by Sara Forbes
I back away and press my spine to the door. “So, how about you tell me why you’re working me for your case? Why you felt a need to knock me out?”
“Well, you’re going to do it now anyway,” she says in a tight voice. “I might as well tell you. The futures contracts that expire tomorrow? I work for a client who, let’s just say, has an interest in them being a certain price. The price you’re just waiting to dump on. Like last time?”
“Ah, I see. And the expiry is when, exactly?”
She grunts. “As if you didn’t know, Felix.”
“I want to hear it.” She’s livid now. I guess she’d shoot me if she had that option. She still thinks I’m teasing her.
“9 a.m. tomorrow.”
“Okay.” I take her hand. It’s limp. Having revealed this information, she’s in some kind of shock but I want her to know it’s okay, I’m not out to take advantage of her. Gently, I guide her to the spot we’d been sitting in before at the foot of the bed. “Please. Sit. Let’s start over.”
I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and hand it to her. “Hundred percent unspiked, for your pleasure.”
She smiles weakly.
“I work—well, kind of work, for a consortium of investors. But actually,” I exhale a breath, “I’m not the one in control.”
“Oh yeah, pull the other one.”
“Cara, I mean it.”
She shakes her head. “Then who,” she says through gritted teeth, “is the one controlling the Bitcoin moves?”
“A consortium.”
“Where? who? Details!” she shrieks. “How’m I supposed to believe you, Felix?”
“I can’t reveal their names.”
She scoffs. “Oh of course not, I forgot, you’re powerless.”
“Well hang on, I wouldn’t say completely powerless.”
“Tell me!”
“No,” I say firmly. “Your turn. You tell me. Tell me more about this event tomorrow. The futures. Why did you take on the mission? Is it really so important to you?”
“He’s an old client. Of my father’s.” She lifts her chin. “Felix, he represents a group of pensioners. Seventy and eighty-year olds who are depending on this to secure the rest of their lives. He’s shared their individual stories with me. Mrs. Wilson just wants to retire in peace in Ohio. Mr. Ortez wants to pay for his daughter’s wedding. And on it goes. About fifty lives that are about to be ruined by taking a gamble on something that someone else is controlling.”
She grips my shirt. “Can you help me? Do you have influence with those that decide? Do you have a decent bone in your body?”
I cover her hands with mine. I believe her story because I know a bluff when I see one, and she’s not bluffing. The truth is shining from the depths of her glistening eyes. This means a lot to her and my gut tells me it goes deeper than the clients themselves. I want to help her. I want to discover why this means so much to her that she’d run the risk of bringing a man to her hotel room, alone, and then try drugging him with some concoction. I could have been a psychopath who’d kill her for such a thing, blow-job or no blow-job.
“I can explain the situation to my guys and get them to lay off this time. I’m sure they weren’t aware of the full facts.” In fact, when I picture Egan’s trusty nerd sidekick, Paul, tapping on his keyboard, I doubt he ever considers the consequences of his crypto wizardry on real people.
“It won’t make any different to your consortium. But it’ll make a huge difference to my client,” she says, a note of hope entering her voice. “Is Jack in it too?”
“I can’t talk about it.”
“I understand. I-I appreciate you telling this. Doing this. I mean it. The old folks will appreciate you doing this for them. You’ll have made a difference to their lives.”
Her gratitude isn’t what I want. I want her fire. “I’m not doing it for them. I’m doing it for you.”
“Oh Felix.” She lays a hand on my shoulder. “Thank you.”
“Ah, you trust me now, do you?” I ask, rising from the bed.
She rises too and faces me, wringing her hands in front of her. She nods.
“Or should I go?”
“No,” she says in a quiet voice. “Stay.”
I step toward her and slide my arms around her waist and tug her in. I dip my head to her neck and nip along the curve up to her ear. She lifts her thigh and deftly rubs my leg with hers, sliding up and down. It’s a good start. I’m instantly hard. Then she tugs me closer.
