by Sam Crescent
“What are you doing?” she asked, turning her head toward him. There was a smile on her lips, and she reached out to cup his cheek.
“I can’t get enough of you. I think that’s clear. You’re like a witch. You’ve put spell on me.”
She chuckled. “I’m not a very good witch. I tried to avoid you, remember?”
“I do.” He took possession of her lips, and she moaned as he plunged his tongue into her mouth. When she moved, she drew back a little with a wince.
“I, erm, I don’t think…”
He pressed a finger to her lips. “Already there, baby. Don’t worry. We’re not going to be doing anything else today. We have plenty of time for that later.”
“Oh, okay. I should go home then.”
“Now I should be the one that’s insulted,” he said, laughing. “I don’t want you to go home. You’re using me for sex, I get it. You just want my body.”
She rolled her eyes. “So, you don’t want me to go home?”
“Not at all. I don’t need to be in the office today. Besides, it’s slow on Saturday. I figured we could spend some time together. Share breakfast, maybe some lunch, and you can tell me all about you.”
Her hand lay on his chest, and he saw she was thinking. He wondered, not for the first time, what was going on in that head of hers.
“You’re keeping me in suspense here,” he said.
“Okay. I’ll talk about myself, but you’ve got to talk about you,” she said. “And I don’t mean the stuff you give at interviews either. I’m talking real stuff. From the heart.” She patted his chest. “The truth.”
“You don’t ask for much, do you?”
“You know a lot more about me than anyone else. You know who my father is, and how much I can’t stand the thought of being near him. You’ve met my mother. She works for you.” She shook her head. “There’s so much, and thinking about it now, how can I be the mother to your baby, Tobias? My dad screwed the cleaning lady.”
He silenced her doubts with his lips. Stroking his tongue across her bottom lip, he once again deepened the kiss, and relished her moans as he felt her turn toward him. Running a hand down to her ass, he squeezed the plump flesh.
“Don’t ever doubt who you are or what you mean to me. I don’t give a fuck who your dad is, or isn’t.” He’d seen Hamilton in a whole new light last night, and it wasn’t a good one. Of course, he knew Hamilton was an unfaithful bastard. Who didn’t? The woman he’d married was just as money hungry as he was. They only wanted to get stronger, get wealthier, have more power. That was what he was used to, the power-hungry circle of people he mingled with, Hamilton being at the top just like him. “This changes nothing.”
“I’m sorry. I just … it was the first time I ever saw him, and I know my mom still loves him, but seeing him with that other woman. It just … she’ll never get her happy ever after. She’s still hung up on that one guy who broke her heart.”
“Katerina is nothing special. She’s known for spreading her legs for the next big thing. If someone else catches her eye, Hamilton will be passed over.”
She pulled away from him, sitting up. “You think that makes me feel any better? You’ve just told me that my mother is in a long line of women that mean nothing.”
He really didn’t have the first clue how to do all this emotion crap. He was used to people being cold, not giving a shit.
She got to her feet, and he watched as she placed a hand on her stomach, wincing. Getting to his feet, he picked her up in his arms, and carried her through to the bathroom. He already saw his sticky cum on her thighs, and he didn’t mind. In fact, he hoped right now his cum was doing its job. The sooner he had a baby inside of Adora, the happier he would be. Especially as he kept putting his damn foot in his mouth, and ruining everything just by fucking talking.
The women he knew didn’t need love or kind words. They wanted money, jewels, and were used to being told shit the way it was.
Adora’s not like them.
He had to keep remembering that.
Running her a bath, he made sure to add some soothing bath salts, and when the water was right, he eased her into it, following her in, as he got her to lean against his chest. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he took both of her hands, and locked their fingers together.
“You’re going to have to give me time to get used to all these changes,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not used to watching my tongue.”
“It’s like you live on a whole other planet where nothing affects you.”
“It doesn’t, baby. That’s the point. I’m not used to having to watch what I say. Love really doesn’t happen within my world.”
“I can’t believe that. Love is everything, Tobias. I probably sound fickle, but I’ve seen it. I’ve seen how it can bring people together, and I’m not just talking about sex either. What is life without love?”
Once again, he thought of his brother, and the memory was a sharp one. Since meeting Adora, he’d thought more about his brother in the past week, than in all the years since Maximus had died. Tobias had filed each memory away, as if it was just another contract that slipped his mind. “My brother would have adored you,” he said.
She tensed up. “You didn’t say you had any siblings.”
“I don’t have any that are living.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
He held her hands tighter, and he closed his eyes for a second. “His name was Maximus, and he was my older brother.” He laughed. “I was the spare heir.”
“What?”
“You never heard of it? It’s what I think is termed as the heir and the spare. Powerful families, even the royals, were always advised to have a son, and then another in case anything happened to the other.”
“That’s barbaric, and outdated.”
“Not in my family. They’re very much believers of it.”
“I don’t like this, Tobias.”
