Sexual Persuasion (13 page)

Startled, he replied, “Just thinking.”

“What are you thinking about? Or is that something I shouldn’t ask?”

He rolled her toward him so he could see her face, about to offer another evasive answer. Instead, he kissed her, putting her off for another beat. “About how good your lips feel against mine.”

“You’re a master at avoiding questions, but I can satisfy you, if that’s all you need.”

“It’s not all I need, but it’s what I need now.” Their lips met in a slow, passionate kiss that erased his unsettling thoughts and brought him to the present. “Are you sorry I stayed?”

“No.”

“Do you want me to go home?”

“No. I want you to stay the night.”

He held her tighter, savoring the warmth of her body against his in the moments before they both drifted off to sleep.

* * * * *

The sun’s rays woke him. From Charlotte’s position nestled in his arms, Alex doubted either of them had moved during the night. He didn’t want to wake her, so he watched as she slept. He’d avoided a situation like this for so long, not that the opportunity arose. It hadn’t. He’d made sure of that. Not until he saw her at the auction and had been struck by lightning. Was it only little more than a day ago? So much had happened in that short time. Moe’s, Jack, the photos, and the fact that he’d exposed more about himself than at any other time, going back to his childhood. Just the sight of her got him hard.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she focused
. “I felt you watching me in my sleep.”

“I didn’t want to wake you.”

“I’m awake now, and I have to go to work.” Her gaze lowered to his erection. “Hmm, what do we have here?”

“No surprise, waking up to you. Do I get another day?”

“You know you will. You’ve known it from the start. So did I. Another day, and another. Until…”

“Until what?”

“Until I don’t know. Right now, we have to do something about that big dick pointing at me. You wouldn’t be able to get into your pants.”

“I can’t help it. Every time I touch you, every time I look at you, I want to fuck you. There’s no other way to explain it.” He straddled over her. “But first, I want these.” He trailed his tongue over her nipples, delicately encircling them before gently sucking. A little nibble elicited a gentle sigh―a more substantial bite, a lustful gasp.

“Ah, that’s incredible. My nipples are one of my prime erogenous zones―the mainline to my pussy.”

He laughed. “I’ve already figured that out. Also
your inner thighs and the top of your spine.” He stroked his finger between her pussy lips. “I see I’m not the only one who’s excited.”

“That’s because I have the same reaction to you that you have to me.
So take me, Alex, or I’ll be wet all day thinking about you. I may be anyway.”

He moved down to suck her clit and stab his tongue into her entrance. Listening to her sounds of delight excited him. He inserted one finger into her, then two, opening her to take him. Then he eased in, at first slowly until he knew their mingled fluids protected the tender tissue of her vagina. He felt the surge of his orgasm build inside him almost immediately, in sync with her throbbing contractions.

They were anything but silent. Her fingernails raked his sweat-soaked back at the shared moment of climax. Alex pumped into her until nothing remained, and he collapsed in a wilted heap, exhausted. Neither spoke for a long time. Her accelerated heart beat hard against his chest as he held her.

“You reach a place inside me no man has ever reached.”

Her silky voice seeped into his ears like warm honey. “You reach a place inside me too.” He wanted to say more, but he wasn’t quite ready to go there.

