“Mr. Stonehart says you’re to open that before I do, ma’am,” Simon says, looking at me through the rear view mirror. He pauses. “I suggest that you do.”
I blink. “Excuse me? Was that a threat?”
“No, Miss Ryder,” Simon replies smoothly. “Nothing more than a friendly suggestion.”
I eye the closed package. It looks like I have no choice now. I’m in Jeremy’s world again, and here–contract or no–I have to abide by his rules.
“Fine,” I say. Then I add, in the most juvenile way possible, “but only because I want to.”
“Of course that’s why, Miss.”
I place the black box on my lap and tear back the wrapping. I lift the lid—and take a sharp intake of breath.
Inside the package is a cell phone. My cell phone, not just a replica. I can tell by the familiar scuff marks on the back. Underneath it is my wallet.
The one that had been stolen.
I pick it up and look inside. Not a single card is missing. There’s my ID, my driver’s license, the credit cards Jeremy gave me. Even the cash I kept inside!
“What the hell is this?” I mutter under my breath.
Simon chuckles. “I was told you might react that way.” He turns around in his seat, shifts gears, and starts to drive.
***
My mind races through all the possible scenarios on the way back to the mansion.
Jeremy is fucking with me. Big time. This behavior isn’t what I’d expect from him. But I could expect this from Stonehart. No problem.
I wring the hem of my jacket nervously as we get closer and closer to Stonehart’s home. I have no idea who I’ll find waiting on my arrival.
The phone… the wallet… it’s proof that the robbery wasn’t a random job. It was planned by Jeremy and executed by his thugs.
How else do I explain it? He had me watched the whole time I was away. I already know that. Maybe the burglary was his way of showing me that I could not stand on my own—that even when I’m away, my life is dictated by his desire.
I’m no more than a plaything to him. Is this what I get for not reciprocating with the “L” word when he said it to me? Or is this him re-establishing control after Fey’s revelation?
Whatever it is… wherever we stand now… it’s worse than going back to square one. No matter what freedoms were granted with the burning of the contract, I am still very much under his control. Every day.
Is this the type of thing that keeps Rose close to him? She is a free woman, of her own admission. Yet Stonehart commands enough power over her to make her obey him completely.
The limo pulls up in front of the mansion. The lights inside are on. That means Jeremy is home… waiting for me.
Simon opens my door. “A pleasure seeing you again, Ma’am,” he says.
I brush past him. In one hand, I have my cell phone. In the other, my wallet. They are the only two possessions I have left from the trip…and I didn’t even know they came back with me.
It had to have been a set-up. It had to have been. Much like the incident with Hugh, and the resulting video feed. At the office building, Jeremy either hired actors, or used CGI to alter the tape, or…something.
I don’t know why, either. That frightens me most. I’m about to enter the lair of a veritable monster—and I’m doing so willingly.
Maybe that’s the part that should frighten me most.
I climb the stairs to the front door, every step making the horrid anxiety swirling inside worse and worse. My hands tighten on the cell phone. On the wallet. They are my two ties to reality.
And to Jeremy’s manipulation.
The door is unlocked. I push it open, glancing up at the camera in the ceiling. Did Jeremy really give me full control over his surveillance system? Or was that a sham, too? Does he have some master override switch that he can use to take back access?
The lobby is empty. Abandoned. The sound of screeching tires behind me makes me jump. Simon has driven off. I’m left by myself.
I close the door, wincing when the sound of the lock clicking into place echoes through the entire space.
“Hello?” I call out. “Jeremy? Rose? Anybody?”
There is no answer.
I shouldn’t be afraid to be in my own home. But right now, I feel like I’m stuck in a scene from a horror movie. The unpredictability of what comes next terrifies me. The unpredictability of what Jeremy will do—of what face he’ll show—makes me supremely apprehensive.
I wanted to demand answers from him. I planned to demand answers from him. But finding my wallet, my cell phone, without so much as a note of explanation, makes me certain I am not in a position to do that anymore.
