Dirty Devil

by Jackie Ashenden

That would all depend on what answers she gave me. Still, I wasn’t going to lie to myself and pretend that all I was concerned about was security. No, last night I’d had enough of a taste of her to know that I wanted more. Our chemistry was through the roof and I wasn’t letting that go in a hurry.

  Jamming my phone in the back pocket of my jeans—the first item of clothing that had come to hand when I’d got up to answer Ev’s call—I turned around and stalked back into the apartment, heading for my bedroom.

  Getting answers out of Thea might be a problem, given she hadn’t been keen on giving them to me the night before; then again, one thing I’d discovered about her was that she was passionate. She’d been into everything I’d done to her and everything I’d showed her how to do to me. Fuck, she’d been incredible. The way she’d looked at me, the way she’d touched me, as if all of this had been new and exciting to her...

  She’d been a virgin, if I wasn’t much mistaken.

  I was normally pretty good at judging when a woman was experienced or not, but I had been too busy getting hot for her last night to notice. In fact, it had only been after she’d snuggled down into my arms after our fourth round and fallen fast asleep that I’d had a chance to think about it and her behaviour. To go over in my head the moment I’d first pushed inside her and to see that what had flickered through her eyes had been uncertainty. And a bit of fear.

  My memory was good for some things; I’d give it that.

  But that was another thing I’d have to ask her about, because she really should have told me. Especially when I’d given her every opportunity.

  Feeling not a little pissed about it, I got to the bedroom and pushed the door open, expecting to see her where I’d left her, all curled up in my bed and wrapped in the white high-thread-count cotton sheets I preferred.

  Except the bed was empty.

  Okay. Where the hell had she gone?

  Acting on a hunch, I turned and went back down the hall, heading to my office. And sure enough, when I pushed open the unlocked door, there she was, standing in front of a painting I had on the wall, her hand already on the frame.

  Looking for my safe and the Red Queen, clearly.

  She must have heard the door open because she whirled around as soon I came in, her dark eyes clashing with mine. She wore nothing but the shirt I’d had on the night before, the black cotton making her eyes look even darker and highlighting the flawless, deep ivory of her skin.

  Christ, the more time I spent with her, the more beautiful she became. Especially wearing my shirt and nothing else.

  A possessive streak I didn’t realise I had woke up and suddenly I wanted the shirt gone and her naked so I could see again all those luscious curves she’d showed me the night before. Rounded hips and thighs, full tits, small waist. Classic hourglass; fucking perfection.

  I could drape her in the black-pearl jewellery I’d bought from a destitute British aristocrat, ropes of baroque pearls, rich and glossy and unique, lying against her glowing skin.

  Yeah, black pearls. She’d look gorgeous in black pearls.

  Leaning against the doorframe, I folded my arms. ‘Am I interrupting anything?’

  Her expression was instantly guarded, but her chin lifted in unconscious challenge. She dropped her hand from the frame. ‘No. I was just having a look around.’

  Little liar.

  ‘Sure you were.’ I grinned. ‘If you want the safe, it’s behind that picture and, yes, the necklace is inside.’

  ‘I wasn’t—’

  ‘Yeah, we went through that last night.’ Pushing myself away from the doorframe, I strolled calmly over to where she stood and pulled the picture away from the wall to reveal the safe. The lock was biometric so I put my thumb on the pad and the lock flashed green as it disengaged. I pulled open the door and reached inside for the sleek black jewellery case that held the necklace.

  She watched me, her expression opaque, but I could tell by the way she blinked that she was surprised. That was a mannerism I remembered from last night, just as I remembered everything about last night—from the way she’d moaned when I’d licked her, to the sob of release when I’d made her come all over my cock.

  The way I was going to make her come again. Maybe soon. And all I could think about was how that guarded gaze of hers had splintered under my touch like a cheap paste jewel, revealing heat and passion hot as lava. She was like my safe. Only the right touch could open her up.

  I held out the box to her. ‘This what you’re looking for?’

