Devotion (The Seductors Series Book 3)

by Wilde, B. L.

  “Why don’t we look at the dessert menu?” I suggested, ignoring the soft chuckles around the table.

  “Mmm…my favorite course,” Oliver whispered into my ear while stroking my arm with his fingertips. “I can get you more excited than Alex Harbour ever could anyway.”

  “Yes you can.”

  “Did you want anymore ice for your water, Beautiful?” Now was not the time to be thinking about ice cubes and Oliver.

  “Remember, we have company.” I motioned toward the two sets of eyes watching us closely.

  “Maybe I’ll save this conversation for later.” The playful look in his eyes only meant one thing: he was thinking about sex again.

  “Let’s just enjoy this dinner, and no more picking on me,” I commented toward Drew and Georgie. By the look on all their faces, they agreed.

  Chapter Six

  “Thank you for dinner, Oliver.” Georgie fluttered her eyelashes at him when we arrived back at the apartment. She was such a flirt.

  “It was my pleasure. It’s not very often I get to take Jade’s friends out to dinner.”

  “I really do love your apartment,” Drew commented as we all took a seat in the large living area.

  “It’s been in his family for generations.” I forced a smile, sliding onto Oliver’s lap. He’d been giving me wary looks all evening at the restaurant. He knew something was wrong. Hiding my feelings from him wasn’t something I could do anymore.

  “Can I get anyone a glass of wine, or maybe a cup of coffee?”

  “We need to think about calling it a night soon. Drew and I have an early start in the morning,” Georgie said as she faked a yawn. For once, I was dreading being alone with Oliver. How would I explain my solemn mood to him? “It’s been wonderful to finally meet you, Oliver.”

  “And you,” he smiled as I slid off his lap so we could all stand up and say our goodnights.

  I watched Drew and Georgie head toward the spare room downstairs before moving my gaze to Oliver’s concerned face.

  “Jade, what’s wrong?” he asked, pulling me into his embrace. “You haven’t been yourself all evening.”

  “It was just Georgie saying she’s never seen me as happy as I am right now,” I whispered into his neck, inhaling his skin.

  “And that’s made you sad?” he frowned, pulling back to look in my eyes.

  “She’s the only other person who knows about Mina and my past. It just got to me today, that’s all. Ignore me, I’m being silly.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, Beautiful. You have nothing to fear.” He ran his hands through my hair before moving to trace his thumb over my bottom lip. “I love you so much.” I leaned up, crashing my lips against his.

  “Take me to bed and fuck me,” I moaned against his mouth, desperate for his touch. My time with him was ticking away, and I didn’t want to waste a moment.

  It was strange how this mission had come full circle, just like the first mission did. I should have known someone like me didn’t get a happy ending, though.

  “With pleasure. I’ve been looking forward to my dessert all evening,” he smirked, lifting me by my ass and carrying me upstairs.

  Georgie didn’t really want to leave me the next morning. I knew she was worried about me.

  “Promise me you’ll be careful,” she whispered, hugging me goodbye. “Nothing reckless, do you hear me? I’ve noticed the way you look at him. You’ve got it bad.” I nodded, fighting back my tears. I was stronger than this. I needed to focus on keeping Oliver safe. That was all that mattered now.

  “See you soon, Jelly Bean,” Drew called. “Thank you for letting us stay, Oliver. We’ll have to have that round of golf next time I’m here.”

  “Definitely,” Oliver called, wrapping his arms around me from behind. “It was lovely to meet you both. Don’t take too long to visit again.”

  “We won’t,” Georgie smiled, nudging Drew to leave.

  “You’re friends are great. There’s one thing I don’t get, though.” I froze, trying to think if we’d slipped up at any point. “Why does Drew have the ridiculous nickname for you?”

  “I have no idea,” I giggled, following him into the kitchen. Mrs. Davis was on vacation for the week, so I was looking after him.

  “You don’t even look like a jelly bean.”

