Blended (Redemption #1) (9 page)

After I change and freshen up for the evening, I head downstairs to find Jacobs standing in front of my Magellan gray 750i BMW. He swings the door open for me, “Good evening, Mr. Brass.”

“Evening. I trust that you have the address of the apartment high-rise that I sent to you earlier.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Very well,” I say as he shuts the door and I settle into the cream-colored leather seats before he pulls into the Chicago traffic.

A few minutes later we’ve arrived at Hadley’s building. I grab my phone and send her a quick text:
If you’re not down here within two minutes, I won’t lay a hand on you.

I wait for a response that doesn’t come before stepping out of the car and shutting the door behind me. I lean against the car and wait.

When I look up from my phone again, she’s walking out of the glass doors toward me. I pull in a deep breath of air when she steps under a streetlight. The light from above cascades down on her, making her platinum hair look angelic around her flawless features. Her hair isn’t straight this evening as it’s been every other time I’ve seen her. Tonight it falls in loose curls over her shoulders.

“You have no choice but to touch me now,” she says as she steps toward me.

I feel my eyes hood with need as they deliberately roam down her slight curves, which are hugged by a cropped white lace top and a long skirt with two particularly high slits on each of her thighs. She’s fucking gorgeous. I adjust myself in my slacks before I take the last few steps to get to her.

“I don’t see how I would be able to restrain myself with your wearing this.”

She purses her lips as I slide my hand around her exposed midriff. She jolts from my touch and the current that ran intensely between us last night is back and eagerly humming. A thick layer of sexual tension moves between us as she looks up at me through her lashes.

“I’d prefer if you didn’t stop touching me tonight.”

The confidence she instills in me makes me stand up straighter as I pull her to me. I move her curls behind her ear as I lean down to place my lips on her cheek. My lips stray from her cheek to find her ear, whispering, “You’re breathtaking.”

Her body jolts once again under my touch, and my cock stirs at her involuntary response.

“Thank you, Wade.”

“Let’s go. I’m not sharing you this evening,” I say as two men walk out of the building and watch Hadley interact with me for a few seconds more than what might be deemed appropriate.

She nods and I open the door for her to slide into the backseat. Once we’re settled, Jacobs takes off, heading north of the city.

“So you weren’t kidding about having a driver.”

“Not one bit. This is Colin Jacobs.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Colin.”

He glances in the rearview mirror and gives her a tight smile. “Likewise, miss.”

She looks back at me as a stray curl falls onto her face. “What are we doing on this forbidden date? Fucking?”

“No, Hadley. We’re headed up north to Belmont Harbor.”

“A harbor? Are you going to try and make me swoon on the docks or drown me in the water?”

I move my hand to rest on her exposed thigh and shake my head. “No. I’ll be swooning over you while you work on your sea legs.”

“What!” She turns to face me, with terror marring her features.

“I have a yacht, and we’ll be dining on it this evening.”

“Holy crap. You seriously don’t hold back, do you?”

“Not if I’m after something that I believe I want,” I say firmly as we turn off of North Lake Shore Drive and into Belmont Harbor. Jacobs stops at the third dock from the end of the harbor, and I don’t wait for him to get out of the car. I open the door and get out before offering my hand to Hadley.

“Wade, this is more like fifth-date material, not first. I mean . . . not that I’ve ever even made it to the second date before, but this is excessive.”

“You agreed to one date. I need to take full advantage of it while I have the opportunity to do so.”

“There we go again with your taking advantage of me. You’re going to make me wet.”

I stop and take her and her dirty mouth in. “I’ve never met a woman with balls of steel like you have.”

“They’re lady balls, Wade, but I don’t mind thinking about your balls. Mmm, the way they would hit my clit while you take me from behind does something to my panties.”

There it is.

Once I’ve gotten it down, my cock stirs again and hardens. This woman is determined to be fucked on every possible surface, and my body does not understand why I’m refusing her.
I
do, though, because there’s something in her eyes when she says things like this that looks as if it’s compulsory or part of a routine. She obviously craves sex, but who doesn’t? Yet, I’ve never met a woman so blunt in her offers and approach before. I’ve had my fair share of women—more than I’m willing to admit—but none of them have been as mouthy as she is.

