by Naomi West
“Perhaps it’s because she is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.” Pierce frowned at that thought. “It doesn’t matter how hot she is, though. I need to get out of here. I need that cash so I can get the hell out of this country.”
San Diego was his only way out. My buddy Benny will help me out. I can’t trust anyone else. There was no way that Gunner could have gotten to Benny; Pierce was pretty sure his backstabbing second-in-command didn’t even know Benny existed.
“I’m pretty sure Benny still runs people without papers back and forth over the Mexican border. All I got to do is find a little something to pay him with.”
The money from his new benefactor would certainly help, and a few choice items swiped from her house would fill in the rest. All Pierce had to do was steal them and get out of here.
“What is your name?” the woman asked as she poured a couple of shots of whiskey over clear ice balls. Sliding one across the counter to him, she lifted her own glass to her lips, taking a deep inhale.
There was a slowness to her drinking that suggested the spirit was expensive and meant to be sipped, so Pierce copied her movements. He nearly groaned at the pleasure of the first sip; he’d never tasted anything like it in his life. “Pierce,” he answered without thinking. “It would have been better to think up a fake name, you fool. Think up a fake last name, at least, you idiot.
“Pierce - Smith.”
“Well, Mr. Smith. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the beautiful lady gently knocked her glass against his and took another slow sip. Despite the mascara still running down her face and legs covered up to her knees in desert dust, she looked at home here in the pretty, rich place. She casually knocked dirt onto the floor, suggesting she’d never cleaned her own floor in her life. “I’ve never met anyone this rich before; I’ve always wondered what it would be like to live like this.” But someone like Pierce didn’t belong in this lady’s world, even for a single evening.
“And your name?” Pierce asked, frowning. “Don’t I get to know yours?”
The dark lines of her eyebrows flew up into her hairline. “You don’t know me?”
“Should I?” he growled, tired of this game already.
After a long moment of silence, the woman’s face changed. All of the incredulity faded from her features and a kind of calm spread relaxed all of the muscles in her face. “My name is Felice,” she whispered, without any kind of explanation. After a long moment, her features took on a new expression. “I want you to sleep here.”
Pierce nearly spit his whiskey out onto the counter. “You what?”
Eyes as hard as diamonds, Felice looked down at her hands on the counter. “In the guest room. You can sleep here. You don’t look like you’ve slept in a while. And you were- I mean, you helped me out.” Silent for a long time, Felice seemed to shrink as he watched, like the pressure of the situation she found herself in was crumbling her bones. “If you want to stay, I am offering you a room.”
“Thank you,” he said, noncommittally.
“I’m going to go bathe, okay? Just don’t go anywhere until I get back. Think it over.”
And she disappeared, vanishing into the depths of this massive house like she’d never existed. A quiet descended on the place so thick, Pierce was convinced he was now alone. Curiosity drove him up out of his seat and across the floor.
The living room was a combination of old-fashioned, oversized furniture and expensive electronics, all laying around haphazardly. “To a woman with this much money, I bet she won’t even miss whatever I take.”
But something else drove him up the plush white carpet of the stairs to the second floor. At the top of the stairs was a bathroom, but the lights were off and the room empty. She must have another up here, then. He prowled around each of the rooms, shocked at the sheer amount of beautiful, expensive things that filled this place. He itched to take something, claim it for his own, before leaving this massive house. But more than that, he wanted a peek of the only thing in this house that he couldn’t touch.
He wanted a peek at her.
# # #
Felice
Felice sunk into her bubble bath, feeling all of the tenseness from her very long day start to dissolve into the warm embrace of the water. The bubbles popped and swirled around her, filling the room with the calming scent of lavender. There is not a day so bad that it can’t be improved with a bubble bath. Felice frowned down at the bubbles. “Even if that improvement involves drowning yourself.”
But Clay wasn’t worth drowning herself over. Clay wasn’t worth even a second of remorse. “I don’t need him. Even if the reality show was looking forward to him being part of next season, I can create drama without him.
She let those thoughts seep away into the water, closing her eyes to the soft light of the bathroom. The important part is getting that half a million dollars from Matt. Steeling herself against the unwelcome flood of emotion that thought brought on, she refused to cry. Clay didn’t deserve any more tears.
“I’ll feel better as soon as that piece of crap comes crawling back to me like a dog.” That wicked little thought made her smile even if her heart was starting to crumble like feta cheese. “No, I have to stay strong. Remember the money. I just need a few ideas for how to make him jealous.”
She sighed, her heart feeling like it didn’t quite fit in her chest. “Like inviting strangers to stay at my house. Very sexy strangers at that. Perhaps he could be used to create the drama I need.”
She laughed at herself, pushing those thoughts away. There was something off about her today; she always played by the rules. And asking Pierce to lie for her to make her ex jealous wasn’t much like playing by the rules. What was it about Pierce that made her stray from her good girl, rule-loving self?
