by L. J. Woods
Fighting with these dinosaur dickheads all day hasn’t been good for my temper. Neither is finding my girl in a towel in the dead of winter. The horny assholes at ERA would have a field day with her. Then they’d have to face my fists.
That cute nose twists along with those soft lips. “It’s not always about you.” She pulls her hand away and I let her.
“You sure?” Leaning back in my seat, my eyes wander her face. Her red cheeks and nose make me want to have my way with her right here. Right now. “‘Cause you sure as hell make it seem that way.”
My eyes land on her thighs, one of my favourite spots. She has goosebumps but bringing my palm to her skin sends a jolt through me. My abs twitch. There’s another in my pants, but I need an answer to the question in my head. “Who did this?”
“You did this!” She crosses her arms.
“The only thing I do these days besides business is thinking about my face buried in that sweet pussy.” Leaning over the console, I keep my hand on her thigh, lost in her golden gaze, those hazel eyes the highlight of my life. “Now, who did this? If you want me to fix this, you gotta trust me.”
That’s all I’ve been doing the past week. Fixing things. Making sure Baldy didn’t leave behind any traces back at the mansion including getting rid of the body. All while trying to regain power over King Financial. If Pops could see me now.
Jo sighs. “I was leaving swim class and Georgina couldn’t stand the fact that I exist so I guess this is my punishment.” She makes a sweeping gesture towards herself in the towel, my jacket hanging off her shoulders. This is a damn good look for her. I can’t keep my eyes from dropping to her tits, the tops of her breasts peeking out.
“C’mere.” Giving her a crook of my finger, I lean closer, beckoning her to close the distance. “I miss you.”
She knits her eyebrows, eyes falling to my lips for a second before she hits me with that gaze. “You’d think having me in the same house means you wouldn’t.”
She’s pushing that stubborn act some more but I’m sick of it. She’s had her fun. Reaching for that narrow chin, I pull her closer. She hesitates but like she always does, she lets me.
My lips hover inches from hers, her eyes dropping to my tongue between my teeth and she still doesn’t budge. I can’t even tell if she’s breathing.
Coconut and vanilla sweep into my nose, my eyes on her lips as I inch closer and closer. Kissing Jo is everything I crave. It’s easy to get lost in her soft lips, the sexy sighs she gives when she’s as far gone as I am. Just thinking about kissing her makes everything inside me relax.
Except for my cock. The guy’s raging.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Jo jumps and I mutter, “What the fuck.”
Looking towards the door. I’m ready to lay into whoever thinks they can touch my ride.
Jo whips her head towards the door, another head of curls on the other side, through the window. She pulls on her towel as if anyone can see her through these dark tints.
“Low!” Jo opens the door when she can’t figure out how to lower the window. “Hey, is everything okay?” Her voice comes out like she just ran a block.
Willow peers in, smiles at me but she scowls at her sister. They’ve been like that all week. She rolls her big brown eyes. “I was gonna go to Bella’s but Nancy’s freaking out.” Her eyes drop to her sister’s towel. “Where are your—Nevermind. Not sure I want to know.”
Jo falls back in her seat as Willow gives her the phone. Looking it over, she lets out a groan, “Why now?”
“Why what?” I ask.
“Y’know, this is also your fault!” Her eyes narrow at me again, a squint of gold and she’s lucky her sister is here. “Your stupid fucking deal. Nancy wants us to go to the Mayor’s Ball.”
“Right, the one hosted by the Huangs,” I confirm. “That’s tonight.”
Jo sits up. “It’s hosted by Cindy and Edwin? Lea’s parents?”
“The Supreme Squad?” Willow asks. Jo opens the door wider, pulling Willow on her lap so she can close the door.
Jo groans, “Great.”
“It gets better,” Willow says. “She’s threatening to kick us out if we don’t go.”
“Move in with me,” I say. Not like I haven’t already asked her to. “You don’t even sleep there anymore.”
“Yeah, because you’re holding me hostage in your own home,” Jo groans. “Great way to move in together.”