I have to tread carefully when I see him. And I totally—completely—have to be on my guard. Right now, we are two people supposedly on even footing. There’s no collar, no contract holding me in place.
All that there is is Jeremy’s depravity. And the lengths that he will go to prove to me…
Whatever the fuck he desires.
I start toward the kitchen, carefully. I have no idea of what he wants to prove. I have no idea what his motivations are anymore. All I know—all I can say for sure—is that he’s a madman…and that I’ve wound myself so tight into his existence that neither of us can ever let go.
The kitchen is empty. So is the dining room.
“Hello?” I try again. “Jeremy? I’m here…”
I trail off. I’m not about to get an answer.
I check the living room, first, then go to the basement to search the pool area and the bar. In the back of my mind, I know that I’m just delaying. There’s only one place that Jeremy can be right now.
His office.
He’s in his office waiting for me. I look up at another of the cameras. A chill runs down my neck. Waiting for me… Watching me?
I know he’s in his office because that is the one space where he has absolute control. It’s where he runs his empire. It’s the room that was barred from me for so long. It’s representative of so much of the power dynamic between us. It holds so many awful memories for me. I’m sure that’s where I’ll find him.
Symbolism. Influence. Control. Authority. All those things mean the world to Jeremy. For a while, he made me believe—no matter how reluctant I am to admit it now—that I meant the world to Jeremy.
But that’s all changed, in less than the span of a week.
I reach the stairs after completing a full circle of the basement. I look up. I’ve delayed for too long. It’s time for me to face Jeremy, and to learn, once and for all, where we really stand.
Chapter Nineteen
I hear his voice echo down the hall as I approach.
“Yes, I know. I’m aware that she’s been absent. Continue what you were doing before. Nothing’s changed. Nothing—” He looks up, sees me. His eyes flash.
“She’s here,” he tells whoever he’s speaking to. “I’ve got to go.”
Jeremy hangs up the phone. He looks at me from behind that massive oak desk.
He looks spectacular. I should know not to expect anything different. A deep red dress shirt, the color of blood, sits trim on his shoulders and tapers down to the waist. A navy blue jacket is slung over the corner of his desk. His dark hair is styled back, not a strand out of place, and his jaw is covered by a hint of that full-day’s stubble that I find so irresistibly sexy.
But I cannot let his physical appearance affect me. I’ve decided to be as cold to Jeremy as he is to me. As indifferent. As dispassionate.
It’s all an act, of course, on both of our parts. But right now, I’m in the poker game of my life.
We’ll see who blinks first.
“That was a conversation about you,” Jeremy informs me. “Your team members have been wondering where you’ve been.”
“You had me take a sabbatical,” I say, keeping my voice level. Smoothly, I flow toward the chair across from him and sit down.
“Ah, yes.” He leans back. “
And how well did that work out for you?”
‘It was lovely,” I say, sweeping my hair over one shoulder. I look away. “I’ve missed you,” I announce to no one in particular.
“It’s good to see you too, my Lilly-Flower,” Jeremy says.
Our eyes meet. A spark of electricity fills the air.
“Stonehart Industries has done well while I was gone?” I ask. “No PR disasters I should be aware of?”
“None,” Jeremy smiles. “We’re on track for the greatest IPO the industry has seen in decades.”
“It seems my position was not quite as valuable as you made it appear.”
“It may have been a bit of a sweetheart deal.” He steeples his hands and drums his fingers together. “I thought a lot about you while you were away.”
“Is that so?” I cross my legs. “Funny. I didn’t think of you once.”
Jeremy places a hand over his heart. “Really, Lilly. You wound me.”
“It was nice to get away.”
“Yes,” Jeremy’s smile deepens. “But, you came back.”
“Did I have a choice?”
“The world is full of choices, Lilly. You forge your own path.”
I nod once. “A path that constantly leads me back to you.”
“Hmm,” he acknowledges.
