Hammered (9 page)

Chapter Seven

Alex yanked off his tie, shrugged out of his jacket and
unbuttoned the top button on his shirt. Then he took his first full breath of
the day. The Concordia process was now six weeks old and today they’d done
their first presentation for the investors. Concordia usually used only their
own money, but with a development that encompassed more than ten thousand acres
and would hold everything commercial to residential to recreational they needed
more working capital. And the people who’d put their money into this were
sharp, asked a lot of questions and dug out every detail.

“I think it went well, don’t you?”

Alex looked up to see Tyler lounging in his doorway, a
satisfied smile on his face.

“Yes. I agree. But holy hell, these people were like a
military tribunal.”

“That’s why they have all that money,” Tyler pointed out.
“They’re very careful where the invest it and they don’t leave anything to
chance.”

“How about lunch to celebrate?” Josh came up behind Tyler
and nudged his brother forward. “Just a small celebration. We’ve got a lot of
work to do.”

“I’ve, uh, got a lunch meeting.” Alex looked down at his
desk so his brothers couldn’t examine the look on his face. He didn’t plan to
do much eating at noon. Livy had slipped him a note after the meeting.

“How about room service for lunch. I’ll be in room 213 at
the Carlyle. You bring the service. L. “

“Oh?” Tyler chuckled. “Should I guess who it’s with?”

“That’s none of your business.” He tried to make his tone
less defensive, but he was very sensitive where Livy was concerned. Things were
not going at all the way he’d hoped. In fact, if anything, they were getting
worse.

Not with the sex. Good lord, the sex was beyond imaginable.
She gave him every inch of her body willingly. More than, in fact. But that was
all she gave. No matter how hard he tried to breach that wall around her heart,
she kept it firmly intact. If he tried to push the subject she froze him out.
So for the moment he was living every other man’s dream—incredibly hot,
unlimited sex with no demands on him. He knew at least a dozen men who would
gladly change places with him.

But what happens when you fall in love with a woman who
considers love the eighth plague? Who thinks herself unlovable?

Curiosity had gotten the better of him and he’d spent some
time digging into Livy’s past. Discreetly, of course. In some cases all he had
to do was mention he was working with her and information came tumbling out.
When he put it all together it was easy to see why she’d turned out the way she
had. But in the more than two months they’d been together he’d lost his heart
to her completely. There was no way he could walk away from her, even if they
were in a long-term business relationship.

“Alex?” Josh’s voice broke into his mental wanderings.
“Something wrong here?”

He shook his head and pasted a quick smile on his face.
“Nope. Everything’s copacetic. Ty, when are you leaving for Wyoming?”

“Day after tomorrow,” Tyler answered. “I worked the phones
and found some good men to put together a skeleton crew with. Enough to do the
surveying. And they’ll fill me in on the best supply companies and the best
crews.”

Alex felt that little thrill of excitement when they got to
this starting point on any job. The survey work made it a reality.

“Okay. Keep in touch.”

“Ty’s sending the plane back for me,” Josh told him. “I’m
going to spend a week out there with him when they’ve got the preliminary
information together. Then the hard work starts for me.”

“Good enough. Just be sure you catch me up to date on
whatever you’ve got going before you leave.”

“It won’t be for three or four weeks, at a guess. We’ll have
plenty of time to make sure everything else is where it should be.”

When they left Alex pulled his jacket off the back of the
chair and tossed it over his arm. The tie he left lying on his desk. For what
he was going to do he didn’t need it.

Unless I plan to tie her up and spank the shit out of her
for being so stubborn.

The image that came to mind made him so instantly hard that
he held his arm in front of him so the jacket covered his very noticeable
hard-on. He walked to the hotel since it was only a few blocks from his office,
hoping it would help him get his thoughts together.

