Hard Target

by Marquita Valentine

  I swirl my tongue around her clit, then head north again, kissing a wet path to her breasts. The tips are hard, dark like the color of ripened apples in fall. I take one into my mouth, moving my finger deeper and adding another.

  Morgan moans so loudly that I can’t help but smile in complete male satisfaction.

  “I don’t know if I’m coming or going,” she says, rising on her elbows. Her eyes widen. “Watching you is…” her head drops back. “I can’t take it.”

  “You can and you will.” Sliding my free hand around the back her of her neck to cup it, I fuse my mouth to hers. Something primal inside of me is roaring to be heard.

  Mark her. Claim her.

  I tear my mouth away and go back to eating her pussy. The taste of her is addicting. Her thighs tremble and I sweep my hands over them as I suck her clit into my mouth.

  She orgasms, screaming my name while her fingers dig into my scalp. The pain only serves to heighten… everything. Somehow, I manage to grab a condom from the inner pocket of my suit jacket.

  Preparedness is my middle name.

  Tearing the foil with my teeth, I spit out the wrapper and roll the latex down my throbbing cock. Precum is already leaking out of me and if I don’t get inside this beautiful woman, I’ll end up embarrassing myself.

  Her pretty blue eyes round. “This is really happening.” She sounds breathless. Excited.

  “Yes.”

  I watch as the wide head disappears into her tight body. Inch by bloody fucking inch, I push inside her until I’m balls deep, and I have to grit my teeth to keep from coming in that instant.

  Of their own volition, my hips retreat and then plow forward, seeking what she has to offer. I pump into her, wanting everything she has to give me.

  Her hips jerk, her body one beautiful arch of flesh. I wrap a hand around her neck, holding her in place while I fuck her. My fingers are loose, no need to mark her there unless she begs.

  With my free hand, I stroke her lithe body, wanting to map the curves and planes. Her skin is a light shade of pink, brought on by her arousal. I rub her clit and she squeezes me, her inner muscles milking my cock.

  “Ben,” she chokes out. “Do that again.”

  “My pleasure.” I rub her firmly, manipulating her swollen clit until she’s begging me to let her come.

  “You can come whenever you want, darling. It’s all yours,” I whisper, leaning over her to capture her lips.

  Her tongue plunges into my mouth while she wraps her legs wrap around my hips, the movement sending me deeper. Her fingernails sink into my ass and I’m there.

  “Holy shit.”

  My orgasm shoots down my spine as I ram into her for all that I’m worth. I come so hard that stars spark in my eyes. Morgan pulses around my cock. She moans my name, claws at the sofa, and writhes beneath me.

  I can’t stop. No way I’ll stop until she’s satisfied.

  Taking a hard nipple into my mouth, I suck hard and graze my teeth over the point.

  Just keep moving. Keep moving. Holy fuck. Keep moving.

  Her body bucks up against mine one final time and then she’s still.

  Except for her hands. Her hands coast up and down my back. A sweet, almost loving gesture. Something that a couple would do to one another in the afterglow of making love. We are not a couple, nor have we made love, but I don’t pull away.

  In fact, I do something supremely stupid, considering I have absolutely no proof of a change in policy. But I guess you can take the boy out of the Bratva, but not the Bratva out of the boy.

  “Spend the entire night with me?” I ask.

  Morgan nods, her blonde hair forming a silky halo against the sofa cushion. “Only if we get to do this again.”

  “Promise.”

  Then I lift her from the sofa and carry her into the shower.

  *

  Morgan is curled up against me, one arm thrown across my chest while I stare at nothing, really. I feel at peace for once, no longer restless. It’s not something I am at all familiar with and sex can’t be the only answer. I’ve had sex before, great sex, okay sex, and blow off the top of my head sex. Tonight was definitely in the blow off the top of my head sex. Hell, it’s a step above that.