“Wait, he’s what?” Willow looks between us but Jo knows I’m doing this for her own good. I can’t have any detectives showing up at the Archibalds’ when I’m not there. Not a chance. I’m not letting them get to my girl.
Jo ignores her sister. “I’m not moving in with you like this.”
“Then I’ll be your date.”
“You can bring dates?” Willow asks. “Can I bring Jordan?”
“Jordan?” Jo scrunches her nose. “If the Huangs are hosting it, won’t he already be there?”
“Then I guess it makes it easy for him to be my date then doesn’t it?”
“I didn’t agree to bring dates,” Jo argues.
“I’m your date,” I growl.
“No.”
Fuck. “Let me be your date and I’ll tell Georgina and her squad to back off.”
“You wouldn’t do it otherwise?”
“Not when I have a deal you can’t say no to,” I smirk. “What’ll it be, Jo? Sinister swim classes or a date with the King?”
Her eyes hit the ceiling before she lets out a groan, “Fuck my life.”
* * *
“There are our girls!”
Nancy’s voice fills the lobby when we enter the venue, Willow behind us.
“Here we go,” Jo mutters, Jordan appearing next to Willow in a suit that matches her shiny gold dress.
He pulls her away as Nancy rushes towards us, coming out of the golden ballroom with a silver gown on her fair skin. She eyes Jo’s outfit before she twists her nose. “Good enough. You’re here. Please. Come.”
“Good enough?” I repeat.
Jo looks like the goddess she is in a silky black gown that clings to her frame. Like a vintage pinup doll with her plump red lips and her curls pinned to one side. Nancy looks over her shoulder, waving me off as she ushers Jo into the main room through giant white doors.
Grabbing a glass of champagne from a server in the typical attire, bowtie and vest, I follow them inside the room. A chandelier sparkles above the shiny spacious dancefloor, white-clothed tables surrounding it. People gather in conversation on it instead of dancing. Like Eric and some men in penguin suits laughing to one side.
Nancy looks behind her again, pointy chin my way. “I didn’t mean you too, Damien.”
With a smirk, I let the champagne glass fall from my hold, crashing to the floor. Nancy scoffs, looking around at the guests who have their eyes our way.
She’s nervous.
Perfect.
Doing what she wants, backing off, I lean against a white column near the door, ankles crossed, a hand in my pocket. As another tray of champagne moves by, I reach for another, tilting the glass her way when she glances back.
Taking a sip, bubbly settling in my empty stomach, my eyes scan the room. Willow sits at a table with Jordan, a large display of flowers in the middle. They’re whispering to each other before Eric beckons her over to the group of old men he’s standing between. Both Jo and Willow roll their eyes in Rowland unison, Willow obliging, her shoulders hunched.
Left behind, Jordan clenches his fist, and man, this kid is getting angsty with age. With parents like the Huangs, I’m not surprised.
Nancy stays back as Jo and Willow become the topic of conversation. Something exotic and new for these pathetic pigs stewing in money and filth. It’s almost as disgusting as I am.
Nancy glances back, eyeing me with the glass to my lips. She hesitates, shoulders dropping before she walks over. My jaw tightens as she approaches, eyes narrowing as her hands come to my shoulder
s. I push her off with a hard nudge.
“Damien,” she says, hands out front as I eye her with my lip to my nose. “I know you’re going through a rough time with Marion and Seb—” She pauses. “Your dad. Do you think you should be here right now?”
The bitch can’t even say his name. She’s been fucking my dad for years and I have as much respect for Nancy as I have the gum in the middle of The Grove. She didn’t do a damn thing to soften the blow and now she’s using my girl, my Medusa, like a puppet.
“Why?” Grabbing another glass of champagne, I take a slow sip of the sweet liquid. My eyes narrow at her while I double fist what I expect is Bollinger. Boring. “Worried I’ll ruin your little charity show?”
“Eric and his partners invest in King Financial,” she reminds me with a hushed voice. She takes a small step closer in pointy blue shoes. “Think about that before you do anything that could ruin it for the both of us.”
