by Jade Kuzma
“If you’ll excuse me,” she said to Schneider. “I have to talk to my old friend here. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“I was a former friend and now I’m an old friend,” I said. “I must be rubbing off on you—”
She tugged me by the arm and dragged me away from Schneider. I stumbled a few steps before regaining my balance.
“Okay, okay,” I said. “Slow down. Just relax.”
It took us a while before we finally found a spot in the ballroom where we could speak alone.
Kristen looked around like she was paranoid. She was a petite woman but that only made her stare that much more intense.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she said, her teeth gritted as she tried to keep her voice down.
“It’s like I said. I’m here on business with your boyfriend.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“And does he know about it?”
“Emerson wouldn’t have invited me if that wasn’t the case—”
“Cut the bullshit, Sebastian. I know you. I know what you’re capable of. You’re not above smashing a window and sneaking in. I bet security is looking for you right now.”
“Call security. Go ahead. I’m on the guest list. Everything’s legit, Kristen.”
I held my arms out, showing her that I had nothing to hide. I mean, I did have something to hide but I had to pretend like I didn’t.
She kept her eyes locked on me and breathed a hard breath through her nose.
“Look,” she said. “I don’t know what you’re up to. But I know you’re up to something.”
“I am up to something. I’m only interested in doing business with Emerson. I’ll give you all of the details if you want before I present everything to him. But not here. We’d have to do it somewhere more… private.”
I raised an eyebrow at her, unable to fight the smirk from coming to my lips. She wasn’t too amused though. She just kept eyeballing me like she was waiting for me to drop dead.
“You’re beautiful when you’re angry, you know—”
“Fine,” she said. “There’s a room back through the main hall. Exit the ballroom and walk through the hallway on your right. It’ll be the first door.”
She spun around and walked away before I had a chance to say anything more. I watched her leave then looked around to see if I’d drawn any attention to myself. The ballroom was too crowded for anybody to notice what the hell was going on though.
I made my way back over to Roman. A glass of champagne in one hand and some food in the other, he was having a better time than I remembered from just a few minutes ago.
“Enjoying yourself?” I said.
“Free drinks. Free food. Can’t complain.”
He washed everything down with another gulp then arched an eyebrow at me.
“Now you plan on telling me what the fuck you’re doing?”
“Just…”
“You already told me to give you a few minutes a few minutes ago.”
“Hey, I’ll have to tell you what I’m up to eventually. There’s just one last thing I need to check to make sure that everything is all clear.”
He sighed then shook his head.
“All right,” he said. “Go do what you have to do.”
“While you’re here, I need you to do something for me.”
“At least you’re finally telling me something.”
“Check the doors. Check how many guards are standing at each entrance. Also, try to walk around the mansion if they’ll let you. Don’t go sneaking around. Just see how much security they’ve got working here.”
Roman raised his head up, his eyes narrowed as he looked down his nose at me.
“Please,” I said. “It’s important.”
“It’s a good thing I’m already half-drunk.”
“My brother.”
I patted him on the arm and headed out of the ballroom. Everything seemed to be headed in the right direction. The last thing I needed to deal with was Kristen.
Chapter 4
KRISTEN
James’s mansion was big enough to get lost in. I never made myself too comfortable inside of it even though I’d known him for almost a year now. It was still his place and I had to respect it. All I had to myself was a small room in the main hallway that I could retire to when I needed a moment alone. Right now, I needed a moment alone more than ever.
This is stupid.
Sebastian was up to something. I’d known him long enough to know that was the case. Even when he said he was being honest, I knew he was lying. Now I had to make sure that he didn’t screw this up. For himself or me…
The door slowly creaked open and Sebastian stepped inside. He examined the dimly-lit room and raised his eyebrows at me.
“Nice place,” he said. “It’s not really your style though.”
“What’s wrong? Too dreary?”
“Not dreary enough—”
“Sebastian, what the hell are you doing here?”
I crossed my arms and waited for a response. He didn’t give it to me immediately, all the more reason for me to believe that he was up to something.
“I told you,” he said as he put his hands up. “I’m here on business. With Emerson.”
“Are you getting involved with Emerson? You know what kind of a man he is. You know what he’s doing. But then again, I can’t put anything past you. You’re capable of anything…”
I looked away from him and all of the memories of my time with him came back to me. I closed my eyes and tried to shake them out of my thoughts.
Dammit…
I would never admit that I couldn’t get rid of them so easily though. Even after all these years, being with Sebastian was still vivid in my thoughts.
“What does it matter?” he said. “You ended our relationship yourself. You walked away. What do you care what I do?”
“Because I’m involved with Emerson now. And if you’re going to do something with… with my boyfriend, I think it’d be in his best interests if he knew what you were up to.”
“You wouldn’t squeal on me even if I was up to something.”
“Ha! I’ll tell Emerson the first chance I get.”
