“I’m going to come,” I whispered.
I felt his heartbeat thundering as I clenched his broad arms. “I know you are, baby. I know.”
I dug into his skin with my newly-manicured nails and let the delicious flood of sensation roll like pounding surf through my belly. “It’s too much,” I whimpered. “Drex…”
“It’s okay,” he said. “Let it happen. Feel it all.”
A tear trickled from the corner of my eye as I gave in to every sensation. The world disappeared. There was only us, my body and his, and the connection that rocked me to my soul.
My muscles clenched and released, and I locked my leg around his hips. His biceps were huge and solid under my hands. My pleasure came out in short little breaths, each one a testament to his God-given gifts as a lover.
“You like that?” he whispered. “Does it feel good to come for me?”
“Incredible,” I panted, my blood racing. “Please…” I didn’t know what I was begging for, I just knew I wanted more.
And more what was I got. He plunged into me, harder and faster with every stroke. A low, animal growl tore from his throat. “This is what you do to me,” he said. “You make my cock so big and hard.”
“I need your cock. I can’t get enough of it.”
“And I love that, so much I can’t hold back.” I felt his fingers on the knot of the blindfold, and the silk fell away. “Look at me,” he said. “Watch me fill you with my come.”
I let my eyes open, and what I saw was the most amazing man I could imagine, gazing at me so intently I felt transparent. He knew me. He knew everything about me, even though I was still a mystery. He knew my body and my heart, and both were his.
His eyelids flickered and his breath stopped. He locked one arm tightly around me and held my chin with the other. “Fucking beautiful,” he groaned, driving into me.
I felt his hot come pour into me, and my pussy receive it like a gift. We were one, coming together and drowning in pleasure. Our open mouths joined just as I moaned his name.
Sex did not get better than this. Neither did life.
I had to hang onto every moment and make it last. Never wanting to let him go, I squeezed my arms around his neck. He pulsated inside me, hauling me to him in a rib-crushing hug.
I no longer cared about the party, or my dress, or anything but Drex’s skin against mine. When I finally pulled back and looked at him, he was smiling.
“Wow,” he said, and kissed the tip of my nose. “Just…wow.”
I blew out a long breath that ended in a giggle. “I think we’re late.”
“Being a no-show at Scott’s party sounds nice right now, doesn’t it?” He looked in the mirror over my shoulder and grimaced. “Total bed hair, and I wasn’t even in bed.”
“How can I go to a party?” I said. “I’m not sure my legs will hold me up.”
“I could carry you all night.”
“Now, that I’d love to see.”
“In that case…” With one swift, sweeping motion, he lifted me into his arms.
I squealed and laughed. “Does this mean we’re going?”
“That’s up to my lovely date to decide.”
“Hm,” I said, lightly swinging my stilettoed feet. “I do have a pretty dress to wear.”
“That’s right,” he said, carrying me into the bedroom. “Can’t forget that.”
“Ruby went to a lot of trouble. I don’t want to let her down.”
“That settles it then.” He set me on my feet by the bed. On top of the duvet lay my dress, sparkling like obsidian in the early evening light.
“So there’s the infamous dress,” he said.
“There it is. And the jewelry to go with it.”
An opal, diamond, and rose gold necklace and matching earrings gleamed on the nightstand under the lamplight. “I said no,” I told him. “Ruby insisted.”
“That’s why she’s my assistant,” he said, walking naked to the master closet. “Now get gorgeous and let’s go. I’ve got a hot date to show off.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
It was my second time in a black Town Car that day. Only this time, instead of being excited to shop and socialize, I was nervous. As in heart-in-my-throat, need-a-stiff-drink-immediately nervous.
“We need a story,” I told Drex. “I need a believable last name and a reason to be on your arm.”
He rubbed my knee through my dress. “The reason is, you’re brilliant and beautiful.”
“Those are two reasons.”
“Then we’ve got our bases covered. As for your last name, how about something simple and forgettable? Like Morgan.”
I turned it over in my mind. “I guess that will do. And if anyone wants to know more than that?”
“Turn it around,” he said. “Start asking questions. One thing I can say about the Marshalls and their friends is that they love talking about themselves. Give them the opportunity and they’ll run with it until they’re showing you vacation pictures from the nineties.”
“Questions I can do,” I said. “My autobiography, not so much.”
He turned in the seat to face me. That grin, those eyes, that tux. Kill me now. “Don’t worry, Blue Eyes,” he said. “The way you look tonight? Nobody would care if you were visiting from outer space.”
“I guess we can’t rule that out.” Eyes locked, we smiled at each other. Warmth bloomed in my chest. If he was trying to help me relax, he was doing a very good job.
“Brooke’s harmless, by the way,” he said. “She might be a little put out when she meets you, but you’re much too nice to hate.”
“I don’t think nice figures into it where women are concerned.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll probably be best friends in twenty minutes.” He paused, his eyes squinting up. “Well, maybe not best friends, but…”
“If anyone’s best friend material, it’s Ruby,” I said. “I don’t know where you found her, but she’s great. Energetic, amazing attitude, funny…”
“And an amateur champion pool player when she was a teenager. Did she tell you? I met her when she played in a charity competition that my company hosted. She’s better than most guys I know.”
