by Claire Adams
“Listen,” I said as I felt my chest tightening. “I know you’re a modern woman and that you have all kinds of forward-thinking ideas about friends with benefits and sex, but I’m not obligated to play by your rules. No matter what the damn contract says!”
“Jeez, chill out,” she said rolling her eyes as she shook her head disapprovingly. “It’s just sex.”
I could feel the rage building inside me, but it was undercut by the fact that I was also incredibly aroused. As anger and desire waged an internal war, the tension between the two made me even more frustrated.
“Are you always such a bitch?” I growled angrily.
“Nice language. You kiss your mother with that mouth?” she shot back, narrowing her eyes as she boldly walked around the table and stood less than a foot in front of me with her hands on her hips.
“Lady, I haven’t seen my mother since I was a small child,” I snapped. “So, no, I don’t kiss her with it. You’re so high and mighty—”
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” Payton interrupted dropping all pretense of anger. She stammered, “I didn’t…I’m so sorry…”
I said nothing as I watched her search for a way to mitigate the damage she thought she’d done. Part of me wanted to lord it over her to keep her safely at bay, and part of me wanted to reach out and pull her to me and assure her that I’d made peace with it long ago. I opted for angry silence.
Before I knew it, Payton had wrapped her arms around my neck whispering, “Dax, I’m really sorry.” I could feel her body pressing against me as she slid her fingers into my hair and pulled my head down and rested her forehead against mine as she whispered over and over, “I’m so sorry.”
I gave in and wrapped one arm around her waist as I reached up and slipped my fingers under her chin tipping her face up toward me so I could kiss her. I knew where this was headed, but I couldn’t have stopped myself even if I’d wanted to.
Her lips were as soft and smooth as the silk that covered the curves of her body, and she moaned into the kiss as I traced a path down her neck with the tip of my finger. She groaned as I cupped a silk-covered breast and ran my thumb back and forth over it until her nipple formed a stiff peak.
“Dax…” she whispered into my lips.
“Mmm hmmm,” I murmured as I moved my hand to her neglected breast, firmly stroking it until I felt it responding. Payton’s hips swayed gently as she leaned forward, pulling me closer and kissing me with an intensity that told me we were quickly approaching the point of no return. I had been stiff from the moment she’d walked into the room, but now that I had her in my arms, I felt the need rolling like waves through my body.
I slid a hand down her thigh to the hem of her silky dress and slowly pushed it up, exposing her tanned skin and drawing another low moan from her lips. I gently bit down on her lower lip as I slipped my hand between her legs and pushed them apart enough to lightly run my fingers over the satin that separated me from her.
“Dax…” she whispered more urgently. “Oh God, Dax…”
“Mmm hmm,” I nodded as she gripped my hair and began moving her hips against my fingers, seeking relief. I kissed the side of her face as I murmured, “So soft, so beautiful…”
“Dax…” she moaned as I slipped my fingers under the elastic of her panties and stroked the velvety skin underneath. Her breath came in ragged gasps, “Not here…not here…”
“Hold on, literally,” I whispered in her ear as I straightened up and lifted her off the floor. Without removing my hand from between her thighs, I tightened the arm around her waist and turned toward the hall. Payton kept her arms wrapped around my neck as I walked us into her bedroom and kicked the door shut behind us. Before I sat her down, I nuzzled her neck and asked, “This okay?”
“As long as you don’t stop what you’re doing,” she replied breathlessly. I carried her over to the big bed in the center of the room and bent over so that she was laying on her back.
“Let go,” I said.
“No,” she pouted.
“Let go,” I repeated as I slid my fingers between her swollen folds and began leisurely stroking from top to bottom. Payton moaned and spread her legs, but she didn’t let go. I dipped my fingers into her wetness and spread it upward until my fingers found the tiny knot that caused her to writhe with pleasure. Then I leaned down and said, “Let go or I’ll stop.”
Payton let go and dropped her arms to the duvet as I smiled. “Good girl,” I murmured as I continued the slow rhythmic stroking and added, “Lift your arms over your head.”
“What?” she questioned as the look on her face hovered between desire and confusion.
“Put your hands over your head,” I repeated as I alternated between firm and light strokes, and then stopped.
Payton moaned and shifted her hips, trying to push my fingers against her sensitive skin, but I withdrew them and waited. Letting out an exasperated sigh, she raised her hands and stubbornly said, “Happy now?”
“It’s not me that is looking for happy, is it?” I said resuming my slow pace and watching as she melted into my touch. I laid down and stretched out on my side next to her on the bed without removing my hand from her panties, but when she tried to roll over to face me, I grabbed both of her wrists with one hand and held her arms over her head, making it impossible for her to move.
“What are you doing?” she asked as her eyes widened.
“Fulfilling the contract,” I said as I slipped two fingers inside her and stroked more intensely. She writhed against my hand as I massaged the center of her pleasure with my thumb.
