Blended (Redemption #1)

by Sasha Brümmer

  “What are you doing in Chicago? I thought you worked at Stafford’s?”

  I take a sip before answering him. “Well, you sort of got me kicked out,” I joke, but his face turns serious.

  “I’ll call Lawson and have that changed by tomorrow morning. I won’t be the reason for your dismissal.”

  “You know Lawson?”

  “I do. He works for me.”

  Holy shit.

  “You know, I rather like Chicago. I think that I’ll stay for a while.”

  “Ah, my library has won you over, hasn’t it? It wouldn’t be the first time.”

  If I’m being honest, it’s a huge part of why I want to stay. I’ve never felt more comfortable in any one place before. “I wouldn’t want to stroke your ego.”

  “My ego can handle it.”

  “Well, if you insist. I think it was the final deciding factor. There’s just something about this place that holds me captive. I can see myself wasting hours in here . . . sort of like today.”

  “You should apply to be a member then. I’ll have the fees waived for the application as well as the annual membership.”

  “There’s no need for that,” I say as I get up onto one of the barstools and pocket my card that the librarian left on the bar top.

  “Maybe not, but I want you to be part of something that I own,” he says as he moves between the chair adjacent to mine and me, and stands there, looking down at me. My blood heats at his proximity.

  “What do you want out of it, Mr. Brass?”

  “I’d like to take you on a date.”

  “A date? You mean that you just want another pair of my panties because you’ve already worn out the first.”

  “No,” he says firmly, “I’d like to take you out and possibly enjoy a drink or two in neutral territory.”

  I pause and watch him for a while before I give him my answer. This is possibly the worst idea I have ever had, but something about the way he’s looking at me makes me want to oblige. “All right, when and where?”

  He pulls out his phone and glances at it for a few seconds before looking up into my eyes. “Tomorrow evening at eight. Leave the where up to me.”

  “I think—”

  “No, don’t think,” he interrupts. “Give me your number and I’ll text you the details.” He slides his phone into my hand and after a moment of consideration, I give in and dial my number into his phone. I call myself and wait to hear my phone go off before I hang up and save my contact details under Whiskey and Rye instead of my first name.

  He takes his phone back and pockets it without looking at the screen. He moves his hand to my knee, and my eyes shift from his face to where his hand is scorching my skin as if a frozen static has stung me. His long fingers trace the seam of my leggings, and I’m entranced with watching his hands move before I’m able to look away.

  “Are we going to fuck now?” My voice is too soft and needy; it’s not my own, and I’m sure that he notices because I swear I just felt his entire body stiffen even though he’s inches away from me.

  “Not yet. I have rules, remember?”

  “Oh? You don’t sleep with someone on the first date?”

  “No. I don’t date women in Chicago at all.”

  Confusion becomes me, and I raise my brow at him. “Then why are you taking me out?”

  “I’m asking myself that exact same thing right now, and if we don’t get out of here, then I’m going to regret taking advantage of you.”

  “I like being taken advantage of.”

  For some reason, my statement doesn’t seem to surprise him, which in turn shocks me. “I don’t doubt that. Did you drive here this evening?”

  “I took a cab,” I say coldly as I take the last swallow from my tumbler. For some reason, I’m pissed the hell off now. I don’t understand why he won’t just fuck me right here when it’s obvious he wants it too. To hell with him and his moral standards. I need to be penetrated and fucked like a goddamn savage.

  “I’ll take you home. Grab your things.”

  Asshole. Who does he think he is? He sure as hell isn’t in charge of me—or my actions either. It doesn’t even look as if he’s going to be in charge of my orgasms. What a shame. His rejection swims through my veins like poison, and I cannot figure out what it is about sex with me that doesn’t intrigue him.

  “I can find my own way back since you’re refusing to put your hands on me. Thanks for the offer, though.”

  I stand and head back to the leather chair that I was in earlier to collect my things. When I turn around, he’s directly behind me. He looks just as pissed as I feel at the moment. He grabs ahold of my hips and pulls me flush against his body. “I said that I would take you home.”

  I swallow hard, concentrating on the feel of his hands on my needy body. I selfishly press my body against his. I can feel his muscular physique underneath his suit and my body and mind give in to the feel of him.

  “Okay,” it’s barely a whisper, but I think he hears me because he lets go of me.

  “Come.”

  “That’s kind of what I was hoping for the first time you offered.”

  “Don’t make me regret taking you out, Hadley.”

  I frown and walk past him to the front door. When he doesn’t follow, I turn to face him, and he’s standing across the room. “I’m parked in the back.”

  “Oh? I’m surprised your fancy-ass doesn’t have a driver.”

  “He’s off for the evening.” He holds out his hand to me, and I reluctantly walk over to him and take it again.

  He leads me out of the library through a darkened back entrance. He turns to lock the door and sets an alarm before he takes my hand again and leads me to a sleek dark graphite BMW.

  “This is yours?”

  “She’s my girl,” he says modestly.

  “She’s beautiful. What is it?”

  “She’s the latest i8,” he says as he opens the door, which swings upward instead of out.

