“I don’t know you, Detective Scotto, and I’m not about to cry on strangers’ shoulders. If I need a shoulder to cry on, I’ll get a dog.”
“I just thought that you needed someone. I just wanted to be friends.”
“That’s impossible at this time. Like I said, I’ll get a dog.”
“Well, that didn’t sound as if you would never consider it. That sounds promising.”
“Take it whatever way you want, but I’m busy now, and I have to go. Good-bye, Detective Scotto.”
“Call me Blake.” Blake managed to get out these few words before the call dropped.
Chapter 4
Max returned to the fundraiser to support the environment after washing up and putting on his tie. He shook hands and smiled, but his heart was with Alex. He received the usual pat on the back and a “good job” from the prominent donors, said his good-byes and dropped his date at home.
He entered his penthouse with the glorious view of San Francisco and the bridge lit with LED lightning, which he had long advocated. He sat in his chair on his terrace, placed his feet on a table, lit a cigar, raised his head, blew out some smoke, and leaned back. His manservant brought him a glass of wine. He lay out in the open air to feel the chill of the night. He didn’t remember when he had felt so cold, but the heat in his body warmed him. The peaceful night calmed him, and he began to think about how his life had been so hectic as to send him fleeing to his retreat in Montana.
Max had thought a week at his lodge in Billings would provide respite from the hellish month he had dealing with business and his brother, Jonas. Millions were wasted to buy Jonas’s freedom. It had been one thing after another with Jonas, and Max had taken the brunt of the criticism by allowing the press to think it was him involved in so many embarrassing situations with women.
First it was the marriage in Las Vegas. Jonas married a young girl, barely sixteen. Max had to pay off her parents to keep them from pressing charges and charging Jonas as a pedophile, and the annulment had cost Max dearly because he had to sell some stock to bail Jonas out of that mess.
Then it was the stripper in Las Vegas. She and her boyfriend drugged Jonas, and he married her under Max’s name. All Jonas’s marriages, the weddings and divorces, were in Max’s name not Jonas Blackstone. Max spent millions to keep his name and the fact that he had a twin out of the papers. The last scandal was a woman who had been found dead in one of Max’s apartments. But this time it was a woman to whom he had been engaged.
Max owned all the assets he received from their parents’ death, all the hotels from Vegas to Macao. Jonas had pissed away every dime of his inheritance, and now he was coming for whatever Max had sacrificed—his love life, marriage, and reputation—to keep.
Business and his brother’s love was his single focus. Even though he shelled out millions on Jonas’s antics, Max was able to keep most of his fortune and turn it into billions, but at the rate Max was covering Jonas’s ass, he would be broke soon.
He didn’t have the inclination or the strength to keep up the schedule of flying all over the world, so he enlisted Jonas. After all, Jonas was consuming most of his wealth. Max didn’t have the time to spend it. He wanted a family, he wanted a life, and he wanted out of the BDSM lifestyle that held sway over him. He was getting deeper and deeper into it and he saw himself drowning.
* * *
Jonas was instrumental in introducing him to Sophia. It was the night Max flew into Vegas and found Jonas at his hotel, impersonating him. He walked in on his brother and a girl in his penthouse suite.
“What the fuck, Jonas? I leave to get some rest and find you in my room with your dick up this young woman’s ass and you wearing a collar.” He walked to the restroom, retrieved a robe, and threw it over the teen’s body.
“Wait, big brother, it’s not what you think,” Jonas said, peeking to the side at Max, never bothering to stop fucking and never bothering to show any shame.
“That’s always the answer I get from you, and then it’s exactly what I think.”
“She’s my wife.”
“Good Lord, Jonas, can’t you see she’s a teenager?” Jonas wiped his eyes and pulled his dick out. He gestured for the doe-eyed girl to leave the room. Jonas stood watching as the girl walked out of Max’s bedroom and into one of the nearest bedrooms.
“Damn, that ass is tight,” Jonas said, turning away from Max and staring at the girl.
