Sugar and Sin Bundle

by Stacey Joy Netzel

  They couldn’t do this here. Though, her body was in no mood to listen to her brain. Why did the one man who could make her feel this way have to be Alec? They had no future. He would leave and she’d be left holding the pieces.

  No, for her it had to be Mr. Handsome as Sin, who was all wrong for her. When his hands began to move up her ribcage, beads of sweat popped on her brow. Did he have any idea what he was doing to her? She shifted some more, trying to alleviate the throbbing ache between her legs. When she heard his muted groan, she felt a swell of feminine pride.

  His hands paused just under her breasts. It was all she could do not to put them on her breasts herself. He beat her to it and gently rubbed her nipples with his thumbs.

  Body on fire, she rolled her hips again. What the hell was wrong with her? There they were up shit’s creek with no paddle and she was giving serious thought to having sex in a closet.

  Her nipples had started to tingle and pebbled into hard peaks. Her thighs quaked with the force of her arousal. Her bones had taken on a jelly consistency.

  She had to touch him. Unfortunately, her current position and the need to be quiet limited her options. She twisted her arm behind her. Her palm came in instant contact with his hard, steely thigh. He was solid everywhere, all sinew and stone.

  She drew her hand up until she hit pay dirt. He hissed as she stroked him once…twice…three times. She felt him go from firm and interested to rock-hard and relentless. She settled into a rhythm of rocking against him each time he squeezed her tender flesh. She was further rewarded with a feral nip at her neck.

  She should have been reminding him that they were in danger of getting caught instead of kneading him to full readiness. She should have been doing everything to keep quiet, not wanting to feel his hard flesh buried deep in her. She wanted him. Her dewy core was already slick in preparation for him. She moved against him again and reveled when he tensed.

  Alec let his hands roam back down past the front clasp of her skirt and it was her turn to hiss. His fingers tapped a sensuous rhythm down to her aching core. When he finally reached her strip of springy curls, he paused and nipped her ear. “Stay still and don’t make a sound,” he whispered. She stilled and his hand continued its journey. He inserted one impossibly long finger into the silken heat and she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. To reward her silence, the one finger was joined by another, sliding into her in an ancient rhythm.

  In a breath the voices drew nearer. Both of them held completely still, save his moving fingers. What a sight they must have been. Her hands behind her, stroking him. His hands in front of her, stroking her.

  She was out of her mind. First the Nancy Drew antics. Now this. She’d never behaved like this a day in her life before she met him. She was out of her mind, pure and simple. Clearly this was not the place or the time. But it didn’t stop her with Alec.

  If either of them made a sound, they would be discovered. Alec was dangerous to her sanity. She should have listened to him. But oh, no, she wanted to follow her heart.

  ***

  Alec blinked, trying to find some measure of his sanity. With every infinitesimal movement of her hips, he wasn’t sure if he was in heaven or hell. He tried to school himself to keep his hands at her waist. Unfortunately for him, his hands hadn’t listened.

  When she rolled her head forward, it had been a mistake to kiss the exposed skin of her neck. But he’d felt her shudder and the heat rushed through him. And here he was, so desperate to have her he would take any risk.

  The voices in the office were muted, but someone was still in there. He made a feeble attempt to gain control of the situation. Control is all I need. All he had to do was remove his hands. The only problem was, Jaya kept grinding her butt up against his crotch and his hands had tightened in reflex. His body was enthusiastic, to say the least.

  When she’d made that soft huffing sound in the back of her throat, he nearly came. The feel of her against him sent sensual alarms throughout his body. In their current position, he couldn’t touch as much of her as he’d wanted to.

  The voices moved farther away but not out of range. Alec felt the urgent need in his blood. He tried to support Jaya as she used one hand to brace herself. She brought her other hand around and massaged the length of him again.

  He rewarded her with a low groan in her ear. “We have to stop.”