“Dax, Dax! Oh God,” she cried as I held her wrists and pushed her closer and closer to the edge. I felt her body begin to tense and then she tightened around my fingers and let out a loud cry as she thrust her hips up and I pushed my fingers deeper as she climaxed on them. I could feel the rolling waves of orgasm pulsing inside her as she moaned and writhed under my hand. I held steady as she descended from the height of orgasm and waited until she turned and opened her eyes before I let go of her wrists and pulled my hand out of her panties.
“Oh my God, what was that?” she exhaled.
“If I have to explain it to you, it would probably lose something in the translation,” I grinned as I propped myself up on my elbow.
“Very funny, smart ass,” she laughed as she looked up at me. Her face was pink and sweaty, her hair was spread out on the duvet in a tangled mess, and the bottom half of her dress had been reduced to a wrinkled bit of fabric pushed up around her waist. She looked beautiful and I wanted her.
“Feeling better now?” I asked as I pushed myself up off of the bed and straightened my shirt.
“Wait, aren’t we going to…” she trailed off.
“No, I agreed to sex with you once a week,” I said smiling warmly. “The contract didn’t specify how that would happen or exactly who would do what to whom.”
“But you…” she said stopping short.
“I’m good,” I said turning and heading toward the door. “I’m glad we got this all straightened out. Thank you for having dinner with me, Payton.”
“Fuck you, Connor,” she shot back as I exited the room closing the door behind me.
Payton Halas Lasky might have won the battle, but she had no idea how committed I was to winning the war.
Chapter Twenty
Payton
I woke up the next morning as the sun rose over the lake, shining through the large windows. I smiled as I stretched out between the soft sheets and felt the warmth of the sun’s rays on my face — and then the memories of the night before came flooding in and I felt a wave of humiliation and shame wash over me.
Dax had approached the sexual part of the contract as if it was a favor. He’d given me an enormous amount of pleasure, but after he’d left my room, I’d felt empty. I’d rolled the dice with the inclusion of sex in the contract thinking that it would be something I could control. I assumed that Dax would chase after me the way that men usual
ly did, and that I’d take what I wanted, when I wanted it. I hadn’t anticipated this change up, and the fact that Dax now clearly held the upper hand was more than a little uncomfortable. If I was honest, it was maddening.
I got out of bed, pulled on a robe over my nightgown, and padded down the hall to the kitchen to try to find a cup of coffee and some breakfast before I formulated my plan for the day. I found Dax, dressed and ready for the office, standing at the counter, waiting for the coffee pot to finish brewing. There was a distinct chill in the kitchen, and I didn’t feel the need to do anything to elevate the temperature.
“Good morning,” he said, sounding somewhat surprised to see me.
“Morning,” I replied as I opened the fridge and surveyed the contents, trying to decide what I wanted for breakfast.
“If you’re hungry, I can whip us up some eggs and sausage,” he offered as he pulled the pot from the machine and filled his mug.
“I don’t usually eat a big breakfast,” I said stubbornly, refusing his olive branch. “Coffee and toast is fine.”
“There’s bread in the box next to the stove,” he offered. “And I think there are a couple of kinds of jam in the fridge. If you have a preference, leave a note and someone will pick it up this afternoon.”
“I’m sure what you have is just fine,” I said, closing the fridge and looking up to find Dax standing on the other side of the door holding out a mug full of steaming coffee. I accepted it, nodding instead of speaking before turning and walking out to the living room.
“You’re welcome,” he murmured as he began fixing his breakfast. Having to face him before I had had time to prepare myself made me feel even more humiliated and angry.
I wanted him to apologize for the way he’d treated me, but I knew from the smug look on his face that I wasn’t going to get what I wanted. Now I felt trapped between the contractual demands I’d made for sex, and the realization that Dax wasn’t going to give in to my demands the way I’d anticipated.
As I thought more about it, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted or how I envisioned what I’d bargained for. I took my coffee into the living room and sunk down on the sofa staring out the window at the vastness of the lake as I tried to make sense of things.
The more I thought about it, the closer I came to the truth. When I finally hit on it, I felt my face burn with shame as I realized that I’d expected Dax Connor to fall head over heels for me while I kept him at a safe distance.
Now I realized he wasn’t going to fall, but I had no idea how I was going to back out of the part of the contract I’d so stubbornly negotiated.
“Son of a bitch!” I swore as I took a big sip of the hot liquid in my cup and felt it burn my tongue. Angry at everything, but mostly at myself, I muttered, “Damn you, Dax Connor!”
Chapter Twenty-One
Dax
We’d managed to make it through coffee and breakfast despite the tension between us. I’d fixed eggs and sausages for us both and brought a plate to Payton, who was curled up on the living room sofa nursing her coffee and staring out the window.
“Thanks,” she said, refusing to look up at me. When she said nothing else, I left her sitting alone and returned to the kitchen where I ate my breakfast as I read the morning sports news and organized my day. I had a meeting scheduled with Nick Wilcox, the Storm’s head coach, this afternoon, but other than that, I didn’t have a lot of pressing business, so I texted Finn and told him to come by so we could talk about what he’d found out about our new venture and plan a media approach.
