of the five other guards that followed as I was led through a back maze of Octave again. This time the lights were still off and a memory rushed at me. It was the night I had come to the club with my college roommate. She had slipped away to find her boyfriend and I danced by myself until two hands slid around my waist. For one night, I gave in to temptation and I allowed the touch of a stranger. I never saw him, but I felt him, and I never experienced those sensations again until Carter. The same need I felt that night, that I felt every time I thought of him, rose with a powerful intensity in me again.
By the time I was shown through a door and into a darkened room, I couldn’t control myself. I couldn’t think straight. When I saw a shadow, and felt his hand slide around my waist as I had that night, I turned into him. I surrendered everything to his touch. Even before I said anything, I already knew that night had been with Carter. No other man ever made me feel as he had and being back in Octave opened the floodgates.
I wanted him even more.
FOURTEEN
“It was you that time before,” I gasped as Carter’s lips brushed against my neck. He lingered on my pulse. His tongue swept against it as I tried to turn around to him. I needed to feel him against me, between my legs, but his arms tightened around me. He moved behind me and pressed into me.
He murmured against my skin, “It was me.”
I clasped a hand over his on the other side of my neck and held it there, claiming him, as I turned in his arms. His hand slid across the front of me and I saw him. His eyes were dark with lust and need. I knew he saw the same in me, but I didn’t care any longer. I needed him, but I remembered that night. My roommate left and I’d been alone until I felt someone behind me. The liquor in me hadn’t been enough to turn off all my inhibitions, but they had helped. My skin sizzled as I thought of that night again, how it had been him behind me.
He whispered against my skin as he lowered his head, “I was in the security room. I saw you on the cameras and couldn’t help myself.” His arms slid around to my back. He pressed a hand to my hip and anchored me against him.
I gasped as he pressed his hips into me, but then he lifted and carried me to the corner.
It was the same as that night.
He held me suspended in the air, so I wound my legs around his waist. I felt him even more against me and then his hands slid under the edge of my dress, to the inside of my thighs. He felt the string of my thong, in the apex between my legs, and started to rub against it.
Desire and pleasure rushed through me. I was feverish for him. I held on, urging him to do more. My hips began to move in rhythm with his hand and it wasn’t long before he swept my dress up and his hand was against my skin.
“Carter,” I whispered, my back and throat arched for him.
He placed a kiss there, licking.
“I need you inside of me.”
He grunted, tightened his hold on my thigh, and slipped two of his fingers inside of me. They went deep before he pulled out and then pushed back in. As he continued, his tongue swept against my neck.
I gasped. My hips moved so his fingers slid even deeper.
Then he pulled my mouth to his, and his lips claimed mine. His tongue swept inside, brushed against mine, and then grew more demanding as his fingers continued their onslaught.
“Please,” I whimpered. He’d held himself away from me all week. My body had been strained from wanting him, all damn week. I wanted him, not his fingers. I wanted all of him. “I want you.”
His fingers continued their attack. They picked up speed, and I couldn’t hold onto him anymore. It was building and building. I felt it nearing. Before it was there, so close, I shoved off the wall so only my head touched it. I pushed my hips against him and he growled at the last thrust before I exploded in his arms.
My body trembled as the waves washed over me. Carter held me up. I had gone limp in his arms. He pressed a tender kiss to my shoulder, then slid a hand underneath and cupped my breast.
I wanted my dress gone. I wanted his clothes gone. I wanted his body on top of mine and with nothing between us. As I gazed down at him as he still held me, he saw what I wanted and lowered me back down to the floor. Then he pulled me against him, pressed another lingering kiss against my lips, and whispered, “Not here.”
My eyes closed and my head fell to his chest.
He pressed another kiss. “Soon.”
My body had melted into liquid and I was a puddle at his feet.
His fingers helped smooth my dress back in place. When my hair was brushed back and I looked presentable, he grinned down at me and took my hand. His voice was hoarse, “As soon as we get home. You won’t walk for a week.”
I wish.