  She blinked again, rapidly, glancing at the box then back at me, but made no move to take it. So I flicked it open so she could see the intricate loops and coils of diamonds that formed the neck piece and the rubies that fell from it like red rain on silver chains. The Red Queen, finally.

  Her eyes widened as she glanced at it, then back at me.

  ‘Beautiful, isn’t it?’ I took the necklace out, discarding the box onto the floor, and held it up, the weight heavy in my hands. ‘It was made for a queen, which is what gave it its name.’ The light caught the rubies, sending them burning, glittering in the fascinating way jewels did, but she didn’t stare at it.

  She looked at me instead. Which told me something else about her: it wasn’t jewels per se that she was interested in, not the way some people were. I’d seen enough of that to recognise the glint some people got in their eyes when confronted with a piece they wanted. Greedy. Possessive.

  No, my little thief wasn’t looking at the jewel like that at all.

  That greedy, possessive glint in her eyes right now was all for me.

  Something hot clenched tight in my chest.

  I always gave a lover diamonds as a goodbye gift and I’d never had any complaints. In fact, once the diamonds were in their hands, they never looked at me again, which I was completely happy with. I didn’t want anyone getting close. I was in it for a good time, not a long time.

  But apparently not Thea. I had the Red Queen glittering in my hand, all brilliant rubies and diamonds, and she was ignoring it as if it didn’t even exist.

  She was greedy for me, not the necklace.

  Fuck, it turned me on. And it shouldn’t, because I didn’t actually want a woman to be greedy for me. But that didn’t change the fact that the way she looked at me just about stole my fucking breath.

  And it told me something else too: she wasn’t here to get the necklace for herself.

  ‘You’re supposed to be looking at the necklace, Sugar,’ I said gently. ‘Not at me.’

  Colour rose in her cheeks. ‘But I—’

  ‘The Red Queen isn’t for you, is it? It’s for someone else.’ I took a step towards her, then another, stalking slowly closer. ‘Is that what you do? Steal to order?’

  She didn’t move, didn’t back away, just watched me advance, her chin lifted. And she didn’t look at the necklace in my hands either; her gaze stayed glued to mine. ‘You seem to know everything already. Do I even need to answer?’

  ‘I do know everything, it’s true.’ I circled round behind her. ‘I even know that last night you were a virgin and you didn’t tell me.’

  She was silent.

  ‘In fact, there are a lot of things you haven’t told me, Thea.’ I could hear her breathing getting faster and, when I leaned forward to brush my mouth over the delicate shell of her ear, the sweet, musky scent of her arousal caught me, making my already hard cock twitch in response. ‘Any particular reason for that?’

  ‘No,’ she whispered.

  ‘Well, you can’t just break into my apartment to steal something of mine then seduce me into bed without telling me vital things about yourself that I might have liked to know in order to enhance your experience.’ I lifted the Red Queen over her head and draped it around her slender neck. ‘Not if you don’t want consequences.’

  She went still as the jewels settle
d on her skin. ‘What...are you doing?’

  I fastened the catch, letting my fingers graze against her nape. ‘You wanted the Red Queen. So here it is.’

  ‘But I—’

  ‘But you what?’ I brushed my mouth over the sensitive spot just beneath her ear, inhaling her scent. ‘This is what you’re here for, isn’t it?’

  She shivered. ‘You said something about consequences.’

  ‘So I did.’ I reached around to the buttons on the front of her shirt and began to undo them as I kissed my way down the side of her neck, because there was only one way this particular scene was going to play out. ‘You answer every single one of my questions, or...’

  ‘Or...?’ Her breath hitched as I pulled apart the cotton.

  ‘Or you don’t get to come.’

  CHAPTER NINE

  Thea

  THE JEWELS AROUND my neck were heavy and cold compared with the man standing at my back. He felt like the sun blazing away behind me, bathing me in heat.

