“Flushed cheeks, racing pulse…” I stroke her pulse hammering in her neck. “Increased, shallow breathing…” I drag my hand across her heaving chest then down to the waistband of her flimsy shorts. “And I bet if I was to slide under here, I’d find your pussy dripping wet for me.”
She bites her lip and flares her nose, and I know I’m dead right. “Stop ignoring my question.”
“I’ll answer your question if you answer one of mine.”
“Fine,” she readily agrees, and my mouth tugs into a smirk.
“She’s an associate's daughter. I’d never met her before that night and what you saw was the first and last time we ever kissed. I haven’t thought about a single other woman since the second I first saw you.”
“Oh.” She fights back a smile. I bet she’s trying her damnedest to come off ambivalent, but she doesn’t fool me.
“My turn. Did you really think giant, red, heart-shaped glasses were the best undercover look?” She looks confused at first, but then I watch her face shift and eyes widen as she realizes what my question means.
2“And the ice cream shop?” She’s tucked into the corner of the couch, her arm resting on the back of it as she props her head in her palm. We’ve been going over every detail of the past two weeks as she teases apart what I’d had a hand in and what was still an unknown factor.
“I was dying to see how you looked while licking an ice cream cone.” She doesn’t look embarrassed or flushed anymore, just looks at me inquisitively likeI’mnow the mystery she’s trying to solve.
“What if I had ordered a cup?”
“I paid the guy behind the counter a hundred bucks to make sure you didn’t.” She laughs, and for possibly the first time, it is without a hint of stress, shame, or duplicity. It’s fucking beautiful. A sound I’d do just about anything to hear again.
She yawns and rubs her eyes. “I should probably go to bed, but I still have so many questions.” The eagerness in her eyes makes my stomach twist.
“And there will be plenty of time tomorrow to answer every single one.” I rise from the chair and offer her my hand. The corkscrew in my stomach twists deeper when she readily takes it. I pull her off the couch and can’t help myself when I clutch her to me.
My arms wrap around her soft stomach, my fingers spreading wide to palm the top of her full ass. I want to be the gentleman who gives her a polite peck on the cheek, then lets her go. I want her to know there’s something more to me than just burn and hurt and hard edges. Even if I’m not sure it’s true.
But the moment she sighs and looks up at me, her perfect lips parted ever so slightly as her breath sluices in and out, I couldn’t define the word gentleman with a gun to my head.
My hand goes from gently palming her ass to digging my fingers into the ample flesh as I pull her tight to me so she can feel the effect she has on me, my dick jutting hard and desperate between us. I bring my mouth down on hers, demanding it yield to me as I mold her lips to mine, plunging my tongue past her lips so that I can taste her very essence.
Her fingers aren’t gentle either as they grip the nape of my neck and pull me down to her. Her breathy little moan passes between us when I dive down to lavish her neck, and I can’t take it any longer, I have to be inside her. My body thrums with the need to feel her slick heat clench around my cock.
Hungry and determined, I slide my hands down the back of her thighs and pick her up. Her legs instinctively encircle my waist, and she rocks her hips into me. I stride down the hall until I’m slamming her back against the guest room door. I release my hold on her, wedging my thigh between her legs as they fall to either side. I pin her with one hand on her hip, the other clasping her jaw.
I grind my thigh up and can feel the heat from her cunt even through our layers of clothing. She doesn’t hesitate to match my movements, and a deep groan rips from my throat at the feel of her unapologetically using me for her pleasure. “That’s right, baby. Such a good girl, riding my leg. Can’t wait to feel your pussy squeeze my cock when you ride it just like that.”
As if my words break some sort of spell, she goes rigid and stops. Her hands slide to my shoulders and, while they aren’t quite pushing me away, they aren’t pulling me close either.
“I, uh…I’m sorry…”
“Stop.” Even in the unlit hallway, I can see the bloom of red creep across her chest as she looks away. I tilt her chin back to me so she can see the sincerity in my words. “Don’t do that. Don’t apologize for wanting me, because I sure as hell won’t apologize for wanting you.”
“I’m just not ready—”
“It’s all good, baby.” She swallows hard, and I feel her breath catch when I graze my lips against her hot cheek. “Good night, Harlow.”
“Good night, Cash,” she whispers and stretches on her toes to return the kiss to my cheek. I step back so she has room to unlock the door and slip inside, giving me one last meek, but still gorgeous, smile.
My back falls against the opposite wall, my skin humming with unspent energy, my cock already weeping in my pants. It’s not even a question of what I have to do next.
Just two doors down is the Vault. The door from the outside looks just like any other door in the apartment, but is actually half a foot of reinforced steel—just like the walls that surround the room inside. Instead of turning the knob like the other doors, the knob swivels to the side, revealing a keypad.
I don’t bother turning on the lights, just roll the mouse, and the monitor’s glow when the screen wakes fills the room with cool, gray lighting. The computers in this room have access to every single camera feed on every single property we own, use, or even have a remote interest in. I pull up the feed from the camera hidden in the crowning of the guest room.
Orange glow from the streetlights spill into the room, giving me enough visibility to see Harlow shimmy out of her shorts. I bite my fist at the sight of her bare ass. I’m dying to see if her cheeks are bruised with the imprint of my fingers tomorrow. Resisting the urge to zoom in and check now, I unbuckle my pants and let my aching cock spring free.
I spit into my palm and wet my dick with a long stroke as she climbs into bed. I’m planning on fucking my fist while she falls asleep, watching her dark hair spill onto the pillow as she tosses and turns and the little crease between her brows relaxes as unconsciousness takes her. But instead, she slides her hand below the sheets and there is no mistaking the subtle movements that follow.