  “I think it has more to do with it beginning with the letter J,” I snorted, pulling some pancake mix out of the fridge for our breakfast.

  “And did you hear how loud they were last night? I thought we could be loud, but when I came downstairs early this morning, I could hear them from my office.” I almost dropped the pancake mix. What did he mean about noise?

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “What do you think I mean?” he chuckled. “I’m talking about sex, Jade. Just because they’re married doesn’t mean they stop having sex. I know for a fact we wouldn’t stop if we got married.” I was so confused. Was Oliver trying to tell me Drew and Georgie were having sex last night? That was crazy.

  “I can’t believe they would do that here,” I gasped.

  “It’s a completely natural thing. I mean…how many times did we do it last night?” His hands squeezed my butt as he came up behind me again.

  “I lost count at orgasm number four,” I giggled, feeling his hands creep up into my top. “You need to let me make your breakfast. Otherwise you’ll be late for work.”

  “Work doesn’t seem to hold my focus as much now that I have a different PA,” he muttered into my ear, sucking on my earlobe. “It was good of you to go for coffee with her yesterday, though. She understands the new filing system now.”

  “As long as she keeps her hands off you, we’ll get along just fine,” I teased.

  “Mmm, I love this possessive side to you, Jade.” His voice was husky as he hands moved further into my top, cupping my breasts. “Why don’t we have breakfast a little later? I don’t have any appointments until early this afternoon. My office can manage without me for one morning.” I couldn’t resist him. I didn’t want to.

  A few hours later, we were finally eating breakfast.

  “Will you be okay to accompany me on a trip to Macon next week?”

  “Of course. I haven’t contacted any of those clients you gave me yet. With Mrs. Davis being away, I wanted to concentrate on looking after you.”

  “There is no rush, Beautiful. You know I’ll support you until you get back on your feet.”

  “I know, but it feels wrong. I like to pay my own way.”

  “You do, trust me. I love having you look after me,” he winked. “Plus, if you get bored, you can always come back and work for me.”

  “We’ve had this conversation,” I snorted.

  “It was just an offer.”

  “Are we visiting Macon for business or pleasure?”

  Oliver looked intensely into my eyes. “I’m going to tell Macy to destroy the power core before Dylan finds out about it. The world will never be ready for it. I was wrong to fund the testing.”

  “I knew you’d make the right choice.” I reached over and took his hand in mine, relieved that the power core would be destroyed after I left. My client wouldn’t be able to get their hands on the real core after I’d gone. I swallowed at the thought of leaving and felt sick to my stomach knowing that The Seductors were betraying me like they were. I counted my blessings that Molly had overheard Evan. At least I had time to prepare myself to say goodbye. It was only a matter of time until Oliver found out who I really was, and then he would lose every ounce of love for me. I wasn’t the Jade he thought. I didn’t expect him to love the real me, anyway. He was too good for that.

  I had that familiar feeling as I arrived at the mansion in Macon. Richard and Claire were away on vacation so we had the place to ourselves, but my impending doom was at the front of my mind. I’d been here before...knowing that I might only have hours left with the man I loved with every fraction of my heart.

  Sonia had debriefed Alicia and me on the stea
l last week. Oliver believed he had a meeting with an investor, who was being played by Evan, one of our clean up crew. We’d all be attending the meeting—Evan, Alicia and I. Once we were all inside the factory, Evan and Alicia would use me as a hostage to gain access to the power core. Even I knew Oliver would give them anything in order to keep me safe. Sonia told me I’d be taken along with the power core, but of course I now knew differently. Something would go wrong, and Oliver would learn of my true identity, voiding the agreement I signed.

  “I need to make a few calls. Make yourself at home,” Oliver called, coming down the grand staircase after dropping our luggage off in the master suite.

  I was glad Alicia was staying at a hotel nearby. She’d become intimate with Dylan over the last few weeks while he’d been in New York heading a science fair, and I expected he’d be joining her at the hotel.