  His hands deftly got rid of the shirt I’d pulled on when I’d woken up that morning, slipping it from my shoulders so it fell onto the floor, leaving me standing there naked but for the necklace.

  I shivered, and not because I was cold. I could never be cold with Damian Blackwood around.

  His hands settled on my hips, his touch blazing through me like sunlight, his warm mouth nuzzling against my neck.

  I should never have risked coming into his office like this, but when I’d woken up that morning and found him gone, it had seemed like the perfect opportunity. I’d been planning to stay awake, to wait until he’d fallen asleep and then go back for the necklace, but some time after that fourth orgasm he’d put his arms around me, bringing me up against his hot, hard body, and I’d just...fallen asleep. I’d slept like the dead, something I never did, which wasn’t the best when I was here for a reason.

  It was only that he’d been so...dirty, pushing my boundaries, making me want things I’d never thought I would. Try things I’d never thought I’d try. And, more than that, he’d made me feel so good, like a goddess. Beautiful. Special.

  I shuddered against him as his mouth found the sensitive place where my shoulder met my neck, trying to get my stupid brain into gear. Of course he’d figured out I was a virgin—I’d been stupid to forget about that—but it was difficult to think when he kissed me.

  It had been difficult to think from the moment I’d laid eyes on him, lounging in the doorway watching me.

  He hadn’t been in a suit this morning, but a grey T-shirt and a pair of faded jeans that had holes in the knees. Simple clothes that fitted him like a second skin, highlighting a muscular chest and shoulders, lean hips and powerful thighs. His black hair had been spiked up, the ring in his eyebrow shining, his silver eyes burning with an intensity that stole my breath.

  He’d been so damned hot all I could do was stand there and stare at him as he’d sauntered over to where I’d stood, pulling aside the painting and accessing his safe. He’d watched me all the while, electricity crackling in the space between us, twice as intense as it had been last night.

  And then he’d brought out the Red Queen and held it up.

  But it hadn’t been the necklace that had held my attention. It had been him and his gaze and the heat blazing in it.

  I’d expected him to act there and then, put me in a room and lock the door, keep me safely contained until the police arrived. Because of course he would have called the police. I was a thief come to steal his precious jewels, after all.

  Except he hadn’t done any of those things.

  He’d taken the necklace out and draped it around my neck, stripped me bare and pulled me against him, kissing me as if he wanted more.

  And of course asking me questions. I hadn’t forgotten that.

  If you don’t answer my questions, you don’t get to come.

  His large, warm palms burned against my skin, his mouth an ember against my shoulder. I closed my eyes, unable to help leaning back into him. He was so much bigger than I was, so much stronger, and I could feel that strength in the hard muscle I was leaning against.

  He could hurt me if he wanted and there would be nothing I could do about it. I’d learned some rudimentary self-defence moves from Mr Chen but nothing that would help me against this man.

  It should have scared me, but it didn’t. He’d been nothing but gentle with me the night before, and he was nothing but gentle now, and I didn’t feel afraid.

  It was almost as if he was a wall at my back, standing between me and the rest of the world, and instead of feeling afraid I felt almost...protected, somehow.

  A dangerous thing to feel. I could never let my guard down, not now Mr Chen was gone. It was his legacy I was protecting and that was something I took very seriously. I couldn’t let anyone threaten it, most especially not the powerful, sexy man standing behind me.

  ‘The rubies are pretty on you,’ he murmured, one hand sliding up from my bare hip to touch the jewels hanging between my breasts. ‘But I’d love to see you in pearls.’

  My mouth had gone dry. I knew I should be doing something to save myself, but all I could think of was seducing him the way I had last night. And I couldn’t tell if that was something I wanted for myself or so I could get out of the situation.

  ‘P-pearls?’ I stuttered, trying to grab my flailing thoughts.

  ‘Yeah, you’d look perfect in them. I love sparkle; don’t get me wrong. Sometimes I’m in the mood for showy and that means a diamond.’ His finger slid off the ruby and onto my skin, tracing the underside of my left breast, making another delicious shiver move over my skin. ‘But other times I’m in the mood for subtle and mysterious, in which case it’s pearls.’