  Ignoring him, she pumped again. His eyes crossed. The last bit of his control disappeared. He brought his head down and teased her left ear none too gently with his teeth. His hands massaged and kneaded her sensitive breasts. He loved the way they fit his hands. Her nipples responded to his hands like puppets to a puppeteer.

  “I want you.”

  His admission only served to fuel her movements. He felt her delicate hands tighten around him once again and lost it. All reason had long flown out of the window. His fingers retreated, then slid back into her. Her inner walled quivered around his fingers and he murmured in her ear, “Easy beautiful, easy.”

  When the voices drew nearer, they both froze where they stood. Sweat beaded on his brow and he could have easily died right there and not cared. His dick twitched in her hand and it was all he could do not to scream in frustration.

  At the softening of the voices, he breathed a sigh of relief. Alec’s mind slowly registered that the voices moved farther away and eventually ceased. There was a soft click of the office door. After that, he heard nothing. His gut told him they might still be there, but his body didn’t want to listen.

  He felt Jaya relinquish her hold on him, but he wasn’t done with her yet. He wanted to hear his name. He needed to hear it. He nipped her ear and pulled his already slick fingers from her body, then slid them back in again. He got what he wanted. Jaya bit out a choppy whimper. “Alec.”

  “Tell me you want me.” He was relentless. He kept stroking until her knees buckled.

  A soft, “I want you, Alec,” came out on a breath. “I want you.”

  Alec didn’t ease up on his caresses. His breathing was as choppy as hers. He felt her quake. His own whispers sounded harsh to his ears.

  “Jaya”

  “Mmm.”

  He felt her tense, nearing her climax.

  “Baby.” His fingers were dripping from her response.

  “Oh, G—”

  “Come on.” His breath ragged. “Let. Go. For. Me.”

  “I wa—”

  “I know.” He throbbed with need.

  Her last breathy sigh of his name was like music to his ears. “Al—ec.” She melted like butter in his arms. His hands steadied her as he tried to think about anything that would abate his arousal.

  Jaya was having none of it. With shaking fingers, she continued to knead him.

  “Jaya, if you don’t stop, I’ll—”

  “Come?”

  “Jesus.” He wanted to roar with the frustration.

  Alec stopped her roaming hand with his. Certain the office was now deserted, he took as much of a step back as he could manage. Jaya moaned at the separation. He quieted her by massaging his hands over her back. He filled each hand with the soft skirt fabric and hiked it up.

  He smiled at her soft gasp when the cool air hit her flesh. Alec groaned when he realized she’d only been wearing a black silk thong and matching garters under her prim skirt all day.

  “Alec. What are you…”

  He filled his hands with her firm, warm ass and lifted a little, forcing her to bend at the waist and grip the cabinet with one hand for support. With her other hand, she continued her earlier stroking of his cock and he bit out a string of curses. “Jesus, Jaya, I can’t hold on if you—”

  “If I what?”

  In a swift motion, he removed his belt and shoved his jeans down. She gave a soft ooh sound when her palm came into contact with his smooth tip. A small bead of liquid escaped and helped lubricate her palm as she brought him closer and closer to the brink. Roughly, he tightened his grip on her hips and bent her over as
far as she could go, forcing her to release her hold on him.

  His cock nestled in the cleft of her ass. He leaned over to place kisses on her exposed neck. He fumbled with the foil packet he’d rescued from his wallet and shoved aside the flimsy material of her thong. And then, without preamble, he lined up the head of his cock to her folds and slid in to the hilt, making her groan.

  For moments, he stayed just like that relishing the feeling, her inner muscles tightening and massaging the length of him. Those sexy mewling sounds from deep in her throat that revealed she was close to coming began again and they were music to his ears. When he stroked the tip of her nipple, she gasped out his name again as her whole body quaked in his arms.

  Taking his cue, he began to slide inch by inch of his cock out of her until he was nearly completely out. He repeated the movement, shallowly penetrated her, in and out, in and out until he made her beg for more.

  “Damn it. Stop teasing me.

  Chuckling, he whispered, “You want more, do you?”

