[Secrets of Stone 01.0] No Prince Charming

by Angel Payne

  “Yeah! Dude is takin’ care of business!”

  I’m faintly aware Wade has scooped up his cyberguts long enough to wander in our direction. At the sounds of our reactions to the video, he scoots in behind us. “Fersh!” he shouts. “Get over here. It’s him.”

  “Sure as hell is.” Every syllable out of Neeta is just sultry.

  “Him who?” I demand as Fershan dips his head, baring a smile that’s brilliant against his dark skin.

  “Dude,” he repeats, shoving Wade’s bony shoulder. “You’re right!”

  “Him who?”

  “Nobody knows,” Neeta supplies.

  I glance back at the monitor. “Wait. Are you serious?” My scowl becomes a gape. “Is he serious? Is he really wearing a mask?”

  Okay, not a big one. It’s like the Maserati of masks. Sleek and black and subtle, fitted like a tight blindfold across his upper face but with eyeholes. I can’t tell a lot from the angle of the video, but the eyeholes look like rectangles, almost making him look like a wavy-haired hipster with designer glasses. But instead of skinny jeans and a cardigan, he rocks custom leathers and weird-but-hot ninja boots.

  “I think he’s pretty serious,” Wade responds as the ninja thunder god pivots, grabs a couple of extension cords off an endcap, and makes his way to the back of the store. Next to the hanging cords is a rack of mini flashlights, which all start to blink as his hand passes near.

  “What on…” I whip a startled glance at the guys. “Did you see—”

  “Yep,” they answer in unison.

  For the next thirty seconds, we only see the store owner glancing furtively toward the spot where weird electro man flung the bad guys, though the cell phone owner illuminates with his play-by-play. “Boss is usin’ those cords to tie those slimebags down. Yeah, man. That’s the way.”

  When the video feed is filled with red and blue lights, the man in the Maserati mask snaps up. At once, hunk-god rapidly strides toward the front of the shop like a man on his way to save the world. Which, at this exact moment, doesn’t seem like an exaggeration at all.

  Despite his near blur of speed, he’s mesmerizing. When he’s in the shot, my sights focus on him alone. I’m nervous but attracted, almost feeling like I’m on a first date—pretty lame, considering I haven’t exactly logged a ton of those—but the symptoms are the same.

  I’m sweating.

  I’m throbbing.

  I’m aching.

  In all the worst places.

  “Holy…wow.”

  The reaction tumbles out before I can stop myself.

  “Aha. OC finally figures it out.” Neeta’s sarcasm saves me from having to summon a fun comeback to Wade’s and Fershan’s shouts.

  “Is he gonna do it?”

  “C’monnn. He has to do it!”

  “Do what?” I ask.

  “Please,” Neeta drawls. “He’s totally going to do it.”

  “Do what?”

  The guys bellow in victory as the hero on the screen checks on Santa Claus, spins away from the counter, drops into a stance similar to a competitive runner on the starting block…

  And disappears.

  “What…the…”

  The store fills with flying paper, slushy straws, and condom packets—in short, anything that can easily be tossed around in a strong wind.

  A revelation sets in. He didn’t disappear. He just left so fast, that was what it looked like.

  Fershan and Wade launch into a leaping high five. “Gotta bolt!”

  I want to join Neeta in chuckling at them but am trapped in stunned mode. I do manage to blurt, “Excuse me?”

  Excitement adds to the ruddy flush on Wade’s face. “It’s his whoop.”

  “His whoop?” I echo both syllables with slow caution.

  “Like his war cry,” Fershan interjects. “It distinguishes him. Puts his unique stamp on shit.”

  “Because that outfit and the mask don’t do that already?”

  “Easily copied,” Fershan asserts. “But the whoop is unique. Nobody can say it like the original.” His gaze twinkles. “Every self-respecting superhero has one.”

  My scowl disappears—to make room for my gape.

  “Okay, whoa. Are you guys telling me—”

  A shrill bell cuts me short. The door to our offices, locked at night, sets off the sound when someone uses a fob to open it. The security measure isn’t all that safe, though, because most of the time we ignore the alert. The only people who have fobs are supposed to have them.

