Last night, he’d known fear again and not for himself. Caring about someone else, even in the early stages, was a damned terrifying experience. What if she died? How would he manage to live through that pain? What was—
The door to the shower swung open. Lara, wearing a white robe and nothing else, stared at him. His heart skipped a beat. She looked fresh, alive, and not at all like she endured hell because he wrongly yanked her into his world. So far, she hadn’t blamed him, and she had every right to do so.
“When we designed this bathroom, we made sure the shower was big enough for two.”
He blinked. She wasn’t wrong. It was a large washroom, for sure. Plenty of space. Why didn’t she come in if she wanted to? He was hardly going to say no.
It dawned on him all at once. She wanted him to tell her to, she was giving him permission to watch.
5
“Drop the robe.” He stepped back so he couldn’t reach her. He didn’t want to touch, not yet. They needed to see if this worked. Hell, for Lara, he’d probably give the whole thing up. She owned him. Did she know?
The crazy thing was she kept asking for it. He wasn’t begging, he hadn’t yet dropped to his knees and sworn whatever she wanted to hear. She pursued him. It was the hottest thing he’d ever seen.
She did as he asked. Her lean body in front of him made him hard. As he was also naked, she had to be able to see how turned on he’d become. This was a big change for him. The mirror usually gave him a chance to get himself under control, if he wanted to, before he had to face the person on the other side.
But they were both completely exposed, and he loved that—which should have freaked him out.
She lowered her eyes. “Now what?”
“Don’t rush me when I’m enjoying looking at your naked body.”
Color heated her cheeks. “Thank you.”
He wanted her eye contact. “Raise your eyes. You should never be embarrassed by how gorgeous you are.”
She lifted her gaze. “You’re pretty damned beautiful yourself.”
He laughed, the levity making him grin. This wasn’t supposed to be amusing. Or maybe it was. What did he know, anymore? The rules were different with Lara.
“I am covered in scars. Trust me, not beautiful.” He lifted his hand when she would have spoken. The question about whether or not he was good looking was neither here nor there at that moment. “You’re not married anymore. I guess it has to be filed with the court. I can guarantee it will be. That means the rules have changed.”
She nodded. “You can touch me now, actually make love to me.”
“I don’t know if I’ve ever made love to anyone. But I can try.”
Her eyes flared. “Then don’t you think it’s beyond time you did?”
“One of the things I have come to admire about you in the brief time we have known each other is how you are really not afraid of anything when it comes to yourself. Someone you care about, sure. You feel fear, but not for your own well-being. Not one person in a thousand would speak to me the way you do. I love how you never back down. Come under the water with me.”
She nodded and stepped into the shower spray. The water covered her fast, droplets traveling down her body, over her breasts, past her stomach, and touching her pussy before they hit her legs and eventually, the ground. He was transfixed, like a teenager seeing his first naked woman, instead of a guy who had fucked every manner of person over his lifetime and felt very little about any of it.
Lara made him feel brand new.
“Touch your breasts.”
She nodded, her hands coming down her neck to where he’d instructed her to stroke. His hands ached to touch her, but he wanted this more. For now.
His cock jumped at watching her take her nipples in her hand and squeeze them. Lara threw her neck back, leaning a little bit on the shower. “My nipples are not usually sensitive. But when you tell me to touch myself, my whole body seems to come alive. Jolts of pleasure when I touch them right now.”
Well, that was seriously awesome. He kept his grin to himself. Russell didn’t want her to think he was laughing at her or not taking her seriously.
His own body was on fire. Her nipples peaked and hardened. She rubbed them, a circular motion, and a small moan escaped her mouth. Would she want her clit stroked the same way?
He changed how he stood. They’d only gotten started, and already, he wanted to be in her—pounding her into pleasurable completion.
“Remember your safe word?” His voice broke when he spoke.
A small smile passed over her mouth. “I do. But I don’t want to use it.”
“Just checking.” He backed up a bit and sat down on the bench on the other side of the shower. “Make yourself come.”
She nodded once, her hands traveling down her body. There were things they could do, things they would do, when he had the tools with him. Dildos, handcuffs. His mind could go a million different ways. For now, he was so happy to have each other and the shower.
Her hand had almost reached her pussy, when he stopped her. “The showerhead. Make yourself come with the showerhead.”
Her eyes widened, and he waited. She had her safe word, and although they were new at this together, he trusted her to use it if she wanted it.
Lara turned a half degree and unhooked the showerhead. She ran her hand over it. When she turned to face him again, it was with a steady gaze. Lara chewed on her lower lip. “I’ve never done this before, not like this. It’s going to take a second or two for me to figure this out. Bear with me?”
He pointed at the settings. “Push the button that says massage settings.”
“Ah, good call. Nice, you’ve had some experience with this.” She did as he told, and the water changed. With the showerhead otherwise occupied, the water no longer beat down on him. He hardly noticed. Between the heat Lara generated and the steam in the room, he wasn’t going to feel cold anytime soon.
