Grounded (22 page)

I made it just to the edge of the pool and one step out before he caught me, yanking me back into the water and against him, his front flush against my back.
 
He bit my neck and rubbed against me.
 
His rock hard erection poked hard into my backside.
 

“You’re insatiable,” I told him, my voice breathless.

“Yes,” he breathed into my ear.
 
“I am.
 
Now run.”

I made it out of the pool, across the concrete, and into the grass that time.
 
It was only as he was tackling me onto my stomach that I realized it was exactly what he’d wanted, exactly what he’d planned.
 
He was entering me from behind rather roughly within seconds.
 

He fucked me in the grass, on hands and knees, pumping into me with a purpose.
 

“Say it, Bianca,” he ordered into my ear, his voice so low and gruff.

I came apart, but not enough to keep from saying it.
 
“I’m yours, James.
 
Only yours.”

He continued the jarring rhythm while my body squeezed him convulsively, as shivers of pleasure wracked my body.
 
He kept going until every little shocking wave had passed.
 
He moaned low in his throat when he let himself go.

My hands and knees were raw and grass stained when James carried me back to the pool.
 
I couldn’t imagine that his were in much better shape.

He tossed me back in the pool.
 
Even knowing it was coming, I let out a little shriek before I hit the water.
 
When I resurfaced, James was striding towards the house, a towel slung low across his hips.
 

“Where are you going?” I called out.
 

“To check in with the other man in your life,” he called back.

I thought that was the sweetest thing in the world.
 
And so very James.
 
Nothing could soften me more than him understanding my bond with Stephan, and understand it, he did.
 
He always knew which strings to pull.
 
Manipulative, perceptive, wonderful man.
 

When he returned, he moved straight to the lounging sofa where we’d discarded all of our clothing.
 
He pulled on his low-slung gray swim trunks and grabbed my bikini, moving back to the pool with a purpose.
 

He cornered me in the pool.
 

I kissed him.
 
“Thank you for being so understanding about Stephan.
 
That means everything to me.”
 

“I have nothing but love for that man.
 
If I have to share you with someone, I’m glad that it’s him.
 
And I will do anything it takes to stay on his good side.
 
I know that a happy Stephan is a happy Bianca.”
 
He gave me one hard kiss and began to slip me back into the tiny series of strings that he called a bikini.

“The guys wanted to hang out,” he continued.
 
“So I told them to come over.
 
Not sure how he did it, but Stephan turned the whole thing into an impromptu pool party.
 
I don’t even know who’s coming.
 
I may have met my match.
 
That man is cunning.”

That made me smile real big.
 
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black…

“I need to go put on a cover-up or something,” I told him.
 
“If we’re having a party, I’d rather not be showing this much skin.”

He eyed me up, running a tongue over his teeth in a luscious display.
 
“Yeah, I agree.
 
I’d rather not share this much of your skin with company.
 
Especially since I don’t even know who’s coming.
 
I can’t even tell you the havoc that will wreak with security.
 
A last minute party with no guest list.”
 
He shook his head, then smiled suddenly.
 
“I guess that’s why I pay them so well.
 
Now let’s go get you a cover-up.”

Stephan and Javier arrived first, not even thirty minutes later.
 
They were both already in their swimsuits, shirtless and smiling.

I eyed the three hot, half-naked men around me.
 
“What did I ever do to get so lucky?” I asked.

Stephan flashed a dimple at me, and that dimple was always mischievous.
 
He picked me up, running through the house with a happy shout.
 
He never had been able to behave himself around water.
 

Unlike James, Stephan jumped in still holding me, rather than throwing me.
 
I had a sudden but clear epiphany about the two major men in my life, and just how alike they were in so many strange ways, both so relentlessly, affectionately physical, and emotionally open for me, if on different levels.
   

Stephan didn’t let me go even when were both in the water, just cradling me to him and smiling.
 

“Who did you invite to this?” I asked him suspiciously.
 
I could just tell by the look on his face that he was in an ornery mood.
 
His huge grin at the question only confirmed it.