  Tonight, that’s not the case.

  Wade, Fershan, and Neeta snap their heads up in matching alarm. Before I can question their paranoia, they’re hustling like someone’s just yanked the fire alarms on every floor of the tower.

  “Damn it,” Neeta hisses.

  The guys add earthier expressions.

  “Hey.” I sprint as fast as my heels will allow, catching up with them. “What’s going on? Somebody want to fill in the new kid?”

  “Shit,” Wade blurts as if I haven’t spoken. He darts a frantic look at his buddy. “He never uses this entrance.”

  “He who?”

  Fershan swallows. “Unless he’s spying on us.”

  “He who?” They’ll have to acknowledge me eventually.

  Neeta rolls her eyes. “His last name is on the letterhead, guys. He’s not ‘spying.’ He’s checking up on the business.”

  I stop so hard my toes turn to jammed stubs in my pumps. His last name. On the letterhead. “Holy crap.”

  My stunned gasp has justifiable cause. The only person I’d never expected to meet, even if I worked days instead of nights, is the same man who approves my paycheck every two weeks. I’ve heard enough about Reece Richards to figure that much out and to use it as the springboard for my discomfort now.

  Okay, yeah, I’d known about the guy before landing the job—though only through thirty-second mentions on glossy entertainment news shows and his paparazzi-favored face on every magazine in the grocery store. The Richards family’s gorgeous youngest, known as much for his unconventional business ideas as for his unrestrained sex drive, had only gotten wilder after college. At some point, he stepped into some shit pile so deep, he was banished here, ordered to run the family’s West Coast hotels from LA.

  Needless to say, I don’t expect to meet a happy guy.

  Honestly, I wonder if I can get out of meeting him at all. I won’t even have to lie about the stack of work I just left behind—and the fact that the news feed is still running on the monitor doesn’t hurt either.

  Who the hell am I kidding?

  All I can think about is watching that robbery footage again. If my rampaging libido doesn’t already dictate it, Wade and Fershan’s insane claim sure as hell does.

  Superhero?

  They’re joking.

  They have to be.

  Even if the man can toss electric pulses, levitate people, and go zero to light speed in three seconds, that doesn’t make him a freaking superhero.

  Then what does it make him?

  I’m forced—saved?—from contemplating that further as the air shimmers with new energy.

  Okay, energy might be pushing it—but I’m not sure what other label fits this crazy surge of feeling. Is it a quickening? Full-blown anxiety? Leftover thrills from the excitement of watching Maserati Man? This feels like more. As if every ion in the air has been plugged into a cosmic supercharger.

  “Mr. Richards. What a pleasant surprise!”

  Higher.

  Power.

  Neither word does him justice. Even strung together, they barely do the job.

  Reece Richards is nothing I expected.

  And everything I need to fear.

  It’s not just the physical stuff—though, holy wow, that’s the obvious place to start. It’s all there, just as I remember from the magazines. The gray gaze so deeply set, the irises resemble midnight. The nose so bold and masculine, it could only be paired with a lush, elegant mouth. And thos
e plush curves are set into a jaw of such sharp angles, I wonder if it’s as alluring when clenched. That’s all before getting started on his hair. And yes, his hair is really worth the attention. I know this because no matter what, I’ve always gawked twice at the man’s photos just because of those dark-auburn waves.

  But like I said…that’s only the beginning.

  His beauty—there really is no other way to say it—is the thinnest nick on the surface of what it’s like to look at him. Experience him. Is the air buzzing? Are my breaths xylophoning my ribs? Have my nerve endings been punched to a higher resonance?

  Presence. Aura. Mystique.

  All words I’ve heard before—and thought I understood.

  And never have. Not really.

  And that leads back to the wanting. And the fear because of the wanting. As in, already fighting visions of what it’d be like to leap at the man, wrap my thighs around his toned hips, and fit every inch of my needy cleft along his swollen—

  “Miss Jain. Good evening.”