“And couldn’t you do that in another room besides mine? There are five other bedrooms.”
“You never sleep and you are never here.” He shrugged his shoulders and twisted his mouth. “I didn’t think—” Max cut into his conversation.
“You never think,” Max said, opening his safe.
“Well, not that you would come in this time of morning.” He carelessly dismissed what Max had said. “I don’t have any money and when you have so much…”
“And that’s a good reason to impersonate me. I could be charged as a pedophile and lose my liquor and hotel license. My reputation is already shot to hell because of you. If I lose everything, then what?” His brow furrowed and eyes narrowed, he turned and faced Jonas.
Jonas strutted naked to the hidden bar and hit a button, then poured himself a drink. Max looking at him with the palm of his hand resting across his mouth, shaking his head and remembering that Jonas never took anything seriously—not money, not Max, and not even his own life.
“Put some clothes on, Jonas, and get that little girl out of here. I haven’t slept in two days.” Jonas retrieved his pants from the floor. Max watched him, knowing that the crumpled slacks had been pulled and tossed in a hurry. His shirt appeared to have been torn from his body because buttons were scattered on the bed and floor. After stepping into his trousers and remaining shirtless, Jonas reached into his pants pocket.
“I know what you need.” Jonas pulled out his iPhone and began texting.
Sophia I need u ASAP at Blackstone Casino Hotel.
Jonas
Hi Jon what’s n it for me?
Soph
My rich brother. He hasn’t slept in days & hasn’t fucked a woman in years.
Jonas
Then I think handcuffs and whips are in order. I’ll bring some toys just in case.
Soph (:
“What the fuck are you doing, Jonas? I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you.” Jonas tucked his iPhone back into a pocket.
“I just ordered you a woman.”
“I don’t need a woman. I need a family,” Max said, picking up Jonas’s shirt and tossing it on a bench.
“She’s not any woman. She can help you sleep. And you don’t have to take medication that quack has been prescribing you.” He walked to Max’s closet and selected two suits and two pairs of black shoes. “These are just my style,” he said, caressing the suits as he would a woman. “You never wear them.” He checked the price. “They still have tags.” Jonas pulled the tag off one suit and glanced at it.
“Speaking of medication, have you taken yours?” Max peered at Jonas with a raised eyebrow. He followed Jonas into his large closet. “So now you’re shopping in my closet, and taking my clothes along with my name.” Jonas either didn’t hear Max or chose to ignore the remark about Jonas’s medication. As a child he had been diagnosed as hyperactive and a host of other psychological problems stemming from their parents’ death. Max remained hopeful that he would grow out of his conditions, but they appeared to worsen after he was released from the army.
Jonas turned to Max with two suits draped across his arm. “You have better taste than I do, and these are for a job well done,” he said with a quick smile, sauntering up to the cabinet and picking through Max’s ties. “And besides, I can’t afford those suits or these ties.” He laid the blue silk tie on the suit to determine if the color would match.
“Those two suits cost about ten thousand each,” Max stated, following behind Jonas.
“What’s the matter, brother? Are you having
problems with your oil wells, or is it the casinos and hotels that are losing money?” Jonas gave a quick grin, dropped his pants, and strutted into the shower.
Max eyed the teenage girl, sitting in a chair in a yellow floral cotton dress with her legs crossed. She reminded him of an innocent lost girl. He could see her charm, but he couldn’t understand how Jonas, at his age, would find anything in common with her.
Her mouth moving gingerly, chewing gum, she glanced up at him. “Shit, man, you two look like twins. I can’t tell you apart.”
“We are twins.” He walked past her, plopping down into a beige silk floral wingback chair. “Tell me, how long have you known Jonas?”
“Counting today…” She glanced up and around the room, shaking her head from left to right. “About a week.”
“When did you two marry?”
“Oh…the first day we saw each other. We were both high…I mean drunk and it just seem to be a natural thing to do.”