“No… No, you still care about me, Kristen. I can see it in your eyes. You’re still worried about me.”
I clenched my jaw and stared right back at him.
Sebastian was a hard man to look away from. Dark blond hair messy on his head. Just the right amount of scruff along his jawline. Blue eyes on the center of his face that forced you to look at them. He was so disarming, so intense. The kind of man who had women falling for him. And I was one of them once. But I knew what kind of man Sebastian was inside. As handsome as he was, it wasn’t enough to mask everything else.
“I’m only about you because you’re going to get yourself into trouble,” I said. “You know what kind of man Emerson is. You’re not dealing with someone who takes things lightly. He’s dangerous.”
“He’s dangerous? You’re telling me I should stay away from him.”
“That’s right.”
“That’s funny you’re telling me I should stay away but you’re dating him.”
“It’s different.”
I looked away from him as he took a step toward me.
“No, don’t gimme that shit, Kristen. I haven’t seen you in years. I don’t care how much you’ve changed. A woman like you would never get with a man like Emerson so willingly. Even his money wouldn’t be enough to entice you.”
“Oh, you know me so well, don’t you, Sebastian?”
“I do.”
“If you did, I never would have left you in the first place.”
I stared at him and clenched my jaw.
Stupid Kristen…
All of the emotions I tried to ignore were bubbling up inside of me. No matter what I did, I still felt like some dumb schoolgirl. An ex-boyfriend from years ago was standing right in front o
f me and it killed me that I could still remember all of the feelings I had for him like it was yesterday.
“You’re telling me I’m up to something,” he said. “You’re the one who’s up to something.”
“Sebastian…”
“What are you doing with him? A man like Emerson can never please a woman like you. He’s not your type.”
“Stop,” I scoffed.
Sebastian kept inching closer to me. Even in a tuxedo I could still remember the way the leather kutte he always wore smelled. I closed my eyes to try and regain my focus. But I could still feel him moving closer to me.
“Something is wrong,” he said. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
He grabbed me by the arms and my eyes shot open.
Stop.
Sebastian broke me from the trance I didn’t realize I was in. I breathed a hard breath through my nose and pulled myself free from his grip.
“You need to get out of here,” I said. “Whatever it is you’re planning, it’s a mistake.”
“I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life. You know what I’m capable of.”
“You’re right. I know exactly what you’re capable of. But dealing with Emerson might be the last thing you ever do.”
I spun around and walked toward the door but Sebastian cut me off quickly. He grabbed my arm and turned me back toward him. In one strong motion, I was suddenly up against him. The thin fabric of my dress wasn’t much to stop me from feeling his hard body on mine.
I didn’t have much time to think about it he put his mouth on mine.
The taste of the liquor. The scruff on his face against my cheek. The way he darted his tongue between my teeth. His masculine scent intoxicating me. It all felt so familiar. So familiar that I lost myself for a second.
Kristen!
The small part of me that still had sense. A voice of reason yelling out at me. Just what I needed to work up the strength to put my hands on his hard chest and push him away from me.
I gasped a deep breath and stumbled back. All I could do was try to regain my senses.
Sebastian stared at me. His chest heaved as he breathed just as hard as I did. Blue eyes unblinking. Face intense and intimidating.
Damn…
It was him. The man I was with all those years ago. Back in front of me, stirring desires I knew I couldn’t bury no matter how far I dug the hole. And they were back. A wanting need that hadn’t been satisfied since I walked away from him.
He took a step toward me then rushed his face back to mine.
Shit.
I was lost to him. This moment… This moment that brought me back to a time when I cared about him. A man who was unlike any I’d ever met before. Despite all of his faults and all of the mistakes he’d made, he was still the only man who could ever satisfy me. I knew who he was but there was still a small part of me that was clinging to some dumb, pathetic hope that he’d turn out to be somebody else.
None of that mattered now though. All that mattered was having him close to me… Here… Now…
Sebastian didn’t seem to care what I was thinking. He ran his hands over my dress. His strong touch rubbing me through the fabric sent a shudder through my spine.
“Stop,” I sighed into his mouth. “Don’t mess the dress up… People… will see…”
I still had my wits about me as he started tugging on my dress. He pulled the fabric up. My ankles. My calves. My thighs. He revealed my legs, inch by inch until he got my dress up around my waist. A black thong wasn’t doing much to hold back how much I was dripping at this point.
“Sebastian—”
I couldn’t finish. A gasp caught in my throat when he put his finger up to my folds. Even with my panties on, it still felt better than anything I’d had since the last time I was with him all those years ago.
Sebastian smacked his lips against mine. Messy kisses echoed off the walls of the room. At the same time, I could faintly hear the music from the ballroom making its way through the walls.
He trailed his mouth down my cheek and along my neck. I nibbled on his ear and whispered to him.
“Hurry up. Just do it already.”
