He held my face in his hands. “I’m going to try to behave like a reasonable, normal human being. As you know, that doesn’t come particularly easily for me when it comes to you.” He was half-joking, but then his tone turned more serious. “You know I’d do anything for you, don’t you, honey girl? You know none of it means anything to me anymore without you.” He kissed me again, just a brush of his lips against mine. “I love you.”
My hands slid up his neck, into the thick locks of his wild black hair. He had amazing hair. “I love you more.”
He smiled and his eyelashes lowered once, his expression soft. Enchanted and enchanting. This was my Alexander, this warm, compassionate lover, devoid of the ruthless authority that was so much a part of his CEO persona. This was the part of himself he saved just for me. “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
I kissed his lips, touching my tongue to his. The kiss deepened as his mouth took mine, his tongue exploring as I allowed him anything he wanted of me with teasing, adoring invitation. My body and soul opened to Alexander, as always, with an almost worshipful intent. If I was his Kryptonite, he was my superpower. With him, I felt safe. With him inside me, I felt invincible. I gently sucked his tongue into my mouth, craving him with a quiet, savage intensity.
His phone rang again.
He swore under his breath and I pulled back a little.
“You should probably get that,” I told him. He was considering not answering it. His own wicked, beautiful craving burned in the dark light of his eyes. By now I knew Alexander might have let his entire empire crumble around us if I asked him to. “Go.”
He disengaged reluctantly and walked over to pick up his phone from the bedside table. His colossal arousal was rigid and hot-looking, his body as ripped and perfect as a genius’s sculpture come to life. I wished I could feast on him. I felt that now-familiar, decadent longing: to put my mouth on him, to suck on all that throbbing beauty, to drink him in greedy mouthfuls. It seemed such a shame not to indulge in his magnificence, but it was clear enough we would have to take care of business before our pleasure could be attended to.
A first, possibly.
“It’s Jake,” he said. “I’d better take this.”
“I’ll go downstairs to your office and wait for you there.”
Alexander took a long look at me. Then he sighed lightly, and nodded. “Yeah. This could take a while. I’ll meet you on the seventh floor.”
It was surprisingly difficult, already: these interruptions. These small separations. “You’ve got the key,” he added.
His eyes held mine for a brief moment. Yes, I had his key. To get in and to get out. To never be locked up again. Right here and now, though, I felt a little conflicted. I almost wished he would lock me up. With him. To seal us away forever so I could have him all to myself. “I’ll see you soon.”
“You’ve got a hot date tonight, by the way,” he smiled, dark-eyed and wolf-like. “Be ready for me.”
“I’m always ready for you,” I told him coyly.
His eyes narrowed with such smoldering lust I thought he might lunge at me, but his phone was still ringing. He answered it with a pissed-off growl. “Jake. What the fuck’s going on?”
I left him to talk to his brother, closing the bedroom door behind me. I walked down the curved, modern staircase, taking in the view out the wall of windows. New York on a clear October morning must have been the most beautiful place on Earth. Gleaming, sunlit buildings shone like beacons of power against a brilliant blue sky.
I let myself out of the apartment and took Alexander’s private elevator down towards the suite of Skyscraper offices that were located on the fifth, sixth and seventh floors of his building. He had a private penthouse office on the twenty-seventh floor and also a corner office on the seventh floor, which was where I was headed.
A woman sat behind the gargantuan desk and under the wall-sized print of the New York City skyline. I remembered it well, from the day of my interview, although it was a different receptionist today. She greeted me by name, which surprised me a little. Alexander, or someone else, must have told the Skyscraper staff of my new appointment. I wondered if they’d also been informed about my recent engagement to their CEO.
She gave me directions to Alexander’s office, and I found my way easily, entering his spacious corner suite. I felt excited, composed, but also distracted. I couldn’t get my cravings to settle down. It was unusual for us not to have acted on our compulsions this morning. It left me with a small pang of restlessness: to just disengage and walk away from him when he’d been so aroused. And so mouth-wateringly gorgeous.