“My parents believe in business, in order, in structure, and control. They don’t believe in getting sticky with emotion. Everything is clean cut. More power, more influence, more wealth. When you have wealth and knowledge, you have power, and that keeps you on top. Maximus was … flawed, according to my parents.” He heard her sharp intake of breath. “He didn’t want the nannies or the money. He didn’t believe in power, or wealth, or furthering the family line.”
“What did he believe in?”
“Love. That’s all he wanted, all he searched for. He believed it was the answer for everything wrong in the world. In his quest for love, it got him killed.” It was on the tip of his tongue to give her the lie. The one his parents told the world, but wasn’t the truth. “No one knows this, but Maximus died of a heroin overdose. He used drugs to numb the pain. Our parents wouldn’t give him what he wanted, and he tried to find it himself. They considered him an embarrassment, and a waste of time.”
She turned in the bath, cupping his cheek. “Did you love him?”
“Yes. I didn’t have a clue what he was searching for though, and I couldn’t help him. He kept telling me there was more to life than studying, than being the perfect son, and I ignored him.” He laughed without humor. “I told him to grow up, and to stop believing in fairy tales.”
“You blame yourself?”
“If only I’d listened, he could still be alive, no?”
“You can’t blame yourself.”
He cupped her cheek, running his thumb across her bottom lip. She was so incredibly beautiful, so warm, so right. He didn’t deserve her. He’d blackmailed her to get her into his bed, and now he was set to impregnate her.
“What are you going to do when she sees through you, Tobias? When all of her hopes and dreams are crushed.”
It was like his brother was speaking to him, but that wasn’t possible. No one would ever be good enough for Adora. Only him.
Kissing her lips, he pushed his thoughts to one side. His parents had raised him
to be strong, merciless, but he was starting to believe they’d created a monster. The longer he spent with Adora, the more he resented his upbringing. He just wanted away from their control, and any power they believed they had over him.
****
“Do you even watch any of the DVDs?” Adora asked. There had to be close to three hundred different kinds of movies on the shelves. They were all hidden behind a wall so no one saw them. Seeing as he didn’t want her to go out because it was hurting to walk just a little bit, he wanted to spend some time together, watching a few movies, doing normal things. She didn’t know what was normal or not.
Tucking her hair behind her ears, she walked toward the kitchen, and wrinkled her nose. The scent of burnt egg filled the kitchen. “Do you know how to cook?”
“You’re all for the questions today,” he said.
She watched as he scraped the pan, and shook her head. “Lucky for you, I can cook, and I happen to be willing to answer any question.”
“Fine, what was your favorite bit about last night?” he asked.
Adora saw the challenge in his eyes, and she rolled hers for good measure. “If you must know, I liked your mouth on me.”
“Where?” he asked.
She sighed. “I liked your mouth on my pussy, and you know it.”
“See, that wasn’t so hard,” he said. “Now, you know how to cook?”
“I do. My mom showed me at a young age. She always believed that a woman should know how to take care of herself. It was like her crash course in living alone in the big bad city.” She moved him aside, and dumped the pan he was holding into the sink. “You do at least know how to scrub dishes clean, right?”
“I can certainly give it a go.”
She took his hands, placing a kiss to them. “They’re so smooth. They don’t look like they’ve done a hard day’s work in your life.”
He pulled her to him, tilting her back, and slamming his lips onto hers. She didn’t fight him, and melted against his warmth. Her pussy burned from all the sex it had taken last night, and he’d already told her he wouldn’t be taking her again today even if she wanted him to. She didn’t mind waiting at all.
“I will prove to you I know how hard to work.”
While he got stuck into the dishes, she served them up a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and some tomatoes. This was something her mother had often cooked for her. It was cheap, and easy, and with some bread, filling. This, along with noodles and rice dishes, had made up most of her childhood diet.
By the time she finished dinner, the dishes were done, but Tobias had to change his shirt, as it was a mess. He came back shirtless, which was very distracting. The man didn’t have any extra fat, only lean muscle.
They sat at his table, and she found that when he wasn’t being all so bossy, she enjoyed being with him. He was witty, smart, charming, and funny.
Their date last night had been horrible. It would never win awards or anything, but afterward, that had been perfection. She couldn’t have thought of a better way to lose her virginity. What did suck though, was she knew she was falling for him, even though it had only been a week.
She liked that he trusted her enough to talk about his brother. Listening to him, she actually believed that Tobias hadn’t been given the time to grieve. He’d been forced to be stoic from a young age. It wasn’t healthy.
“Well, I am lucky that you can cook.”
She finished off her eggs as Tobias mopped up the last of his juice on his plate.
“Mom loves to cook. She really believes the kitchen is the heart of the home.” She smiled.
“Your mother will want for nothing.”
“She wouldn’t want that. She likes earning a living.”
“I can make all of her troubles go away,” he said.