It was pretty easy to imagine Ruby beating the pants off of any man with a pool cue. “She didn’t say a word. I guess she was more interested in finding me a dress than talking about her accomplishments.”
“That’s why she’s an amazing assistant,” Drex said. “Though she won’t be one for long. She’ll have Brooke’s job in a few years if I have anything to say about it. And I do.”
“What about Brooke?” I asked. “Doesn’t her father want her to stay with your company?”
“That’s something else we’ll negotiate during the next round of investment. And that’s coming up soon.” His mouth tensed and I saw a flash of concern in his eyes. Though he rarely talked about himself, he had an important and successful life. It just got lost in all of the discussion about me.
“Do you need Scott as an investor?” I asked.
“Right now, yes, but I’d like that to change. We’re growing so fast that the company should appeal to investors who don’t need so much involvement.”
We drove down a long brick driveway to a white, plantation-style home with three columns on either side of the front door. The Marshall house was not a house at all, but a lavish estate. It was surrounded by ancient trees with branches so long, some reached the ground.
On a street of stunningly restored traditional homes, it was by far the grandest. I could hardly believe I was here, in this dress, with this man.
“The house was built by a wealthy railroad family,” Drex said as the driver pulled up to the curb. “It’s called the Clark Mansion. Scott spent four years renovating it.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said, peering up through my window. “Like something from a dream.”
He gave my hand a quick squeeze. “Is it? I can’t see anything but you tonight.”
If I’d thoug
ht I was living in a fairy tale before, now I was sure of it. Walking up to the door in my new gown, holding Drex’s arm, I expected any moment to wake up on the park bench and realize that none of it was real. I would lose my glass slipper, the clock would strike midnight, and it would all be over. Life couldn’t possibly be this wonderful.
But moments kept passing, and the fairy tale didn’t end. Drex introduced me to so many well-dressed, good-looking, and accomplished people, I could hardly tell one from the other. They had first and last names and job titles and histories with Drex, but I was always just Jane. “My date, Jane,” Drex said, too many times to count.
Nobody probed my background or asked to see identification. I was just another woman in a fabulous dress, though I happened to be with the most gorgeous man there.
Three bacon-wrapped prawns and a glass of champagne later, I finally got to meet Scott Marshall. He was stocky and deeply-tanned with pale green eyes and a thick head of gray hair. He had the relaxed air of someone who couldn’t remember what it was like to worry about money, if he’d ever known in the first place.
He shook my hand firmly and smiled. “Good to meet you,” he boomed. “Welcome.”
Though he joked about turning sixty and chatted about a recent sport-fishing trip, I could see the uncomfortable truth in his eyes: Drex should have his arm around Brooke, not some strange woman from outside his social circle. Two years may have passed since his daughter was Drex’s date, but he hadn’t given up hope. Not even close.
As if her father had called for back-up, the infamous Brooke suddenly appeared at my side. I’d seen photographs of her in Cougan company literature, but in person she was even more striking. Tall and long-limbed with big, dark eyes and hair to her waist, she made me glad I was wearing five-inch heels and a Ruby-approved dress.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend, Drex?” she asked.
Friend. Really?
“Of course,” he said. “Jane, Brooke. Brooke, Jane.” He smiled his addicting, impossible-to-be-annoyed-at-him smile. “See? That was easy.”
After a few minutes of small talk, Scott pulled Drex into a discussion about a new golf course. It was the perfect opportunity for Brooke to grill me, and she wasted no time.
Taking my elbow, she turned me toward the windows overlooking a lush, English country-style garden. “Drex told me he was bringing someone,” she said. “I’ll admit I didn’t believe him.” She paused to scan me from head to toe, then did the same thing in reverse. “I guess I do now.”
“It’s great to meet you,” I said. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
She considered me over the rim of her cocktail glass. “Oh? I’ve heard absolutely nothing about you. Drex didn’t give me a single detail.”
“Well, we haven’t known each other that long.”
“He’s known you long enough to bring you to my father’s birthday dinner. He must be very taken with you.”
“Oh…I don’t know,” I said. Vague and polite, just as I’d planned in the car.
“It’s the strangest thing,” Brooke said, “but he didn’t want to talk about you. You’re like…a big mystery or something.” She peered at me through slightly narrowed eyes. “He wouldn’t even tell me where you’re from or where you met.”
“Oh, well, we met because...”
How did I know this was going to happen? I should have stayed home with Diesel. She could bark and growl but she couldn’t cross-examine me. “I needed directions and Drex stopped to help,” I blurted out.
Brooke’s head tilted an inch. “Really?”
“God’s-honest truth.” Or something like that.
“What a charming little story,” she said. “Like a romance novel. Where did this happen?”
“In a town a few hundred miles from here. I was just – passing through.” I scanned the room for Drex, who was now standing in a group of tuxedoed men of various ages, all privileged and attractive. But none of them compared to my date. He was by far the tallest, the handsomest, and the sexiest. There was no contest.
“Passing through,” she said. “Are you on vacation? You don’t sound like you’re from Texas, that’s for sure.”
