“People do irrational things to protect their family,” I say.
“Like the way you protected your father’s reputation years ago?”
I want to tell him he’s crossing the line, but after what’s at stake, I feel a need to tiptoe around this man.
“Look, I want to apologize for my uncle. My father was a much better man, and I’d never behave like Stan.”
“I know you’re nothing like that man.”
“Maybe I’m being selfish to sell my father’s company, but I like to think he’d understand that I’m doing it to save his reputation from being tarnished any further.”
I sit up and turn my chair straight.
“Kenneth, he didn’t expect to die at the age of fifty-seven. I’d spoken to him many times, and he believed he had more time to show you the ropes. I also don’t believe he knew what Stan was doing. He wouldn’t have tolerated it, so I think you’re doing the right thing.”
He fidgets with his tie and sighs. He’s two years older than me and ashamed he can’t run his father’s company successfully the way I have ran Golding, but I also haven’t had someone basically stealing from me along the way.
“Damon, I need you to tell me there are no more secrets. Are there any other surprises my uncle could leak about you?”
“No, and I don’t believe anything else will come out about my father.” Unfortunately, if it’s proven Stan blackmailed me, Kenneth’s family will be the one tarnished soon. He stands and reaches out his hand to me.
“OK, then I’ll make sure nothing stops the final signing of this merger. You have a good evening.” After treading to the door, he hesitates. “I must say that from what I’ve seen on the news, Ms. Wynn is a beautiful woman. If she’s the same on the inside, you should hang onto her.”
He smiles and leaves the room. The way others want me with Alayna, I’m wondering how angry and lonely I’ve appeared all these years.
Chapter Thirteen
Alayna
I’m fixing dinner for Damon. He’s had a long, stressful day, and I’m partly to blame for that, so I’m trying to plan a romantic evening since everything after will be far from romantic. It will be steamy, erotic and sinful.
I shift my weight from one barefoot to the other as the ache returns between my thighs. It happens each time I envision Damon touching me.
I’m in one of his white dress shirts, washing vegetables at the kitchen sink. The first few buttons are undone, and I’m wearing silky, black panties.
I wanted to go shopping to buy lingerie, but I knew that was out of the question after today’s episode, so I decided one of his shirts would work. I have a strong suspicion it will have the same effect.
When dinner is almost finished, I set the table and light candles. I’m adding the cranberries and toasted almonds to a spinach salad at the counter when I hear Damon enter the penthouse.
My pulse quickens, and I know any second he’ll be stealing my oxygen when he fills the space around me. Sure enough, I feel his strong hands glide down my arms and his nose nuzzle deep in my hair. He breathes me in, and every time feels like the first.
“I think you’re going to be dinner,” he whispers before his masterful lips parade along my neck.
Twisting around until I’m facing him, I smile, and that heady gaze of his battles to cripple me.
“I worked hard on dinner, so I’ll have to be dessert,” I say, standing ground ... for now.
“Maybe it’s time I challenge you.”
“I made bacon wrapped filet, baby red potatoes and a spinach salad, so please let us eat first.”
“You’re always feeding me bacon. Are you trying to give me heart disease?”
This is one battle he doesn’t want. I frown at him.
“Just so you know, bacon is a part of the periodic table. Ba is for barium, C is for carbon, O is for oxygen, and N is for nitrogen. We need bacon in this world.” I shrug. “Well, some say Co for Carbon, but I prefer to think of bacon like oxygen, you know, a necessity.”
Damon bursts into laughter. He lets my arms go and holds his stomach. I can’t help but giggle over how hard he’s laughing. I’ve never witnessed it before, and it’s divine.
“And you say I’m the manipulator.”
Slipping around him, I go to the freezer and pull out a pint of ice cream from Emack and Bolio’s shop.
“OK, Mr. Pot calling the kettle black.” I hold up the container while my other hand hugs my hip. “Banana Foster cooked in brown sugar, butter, and dark rum. Margaret informed me that this is a staple here, along with many other flavors, except for vanilla of course.”