Images of the two of us flashed in my mind and
I grew wet again. He was going to be the death of me. A part of me knew that once I felt him inside of me, it wouldn’t be enough. I would want more. I would never be satisfied, and when he made me come, that’d only been the teaser. My body was primed and ready again. My hand slid down his muscular back. It felt all the ridges, all the dips and curves. A dark pleasure spread through me when I felt his muscles contract as he turned his head to see me.
This was mine.
He was mine.
He groaned and had me against the wall in a second. His hands grabbed my hips and positioned me at an angle before he slammed his into mine. I felt the bulge in front of his pants. That was for me. All for me. He bent over me and lowered his lips just above mine as he thrust against me.
I couldn’t breathe. My hands held onto his arms. The muscles there also moved underneath my touch, as if wanting more.
“This,” he growled in a whisper against my lips. “This is what I wanted that night. I couldn’t contain myself and I had to taste you, but tonight is the night I really have you. You’re mine, Emma. You always have been.”
I nodded, so weak against his touch.
“Mine.”
He was mine as well, but I didn’t say it. Not yet, though everything in my body was aching for me to do so.
He took my hand again and led the way out into the hallway. People stopped and watched us as we left. I knew it was because of him. Carter was lethal. His body was carved and molded to perfection. His eyes were cold while his face resembled an angel’s. Everyone knew who he was, where he had come from. Even the media went into a frenzy when he was seen in public. However, he moved like a ghost, how he trained his men to be, so those moments were rare, and this moment wasn’t any different. His staff had seen him before, but they all went quiet in the presence of a deadly panther.
A wave of possession rocked through me. My legs shook as I remembered my climax. This creature who held my hand was mine, as I was his. I belonged to him and I gasped in silence as I felt his claim sink into my blood. It went deep to the bones. Everything in me belonged to him, and as I followed him through his club, I knew that I was becoming addicted to him. My hand yearned to touch his back again, to slide across his muscles and so much more.
I bit down on my lip. This ache wasn’t going to go away. The ache between my legs and the ache that resonated deep inside of me grew every time I was with him, every time he looked and touched me.
A soft sigh left me and he glanced back.
I was scorched by his gaze. His wolf eyes saw into me. I was stripped bare to him, no matter what I wore or how many walls were around my heart. He saw through everything. His hand tightened around mine, and he lifted it. His lips grazed against the top of it. My eyes closed, the ache doubled between my legs at that soft caress.
“Sir.” A man stepped out of the shadows. Another guard.
Carter stopped as he listened to what the man had to say. He spoke quietly so I couldn’t hear, but both glanced at me.
“What?”
His eyes narrowed and darkened. His hold on my hand became possessive.
I asked again, “Carter? What is it?”
He turned, his decision made, and he curved a hand into the place between my shoulders blades. He started to walk with me down a hallway. As we got further along, I saw Mike waiting for us and then I recognized it was the same box where I had left Noah and Theresa. I dug my feet in. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew he was going to leave me there. Something came up and he needed to handle whatever it was, but I didn’t want to be left behind.
“Emma?”
“No.” I shook my head. “You’re not leaving me.” Not again.
He studied me, but then nodded. His hand tightened around mine again. My knees nearly buckled from relief as he turned to the man. “Get the information and call me. Do it quick.”
The man went off; he didn’t need to be told again.
He led me back through the hallways until we returned to the side entrance. It was our exit this time. A black car was waiting with the door open and Mike beside it. Carter gave him some signal because he left. As we drew closer to the door, he guided me into the seat by my hips and then slid beside me. When he reached to close the door, I jerked forward.
Theresa and Noah had been waiting behind us for their car. Her mouth was hanging open while Noah was frowning.
Oh no.
But the door was shut and the car took off. Carter had no idea what just happened or he didn’t care. I had a hard time believing that he didn’t know Noah was behind us.
“What?” Carter looked at me.
I must’ve made some sound. “Oh, it’s nothing.” It wasn’t worth talking about.
He reached for my hand again and raised it for a soft kiss. “Emma, tell me.”
The knots in my stomach loosened at his touch, but I shook my head. This was embarrassing in a small way. “It’s really nothing.”
“Emma,” he sighed. “Is this about Graham? They told me you asked for him to be taken away. I’m sorry about him. I should’ve seen that situation ahead of time, but I didn’t. He won’t bother you again. I promise.”
