by Ryan Michele
“Yeah.” Dane’s one-word answer was all I needed to hear.
“Alright, I’ll call Onyx and make the arrangements.”
“This kinda shit is bad for business. You want me to clean up? Or stand down? Out of respect for you I’m asking.”
I looked over my shoulder to see Laurel was still standing there. “It won’t touch our relationship with Petrov. I’ll make sure of it.”
“How’d you land yourself in Riley Conrad’s shit?”
My eyes met hers. “Because of an angel.”
“Oh fuck, not you too,” Dane clipped out. “That broad who came in with the gun?”
“Yeah,” I laughed.
“Damn, this shit really ain’t good for business. Look, man, everything you need is in the drive. Anything else you think of, say the word. I gotta run.”
He disconnected the call.
She moved to where I stood. “So I can call my brother?”
I nodded and handed her the phone. “I have some work to do. I’ll find you when I finish.” I pressed a soft kiss to her temple and walked away.
She wouldn’t reach Riley Conrad from that phone or any phone in this house. I had already blocked the number. In a matter of moments, she would find herself listening to a recording that her brother’s cell phone number had been disconnected or was no longer in service.
Was I an asshole for setting her up?
Absolutely.
Was I an asshole for what I was about to do to her brother?
Oh yeah.
Was I an asshole on a mission?
Fuck yes.
And I was the power player who never lost.
11
Laurel
As soon as Paxton left the room, so did I. The house was so familiar that I darted into the living room, knowing that his office would be down the hallway. From here, I could hear if he came out but still have privacy. My grandma Nadine loved to sew and had a room dedicated to it on the first floor. There was no doubt in my mind that Paxton had his office there, and he hadn’t gone up the stairs. There was also a guest suite down here that Grandma Nadine used to say was for when Riley and I grew up we would have a place for our families. Except Grandma Nadine didn’t make it to see us grow up. I shook off the sadness and longing for my grandmother, reminding myself of the task at hand.
Call my brother.
My fingers wouldn’t type fast enough, and I botched my first try because the bot on the other end said that the number was disconnected.
It couldn’t be.
I’d just talked to my brother a couple of days ago, and his phone worked perfectly then. Even though I had his number saved in my cell phone, I knew the sequence.
Inhaling deep to calm myself, I took a painstakingly long time to make sure each number was correct. The same bot came on with those annoying tones that everyone hated to hear. It repeated its mantra, the number you dialed is no longer in service.
What? This couldn’t be. I knew I had the number right. Something was wrong. My brother always had his phone on him. Hell, it was practically attached to me every minute. He had the same number for years, always saying he didn’t want to learn a new one and he didn’t want the ladies to miss him if they tried to call one day ten years later because in his mind, he was that memorable. There was no way he’d allow it to be disconnected unless something really bad had happened. I felt it.
Worry tangled around my heart and threatened to squeeze the life out of me. He was all I had left. He had to be okay.
I tried twice more just to be positive I didn’t screw up the number again. Each time, the same message played back to me. Haunting me, taunting me, the prerecorded voice repeated. Dammit!
He had to be hurt or something, and I needed to get out of here and find him. Riley needed me, and Paxton couldn’t just expect me to stay here and do nothing. There were a couple of bowls to decorate the room, and I’d hoped there were keys in them. I rushed to them. Nothing except some mints. And of course the kind I loved with the chocolate and mint inside.
What hadn’t this man done to get my attention?
Dishes clanked in the kitchen, and I darted there next. Ellen Sue was putting away some pots. “Um. Ellen Sue, do you know where Paxton keeps his keys?”
Her eyes grew sharp on me like she was reading the very depths of me. “Now, now, precious. If Paxton wanted you to know where his keys are, he’d have told ya.”
Frustration built inside me. “Please. Something’s wrong with my brother. His phone is disconnected, and I really need to make sure he’s okay. He could be hurt, stabbed, in a ditch! Or someone kidnapped him and they’re torturing him.” Yes, I laid it on really thick, but those thoughts were running through my head and I was unable to stop them.
The thought of my brother being hurt and me not there to help him tore at my insides. I was helpless unless I could get out.
“You need to talk to Paxton, precious. He’ll work it out for you.”
I blew. The top of my head just burst like in one of those old time cartoons where the cat eats the dynamite, his head blasting so hard he wobbles. Yes. That was me. “I don’t need Pax to work a damn thing out for me! He got me in this mess where I can’t reach my brother! How can you be so calm about any of this? I don’t get you.” I wildly threw my hands up in the air. “You say that Onyx had someone as collateral, and now Pax takes everything away from me and kidnaps me, and you’re okay with this?” I shook my head, unbelieving this woman. “I just want to see my brother and make sure he’s okay.”
Ellen Sue’s posture changed. It was subtle, but like a beacon telling me that I needed to tread very lightly, that she’d had enough of my little tirade. “Now I get you’re upset, but I will not help you. My loyalty is to my boys and only to my boys. If you want to yell at someone, I suggest you find Paxton and let him hear it because I’m finished.”