“Something funny happened on my trip, you know?”
“Oh?”
“Yes. I was robbed.” In a very controlled, deliberate motion, I place my wallet and cell phone on the desk. “These were taken from me.”
“And now,” Jeremy’s hands go on the armrests of his chair. “It appears you have them back.”
I tilt my head to the side, looking right at him. “That was the funny part. Stolen belongings don’t usually follow a person home.”
“But these ones did,” Jeremy leans forward. “How… peculiar”
“Yes,” I say, unable to remove my hands from the table. “These ones did.”
“Could I…see one?” he whispers. His voice is hoarse.
“You may,” I say. I can’t look away.
“Hand it to me, will you? The gap…the distance…is so far.”
I pick up my cell phone. Extend it toward him with a quivering hand.
Sexual tension cackles through the room.
He takes the phone—and then catches my wrist. My eyes flare up. His are filled with lust and hunger.
“Lilly,” he says. “I really, really missed you.”
And then he pulls me forward and meets me halfway across the table with a scorching kiss.
Immediately, all my inhibition is gone. I scramble onto the table, stripping off my thick jacket. Jeremy pulls me into him, gripping my ass tight as I wind my legs around his waist. His hands run up and down my legs, my thighs, while his mouth consumes mine.
He turns us around, so his hips are against the edge and I’m left clinging onto him. My hands tear open his shirt. I pull it off his shoulders, out from his belt, and am rewarded by the hard, tight feeling of his body.
He gives a low growl, deepening the kiss. He breaks away and spins around once more. I yelp as he drops me on to the unforgiving surface of the oak. He rips my shirt open. Buttons fly everywhere. My breasts heave out, my nipples already tight with arousal.
“Goddamn, Lilly,” he rasps, running his hands over my naked flesh. “Look at you. You’re a fucking goddess.”
And then he drops down and kisses me again. I squirm under him, lost in the simple pleasure of feeling his skin on mine.
He lifts his head up. “I’ve fucking missed you,” he says again. “I’ve missed fucking you.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” I gasp, and grab his hair to pull him back down.
The passion of that kiss consumes me. My heart thumps with the force of a thousand horses. My whole body is strung tight in an intoxicating mix of pleasure, arousal, desire, and need.
Need, need, need.
Jeremy’s hand slips down past the waistband of my pants. I inhale sharply when his sure fingers find the spot. He starts working my clit, up and down, back and forth, and I writhe and moan.
“You’re going to come, Lilly,” he informs me, his voice authoritative and deep. It rumbles through my body with that amazing treble, making all my synapsis comes alive. “You’re going to come for me when I tell you to.” His fingers start to move even faster.
“Ready?” he growls.
“No, Jeremy—“ I try to push him away. “It’s too soon. It—“
“Ready?” he repeats, his voice leaving no room for argument. “You’re going to come, Lilly-Flower, right…now!”
And on his word, I’m struck by the most glorious climax of my life. It washes through me. My body shakes as I soar, lost in the pure ecstasy that is Jeremy Stonehart. In the pure ecstasy that only he’s ever been able to make me feel.
As I come back down, I’m left gasping and raw on the table. Jeremy still has his hand between my legs. I clench my thighs around him and offer a crooked, lopsided smile.
“That was easy because you’ve been deprived of me for so long,” he says. His eyes pierce into me, clouded in a dark haze of passion. “And I of you. But in time, I will teach you to come on command. In time…” he leans down, his cheek brushing against mine, the hint of stubble sending a cascade of shivers down my spine, “…you will learn to come by nothing more than the pure, low sound of my voice.”
A ripple of pleasure makes me shudder as he breathes into my ear. “You will become magnificent, Lilly. I will take you to heights you have never dreamed of. And you, in return…” his hand moves up, and takes hold of one of my breasts. He squeezes. Hard.
“…will become only mine.”
Chapter Twenty
We fuck on the table. On his chair. Pressed up against the windows. On the floor, right beside the spot he’d once leashed me and kicked me.