“Of course.” He continues to chuckle, but the longer he stares at me, the more his expression changes. He begins stalking toward me, his eyes purposeful and filled with desire.
“I’ll have you know that Emack and Bolio’s opposes the use of milk from cows that are injected with the genetically induced chemical BST that increases milk production.”
I try not to giggle as he approaches. Without taking his eyes off mine, he swipes the container from my hand and opens it. A finger full of ice cream is soon in my mouth, and I slowly drag my lips up it.
He appears in agony as his forehead wrinkles and breath hitches, his eyes darkening the room. His control is slipping as he tries to calmly close the lid and place the ice cream in the freezer.
In seconds, his lips are slamming against mine as he pulls me into a powerful embrace. There’s something sensual about his warm tongue mingling with the cold from the ice cream. A growl fills my mouth as a hand slides over my ass and squeezes.
“Fuck, Alayna. I don’t know how not to touch you every second you’re near.” Lips are on mine once again, his tongue sharing all his feelings. I clutch his hips and yank him against me as he ardently sweeps and caresses.
He bathes my skin with his searing breath before he suckles my bottom lip and drags it between his teeth. I’m losing my battle over dinner.
Releasing my mouth, he presses our foreheads together. “You do mad, crazy things to every part of me. I smell your scent when you’re not around.
“I’ll picture you touching me, and baby, I swear I can feel it.” He skims his bottom lip across mine. “I can imagine your taste, and it’s there on my tongue.”
“Damon.” I shudder as the longing that consumes me overflows with every harsh breath. His passionate words are spellbinding.
“I love you, Alayna.”
I gasp, inhaling a rush of air that’s now suppressed in my lungs as I’m suspended in time. I’ve grown to realize Damon is capable of loving someone, but I didn’t know if he was capable of acknowledging it.
Letting out a sharp breath, I slide my hand up between us and cup his face.
“I love you, too.”
He kisses me passionately yet again, conveying what I now know is not only lust but love.
“We’ll eat, but then you’re mine, precious. All. Mine.”
Damon
I believe I was more stunned than she when I said those words. I didn’t plan it. Coming home and finding her doing something kind for me had my heart beating faster.
Then she said the funniest thing about bacon, and that giggle and radiant smile done me in. Admiring her across the kitchen in only my shirt ... god she steals my breath. I realized at that moment that every last part of me adores every single, special part of her.
Alayna abruptly pulls away and runs to the stove.
“Oh, no. Our food is probably dry. Luckily, I had turned off the oven.” She’s bent over in only panties and my shirt, and I’m supposed to care about dinner?
“It will taste delicious. It’s bacon, remember?” I’m behind her now, bringing her back against the hard-on I’m still fighting.
“Ha ha, but you’re probably right.” She stands, and I groan, wishing I could bend her back over.
During dinner, I finally share with her the details of the takeover. I feel I can trust Alayna with the information, and it feels g
ood to talk about it with someone outside of Golding and Vasser.
My phone rings when we’re finishing, and I see that it’s my father. I want to ignore it, but I haven’t spoken to him since he returned from his vacation.
“I need to take this, Alayna.”
“Hello, Father,” I say with a sigh as I walk to my study. If anyone has a chance at killing my good mood, it’s him.
“Reed. How are you? I thought I would’ve heard from you by now, considering what’s happening.”
“I’ve been immensely busy at Golding. How was your vacation in the Bahamas?”
“Well, fine except for the impending doom I felt the entire time. Your mother, Debra, and the children enjoyed it, anyway. I want to speak to you about this situation, but I don’t feel comfortable discussing it over the phone. Can you please drive over tomorrow evening?”
“I’m not sure if I’ll get out of the office in time.”
“Reed, you can make time. It’s important we discuss this, and your mother and I want to meet Ms. Wynn. Debra said it’s true you’re seeing her.”
