Freefall (The Indigo Lounge Series, #5)

by Zara Cox

  I smile. “Save your sympathy, Keely. I use the service for expediency. And because I detest the mindless games that society has imposed on an act that should have no frivolities.”

  Her head tilts to one side, and she slams me with a speaking look. “That your fancy way of saying you don’t want to buy a girl dinner before you fuck her?”

  “She can have all the dinner she wants. I just don’t see the need for tedious mores or the need to display false affection before the act.”

  “So why not just club her over the head and drag her to your cave?”

  “Why do it myself when my service more than meets those particular urges?”

  She studies my face to see if I mean it literally. When she looks away I can’t decide whether she’s satisfied with what she reads in my expression or not. “So you gonna call them back?” she asks after another minute of thick silence.

  “Do you want me to?” I ask.

  Her breath catches. “Why the hell should I care?”

  My gaze drops to the escalated rise and fall of her chest, then the belt of the robe that emphasizes her trim waist. Her excitement is as obvious as the condensation dripping down the soda can.

  A touch of ennui seeps into my blood. “And you wonder why I find all this tedious?”

  She frowns. “Perhaps if you took your time to make yourself clearer—”

  I crush my empty soda can in my fist, and she jumps at the sound. “You’re intelligent enough to know what’s going on between us, and yet you want me to spell out my feelings before you feel comfortable with admitting you want what you want. Isn’t that right?”

  “Umm, no, wrong. I don’t give a rat’s ass about your feelings. And just because two people happen to find each other mildly attractive doesn’t mean they have to strip and fuck on the nearest flat surface.”

  “Why not?” I counter.

  “Because that would make them nothing more than base animals.”

  “But I am a base animal. And so are you.”

  “Keep your fucking insults to yourself, Rusty.” She glares hard enough to drill holes in me.

  I take a deep breath to reel myself in. I remind myself that I’ve been out of the land of meaningless conversation and talking just for the sake of talking for over a year. She’s ironically right in calling me Rusty. I’m rusty when it comes to fitting back into society. But I still want to teach her a lesson for that dirty mouth. For making me want to see more of that saucy body she’s hiding under the robe.

  And as long as I remain this close to her, exchanging words when I want to do something else entirely, that temptation will only grow.

  I stalk toward the living room. “I need to get out of here.”

  “You’re going back to the party?” she asks, trailing after me.

  “God, no. If I have to smile and answer another question about my status on social media, I won’t be responsible for my actions,” I snarl.

  “Wow, someone really went to town on your social skills, didn’t they?”

  I don’t answer. I’ve reached the limit of my tolerance. I need to get out into some clean, clear air before it’s too late. I grab my leather jacket and punch my arms into it, wishing for the dead silence and the simple existence of Roraima.

  My loafers are by the front entrance and I shove my feet into them before I yank open the door.

  “What the hell’s so urgent?” Keely asks, trailing after me. “It can’t be your escort service situation since you left your phone back there.”

  I suck in a breath and tunnel my fingers through my hair. “I just need to get some air, okay?” I step out and start to shut the door.

  “Can I come with?”

  I turn slowly, catch her gaze. “Are you sure you want to?” I don’t disguise the echoes of my turmoil.

  She licks her lips and slowly nods. “Yes.”

  My breath shudders out. I take in the short robe she’s wearing and the v-shaped gap at the front that shows a hint of her breasts. “I don’t have time to wait for you to change.” My gaze drops to her feet. “Or put on shoes.”

  She replies with a shrug. “We’re not going far, are we?”

  I don’t answer. I turn and skirt the pool. After a moment, I hear her behind me. The ennui evaporates from my veins, replaced by another equally dangerous drug.

  Lust.

  The unsettling kind. The kind that means I have to pay Hani double when I’m done with one of her girls. I quicken my steps and round the back of Zach’s house. Or the front, depending on how you viewed the property. I key in the code and the quadruple garage doors roll upward.

  “You’re going out?” Keely asks.