  His acknowledgment to Neeta, followed by similar greetings to the guys, is delivered in a voice as powerful but silken as an ocean wave on the shore. His voice. At once it worsens—and heightens—my fantasy. Now, as I mentally jump him, he’s rasping like that in my ear. Saying illicit, erotic things… Things I haven’t allowed myself to think of doing with a man in a very long time.

  Ride me harder, Emma.

  Things I can’t—I won’t—allow myself to think now.

  I want to be inside you, Emma.

  Not. Now.

  I’m going to fuck you deep, Emma.

  Not with a man like him.

  But all I can focus on is him, standing there with his tall, graceful body filling out that dark-navy suit and matching tie, the fit so perfect my stare can’t help but wander…

  Everywhere.

  Yes, even down there.

  Oh…wow.

  His bold, hard elegance is so not a disappointment.

  Stop.

  The dictate echoes through my head in Mother’s voice. Appropriate. Too damn much so. What would she think if she were here? And why does this man himself seem to read every nuance of those thoughts as they seize my mind—and be just as tense as me about them?

  “Good evening yourself, boss.” Wade scoots forward and eagerly pumps Richards’s hand. Though Neeta barely masks her horror about the familiarity, the “boss” himself seems mildly amused. “Deciding to slum it with the commoners for a bit tonight?”

  A ripple of confusion crosses Richards’s brow. “Of course,” he says slowly, as if reading Wade’s lips and guessing at the meaning.

  Neeta, still more rattled than I’ve ever seen her, pushes out a huff. “Mr. Richards doesn’t have time for slumming it.” With a look drenched in apology, she clarifies, “He’s here to collect the weekly reports, of course. And has extended the honor of doing so in person.”

  It’s difficult to interpret Richards’s new expression. Relief? Surprise? Both or neither, the angles of his face are beyond riveting. “Right. The reports.” His voice is almost a question, though the words don’t seem to match.

  He pivots toward me, and our eyes lock. I open my mouth, but there’s nothing. I wonder if it’ll ever be capable of sound again. Especially when he appears to lean closer, as if there’s something we should say to each other. How did a blade of lightning find its way through the concrete jungle outside to zero in on my swimming, careening senses?

  The room tilts, forcing me to an inescapable conclusion.

  The lightning…is him.

  I suck in a breath. He does the same. He seems puzzled. Angry. Maybe neither. What’s he feeling? Why can’t I figure it out? I need to figure it out. The need is urgent, pinging harder and harder at me…

  What the hell is he doing to me?

  No. What isn’t he doing to me? I feel like my sex drive is jammed into a light socket, and I never want to rip it out again—even when Fershan rushes over, wrecking our moment. “It’s not yet eleven, Mr. Richards. We can’t have the weeklies ready for you until after midnight.”

  Neeta backhands his shoulder before turning on the charm for Richards again. “What he means is that we’ll get to work on them right away for you, sir. We’ve tricked the system forward in the past for forecasting, and I’m sure this time—”

  “No.” The man’s interruption is calm but commanding as he realigns his posture. “Midnight’s not that far away. Just have someone bring the report to the penthouse when it’s ready.”

  “Of course, Mr. Richards. Enjoy the rest of your evening, Mr.—”

  The whump of the closing elevator doors serves as her conclusion. After two more seconds to confirm the elevator is really carrying the boss away, Wade and Fershan erupt into brutal snickers.

  “‘My, what a pleasant surprise, Mr. Richards.’”

  “‘Your wish is my command, Mr. Richards.’”

  She jerks an eyebrow Wade’s way. “‘Slumming it down here, Mr. Richards?’”

  “Hey.” He ticks the air with a forefinger. “He laughed!”

  Fershan snorted. “As much as a guy like that can laugh.”

  “A guy like that?” I can’t help the accusing edge in my echo.

  Wade chuffs. “C’mon, Emma. You know what I’m talking about.”

  “Not sure I do.” I’m able to replace the indictment with confusion—and mean it.

  “Of course you do,” he counters. “Dude probably bought an airline and banged three flight attendants before breakfast this morning. When that far on top of the world, who needs humor? Laughing is a time burner, you know?”