  I swallowed, trying to breathe properly. ‘Are you saying I’m subtle and mysterious?’

  ‘You’re definitely mysterious.’ His mouth brushed behind my ear once more, heat washing over me. ‘Thea.’ It sounded as if he was tasting my name, turning it into something sensual rather than just the first name the nun who’d found me on her doorstep had given me.

  My head fell back against his shoulder, my eyelids feeling heavy. They wanted to close, and my body wanted to lean into his heat and strength, let him touch me any way he wanted. Take as much pleasure from him before the hard slap of reality came again—because it did; it always did.

  You’ll go back to being a ghost in the walls again.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ Damian’s fingers spread out, cupping my breast gently in his palm. His thumb teased my already hard nipple, making me gasp. ‘Who are you?’

  Why not tell him?

  So many reasons, not the least being Mr Chen’s business. He’d treated me like a daughter and that required that I protect what he’d built. Even though he’d decided against formally adopting me in the end.

  ‘You’re not my blood, Thea,’ he’d told me. ‘And, anyway, you’re too unstable. Too wild.’

  It had been hard to hear that, to know that no matter how hard I’d tried to force my feelings down to take on the lessons of calm and silence that he’d taught me, I still hadn’t been good enough for him. But that was okay.

  He’d left me his business and that was a pretty major gesture of trust all on its own. And if looking after that legacy meant I remained alone, well, so be it.

  I’d always thought I was okay with it, but now, with Damian’s arms around me, I wasn’t so sure. Would it be so bad to share a few things about myself with another person? I’d already given him my name, after all.

  His thumb brushed steadily back and forth over my aching nipple and I shut my eyes. ‘I’m Thea Smith.’ My surname another name the English nuns had given me. ‘And, yes, I’m here to steal the Red Queen. But it’s not for me. It’s for someone else.’

  ‘Who?’

  That teasing thumb brushed over me again, pl
easure an electric shock through my system. I sighed and leaned back into him. ‘I don’t know. Everything is done through a middle man. I never know who I’m reacquiring for.’

  ‘Reacquiring?’

  Another electric touch, firmer. A soft pinch that made my breath catch. ‘That’s what I do. I reacquire items that have been stolen.’

  Are you sure telling him this is a good idea? You don’t know what he might do with the information.

  No, of course it wasn’t a good idea. But I was sick of being in the shadows, sick of not being seen. Sick of not being known.

  Sick of not existing.

  The sun was against my closed lids and Damian’s fingers on my breast were light, teasing. ‘Reacquisition,’ he echoed. ‘Interesting thing to call it. But there’s no record of the Red Queen being stolen.’

  ‘It must have been at some stage in its history otherwise I wouldn’t have been asked to reacquire it.’

  ‘Hmm.’ His hand spread out, cupping me, while his other hand slid down over my stomach, his fingers tangling in the curls between my thighs. ‘I guess I need to look into that.’ He pulled on the curls very gently, then his finger moved, finding my clit and grazing it lightly. I stiffened, pleasure lancing through me sharp and bright. ‘You need to tell me more about this reacquisition business.’

  ‘Do I...have to do it now?’ My hips lifted against his touch, restlessness and need filling me.

  His laugh vibrated against my back, a deep, soft rumble that somehow made everything hotter. ‘Getting desperate, hmm?’

  I shifted again, pressing back against him, the hard ridge of his cock digging into me. ‘Can you stop talking for once?’

  Another sexy laugh and then I felt his teeth against the side of my neck, the sensation making me shudder in delight. ‘Can you blame me for being interested? I like a mystery.’ His finger slid around my clit and then over it, and I sucked in a ragged breath as the fierce pleasure of the sensation gripped me tight. ‘And I’ve never met a mystery like you.’

  He might feel differently when he finds out how very un-mysterious you are.