  I head for the indigo and black Mclaren P1 GTR and slide behind the wheel. Throwing open the passenger door, I start counting silently. I reach eight before she slides into the seat.

  I almost wish she hadn’t. The moment she shuts the door and her scent engulfs me, I know I’m going to fuck her.

  “Seatbelt,” I growl.

  She complies.

  I step on the gas, reversing in an expert arc that throws her against me.

  “Whoa, easy there, Rusty,” she admonishes as she rights herself.

  My jaw clenches, and my fingers curl around the cold steering wheel. “I’m keeping tally, Keely. For every time you call me that name.”

  She laughs and fiddles with the temperate modulator until warm air flows into the car. “And how exactly do you intend to get me back, seeing as you’re leaving tomorrow?”

  The smile barely twitches on my lips. “The night is still young.”

  “Umm, no it kinda isn’t. It’s almost one a.m.” Her voice holds a cautious delivery, as if she’s realizing just what she’s let herself in for.

  I don’t respond as I quickly navigate the quiet streets on the outskirts of Montauk, letting the powerful engine beneath me growl and fly. I drive fast and aggressively, and every now and then I hear her breath catch when I take a corner too quickly. After about ten miles, the turmoil in my chest starts to feel calmer. In direct proportion, the turbulence in my pants is growing. My cock has been hardening since she slid in barefoot beside me. Seeing one fist clenched around the door handle and the other gripping the center console is not doing my libido any good either. Nor is the rapid rise and fall of her chest, and the very visible outline of one breast playing peekaboo with the gaping robe.

  A glance at the sat nav shows a mile long road, leading to a dead end coming up on the left.

  I take the turn and floor the accelerator.

  She slams back against her seat. “God, slow the fuck down, would you?”

  “I’m keeping a tally of that, too.”

  The needle rises to a hundred, then one-twenty. One-forty. Her breath shudders out. “You can keep all the goddamn tallies you want. If you make me dead just one day into my twenty-fifth year, I swear you’ll never have a moment of peace. I’ll haunt you until you beg me to kill you.”

  My foot doesn’t lift from the pedal, but I glance at her. “Yesterday was your birthday?”

  She visibly shakes as she sees the row of white oak trees that mark the end of the road. “Jesus, slow down, Rusty!”

  “Answer my question.”

  “What question? God! Yes, yesterday was my birthday.”

  “What did you wish for?”

  “Not to fucking die in a psycho’s car today!” Her fingers have turned white and her face is ashen with fright. One nipple is fully exposed and I feel the blood rushing through my veins.

  “Please!” The word explodes from her lips. “Slow down,” she whispers. “Slow down, slow down, slow down!” The words trip over themselves.

  “What about your foul language?” I ask, returning my eyes to the road.

  “Fine. I won’t swear again!” She starts shaking her head frantically as the trees rush toward us. “God, no!” Her right hand flies toward my thigh, digging in with a tight, nail-biting grip.

  I narrow my eyes, scan the dashboard, then t
he tree line. After exactly three seconds, I transfer my foot from gas to brake.

  The McLaren skids to a stop at the exact point where the road ends.

  For several seconds, her breath gusts out in loud, gulping heaves, her eyes frozen in a wide-eyed fear.

  Then she explodes at me. I easily block her blows, my arms gripping her as fear turns to anger.

  “You are a FUCKING ASSHOLE!”

  Chapter 4

  mason

  I throw open the door and drag her out through my side, making sure her feet don’t touch the frozen ground.

  “Get your hands off me!” She flails against me.

  I don’t stop until I round the hood and set her down on it. When she tries to stand, I stay her by inserting myself between her thighs. She’s too high on adrenaline to notice how amped up I am on my own adrenaline. And also by her state of undress.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? And hour ago you bit my head off because you thought I wanted to kill myself, and what, now you’re helping me achieve the same goal?”