She swiftly turned her back on me, and guilt washed over me. I didn’t know why because everything I said was the truth, but her loyalties to the guys would never put Ellen Sue on my side. Paxton could do anything he wanted to me, and she would be of no help. It was also a shame that I just screamed at a woman I didn’t know for my problems. Yes, she wasn’t helping me, but it was still no reason for me to yell at her like I was her mother.
“I’m sorry.” I turned quickly, not waiting for a response from her because I didn’t want it. I’d said my piece and now I needed to get Pax on board.
If all else failed, I’d seduce him, drop to my knees in front of him. I would, just so I could get home to find Riley. Even if I thought I sucked at being sexy in front of anyone, especially Pax, I would do this if it was what got me to Riley. With every step my insecurities were building. If anything, I was seriously nervous about the entire thing, but I pulled my shoulders back and headed down the small hallway.
The door was slightly opened, and Pax was talking. Peeking in, he was on a cell phone. Like he could tell I was there, his eyes came up and meet mine. Sucking up my courage, I pushed open the door and entered. It was a beautiful space. Very rustic with the walls being the timbers, yet sleek with the deck, chairs, and couch.
Books sat on two different bookshelves, while Pax sat in his high-back leather chair not missing a beat of his phone call. I went closer so my ass rested on the desk next to him. My arms held my weight and pressed my breasts out. The hunger in his eyes had my core clenching.
The way he looked at me like he’d devour me scared me to no end. It didn’t mean that I wouldn’t play along. His warm hand came up my thigh, sending ripples of sensations down my leg.
He reached my V, and everything inside of me told me to get up and move away. Just leave the room and get the hell out of there. But I couldn’t. Not if I wanted to see my brother.
His middle finger reached out and started stroking my hard nub. My body turned to liquid.
“Yeah, get on that,” he said, but his focus was completely on me, never wavering. Arching my hips into his touch, he put more pressur
e as the sensations started taking over. My breaths came in small pants as he kept working me.
If I weren’t so focused on the zaps of electricity floating between us, I would’ve stopped him because I was supposed to be getting to him. But in that moment, he was getting to me and completely turning everything around.
A small pinch to my inner thigh had me jumping and bringing me back to the moment.
“Call me when you have something.” Paxton flipped off the phone and tossed it to the desk, all the while still arousing me beyond belief.
“Seems you need a bit of attention, angel.”
“I …” Groaning came from me as he intensified his touch, getting me closer and closer to falling over the cliff. I wanted it and reached for it, but it was always just too far away to grasp it.
“I know exactly what you need, angel. Take off your pants.”
My lust-filled brain tried to compute his words like they were some cryptic code some tech guy in a small room came up with to take over the world. I needed this release. It had been over a year since my last sexual encounter. We’d had a great time, but he never called me again, didn’t return my calls, and just disappeared.
I’d felt very down about that for so long, feeling so damn insecure and believing something was wrong with me. Not with Paxton, though. Those insecurities seemed to disappear, turning into blinding passion and the brink of explosion.
His hand came to the waistband of my pants, and I moaned in protest when he moved away from my sensitive area. You’d think this would distract me long enough to pull my shit together, but it didn’t. Instead, I found myself pulling down my pants and underwear, wanting more.
Paxton’s breaths came short, and his chest bulked with each one. But it was his eyes that captivated me, pulling me in and scrambling what was left of my control. Who was I kidding, I lost that a while ago.
“Come here.” Rather than wait for me to comply, he pulled me so my legs were wide open on either side of his chair, completely exposing myself to him. It was my turn not to breathe.
“Pax.” My voice was a soft plea.
He needed nothing else. His head came down, lips attached to my pussy, and he devoured me. All I could do was feel as my back hit the desk, and papers sounded as if they were getting torn. Paxton didn’t stop, and I took that as he didn’t give a shit.
“Fuck, you taste good,” he rumbled, getting back to his task, his hands holding my legs open further. Sounds of passion filled the room, and I arched into him chasing the orgasm with everything I could. I knew he was going to stop just like the last time in his room, and I needed to get there before he stopped.
The tingling happened as my abdomen clenched.
“Come for me, angel.” He wasn’t pulling away. He was giving me what I needed, and I let go. Only a few more nips and I soared high in the sky like birds on a spring day. My entire body jolted on the desk knocking over pens, a stapler, and some other stuff on top of it.
“Fuck, I love the way you scream my name.”
Wait. I was screaming? Shit, my throat was a little dry and scratchy. Shit. I bet Ellen Sue heard that. My orgasm deflated and I shifted quickly back on the desk, knowing what I had to do to get the upper hand here.
Paxton fucked up my plan of seducing him and gave me a release. I couldn’t owe him. I needed him to owe me and even if I got down on my knees, we’d be evened out. There would be no holding one over his head. Fuck.
Suddenly shy, I tried to close my legs and was only able to get my knees together that happened to be right in Paxton’s face.
He wiped his face that was covered in my juices, and it was sexy as all hell. Shit. I scrambled off the desk, knocking more things on the floor as small little clashes could be heard.
