by Anna Durand
And the need to fuck her like a demon gripped me hard. No, no, no, you goddamn eejit.
I held still, half inside her, and took deep breaths.
"What's wrong?" she asked, her voice a husky whisper.
"Nothing," I grunted.
She grasped my upper arms. "Please."
The desperation in her voice made me want her even more. But I wouldn't let my cock command me. Only Keely was allowed to do that, when I decided to let her.
I pushed her knees off my shoulders and lowered my body until all of me rested on top of her. I was still inside her, but now we were in full contact, body to body, skin to skin. I moved my hips in a steady, controlled rhythm, all the while kissing her neck and nibbling her earlobe, running my hands up and down her body.
"Evan, I—"
Whatever she'd wanted to say dissolved into a long, throaty moan.
"Shhhh," I murmured and pushed up onto my elbows so I could see her face. I bracketed her head with my hands, combing my fingers through her hair. "You're about to come. Let it happen and trust me to take you only as far as you can handle."
She choked back a cry, her neck arching.
Her body went rigid under me.
I levered my body off hers, my arms straight, and let go. She clamped her hands around my wrists, and I bucked into her again and again, any tatters of self-control I'd had left disintegrating under the crushing power of my need for her. Her breasts bounced. The mattress bounced. The whole bed creaked and thumped and bounced. Her body clenched me hard, and with the very first spasm of her climax, I came.
Two more thrusts and I was done—but she wasn't.
I shoved a hand between our bodies to rub her clitoris until her spasms faded and she stopped thrashing. Her skin was flushed, her cheeks too. Reluctantly, I pulled out of her sweet body and got rid of the condom.
She lay there not moving, seeming dazed while she tried to catch her breath.
I lay down on the bed beside her and turned onto my side to face her.
Keely held a hand to her cheek and let out a long, gusty breath.
Rushed it again, that's what I'd done. The woman drove me out of my mind. Luckily, I had the rest of the night to fulfill my promise.
I draped an arm over her belly. "Don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. Does this place have room service? A piece would get us both ready for the next round."
"Round of what?" She eyed me sideways. "And what's a piece?"
"A snack. A sandwich, usually." I drew curving lines on her belly with my finger. "And I meant the next round of making love to you."
"This hotel does not have room service." She wriggled, frowning slightly. "You're leaving, anyway."
"No, I'm not. I promised I'd stay all night, and that's what I mean to do."
"You have to go."
"Why? I know you like me, or I wouldn't be here." I raised up on my elbow to study her face, but I couldn't decide if she was annoyed, scared, or some combination of the two. "Let me spend the night with you."
"Not necessary. You've already kept your promise. We had sex for more than thirty seconds, and you didn't run away."
"But you're ordering me to leave."
"Yes." She sat up, rubbing her arms as if she were cold. "I'm sorry, but this is how it has to be. You need to understand the parameters. We are not dating, this is not a romance. If you want to keep having sex, we can do that until I fly home Saturday morning. But this is casual, only casual, and we are not involved in any kind of relationship beyond the physical."
She stared straight ahead at the door.
Her orders didn't cow me, but for once they didn't make me want to kiss her into a frenzy either. For reasons I didn't know yet, she was terrified of getting involved with me. If I walked out the door tonight, maybe she'd use this time to reconsider her opinion of dating. If not, I'd find another way to convince her I wasn't like her ex-husbands.
I got up, grabbed her robe, and placed it around her shoulders.
She glanced up at me, startled.
Had she been so deep in thought, in worry, that she hadn't noticed me moving closer? I doubted that. It was more likely she was surprised a man would want to take care of her. Her exes sounded like erseholes.
I crouched beside the bed to look her in the eye. "I'll go, but you need to understand a few things too. I'm not giving up. Sooner or later, you will realize this is more than casual sex. Every time we're together, I will be making love to you. It's personal and intimate and, if I have a bloody clue what I'm doing, it will be a romantic relationship. I've never wanted more than sex with any woman, but with you, I want everything."
Her shoulders sagged, and she clutched the robe over her chest. "You're sweet, Evan, but I'm damaged goods. You'd be better off finding a cute young lass your own age."
Damaged? I would never describe her that way. She was vibrant, sexy, intelligent, and bossy. Still, I couldn't change her mind tonight. Only time could do that.
Time with me.
I leaned in to kiss her.
She threw a hand up between our mouths. "No more kissing. This is not a relationship, which means we do not need to kiss."
"What about foreplay? That involves kissing."
"I'm sure you can be more creative than that."
"Maybe I can, but—"
She tapped two fingers on my mouth. "No kissing."
I would not agree with her command, but I wouldn't argue at the moment. I found my clothes and shoes and pulled them on, then retrieved my glasses and headed for the door. There, I hesitated with my hand on the knob. "I'll pick you up at eight and take you to my favorite breakfast spot."
"I'll meet you there. Text me directions."
My lips flattened, I blew out a sigh. "Keely."
"Either meet me there or forget it."
I blew out another sigh and grumbled, "I'll text you the directions."
"Good."
I walked out, yanking the door shut behind me.