  At her muffled response, he penetrated her as deep as he could go, slowly building tension. Gasping for air, he filled his hands with each cheek and gripping for support, he loved the way the soft globes filled his palms.

  While one hand continued to knead her taut flesh, the other caressed her back, pausing to massage the back of her neck, reaching around to her face to trace a slow line across her bottom lip. She responded by peeking out her hot tongue and drawing in his thumb. As she sucked, deeply, she also grazed the soft pad of his flesh with her teeth.

  “Jaya—” he warned.

  Removing his thumb from her lips, he brought his hand back to join the other on her ass. With his moist thumb, he traced the line bisecting her soft orbs until he reached his quarry. He circled the sensitive flesh until he could feel her pussy tighten around his pulsing cock.

  He knew what to wait for, he continued to tease until he knew she was about to go dancing off that ledge, then stopped his ministrations.

  “God, don’t stop now,” she begged.

  Rocking his hips forward, he whispered, “I want you so hot, you can’t possibly wait any longer.”

  He felt her tighten her inner muscles around him and smiled.

  Her breath was ragged and her muscles drew him in farther. “I’m already so hot I can’t wait any longer.” Jaya rotated her hips, forcing a low moan from his lips.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, all the while rocking his hips gently back and forth.

  “Yes. And let me remind you, payback is a bitch.”

  Alec smiled slowly and gave her what she wanted. Continuing his slow circles with his thumb, he gently penetrated the tight ring of muscle. With ragged breathing she pushed back in time to his rocking. Once again he felt the pulsing and quivering around his burning cock as she pushed herself flush against him. His climax wasn’t far behind hers. With three long strokes, he exploded, certain his body would come apart at the seams.

  They stayed like that for several long moments, chests heaving. Sweat poured from his forehead and he splayed his hands across her back. Alec thought if he could just stay like that for a moment, the blood would rush back to his brain so he could begin to use it.

  Gradually, clear reason and thought returned to him and he slid out of Jaya, though that movement was halted by her protesting inner muscles. He moaned. “Sweetheart, we can’t stay here like this.”

  Slowly he helped her right her clothing. He pulled her skirt down and helped her straighten it. Before he turned her around, he managed to get his jeans back on. When she faced him, he saw the residual lust in her eyes. Unfortunately, he also saw a cautious wariness.

  Choosing to ignore it, he dipped his head and slid his tongue over the soft, full lips. She responded to him as she always did. When he pulled back, he took in her unfocused eyes and parted lips and wished they had more time. They couldn’t stay there like that.

  “We have to go.”

  She straightened with a groan. “What the hell did we just do?”

  He bit his tongue before something deep could spill out of his mouth. Telling her he didn’t want to leave her would just freak her out. And it wouldn’t change anything. He was still a Westhorpe. He was still going to leave. Sooner or later he’d get the itch to go and he would only hurt her.

  Instead, he flashed a grin. His teeth ached with the effort as he helped her straighten her skirt. “We just crossed something else off on your Thirty list.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Are you going to stand there lurking in the corner all afternoon, or are you going to come in and tell me what's bothering you?”

  Alec rolled back on his heels but no made no attempt to go into Adele’s office. How the hell was he supposed to tell her what he'd found?

  He told himself he didn't fear rejection once she found out her real son wasn't perfect. Wasn’t afraid she'd blame him. Right. Stop being a pansy ass. Spit it out and get it over with. “We need to talk.”

  She slid the glasses off the end of her nose, placing them on the files in front of her. She gave him a sharp, narrowed-eyed look that told him she was as shrewd as always. “Spit it out, Alec. I don't have all day.”

  That was her way. No nonsense. “I reviewed those files you wanted me to look through.” Stepping out of the shadows, he picked a seat directly in front of her. It was Band-Aid ripping time. “I found some inconsistencies with the accounts.”

  Her face was a mask. No tight drawing in of the eyebrows. No thinned lips. She might as well be wearing a kabuki mask.