Still standing, she bent her knees, positioning the spray right over her vagina. It must have felt good because she let out a moan, deep in her throat, and closed her eyes. Lara bent her knees to take the showerhead farther inside of her. Francium wasn’t sure he could take any more. Right about then was when he should have started to be turned on, not already so far gone, he was going to come from watching her alone.
He moved until he had her in his arms. “I don’t usually want this. And don’t get me wrong, there are going to be times when all I want to do is order you around and watch you find pleasure—maybe even in that club. But I want you now. Can I have you?” He wasn’t above saying please if she wanted him to.
Lara flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Are you kidding? Take me. You always could.”
Not until she could have been his. He didn’t know why it was a hang up, and naked in the shower was not the time to explore his hidden feelings about the sanctity of marriage. He shut off the water.
Francium scooped her up. The bathroom counter was safer than the shower. He didn’t want either of them to fall. They’d had enough bad luck lately.
He placed her on her rear end on the counter with her back on the mirror. Russell would have preferred the opposite, being able to watch her while he made love to her rather than the current situation, but he wasn’t going to take her from behind the first time.
Unless she asked for it.
“Fuck.” A thought dawned on him, and he wished reality could slip away, but it couldn’t. “We don’t have a condom. It didn’t even occur to me. I’ve been busy. I—”
She placed her hand over his mouth. Her fingers were soft, and he kissed her palm. If he had to shut up, at least she told him so with the softest skin ever. “Second drawer over there. Condoms.”
This woman was a queen. He opened the drawer, grabbed the aforementioned condoms, and sheathed himself with shaking hands.
Lara stroked her hand down his cheek. “I’d love to get you in my hands, but I want you in me. You seem close.”
�
�You make me weak.”
She kissed him lightly on the lips. “Not possible. Maybe you know you can trust me.”
“Maybe you’re the hottest woman I’ve ever seen.”
She grinned, a look of pure female satisfaction crossing her face. “Thanks for that.”
He inched her slightly off the counter so that her pussy positioned close to his cock. In one swift move, he pressed upwards, pushing inside of her balls deep. The world tilted on its axis. He’d never had a home anywhere in the world. But inside this woman, he suddenly felt like maybe there might be one for him—right in between her thighs.
They moved together. Lara had to position herself slightly on the corner of the counter, but she didn’t seem to mind. When he pressed upwards, she moved down his cock. His balls throbbed, and the colors passed before his eyes. He didn’t care. He’d hold out until she came.
Lara whispered in his ear, “I don’t think I’m going to be able to come until you tell me to.”
Was she fucking serious? He fell hard, head over heels for Lara right that second. If he’d had any doubt about his feelings, they fled. He was hands down in love with her. “Fucking come, Lara. Come now.”
She exploded around him, her juices soaking him. The sounds of their lovemaking filled the room as she cried out his name. He was done. Russell didn’t have another second in him. He came, hard, every bit of him emptying inside of her.
They breathed hard together, his face pressed into her shoulder. This was too much. The poor woman had just gotten out of one abusive relationship. She really, really didn’t need his crap. The best thing he could do was to leave her alone.
She ran her hand up and down his back. “What are you thinking?”
“I should stay the fuck away from you. You need time, safety, and a guy who can be on the up and up. I’m a con artist. Just because I’m currently on the right side of things, doesn’t mean you should be mixed up.”
Lara pressed her forehead to his. “Don’t be scared and run away, Russell.”
How did she read him so well? “I don’t even know if that’s my name. It’s the first one I can remember, but I think I had one before it. They might have given that to me in my first foster home. Or maybe it was the second. No one has ever wanted me.”
“I do.”
He closed his eyes so she wouldn’t see the tears in them.
Lara hated paperwork, but there was nothing like tracing something through documents to make finding things easier. Maybe she should have been a lawyer. Back in the day, before she’d become basically useless, she’d done this to trace ownership on stolen works of art. Now, she was reading her ex-husband’s financials and dreading each paper more than the last. She had three quarters of his money which wasn’t—when the debt was taken care of—going to amount to very much. That was okay. She’d sell the houses and be glad to be rid of them.
She’d left Russell asleep on the bed upstairs. The man was seriously sexy, even down to the vulnerability he clearly tried to deny. The smart move would be to leave—he’d even told her as much. But she wasn’t going anywhere. Whether it was random coincidence or the universe had brought them together, she was keeping him.
He called himself a con man? Maybe he was still trying to figure out who he was supposed to be. She certainly was.
As she went through the books, she kept stumbling on one figure that didn’t make any sense. What did DG stand for? Why did they keep getting paid? She’d already figured out who the mistresses were—
A knock sounded on the office door, and she turned to see the blond guy—Platinum—come in. He was followed by a man with brown hair she didn’t recognize, but then again, she really had no idea how many people Russell had running around the house at the moment.
“We’re looking for Francium.” Platinum’s face stayed serene. She wondered if he ever showed emotion. He wore a ring on his left finger, which meant either he was married or he wanted people to think he was.
The other man extended his hand. “Zinc. Pleased to meet you. Ma’am.”
He also wore a wedding ring.
“Pleasure.” Lara nodded. “He’s asleep upstairs.”
