Carrie was thinking exactly the same thing. Brad was risky. Incredibly risky. He was intense and fiery and passionate. He was so gorgeous he was almost too gorgeous to look at it. He was obviously used to getting women to do what he wanted, and the hell of it was that she really wanted to do exactly that.
She wanted him. There was no way to deny it, and that scared her. If she dated him he would have to risk everything, and while she had her shop and her own money she would be running the risk of angering her father, who didn’t take being angered lying down.
He couldn’t take her money—that came from a trust fund that her maternal grandparents had left behind—or her shop or her art. While the money was not very important to her, the last two things were.
But she didn’t have the easiest relationship with her father. He had always treated her like a sort of second-class citizen. She would never be her brother, and she wasn’t interested in the world of big business either. He had always been kind to her, despite that, and he had sheltered her almost to the extreme. She knew he still considered her something of a child, though she was twenty-six. A grown woman.
A woman who wanted, badly, a man that he hated.
She would be risking his love for her by dating Brad. That was a fact. There might, someday in the future, be the possibility that he would soften, but she doubted it. He hated everything that the partners of Rogue Enterprises stood for. They had not come from money, and, if she were to be totally honest, that made them outsiders in her father’s book. No, he would never accept her dating Brad.
Her father turned away to talk to someone else. Her feet ached from the high heels and her head ached from the high and strident hum of conversation. She saw, from the corner of her eye, Brad heading out the tall doors that led to the terraces. Her heart beat painfully against her ribs. It was going to rain, and so few dared to wander out there in their expensive finery, and she knew it would be deserted but for him.
She casually sauntered across the room, stopping here and there to engage in a few seconds of conversation, before going to the door and walking through it, closing it gently behind herself.
“There you are.”
Brad’s voice came from a pool of shadows further along the terrace. The windows cast long golden shadows where she stood, and her legs shook as she stepped out of that light and into the darkness beyond.
The city lay spread out around and beneath them, a glowing jewel. That the owner of that apartment had such a view spoke volumes about his wealth and power. Her hand shook as Brad took it and without a word they traversed the terrace, heading away from the windows and the eyes of any guest who might glance out at them.
The terrace wrapped around the whole of the apartment, and in one corner there was a shadowy alcove, the corners of the building fitting together in such a way that the recess was deep and dark, and big enough for both of them to fit easily into it. Beyond the terrace’s waist-high stone wall, the lights of the city glowed and beamed and pulsed with life. The wind, so fierce on the exposed parts of the terrace, was not able to touch them there in the alcove. His arms went around her and she sagged against his body, surrendering to all the crazy emotion he brought out in her.
Their mouths met and fused together. His lips were firm and warm, and his tongue tasted of wine and something else. His cologne filled her nostrils. His hands dropped along her back, his fingers circling each and every hard knob of spine.
Her ardor rose with every caress of his tongue against hers and with every stroke of his fingers. Her body shook, and the heat radiating up from his was welcome and irresistible too. His hands dropped to her ass, his fingers kneading her cheeks through the thin material of her dress and panties, then he cupped the ripe globes and lifted her so that her pelvis met his.
She ground against his thick and chubby erection, all her thoughts gone and only instinct remaining. Their tongues met and parted. His breath filled her lungs, her mouth, and she stepped upward, losing her shoes in the process.
He turned so that her back met the rough wall. Instantly, tactile sensations shot through her skin and body. His hands slid down her dress, grabbed it and lifted, exposing her upper thighs. His fingers found the damp spot on the front of her panties and the throbbing flesh of her clit. His mouth traveled down her neck and shoulders, his teeth and mouth meeting the fabric right over her nipples. Even through her clothes she felt the heat of his mouth, and a small cry threatened to spill from her mouth.
Her lips were pulped and bruised from that kiss, her senses reeling. Her hands found her dress’ top. She pushed the halves over her breasts aside and his mouth found her nipples, his teeth gripping the stiffened peaks just lightly as his tongue moved across the pebble-hard surfaces.
He yanked her panties down. They hovered on his fingers for a moment and then they flew into the air, a tiny scrap of silk and lace, and hurling over the edge of the building and into the wind.
Her breath came in hard gasps. Her toes dug into his claves as she climbed up his body. His hands freed his erection from his pants and he growled out, “Condom—somewhere. Got it!” They repositioned themselves and she helped him to roll the latex along his hard length, delighting in the feel of his silky flesh and the pounding muscles below.
Her legs went around his waist and the bottom side of her upper thighs rested in his hands. Her back scraped the wall again. Their mouths met. She let her hips sink forward. The tip of his cock nudged against the wet and swollen opening to her channel. He shifted and lifted just a little, and she glided down that hard and pulsing rod of his, her cry a small and delighted murmur as he filled her body with his hot and swollen member.
His flesh parted hers. Silken oils dripped from her sweet and tight inner folds, coating his cock. His teeth met her neck, her ear, and then her bottom lip, tugging gently before he kissed her again, so furiously it made her head spin.