She pulled out her phone and began texting. She never glanced up until she saw Jonas standing in front of her. “Come on, baby doll. We have places to go and people to see,” Jonas said with a quick, gleeful smile.
Max reached for Jonas’s arm, looking at the teen, then he said, “Wait here, baby doll; Jonas will be with you shortly.” He led Jonas by the arm into his room and shut the door.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? You know that child a week, and you marry her?”
“Well, she wouldn’t give it up until she was married. Who would have thought that I would find a virgin these days?”
“Damn it, Jonas, she’s a virgin because she’s barely sixteen. She’s a minor, and you’re broke.”
“That reminds me, I need some money to take her back to Iowa.”
“How much is it this time?” Max said with a huff, then picked up his checkbook on his desk and wrote Jonas a check. “I don’t want to see my forged signature on any more checks,” he said, looking up. “You need to ask for what you want. One day…”
“Can’t you see I’m changing? I asked you, didn’t I?” Jonas sauntered to Max’s desk and took the check with a small grin. “I need cash too.”
Max reached into his open safe and handed Jonas a stack of bills. Jonas took the money with his head and eyes lowered.
Max never saw Jonas until he was broke or claimed he was looking for a job. He missed his brother because that was all the family he had. But missing Jonas had cost him dearly.
“When are you going to take responsibility for your life and stop meddling in mine and causing trouble for me and yourself?” Max questioned Jonas with a steely glance. This was always their conversation.
“I suppose you blame me for those rotten women that you have found all on your own? I just showed you that they were no good for you,” Jonas commented.
“You went out of your way to set Rachel up with a man and a woman,” Max said, eyeing Jonas.
“But if she was devoted to you, she wouldn’t have taken that offer.” That was Jonas’s answer, and it hadn’t changed. Maybe Jonas is right, Max thought. But it wasn’t up to him to decide anything that had to do with Max’s life.
Jonas stuffed the check and money into his pocket, reached for the girl’s hand, and led her to the elevator. “You’re taking my Louis Vuitton bag?” Max threw up his hands in disgust.
“I left you that other ridiculously priced one. You can afford it. I can’t. How would it look for people to think that I’m you and I have that tattered old leather satchel?”
“It would look just fine to me,” Max shouted.
“See you, big brother.” And the elevator closed.
When Jonas left, the concierge called Max, reminding him that a woman by the name of Sophia was waiting. He hesitated with his hand covering his mouth. “Oh, what the hell. It can’t be any worse than staying up for two days and finding a naked teenager in your room.” He relented. “Send her up to my suite, Carlos.”
* * *
It was with Sophia that Max could be detached and not form a relationship. It was with Sophia that he experimented with the idea of Dom and Sub. Sophia would play the Sub because she enjoyed humiliation. It was with Sophia that he could sleep that night. He would spank her on every occasion and learned to enjoy their sessions, but he stayed in control and never allowed any physical or sexual intimacy. That was until he met Alex and Rebecca.
He didn’t have time to cultivate a relationship; relationships were demanding, and what woman would follow him around the world at a minute’s notice and wait for him in a hotel room six days a week? That kind of woman was not what he wanted. He wanted a woman who would be his—a woman who knew his secrets and would accept him and love him.
For this type of woman, if he was lucky enough to find her, he wanted to be the first and the last man she would know.
Max needed a woman who could fill many desires, because he had plenty. His cup of need was empty, and it would take an ocean to fill it. His desires had been growing greater and greater, but the women had been less and less giving. He was spending more time at his hotels in Hong Kong when clearly he needed to be home to rein in his brother. How could he sleep when he didn’t know what Jonas would do one day to the next?
After a session with Sophia, Max lay down naked and stretched across his bed. He had not planned on falling asleep, but surprisingly he had. The session, as he called it, worked, and he woke as refreshed as if he had been on a vacation and had done nothing but rest.