“Hadley, I won’t be fucking you this evening. I’d like to get to know you.” As much as it pains me to say this, I feel as if it’s the right thing to do, to take it slower with her than I ever have with any woman before.

Her shoulders seem to relax, and though I would assume she’d put up a fight, her body tells me otherwise—that is until she opens that pretty little mouth of hers. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Listen closely, Whiskey and Rye.” I pull her flush against me just as we step foot onto the dock and move one of my hands through her curls to the back of her neck, forcing her to look up at me while my other hand rests at the small of her back.

“I don’t date women in Chicago. I don’t date in general. I fuck, and when I fuck women, that’s the last I see of them because I don’t want a thing more from them. This, though . . .” I move my hand to gesture between us. “ . . . There is something more than just sex hanging in the air between us, and I know that you can feel it as well. You might tell me that all you want from me is a good lay, but your body says otherwise.”

Her lips part as she draws in a shallow breath. “I . . .”

“No. I will not allow this to be negotiated as if it’s some sort of exchange for sex. This evening, you owe me your company during dinner and your thoughts. Not your body.”

“I don’t have a say, do I?”

The static hum between us grows louder as if it’s waiting to shock one of us.

“You don’t, but I’ll oblige you for a second, considering your body won’t take no for an answer,” I say, and she looks down at her body. She’s pressed herself against me entirely without even thinking about it. Her feet are nestled between mine, and her hands are resting against my chest.

When she looks up at me again, I shift my hand from the back of her neck to the side where I run my finger along her pale jaw. Her eyes move to mine slowly as I bring my lips toward hers. She’s perfectly still under my touch, despite the urgency I sense within her, but I refuse to let her rush this.

Her body starts to tremble as I take in her very essence. I lower my lips to touch hers for the first time. The electric current that was in the air surrounding us passes through our lips as she kisses me back. Her lips part without my having to ask for permission and I take the opportunity to explore more of her. I dip my tongue inside of her mouth, and she doesn’t stop me or force me to take more. I’m possessing her completely as our lips lock and our tongues travel together.

Her hands move off of my chest, and she brings both arms up to encircle my neck, pressing her chest to mine. With this one kiss, I can feel my world crack open as she leans into me . . . before we both break away from each other. She looks up into my eyes and captures her bottom lip between her teeth before one of her hands comes to touch her lips as if she’s shocked by the intimacy of the kiss.

“Would you like for that to happen again?” I ask her as she tries to regulate her breathing.

“I think so.”

“Good, now come.” I pause as I take her hand in mine, speaking again before she can. “And do not turn that into anything sexual.”

She looks stunned as she lets me intertwine my fingers with hers. She nods and walks quietly with me down the quay with yachts flanking us on either side. She remains quiet until we reach the end of the berth and we come to a stop in front of my yacht.

“You own this thing? It’s enormous.” She looks up and takes in its pure brilliance and majestic features. “When you said yacht . . . I thought you meant something like
row, row, row your boat.
Not this . . . vessel.”

I chuckle and dig my hands into the pockets of my slacks, angling my head to the entrance. “Climb aboard. I do own her, along with two more on this quay.”

She peers down at the gap between the gangway and the yacht before looking back at me. “You’re not going to make me walk the plank or something, are you?”

“Not for a second.” I step over the gap effortlessly and offer her my hand. “Come.”

She opens her mouth to respond with a witty retort, but closes her lips when she sees the expression on my face, daring her to say more.

Wisely, she keeps silent as she takes my hand, and I help her across the gap, pulling her hard enough for her to crash into my chest. I automatically ring my arms around her as she begs me for my lips without a word.

I give them to her, pleasing her when I slide my tongue against hers before pulling away.

“Aren’t you supposed to kiss me at the end of the date? Like in all of those other fairy-tale dates?”