He and Livy certainly weren’t lacking for off-the-charts
sex. It seemed whenever they were alone together it took only seconds for them
to tear each other’s clothes off. They even managed a few nooners, like today,
fucking like minks before going back to work. And it seemed the more time they
spent together in bed, the bolder she got. The more aggressive he got, the more
she matched him. He sometimes felt as if he was overdosing on sex.

But while his body was more than satisfied he certainly
wasn’t getting what he really wanted. An emotional commitment from Livy. And somewhere
along the way the balance of power in their relationship had shifted.
She
had become the person in control, calling the shots. No mistake about it. He
sometimes wondered if she got off on the power as much as the sex.

Whatever it was, he was getting damn tired of the whole
thing. The more he saw her and spent time with her, the more he wanted her in
his life permanently. He was getting to the point where he just wanted to shake
her and force her to understand how he felt. How he knew she really felt
underneath all that bravado.

He needed to find that one key that would unlock Livy’s
heart and somehow it kept eluding him. Maybe today he’d find the answer.

But when he got to the hotel and tapped on the door of her
room, she opened it, reached out an arm and pulled him inside. He looked at her
and his mind went blank. She was gloriously naked except for her trademark
stiletto heels and she immediately went to work to get him in the same
condition. She literally dragged his shirt from his body and tossed it to the
bed. But when she unfastened the button on his slacks and started to slide the
zipper down he grabbed her arms.

“Not yet.” He could hardly get the words out, the way his
tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth at the sight of her. He had to grab some
control here.

Pulling her tightly against his body, her hard nipples
boring into his chest, he took her mouth with bruising force. Thrusting his
tongue inside, he licked every inch of the wet surface, tasting her gums and
teeth. He slanted his head this way and that, changing the angle of the kiss so
he could plunge deeper and deeper, trying to tell her silently how much he
wanted her not just physically but emotionally as well.

She was trembling in his arms, leaning against him for
support. He slid one hand down the planes of her tummy to the folds of her
cunt, finding them slick with her juices. She rocked against his hand, her
tongue still dueling with his. But then she tore herself away from him and
dropped to her knees.

“Livy,” he began in a strangled voice.

“No. Please. I want this.”

In seconds she had his slacks and boxers down around his
ankles, her fingers wrapped around his cock, her other hand cupping his balls.
She squeezed them lightly and he couldn’t swallow the groan that burst from his
mouth. When she swirled her tongue around the head of his shaft, slipping the
tip of it into the slit he growled, tiny electric shocks surging through his
body. Much as he wanted to pull away from her and try to wrest control from
her, what she was doing felt too damn good.

In another moment, she opened her mouth wide and slowly took
in the length of him and his brain completely shut off. He threaded his fingers
through her thick silken hair, gripping her skull firmly to hold it in place.

She sucked him hard then slowly drew back before sliding her
mouth down from tip to root again. She grazed him lightly with her teeth,
gripping his balls tightly and drawing another growl of pleasure from him. Her
mouth moved up and down his shaft, slow then fast then slow again until Alex
thought he’d go out of his mind.

Jesus, her mouth was hot. And when she scraped her
fingernails lightly over his balls his eyes crossed and he thought for sure
he’d lose it.

Heat surged through his body, setting his blood on fire and
sizzling every nerve ending. He wanted to tell her to never stop, just keep
sucking in that wonderful rhythm forever. She was so damn good at this.
Whenever she did this and he came, seeing her swallow every bit of his cum was
as arousing as that act itself.

He rocked his hips, working himself even deeper into her
mouth and down her throat. When she backed away and stood up he had trouble
comprehending what she was doing. There he was with his swollen cock hanging
out about two breaths from an orgasm and she stopped?

“What the hell?”

He reached for her again but she danced away.

“I’ve been getting myself warmed up for you while I waited,”
she told him. “Now that you’re caught up I want you inside me.” Lifting a
condom from the top of the nightstand she held it out to him. “Ready when you
are, cowboy.”

Forgetting his legs were still trapped by his clothing he
stumbled in his effort to get to the bed. Toeing off his shoes and socks he
made quick work of the slacks and shorts and climbed onto the bed with her.