Probably that amazing ass of his. She blushed at her own thoughts, trying to push thoughts of Pierce’s body parts from her mind. She tried to force her tense body to relax into the bath.
Maybe it’s not such a bad idea. I have everything I need to make Clay jealous right here in my house. Images of Pierce’s beautiful deep-set eyes flashed into her mind, along with his other assets. Excitement poured through her veins as she began to build a plan in her mind. Being a good girl got me here, unhappy and alone. Maybe it’s time to bend a few rules. Had her pride and $500,000 not been on the line, Felice wouldn’t have even considered using Pierce for her own gains. But they are, and I have to do this. For myself.
Now all she needed was to get Pierce to agree. And she was pretty sure she knew exactly what his weakness was.
Chapter Four
Pierce
“So have you decided to stay?”
Pierce glanced up at her, unable to keep his eyes from running over every inch of her on their way up. There is something so alluring about the blonde vixen. He needed to be careful, or else she was going to catch him in her net.
“I bet many men better than me have been caught in the thrall of those perfect emerald eyes.”
“Crashing a night here would be welcome, but I don’t want to be a bother.”
Felice waved her hand in dismissal. “Of course you aren’t. This house is big enough for the both of us.” She hesitated for a moment, her eyes falling from his for a moment before returning. “You don’t seem like the type to spill your guts to everyone you meet, and I’m okay with that. But it’s as plain as day that you are in some kind of trouble.”
Pierce could feel his stomach knot as the first-class beauty blinked her too-long lashes as him. “It must be obvious to anyone who sees me that the last few days haven’t been good ones.” He winced, thinking back on Gunner, that grin on his face as he tore Pierce’s life to shreds.
“I’ve had a rough few days, for sure.”
“Well,” she said, a sweet smile on her perfect, peach-colored lips. Felice was much prettier when she wasn’t crying, when she didn’t have streaks of makeup sliding over her sculpted cheeks. In fact, she wasn’t really wearing any makeup right now,
and the gentle, wet wave of her hair made her stunning. “I think I have a way we can help each other.”
Pierce raised his eyebrows and kept silent, waiting for her to finish.
Leaning forward, Felice let the line of her robe open slightly, showing off her ample cleavage. Pierce’s eyes were drawn down to her newly exposed skin, his body reacting like a fifteen-year-old watching his first porn. She’s good. It’s amazing anyone can ever tell this woman no.
“You look like you could use some money, and I need some help making my ex jealous. There’s a lot riding on this.” She took a deep breath, the soft skin of her fingers caressing her own flesh, much to the delight of Pierce’s flesh. “I will give you ten grand for a few sexy selfies. With me. To send to my ex.”
Pierce stared at her as she stood from her place at the kitchen table, sliding her robe off of her shoulders.
Holy shit.
# # #
Felice
Felice grinned wickedly, her eyes hooded with pleasure. It was nice to know she was still hot, that her body in sexy lingerie could still make a man drool. Pierce watched her every move as she ran her fingers through her hair, spinning in a slow circle for his benefit.
Gotcha, she thought, watching with glee as he swallowed hard, then swallowed again. “Come on, I’ll show you to the guest bedroom. Just a few photos, as hot as we can make them, and you’ll have enough money to get out of whatever situation you’ve found yourself in. Agreed? I’ll even cut your face out of the photos, if you like.”
He opened his mouth to speak and nothing came out. After clearing his throat, Pierce tried again. “Make it twelve and I’ll do anything you want.”
Felice laughed, tossing her robe aside. “Fine, twelve grand. Shake on it.” She held out a hand, and she watched with delight as he hesitated before taking it. His palm was warm and calloused under her own, feeling like sandpaper under her too-soft skin. A man that works for a living, then. The thought of Pierce as a manual laborer really turned her on, flooding her panties like someone had left the water running. “Is it getting warmer in here?”
A twinge of nervousness at what she’s about to do hit her gut hard as they walked up the stairs together, her leading Pierce by the hand like a child. “You can stay in here. Let’s mess up the sheets a bit before we climb in.” A blush burned over her nose, but Felice ignored it.
This was too important.
“Clay is going to see these and freak out. Then I’m going to win back my boyfriend just to break up with his craven ass. Then I’m going to collect my money. Then everything will go back to normal.”
Felice lays down on the bed, patting the mattress right next to her. “Okay, you sit here and kiss my neck.”
Pierce stared at her for a moment, a hundred different emotions pulling at his sensual mouth in an instant. But he did it. Felice pulled out her phone, making sure to get the hot, tattooed man kissing her neck and her scanty lingerie in the photo. But having Pierce kiss her neck made it incredibly difficult to focus.