  “Over the past three years, someone has been laundering money through the hotels. A little here, a little there. Over several different accounts, primarily the club accounts.” He let that part hang. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her it was accounts Max should have been watching.

  “How much?”

  “Sum total, just over two million.” He waited for the anger or even tears. He'd only seen Adele cry once and even then it had been in anger, over him. It was when he'd shown up on her door step asking to be taken in. She’d railed and screamed at his father, but not because he'd been unfaithful. More because his father didn't want to take him in. She'd cried then. If she’d ever cried after, he'd never seen it.

  But not now. She leaned back in her chair, fingers steepled under her chin.

  “I'm glad you confirmed it.”

  He frowned. “You knew?”

  “I had my suspicions. Really, Alec, you think there's much that goes on around here that I don’t know about?” She arranged the files on her desk. “Every hotel with a club or lounge started seeing more and more losses. I started shutting them down. Except for Synthesis. I didn’t know the extent of the damage. Doesn't help when it's lots of cash changing hands.”

  He shook his head. “It's been killing me trying to figure out how to tell you.”

  She clasped her hands in front of her.

  “You shouldn't have worried. You’re not the thief. You didn’t take a family business and defile it with drug money.”

  He shook his head. “But Max did. He’s got more problems than you know about.”

  Waggling a finger at him, she said, “I know all about his problems. No matter what I’ve done, he’s never turned out how I expected. He’s spoiled and arrogant and self-indulgent.”

  He couldn’t believe she was missing the bigger picture. “Mimi, it’s worse than that. The trouble waiting for him is far worse than what the board will do to him when I bring him home. The Sandoval brothers are bad news. The goon they sent will only come back. They think Max took something from them and they’ll do what it takes to retrieve it.” He ran his hands through his hair. “You can cover those accounts all you want. But you can’t save him from himself.”

  Her eyes were hard and shrewd. “You don’t think I know that? Lord knows I’ve tried with him, but he’s not interested in changing. He has your father’s temperament.” She shook her head. “I don’t know where I failed him.”

&nbs
p; Alec ground his teeth. “You would have been better off completely cutting him off and sending his ass to military school. But that’s beside the point now. Now you have to deal with the mess he made. And it’s bigger than you having to cover some accounts or make the numbers add up. If the Sandovals don’t get what they’re looking for, they’ll kill him. Even if he gives it back, they’ll still probably kill him. His only chance is to go to the Feds.”

  She frowned. “I don’t think—”

  He shook his head. “He’s been running drugs out of the larger clubs. So far, I can’t find evidence of anything out of Synthesis, but the clubs in La Jolla and Oceanside have been making more of a profit than they should be, while the hotel clubs that are part of Westhorpe are losing money in droves. He did more than run off. He left you holding the bag. The Sandovals have the Westhorpe in their crosshairs and they won’t just go away.”

  Adele didn’t even blink, just stared at him long and hard before pushing back her chair. As she stalked to the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the Gaslamp district, he worried that this would all be too much. Had he gone too far?

  “What are you going to do, Mother?”

  The look she gave him was quick. He rarely called her mother. It stunned her into silence for a moment. She blinked rapidly, sniffing as she stood up straighter. “I'm going to do what I always do. Deal with him. You bring him home to me, and I’ll fix it.”

  He blinked at her. “How? All due respect, but I don’t think you can control him.”

  The look she gave him reminded him of the time she’d caught him at age thirteen gawking at the naked sunbathers on one of the rooftop spas. She’d grilled him on the finer points of respecting women until he’d been sure to never disrespect another woman in his life.

  “I am still Co-founder and President of the Westhorpe Hotels. So take your due respect and shove it. You think I’m so loving I won’t send your idiotic brother to jail? You’re mistaken.” She inhaled and then let out a slow even breath as if she was counting the beats to calm herself. “He stole from me, you, the employees, and for what? To get into bed with the dregs of the earth? Jail’s too good for your brother. If I had my way, I’d send him to a Thai prison so deep and dark, he wouldn’t see daylight for some time. But I might have to settle for good-old fashioned San Quentin.”