My father sounds like he’s asking more than stating, and he sounds surprised.
“Yes, I’m dating her.”
“I hear she’s living with you, so don’t you think we should meet her?”
“I’ll ask her if she minds, but we’ll have to stop by late.”
“That’s fine. We’ll see you then.”
I hang up with my father and swivel back and forth in my chair while thinking. Alayna living with me ... I viewed it more like she was staying with me temporarily, but I don’t believe I want her to leave.
My phone rings in my hand. It’s Seth, so I answer it.
“Hey, man,” I say.
“How are you holding up, buddy?”
“Good, and you?”
“Fine. I’ll be better when you let Alayna out of your sight for a night.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Felicia wants some real time with her. It was the original point of Alayna moving to the city.”
“It hasn’t been safe for her to be out running around.”
“Then have her invite Felicia over, and you and I can go out for a drink.”
“She’s meeting my family tomorrow night so maybe Thursday.”
“Wow, already?”
“Yes, Seth,” I reply tiredly. I have a gorgeous redhead to tend to, so he needs to move this along.
“Well, I think that’s great, but this whole mess needs to blow over.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more. I have to go, man. I’ll speak to you Thursday.”
I end the call and go to the kitchen, but Alayna isn’t there. Entering my room, I see her stretched across the bed on her stomach, reading from her Kindle.
“Hi,” I say.
She turns her body enough to see me and smiles.
“Everything OK?”
“Yes,” I say as I strip off my shirt. I find a pair of lounge pants and change into them. “My family wants to meet you. Would you mind stopping by there with me tomorrow night? We wouldn’t stay long.”
Sitting up, she turns around and faces me.
“Do you want me to meet them?”
“Yes, or I wouldn’t have asked you,” I say with a smirk.
She’s smiling now. “I’d love to go with you.”
“What are you reading?” I ask as I climb onto the end of my bed and crawl toward her.
“A rough draft of my novel. I find it easier to recognize mistakes when I read it from something other than my computer.”
She’s now frowning. Sitting back on my legs in front of her, I take my thumb and index finger and lift the corners of her mouth.
“Why are you frowning?”
“You haven’t been getting time to write.”
Alayna’s worried about me. It’s why she’s precious.
“No. I’ve been too busy with work.”
“Do you want to now? I can leave you alone for a while.” I take the Kindle out of her hand and lean over to put it on the nightstand. She’s not going anywhere.
Chapter Fourteen
Alayna
“It’s not the act of being bound that I love; it’s the fact you see nothing but me when I am.”
Damon is resting on his legs in front of me as I sit on his bed. He’s leisurely unbuttoning the shirt of his I’m wearing, his eyes fixated on mine as he works his way down, but his abs are drawing my gaze away.
His pajama pants are low on his hips, exposing even more of his sculpted body. I can’t resist reaching out my fingers and traveling a path down his stomach. He flinches. Oh, he’s ticklish.
“Don’t.”
“Why can’t I touch you, but you can touch me?”
“Your hand is getting in the way of my mission.”
“I think it’s because you’re ticklish,” I say with a giggle.
He stills, his fingers still grasping the last button on my shirt. That wicked, entrancing stare is projecting a warning loud and clear, but I’m still feeling reckless today. Our eyes are having a showdown of wills.
“Don’t. Even. Think. About it.”
In a flash, my hands are on his stomach. The way he’s sitting on his legs, it’s easy for me to push him over onto his back. I think I tickle him a whole three seconds before he’s torturing me back, bringing me down on top of him to where my arms are now trapped between us.
“I warned you, precious,” he says, his fingers digging into my waist. His chuckles are the most heavenly notes to my ears.
“I ... can’t ... breathe ... Damon,” I say between laughs and gasps for air. I’m soon flat on my back, our hands intertwined on each side of my head. He’s straddling my legs and gazing down at me. Damn, when did his smile disappear?