  “I had no intention of killing us,” I reply. The car’s interior lights and bright headlights bathe her in a soft glow. Her near-dry hair is wild from her antics, and my attention is riveted to the pulse racing at her throat. “We were doing two hundred and ten on a mile and a half stretch of road. I calculated the distance and horsepower and knew the exact moment to apply the brakes. Of course, I didn’t calculate your nails digging into my thigh. Good thing I can control my urges, or we’d be wrapped around that white oak tree behind me by now.”

  She gapes up at me, not sure what to make of my calm, matter-of-fact tone. Then she inhales sharply and shakes her head. “God, you’re crazy!”

  “Am I?” I move closer, sliding my hands up from her covered arms to her shoulders. Her soft, silky hair caresses my fingers as I massage the tension from her rigid muscles. “Your blood is pumping and your heart is racing and right now, all you can think about is how glad you are to be alive. And in about a minute, your body will begin finding ways to disperse all that adrenaline.” I move a hand down her throat, pausing to feel her pulse hammer beneath my fingers, then I travel lower, between her warm breasts and heaving chest to where her robe is still secured by the belt. With a firm tug, I release the belt and her robe falls open.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  She starts to close the gap, but I quickly capture her hands in one of mine. I press her back against the hood of the still-running engine and lean over her. Her eyes widen, but I’m satisfied to see it’s not with fear. Although a touch of fear would’ve been welcome at this point. This woman is far too cocky for her own good.

  “You promised me you wouldn’t swear. Or call me Rusty. You failed on both accounts.”

  She struggles against my hold, but she’s no match for me. Not that it stops her getting in my face though. “You were trying to kill me, you bastard! I would’ve said anything to make sure that didn’t happen.”

  I lean in closer, until our mouths are a scant inch apart, until I can feel her breath mingle with mine. “So you lied?” I say softly.

  “Look...Mason, I don’t know what kind of trip you’re on, but I’m freezing. You wanted to get some air, I’m guessing with a side order of death wish driving. You’ve done that, so can we go back now?”

  “Not until we find a way to deal with your excess adrenaline. And address your foul mouth in the bargain.”

  She swallows. I watch the movement of her slender throat, my own pulse nowhere near settled. Somewhere between yanking her from death by freezing and her turning up at the pool house, my interest has dialed up from zero to infinite. I want her with a craving that is unnerving.

  I look back up and see the moment she senses the change in me. I almost feel sorry for her. She twists away and tries to dislodge me from between her thighs.

  That’s when I look down. And freeze.

  I knew she wasn’t wearing a bra but I’m unprepared for her total nakedness beneath the robe.

  “You got into the car with me not wearing any fucking panties?” I croak, not sure whether the sight of her stunning body makes me crazier or angrier.

  “Who’s got a dirty mouth now?”

  I can’t pull my gaze away from the sight of her pussy to admonish her for that tart reply. Her skin is a flawless golden, as if she’s spent some time in the sun recently. And from the looks of it, she likes to sunbathe nude. Her body flows in a perfect symmetry of full, heavy breasts, a lean and shapely torso, to a thin strip of pubic hair that arrows to the hood covering her clit. My eyes stay riveted on that part of her body, my cock going from urgent twitch to full-bloodied throbbing, until she begins to squirm.

  I look back up. “My swearing is justified. Yours isn’t.”

  She squirms harder, and her nipples begin to tighten when my eyes are drawn to the perfect globes of her breasts. My mouth waters and the need to fuck builds in my groin.

  “Okay, fine. I’m sorry for my potty mouth. Can we go now?” There’s a breathless quality to her voice, and I allow myself a smile.

  “Does this usually work for you? You get yourself out of trouble by throwing out empty promises and apologies like confetti?”

  She closes her eyes for a couple of seconds. “God, why did I think it was a good idea to get into your damned car?”

  “I don’t know. Why did you?” I transfer both of her wrists to one hand and trail my fingers down the middle of her chest. Her skin quivers beneath my touch. I reach her navel and circle the cute button, my gaze rising up to capture hers again. Her green eyes are a touch darker now, and her mouth is parted.

  “Because you looked like...I don’t know, like you shouldn’t be alone?” she whispers.