That gets her another smirk. Nancy Archibald telling me to think? This should be fun. Nodding, I watch her wide, worried eyes as I call the waiter back, downing my drinks and taking a couple more.
“Damien.” I can’t tell if that’s a plea or a warning, but it doesn’t matter. My mind’s already made up.
My index finger out, I’m being polite enough to request another minute. In the meantime, I down the first glass before the other, my smirk growing wider on the final gulp.
Smooth, sweet, delicious.
Like Jo.
Like this plan.
CRASH!
Both empty glasses drop to the ground, smashing at my black leather oxfords. Staring her in those not-so-innocent blues, her pink lips flatten, that vein in her forehead showing its head.
Oh, Nancy. This has only begun. Don’t you know fucking with a King, or fucking a King in her books, will only lead to disaster?
Jo’s head whips to me, Eric’s head lifting towards the noise. Keeping that smirk on my face, I make my way towards them, my legs looser now with the booze kicking in.
“Damien!” Nancy’s quiet call doesn’t bother me as I make my way towards Jo.
Some guests whisper some bullshit about me as I get closer but I don’t give a fuck what they’re saying. I’m here to do one thing and one thing only.
Make her mine.
“Uh, my Joelle is dating Damien King.” Eric’s feet spread like he’s steadying himself for a blow. “The heir to King Financial who we are happily partnered with.”
He says “happily” like it’s a reminder of our business. Well, he did business with my father, not me. And I handle business my way.
His Joelle. Pft, what a fucking dildo. No one calls her that. But with those eyes on me as I get closer, it’s hard to correct him. My eyes land on Jo’s lips and the rest of the room goes black, Eric’s drawl murmuring out. It’s not until my arm, reaches around her, my palm on her face that I give her one of those kisses that makes me forget who the fuck I am.
Once her lips are on mine, it fuels this confidence. It fuels my power. She tastes like sweet syrup, her lips smooth and delicate. Kissing Jo is like hitting that yellow block in Mario. Power-up after power-up and I’m not stopping. She sighs against my lips, one of the only ways to calm her down and hell, it calms me too. But that’s not why I’m doing this.
I don’t stop when Eric calls out to us, when Nancy yells in disapproval. I keep tasting her tongue, my hand way too close to her ass not to reach for it through her dress.
And I want more.
Pulling up the fabric of her dress, I want to expose her skin to me. I want to feel that sting on my hand when I smack her ass.
“Damien,” Eric says, his hand on my shoulder. “Enough.”
Shrugging him off, I groan against Jo’s lips, “I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough.”
“What’re you doing?” Jo murmurs, her cheeks red, face flushed. With her eyes all droopy, it makes me want to fuck her right here.
“Fixing this shit,” I promise, smoothing a hair behind her ear.
Trust me.
Guests murmur and mutter around us, Nancy’s blonde hair whipping from side to side. Willow giggles but Jordan glares at Jo. The fuck is his problem?
“I’m sorry everyone,” Nancy comes to the middle of the floor, looking around with red cheeks. She clasps her hands together. “Forgive him. Damien is grieving the loss of his family.”
Some businessmen nod, others look like they pity me, but I’ll give them something to pity.
“Shouldn’t you still be grieving, Nancy?” I ask this loud enough for the murmuring room to hear. “Figured you’d be crying your eyes out since you’ve been fucking my dad for years.” Her eyes go wide, hands to her face as gasps come from around us.
Eric takes a step forward so I square up with him, pushing Jo to the side. He wants to go? I’m game.
“I thought we had a deal,” he says, my eyes dropping to his clenched fists.
“We did. And now I’ve changed my mind.” Taking Jo’s warm hand in mine, she doesn’t pull away and that gives me the confidence I need to double-down. “She’s better off with me instead of you using her as some pathetic ploy in your business.”
Eric takes another step forward before Nancy calls to him but he’s not backing down. He’s a pretty boy who went to Harvard and joined their golf team. I’m a hockey player with two feet on him. Guess who’s winning this round?
“I’ll send the whore back to The Grove,” he threatens. “Or better yet, juvie.” His hand comes out to the side like he’s over the nice dad shtick. “It doesn’t work the way you want it to, Damien. Quit acting like a child.”
