Masked Definitions (22 page)

“You can’t call me a pussy.”

“Meow.” I grin and pull the zip line seat back up to the platform where you take off.

“I’ve met the Queen, you know.”

I roll my eyes. “Have you now, my Lord Duke? And what, pray tell, does you meeting the Queen have to do with playing in a playground?”

“People who dine with the Queen shouldn’t act in such ways.”

My laughter is loud; he’s just too adorable. “I’ll swallow your cock on the way home.”

“You’ll grant me the honour regardless of whether or not I fly on this ridiculous contraption.”

Shaking my head, I reclaim my dome throne and send myself shooting back down the zip line. “At least try to go three sixty on a swing?”

“No.” He folds his arms across his chest and parts his legs.

When I come to another sudden stop, I hop off and make my way towards him. His eyes stay on mine, unrelenting. “Shall we go and make out behind that play house like teenagers?”

“No,” he states, though I see his pupils dilate.

Grin. “I know you want to.” My hand hooks in the loop of his trousers as my lips seek his cleanly shaven jaw. He grips my chin roughly with one hand and I see his tongue part his lips before he pushes it between mine. I gasp; this is new. Gasping only opens my mouth wider to his curious tongue, which seems to be exploring my mouth in a way I’m not sure that I like but, because it’s him, my cunt approves of. In fact, all I can think of is how it would feel if he did this exact motion but between my legs.

“What on earth was that?” I laugh, panting heavily when he finally releases me. His lips glisten from our combined saliva and I can’t help but cringe a little on the inside.

“You said like teenagers.” He shrugs, unable to stifle his mischievous smile. “So I snogged you.”

My head falls into his collar as my body shakes with the laughter I can’t contain. “You’re an idiot.”

“Now will you swallow my cock on the journey home?”

Still trembling from the kiss and the laughter, I pull back and promise. “Definitely.” And then I add when he turns us to the exit, “But only if you promise to snog me again later…” I tap the apex of my thighs. “Right here.”

His laughter makes me feel warm inside. I did that. I made him laugh. “Definitely.”

I wish I’d told him how I feel. I wish that circumstances were different. Even if I did leave Max, there’s no way that Elijah and I can be together. I don’t know anything about his world. I don’t know how to behave or how to address people and I’m not sure that I want to. Being the centre of attention has never been my thing. Being Elijah’s… I’d never leave the spotlight, especially not with how we’re beginning.

How do I feel though?

I’m not sure what this feeling is. It’s in my body… it’s in my soul… it pulses, it warms and heats, but it isn’t arousal. When I think of him, I smile and I want to be around him. I want him to want to be around me. I want to make him laugh and make him hard. More than anything, I crave his trust and need it like I need oxygen. His approval means more to me than anyone else’s ever has.

Am I in love?

Is that what this is?

I’m ashamed to admit that when he had Max up against the wall, my main concern was for Elijah’s safety. My main concern is always his safety.

What a web I’ve woven, but I’m done weaving. It’s time to be honest. It’s time to fix this.

It’s time to fix myself.

“Where’s, Max?” I ask Mildred quietly after entering in the kitchen.

She glances at the doorway, forcing me to panic and think that he’s there for a moment. “My Lord Elijah distracted him. I believe he’s in the games room.”

I thank the Lord mentally and feel my shoulders sag.

“What’s going on, sweet girl?” She asks and takes a step towards me, concern swimming in her warm eyes. “Everyone has been so worried; you apparently didn’t return home all night?”

“Is Elijah home?”

She frowns at my lack of response but answers, “He’s in his office taking a few calls. Would you like me to buzz for him?”

“No, that’s okay, thank you, Mildred. Oh… Don’t tell Max that I’m here. Not yet. I’d be grateful.”

I don’t wait for her to reply. I quickly and silently head towards the stairs and in a flash I’m outside of Elijah’s office. My hand moves to the door handle. I contemplate knocking first but I don’t have the patience to wait for him to open it.

“Simply preposterous, we already upped their prices by three percent, which is high enough…” Elijah’s voice trails off as he listens to whoever is speaking on the phone that is tightly pressed to his ear. I admire his stance as he leans against the fireplace, looking away from me. He obviously hasn’t heard me enter and he doesn’t hear the door close. At least he doesn’t until I lock it. The click gives me away.

When he sees me, his eyes widen in surprise before moving to the papers on his desk. I move closer as he promptly ends the call and stacks the papers in a neat pile. My brows raise when he tucks them into a drawer on his desk and locks it with a key from his pocket.

“Mrs Corbin.”

Mrs Corbin? “I need to talk to you.”