For god’s sake, Lila, calm down, I ordered myself. You’re at work. Focus. Absolutely do not let yourself be reminded of the job interview. Of that very first encounter. Of the way he looked at you, licking his lips, inviting you into his lair. Of how it felt when he peeled off your sweater and squeezed your nipples between those brutal fingers. Or the way he felt when he slid that –
“Ms. Carmichael, welcome.” I jumped a little, startled. A woman stood there, tapping on the open door. She was around thirty, with a short blond bob and tortoise-shell glasses. She was smiling and attempting to control her fascination, I could see this. I guess it was a vibe I would need to get used to. The ring was on my finger and her eyes rounded at the sight of it. Then she collected herself. “I’m Gwen Smith, one of the associate editors. Congratulations on getting the job as Mr. Wolfe’s assistant. We had about a million applications.”
“Thank you, Ms. Smith.”
“God, that makes me sound about a hundred years old. Call me Gwen. Please.”
“Thank you, Gwen,” I said. She was nice, and I appreciated that she was trying to put me at ease on my first day on the job.
“I can show you around while you wait for Mr. Wolfe to arrive, if you’d like.”
I kept my cool but I felt almost giddy with anticipation. About the job. About seeing Alexander again soon. I already missed him. I missed his black-haired, swarthy presence and the sparks in the room whenever he was near me. “That would be fabulous.”
She smiled and gave me a quick tour, introducing me to several other staff members. All of them watched me, half-intrigued and half-amused. I had no idea how to read their reactions to me and I felt surprisingly unaffected, like I was one step removed somehow, as if I’d been coated with a thin veneer of power. It was ridiculous, really. I didn’t have any power, over anyone. I didn’t even want power. Still, the thought crept in before I could suppress it: their mogul boss was my very-possessive fiancé, who would do anything I asked of him and who had shared with me the most passionate, transformative, intimate experiences of my life, and his. I can bring your CEO to his knees. I can make him come so hard with the flick of my tongue and the squeeze of my fingers that he groans like his heart’s being ripped out of his chest. I’ve taken him into my body and had him in every way it’s possible to do. He belongs with me. He’s mine.
God.
I’d accused Alexander of being obsessive when it came to me but I was equally guilty. Either that or I was going mad. I didn’t even care at this point. I just wanted to see him again. Now. I was having some crazy withdrawal symptoms.
“Here’s the conference room,” Gwen was saying. “This is where this morning’s meeting will be held. I’ll leave you to it if you’d like to set up. There’s coffee on the table in the corner and breakfast will be served at nine fifteen. Mr. Wolfe should be here any minute.”
“Great. Thanks for the tour, Gwen. I really appreciate it.”
“We should have lunch sometime,” she suggested. “I’ll introduce you to a few more of the Skyscraper staff. It’s a great bunch of people.”
“I’d love that.”
“We’ll set something up later. I’ll see you after the meeting.”
Then she left and I was alone in the large conference room. Out the windows, the view was more closed in down here on the seventh floor and, weirdly, I used this detail to gr
ound myself. To remind myself of the new rules and restrictions. He’ll be here soon. You can appreciate his beauty from afar and save the rest for later.
I was placing the print-outs of the agenda around the table when Alexander swept in like a stormy-eyed, billionaire monsoon. I swear the temperature in the room spiked by several degrees. His energy filled the space, crowding around me like sultry, tropical warmth. He closed the door.
He looked almost windblown, like he’d been rushing. Even from across the room, I could detect his relief. He’d rushed so he could see me. A little fissure in my heart seemed to open a fraction wider with the realization that he needed me so much. That I wasn’t the only one suffering from this full-blown addiction.
Alexander was dressed in a beautifully-cut three-piece suit. He looked clean and hastily-groomed and gorgeous. His hair was still damp from his shower and it was a little too long, curling over his collar. It had been a while since I’d seen him dressed up and the effect shot straight to the pit of my stomach. The combination of his wild ferocity, contained as it was in his business clothes, was dazzling. Almost too much to bear. I want to rip those clothes off him. I want to bite him and hold him down as I entice him with my naked body.