He makes me laugh. “You sure you wanna do that? You sure you wanna risk it when I’m the one who has all it takes for this to go away? For everyone to, ‘forget what they saw’?” I pause using air quotes to emphasize what I’m getting at. “You can’t pay these people to keep their mouth shut without taking a dip into the ol’ King wallet. So come talk to me when you find your senses.”
Without giving him time to answer, I start leading Jo out of the room, all eyes on us. “I’ll send for her things!” I call, glancing at Willow.
She’s still beside Jordan who pulls her to his side. I’ll have to send a car to make sure she gets back to the house but for now, I’m only dealing with one Rowland.
My Rowland.
Jo waits until we’re outside before she pulls away from me. “What the fuck was that?” I unlock the door to my car, ushering her inside the passenger’s seat. I wanna be out of here before all this settles and a coked-up Eric has his fit.
When I get in, pressing the ignition, she doesn’t let up. “When you said you wanted to be my date, I didn’t expect this. What about Willow?”
“She’ll get home safe, I’ll make sure of it.” When I look at Jo, her arms crossed, she doesn’t look satisfied. “Would you rather I embarrass her?”
“Oh, but I’m fair game?”
What the fuck is her problem? Keeping my eyes on the road, my grip tightens on the wheel. She should be happy. I just freed her from her evil foster home and she’s giving me shit.
“Kissing you embarrasses you?”
“No! It’s not about the kiss!”
Well, alright. “So it doesn’t?”
She bangs at my dash. ”I said I didn’t want to move in with you. Is that why you came? To make me move in with you?”
My foot’s heavy on the gas. “So you’d rather stay with people who use you and your sister like puppets instead of crashing with me?”
“You do the same!” She’s yelling now and we can’t have that. I need Jo to be calm and collected until this Marion thing blows over. Pulling the car over doesn’t get her to stop, though. No, she’s too fucking stubborn for that. Too easily riled up. “I don’t want to live with you because everywhere you go there’s trouble! We’re trouble! We killed your—”
I’m out of the car before she can finish that sentence. I know what we did, I don’t need to hear it again.
/> Opening the side of the door, she looks at me with those cat-shaped eyes. She tries again, “We—”
My palm over her mouth stops her from saying those words. The ones that’ll ruin what I’m about to do. Dropping to my knees, I take her face in my palms and I kiss her again. She murmurs against my lips for a second before her body softens, her hands coming to my shoulders.
Pulling her legs over to the side, she faces me, her eyes dazed and low.
“Wh—” My finger pushing in her mouth, against that warm tongue shuts her up again before I spread her legs with my elbow.
Her lips around my finger remind me of what she does with that tongue on my cock, swirling it over the tip. Pressing my fingers between her legs, my cock twitches in my slacks again. She’s already wet for me. She always is. No matter how hard she wants to fight it.
With a finger between her folds, the tip of her clit touches my index. Her sigh gets me harder as I spread her legs further, tugging her lacy thong down her long smooth legs.
“Did you wear these for me?” I ask, my lips sliding down those buttery smooth thighs. Warm and soft.
“Damien,” she sighs but hearing my name on her tongue makes me sink my teeth into her. I want to devour her whole. I plan on it, her warm skin like heaven on my tongue. She stammers, “W-we gotta talk about w-what happened.”
She’s not convincing, staring down at me with my head between her legs, that hazy look in her eye. When my eyes drop to her glistening pearl I growl, “I’m through talking, Medusa.”
Eight
Jo
Damien’s full of surprises.
This one? My favourite.
He’s on his knees on the side of the wintery road, my legs spread, my panties in his hand. He’s staring at my pussy like he’s won a pile of gold before he dives right in.
Instant, fucking, nirvana.
“God, why does that feel so good?” The words force out my lips with a sigh, Damien’s tongue running between my folds. When he swirls it on my clit it sends waves of toe-curling glory right through me. I don’t know what’s come over him, but there’s no stopping him now. Not when he moves his tongue like … that.