I need no further proof
I pull off her blouse and toss it over my shoulder. She has a silk camisole on underneath. I take the hem and lift. She raises her arms to help the garment on its way. I toss it same way as the cardigan. Now it’s down to her bra—black, lacy, covering perfect B-cups. It’s the first I’ve seen them naked. I could kneel and pay homage to her beauty. “My God. Look at you,” I whisper.
She answers by tugging on one arm of my shirt then the other. The garment slides away as she splays her palms across my chest. “No, I’m too busy looking at you.”
Our mouths collide, hard and possessive, my tongue plunging into her with no mercy. I taste my cum as she opens wide. Her tongue darts over mine, under mine, across my teeth. She sucks me in and I probe deeper, cradling her jaw so she has to surrender. My fingertips roam across her collarbone, exploring the paradise, inching down toward her breasts. Her skin is smooth and supple and I love how my fingertips leave goosebumps in their wake.
I stroke my thumbs over the points where the lace covers her nipples, softly at first, so she’s breathing faster, then harder so that she moans into my mouth. I feel her whole body surrendering, all her tensed-up muscles relaxing for the first time. She tilts her head back, inviting me to lick her exposed neck, which I do. I knead her soft mounds, enjoying how she gasps each time my palms flatten against her nipples and then I pinch them. She’s so far gone already that this is enough. She bucks her hips against me, at first with a slow steady rhythm but with every squeeze of her breast, she grinds faster and wilder.
“Oh God, Felix,” she moans. “I want this.”
“Oh baby, I know, I know.” She’s exactly where I want her. I kneel in front of her and tease her by not unbuttoning her skirt and instead sliding my hands up and down her legs.
Her hands move to her button to do it herself.
“No, allow me,” I push her hands away and begin to unfasten the top button. I pull the cotton down her legs, slowly, relishing the smooth texture of her skin. I kiss her on the middle of each thigh and then I reach up and hook my thumbs on either side of her black lacy panties.
She’s nodding. “Yes, yes.”.
I pull the panties down to the ground and she steps out of both garments at her feet. Her labia are swollen with desire. I bring my lips to her, tracing her folds with my tongue, tasting her then plunging in to make contact with her clit. Her legs buck as I hit the spot. I move my hands up the back of her legs and cup her buttocks, separating them as I tease her clit again with my tongue She bucks forward reaching out for support. Her hand slaps against the wall. “Oh, I’m…too near...I’m…aaah, Felix.”
I love how raw she sounds. I’m determined to give her the orgasm of her life. So, I slow the strokes down, lave around the point, up and down her folds, massaging her buttocks hard until she’s totally relaxed, and whimpering softly, then I dart my tongue in again and pound her clit with the same rhythm as she’s using to grip my hair.
Wetness gushes out as her muscles clench all over. I keep up the rhythm until she’s shuddering uncontrollably. I need to grip her tight because otherwise she’s in danger of falling over. Her surrender to me is the most beautiful thing in the world to watch.
I feel the strain as she comes apart, the sudden shock, the pained squeeze of release, the gush of pleasure. She keens over, stumbles, and I catch her in my arms just in time. She sinks down with me onto the carpet.
“My purse,” she mumbles. “Front pocket.
&nbs
p; I push back a strand of hair from her face. “If you’re talking about protection, I’ve got my own.”
She smiles. “I should have known.”
I pull out the condom back from my back pocket, and sheath myself. Her gaze darts between my cock, springing to life and my mouth. I intend to give her both.
I reach around her back, unclasp her bra and free her. I kiss her nipples and I massage her breasts and watch as her pupils dilate to their maximum and her breath comes in short sharp bursts.
Pushing her knees, I coax her into a wider V shape. Then, gently, I separate her folds, and position my cock at her entrance. She gasps out as I widen her, inch by inch. Her grip on my neck tightens. I tug her hands from me and plant her arms on either side of her where she claws at the carpet, seeking an outlet for her tension. I clamp my hands over hers and in this position of total mastery, I fill her to the hilt. She’s hot and tight as her muscles close in around me and it feels goddamned perfect.