So much for the Marshalls talking about themselves. If things kept going like this, in five minutes Brooke would know more about me than I knew myself.
“Not exactly,” I said. “But sort of. I was...on a desert hiking trip. Solo.”
Her eyebrows quirked. “Solo?”
“Yes. One of those journey of discovery kind of things?”
“Journey of discovery,” she repeated. Clearly I sounded insane.
“You know, like walking the Appalachian Trail by yourself.”
She tossed her curtain of shiny hair behind her shoulder. “Actually, I don’t know. I don’t even own a pair of hiking boots.”
“I’m sure you don’t,” I said. “Anyway, enough about –”
“So, you were hiking, and…?”
The air hung heavy as I hesitated. “I got lost,” I said. “Hopelessly.” Pretty good. Not far from the truth, actually.
She considered me with skeptical eyes lined in thick black liner. “Now, wait a minute. You got lost when you were out hiking alone, and Drex just happened to find you?”
“Not exactly, but yup. It was the damnedest thing.” At that moment, Drex glanced in my direction. I tried to send him a distress signal with a glare, but he just smiled, gave me a quick thumbs-up, and went back to his conversation. When a waiter passed with a loaded tray, I practically lunged toward it. Smoked salmon on toast points – the perfect way to stuff my mouth so I couldn’t say anything at all. I grabbed two and a cocktail napkin.
Brooke watched me take a large bite. “And then he just took you home?” she asked. “That was quick.”
Chewing, I shrugged. I hoped she would drop it, but instead she just waited. And waited. Finally I swallowed, which left me no choice but to answer. “I didn’t know where I was so…he offered me a place to stay.”
“How kind of him.”
“I thought so, but what I’d really love to talk about is your role at the company –”
“What do you do in the real world, Jane? When you’re not hiking around the Southwest getting lost?”
“Do?”
“As a career. If you have one?”
The entire room seemed to fall silent. It was as if two-hundred people were waiting for a response I couldn’t give. “Well, I…in all honesty, I’m sort of a –”
I felt a warm, strong hand on my shoulder. “Is Brooke boring you with company talk?” Drex asked with a broad grin.
My legs went weak. What the hell had taken him so long? “If only,” I said.
Brooke gave him a thin-lipped little smirk. “Jane was just telling me about her hiking trip.”
His eyes were puzzled. “Her…hiking trip.”
“That’s right, Drex,” I said, giving him a quick jab in the side. “That solo thing I was doing when we met?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said quickly. “That solo thing.”
“It’s funny,” Brooke said. “She doesn’t look like much of a hiker to me.”
“Jane cleans up well,” Drex said. “But deep down she’s a tomboy at heart.”
I frowned at him. He responded with a quick shrug that Brooke couldn’t possibly have missed.
“The rest of my clothes are fleece and cotton,” I said. “And jeans.”
“They really are,” Drex said. “Like, stuff from a country store.”
“The kind of place where they sell dresses alongside the hunting rifles,” I said. “And the ammo.”
“And socks,” Drex piped up. “And fishing poles.”
Brooke handed her empty glass to a waiter and looked at Drex as if he’d switched to a different language. “She fishes, too?”
“Like I said, a total tomboy.”
“But you always liked girly girls.”
“He just likes girls,” I said. “Girly or not.”
&n
bsp; Brooke looked from Drex to me and back again. “All I know is, they’re about to serve to dinner,” she said. “You’re sitting next to Bob Cochran, the CEO of Dixon Oil, so you might want to talk about college football or something. He’s not really a hiker, from what I can tell.”
Apparently Drex had learned his lesson, because he didn’t leave my side the entire dinner. I could relax and enjoy myself and just be his date again, which was all I’d wanted. For a few hours, I could pretend to be a woman like any other.
Well, not quite. I couldn’t imagine that anyone else here had fallen in love this quickly under such strange circumstances. Every time Drex and I looked at each other, our connection sizzled like a stripped wire.
What had happened earlier tonight in his bathroom – it wasn’t over. My skin still sparked wherever he’d touched me, my lips still burned from his hot, hard kisses. He’d branded me and made me want to belong to him. And couldn’t I? Was what I felt for him so wrong?
Determined not to spoil our night, I shoved my questions aside. We sat together at a round table and ate lobster risotto, filet mignon, and decadent butter-whipped potatoes that melted in my mouth. I asked Bob Cochran so many questions about the oil business he didn’t have time to do anything but answer. Amnesia was turning me into a very good listener.
As the waiters served coffee and after-dinner drinks, one of Scott Marshall’s sons took the podium at the front of the room. After a brief, deadpan speech about his father’s dread of getting old, he introduced a short film he’d had made for the occasion. The lights darkened, leaving the room lit by the candles flickering on each table.
The film started with black-and-white photographs of Scott growing up on a farm in Oklahoma. There were funny pictures of him covered with mud while milking cows and asleep on the floor in front of an old television set. There was a home movie of him graduating from high school, and pictures from his years as a track star at Texas A&M. There was even eight millimeter film from his wedding to his college sweetheart, now passed away from cancer.
Descended (The Red Blindfold Book 3) Page 15