We fuck everywhere and in every which way imaginable. Tonight, Jeremy’s definitely making up for lost time. And I’m all-too-happy to let him do it.
He consumes me. My body, my mind, my spirit. I know nothing except the raw prominence of his presence. He makes me feel…
Wait. That’s it. He makes me feel.
If I’ve forgotten, or chosen not to think about, what sex with Jeremy is like, this is a spectacular reminder. My body responds to him in ways it will never respond to another man. There’s a connection, a veritable link, between our two physical bodies. It’s like I was made for him, and he for me.
Physically, at least.
The mental games, the former abuse, the current manipulations…none of that matters. Not now. Not when he and I are in such perfect synchrony.
Maybe the bit of friction between us is exactly what is needed to make the sex so great. Maybe that’s the key to our relationship. It coalesces into something that provides a synergy that is both beautiful and vital.
It’s beautiful in the things it makes me feel. In the things it makes both of us feel. It’s vital for the same reason.
But it’s also vile. Vile because of where it comes from. Vile because of what it needs to blossom into for full fruition.
Hours later, when we’re both finally spent, lying in Jeremy’s bed upstairs, I know it’s time to bring up some uncomfortable topics.
“Jeremy,” I say, looking up at him. “We need to talk.”
He exhales. “I know. But not now. Tomorrow—“
“No, Jeremy. Not tomorrow. Tonight. Today.”
He sighs. “Why can’t you just enjoy this?” he asks. “Just bask in the afterglow.” He takes my hand and squeezes it in a sign of affection I have not had from him for a long time. “That was remarkable sex.”
The rumble of his voice makes my insides roll around with all sorts of delight. The intimacy of the moment makes me very reluctant to break it.
It’s something we haven’t shared for ages.
But break it I must. Because there’s more to our lives than just sex. Much more. And I cannot let my body’s reaction to thi
s man dictate my other relations with him.
I sit up and scoot away. “There are unresolved issues between us,” I say.
He tilts his head one way in amusement. “You don’t say.”
“Yes, Jeremy, and I don’t appreciate you making light of them!” He chuckles. “This is no laughing matter!”
“Maybe not in your eyes,” he says softly. “But you must admit it quite comical, from my perspective, when a naked woman wants to have a serious talk…and expects to be taken seriously.”
I huff and grab the edge of the sheet, yanking it up to my chest. I stare daggers at him. “Better?”
“Unfortunately no,” he says. “The view now is much worse.”
I stick my tongue out. He laughs.
“All right, Lilly,” he says, sitting up against the headboard. The shift in position exposes his whole, glorious upper body. His pecs flex slightly as he re-adjusts himself, his shoulders and arms and abs all chiseled to perfection.
I could just stare at his body for hours. Or, better yet, taste it. Kiss his skin and lick my way up his abs, feeling the ridges beneath my tongue…
I come to myself and shake my head with a start. I force my eyes to meet his. A hint of a knowing smile grows on his face.
“See what I mean?” he asks softly. “Are you certain it’s not a better idea to wait?”
“No, Jeremy, we have to do this now,” I say, determined. “Not tomorrow. Right now. Tonight.”
“Very well.” He pats the empty spot beside him. “But come closer. I want to hold you while we talk.”
The sincerity of his request…the pure, simple meaning of those words…makes my heart skip a beat. This is Jeremy speaking…the man who I uncovered on our trip to his island. Not cold, hard, Stonehart, but sweet and kind Jeremy. The man who was once the little boy Charles told me about.
It takes all my willpower to deny his request. I shake my head, stiffly, hating that I cannot enjoy the moment, despising the fact that this is what our relationship has eroded into.
The only way I’m able to do it without giving in is by reminding myself that all of this is his fault. All of the worries, concerns, and uncertainties on my mind have arisen because of the things he’s done in the aftermath of Fey’s phone call.
Uncovering You: The Complete Series (Mega Box Set) Page 70