The service Sophia provided was invaluable. He thought that he should have been doing this sooner. What could be wrong with trying to get some sleep when he needed it? He wasn’t putting medicine into his body. As a matter of fact, pills didn’t appear to work for him anymore, but BDSM seemed to provide what he needed.
Even after a good night’s sleep he had been jolted by a call. The call came from his lawyer.
“What is it now, Bradley?”
“Max, you know I wouldn’t call you on frivolous matters, but it’s Jonas again.”
“What? He just left here. He had his wife with him.”
“Did anyone tell him that it was illegal to marry a fifteen-year-old girl?” Bradley stated, outraged.
“I knew the girl was a little too young, but I couldn’t imagine that she was fifteen. I didn’t think he was that stupid, picking up a child. For fuck’s sake, he’s thirty. Bradley, I’ve gone over that with Jonas…”
“Yeah…me too. Jonas’s reply was, ‘she looked older.’ That’s just not going to fly in a court of law. No judge is going to go for that excuse, and he married her under an assumed name. It gets better.”
“Don’t keep me guessing.”
“All this was done under your name.” There was a long silence, and then Bradley heard glass shatter. Max threw the glass against the wall because he could not believe that Jonas had broken his promise. He had allowed Jonas to go to meetings in the States while assuming his identity whenever he had important business in Europe or Asia. Jonas saw this as an opportunity to steal his identity.
“What can I do?” He exhaled.
“Pull out your checkbook and hope her parents are greedy and a little less pious. Otherwise you’re screwed.”
Calling his secretary, Max decided to go to Montana to ski and fish, and forget.
“Make arrangements for my jet to take me to Billings and tell my valet to pack my ski clothes. Have some of my employees accompany me. I’m not in the mood to be alone.”
“Yes, Mr. Blackstone. Should I arrange to have a young woman available? Ms. Corday would love to spend the weekend if you need her for anything.”
“No, I have to clear my head—too many complications—and I may have to fly back to San Francisco, and she is needed in the office.”
After arriving in Billings, Max departed his jet and decided to check on his hotel staff and stay a night there. “Driver, take us to my lodge; I think I want to do some skiing before I go to my home.”
The driver turned in the di
rection of Blackstone Lodge. The snow hadn’t fallen that day. It was sunny, and a splash of sun on his face made him feel different. He exited his limo with his young staff leading the way. That was the day he set eyes on the most appealing young woman he had ever seen.
I can’t believe that such a woman exists, Max thought. I have to say something to her, but what? I’ve never come across a woman that I’m physically and sexually drawn to. I don’t have the skills to deal with this kind of problem. I want her and I can’t take no for an answer. But what will I do if she turns me down? She’s not like the typical girls hunting for a rich bachelor. She looks different. She doesn’t know who I am or doesn’t care. That turns me on. I have to say something.
Watching Alex as she walked ahead of him made him anxious, and whenever he became anxious he didn’t act like the confident man he had always been. He had never felt an automatic attraction to any woman until now. He didn’t know what made him lust after this young woman, but he felt it throughout his body. He felt it in his head, and most of all he felt it in his manhood. The pulsating feeling that coursed its way from his chest downward took on its own life. He had no control, and he didn’t want to control that feeling that had once been dormant.
Max let the feeling take him and lead him. He had always been in control, but not now. It felt liberating to go wherever his passion led him.
He couldn’t believe his body. It caused him to turn and speak when normally he waited for a woman to approach him. He never waited long. This young woman, however, appeared to be running from him, and he, being the alpha male, would not let her get away. She was his for the taking, and he would corner her and run her down until she was his.
Listening to his mind, he couldn’t believe that he thought of her as his. He was a man who would play with his competition until he got what he wanted, and then he would leave nothing of them once he obtained their companies. He would fire the employees and dismantle the company, coldly. But today he felt his heart beat and he didn’t know whether he liked this or not. It didn’t feel natural to him; there was too much warmth. And that meant that sooner or later he would lose.
Temptation In Black Page 5