  Still… peace isn’t something I ever thought I’d have in my lifetime. I’ve always been a restless sort, traveling from place to place. Even after I was given my freedom by Grandfather, I still chose to run away, I guess, moving to America, then to Spain for a while, and finally here.

  The PharmGen position seemed to appear out of nowhere and since I’m not a believer of coincidences, I fully investigated them before agreeing to an interview. PharmGen is one of those companies who actually spend money on making their vaccines affordable. They devote time to charitable events.

  Besides, it’s not as if the company is perfect. There were massive tax problems in the past, but the new CEO and my boss, fixed all of that when he came aboard two years before I was hired.

  Morgan sighs, a sweet sound in an otherwise silent room.

  She’s rather trusting, this one. Most women wouldn’t have stayed the night, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have asked them.

  Perhaps it’s the company I keep. The wide circle of acquaintances that I socialize with but never really get to know, not beyond their social media pages, anyway.

  An airplane making its way across a midnight sky catches my eye. My penthouse is so far above the London fog that I can see stars outside my window. When we left the pub, it was still day. But I haven’t given a thought to time or anything, only the woman in my bed.

  Glancing at the time, I frown. It’s almost three in the morning and I have to be at work at seven. I haven’t slept and I haven’t eaten—two things that make me grumpy as hell—except I’m feeling mighty fine.

  Thanks to Morgan.

  When I was a child, I didn’t take eating or sleeping for granted, mostly because I wasn’t allowed much of either unless my caretakers were in the mood to throw me a bone. Literally, a bone, in some cases. There were times the dogs and I fought over it.

  By the time I was taken to my grandfather’s house, I was mere skin and bones. Half afraid to talk. Fully expecting that I would be beaten for not knowing the rules. Rather ironic that the head of the Bratva treated me better than my mother’s sister. However, that is life. Sometime the bad guys are actually good and the good ones… well, they get theirs in the end.

  Unlike my brother, Roman, I have absolutely no regret for paying them back for their hospitality. None at all.

  Slowly, I extricate myself from Morgan’s warm, sweet embrace and put on a pair of pajama bottoms before heading to my office. The room is the coldest one in the house, but it feels rather balmy to my bare feet and chest.

  The monitors flicker to life as soon as I sit down. While I grab a snack from the stash I keep on my desk, I check on the half-dozen programs I have running.

  Contrary to popular belief, hackers don’t sit at their bloody desk beating their keyboards into submission while an imaginary clock counts down in order to get information. Rather we gently insert programs into the back entrances of company software.

  Sexy, no?

  Suddenly, there is an alert. I click on the popup. It’s another email from Dr. Clark—one that he sent minutes before his meeting with me. Only this time, he’d sent it via his mobile phone.

  “Fuck me sideways,” I mutter, opening the file and scanning the contents, but it’s mostly in scientific jargon and filled with a formula that I can’t decipher. However, there are a few things that stick out.

  Virus. Antidote. Meet as soon as possible.

  My jaw clenches as I pick up the phone to call David Pinter. He’s the head of PharmGen and the man I always contact before we decide what to do about a breach. Usually, the breach is handled with severance package, non-disclosure agreement, and a very real threat to ruin them should they ever attempt to share our company secrets again.

  “You stupid man,” I mutter
. “I gave you the chance to leave with your dignity intact.”

  David answers on the third ring. “Benjamin, how are you?” Music and the low din of a crowd of people talking fills the background.

  Belatedly I remember that he’s at an after party for a new foundation that will focus on drinkable water wells in third world countries. However, my instructions are to notify David at any time, no matter what.

  “We have a problem.”

  “I trust you to take care of it. Give whoever it is the usual.”

  His faith in me is more than a little humbling. I came to PharmGen as a college dropout. College was too chafing. Despite being the same age as the majority of my classmates, I’d witnessed things… done things that they’d only watched in movies. I envied everything about the comparative innocence of their lives.

  “This is not a usual breech,” I inform him. “We have a situation.”