I shook my head, but I was relieved when I heard that. Then I told him, “Noah and his friend were waiting behind us.”
“I know.”
“You did?”
He nodded, his eyes lidded as he gazed at my lips. He reached up and ran his thumb over them. My heart skipped a few beats as his touch lingered. He leaned close and dropped his head, but he didn’t kiss me. I was waiting, ready for it, but his hand pressed softly against my cheek. “I did, but I didn’t think you wanted me to meet your friend.”
“I just met her this week. She’s Noah’s friend more.”
His hand tightened on my thigh. He pulled me closer to him. “Your friend too. It was her home that you went to tonight, wasn’t it?”
I nodded. I was becoming flustered at how near we were to each other. I wasn’t sure who was going to crawl into whose lap, but I was ready. I only waited for him to lift me.
“Then she’s your friend too.” He grinned, the sight was delicious to me, and rested his forehead on mine. “Anyone who disapproves of someone connected to the mob seems alright to me. You don’t need to worry that I won’t like your friend, Emma. If she’s as good to you as she has been to Noah over the years, I have no reason to dislike her.”
And there it was. That was what I had been fearful about, not what Theresa would think about Carter, but what he would think of her. It meant something to me that he approved of my one friend now. Actually, it meant a lot to me that he did—another change in my life. I had three friends who I considered family, but now it was Carter. It was quickly becoming all about him.
“What’s wrong?”
I shook my head, my throat thick with emotion. I didn’t trust myself. I would start crying. I was sick of the crying.
He cupped the side of my face and turned me to look at him. “Emma.”
The kindness in his eyes was my undoing. A few tears trickled from my eye, and he brushed them away. His touch was tender.
“Carter,” I wrenched out in a sob.
He lifted me to his lap and folded me against his chest.
The comfort I felt was home to me. I closed my eyes and burrowed into him. I stopped thinking and worrying about everything. I stopped fighting what I was feeling or how much hold this man had over my life. It wasn’t only my life anymore, it was my heart. Even without the fear of Franco Dunvan, I knew I wouldn’t want to leave him. It was like I had been watching him over the years and wanting to go to him, but I never had enough reason to. At that thought, reality hit me like a bucket of ice water. I sat upright on his lap and looked at him.
Concern and lust intermingled with him. He waited for whatever I had to say.
I sighed to myself. I should move away. I should protect my heart, but as I held his gaze, I couldn’t. Different emotions battled each other inside of me, but all it took was one l
ook from him. There it was. One look and I was pulled to him. I would always be pulled to him.
I knew it in my gut, like an anchor thrown into the ocean. The deeper it sunk, the more I knew. I was in love with Carter Reed. As the anchor landed on the bottom of my stomach, it resonated throughout me. Shockwaves soared over my nerves and tendons. My arms shook, even my legs felt the explosion.
And then I wondered, had I always loved him? “Carter.”
“Mmm?” His thumb pressed against my lips, but he looked up again.
My voice grew husky. “How did you do it?”
He knew what I was asking.
His hand fell away and he leaned back against the seat, but his eyes never left mine. There’d been a soft playfulness in them before. That fell away to be replaced by a chilling look. It was still intense, but he reminded me of the Cold Killer everyone talked about.
I started to move off his lap, but he kept my legs in place. They straddled him so I waited, content to stay where he wanted me.
“You want to know what happened after AJ died?”
I nodded. I needed to know. I thought I did, but maybe I didn’t know everything. “You said they were looking for me?”
His hands tightened on my arms, an instant reaction to my words. He forced them to relax as he answered, “Yes. They were. Franco Dunvan is a monster, but I can’t pretend that I’m not like him. I became like him.”
—CARTER—
Carter gazed at her. She was so earnest. She wanted to understand and he saw that she needed to understand, but he still held back. Could she handle knowing everything? His man told him that Troy couldn’t be reached. He was their confidante in Dunvan’s organization, and he always got word back to them. But something had happened, or something was going to happen. The last communication they got from Troy was that the boyfriend had sold her out and Franco’s men were looking for her.
She had to know, before it was too late. So he’d start from the beginning.
She needed to be ready.