Beneath These Lies (27 page)

What did I want? More Rix. But in a private setting.

“I’m ready if you are.”

He nodded and we moved toward the elevators. “We’ll come back another night, and you’ll get the full experience.”

Another giggle escaped me. “I feel like I got the full experience tonight.”

“Not yet, but you will.” Rix’s silver eyes flashed as we entered the elevator, and he pulled out his phone. A quick text and he tucked it back in his pocket.

“Johnny?”

“Letting him know to get us.”

This driver business was kind of convenient, but still very strange. I waited a few beats before speaking again.

“Are we going to talk about the fact that I jumped you without a condom?”

Rix grinned. “Couldn’t wait for even a second, but I can’t say it bothers me.”

“So you’re not freaking out?”

He shook his head. “Are you? You’re on the pill, right?”

“The shot, so we’re good. And I’ve been tested. I’m clean.”

Rix slid his arm around my waist and pulled me close. “Then we’re fine. I wouldn’t put you at risk in any way, and certainly not that. I’ve never not used one, and I can’t say I’m in a hurry to start using them again after that.”

The lingering
so was it good for you
question was put to rest in my head. Of course it was. I stood a little taller, pride straightening my spine. For whatever reason, Rix had the same fascination with me that I had with him. I still didn’t understand it, but I wasn’t going to question it. Too many questions would dull the shine, because I was sure I didn’t have answers for most of them.

For right now, I was going to live in the moment and enjoy every bit I could. I knew all too well that everything could be snatched away in an instant, and I refused to miss appreciating this experience.

Rix led me out to the car, one hand on the small of my back. It reinforced the feeling of safety I always had in his presence. Like nothing could touch me. I craved that feeling almost as much as I craved him.

We slid into the SUV, and Rix gave instructions to Johnny as we rolled forward. “Back to my woman’s place. Take a different route than we did before, and make sure we aren’t being followed.”

Being followed?

I waited until he settled back in his seat before asking, “Are you worried the other gang would follow you?”

Rix shrugged. “It’s always possible. I don’t need to lead anyone directly to you. We took a long, backassward route on the way there just to be sure.”

Every time he said or did something that put me and my safety first, I fell a little further, a little harder. Honestly, though, who was I kidding? I was already past the point of no return.

Instead of taking a few minutes, we drove for twenty-five, and when we passed my favorite little hole-in-the-wall restaurant for po’boys, I asked Johnny to pull over. Rix didn’t raise so much as an eyebrow when he had Johnny run in and get us some. We devoured them before we even made it back to my house. Which raised the question . . .

“Are you going to come in the front door?”

“Your neighbors would be scandalized.”

My neighbors were good friends of my parents and kept a fairly close eye on my house at my father’s request.

“I don’t care.” It was the closest I’d come to a declaration.

“You might.”

“I don’t.”

Rix had Johnny slow the car two blocks away from my house. “I think this will be more fun.” He pulled the door open and hopped out.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m gonna race you.”

“Race me?”

“Whoever makes it inside first calls the shots tonight.”

This got my attention. But there was no time to respond because Rix was already shutting the door.

I slapped the back of the empty passenger seat. “Hurry!”

Johnny chuckled, low and rusty, indicating that while he might not see anything Rix didn’t want him to see, he certainly heard plenty.

He turned a corner and slowed at the next stop sign, the car seeming to move at a snail’s pace. I stemmed the urge to smack the seat again. Barely. Instead, I scanned the yards of the neighbors’ houses, my mind filling in images of Rix scaling brick walls and hopping garden gates.

When Johnny pulled up at the stop sign at the corner of my street, I yanked open the door and jumped out.

“Wha—”

“Thanks for the ride!” I tossed over my shoulder as I shut the door and took off down the broken sidewalk on my heels. I made it through my gate and flipped open my clutch to find my key. Unlocking the portico, I hurried to the inside door and unlocked it. I waited for the beep of the alarm, but it was silent.

“No freaking way. He couldn’t have—”

“He couldn’t have what?” Rix said, leaning against the wall near my stairway.

“How did you?”

I studied him closer, looking for tears in his jacket or smudges on his crisp white shirt. The only stain I could see was a red lipstick smudge on his collar, peeking out from beneath his suit coat.
Oops
.

I crossed to him and reached for the button. Rix’s eyebrows rose, but he didn’t protest as I unbuttoned his suit coat and slid it off his shoulders.

When I’d used him for a sound-dampening device, I’d wrecked his shirt. But
maybe
if it didn’t set, the drycleaner could still get it out.

My hands went to the top button, and Rix’s fingers covered mine. “Whoa, duchess. According to the rules, I won, and I’m calling the shots.”

“Shhh. I’m trying to save your shirt.”

He looked down at the collar, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I’m pretty sure I know where that came from.”

“Which means it’s my responsibility to make sure the stain doesn’t set.” I moved his fingers aside and unbuttoned the placket, then peeled the shirt off his arms.

Rix said nothing, but I could feel his eyes on me as I paused, remembering to unbutton the cuffs before I tugged the shirt free.

“I’ll just be a few minutes,” I said, turning in the direction of the laundry room and my utility sink.

Rix’s big hand closed around my arm before I could take a second step. “Wait.”

I glanced over my shoulder, and the expression on his face wasn’t what I was expecting to see. It was intense, but unreadable. It wasn’t heat so much as . . . I couldn’t place it. Rix plucked the shirt from my hand and tossed it on a stair.

“What are you—”

He pulled me close until our bodies touched.