  “Give me a minute to move to a more private location.”

  While he finds a better spot, I open up the email program I created to search through company Internet and intranet communications. The program is rather simple. It searches for keywords that are constantly added and subtracted to a database by me. When a certain phrase or word is detected, then the communication is flagged for my approval. If it is via PharmGen’s intranet, the alert comes through my phone via text. In Dr. Clark’s case, outgoing emails can be delayed much longer.

  “What do you have for me?” David asks.

  “Dr. Clark again. He sent an email to three of our competitors via his mobile.”

  “Are there specifics?”

  I scan the email again. “Only to those in the scientific community.”

  David laughs, but a sliver of unease creeps up my spine. “Not to worry. There is a NDA in place for a reason and not one single employee of PharmGen wants to be sued, not even Dr. Clark. Besides, it could be scientific mumbo-jumbo in order to get a bigger payout from us.”

  “True enough. However, I’ll monitor his correspondences for the next month to be sure.”

  “Thanks for doing such a great job for the company,” David replies. “Remind me to give you a raise.”

  I don’t need the money. This job has never been about the money for me. It has always been about doing something right, something good for once. “Will do.”

  He ends our call and I’m left staring at the screen, trying to decipher what Clark wants to tell the world.

  “Benjamin, where are you?” Morgan calls out, her voice sleepy and confused.

  “Coming, love.” I shut down the monitors and head to my bedroom.

  Light from the hallway cuts through the room, highlighting Morgan’s exquisite body. The sheets pool around her waist as she yawns. Her breasts are marked with love bites and her dark nipples are tight.

  Her eyes seem to brighten when they fix on me. She holds her arms open to me. “Come back to bed.”

  I stop at the edge of the bed, wondering what game she’s playing. Then again, she is an American and they are notoriously affectionate. Only an idiot would ignore her siren’s call.

  And I am far from an idiot.

  Her arms drop and lips that I spent hours kissing start to curve downward. She glances away, then turns and swings her legs over the mattress.

  Fuck. She’s leaving and it’s entirely my fault.

  In an instant, I’m in bed and pulling her to me. “Don’t leave.” Her body stiffens, but I begin to run my hands up and down her cool arms and she relaxes into me. “Work stuff distracted me, mllaya moyna.”

  “Mllaya moyna?”

  My sweet. I have never called a woman this. Never fallen back on my first language to soothe anyone. “It’s Russian.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “You don’t sound pleased.”

  “I’ve never done this before—have a one night stand, that is.” She sniffs. “Pretty sure there’s no crying in one night stands. I’m really botching this.”

  “There aren’t any rules.”

  “Well, if there were, then I probably broke all of them.”

  “Like the rules on fraternization at PharmGen?” I ask lightly.

  “Exactly—oh! No.” She turns to face me. Tears are at the corners of her eyes. Some have already fallen, leaving glistening tracks on her cheeks. “You knew I was lying the whole time, didn’t you?”

  I consider my words for a moment. “I knew that I wanted what you insisted to be true, to be true.”

  She eyes me. “You are super confusing.”

  I lean my forehead against hers. “While you are super adorable.”

  “I wanted to be super sexy,” she says glumly. “Super exciting.”

  “Why don’t you just be you?”

  “Easy for you to say.”

  “Don’t be so sure.”

  She sighs again. “I appreciate that you’re trying to make me feel better, but I want to go home.”

  “If you’ll give me a few minutes, I’ll have my car brought round and—”

  “No. I’ll text a cab.” Her silky hair tickles my nose as she moves to stand beside the bed. Moonlight highlights her graceful, supple body. More than anything, I want her to stay. “Thank you for a nice time. It was exciting to do something different. Get to be someone I’m not.”

  Let her go. She needs to do this on her terms, not yours.

  While I hate to let her go, I do understand the need to stand on your own feet. To dictate your own rules and to leave with your respect intact. I’d allowed Clark to leave with his and he was a criminal.