That’s what Tobias Bennett was used to. Throwing money at a problem instead of dealing with it. “You don’t need to keep spending money. My mom’s not greedy.”
“Did she ever ask your father for money?”
“No. Once he kicked her to the curb, she never went begging for help. My mom’s a very proud woman, and whatever she couldn’t afford, she did without. Your parents are going to hate me, aren’t they?” Since he told her about his brother, she knew that his parents would despise her. She wasn’t what they’d want for their son.
“It doesn’t matter what they think.”
“It doesn’t? What about when they meet me? Do you really think it’s going to be easy for them to accept their son being with the daughter of a cleaner?”
“I don’t care. You’re giving me an heir, Adora. They didn’t tell me how to make one, and they’re not going to control me regardless.”
She nodded, and pushed some of her hair out of her eyes. “I don’t even know them, and I’m scared to meet them.”
“Don’t be. When you meet my parents, I’ll be there.”
Taking a sip of her coffee, she tried not to let her nerves show. He’d also confirmed that soon she’d meet his parents. Tobias only seemed to work on one speed, and that was super-fast. She struggled to keep up.
“Has your mother seen your father recently?” he asked.
They were still asking questions of each other. Questions were good.
“No. Not that I know of.” She really believed if her mother saw Hamilton again it would break her heart.
She wanted to delve deeper, to know the man under the skin. He may not admit it, but there was much more to Tobias Bennett.
“Do you love your work?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I love everything about architecture. The different moods of each person who designed a building. How they all seem to have that one element that’s like an artist’s signature. It’s a passion that I think I got as a child going from different apartment buildings, fancy homes, and of course the apartments that were made cheaply. Your work, does it fill you with excitement, with passion?”
“I work for the family company, Adora.”
“What was your passion growing up? What did you love more than anything else?” she asked.
She saw that she’d stumped him.
He smiled. “I don’t know if you’d call it a passion, but I loved music.”
“Did you sing?”
“I liked listening to different kinds of music—soul, country, rock, pop, you name it, I wanted it. It was an escape from the pressure.”
“Why didn’t you pursue it? The music industry has more than just singers. It has people who manage, own companies, distribute.”
“My life and what I’d do was set out before I was born, Adora. Music is just something I enjoyed.”
She sat back and rubbed her arms, suddenly feeling a chill. They were going to have a baby. There was no doubt in her mind that they were. She couldn’t resist him, and he wouldn’t let her resist him. What she didn’t like was the fear that he’d be exactly like his parents. That he’d expect their son or daughter to work for the family company. To learn all the ropes, and never follow their own passion. She couldn’t speak. So much anger and fear swamped her, that she grabbed their plates, and headed into the kitchen.
“What have I said now?”
“Nothing.”
“Clearly, I’ve said something to upset you, and doing that is not my intention.”
She put the dishes in the sink, and turned toward him. “You really don’t see it, do you?”
“See what?”
She laughed. “I haven’t even met your parents yet, and I know they’ve got one hell of a control lock on you. It’s not even funny.”
“You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“You’re good with numbers, great at it, I bet. You seem to know when to spot an amazing deal and one that’s little shady. You have all the mechanics of a fantastic businessman. You’ve taken the Bennett name from strength to strength.”
“You researched me.”
“Why not? You pursued me. You threatened me. I
had to find out what I was up against, and what I found out was exactly that. But your work is not exactly thrilling to you. You don’t find a rush, do you, when you enter that boardroom? There’s no real excitement over what you do. You’re just going from one motion to another.”
He didn’t say a word.
“And that’s what you want for our child.” She placed a hand on his chest. “Think about that. Think about what you’re going to want for our little kid. Will our child end up like Maximus?”
He stepped away.
Before she could say anything else, the ringing of the telephone stopped her. Biting her lip, she watched as he left to answer it.
Finishing the dishes, she was drying them up as Tobias rounded the corner, looking really pissed off.
She hadn’t meant to cause a problem or to upset him. They weren’t even pregnant yet, and already she was worried about the future of her child. She didn’t want them to grow up hating their parents. Her mother had told her love and passion were the key to enjoying life. Tobias told her they were useless emotions.
“What is it?” she asked.
“My parents are here. They’re on the way up.”
Oh great!
Chapter Nine
The second his mother said she was entering the lobby with his father, Adora’s words rang in his head. His parents did like to control him; they had since he was a kid. He wasn’t a fucking pushover, and wouldn’t let them drive him to the breaking point. They’d trained him well, too well—he’d surpassed his father’s strength in their industry well over a decade ago. Tobias had protected himself and his investment in the Bennett Corporation, so his parents could never fuck him over like they did with Maximus. He’d been drilled to be the perfect son, but his parents had shown their true colors too many times over the years. His loyalty had begun to fracture long ago.
“Why are they here? Do they usually just pop in?” asked Adora. She was distraught, trying to arrange her hair and fix her shirt. Actually, it was his shirt, and she looked fucking adorable in it.