“No one has taken care of me for longer than I can remember. No one has wanted to. Thought to. And you do it instinctively. My wound last night,” he gestured to the small bandage that still covered his side, “and now my shirt. That means something to me, and it tells me a lot about you. Makes me want things I shouldn’t let myself want. A future I can’t stop myself from picturing you in. I like when you throw attitude my way, when you’re being stubborn, how you feel when my cock is deep inside you, and there’s nothing I want more than to stare into your eyes and blow both our minds. I don’t know how this is gonna work, but it’s gonna work. I’m not settling for less. Not with you. For once in my life, I’m gonna have it all.”

Rix slid both hands under my ass and picked me up, much like he had in the storeroom, and carried me up the stairs. I’d forgotten all about his wound then, but now that he’d reminded me, I was worried he’d hurt himself carting me around.

“You got shot, so you shouldn’t be carrying me,” I protested. “You probably hurt yourself earlier. I was such an idiot. We should look at it.”

Rix smiled down at me but didn’t stop climbing the stairs. “I didn’t. But I’m glad you care.”

“But—”

“Your turn to hush now. The only words I want from you are more, and yes, and right there.”

I squeezed the back of his neck, where my hands held tight. “You’re such a man.”

Pushing his hips against me so I could feel the solid length of his erection behind the zipper of his suit pants, he smirked. “Damn right, I am. And you love it.”

And I did. Love him, that is. The words were in my throat, but I couldn’t form them into syllables and vocalize them. They twisted inside me, wanting to break free, but this wasn’t the moment.

I knew the adage that if you loved someone, you shouldn’t wait to tell them because you might not have another chance, but something was holding me back. Did he feel the same way about me? I shoved the words down, rocking against him as he reached the top of the stairs.

“So does this mean you’re claiming your prize for being first? You’re not going to concede and let me take the reins tonight?”

Rix slowed as he approached my room, stopping completely at the foot of my bed. “You want the reins, duchess?”

I did. This I knew without hesitation. I’d taken the lead in the storeroom, and I wasn’t done. If I couldn’t tell him how I felt, then I could show him.

“Yes. I do.”

“Then my calling the shots means I’m handing the reins to you.” He lowered me to the bed and stepped back. “Where do you want me?”

“Right there.”

I rose to my feet and reached for the buttons of my blouse. One by one I unfastened them, my gaze on Rix and his on my hands. His absolute captivation with my movements rekindled the boldness I’d felt earlier tonight. I wanted to be on my knees before this man.

I laid my blouse on the bed. Stepping forward, wearing nothing but my skirt, heels and bra, I lowered myself to the floor, placing my hands on his thighs to steady myself.

“What are you doin’, duchess?”

I looked up to see the softest hint of a smile on his lips. I let my own curve up, channeling my inner temptress. Yes, I was on my knees, but he’d handed me the reins, and that meant I had the power.

“I think you know what I’m doing.” I reached for his belt and slid it from the buckle before going for the button and zipper and pulling his cock free.

In the storeroom, I’d wrapped my hand around him, but I hadn’t had a chance to get my lips around him. Ever since the day in my studio when we’d been interrupted, I’d been aching to do this. My fingers didn’t touch as I closed them around his thick shaft, but still I stroked up and down.

My tongue darted out to join the game, and Rix groaned before tangling his hands in my hair. But he didn’t try to guide my movements. Didn’t try to push himself deeper into my mouth when I just closed my lips around the head.

“Fuck, you’re beautiful. And not just because I love watching you take my cock.”

I moaned as I took him deeper, working him with my tongue and my mouth, loving the sound of his groans and murmured praise. They spurred me on and I grew bolder, wanting to make him lose control.

I could tell I was getting close when his hips bucked unconsciously against my face before he drew back, pulling his length from my mouth.

“I wasn’t done,” I protested.

Rix kept his hold on my hair and tilted my face up to meet his gaze. “I don’t want to come in your mouth. I want to sink into that tight pussy of yours again with nothin’ between us. Haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”

I considered pouting, but I could work with that. “Then I want to be on top.”

A lazy smile spread across his face. “I did give you the reins, so it’s only right that you ride me.”

He shoved his pants the rest of the way off his hips and moved to sit on the bed. Sliding up to the head, he propped himself on a pillow, right in the middle.

I couldn’t get over how beautiful he was. He’d hate that I called him that in my head, but it was the truth. The caramel tone of his skin, the black and gray ink covering his arms and chest. The heavy muscles underlying it all.

He was a masterpiece in his own right. It only made sense that I’d been compelled to paint him, and my hands were once again itching to hold a brush.

Later
. Right now, I was going to take my pleasure and make this man see stars. Maybe forget every woman who ever came before me.

“You waitin’ on something, duchess?”

Shaking my head, I reached behind me for the zipper on my skirt and slid it down. It fell to the floor and I stepped forward. My bra was next, discarded beside the growing pile of clothes.

Crawling up the bed to straddle him, I pressed a kiss to his chest, over his heart. Another to his neck, his jaw, and then his lips. All that leashed strength beneath me, and it was mine.

He was mine.

S
HE DIDN’T LOOK LIKE THE
duchess I called her. She looked like a queen. Hair, black as night, spilling down her shoulders. Her breasts were high and firm, the perfect size for my mouth.

I’d told her she could take the reins, and I’d meant it, but I couldn’t stop myself from touching her. My hands on her hips as she settled her pussy over my cock. Hot, slick heat had me fighting the urge to lift her and impale her on my dick.

Yes, I’d wanted women before, but never had I wanted one like this. With Valentina, all bets were off. All rules were broken. All standards crushed. She was just so much more. And she was mine.

Her fingertips started at my jaw and trailed down my neck, skimming across my collarbone to my chest, down my abs and then over to my fingertips, before sliding back up my arms to my shoulders. She curled her hands shut, gripping me as she shifted forward and rocked on my cock.