“I’m pressed for time.” He doesn’t look at me as he claims his seat and glares at his laptop, though I doubt his laptop has elicited the look of death. The white glow from the screen only highlights just how badly he seems to want me to leave. I’m glad I can’t read minds.

“I shouldn’t have left last night.” His silence isn’t helping, just as his ignorance definitely isn’t helping. “I should have said what was on my mind but I was too scared.” Finally he looks at me, though he doesn’t speak and his hand remains suspended on the touch pad on his laptop. “I’ve been unfair to you.”

I want to shake that blank look from his face; it’s ridding me of my courage.

“I have treated you like the other man… which I guess is what you are but… fuck.” I look up at the ceiling, too intimidated by his hardening gaze. “I’m not explaining myself properly.”

“The other man?”

“I want to leave Max. Though not for you or because of you, but for me.” Shit… that’s not what I meant either! “I’m screwing this up. I’m not good with things like this… talking about my feelings is not something I’ve done freely in my entire life.”

“Breathe,” he soothes and I watch as he rises from his seat, both hands flat on the desk.

“I need your help… as a friend… lover… brother to Max.” Again I want to kill myself. “Max is ill. The NHS don’t deem him mentally unstable enough to require treatment. He’s good at hiding it.”

“You’re here on behalf of your husband?” I see I’ve hit a nerve so I rush to rectify it. His eyes pierce me with a look so dangerous I unwillingly take a step backwards. “No! I’m here because I want to leave him but I can’t… not without your help and your patience.”

“I’m listening.”

“Look… I don’t know what this is between us. I don’t know if it’ll last. I just know that…” Gulp. I meet his eyes. “I can’t continue while I’m with Max and regardless of whether or not we can continue after I leave him, I still want to leave him and I need your help. Max needs…”

“A psychiatrist?”

“He needs rehabilitating.” I murmur and cast a shameful look at the ground, wishing it would swallow me whole. “He’ll do terrible things if I leave him. I need him better…”

“Max is crazy but he’s not
that
crazy.”

“He is.”

“What could he possibly do?”

“I’m his anchor; he has always been obsessed with me.”

“You’re not answering the question…”

“Because I’m scared,” I admit and the frost in his eyes thaws when he realises just how heavy a burden this truly is. “He scares me.”

I don’t realise that I’m trembling until I feel his hands grip my biceps. “Shall I call for tea or would you like a shot of something stronger?”

Shaking my head, I finally tell him my story. It’s the first time I’ve ever shared it but it needs to be shared. “I was eighteen when I tried to leave him. I’d lost all of my friends; he’d scared them away.”

“I’ve noticed he doesn’t like you being apart from him.”

“It’s more than that. He gets so jealous of everyone. Even my mum.” Tears spring to my eyes. I recall every time I’ve tried to break free from my husband. I love him; I’ve always loved him because I’ve never been allowed to feel anything else. “The last time I left him was before we got married…”

Thumbs wipe away my tears.

“He drugged my mum,” I whisper, shaking my head.

“Is that why he was institutionalised?”

I nod. “I met him and convinced him to leave her alone, but the Police had already been called. He drugged her in a coffee shop in the middle of fucking York. He didn’t care who saw. He put my mum in her car and drove her to this abandoned house at the edge of town.”

“Fuck.”

“He said I had an hour to go back to him. If I didn’t, she’d die.”

“Why the fuck are you with him? Why isn’t he in prison?”

“He was only kept under special care for four months before they said he was better,” I snarl bitterly. “The minute he was out, he sought me out and he made it clear that I was his and nobody else’s.”

His hands on my arms tighten. “What did he do?”

“Nothing. He just made threats, but I wasn’t about to disbelieve him after all he’d done.”

“I see.”

“I don’t know what to do.” His arms close around me and I weep into his chest. “I want out. I can’t take it anymore.”

“You’ll get out.”

“We have to fix him first.” I place both hands against his chest and watch as Elijah’s eyes drift to the cast on my arm. It’s purple and it’s awesome but I don’t let it distract me. “I can’t leave him until I know that he won’t hurt anybody.”

“I won’t let it come to that.”

“You won’t have a choice,” I hiss, wishing he’d heed my warning. “He’ll convince you he’s fine, you’ll let your guard down and somebody will end up hurt.”

I watch as it sinks in and pray that it truly does. “I understand. We’ll get him the help he needs.”

“And I know I’m being selfish in asking but… I don’t…” There goes my courage, out of the fucking window. I’m certain my heart will be following it soon when he tramples all over it. “I don’t want to lose you.”

The warm hand at my jaw slides into the back of my hair. “You don’t?”