  I walked into the large kitchen and poured Oliver and myself a glass of red wine. Tonight was our last night together, and for once, I needed the alcohol to help calm me. Wandering into the homey living area, I settled down on one of the comfortable couches and waited for Oliver to finish his calls.

  “Sorry about that. I needed to call Macy. She’s coming over so I can talk to her about the power core. She already suspects what I’m going to say, I’m sure, so I’ll speak to her in private. Knowing Macy, it’s going to be an ugly argument.”

  “Okay,” I sighed. “I poured you some wine. I thought you might need it.”

  “You read my mind.” When he sat next to me, I moved to rest my head on his chest and listened to the beat of his heart while he played with my hair. We stayed that way until Macy arrived a few hours later.

  Oliver took her into his study and I decided to watch some television. I was flipping through the channels, not really paying attention to anything, when the doorbell rang. We weren’t expecting anyone else that I knew of, so I groaned internally at seeing Alicia at the front door.

  “We need to talk. Where is Oliver?”

  “He’s in the study with Macy. What’s wrong?” I frowned, letting her in.

  “There is a power core, not just a prototype.” My worst fear had been realized. Alicia had found out about the real core! “Dylan has been keeping tabs on Macy. She has a secret laboratory. He hacked her computer and discovered the tests she’d done on it. I’ve called Sonia and confirmed this. The plan for the steal is still the same. We’ll be able to gain access to anywhere if we threaten your life—we just need to make sure Oliver takes us to Macy’s laboratory, not the joint one she shares with Dylan.”

  “It can’t be…Oliver would have…”

  “You’re not as amazing as you think, Jade. I told you I’d knock you off your pedestal with this mission,” she goaded. God, I hated her so much!

  “It can’t be. I would have known. Let me call Sonia.”

  “She’s in a meeting now, but she already sent the new steal information and protocol for tomorrow. Nothing has really changed, anyway. We’ll just get a bigger payout. Isn’t that amazing?” No, it wasn’t! What was I going to do? “I better go before Oliver sees me,” she stressed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I was numb, watching her leave. This mission was falling down around me.

  Pulling my phone out, I called Miles. I needed to know if he’d found anything out about our client. He couldn’t bury his head in the sand on this one. There was too much at stake.

  “What’s wrong, Jade?” he asked after the fourth ring.

  “Have you heard?”

  “Yes,” he sighed. We had to be careful how we worded things. Our calls were monitored.

  “Did you finding anything about what we’d been talking about?”

  “I started, but couldn’t finish it. I think you’re right, though. You need to be careful. You have a lot in your hands right now.” Was he trying to say I had been right? The client was Imogen.

  “Thanks, Miles.” I knew what he was trying to tell me. If I could stop the power core from getting into our client’s hands, I’d save the world…and Oliver in the long run.

  There was only one way I could do that. I’d have to confess who I really was to Macy and get her to swap the core before it was stolen tomorrow. For my plan to work, Oliver couldn’t know. He had to think that the real power core was being taken.

  I had consumed half a bottle of wine by the time Oliver and Macy surfaced from his study. She looked agitated, and I was going to make her night even worse with what I had to do.

  “All that hard work,” she grumbled, collecting her coat. “I can’t believe you sometimes, Oliver Kirkham!”

  “You’ll start the deletion tomorrow, yes?” he asked, running his hands through his hair.

  “I’ll need to wait until Dylan has gone for the day, but yes, I’ll start deleting files tomorrow. The core will be more difficult.”

  “That can wait a few weeks. It’s secure, so no one will find it.” That’s what Oliver thought.

  “Do you think he’s crazy for doing this?” Macy asked me.

  “I trust his judgment. Oliver knows what he’s doing,” I said as I smiled shyly toward him.

  “I think he’s an idiot for turning his back on this.” Oliver rolled his eyes and walked into the living room. He’d obviously had enough of Macy for the evening.

  “Here, let me walk you to the door,” I suggested, walking with her. Macy widened her eyes at me, looking surprised. Once we were outside, I closed the front door. “Macy, this is going to sound crazy, but I need you to meet me back here at midnight.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I can’t say right now. It’s too dangerous,” I stressed, checking to make sure Oliver wasn’t listening.