I pump into her noting how much she loves submitting to me. I’ll keep that in mind for the future. She moans with each thrust as I fill her to the hilt. Her hands tug like she’s trying to escape but she isn’t really, so I keep the pressure on.
“Talk to me,” I say. I don’t need dirty talk but I do want something. I want to know she wants me.
“It’s so good,” she gasps.
“Just good?” I stop moving.
“No, it’s good, good… good,” she gasps
I resume thrusting at the same speed as I used before with my tongue. I know it’s the right one for her, it’s what she craves. She arches off the floor, begging with her entire body. I slide my hands under her and cradle her hips giving me the leverage I need to speed up, pumping faster, harder, wilder, until her breath turns into shrieks. She’s so beautiful as she loses herself to it, letting go of her inhibitions in her greed for release.
Her face fills with color and her body trembles under my hands.
“I want.” she says between gasps. “You.”
I pump harder. “I want you too, Cara. Come. Come now come for me.”
“Please,” she’s imploring her own body as much as she is mine. She doesn’t believe it. But I know it’s coming. I maintain a steady rhythm. This is what she wants.
Then she lets out a keening sound followed by “Yessss.” She bucks forward. “Oh my God… I…Oh my God.”
She closes her eyes and lets out a blissful sigh.
It is the most wonderful sound. A totally sated woman.
The intense buildup has affected me too. After more hard thrusts, my muscles clench in unison and my mind blanks out in heavenly release as I shoot my load. My entire body shudders twice in aftershock and then collapse across her body, groaning out her name.
13
CARA
I HAD NO IDEA I needed that so much and that Felix could give it to me. Or that I could give it to him. He’s lying beside me on the bed, his body smooth and golden in the soft light of the room. I can scarcely believe it. I was on such a high, I barely remember the motions afterward. I must have gotten this glass of water. I must have gotten into bed with him, but it’s all a blur.
This golden God, I could worship him. He’s nothing like the cynical, intellectual types I usually date who are emotionally unavailable and quite happy to get down to the sex part without much preamble.
My gaze roves over his sleeping body beside me on the bed, his hair a halo in the morning sun. He wanted me to open up to him, and I did. Only after our moment of honesty could he respond to me. I want to open up even more so that he knows who I am and what I’m capable of. On the other hand, I want to shut him out because if I let him in just a little bit, he’ll take a piece of me when he leaves. I’ll be left thinking that there’s one man out there who gets me, who knows my deepest desires, who wants to know my deepest desires, but he’s gone. Because he will go. It’s clear we can’t keep this going. I have my life in LA, tied down by financial responsibility, and he has his, globe trotting and happy go lucky with a safety net of billions whatever way you look at it
Then I look at the clock blinking on the other side of him.
Oh wait.
Can it really be six a.m.?
Just like that, my mind clears of its post-coital fog. I sit forward and grab my panties from the floor. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”
He rolls over, and eyes me bemusedly. “What is it?”
“The futures! They expire in three hours. Oh God. Where’s my phone? Your people…what was I thinking? “I let out a growl of frustration with myself for being so gullible, so stupid. All he had to do when my back was turned was shoot off a text to his buddies to get busy on the market.
He’s sitting up watching me. “No. Just hang on.”
I tumble out of bed. “Hang on? You just stalled me for eight hours. That was your plan all along. Very clever, Mr. Palmer, but I got to check the price before I can even speak to you.” I scramble for my phone which I spot on the other side of the room by the TV. I don’t care that I’m naked.
“Cara, wait.” There’s a steely note in his voice that makes me stop mid-stride.
“I’ll talk to Egan,” he says.
“The famous Egan.” I say, letting out a sigh of relief because I see on phone that Bitcoin is above 14K.
“He’s the leader. And please don’t put that in your records or ask me for any other details.”
“Okay, okay.” I hold up my palms. “I give up. I’m at your mercy. What can you do? Or what can E—he do?”
“Just give me a moment.” Also naked, he bounds across the room to his blazer hanging on the door and pulls his phone from his inner pocket and then punches a number.