  Neeta smirks. “Perhaps he just knows the value of a good smolder.”

  “A good smolder?” Wade grunts. “Or a bad brood?”

  Their round of laughter isn’t the reaction I expected. When I step back, flustered, Neeta gently grabs my shoulder. “It’s all right, Emma. You don’t have to pretend for us. That you didn’t feel it?” she supplies when my frown deepens.

  “Seriously?” Wade volleys. “Even a corpse would feel it.”

  I jerk out of Neeta’s hold. “Feel what? Honestly, what are you guys talking about?”

  They fall into silence and exchange glances, as if concurring I’ve just sprouted a second head. And then Wade breaks it to me gently. “The guy’s weird, Emma.”

  Yeah. In all the most incredible ways.

  But that isn’t how Wade means it. One glance at the color staining up to his light-ginger hairline and I know it.

  “The last time I checked, ‘weird’ wasn’t a crime.”

  Fershan smacks a hard facepalm. Neeta exhales with meaning.

  “You’re saying that right now because he’s got you by the hormones.” Wade’s astoundingly gentle about that one. “And that’s all right. He’s made of money, manners, and damn good genetics. But once all that wears off, you’ll start agreeing with us.”

  “He’s got me by the—” I interrupt myself with a grunting laugh. Is he serious right now? Holy shit. He’s serious. They all are. “I may be from the boonies, Wade, but I’m not fourteen. My ‘hormones’ aren’t your business—or anyone else’s.”

  Fershan steps in. “Of course,” he mutters. “We weren’t implying they were. We’ve just been here longer, and know the situation better, and ask you to consider all that.”

  “As you trash-talk your own boss?” I retort.

  “As we speak the truth as we know it.” He exhales roughly. “You’ve been here less than a month. We were waiting for you to get more settled in before speaking to you about Mr. Richards’s…situation. He’s not the person you think he is, Emma.”

  I flash a sardonic look. “No kidding.”

  “You must listen to me.” He grabs both my shoulders. “He’s…not right, Emma. The man the media has glorified isn’t the one running this hotel. He’s…”

  “What?” I’m tired of feeling like the one kid on the science team who hasn’t seen the dissected frog. “What
the heck is he? Spit it out, Fershan.”

  He compresses his lips. “He’s just…strange, all right?”

  “Arrgghh.” I toss up both hands and whirl away from all of them. “No,” I finally snap. “It’s not all right.”

  An hour later, I don’t feel any differently. If anything, my feet are planted deeper into that mental sand, mostly because of confusion. How have I perceived things so differently than Neeta, Wade, and Fershan? I’ve only known them for a couple of weeks, but they’ve seemed sensible and smart—at least until tonight, with all their talk about a superhero on the streets and a wackadoodle boss in the penthouse. That being said, there’s no way to disremember the surreal experience of coming face-to-face with Reece Richards. The charged air and the electric presence, sucking out my breaths and telescoping my vision.

  Who’s really going nuts here?

  And do I want to pass up a chance to find out?

  My psyche fires off the question as the printer in the next room starts spewing the weekly reports.

  And my whole body answers with three sweeps of decisive action.

  One kick. Pump number one is off.

  Second kick. Pump number two meets the same fate.

  Motion three—a ninja-quiet sprint over to the printer and a surreptitious swipe of the contents in the tray.

  Before another minute is up, I’m in the back-of-house elevator, jamming my shoes back on and stabbing the button marked P.

  Preparing myself for weird.

  No. Hoping for it.

  Continue reading Bolt Saga: 1…

  Also by Angel Payne

  The Bolt Saga:

  Bolt Saga: 1

  Bolt Saga: 2

  Bolt Saga: 3

  Bolt Saga: 4

  Bolt Saga: 5

  Bolt Saga: 6

  Bolt Saga: 7

  Bolt Saga: 8

  Bolt Saga: 9

  Honor Bound:

  Saved

  Cuffed

  Seduced

  Wild

  Wet

  Hot

  Masked

  Mastered

  Conquered

  Ruled

  Secrets of Stone Series:

  (with Victoria Blue)

  No Prince Charming

  No More Masquerade