Grabbing my pants, I threw them on not giving a shit about my underwear.
“Pax, I need to leave and go find my brother. His phone is disconnected, and that isn’t like him. He always has his phone on him.” When I turned around Paxton had his fingers laced in front of him, calm and cool not giving anything away.
“Can’t help it if you called him and couldn’t get through.”
Stomping to his desk, palms on it, I got directly in his face. “I need to go make sure he’s not dead, Paxton. You need to take me home NOW!”
He wasn’t looking at me, instead looking at my cleavage. I snapped my fingers. “Up here, big boy.”
“Big boy huh? I can show you how big.”
“Will it get me to my brother?”
The passion and lust disappeared instantaneously. For a moment, fear ran down my spine as he rose and leaned into his desk so our noses were very close. “So I was right. You were comin’ in here to soften me up for something. What, you think you get on your knees and suck my cock, I’d owe you?”
I couldn’t form words because saying it out loud didn’t feel good. Damn, Grandma Nadine for my moral compass and feeling guilty.
“Not happening. When you come to me, it will be because you want it just as much as I do. You’re not going to use sex to get what you want here or pull one over on me, Laurel. That’s not how this works.”
Fuck. How did he know everything all the time? It wasn’t right or normal. But considering Pax wasn’t normal, I guess it all fit.
“Now, you must be punished.”
Fear took every bit of the orgasm away from me. What had I done now?
12
Paxton
For a moment, I read fear in her features. I didn’t like it. While I wanted Laurel to know it was my game she was playing, I didn’t want her to be afraid of me. That wasn’t how this was going to work. Submission was something I wanted her to give me willingly through trust, not forced. I was a patient man, and now would be no different. While I was frustrated that she was willing to use her body as a weapon against me, I understood that she would try anything to get an upper hand. That’s called playing the game in life. Something I understood well—use anything in your arsenal to be ahead.
“Since you want to use your body against me,” I started as I pushed everything that was left off my desk and onto the floor. “I’ll use your body the way I wish.”
Moving to her, I scooped her up effortlessly and placed her on the desk.
“No.” She crossed her legs shyly.
I lifted my hands in surrender. While I was pissed, I would never cross that line. My anger was at the forefront, but I knew I needed to remain in control. “Did you not come in here thinking you could use your body and sex to sway me to giving you access to Riley?”
She swallowed hard but didn’t answer.
I read it all in her eyes, though. It was there.
So I gave her a little relief from the panic. “Your brother is alive. I have a man on him.”
Her jaw dropped open. “What?”
“Strip.”
“Tell me about my brother.”
“Take your clothes off.”
She paused for a moment most likely trying to figure out a play she could use against me. When she couldn’t come up with something quick enough, I reached out and yanked her pants down and lifted her legs removing them.
“Who is watching my brother?”
“An associate,” I answered as I grabbed the hem of her shirt and removed it.
She attempted to cover herself.
“Lay back. Put your hands over your head.”
She shook her head.
“Hands over your head. I don’t like repeating myself. The harder you make this, the harder the punishment I give you.”
Slowly, she laid back over the desk. Her hands lazily went over her head. I unhooked the front clasp of her bra. Her tits spilled out with her nipples erect. Dropping my head to her chest, I inhaled her scent as I ran my nose between her melons. I cupped the bottom of her tits, squeezing as my tongue ran circles around her areola. Blowing a breath on her sensitive nipple, her back arched to me as I clamped down and sucked.
She moaned.
She squirmed.
I continued to tweak her left nipple with my fingers as I sucked, licked, and bit at her right nipple with my mouth.
“Hmmm,” I moaned against her flesh. “I wonder if I could make you come just from your tits.”
She didn’t speak as she half thrashed under me, wanting more.
“I want to know, angel. Are you wet for me?” My mouth continued at its task as I slid my hand down between her legs. At her pussy, I teased her mound before moving my digits between her folds and finding their way inside her. Laurel cried out as her pussy walls clamped around my fingers. I pushed two in and out of her as she continued to drip in her desire.
When I felt her body begin to tense under me, I yanked out and pulled away from her, standing back.
She sat up on her elbows, looking at me. Her gaze was lust-filled fury.
Lifting my fingers that were just inside her heat, I licked them clean. “You taste like the best meal I ever had. If I were on death row and the warden asked for my last meal, I would request for them to serve you on a platter for me, angel.”
“You, you,” she stuttered not finishing her sentence.
“Punishment,” I explained as I adjusted my pants, trying to give my cock some room to breathe.
“Just fuck me already!” she ordered to which I laughed.
“That’s not how this works. You submit, and I’ll give you everything you want and more. Until then, well, you walk the line and I’ll give you every orgasm. You play games well, angel, you should know I’ll play them better.”
I stepped to her. Standing between her legs, I rubbed up and down her thighs. Her pert tits heaved up and down with every breath she took. There was no doubt her body ached for release.
Good.
If I was left with a perpetual case of blue balls, she could know the feeling.
I dropped my lips to her. She immediately opened giving me access. “Taste yourself,” I whispered against her lips before I devoured her mouth.