  Yup. Fancy-ass motherfucker.

  Seated, I look up at him again, and his eyes are roaming down my body, drinking in every inch of me like I’m his favorite amber liquor. “You look good in her.”

  “Just as I’m sure you’ll look good in me.”

  He chuckles and closes the door before walking around to get in and starting his girl before we take off down the Magnificent Mile. A few people are milling about and turn their attention to the BMW as we drive past them.

  I cross my ankles and lean my knees toward the center console, wishing I had worn a dress instead of leggings. I purse my lips when he subtly tilts his head to glance down at my movement. His eyes move back to the road, and I notice his grip on the steering wheel tighten a fraction.

  “Where to?”

  “I’m staying at Walton on the Park.”

  “Good. You’re in the same direction as I am.”

  “I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or not, considering the fate of my libido.”

  “For now, consider it a good thing. Rules be damned.”

  A heady trance comes over me at that statement. There’s a static in the air, and it crackles between the two of us. I glance down at how I’m seated, and I realize that my body has gravitated toward him of its own accord. This cannot be good or healthy.

  We drive in silence for the last few blocks until he comes to a stop outside of Lola’s building just as my phone chimes. I pull it out of my purse and glance down at a text message from Holden.

  Are you awake?

  Thank fuck. It looks like I’ll be getting some dick after all.

  Want me? I type out quickly before I open the door. “Thank you, Wade. I suppose I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Until then,” he says. For some reason, his body has gone from comfortable to taut in just a moment. I swear this man is a living myriad of reactions, and I’ve just officially met him. I shut the door and step into the high-rise building. My phone goes off again, and I slide my finger across the screen:
Come over. Owen is with Lola tonight.

  I swore to Lo that I wouldn’t mess up this thing she has going on with Owen, but right now, my needs are achingly obvious, and they need to be met by more than just my purple vibrator. On my way.

  I head up to our floor and stop at the third door down instead of going to the double doors at the end of the hallway. I knock twice and wait for what seems like forever while I try and wrap my head around going out with Wade tomorrow night. How is it possible that he’s the one that owns the whiskey library? Out of all the people in the world, it would be my damn luck.

  “Are you just going to stand there or come in?”

  “Oh. Hi.”

  I hadn’t even realized that Holden had opened the door. I smile up at him and take a few steps inside before he brings his arms around my waist from behind. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “In a way, I did, but it’s nothing.” I lean my back to his front as my body relaxes in his arms. He’s the exact opposite of Wade in looks and personality, but I’m beyond attracted to him. Holden just has this carefree spirit about him that draws me in like a damn metal object to his magnet.

  “Are you okay?” He seems sincere, but I wouldn’t even know how to explain what just happened.

  “I’m fine now,” I say as I turn around and face him. He’s wearing a gray shirt and black sweatpants. I lower my hands and move them up underneath his shirt, touching his skin for the first time. My fingers run over the ridges of his abs and up to his pecs.

  His sharp inhale of breath makes me glance up at him. “Are you sure about this?”

  “I am.”

  His lips slide across mine to my jaw as he lifts me into his arms, making me wrap my legs around him as he strides towards his bedroom. His lips lock with mine in a hard embrace as he nudges the door open with his foot and we move into his room. He lays me down on the bed before we both remove our shirts. I toss mine to the side, and when I look back up, his body is moving over mine. He covers me with his perfectly sculpted chest as he pulls the cups of my bra down. My nipples peak from his proximity and the sudden cold air hitting them. His mouth comes down on one of them while he pulls on the other with his finger. My body quivers and thanks me for the incredible feeling.

  God, what I wouldn’t give to ride a dick every day of my life. A connection-free enjoyment where two bodies meld into one for a few moments before satisfaction takes over, and he takes my breath away with an orgasm that I’ve been craving for a week. It’s nothing more than a few inches of penetration and response once it’s all said and done.

  Holden satisfies every ache I have running through my body before he pulls out of me and I suddenly miss the full feeling.

  After we settle our needs in the bedroom, I head back to Lo’s place, feeling sated yet more anxious than I can ever remember.

  Freshly fucked, no thanks to Wade, I get into bed and drift to sleep as I dream about an ocean turning to ice as a wild blizzard takes over what once was a sun-kissed sea. Wade’s eyes fill my dreams. In those eyes, I see a potential to destroy anything in his path in the most beautiful way.

  One thing that I refuse to do is break my rules, ones that I have lived by religiously for years to keep myself on the straight and narrow. However, last night I did just that. Willingly.

  I stride across the marble floor of my office, deciding that I might as well break another rule today, considering I’ve bent them out of formation already. I walk into the reception area to my office and to Adriana, who glances up at me, disbelief marring her face as I walk up to her desk.

  “I need my phone, Adriana.”

  She looks stunned, which she should. I have never left in the middle of a meeting, nor have I gotten my phone back from her before the day’s end, but this intense need to speak to Hadley is weighing too heavily on me, and I need to put a stop to it immediately. I need to feel the static energy that I felt last night with her again. Now.