Beginnings were blurred by lust and discovery. The initial animalistic hunger could be fleeting. And because of that, he held back parts of himself, as he’d always done. The time wasn’t right. When it was, he hoped she would judge him as he wanted to be judged―in his completeness.

~~~~~

“Relax,” Gianni said as he rubbed his thumbs at the base of Alex’s spine and onto the backs of his thighs. He kneaded his buttocks, relaxing the muscles, easing his caressing fingers between the cleft of his cheeks, parting the area around his anus.
A different oil, this time emitting the sweet scent of almonds, wafted in the air. Alex lay silently as Gianni squeezed the cool liquid into his entrance and gently eased his lubricated thumb inside, working it deeper and in circles, withdrawing it, and replacing the thumb with two fingers, then three, working them, opening and stretching Alex’s entry, going deeper, until he pulled them out, and Alex felt Gianni’s cock slide in to take their place.

A Bigger Can of Worms

Alex left Charlotte’s apartment and went home to shower and change. He drove across town to his office in the small brownstone near the state house he bought years ago. No name appeared on the door, and he never hired a secretary or receptionist. The phone number transferred to his cell. In all that time, he served only one client: Carpathian Enterprises. His law degree, along with a business degree, came in handy when dealing with Max’s empire, but neither hung framed on the wall.

Anton Carpathian had wanted Alex to take control of his other “businesses,” but remembering the pain his father had caused so many people who had trusted him, Alex made clear to his mentor that even if Anton put him through school, Alex wouldn’t do anything illegal. If that didn’t work for Anton, Alex told him, he’d find other ways to bankroll what his scholarships didn’t pay. Anton agreed because Alex had inherited his father’s brilliance, and he wanted him on his team. Max felt the same way about Alex and agreed to the original bargain when he took over from his ailing father. In moments of clarity, Alex admitted he was fooling himself when he overlooked some dealings that clearly crossed the line.

As a businessman, Max made few mistakes that Alex knew about. He assumed Max cleverly covered up the rest. Alex rarely had to defend Carpathian Enterprises in a court of law. When he did, he always won, which was why Darcy Haven said the DA’s office hated to go up against him. Alex’s legal work for Carpathian Enterprises branded him a “mob lawyer.” Doing a job well garnered a long line of detractors, but that was the price of doing business.

Jack Davidson’s accusation that Mike Branigan’s insider information helped Branigan and Max make a fortune caused Alex a serious case of heartburn. He immediately booted up the computer to cross-check the list of land sales in the area that fell under Branigan’s department. It took him three hours to put
the scam together, going back over the last year.

Knowing how Max did things helped. He found the sale of a parcel of land marked for a major development project before it was publicly announced. The buyer paid slightly under the asking price. He’d overheard Anton
Carpethian say many times never to call attention to a crooked deal. Start dickering and someone will want to know who, what, and why. Of course he always denied participating in crooked deals, but Alex knew. It was one of the things he chose to ignore.

One astute reporter sniffing around―and there were a few of those in Boston―could make this scheme fodder for the newspapers. A federal investigation would soon follow. Good writers checked their facts, but there were others who’d contributed to Max’s reputation by printing falsehoods. Many were retracted; a few went to court. Part of Alex’s job consisted of nipping the spurious reports in the bud.

Alex had access to Max’s business records. He wouldn’t probe certain areas, knowing he’d find things he didn’t want to know. This time, he followed the purchaser, the Aurora Company―Max and his partner Branigan, he assumed―to a complex overseas multinational corporation hiding a series of untraceable shell companies, if anyone broke it down that far. Then Aurora turned around and sold it to the developers, netting Aurora millions.

Knowing Max, he’d covered his tracks well.
Sweet and neat. That was how Max described what he almost confided before Alex stopped him. He knew Max’s fingerprints, and the Aurora Company showed enough points of identification to convict Max in a court of law. At least if Alex prosecuted.

The deal would have been legal if the information about the developer’s interest hadn’t come from Branigan’s office. People buy and sell property every day, some on nothing more than a hunch that the property would escalate in value. Then a chance existed the developer would scout other properties if the price of the land soared. Because of Branigan, they knew how much the developer would pay before setting their selling price.
More valuable information coming from the inside.

Alex felt it his duty to warn Max of the potential problem. He left his Beacon Hill office armed with a printout of one of the purchases and drove to Harbor House. He found Max finishing lunch in his office and t
ossed the printout on his desk.

Max perused them.
“What’s this?”

“Do I have to spell it out?”

“You didn’t want any part of this, and now isn’t the time to get involved.”

“It is if Jack Davidson is going to blow it wide open.” Max selected a toothpick from his desk drawer and picked a morsel of food from between his teeth. He never ceased to amaze Alex with his cool, steady eyes and demeanor.

“You knew?”

“Not until Saturday night when Davidson dropped a clue while trying to play hardball. The guy isn’t very bright. He mentioned insider information coming from Branigan’s office. It didn’t take long to put the deal together. Your business is my business, Max. That’s why your father put me through school.”

“You’re too goddamn smart.” Max picked up the printout.

“That’s only one of them,” Alex said.

“You did what the feds couldn’t do in a year; that’s if they could figure out there was something fishy, which they haven’t.”

“They will if Davidson uses the information to barter his way out of trouble, which you and I know he’s in.”

“He actually mentioned Branigan?” Max asked.

Alex told him about his run-in with the hotel heir at the Pussy Club.

Max listened. “You could have been in on it. All you had to do was say the word. We could have used your expertise.”

“Looks like you didn’t need it.
Besides, I told both you and your father from the beginning that I didn’t mind stretching the boundaries, but I wouldn’t cross the line. My genius father thought he was above the law and wound up in prison. I refuse to follow in his footsteps.”

“You have to let that go, Alex. It happened a long time ago. Not that I’m advocating you should do something illegal. I know you well enough that you’re not cut out for that, your father’s lessons or not. Yeah, you stretch limits. Everyone does. Sad, but it’s a fact of life.”

“Pretty hard to forget that, Max. You know what it was like for me. Who knows where I’d be if it wasn’t for your father.”

“You’d have come out fine. That’s because you’re the kind of person who’ll always land on his feet. Anyway, I liked having you as a kind of brother. We had fun back then, didn’t we?”

A cringe riffled Alex’s insides. It might have been fun for Max having him around, but there were times life bordered on unbearable. And then there were the fun times.

“Yeah, we did. And I’d hate to see you spend your best years in prison. So here’s a
warning. There’s a leak somewhere. Where is for you to figure out. I don’t know how many others are involved, but you should be able to pinpoint it. Wherever it is, it’s connected to Davidson, and he’s a loose cannon. He owes a lot of money, and I’m afraid I let slip our fine-print clause that you could take over the hotel if he couldn’t pay up.”

“Why? Wasn’t the point of the small print to keep him from knowing?”

“Yes, and I shouldn’t have, but he pissed me off, and I did. Besides, you and I know we couldn’t go through with that. It’s a bluff any lawyer would tell him to forget. Well, any lawyer but O’Reilly. He’s an idiot.” Alex took a peppermint patty out of the bowl Max kept on his desk. “He’s scared of you, but his back’s to the wall. My guess is he has other information on you to barter his way out of debt. Either that, or he’ll hit your partner.”

Max pressed the intercom. “Gino, have one of the girls bring me a coffee, will you?” He turned to Alex. “Want one?” Alex shook his head.
Max leaned back in his chair. “Either scenario would be very unwise.”

“I know.” Alex had been mulling over an idea ever since Davidson released his bombshell. He realized he’d been standing and took a seat. Leaning across Max’s desk, he said, “Here’s what I think. Davidson’s hotel is the perfect venue to collect damaging information on important people. Cameras and recorders in the rooms would be one way.
Husbands cheating on wives and vice-versa. Corrupt business deals. Gambling. Then he has those parties on his boat. I can only imagine what goes on there. I think he’s sitting on dozens of scandals, and he’s waiting for the right time to use them.”

“What makes you think this?”

Alex caught Max up to date. Skirting around his relationship with Charlotte, he told Max about the photograph. “She’s small potatoes. A store owner, nothing big. But she has her reputation to protect, and publishing the picture I saw would ruin it.”