Defensive Zone (The Dartmouth Cobras #2) (55 page)

"Do I?"

"Fuck, yeah." He crowded her back towards the
bath and lifted her by the hips to set her bruised butt on the
ledge. "Hold on tight. I don't want you to slip."

She winced at the throb of pain, clinging to
the edge of the bath as he dropped to his knees and pulled her legs
over his shoulders. His tongue speared her and she threw her head
back. He gave her no time to prepare before licking and thrusting,
but the oil slicking her body made it easy for him. Her body caught
up quickly and he moaned against her as he lapped up the spilling
moisture.

"I could eat you all fucking night."

"Damn it, Landon, what about you?" She tried
to close her legs, but in that position, didn't get far. "I won't
let you get me off without taking anything yourself."

"You won't 'let' me?" His chuckle sent
vibrations deep into her cunt as he nibbled lightly on her rapidly
swelling clit. "I'd like to see you try to stop me."

He teased her mercilessly, using his teeth
and his tongue, driving her up to the peak and easing her down
before adding his fingers and tossing her over the edge. He picked
her up just as her arms gave out, milking the last spasms from her
with several shallow thrusts. She squirmed as he watched her face
and curved his fingers inside her, his lips slanted in a wicked
smile.

"You're not trying very hard. What happened
to not letting me get you off?"

"You dick." She smacked his chest without
thinking. "That wasn't fair."

His jaw ticked as he stood her up and turned
her around. Her hands latched onto the tub as he gave her three
solid slaps on the ass. Right over the ruler welts, waking each and
every one like he'd lit a fuse of agony. She choked back a howl of
pain as one last, stinging smack on fiery wet flesh bowed her
spine.

"What did you call me?"

"Nothing!"

"Get in the bath." He released her after
making sure she could stand on her own. "I've decided I'm ready to
'get off' now."

She scrambled into the bath, slowing as she
slipped, and sat up to watch him strip. Her pussy throbbed, both
from use and from need. His cock jutted out, dark at the tip as he
rolled on a condom. He climbed into the bath and put his hand on
her throat.

Her eyes widened. "Landon?"

"Dean says you like this, but he's been
careful not to push you too far. You trust him." His fingers put
more pressure on her windpipe, right under her chin. "Do you trust
me?"

The humid air didn't fill her lungs properly,
and wasting the bit she had on words didn’t seem smart. So she
simply nodded.

"Good girl." He knelt between her legs and
guided his dick to her entrance. He slammed in and shook his head
when she reached for him. "Fingers laced behind your neck. I'll
move you. You will focus on what I give you. Air." He lifted her
with one arm around her waist, sliding her up the end of the bath
and following with short dips keeping him just barely inside.
"Pain." His forearm crossed her abused but and he smiled when she
hissed. "Pleasure."

He drove in so hard, the sensation echoed up
her spine, and down again in a rush like water crashing from a
broken dam. Each brutal slam sent her floating on the current,
swaying, dipping under, her mind lost to the uncontrollable carnal
flood. No holding back, she had nothing to hold on to.

Changing the angle of his thrusts, Landon
watched her, his misty grey eyes filled with heat. Water sloshed on
the floor as he hammered in and out, gritting through his teeth.
"Don't come."

Don't . . .
she scrambled inwardly
away from the beckoning climax and clenched down to hold it at bay.
His smile of approval almost did her in. She whimpered as his grip
on her throat tightened a little more.

"I want this to last, Silver. I love being
inside you." His jaw muscles tensed. "I don't know if it helps, but
I'm holding back too. I would love to let go, but not . . .
yet."

The room spun. Her lips moved. She needed to
breathe. Maybe she should say her safeword—Only, Landon wasn't
holding her throat hard enough to choke her. She gulped in as much
hot air as she could and realized she'd stopped breathing, all on
her own.
Stupid.

"There we go." Landon moved her over him, his
hips rising and falling as his breaths matched hers. His hand
rested slack against her throat. "Another big one. One more. Good.
Keep going, just like that as I increase the pressure."