  Morgan deserves much more than that.

  Which is exactly why I follow her into the foyer, where our clothes are scattered like confetti across the floor.

  “Are you available for lunch tomorrow?” I ask as she fastens her bra.

  She glances over her shoulder at me. Shock is evident in her expression. “What about the fraternization thing?”

  “I can be fast.”

  Her mouth drops a little, then a glimmer of a smile makes my heart flip in my chest. “Thanks, but I already have plans.”

  She’s giving me a way out and I really should take it, but apparently, I can’t stop myself. “If they should change, then let me know.”

  “Sure.” After she finishes getting dressed, she waves her phone at me. “Cab’s already here. Happened to be in the area.”

  “Let me walk you down.”

  She shuts her eyes, then opens them. “You’re going way beyond the whole nice guy routine and I appreciate it, but at the same time… it feels like a pity thing.”

  I take a step back, opening the door for her. “At least text me when you get home.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I hold out my hand. “Give me your phone.”

  “Fine.” With only a little reluctance, she allows me to take it from her.

  Quickly, I text myself before she can change her mind. “I have your number and you have mine.”

  “Thanks,” she mumbles, then slips out the door.

  Rubbing a hand over the back of my neck, I wait until she’s safely in the elevator before closing the door, then I sprint to my office and check the cameras I’ve installed along the perimeter of the roof.

  Since London is one of the most watched cities in the world, it’s relatively easy to jump on their security system and virtually follow Megan home. Perhaps that makes me a stalker, but a woman traveling alone at this time of night can be a target.

  Once she enters her apartment building, I breathe a hell of a lot easier.

  Chapter Three

  Morgan

  I’m such an idiot.

  The UPS driver smiles at me while I sign for a package. It’s one of a hundred I’ll get during the day. Unfortunately, Oliver is off today so I have to take everything to mail the room myself as well as deliver any time-sensitive packages.

  Normally, I enjoy the opportunity to chat with familiar faces and meet new people at PharmGen. The company is so large that there is a
n endless opportunity to do so. Except I just had to go and sleep with one of the higher ups, and ruin everything. Now he’ll probably fire me for harassment or being a clingy chick after sex.

  Why couldn’t I leave well enough alone?

  Because you don’t have the sense God gave a gnat, my grandmother’s voice whispers in my head.

  I had enough sense to get the hell out of Georgia.

  Because you defrauded two governments and lied on your PharmGen job application.

  A little lie never hurt anyone.

  Besides, the woman’s identity I borrowed didn’t need it anymore… and I pay my taxes like a good little ex-pat.

  “This one needs to be taken straightaway to Dr. Clark.”

  With an internal wince, I nod. “No problem.”

  The driver gives me a wink and I smile back before forwarding all calls to the head receptionists on floors two through eight. Gathering the small box, I move to the private elevators in the back.

  It’s not easy with every muscle in my body aching from last night’s escapade with Benjamin. I even had to wear flats today instead of heels. Plus, with all the hickeys that man put on me, I darn near wrapped my body up like a mummy.

  Tugging at the scarf at my neck, I attempt to loosen it and almost send it flying. Using my elbow, I stab at the up arrow and wait for the elevator while praying that I don’t run into Mr. Romanov. No use in calling him Ben or even Benjamin now.

  I’m positive I can avoid him for as long as it takes me to find another job. Now that I have experience working in London, especially at such a prestigious corporation, I should have no problem finding another position.

  Only I don’t want to find another position. This is my favorite position. Along with riding Ben like a cowgirl in a rodeo.

  Stop thinking about him.

  The door open with an almost silent whoosh and I step inside, silently praying that it’s empty. Thankfully, it’s is. Must be my lucky day. So far.

  “Only forty floors to go,” I mutter as the elevator starts to ascend. It travels so quickly that my stomach does this funny little flip, reminding me of when Benjamin had flipped me over on my stomach and taken me from—