At the same time, my own phone goes off. It’s Goodman. I grunt in frustration. I have to take it. I pull a dressing gown off the hook and go out onto the balcony.
“Good news” I tell my client. “Felix Belgrave is talking at last.”
“Talking? You were supposed to incapacitate him for another three hours.” Goodman sounds frantic. “What did he say?”
“Well, he’s not the one controlling the trading. It’s a group of people–a consortium. But don’t worry, he’s going to talk to them and convince them of our case.”
“You told him?”
“I didn’t mention your name. But I had to be concrete about the date of the futures, otherwise it was just a discussion about hypotheticals.”
“Please say you didn’t tell him?” His voice has degenerated to a pitiful whine.
“Yes, I had to.”
“Nooo,” he moans.
“Mr., Goodman, Marvin,” I plead. “Unless we narrow down the specifics, we’ve nothing to negotiate with.”
“We have nothing to negotiate with anyway, don’t you see that, you idiotic woman? This Felix guy might promise you the moon and the stars, but his consortium will run with this info now and crush us…sometime in the next three hours.”
“I don’t see it that way.” I say, stung by his scathing tone and the idiotic comment. This is not the Mr. Goodman I’ve known most of my life, the dear friend of my late father. But I can’t afford to lose myself in self-pity, not now.
All I hear is his pained breathing, followed by, “Well how do you see it?”
I glance inside the room before answering. “I think they’d have been watching these futures anyway and crushed us as a matter of course, and it’s only by actually appealing to their sense of decency that we can stop it from happening.”
“That’s what you want to believe. You want to believe you have some kind of influence over this group but I assure you, Ms. Cole, you don’t. And forget about them having a conscience either. They’re ruthless animals like every other Bitcoin whale out there. They’ll swallow us whole and not think twice about it. How do you think they amassed so much of the market already—not by being nice. Oh Lord, this is a disaster.”
“Just give him a chance.”
“Why are you so naïve? I don’t know why I ga
ve you a chance. I suppose because I was friends with Rick. I gave you the benefit of the doubt but I see that was a grave mistake.”
“Mr. Goodman—"
“Really. You’re just a girl, not much older than my own daughter I should have known better. I have only myself to blame.”
“Then take me off the case,” I say frostily. “But if things do go your way, I expect you to come back to me and acknowledge it.”
I slump against the wall. It’s too late to rewind my whole life now but in a blinding flash, I realize I should have moved away to a different part of the country and started afresh. I thought I was keeping Dad alive by keeping on his old clients but all I seem to be doing is unraveling the good impression he made with them by making a mess of things.
I head back inside and before I register it, Felix is right up behind me. His arms snaking around my waist, pulling me back into him. His cock nestles between my buttocks. It’s getting harder and harder, pressing demandingly between my legs. It’s terribly erotic. Annoyance and lust are warring in my head.
“Not fair.” I say, trying to twist around but he’s not letting me.
“All’s fair, they say,” he pushes hair off the back of my neck, gathers it in a ponytail and nuzzles into my nape. “in love and war.” He steers my head to the other side and licks my neck. I shiver. It’s delicious. I’m melting. Sinking…
“And which is this?” I mutter.
“Something in-between.”
I sigh. His hand smooths over my abdomen, pressing me tightly back into his hard body, his hard cock. His powerful shoulders and arms envelop me, making me feel feminine and protected. His lips brush my ear. My whole body gives a shudder in delicious memory. This man knows how to seduce me like no other. There’s a danger in that—a danger of losing my mind at the worst possible moment, which is exactly what I’m doing.
“Felix,” I twist to him. “I can’t do this. Are you going to tell me what you said to Egan? Tell me what’s happening. I need to know. Will the price stay above 14K? or even 13K?” It’s ridiculous trying to talk about Bitcoin prices when my breasts are standing to attention, every hair on my body is raised, and wetness is pooling up for him between my legs. And his huge erection isn’t making things any more appropriate either.