His hips arched upward, thrusting his organ deeper into those wet and heated folds. His hand came around her body and she held on more tightly, her arms wrapping around his neck as he found the erect nub of her clit and circled it expertly before massaging it in a fierce back and forth stroke that he alternated with those tiny circles. His hips moved harder and faster. Lost in sensation, in the smell of his cologne and the scent of their sex drifting up around them, Carrie clenched her teeth and moved faster too, impaling herself on his dick.
His fingers continued to manipulate her clit and her body shook as she neared the edge of an approaching orgasm. Her ankles locked and her body moved up and down, releasing his quivering cock then sinking back onto it with a desperate force.
She came. Her walls clenched and released. Her fingers tightened and her nails dug deeply into his jacket, bunching and wrinkling it. Her eyes closed tight and then opened wide. His breath came in a hard gasp, and she struggled to stay moving even though her body wanted to just go limp and slump into his as the aftershocks rippled through her body, intensifying the pleasure of his every thrust.
She felt him come. He let out a small pained gasp and went stiff, then loosened. His body slammed into hers, making her breath escape in a long whoosh. His cock throbbed and pulsed inside her body, spurting hot seed into the condom’s tip.
Long moments passed. Stunned, blinking, and suddenly far too aware of just how dangerous what they had done was, Carrie moved so that he could withdraw from her, raising her hips a final time as his flaccid dick slid from her body.
He backed away slowly, his hands on her waist to steady her. Her shoes lay abandoned and forgotten, and she stared at them. One was dangerously close to the edge. What would she do if it tumbled over?
Her panties were gone and her swollen folds dripped fluids down her inner thighs. Her mouth, kissed so fiercely by his, ached, and her back felt scratched and sore.
Brad said, “Let me get those shoes.”
He turned away, sliding the condom off and tossing it over the side. She said, “What if there is some old lady down there and she just
got a face full of your condom?”
He looked at her, a chagrined expression on his face. Her laughter welled up and then rolled out of her mouth. He stared down at the street, his hands clutching both her shoe, and he looked so abashed and out of his league that she laughed harder.
He said, “God, I am going to spend the rest of my life wondering if I just really did that.”
“You did.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t mean if I tossed it over. I mean what if I really did hit some oldster with flying come?”
She took her shoes and slid them on. The wind outside the ell of the building was strong. It whipped her hair wildly around her face, and his was flying everywhere too.
She said, “I guess we’ll know if it hits the news.”
He guffawed. “There is that.”
She shot a look back along the dark sides of the terrace. Just above them, about thirty feet, was a small bit of light radiating from the windows. She heard a snatch of music and laughter and she sighed. “We should get back in there.”
“Or we could run off and go find a place that serves twenty-four-hour diner food. I don’t know about you, but I hate caviar and truffles, and that seems to be all that’s on the menu in there.”
“Of course it is,” she said softly. “Williams is trying to get you and my father to start a bidding war on that property over by the river. He’s in need of cash thanks to the fail of some stocks he held, and he’s hoping by pitting you two against each other he’ll get over what he originally asked.”
His grin was mild. “I know. How do you know?”
“My father’s determined to have it no matter what.”
He nodded, “I knew that too. I want to see you Carrie, I do. I don’t care what your father does about it either. The question is, do you?”
She considered that. “What you are asking for is pretty dangerous, you know. He doesn’t take things lightly. He’ll do his best to put you right out of business just to prove you don’t deserve me. He already dislikes you.”
“I know.”
She took a deep breath. “You’re willing to risk that?”
He said, “Absolutely.”
Her forehead creased, “But why? I mean, you love your company, and you worked so hard, you and your partners. How can you decide that dating me is worth what is going to happen—and you know as well as I do what will happen. And honestly, I think you and your partners and my dad are lunatics. I told him that that property is not worth a cent, but he won’t listen. He only wants it because you do.”
His face showed surprise. “What do you mean?’
She shook her head. “Businessmen. All of you think a lot alike. You and Dad both want to put up a major shopping center there, and so you are trying to get the land because you think it’s the best spot. But we, the people in this city who make the art and stuff, can give you a hundred reasons why that land’s no good.
“My friend Joy collects earth from there to make pottery. It’s wet. That means there’s water below it somewhere, probably an offshoot of the river that you can’t see because it is underground. I use it for a strike zone—”
He cut in, “A what?”
“A strike zone,” she said. “I plant lightning rods into the sand on the banks because lightning strikes there, naturally, so often that the rods are guaranteed to draw it. That’s how I made that piece you bought for Dante.”
“So you’re telling me that it gets hit by lightning very frequently, and that there might be an underground river below it? We saw nothing like that in the topographical studies.”