Chapter Nine
Evan
From the moment Keely swept into the restaurant at five past eight in the morning, I realized something important had changed between us. Last night, she'd ordered me to leave. Today, she smiled when she caught sight of me and chose to sit in the chair right next to mine instead of the one across the table from me. We talked, about nothing important, and mocked each other with friendly taunts. I had trouble focusing on our conversation. I lost my train of thought every time I looked at her body.
Today, she wore a short-sleeve white blouse that clung to every inch of her torso. The neckline dipped low enough that every time she leaned in I glimpsed the swells of her breasts. The pale-blue skirt she wore hugged her hips but hung looser around her thighs, swishing when she walked. And those shoes. Bod an Donais, the heels must've been four inches high, and they gave her ankles a tantalizing curve that made me want to duck under the table and lick them. She'd lost the bun and let her hair tumble in loose waves around her face and shoulders. How she could look professional but still make me crave her mystified me.
After breakfast, I'd convinced her to not only go to the office with me but to ride in my car too. A minor concession, but one I celebrated silently. On the kissing front, she refused to relent. Five times this morning I'd tried to kiss her and five times she'd thrown a hand up between our mouths to block me.
Once we were inside my office with the door shut, Keely asked, "I thought we were going sightseeing today. What's so important we have to cancel our plans?"
I decided not to point out "plans" implied more than casual sex.
"Something urgent came up," I said. Urgent and of questionable legality, but I didn't want to explain that to her today. After I'd won her, then I'd confess my sins. Selfish? Aye. But I needed her in ways I couldn't explain or understand, and so I would do anything to keep her. "I'll have Tamsen show you our latest catalogs while I take care of this other business. She can help you place your first order too.
"
"I can order from home. I'd rather stay here with you."
"To do what? Watch me typing on my computer?"
She dug her phone out of her purse. "I can read a book on my phone."
I started to complain but then realized this was exactly what I'd wanted. She would rather sit in my office waiting for me to finish my work than handle business of her own. Keely wanted to be with me.
Casual sex? No romantic relationship? One day soon she would realize her claims were nonsense.
"Make yourself at home," I said. "If you'd like a drink, I have water in the wet bar. It's a bit early for a hard drink."
She patted my cheek. "Good boy. This morning, you know it's too early."
"I was in shock yesterday. My behavior then was not typical."
"A fact I recognize today."
While I settled in at my desk, Keely stretched out on the window ledge. She sat with her back against the window frame, her ankles crossed, and the phone cradled on her lap. Her gaze drifted to the landscape beyond the glass. The sunlight coming through the windows cast her in a heavenly glow, giving her the aura of a celestial being reclining on a mountaintop, too beautiful and ethereal to be touched by man.
I meant to touch her. Often. And kiss her, dammit.
Her lips curved in the faintest smile. She tipped her head back until it met the window frame and closed her eyes as if soaking up the rays of sunshine. She seemed more relaxed than yesterday and younger somehow, freer, less burdened by the past.
She might dismiss whatever this was between us as nothing meaningful, but her behavior this morning testified to the truth.
I should've started working on the task assigned to me by the thugs who seemed to own my soul. Why else would I do their bidding? To protect my family, that's why. My invisible masters might have tied their strings to me, but I was not their slave, bought and paid for, to do as they dictated. I'd never seen their faces or heard their voices. For all I knew, I was dealing with one person who had underworld resources and no conscience whatsoever.
Keely sighed, her smile deepening.
My chest constricted. I should never have brought Keely into my world, but my selfish need to keep her near me had overridden my common sense. I needed her. It was insane, but since the moment I'd first laid eyes on her in Paris, I'd known she was the only woman I could ever want for more than sex. And now she claimed to want only sex with me.
Frowning, I turned to my computer and tried to concentrate on my work. I prayed this task wouldn't harm anyone. As far as I knew, nothing I'd given them had caused harm, but I couldn't know for certain. I understood what the code did. I couldn't predict how these people might use it. If anyone got hurt because of me…
I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut.
"You okay?" Keely asked.
"Aye, fine." I forced my jaw to loosen and scooted my chair to the left so she couldn't see me around the computer monitor. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather sit with Tamsen?"
"Positive."
After a few seconds of silence, I rose partway to peer over the monitor at Keely. She was engrossed in the book displayed on her phone's screen. Her tortoiseshell glasses perched on her nose.
I dropped back into my chair and set to work.
The only sounds were the faint tapping of my fingers striking the keyboard and the occasional rustling of Keely's clothes as she adjusted her position on the window ledge. For twenty-two minutes and sixteen seconds, I avoided looking at her. I wasted another minute and ten seconds carefully cleaning my glasses and another fifty seconds after that rearranging the things on my desk. Finally, I could resist no longer and let my attention wander to Keely's curvy body stretched out on the ledge. She was smiling, her eyes sparkling. Whatever book she was reading must've been humorous. I itched to ask her about it, to engage her in conversation so she would aim those lustrous green eyes at me and grace me with a smile like the one her book inspired. But I had work to do.
I got back to it.