She was pretty sure she wasn’t supposed to actually want him, but the moment he set his lips against her neck, every ounce of her blood turned to lava underneath her skin. Felice’s body no longer seemed to care what was right or wrong; it was just filled with a kind of longing she’d never felt in her whole life.
Shivering with delight at the feel of Pierce so close, his breath hot on her neck, Felice had to take a deep breath to steady herself. She clicked several photos, making sure she looked as irresistible as possible in every one.
“This just isn’t sexy enough,” she mourned, looking at the photos. “We’re going to have to make it look more like we’re doing something hotter.”
Pierce didn’t say a word. Instead, he just followed her instructions like a puppet. “Now climb on top of me,” she said, feeling her blush burn a little hotter across her cheeks. “We need it to look real.”
Pierce pulled off his shirt and climbed between her legs, his face impassive. Felice had been hoping for something more from him; she’d wanted to feel his desire against her skin like the sun’s heat. But instead, he seemed to have gotten complete control over himself, positioning himself like he was having sex with her without a single hint of lust.
Felice took about a million photos. She angled the photos so it looked like they were actually doing the deed. Every brush of his skin against hers made things worse, the need in her spilling out to her extremities and flooding her sexy lingerie panties.
And yet, Pierce remained unaffected.
Once she left his room, she immediately locked herself in her bedroom, the feeling of his body against hers leaving burn marks across every inch of her skin. It took a long time for her breathing to return to normal.
She lay down on her bed, facing the white ceiling with a kind of elated, heartbroken lust.
Picking up her phone, Felice glanced through the photos. There Pierce was, his body curled so hard around hers that —
Gasping, Felice slid her hands down to her panties, unsurprised that she’d soaked through the lacy fabric. She caressed the parts of her that ached so desperately to be touched, her fingers rubbing and teasing as she flipped through the pictures again.
God, that was hot. She bit her lip as she slid her own fingers inside of herself, feeling her body crave any touch. But it wasn’t nearly enough.
Reaching into the drawer by her bed without looking, Felice kept her eyes locked on the phone’s screen, each picture hotter than the last. Seeing herself being fucked by Pierce, even if it hadn’t been real, was enough to light her whole body aflame.
She found her vibrator and slid it up into her throbbing pussy without preamble, unable to bear feeling so empty anymore.
Moaning a little, Felice kept her eyes locked with her favorite photo as she slid the vibrator inside of herself again. It thrummed and caressed all the places she wanted Pierce’s cock to caress.
If only that photo had been real.
That thought was enough to make her orgasm almost on its own and she jerked with the force of her climax.
Dripping wet, Felice climbed out of bed to clean up. Although she still throbbed with the pleasure of her orgasm’s aftershocks, her body wasn’t quite satisfied. It still wanted desperately for Felice to climb in bed with Pierce to see what real sex with him would be like.
But she told that part of herself to take a hike and climbed back into her bed. It seemed emptier and colder than she ever remembered it feeling.
Chapter Five
Pierce
After a very long, very restful sleep filled with all manner of deliciously naughty dreams, Pierce rose to a too-bright sun shining into his window. Tensing, Pierce looked around in horror, his mind slower to wake than the rest of him. It took about a minute to remember why he was sleeping in a strange bedroom.
It took a few disoriented seconds to remember that the blonde beauty who had been featured in most of his sex dreams was a real person, and she’d been in this bed with him the night before. He could remember each detail so vividly, his body reacted like a teenager’s just at the thought of her body rutting up against his, almost as though they had actually been fucking.
I have to get out of this house, he realized, trying not to think too hard about how twisted up he’d gotten over Felice’s little experiment last night.
He wondered if she’d sent those photos off to her ex yet. He wondered if the man was jealous or angry. Pierce was pretty sure he didn’t want to stick around and find out.
Getting ready as quickly as possible, Pierce mourned that he had to rush through the shower. It had been a few days since he’d gotten a proper bath, and not knowing when he would have another real shower next made him want to linger in the heated water.
Dressing quickly, Pierce nearly ran down the stairs, flying into the kitchen to come face to face with his hostess. She stared at him, a dead look in her pretty, emerald eyes. There was something so empty and sad in her that Pierce almost reached out to comfo
rt her.
With a great deal of effort, he kept his hands to himself.
Felice glanced down at his mouth, then back up at his eyes, something indescribable in her face. He couldn’t image what she had seen in him that made her make that face, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“I was just about to write you a note; I’m heading to the bank now that they are open. I’m going to get your cash.”
Pierce leaned on the counter, sniffing deeply. The bitter and sweet scent of coffee floated around him, much to the delight of his nose. “I thought spoiled rich kids were supposed to stay in bed until noon.”
Felice frowned, walking over to the coffeemaker and pouring him a mug without asking if he wanted it. “Not when they own their own business. I’d meant to sleep in but ended up just waking up at my normal time anyway. Do you take anything in it?”