“Same thing my dad said. Who paid to have those studies done? The man trying to sell it to you. Oh, and real estate law just says he has to disclose known things. He doesn’t know, for sure, if there’s an underground river or how often lightning will strike. He also, probably, doesn’t know if there’s sinkholes due to the crumbling sediment below, because he has never had it tested. However another friend of mine, a former archeologist-turned-sculptor, has dug remnants of buildings and pottery and all sorts of other stuff there, and old city records show that there was once a large business district there a couple hundred years ago. But it moved and nobody has ever developed anything there ever since. So maybe you should find out why.”
Brad released a long breath. “I see. I’ll tell Dante and we’ll look into it.”
She bit her lip. “Look Brad, I want to see you. But if we are going to see each other, you have to know that it is going to be awful for you, and I don’t know if I want to put you through that.”
“I do know that, if we start dating, what other people try to do might be awful. I don’t think dating you is going to be awful at all. I mean you’re… Jesus, you are one hell of a woman. You can harness lightning, for God’s sake. You’re a smartass and funny as hell. You’re beautiful, and you have zero idea of just how beautiful you are. When I first saw you, I didn’t know either. Then you smiled and looked at me, and I got knocked right on my ass. I haven’t managed to get up yet either. Maybe I never will. I want you. Hell, I would go so far as to say I need you in my life. All I am asking for here is a chance.”
Her heart beat loudly in her ears. Nobody had ever told her she was beautiful, or that she was amazing. People loved her art, but they never said she was loved. Nobody ever told her she mattered the way he was telling her that she mattered right then, and no man had ever been willing to risk her father’s ire or his ill-will the way that Brad was.
He said, “I won’t crowd you. I will let you decide. I mean, I kind of have to. No matter how much I want to be with you, if you don’t want to be with me it doesn’t really matter, now does it?”
She bit her lips. “I do want to be with you Brad but… but I…”
They were interrupted by a loud voice coming toward them. A drunk man had staggered out and was talking angrily to himself. Brad shook his head. “I know him,” he said wearily. “Let me get him back inside before he goes right over the wall there.”
She nodded. Brad walked away to help the other man and she made her way back down the terrace and into the party, one hand going to her hair. Nobody noticed her arrival any more than they had noticed her departure.
The host stood gloating in the center of the room and she shot him an ugly look. It was men like him who incited such powerful competition between companies, and all for their own personal gain.
She made her way to the bar and asked for a glass of wine. Just as she turned away from the bar with that glass in hand she saw Brad walking in, the drunken man leaning on his shoulder heavily.
She made up her mind. She lifted her glass, got the attention of the surrounding people, and said, “Excuse me, folks. I just wanted to let you know that the land you are fighting over is a hunk of useless dirt. It’s going to crumble and you will lose all your money, and if you send out a geologist on your own dime to inspect it before you make any offers, you’ll know why soon enough. “
She set the wine down and walked across the room. Brad set the man into a chair and Dante, his face wearing an assessing look, popped open his phone and she knew he was calling someone to find out if what she had just said was true. Brad looked at him and nodded and Dante nodded back.
She walked up to Brad. He grinned at her broadly. She said, “That ought to get me kicked right out of here, don’t you think?”
He said, “You won’t go alone.”
She smiled and said, “Good. I’d hate to be the only person booted from the party.”
He said, “It’s not too late for a huge pizza and some pitchers of beer, if we hurry. What do you say?”
Her smile was huge. “It’s a date.”
He took her arm. Her father stomed over, his face red and swollen with anger, “Carrie, what do you think you are doing? He’s the enemy!”
She shook her head, “No, the man trying to sell all of you a bum piece of property is the enemy, Dad. I love you, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
She turne
d her back. Brad said, “I won’t let anything happen to her, Heeden,” in a deathly calm voice then he took her hand and they swept out of the overcrowded rooms and into the hallway beyond.
Brad stopped right before the elevator, took her into his arms and kissed her hard. He said, “One thing, before we even leave here.”
She asked, “Yes?”
His grin was devilish. “Do you think someone got hit in the face with your panties?”
They started laughing and that laughter drifted behind them as they walked toward the doors.
THE END
IMPORTANT MESSAGE
I wanted to start off by saying thank you for choosing to read my book.
I know there are a lot of books out there so I am very grateful that you took the time of your day to read my book.
I wanted to also quickly explain that you are going over 27 books from me within this one book you purchased! As my token of appreciation I've included 26 FREE BONUS BOOKS!
To read the bonus stories, just keep scrolling down after you've read the main story or check the Table of Contents.
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Table of contents
Married to the Cowboy
Introduction
Desired by the Alien King
Desired by the Alien Prince
Desired by the Alien Lord
Desired by the Alien Rogue
My Alien Alpha
My Alien Abductor
My Alien Invader
Step Lover
Step Boss
Step Bastard
My Billionaire Saviour
Highlander's Pride
Highlander's Desire
Highlander's Love
HighLander's Need
Highlander's Fight
Desired by the Alien King #2
Too Hard To Handle
Wanted by the Alpha Lion
My Alien Lord
Married To The Cowboy (Love In Collin's Ranch 3) Page 74