  “You don’t sound sure. But let’s leave that for the moment. Did you think it was a good idea to come out without your panties, Keely?” I ask. My fingers drift to the top of her pussy, and I swear I can feel her heat beckoning my hand.

  Her breath catches. “I didn’t think I’d find myself in a position where I’d have to explain my lack of underwear to anyone.”

  My jaw tightens. “Anyone?”

  “Fine. To you.”

  “And?” My thumb is itching to stroke her, to feel if she is as wet and hot as I crave her to be. “Are you in a habit of going out without underwear?”

  “My panties were wet and uncomfortable. And I thought we were going for a walk, not dicing with death in a sports car.”

  I smile. “You had a choice right before you got into the car with me. You knew this would happen. But you got into the car anyway. So what shall I do with you now?”

  Her breath shudders out, and her nipples tighten harder. “Why are you bothering to ask? You seem to think you know what I’m feeling and thinking.”

  “I’m only going with the evidence before me.” Unable to hold back any longer, my thumb grazes her clit.

  A small sound jerks from her, and her hips twitch upward, seeking more of my touch.

  “Is this what you want?” I ask, my voice thick with the lust ripping through my insides. “Shall I give you the release you’re so desperate for?” My touch is firmer this time, and I watch her try and stifle a moan.

  “You think I’m desperate just because of what you overheard at the party?” she taunts, but she’s still squirming and she’s no longer fighting to get free.

  “Are you always this stubborn?”

  “Only when I’m dealing with insufferable bastards,” she replies.

  I lower my head and suck one nipple into my mouth. I bite with a lack of gentleness that makes her cry out. She starts to struggle and I soothe the ache with the tip of my tongue, while my thumb continues to flick over her clit. Her cry morphs into a moan and her gasp washes over my ear. I roll her nipple in my mouth, warming her, teasing and sucking until I earn another moan.

  When I transfer my attention to her other nipple, I dip my finger lower into her pussy and am rewarded with another jerk of her hips. I test he
r hole, feel its tight wetness and groan.

  Need claws through me. I want to devour this woman with a hunger and possessiveness that is almost alien to me.

  I look up and see the stark hunger burning in her green eyes, and I know I have her. I release her wrists and seize her nape. Freeing her nipple, I kiss my way up her throat, her jaw, then capture her mouth with mine. Unlike her attitude, her kiss is surprisingly timid. She barely parts her mouth to let me in, and her tongue is almost hesitant in seeking my own.

  The idea that she isn’t used to kissing fires my blood, makes me want her even more. I flick my tongue against hers and she shudders. Angling her face to suit my needs, I go deeper, harder, and slide one finger inside her. Her pussy is slick, and hot and so damn intoxicating, I can barely think straight to slide out and back in again.

  She makes a sound—a cross between a whimper and a growl—that sets me off. I press her back until she’s flat on her back against the hot hood and the running engine vibrates through her body. I prop myself up so as not to crush her and finger-fuck her pussy while feasting on her delectable mouth. Against her naked thigh, my cock is throbbing with an urgency that could become an embarrassment very soon.

  But contrary to my decision when she got into the car, I decide not to fuck her. My needs are too great and specific to satisfy with a quick fuck in near freezing temperatures. Fucking her right here, right now would barely scratch the surface of my problem. And I don’t have any condoms with me. The reminder cools my temperature a little, lending me the focus I need to pleasure her.

  Her frantic noises alert me that she needs to breathe, so I release her mouth but latch onto her breasts again. Her eyes roll shut, and she bucks against my finger as her breath pants out. I slide another finger inside her eyes pop open.

  She raises her head, and her gaze meets mine. Whatever she reads in my face makes her wilder. I lift my mouth from one tight nipple.

  “Are you ready to come, baby?” I slur, almost as intoxicated with what I’m doing to her as she is with receiving it.

  Her face twists in a sexy grimace, and she nods frantically. I increase the piston of my fingers and return my thumb to her clit. Her hands fly up to my shoulders and dig in as her hips lift off the hood to meet my thrusts.