She hated the thought they’d wake him up. He hadn’t expected to sleep. That much she realized. He’d been two seconds into telling her a story about a horse he’d once seen run at the Kentucky Derby, when he’d conked right out. That kind of exhaustion meant he should be left alone. Then again, everyone except her was here to do a job. Sleeping on the job was probably frowned upon. Maybe she shouldn’t have told them.
Platinum and Zinc made eye contact. She cleared her throat and smoothed her skirt as she stood. Fortunately, she’d had the presence of mind to properly dress herself in a sundress and sandals before she left the room.
“Something wrong?”
“We have Remington, and we’re having a little trouble getting a final piece of information out of him. He’ll need to touch base with Red Wolf tonight.” Zach walked to the window. “Francium tends to be good at this kind of thing. Wen, our other colleague, is too, but he went back this morning. I can make him talk, but I’ve got to do something about my head first.”
Platinum shrugged. “This is not my forte. I’d rather shoot him in the head.”
They needed Remington to speak, and they wanted to wake Francium to do it. “Maybe I could get him to talk. If you could help me.”
Zinc looked at Platinum. “I don’t know. My girl could do this easily, but she’s trained to.”
“Rose really wouldn’t want anything to do with this. But Lara just said she did. If she said she can, she can.”
Zinc crossed his arms over his chest. “Shit. Can we bring her in there without discussing it with Francium?”
“Yes, you most certainly can.” She’d been in a relationship where she got told what to do. That wasn’t going to happen again. “Where is he?”
When Lara had designed the pool house, she’d never imagined it would ever serve as a means to keep Remington prisoner, tied to a chair, and covered in his own piss. She stood by the door to watch him for a second. He stared at the ground. His face didn’t look swollen. In fact, she couldn’t see any noticeable injuries on him anywhere. Whatever they’d been doing to him to get information, it wasn’t physical.
He raised his head to stare at her, and she wondered if she’d ever known him at all. Zinc had talked strategy with her before he’d gone off to sleep off his headache. She didn’t know what had happened to him, but at some point, that man had been hurt.
She inched into the pool house. It could have doubled as a guesthouse if they’d ever had enough people to fill up the main house and the actual guesthouse. Now, it was where these people who had stormed into her miserable existence and let in the light were somehow forcing her ex to speak.
Except they weren’t. They wanted Russell to. Maybe—just maybe—he’d had enough of that for a lifetime.
“Lara, you have to get me out of here. These people are crazy. And someone is going to come looking, and then we’re all dead.”
She knelt down in front of him. “What have you done to us?”
Once he had loved her, or at least, he had liked her as much as he did anyone on the planet. She’d been good enough to marry, when the other women he’d kept purely to fuck. If she could reach him, in that place, maybe she could get somewhere. He was tied to a chair, an expensive chair, as the case turned out to be. She’d way overspent on the lawn furniture, but it had been one of her first married expenditures, and she liked being able to charge and not worry about it.
Of course, if he’d ever told her about the dire states of their bank accounts, she wouldn’t have done it so frequently.
“Why did you do this to us?”
“Me?” He spit on the ground. “You’re sleeping with one of them.”
She tried to ignore the revolt being close to him brought out in her. “You really want to compare notes? Which one of us slept around?”
“Okay, fair en
ough.” He took an audible breath. “You have to help me.”
“Who is DG? Another mistress? I can’t help you, if you don’t help me. I can cut a deal with these guys. They like me. But I won’t if you don’t come clean. Why are you paying DG a monthly stipend, and who is your business partner? They know about Red Wolf. But they think you’ve got a third person on the hook. Is that true? Let me help you.”
This wasn’t what Zinc had told her to do. He’d told her to go in and ask. If he didn’t tell her, he wanted her to get out. Platinum stood outside with a gun. She wasn’t at risk, but this kind of situation was so fraught with stress, and she had no training.
“DG is my business partner. Don’t go near her. She and Red Wolf, they go way back. If she doesn’t see me today, she’ll report it. Then we’re all dead. She’s his redundancy. I pay her to give me a little bit of leeway. She doesn’t report my indiscretions to him. He wouldn’t like it. Too much attention with the mistresses. I am sorry, Lara. We’re all going to die. These guys seem like they’re good? They’re going to be why you die.”
She wouldn’t pretend her heart didn’t race or that her mouth hadn’t gone dry in terror. What was the point? This was scary as hell. But that didn’t mean she would give up. This wouldn’t get better unless she got him to talk.
Lara made herself swallow. Outside, she could hear the ocean and even closer, the sound of the pool filter turning on to clean the pool. Someone must have put on the washer. She could hear that, too. This moment was nothing. It was small. She would crush it.
“Tell me who DG is. I can’t help us if I don’t know. I’m not dying today. And neither are you.” She didn’t care if she lied. He wasn’t getting out of telling her. “Unless you don’t fill in this information gap. DG—the same problem in the ledger—is your partner, who also works for Red Wolf. Who is she?”
The Men of Elite Metal: Platinum, Zinc, & Francium Page 25