I reached down for his belt. We worked together to try to get him out of his pants. His belt undone, his zipper followed. I reached down and felt his massive length throbbing through his briefs. I stroked him a few times to make sure that he was hard before peeling his underwear down.
I looked down to catch a glimpse of his pants and underwear falling down toward his knees. Just a glance at his swelling cock was enough to make me wet.
“Hurry up,” I repeated. “Before someone notices we’re not in the ballroom…”
Sebastian didn’t say anything. He just kept teasing me with kisses while he rubbed me through my panties.
I tried to lower them down but he suddenly grabbed my thong from me. He tugged on them until the fabric pressed against my skin. Then in one swift, strong motion. He pulled them off me completely. The loud tearing of my panties made me gasp again. My wet pussy exposed, all I could do was stand there and wait as the anticipation continued to burn in my stomach.
Sebastian pushed me back against the wall. I landed against it with a hard thud. He pulled his lips away just long enough for me to look in his eyes. His cock was positioned right at my entrance.
“It’s been too long,” he whispered.
“Just shut up already. Just—Ungh!”
A pathetic whimper came out of me. Something embarrassing. A noise you wouldn’t make anywhere else except when a thick cock slid inside of you and stretched you out.
Sebastian picked me up in both of his hands. I wrapped my arms and legs around him. He thumped his dick into me, pounding me against the wall with hard, forceful strokes.
My mouth hung open but I swallowed down all of the moans trying to escape from me.
I was hanging off of Sebastian, completely helpless. Helpless to the strong man who was fucking me like he was trying to make me a part of the wall. Helpless to the desire that was coursing through my veins like fire. Helpless to my need to have a swollen dick inside of me.
“Kristen…”
He grunted my name with every hard thrust.
My mouth hung open but I couldn’t respond. My throat was too dry. My heart was beating too fast. A tinge of sweat covered my skin. I worried that it would soak through my dress and stain it.
“Come…” I whispered. “Come already…”
He pounded me furiously until he pushed himself close to the edge.
“Don’t come inside of me. Don’t—”
A low, growl of a grunt interrupted me. I stared into his eyes, my mouth hanging open as he looked hard back at me. He gritted his teeth and seized up. A thick pulse of cum filled me up. A feeling so familiar. I didn’t realize how much I missed it.
Sebastian was so big that I could feel every single damn inch of him. Every drop of cum. Every thick contraction. Even the beating of his heart. I could feel all of it as he came inside of me.
He emptied one last pump into me before dropping me back down to my heels. My knees buckled as the pleasure surged through me. But now that it was over, my senses slowly started to return to me.
I tugged my dress down then bent over to pick my tattered panties up from the ground.
“I told you not to come inside of me,” I grumbled.
“What does it matter? You’re on the pill, aren’t you?”
“I am but you don’t know that.”
“Oh, I know you a lot better than you think I do, KK.”
“Don’t… call me that.”
I held an index finger up to his face to emphasize my point but all it did was make him smirk, the cocky bastard.
“Come on,” I said. “We’ve been away from the party for too long.”
I grabbed the door handle but just before I opened it, I stopped myself.
“What is it?” he said. “What’s wrong?”
I looked up into his eyes. I shook my head and sig
hed a deep breath because all I could see was the man I knew all too well.
“You don’t have to tell me anything,” I said. “But whatever it is you’re planning, don’t do it. Emerson is dangerous.”
“I could say the same thing to you.”
“…We’re over, Sebastian. I’m with James now.”
“Sure…”
There was no point in trying to argue with him. I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. I barely took a few steps into the main hall of the mansion when I saw James standing there, talking to one of the dozens of men working the party.
“There you are,” he said as he walked up to me. “I thought you’d left the party.”
“No, I was just… catching up with someone.”
James looked at Sebastian, who responded with that stupid, smug smirk of his.
“Sebastian Cain,” I said. “He’s an old friend.”
“One of Kristen’s old friends from Ivory, I presume,” he said.
“Something like that,” Sebastian replied.
James narrowed his eyes at Sebastian like he was trying to figure him out.
Oh, God.
And he’d probably already figured it out. He could probably smell Sebastian on me. It didn’t help that some of him was beginning to leak down my leg because the idiot decided it would be a good idea to tear my panties in two.
I swallowed anxiously as the two of them kept eyeballing one another.
“Ah, I remember you now,” James said. “You were the man working for Burke. His personal security during the negotiations.”
“That’s right,” Sebastian said with a nod.
“It’s a shame what happened to Burke. Never got a chance to enjoy the success we’re all basking in now.”
“Ah, well, my contact with him was up. I could’ve saved him if I was there with him when it happened…”
The two of them were both smiling at one another like they were best friends.
“It’s good to see you here,” James said. “Are you here on business?”
“I did have a proposal for you,” Sebastian said. “But I can see how much of a wanted man you are. It wouldn’t be fair to you to talk business when you should be celebrating your success. Maybe we could speak another time.”