Damn.
He placed his leather briefcase at the head of the table. But he kept his distance, as though similarly affected. “Honey girl,” he greeted me coolly, his eyes predatory and his deep voice edged with a husked, controlled joy.
“You won’t be able to call me that in the meeting,” I said, drawing closer to him, but not close enough to touch him; that would be dangerous.
“No,” he drawled, and his gaze was on my parted lips. “But I can call you that now.”
God. His voice. So deep and gravelled. Thick with husky intent. How would this work? How would we function like regular people when the allure was this manic? I tried to distract myself. I pulled my eyes away, forcing myself to calm down, and I continued placing the papers around the table. “How’d it go with Jake? Everything okay?”
“No. Not even close. He’s coming in this afternoon so we can make a plan. The press is in on it now, which makes everything more complicated. And a lot more expensive.”
I wasn’t used to seeing him so on edge. Most of the time we’d spent together, he’d been relaxed. Okay, not relaxed … intense. But easy enough to placate. The urge to comfort him now was too strong. I went to him, allowing myself one little indulgence: my fingers smoothed an unruly strand of his hair into place. “Is there anything I can do?”
He opened his leather briefcase, as though to distract himself. “We’ll see him later on. We’ll have to go through all the particulars and sort through them. Throw down some hush money if necessary. I don’t know why he can’t keep it on the straight and narrow. My brother has a knack for pushing every boundary.”
“I’m sure there’ll be a solution.” I didn’t know anything about pushing legal boundaries, insider trading, or paying off the press and/or the police. But I wanted to be there for Alexander, to support him in any way I could. I was still touching the coarse silk of his hair. I skimmed my fingers along the line of his jaw, loving the endlessly appealing textures of him. The smoothness of his recent shave underlaid by a barely-detectable roughness. The plump curve of his lower lip. I wished I could touch my tongue to him. To lightly lick his mouth. My craving for him was pulsing in me, along with the beat of my heart.
He wasn’t breathing well. His face looked almost pained. “Lila. Why don’t you sit in that chair. Or stand over there for a minute. It’s probably not a great idea for you to touch me right now.”
My hand stilled, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to draw away. “Why not?”
He paused before giving me a gruff reply. “Because I get a fucking raging hard-on whenever you do. And, as much as I enjoy raging hard-ons, they’re not ideal in editorial meetings.”
Oh, god. I wished he hadn’t told me that. His anger fed my desire, inflaming it. I felt feverish. Alive. And so in love my heart ached.
And I couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t not give in to the most potent addiction I’d ever known. Pleasing him, and pleasing myself.
I glanced at the clock on the wall. 8:29. Feigning obedience, I stepped away from him. Instead of sitting down, though, I walked over to the door and flicked the lock closed. There was a window to the hallway, a single pane of glass that ran the length of the door, but it was tinted and opaque.
Alexander watched me walk back over to him, his eyes wary and so dark they looked black. I’d gazed into them enough to know they weren’t black at all. They were flecked with shades of dark gold and chocolate brown. And he could read my intent. “Lila --” He was watching my face and his question got lost in his breathing, in the intensity of his awareness of me as I stood close to him. Very close.
“It’s only eight-thirty,” I said. He was watching my face. My mouth. He was flustered. I’ll admit it: I loved flustering him. I crazy-loved him when his big, musclebound body reacted to me in a way that was beyond his control. All that broad-shouldered, dark, masculine bravado. Mine. My basest urges were on overdrive. He was far too tempting. “They won’t be here until nine.”
He looked staggered. Torn. Ridiculously sexy. The worry had eased, replaced by a conflicted, ravenous need. Still, he protested. “Lila,” he said, his sternness underlaid with raw desire. “Be reasonable.”
I stood on my toes, licking the lightest touch along his lower lip. “This is me being reasonable. What I really want to do would take much longer.”
He stared down at me, incredulous. But when I ran my hand over the front of his pants, he was fully, mouth-wateringly hard. I kissed him again, licking my tongue between his lips. “I know how to make you come quickly. Let me.”