Again the squeezing, but not so much that air
couldn't pass.

"Perfect. Now comes the hard part." He leaned
forward, buried to the hilt inside her, and covered her mouth with
his. He kissed her dizzy, then pressed his forehead against hers,
exhaling on her inhale. Again and again, until every part of her
fell in sync with him, all the way down to the rhythm of her pulse,
deep in her core.

Complete surrender and it was . . . amazing.
In a daze she stared into his eyes and melted at what she saw
there. He knew he had her completely in his power.

"Come with me, mon coeur." His pace quickened
and the corded muscles running up the sides of his throat tensed.
"Arg!"

A white haze wisped over her vision as she
convulsed, clenching and unclenching around his cock, torn away by
a tidal wave that crashed over and over, never releasing her from
its violent pull. She screamed and slumped forward, twitching when
his dick shifted inside her.

"Fuck, I hope you came." She whispered with
her lips on his slippery, cinnamon scent chest. She flicked out her
tongue to taste him and giggled. "It doesn't taste as good as it
smells."

"Mmm." He kissed the top of her head and
hefted her up, turning so he could rest again the back of the tub
with her in his lap. "Either that or the tip of my dick just
exploded."

"I'm that good am I?"

"If I say yes, will your ego get even
bigger?"

She lifted her hand to smack him.

He grabbed it and groaned. "How about you not
do that? I'm too worn out to spank you again."

She smirked and sat back on her heels. The
pain in her ass spurred her on. "I should take advantage of
you."

"You'll regret it tomorrow. I got a new
cane."

Yikes.
"Okay. I'll be good."

"Ha." His lips curled. "I doubt it."

She stuck out her tongue, but his eyes had
drifted shut, so he didn't see it. So she relaxed with her head on
her chest. Or tried to. He looked like he wanted to take a nap, but
she was wide awake.

"Feel like watching a few more westerns?"

"
Now?
"

"Yes, now. Do you have something better to
do?"

"Sleep." His arm plopped over her shoulder.
"Be a good girl and shut up so I can, okay?"

Rolling her eyes, she pushed to her feet and
stepped out of the bath. Then pulled the plug. "Listen, pal. First
of all, you can't sleep in the bath. Second, I'm putting you
telling me to shut up on my limit list. Got it?"

He arched a brow without opening his eyes.
"Are you really? So is that just during scenes? Because, with how
rude you're being, if we're still in a scene, I should . . . ." He
yawned. "Damn, my brain isn't working anymore. Between practice and
those photo shoots . . . you have no idea the positions that woman
put me in."

Red sparks flashed in her eyes. How had she
forgotten Scarlet? "I'm going to kill that bitch! Did she touch
you?"

"Do you honestly think I'd let her?" Landon's
eyes were open now. "She came out from her session with Demyan
wiping her mouth. I'm not into sloppy seconds, thanks."

"But you'll share me with Dean?"

He frowned at her and sat up. "That's not the
same and you know it. I'm sharing you with another man who loves
you as much as I do."

Some people wouldn't see the difference, but
those people didn't matter. Her sister was with three men and no
one would
dare
call her sloppy seconds. Besides, hearing
Landon tell her, again, that he loved her . . . damn, it was
impossible to feel worthless and disgusting.

"Okay, you're right, Sir." She grinned as she
pulled out two towels, then wrapped one around herself. "I should
give you more credit anyway. You managed to snag yourself a chick
like me. What would you want with her?"

"Exactly." Landon slipped out of the tub and
took the towel she handed him to dry his face. "Now—"

He cut himself off so abruptly, Silver froze.
And bit her lip as he stared down at his naked cock with the ring
of useless rubber around the base.
No. Oh god, no.

"Silver." Landon rubbed his lips with his
hand. "Tell me you're on birth control."

She didn't hesitate. "I'm on birth
control."

The relief in his eyes wrung her stomach like
an old rag in his big fists. Which made it impossible to elaborate.
All she could do was fucking
pray
she didn't get caught
telling a half-truth.

No way did I miss more than once or
twice.