“Wrong question, Buttercup.”

I pulled his hair lightly.
 
“What’s the right question, then?” I asked.
 
I knew this game.
 

“Who
didn’t
I invite?”
 

I heard a bark of a laugh behind me, and craned my head around to see James striding back to the house.
 
“If it’s going to be that sort of a party, I’ll at least have it catered,” he muttered as he walked.
 
“And I don’t suppose a house full of pilots and flight attendants won’t want an open bar.”
 

I had to laugh.
 
He’d assessed the situation accurately.
 
If Stephan had sent out a blanket invite to everyone he knew, we were a few minutes away from having a house full of pilots and flight attendants, and they would be
drinking
.

The first few people to arrive were complete strangers to me, and it felt beyond awkward meeting new people wearing a tiny bikini, and a tiny, sopping wet cover-up, but I tried to play it off.
 

I shot Stephan a glare.
 
“Do you even know who they are?”

He shrugged.
 
“I think they’re pilots.
 
Murphy’s friends?
 
They look vaguely familiar.
 

James dove into the pool, his form perfect.
 
He swam straight to me, staying underwater until he reached me.
 
He grabbed me around the waist and dragged me from where I was huddled with Stephan.
 
He cornered me against the side of the pool.
 
“Stephan gets to play host tonight, since this was his idea, and I planned to spend my entire day touching you, so I’m damn well going to do it.”

I had no problem with that.
 
I just smiled at him.
   

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Mr. Scandalous

Of course a party at a swank mansion with an open bar attracted a lot of people, and within an hour the place was packed.
 
I recognized maybe a third of the people that swarmed into the pools.
 

Our usual group ended up hanging out with us, taking one of the large pools to ourselves.
 

Marnie and Judith were there.
 
I’d figured they would be.
 
If they were in town, you couldn’t drag them away from a good party.
 
Marnie, however, wouldn’t get in the water, which was unusual for her.
 
I asked her why.

She waved her martini glass in the air.
 
“You see this?”

I nodded, smiling.
 
I knew there’d be a punch line.

“This is not a martini.
 
This is a Midol-tini, cause I’m on the rag, folks, and it is a
heavy flow day
!”

“OOOhhhh,” Murphy cried.
 
“TMI, Marnie TMI!
 
I picture things!”

“Well picture that whole pool turning red if I take one step in.”

Every man within ten feet groaned in disgust.
 
Except for Mr. Beautiful, who didn’t seem to have a squeamish bone in his body.
 
He
just laughed.

“Women are
disgusting
!” Murphy told her.
 
“And what does it say about me that I’m kind of turned on right now?”

“You want a shot at this?” Marnie taunted him, waving a hand at her cute little body.
 
“Liz told me you were good in bed, but I’ll warn you right now, if you don’t make me come, I’m spreading the word.”

Murphy slapped his forehead.
 
“How am I supposed to perform under that kind of pressure?”
 

She pointed at him.
 
“If you can’t perform under pressure, that’s a deal-breaker.
 
If this makes you nervous, what will you do when I bust out my strap-on?
 
The pressure hasn’t even begun.
 
Take it or leave it, Cap’n!”

Murphy’s eyes widened comically.
 
“Will you call me that while we’re going at it?
 
That
might help my performance.”
 

She gave him a smart little salute.
 
“Ay Ay, Cap’n!”
 

She shouted the words, but could still barely be heard over the sounds of all of us laughing.
 
The funniest part was, I had no idea if they were actually joking.

Murphy turned to Damien, holding out his hand as if to shake.
 
“We’ll finally be Eskimo brothers, mate!
 
I’ve been looking forward to this day!”

Damien just shook his head, looking pained.
 
He was particularly quiet tonight, chatting up Jessa in the corner of the pool.
 
“So wrong,” he muttered.

Murphy threw his arms up in the air.
 
“Is that too crass?
 
How about fish-sticks?
 
Can we cross fish-sticks now?”

“What does that even mean?” I asked James, figuring it was a guy thing.

He grimaced.
 
“It’s a really crude way of saying that they hooked up with the same woman.”