  “Yes, sir,” she says as she fishes my phone out of a locked compartment in her desk. “Is everything all right?”

  “Yes, everything is fine.”

  I turn my back to her and return to my office while I pull up my call log. I pause on the threshold of the dark wooden door when my recent calls appear. Whiskey and Rye graces the top of the list and I smirk. I detest nicknames, especially when they are listed as phone contacts, but for some reason, this doesn’t bother me as much as it should.

  I click on the contact and type out a message, well aware of Adriana’s eyes locked on my back as well as the three sets of eyes staring at me from the conference table in my office.

  Whiskey and Rye, huh? What am I in your phone? Aged Scotch?

  I place the phone into my suit jacket and take a seat at the head of the conference table again. As I do, my phone vibrates, calling my attention back to it.

  What? You don’t like it? You can’t tell me that you don’t enjoy rye whiskey every once in a while. And no, it’s not Aged Scotch. I think you’re holding yourself up to too high of a standard.

  I glance up at the men in front of me who are still staring in disbelief. I raise my eyebrows, and one of them clears his throat before he starts speaking about the acquisition of the Australian properties that is coming up in a few short weeks again.

  I type out a quick response: Tell me what it is, Hadley.

  Gentleman Jack.

  I can’t help but crack a smile at her reply. I’m no longer invested in the conversation that’s happening in front of me at the table, but rather in the one on my screen.

  A rather inexpensive whiskey, yet somehow mouthwatering all the same. It reminds me of leather, tobacco, vanilla, and cocoa. Are you calling me cheap?

  I can imagine her smile as she reads that. A moment later another text message comes through: Not at all. I’m calling you rich and pretty.

  I actually laugh at her reply. The men in front of me grow silent for a moment, and I look back up at them. “Continue.”

  They nod as I send my last text to her: Pretty is not the word I would use, especially when it comes to you. Gorgeous is more like it. I’ll pick you up at eight. Be ready.

  I turn my phone off and pocket it so I can attempt to concentrate on this damn meeting, but my mind decides to wander back to Whiskey and Rye. Whiskey just got that much sweeter to me.

  The day passes slowly—too slowly, but when I check my watch again, it’s seven-forty. I grab my phone and turn it back on to text Jacobs before heading into the bathroom hidden behind the hard paneled walls of my office.

  After I change and freshen up for the evening, I head downstairs to find Jacobs standing in front of my Magellan gray 750i BMW. He swings the door open for me, “Good evening, Mr. Brass.”

  “Evening. I trust that you have the address of the apartment high-rise that I sent to you earlier.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Very well,” I say as he shuts the door and I settle into the cream-colored leather seats before he pulls into the Chicago traffic.

  A few minutes later we’ve arrived at Hadley’s building. I grab my phone and send her a quick text: If you’re not down here within two minutes, I won’t lay a hand on you.

  I wait for a response that doesn’t come before stepping out of the car and shutting the door behind me. I lean against the car and wait.

  When I look up from my phone again, she’s walking out of the glass doors toward me. I pull in a deep breath of air when she steps under a streetlight. The light from above cascades down on her, making her platinum hair look angelic around her flawless features. Her hair isn’t straight this evening as it’s been every other time I’ve seen her. Tonight it falls in loose curls over her shoulders.

  “You have no choice but to touch me now,” she says as she steps toward me.

  I feel my eyes hood with need as they deliberately roam down her slight curves, which are hugged by a cropped white lace top and a long skirt with two particularly high slits on each of her thighs. She’s fucking gorgeou
s. I adjust myself in my slacks before I take the last few steps to get to her.

  “I don’t see how I would be able to restrain myself with your wearing this.”

  She purses her lips as I slide my hand around her exposed midriff. She jolts from my touch and the current that ran intensely between us last night is back and eagerly humming. A thick layer of sexual tension moves between us as she looks up at me through her lashes.

  “I’d prefer if you didn’t stop touching me tonight.”

  The confidence she instills in me makes me stand up straighter as I pull her to me. I move her curls behind her ear as I lean down to place my lips on her cheek. My lips stray from her cheek to find her ear, whispering, “You’re breathtaking.”

  Her body jolts once again under my touch, and my cock stirs at her involuntary response.

  “Thank you, Wade.”

  “Let’s go. I’m not sharing you this evening,” I say as two men walk out of the building and watch Hadley interact with me for a few seconds more than what might be deemed appropriate.

  She nods and I open the door for her to slide into the backseat. Once we’re settled, Jacobs takes off, heading north of the city.

  “So you weren’t kidding about having a driver.”

  “Not one bit. This is Colin Jacobs.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Colin.”

  He glances in the rearview mirror and gives her a tight smile. “Likewise, miss.”

  She looks back at me as a stray curl falls onto her face. “What are we doing on this forbidden date? Fucking?”

  “No, Hadley. We’re headed up north to Belmont Harbor.”

  “A harbor? Are you going to try and make me swoon on the docks or drown me in the water?”

  I move my hand to rest on her exposed thigh and shake my head. “No. I’ll be swooning over you while you work on your sea legs.”

  “What!” She turns to face me, with terror marring her features.