Livy lay waiting for him, legs wide open, knees bent,
teasing him as she rubbed a damp finger teasingly over first one nipple then
the other. She knew exactly how much that turned him on.

Rolling on the condom, he bent down and took a moment to
taste her, running his tongue over the lips of her pussy and swirling it around
the tip of her clit. She hitched her hips up to his mouth, making those little
whimpering sounds he loved so much. When he pushed his tongue inside her
channel she reached down for his head and clamped it hard to her body, rocking
against his mouth.

She tasted like sugar and salt, a combination whose flavors
burst so pleasurably on his tongue that he wondered if he’d ever get enough of
it. He licked and sucked, drawing her ever closer to the point of explosion,
making her beg him to fuck her. To let her feel his cock inside her.

He palmed her breasts, plumping them, seeing the wet nipples
glisten where she touched them. He loved the way her body responded to him. She
might not admit it but the moment he touched her she was his. When he was at
the point of no return himself, he reared back, positioned his shaft at her
opening and drove into her with one swift, hard thrust.

Oh, Jesus!

He had to grit his teeth to keep from exploding right then.
But he could feel the tremors in her pussy and knew she was right there with
him. It took only three hard strokes and the orgasm caught them both with a
powerful force, shaking them as if they were no more than slim reeds in a
hurricane. Alex wanted to stay buried inside her forever, her sweet walls
gripping him like a wet fist, her body taking every bit of him. In that moment
nothing existed but the two of them, skin to skin.

The shudders seemed to go on forever, stealing every breath
in his body, his heart pounding so hard he thought it would beat itself out of
his chest. All he could think as he came down from the sexual high was how
important this woman was to him. He’d do anything to make her his.

Finally, finally, came the calm after the storm. He
collapsed forward, holding Livy tightly to his body, feathering kisses across
her damp cheeks and brushing his lips over hers.

Damn, he loved this woman, and not just for the sex. He
wanted to make her his. Forever. Share everything with her. Build a life
together. Somehow he had to convince her.

He took a moment to dispose of the condom before crawling in
bed next to her and cuddling her body to his.

“I ordered us club sandwiches,” she told him in a voice that
still shook slightly. “I figured we’d need to replenish our energy.”

“In a minute,” he said, running his hand lightly up and down
her back. They were both sweaty as hell and could no doubt use a shower but he
had to get the words out first. “I have something I really want to tell you.”

She tensed in his arms and tilted her head back. “About
what?”

He stroked her some more, trying to ease the tension. “Livy,
we’ve been doing this for weeks now, and I have to say it’s the best sex I’ve
ever had in my life.”

“I feel a ‘but’ coming.”

He nodded lightly. “You’re right. Olivia, you have to know
how I feel about you. This is about more than sex. A lot more. I love you. Can
you honestly tell me you don’t feel something for me?”

She managed to push herself out of his arms and sit up,
drawing the sheet up over her. “You know how I feel about that. I told you in
the beginning. No emotional attachments. Livy’s Rules. You agreed, Alex. You
even said it out loud.”

“I know, I know. But you can’t order someone how to feel,
sweet girl. And what I feel for you is so enormous I can’t even put words to
it.” He grabbed her chin and turned her face toward him. “I love you.
Love.
I want us to be together. Build a life. Share everything. I know your career is
important to you. It’s important to me, too. I want you to get that partnership
you hanker after so badly. This isn’t about changing you. Or taking away. It’s
about adding more.”

She grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand away. “Damn it,
Alex. I don’t do love. Or anything close to it. It’s an illusion. Give in to it
and it disappears.” She jumped off the bed and began pulling on her clothes.
“Maybe we need to call this quits right now. Surely as adults we can work
together without things getting messy between us.”

Alex began to scramble for his own clothes. He didn’t want
to have this conversation where he was the only one without clothes on. He
grabbed her arms as she headed for the door and kissed her hard and hot.