Silver nibbled on a jujube petal and put away
the little pack of pills. Her friends back in Hollywood wouldn't
see this as a big deal. At least once a week she'd seen a couple
doing damage control. Two now and two tomorrow. She took them back
out and tapped the edge of the pack on her desk. Four pills and
she'd have nothing to worry about.

She had
plenty
to spare.

Idiot.

Not that she'd never forgotten before, being
drunk or stoned made it easy to forget, but she'd been with Asher
and Cedric and the risk had been negligible. Except when she slept
around. But she'd always used condoms. Never had a problem with
them.

Well, there's a first time for everything.
Just get it over with. Landon won't have to pay for your
mistake.

"Silver?" Asher knocked on the door as he
entered her office. His brow lifted as he caught her hiding her
pills under some files. "You're taking them early today? You used
to take them at 9:00pm every night."

"I'm not taking them early. Just checking . .
. ."

"Ah. Did that again, did you? Guess sticking
to anal for a few weeks isn't an option?" Asher gave her his most
superior look, which tempted her to bitch slap him with her shoe.
And, naturally, he couldn't just drop it. "Any reason it's an issue
this time?"

"Why the fuck would I tell you?"

"I'll take that as a yes?"

"Do you want this job or not?" She crossed
her arms over her breasts when he nodded and tried to turn on the
charm, not giving him a second to sweet talk her before continuing.
"Sit down and shut up then while I make one thing perfectly clear."
He sat in the chair in front of her desk and his briefcase hit the
floor with a dull
thud.
"I
know
you, Asher. I
understand how you operate, and I didn't care when you were
handling jobs for my 'friends' out in Hollywood, but things are
going to be different here. You try to use anything you have on me,
or learn about me, to get more money or anything else and we're
going to have a serious problem."

Tiny lines showed on Asher's smooth cheeks as
he gave her an amused half-smile. "Are you going to sic your
boyfriends on me?"

Head tilted to one side, Silver tapped her
chin and smiled back at him. "You think I need them to hurt you? If
we start sharing, some uncomfortable truths might come out about
me, but the things
you
don't want anyone to know could get
you killed."

Asher paled slightly, but his expression
didn't change. He actually laughed. "You'd do it too, wouldn't you?
I forgot what a cold-hearted bitch you could be."

"Very bad idea if you want to work for
me."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Good." She put her hands on the desk and
grinned. "So, you write up the contract? I'd like you to get to
work on a few things right away if you're not too busy."

He scowled. "You know I'm not busy. I let
Cedric take the rest of my cases and cleared my schedule. Just like
you asked."

"I hope you remembered to include in the
contract that you work for me. Not the team."

"I did, but I don't get why—"

"You don't have to. Now hand it over, I'd
like to read over the fine print before we go any further." She bit
back a smirk as Asher dug into his briefcase, grumbling under his
breath. "You didn't
seriously
think I'd just sign it, did
you?"

"I figured you might be a bit distracted . .
. ." He shook his head and laughed again. "Then again, considering
you got spanked after signing something without reading it, I
should have guessed you'd be more careful."

"You taught me not to trust anyone too
quickly, Asher. One of the few things I can actually thank you
for."

He dropped his gaze to the papers he set
before her and sighed. "So you don't trust anyone?"

"Not until they've earned it."

"And your men?"

My men.
Just thinking about them gave
her the silly warm fuzzies. She took the contract and shrugged
because she didn't want to share too much with Asher. But she had
to say one thing. "They've earned it."

It took about an hour to go over all the
details of the contract, and to Asher's credit, he hadn't tried to
slip in anything over the top. His retainer was higher than they'd
agreed on, but he was worth it. She signed and handed him his
copy.

Asher looked a little surprised, but didn't
comment. He sat back and folded his ankle over his knee. "So, where
do I start, boss?"

She patted a stack of files on the corner of
her desk. "I'd like you to look over the proposal for the
renovations. They have to be in today." She pulled out a set of
keys from her top drawer and tossed them to him. "Enjoy your new
office. You're going to be spending a lot of time in there."