I put my dishes in the sink and texted Geo to bring the car around before I stepped back into the living room. Payton had disappeared, leaving the plate full of food sitting right where I’d left it. I shook my head as I picked it up and carried it back to the kitchen. “Stubborn woman,” I muttered as I set it in the sink on top of my empty plate.
I left the penthouse without saying goodbye, so it was quite a surprise when Payton showed up in my office several hours later, bright-eyed and dressed to the nines.
“Hey, I was wondering if you could show me to my temporary office,” she said, smiling in a way that immediately made me feel wary. She’d been pissed at me earlier, that much I knew for certain. This friendly approach meant she had something up her sleeve.
“Sure, give me a minute to finish a few things and I’ll walk you down,” I nodded.
I wrapped up my business and had my secretary call down and order coffee to be brought up to the office before I walked Payton down the hall to her new digs. Walking behind her down the hallway, I realized that working with her and trying to resist the intense attraction I felt for her was going to be my own special kind of hell. And I knew I had no one to blame but myself.
“This is quite the office, Connor,” Payton said as I ushered her into the big bright space. It was a corner office with a light, airy feel. All of the heavy oak furniture that Butler had requested had been moved out and replaced with pieces that were clean and modern in design. I’d done it because I’d dreaded coming into this office for a meeting while Butler was GM and had wanted to erase all traces of him. But right now, if I was completely honest, I also hoped that Payton was impressed.
She immediately turned her attention toward the large windows that looked out over the city. The room had been cleaned and shined within an inch of its life and, as a result, it looked brand new. “You do this all yourself?”
“Yeah, I knew that the new GM would need to have an impressive place to do business in,” I said as I shifted my gaze away from the shapely curve of her hips in the tight skirt and refocused on the Beachwood desk that sat off to one side of the room. “You think you’ll be able to learn in here?”
“I can’t imagine how Butler did such a lousy job in a room like this,” she said wryly.
“Well, it didn’t quite look like this when he was here,” I said without elaborating.
“Is that so?” she said as a small smile played at the edges of her mouth. “Well, I think even the worst salesperson could cut good deals in this office, but yes, to answer your question, I think I’ll be able to practice being GM in here.”
“Well, don’t practice too hard,” I said as I held her gaze for a long moment, unable to look away from her deep blue eyes. Then catching myself, I cleared my throat and said, “If you need anything, ask my assistant or one of the other assistants on this floor.”
“I see. Well, I’m sure I can manage things on my own,” she said, smiling warily as she crossed the room. She stood close to me, too close, and looked up at me as she asked, “Are you sure this is what you want, Dax? It’s not too late to back out and admit you’ve made a mistake. We could cancel the contract and no one would be the wiser.”
“No, I don’t want to back out,” I said, looking down at her and wondering how I was going maintain my distance and keep control of the situation when everything inside me wanted to do the exact opposite.
“You sure?” she asked, tipping her head and staring at me in a way that made me feel like she knew exactly what was running through my mind. “I mean, I know that you’re intent on maintaining your grip on the power in this relationship, and I’m not going to be happy simply rolling over and submitting to you, so we’re going to struggle.”
“You’ve got a lot of nerve accusing me of holding all the cards, lady,” I said, trying to stay calm as she pulled the rug out from under me. She did know what I was thinking, and the smile on her face told me she knew she’d hit a nerve.
“I’m just saying,” she shrugged. “If you’re not comfortable, we can always call things off before they get too difficult.”
“No, I’m fine with the way things are,” I said as I looked away and saw Finn standing in the doorway of the office, observing us. I changed the topic as I waved him in. “Payton, I’d like you to meet, my second in command, Finn O’Brien. Finn, this is Payton Halas Lasky.”
“I know who she is,” Finn said as he offered his hand to Payton. “Nice to
meet you, Ms. Lasky.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. O’Brien,” she said warily. “Please, call me Payton.”
“Then you should call me Finn,” he said with a wide smile that I recognized as his crocodile grin and knew I had to get him away from Payton quickly.
“Finn and I have some business to take care of, so if you need anything, let my assistant know,” I said as I gave Finn a hard look and moved toward the hall. “Let’s go.”
“I look forward to seeing more of you,” Finn said with a wide smile before turning and marching out the door.
“See you later,” I said to Payton before I followed Finn. My last glimpse of her told me that she knew there was something fishy about Finn’s friendly welcome, but I didn’t have the time or inclination to stop and find out. I’d have to do that later.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Payton
I settled into both the penthouse and my temporary office and, for the next week, I did my best to avoid Dax, but he was having none of it. At home, he maintained a respectful distance, extending dinner invitations and making coffee every morning, but leaving me alone as I settled in.
However, work was a different story. He’d come into my office more times than I could count sometime to ask a question and other times just to talk about sports teams and draft possibilities. He irritated me, but I couldn’t find a real reason to cut him off or out.
And if the truth be told, I didn’t want to cut him out.
On Wednesday afternoon, Dax came to my office and broke the news that we were going to be heading south to training camp at the end of the week.
“Why do I have to go?” I asked, looking up from the scouting reports and player stats I’d spread out across the desk.