“Damn it, Lila,” he growled, his breath quickening. I was already unbuckling his belt and he made no move to stop me. “Fuck.”
“I want you,” I whispered, kissing him again.
“Yes. You want me. You have me. And you’re going to be the fucking undoing of me. Which you know already.”
“I am going to undo you,” I crooned, owning his surrender. I knew he wouldn’t refuse me. He couldn’t. He was as needy for my touch as I was for his. “Like this.” I unzipped him, reaching into his pants and grasping my tight fist around the hot immensity of him. “The door is locked. No one can see us. No one knows what I’m about to do to you.”
His eyes were narrowed, almost furious. Letting me do whatever I wanted. Challenging me to do whatever I wanted.
“I’m going take you into my mouth,” I purred. “Just the head first. I’m going to suck on you and use both hands to –”
“Lila. Fuck–”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“No.”
I squeezed him, working both my fists along his length in careful, provocative strokes. I gripped him harder, rubbing and teasing, totally focused on his pleasure.
Alexander groaned.
I spoke softly, murmuring the words. “Look at you. Look at my fingers swirling your juice all over your big, thick cock. See? You’re already starting to come a little.”
His expression was severe. A mixture between fury and ecstasy. He obeyed me, watching as I worked the silken, purpled crown of his shaft with my playful fingers.
“Be very quiet,” I commanded him. I pulled a chair closer and sat down in front of him.
“Lila,” he breathed, as I laved my tongue over the gathering moisture, tasting him, nipping and kissing his silky hardness. His eyes closed. “—oh, god help me.”
Again, I touched my tongue to his hot, throbbing cock, licking across the broad end in gentle, sweeping glides. I took him deeper into my mouth as I held him in my supple grip.
“Oh, fuck.”
“Quiet,” I said.
Distant voices could be heard outside, in the offices down the hall, but there was no one at the door. Alexander went very still and I sucked him hungrily, easing him deeper.
I ran my tongue along the sensitive underside of his cock as I took him as deep as I could take it, drawing on him with building, circular suction. With my hands and my mouth I pumped him, increasing the pace. He exhaled a curse and I knew he was close. My fingers explored secret, intimate avenues, until his thick cum spilled into my mouth in sudden, furtive bursts. I swallowed as I continued caressing him with my tongue, until he was completely spent. I drank all of it, licking him clean.
It took him a minute to recover. I tucked him back into his pants and fastened them.
“My god,” he breathed, touching a finger to my chin and tipping my face up to him. He pulled me up and held me close. “That was –”
“I love you,” I whispered.
His color was high, his eyes volatile yet awed. He blinked, a slow, enchanted sweep that reminded me of moonlight. “You are so in for it tonight.”
I smiled and stepped away from him, smoothing my clothing. I gave him a look, letting him know I was up for it. For him. For anything that had to do with him and his promises. “I’ll look forward to it, Mr. Wolfe,” I said, with business-like, assistant-worthy subservience.
“So will I, Mrs. Wolfe.”
He stopped me in my tracks with that one. Mrs. Wolfe. Hearing him say it sent little darts of too many emotions to name through my soul.
“All right?” he said to me.
I nodded.
Alexander went to the door, unlocking it.
Just then, two men and a woman approached the door, talking, entering. They were followed by nine more people.
The meeting had begun.
Alexander
Fuck.
The team of executive editors walked into the room, talking and laughing like it was any other day. Like all this shit was normal. Like I wasn’t walking some fine line between heaven and hell. The heaven part began to dissipate, speared by the sudden intrusion of twelve of my top employees.
And the hell was about to get a whole lot more intense.
I was still trying to recalibrate after an impromptu orgasm that had been so quick-rising and mind-blowing that I was still reeling. I felt like my heart was beating somewhere outside my chest, exposed and bloody for everyone to see. I had to glance down for a second just to make sure I was fucking zipped up.
HONEY GIRL: BILLIONAIRE (Book 2) Page 2