“I’m in love with you. I didn’t mean to be.” I had this grand plan in mind that I’d tell him to his eyes… not to his collar. “It just happened… and I know, I’m a stripper, I’m a whore, I’ve cheated on my husband with his brother… I’m an awful person and I understand if you can’t see yourself having a future with me. I wouldn’t even know how to deal with your world but it doesn’t change how I feel and how selfish I am in wanting to keep you.”

“You want to keep me?”

“Yesterday was the best day of my life.” I peer up into his eyes, finding the courage to do this the right way. “All of the times I’ve spent with you have been the best days of my life.”

His luscious lips tip up at the ends and the heat that radiates from him seeps into me, relaxing me. “Me too.”

My answering smile is so wide it’s probably goofy but I can’t help it.

“Where were you last night, Olivia?”

“I slept in my room at the club. I needed to be alone for a while.” His eyes darken and mine widen. “I didn’t dance for anyone… I just wanted alone time. I handed in my permanent resignation and also stole my favourite set of lingerie.” My eyebrows raise playfully. “Wanna see?”

His lust heated gaze rakes down to my cleavage but it quickly vanishes and is replaced with a look of shame and regret. “I can’t begin to apologise enough for how I treated you.”

“I wish you wouldn’t. It’s no less than what I deserved.”

He pulls my eyes back to his by dipping his head to catch them. “There’s no excuse for how I spoke to you. You aren’t a whore. I don’t care that you were a stripper beyond the fact it makes me blind with rage and envy.” This makes me happy. “I also can’t promise that this will work between us. We’re from entirely different worlds… but…” He’s about to crush my heart. I can feel it. “I’m deliriously in love with you too and I want to try.”

“Deliriously?” I breathe, unable to hide the amazement from my voice.

“Deliriously.” He repeats and presses his forehead to mine. “Uncontrollably and I know because I’ve tried to get you out of my head.” I see him smile and mirror it. “Although I was only going to give you another day.”

“Sorry?”

“I had planned to give you no choice but to stay with me.”

A laugh escapes me. “And how exactly were you going to enforce this?”

“I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. I’m actually annoyed that you stole my thunder. I was hoping to become this alpha, possessive male that you women all dream of.”

“I have one of those already… it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

His eyes soften with sadness and his hands cup my cheeks. “We’ll figure this out together; you’re not in this alone. Regardless of whether or not I love you, he’s my brother and if he’s unwell, he needs my help.”

I throw my arms around him, forcing him to take a step back to steady us both. My face goes to his neck and his arms wind around me as he holds me… just holds me, in the middle of his office. “You’re a good man.”

“Did you lock the door?” He asks, untangling our bodies.

Of course I did, so I nod, though he still moves to it and double checks it anyway. I use this moment to sit on his executive chair and close the laptop screen. The glare was irritating my eyes.

My Lord Duke watches from the door after checking it and I don’t need to be a mind reader to hear exactly what his eyes are giving away. He stalks towards me and stops on the opposite side of the desk. I stand and pull my top off, over my head, grateful when it does not snag on my cast. His eyes sparkle with lust when he sees my heavy breasts held in a white lace bra. I unbutton my jeans, push them down my thighs and then step out of them.

I’m so happy I stole this underwear from the club after my shower there. It’s one of my favourite sets and, by the look on Elijah’s face, it’s one of his now too.

He beckons me to come closer with a crook of his finger.

Shiver.

I lift my knee onto the desk and take delight when he tilts his head to the side to get a better view of my arse. I lift my other knee and, lowering my front, like a cat ready to pounce, I crook a finger at him and slowly raise my body until I’m balancing on his desk, on my knees. He rights himself and moves towards me, his eyes roaming over my body in that hungry way that I love.

I feel his arm around my back. He pulls me closer so I shift my knees to the edge of the desk and grip the back of his hair with my hand and his neck with my casted arm. I have a few inches of height on him and I think he enjoys being at tit level, if his long lick across the swells of my chest is anything to go by.

He grins wickedly, enjoying this game, and then moans when I press my lips to his so gently and tenderly.

“I fucking love your body.”

“I fucking love it when I make you swear,” I murmur, my lips still brushing against his.

One large, soft hand scrapes up my thigh, the fingertips parting and digging into my flesh before rounding my arse cheek and squeezing.

“I love that I can touch you,” he mutters breathily and pulls me closer still. His hand releases me, only to release himself from the confines of his trousers. I feel him settle against the line where my thighs meet. “I love that I can fuck you.” He pushes upwards and the head of him taps against my thong clad pussy. “I want in.”