“I was in a good mood and was going to go easy on you tonight, but you have been misbehaving all damn day and are hell bent on being obstinate.”
I’m trying to catch my breath as he bends over and pulls my bottom lip through his teeth slowly and provocatively. He climbs off and undoes the last button on my shirt before slipping it out from under me.
In a flash, I’m flipped onto my stomach. Damon is at the corner of the bed, reaching over and tossing the pillows off. “Hand, Alayna,” he commands.
He reaches under the mattress and reveals a restraint.
“Damn, you had those put in here, too?”
“Quiet, and it’s sir.” He takes my wrist and puts it in the restraint before moving to the other side of the bed. He sighs, appearing frustrated that I’m not willingly handing over my other wrist.
“Now, Alayna,” he says, reaching his hand out and furrowing that brow at me. Even when he’s being obstinate, he’s handsome as ever. I do as he says and wait for his next move.
When I hear him go into his closet, I begin to panic. He walks past me carrying something small and goes into the bathroom.
Walking back over to the bed, he sets a tube of lubricant on the nightstand. What the hell is that for? Being tied up has me soaking wet already.
Damon sits at the head of the bed next to me. My cheek is pressed against the bed as I blow out a huge breath. It strikes me that he never restrained my ankles.
He sticks his hand out in front of me and has something slipped onto his finger like a ring. It’s black and sticks up about four inches. Oval shaped, it tapers all the way up to a rounded tip. “Do you know what this is?” he asks.
“No, sir.”
“It’s an anal vibrator.”
I suck in a puff of air. Pulling his finger out a little from the ring, he pushes a button at the bottom, turning it on to vibrate. I hear the hum as he touches my arm with it. “It’s not too strong, as you can feel, and only two and three quarter inches can go in.”
After turning it off, he strips his pajama pants, purposely displaying his twitching cock in front of my face. “Like everything else you’ve been brave enough to try, I have no doubt you’re going to enjoy it.”
Grabbing the lubricant, he climbs onto the bed behind me. Besides my lip quivering, the rest of my body is trembling. Will it hurt or feel wonderful? Will it be awkward and embarrassing? So many thoughts are racing through my mind.
“Since this is the first time, I’ll release your hands when I do it so that you can relax and move comfortably for the most pleasure.”
I soon feel Damon spreading my legs and pushing them upward until they’re resting underneath my ass, my knees bent. My arms are stretched toward each corner of the bed, and my butt is sticking out.
My chest and cheek are pressed to the sheet as I take shallow, labored breaths. Fingers slide right into me before Damon is leaning over my body, holding himself up by his hand. His hot breath is soon on my neck.
“Fuck, Alayna, your pussy is wet and eager as always,” he whispers in my ear.
I whimper as his fingers begin to move, raking along my flesh. He nips my neck several times before he’s sitting back up. A hand fists my hair while the other continues to work in and out of me, and I’m already going to come from his erotic words and talented fingers.
I cry out his name and moan while pushing back against him. The restraints pull so tightly around my wrists, but I can’t stop encouraging his fingers to go deeper.
“That’s it. Come for me. Squeeze my fingers like you squeeze my hard dick.” He’s growling and tugging my hair. “God, Alayna, I need to bite you, taste you, fuck you.”
My long orgasm is ending as he lets me go. The next thing I feel is his tongue inside of me. He’s on his back and between my legs, his greedy mouth buried against me, fingers digging into my legs.
“Oh, I can’t take it again, sir,” I cry as the pleasure starts to build. “You’re coming three more times, Alayna.” His tongue is ravishing as it twirls around my clit before he’s sucking on it.
I’m jerking my wrists as my legs shake, and although the pleasure is almost painful, I can’t stop leaning into his blistering mouth and taunting tongue.
“Oh, god, again.” I moan wildly as the dizzying sensations pummel my body. An explosion spreads through me, and a confetti of colors dance behind my closed eyelids.
One Urge, One Plea, Keep Me Trilogy Page 28