Judith held up two fingers to Murphy, bouncing over to him in the pool.
 
“Fish-sticks!”
 

They began to have a long mock sword fight with their fingers.

“Your friends are a riot,” James told me.
 
“But I can’t imagine they weren’t a shock to a virgin.”

I gave him a look.
 
“I was a virgin, but I’ve seen plenty, James.
 
I was on the streets as a young teen.
 
I was past the ability to be shocked before I was sixteen.
 
I think that Judith and Marnie were more shocked at my virginity than they’ve ever managed to shock me.”

He laughed.
 
“I can well imagine.”

“They tried to relieve me of the ‘condition’ for months.
 
I had to really chew them out to get them to stop.”

His face darkened.
 
“I’m glad they didn’t succeed.
 
The idea makes me feel violent.”

I rolled my eyes.
 
“They didn’t even come close to succeeding.
 
They were trying to hook me up with guys that
they
had hooked up with.”

“Murphy is earning his red-wings tonight!” Marnie shouted loudly.

I looked at James, who had me crowded against the side of the pool.
 
“What does
that
mean?” I asked him, knowing it was something kinky, and that he was the expert on kink.

He grinned, moving close against me.
 
“When you go down on a girl on her period for the first time, that’s called earning your red-wings.
 
I’m going to earn my red-wings with you.”

I felt like I blushed from head to toe.
 
I had to look away.
 
I didn’t know how, but he could still manage to shock me.
 

He gripped my chin and turned me back to look at him.

“So you’ve never done that before?” I asked him.

He shook his head.
 

“And people actually do that?”
 

He shrugged.
 
“I’m going to.”

I wrinkled my nose at him.
 
“You are so kinky in the strangest ways.
 
I just kind of assumed that people just stopped doing…stuff…during that time of the month.”

He laughed.
 
“Look at you.
 
You can’t even say it.
 
I won’t be going a week without sex just because you have your period, I can tell you that much.
 
And I won’t be going a week without going down on you either.
 
So yes, I’ll be earning my red-wings soon.”

I flushed hotly.
 
The idea was so embarrassing, but the fact that nothing about me was a turn-off for him, was still always kind of a turn-on for me.

He grinned, gripping my chin in a hand, and leaning in close.
 
“Words can’t even express how much I love to put that scandalized look in your eyes.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I whispered back, still blushing.

“God you guys are good at eye-fucking each other!” Marnie shouted at us, just making me flush harder.
 
“Get a room!”

“I might not be in the mood when I’m on my period,” I told him, ignoring Marnie.
 
“I can get tired and grumpy.”

He laughed, unfazed.
 
“Oh, trust me, I’ll get you in the mood.”
 

Knowing him, I could hardly doubt it.

“I need to go to the bathroom, you kinky bastard,” I told him.

He made an embarrassing show of getting me out of the pool, drying me and putting my cover-up on.
 
My friends cheered him on, and I flushed.
 
He even tried to walk me to the bathroom.

I gave him a level stare.
 
“James, I can go to the bathroom by myself.”

He looked none-too-happy about it, but he handed me a key from the pocket of his swim trunks.
 
“Use the one in our bedroom.
 
It’s locked.”

I just nodded and walked off, keeping the towel wrapped tightly around my chest.

After I finished and came back down to the main floor, I was particularly surprised to find one partygoer that I did recognize, but that I certainly hadn’t expected to come.
 

“Hi Melissa,” I told her.
 

Melissa was drinking a martini and looked to be flirting with a bartender in one of the makeshift bars that had been set up around the house.
 

She sent me a pretty disgusted look for someone partying at my boyfriend’s house.
 

“Bianca,” she said with a sneer.

I’m not sure if it was her venom, or if it was the nerve of her bad attitude at this particular location, but that sneer just seemed to snap the class right out of me.
 

I grabbed her arm, pretty much dragging her into the nearest room.
 
It was some sort of entertainment room, with a giant TV mounted on the wall, theatre seating, and a long sofa set up at the back of the room.
 