One hour and eleven minutes later, she excused herself to make a call. She'd asked me where she might find some privacy, and I'd told her to ask Tamsen to show her the conference room down the hall. No one was using it today. While she was gone, I called Duncan Hendry for an update on the security breach at my mother's home.
Before I could ask, he answered my question. "No one got close to the house or breached the property. Because of the trees and the terrain, there are only two ways to get a clear view of that window box. One is from inside the yard, not more than twenty feet away. The other is to stand on the hill about a hundred meters behind the house. My men don't patrol that far away from the house, and our thermal and motion sensors wouldn't pick up anyone at that distance."
I should've felt better hearing his explanation, but I didn't. If someone could take a picture of my mother from that distance, they could do something worse too—like firing a long-range rifle at her. "I'll send you our latest drone model. It's small and quiet and has built-in thermal imaging capabilities."
"We're not licensed for that."
"Don't worry. If you're arrested for operating a drone without permission from the government, I'll pay all your legal fees."
"Thank you, but I'd rather not tempt fate."
"I'll double what I'm paying you, and you can keep the drone."
After a few seconds of silence, he said, "If that's what you want."
"It is. I'll send the drone right away. Goodbye."
Soon after I'd ended my call to Duncan, Keely came back from making her own call. I wanted to ask her to whom she had spoken, but it wasn't my business. Not yet. Once she admitted we were dating, I could ask her personal questions.
And she would want to ask me similar questions.
How would she react if I told her the full truth? The things I'd done, what I was capable of. I had no right to keep her with me, but I couldn't let her go.
Selfish bod ceann, that's what you are. Maybe I was a dickhead, but I'd taken this thing with Keely too far to back out now. Being a selfish bod ceann, I realized that was an excuse but didn't care.
That niggling sensation in my gut had nothing to do with guilt.
A liar too, eh?
I leaned sideways to get a glimpse of Keely. She had kicked off her shoes, and her bonnie toes wriggled the way they had last night when I was stoking her fire. A yawn overtook her. She stretched her arms above her head, making her blouse tighten over her breasts to the point the buttons seemed about to pop free. My cock roused, liking the idea of her blouse springing open to reveal more of her delectable body. She was wearing a bra, I could tell that much. It seemed very low-cut, though. If I walked over there and helped those buttons along, ripping them away with my teeth, I could bury my face between her breasts and—
How could I concentrate with her in the room? I jerked my attention away from the sensual woman on the window ledge and back to the screen in front of me.
Somehow, I managed to focus on my task for another hour in spite of Keely traipsing around the room to inspect the furniture and the abstract artwork on the walls. I hated those paintings or drawings or whatever they were. The interior decorator had chosen them, insisting they created a mood of "serenity and comfort." Keely paused at each piece of art to examine it.
Precisely at noon, she approached my desk and leaned her bottom against it right beside my chair.
I glanced at her sideways. "Did you need something?"
She bent toward me. "It's lunchtime. Let's go eat, I'm starving."
Aye, so was I. Not for food, though my grumbling stomach disagreed. I hungered for her.
"Too busy," I said. The deadline was three hours away. "Go on and have lunch without me."
"Uh-uh." She angled in more, hands on her thighs. "You've been staring at your computer all morning. It's time for a break."
"I need to finish this."
"You need food too unless you're an alien that
lives on coffee and cardboard."
Maybe I couldn't live on those things, but I was fair certain I could survive by nibbling on nothing but her.
"What are you doing that's so important?" she asked.
"It's technical," I hedged. "Do you know much about computer programming?"
"Nope."
"I'm not skilled at it, but I have to take care of this myself."
"How do you not know about writing code? You make technical doohickeys."
That word almost made me smile, until I looked at the screen again. "I design the devices, and I used to manufacture them myself too. Now, I have people to do that. I also have people to create the software for the devices. Even in the beginning, I knew I needed to hire a programmer to help me since I'm not adept at writing code."
Did my invisible masters know that? They must not or they wouldn't have blackmailed me into doing work for them—unless they liked forcing me to do something outside of my expertise. I couldn't see how that would benefit them.
Keely straightened, hands on her hips. "You are taking a lunch break, Mr. MacTaggart. That's an order."
Her schoolteacher voice and a bossy order. Did she have no idea what that did to me?
I slung an arm around her waist and hauled her onto my lap.
She yelped and blew hair away from her eyes. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Having lunch. Nothing I'd rather snack on than you."
"Evan, please."
"Begging?" I arched one brow. "Please what? Kiss you? Your command is my wish."
I moved in, aiming for her lips.
She shoved a hand between our mouths. "No kissing, remember?"
"Every contract is negotiable."
"Not after you've signed it."
"That was a verbal contract, and I never agreed to it, anyway." I tried again to steal a kiss, but she blocked me again. "You decreed we shouldn't kiss. I didn't argue, but I didn't consent to it either. I've gone along with your order for the time being because it serves my purpose."
"What is your purpose?"
"To get you to admit we're involved in more than a casual liaison."
Her lips compressed, and her eyes narrowed. For several seconds, neither of us said a word. She stared at me, and I stared at her—though I couldn't resist fondling her erse and licking my lips when I glimpsed her breasts.