“This is not a fairy tale, Hadley. This is real.”

I watch as tension dissipates from her body, causing the features on her face to somehow become softer. In this silent moment, I take the opportunity to study those turquoise eyes of hers, which are swimming with something unnamed . . . what? It’s some kind of emotion, but it’s hidden in the depths of them. Fear, maybe. Possibly, but of what, I’m unsure.

I lead her up a flight of exterior steps to the second deck where the crew waits for us. “Hadley, this is our crew for the evening. If you need anything, please feel free to ask them.”

“Thank you.”

“Mr. Brass, the captain is ready to depart, and your table on the upper deck is prepared.”

“Good,” I say before taking Hadley’s hand and leading her inside. She gasps when she sees the contemporary, yet warm and inviting design of the vessel. I chuckle at each of her reactions until I lead her up two more flights of stairs to the top deck.

“This is where we’re dining?” she asks as she looks around at the burning tiki torches placed on the deck and the tropical fruit spread out on the table.

“It is unless you’d prefer to go elsewhere.”

“This is . . . impeccable.”

The yacht starts to move, and she grabs hold of my forearm as I’m pulling out the chair for her at our table for two.

“Sorry, I—”

I cut her off before she can finish her sentence. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

She lets go of my arm once she takes a seat and her eyes scan the upper deck. There’s something so sexy and vulnerable about her. I decide to make it my mission to find out what causes her reckless behavior and what put that fear behind her eyes.

I take a seat just as a cheese plate is brought out by a male waiter who then proceeds to ogle my date. I make a mental note to remove him from my crew. Regardless if this is the only date I’ll get with her or if it’s the start of possibly more, I won’t let him desire something that is completely out of his reach. It’s this thought that makes me realize that I’ve already marked her as my own in my head, but I believe that she’s the furthest thing from being mine at this point in time.

I turn toward the waiter and wait patiently for him to remove his eyes from her long enough to look at me. When he does, he meets my glare and cowers underneath it. Bastard.

“Bring us two WhistlePig ryes, neat, when you return.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And one more thing. If you look at her once more this evening, I will have you removed from this vessel in the same second. Do you understand?”

His eyes stay planted on mine, but mine stray to Hadley whose cheeks are glowing with a soft pink blush before I look back up at him.

“Yes, sir,” he says before disappearing back into the yacht’s interior.

Hadley’s eyes haven’t left mine and she’s sporting a winning smile. “Jealous much?”

“More than ever. I don’t appreciate my staff enjoying a view that was made for me.”

She reaches for the cheese knife and cuts off a piece of one of the blocks. “You’re rather territorial and confident in yourself, Mr. Brass. I wouldn’t like to work directly with you. I mean, Lawson was bad enough.”

“You have worked beneath me, and I couldn’t give a shit what authority Lawson thinks he holds because he does not have it. Enough about someone who sleeps with his staff. This evening is about you.”

She blanches and I know at that moment that he’s had his way with her. A flash of envy warms my body, catching me off-guard. I’m territorial over something that’s not mine. My bitterness is an indication that she has gotten into my head in a few short days.

“I think that’s a good idea. So what is it that you do exactly?”

“I’m an entrepreneur of sorts. I’ve built my company from the ground up with the help of one of my C-levels, who is also a silent partner in the company. I own a number of properties across the globe, all of which fall under Brass Global.”

“Huh, well I suppose that makes sense considering the lap of luxury that you live in.”

“Does it bother you?”

“I’m not sure yet. I’ve been in the orbit of it before, but I’m not one to experience it on such a direct level. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.”

“I’ll take that as an implication that you wouldn’t mind my taking you out again.”

She glances away from me when the waiter appears with our tumblers. She takes hers and lifts it to her lush lips, taking a drink before placing it down in front of her. My eyes do not move from her mouth, and she knows it.

“That would depend on how the rest of the date goes.”

“I’ll take that over being let down. Now tell me . . .” I take a drink and watch her, unable to take my eyes off her beauty. “Why did you corrupt my phone with your outlandish nickname?”