I’d only seen the room once before and briefly, when I’d finally gotten the full tour of the house.

A couple was making out on the sofa.
 
I ordered them out like I owned the place.
 
They seemed to think I did, because they listened and obeyed without a protest.
 
I shut the door behind them and turned to Melissa.
 

“Ok, let’s hear it,” I told her in my coldest voice.
 
“
What
is your problem?
 
Do you dislike me, or is your personality just this horrible in general?” Normally being this rude to someone literally made my skin crawl, but I didn’t seem to be having any problem with it just then.
 

She folded her arms over her chest and glared at me, the look more pouty than convincing.
 
“It’s you.
 
You are just the type of woman that I absolutely
despise
.”
 

I raised my brows at her.
 
I wasn’t surprised that she didn’t like me
—
that was hardly a shocker, she hadn’t been keeping it a secret, but I rarely found myself described as a type.
 
Unless maybe it was the distant, reserved type.
 
And that type rarely inspired this kind of animosity.
 
I didn’t have to ask her what she meant; she was more than happy to elaborate.

“You act like a prissy bitch, you look down on the girls that want a sugar daddy, but you are
just like us
!
 
You are playing the same game I am; you’re just less honest about it.
 
That is what I hate!
 
And you landed the biggest rich guy of all!
 
You don’t deserve it.
 
You don’t deserve any of this!
 
I was
born
rich.
 
Born in to this life, born
deserving
this life, but then my daddy lost everything, and now I have to throw fucking peanuts to make ends meet, blowing sixty-year old men just to get the bags I used to get for giving my daddy a kiss on the cheek.
 
And you, with your supposed virtue, land the ultimate rich guy on your first try.
 
You give honest girls like me a bad name.”
   

I laughed.
 
I couldn’t keep it in.
 
I laughed right in her face.
 
“So
that’s
your deal,” I told her, my tone scathing.
 
I just couldn’t believe that she was even more worthless than what I’d pegged her for.
 
“You’re a spoiled little brat that never grew up.
 
Your daddy gave you everything, and look what you became.
 
A whore for bags?”

She actually had the nerve to try to slap me.
 
I saw it coming and caught her wrist mid-air.
 

“I am
nothing
like you,” I continued as though she hadn’t just taken a swing at me.
 
“The fact that James has money worked against him with me, not for him, and I couldn’t give a flying fuck about handbags.
 
You need a little dose of the real world, little girl, and I hope you get it.”

The door burst open, and James strode in, his eyes wild, four security guards behind him.
 
He didn’t even look at Melissa as he had her escorted out.
 

I did, meeting her glare for glare as she stormed off.

Finally, I met his eyes.
 
I knew what I’d find there.
 
Enough concern and fury to make me tense.
 

“That’s
fucking
it.
 
You aren’t going to the bathroom without security ever again.”
 

I rolled my eyes.
 
“Please.
 
It was Melissa.
 
She’s hostile, but hardly a threat to me.”

“She threw a fucking drink at your head!”

He was really working himself into a rage, I realized.
 

I moved to him, burying my face in his chest.
 
He wrapped me in his arms.
 
It was an automatic response, enraged or not.
 
I thought that said a lot.
 

“I’m perfectly fine.
 
We had an enlightening conversation, actually.”

“Oh?” he asked, his hands running over my back possessively.
 

“Yeah.
 
I found out what her deal is.”
 

“I’d love to hear it.”
 

“She’s a spoiled brat,” I said simply.

“Huh.”

“And a whore for designer bags.”

That got a real laugh out of him.
 
“She must really like handbags,” he said, a smile in his voice.

“I would hope so, since she claims she blew a sixty-year old just to get one.”
 
I don’t know why it struck me funny when I said it, it really was just sad and pathetic, but I couldn’t make the statement without laughing.

It must have been contagious because James started laughing just as hard as I was.
 

Stephan found us still laughing when he burst in the door, breathless.
 
He pointed at James.
 
“That was mean.
 
You had me scared to death that she’d disappeared, and here you are, laughing and joking, and not bothering to call the search off.”