  “Jade, how much wine have you had tonight?” she questioned. Not enough for all the shit I'm dealing with right now!

  “Macy, Oliver’s life depends on this. Meet me back here at midnight, please,” I begged. “If you ever loved him like I do, you’ll do this for him.”

  “Jeez, okay. I’ll meet you,” she breathed. “Does it have anything to do with the power core?”

  “I’ll explain later. Oliver can’t hear us.” She gave me a quizzical look before nodding in agreement.

  All I had left to do was wear Oliver out so he didn’t wake to hear our conversation later, and I knew just how to do that.

  He was sipping his wine when I walked back into the living room, and I gave him a sexy smirk as I wandered over to him. He gazed up at me, his eyes dark with need.

  “I don’t know about you, but I could do with an early night,” I purred, taking his wine glass from him.

  “That depends on if you want to sleep…” Oliver grabbed the front of my top, pulling me down so I was straddling his lap. “…or if you want me to fuck you senseless.” I groaned, feeling his erection against my center. We were both wearing too many damn clothes. “Is that a yes to the sex?”

  “It’s always a yes for sex.” I kissed along his jaw, running my hands down his chest while undoing the buttons on his shirt.

  “Oh, you want to start right here, do you?” I rocked against the erection straining in his pants to make my intentions clear. “I love this bolder side to you.” His hands were quick to remove my top, and before I knew it, he’d pulled my bra cups down and was attacking my nipples with his teeth and tongue. I tried to undo his pants while he continued his glorious torture, but it wasn’t easy. Oliver was on a mission to make me climax as quickly as possible, and his hands slid inside my panties, running between my slick folds.

  “Oh, God,” I groaned, throwing my head back.

  “Do you want my cock, Beautiful?”

  “Yes,” I pleaded. “Take me, Oliver. Make me forget everything.” This would be the last time I’d feel this way. I’d never love like this again. He’d always be the one who claimed my heart.

  He gave in with a snarl, pulling my panties away before slamming me onto his cock.

  “Like this?” he panted.

  “Ugh, yes. Just like that.” As he b
egan to bounce me up and down his length, I gripped his shoulders, kissing every inch of his face and holding onto the memory of each line and contour. I never wanted to forget how perfect he was.

  When I felt myself begin to build, I clung to him, riding out my climax with the warmth of his body heat.

  “I love you,” I whispered, still clinging to him moments later.

  “I love you, too, Sweetheart. How about we take this upstairs?” I nodded, forcing a smile as I followed him up the staircase.

  I lay awake in the dark, Oliver sleeping peacefully next to me. Macy would be here soon, so I slipped out of bed, careful not to wake him.

  By the time I reached the front door, Macy was waiting for me.

  “This better be good, Jade. You’ve dragged my ass back here way past my bedtime! Aren’t you even going to let me in?”

  “I can’t chance it. Macy, you need to swap the real power core right now.”

  “Excuse me!”

  “It’s going to be stolen tomorrow. You have to swap it with a prototype.”

  “How the fuck would you know that?”

  “I’m one of the people who’s been paid to steal it,” I admitted, looking shameful.

  “What the fuck?” I gave her a few moments clear her head. “I knew you were no good. I told Oliver this!”

  “I’m doing this for him. My client can’t get their hands on the power core, Macy. Think of the damage it would do.”

  “How can I trust you? This might be a trick?”

  “I don’t want to know where you put the real core. All I ask is that you move it. Oh, and it has to be swapped by tomorrow morning.”

  “Who are you working for?”

  “I can’t tell you that, but Alicia is working for them, too.”

  “Jesus Christ. What has Oliver gotten himself involved in?”

  “A client has paid for us to do this. I think it might be Imogen.”

  “Imogen Windom?” she spat.

  “Yes,” I sighed. “Will you do this for me—for Oliver? I know you still care about him.”