Mr. Mysterious: A Mister Standalone (The Mister Series Book 4) (7 page)

“Your
lies
, you mean.”

“Hey, look, if you’re given the name Cinderella at birth you make the most of it. So I like to act my stories out. What’s the harm?”

“You’re gonna go to prison for hacking.”

“You’re pressing charges?” She laughs, like this is way more crazy than her behavior.

“I could.”

“You won’t.” She gets up, grabs the paper from my sandwich, stuffs it inside the brown bag, then walks into the kitchen and throws it away.

“What do you want?”

“A night with you.”

“Sex?” I laugh so loud, she startles. “You’re stalking me so I’ll fuck you?”

She shrugs, and my eyes track those huge tits as she does that. “Is that such a bad idea?”

Both her hands go behind her back. Her fingers fumble around for a second, and the bikini top falls forward, slim strings hanging down each side of her breasts. She reaches around behind her neck and a few moments later, the top drops to the floor.

I watch her silently, then get up, walk to the stairs and go up. I turn in the hallway to see what she does next.

She climbs the steps towards me. Slowly. Like she’s afraid I might spook and she’ll have to chase me down.

But I don’t spook.

This is what I wanted, right? Since the first time I saw her at my door with the brown paper bag.

When she reaches the top of the stairs she starts untying the strings of her bottoms. One hand on each hip until they fall to the floor.

And she just stands there. Naked for me. Some spotlight from outside filtering in just enough for me to see the dark outline of her nipples and the seductive curve of her hips.

“What do you want to do now, Mr. Mysterious? Keep playing the game? Or give in and win?”

I picture my mouth on those nipples, my palms wrapped around the swell of her breasts. She bites her lip like she’s nervous, but catches herself and stands still. Not moving. No hesitation, or shyness, or uncertainty.

“He looks at me like I’m sustenance.”

“What?”

“His face nothing but confusion and lust.”

“Seriously? It’s story time again?”

“He wants me, I know he does. He sees all of me right now, but it’s not enough.”

“Stop it,” I say. “You hacked into my fucking calendar.”

“I’m a tad obsessed with you, sorry.”

“What do you want?”

“The same thing you do.”

“To fuck you senseless and then leave town and forget it ever happened?”

She shrugs. “If that’s what you want. But I have so many better ideas.”

“Like what?”

“Don’t you think we should wait until afterward to talk about it?”

“After what?”

“After you fuck me senseless and we fall asleep in each other’s arms.”

“If I fuck you senseless you won’t like what comes after.”

“I’m a big girl, Mr. Vance. I know what I’m getting into.”

“I don’t think you do.”

“Are we gonna stand here talking all night?” She slips a hand between her legs, her fingers moving in small circles over her clit. “Or would you like to see how ready I am to take this to the next level?”

My dick grows despite all the warning bells going off in my mind. And my hand finds my thick shaft through my shorts, automatically fisting it as she watches.

“Let me help you with that,” she says, walking forward until she’s right in front of me. Her head turns up and I catch the blue of her eyes in that elusive light from somewhere outside. She covers my hand with hers, and then her fingers are unbuttoning my shorts and pulling out my cock.

She smiles as she drops to her knees and I can’t stop my hands from fisting her hair and giving it a tug.

Moans from both of us as she takes me in her mouth. My head falls back, hers tilts up. Eyes on me, and only me.

I want to drown in those eyes. They are the ocean outside. They are the power of the waves and the sting of the salt.

“I hope we don’t regret this in the morning,” I manage to mumble.

She leans back, letting my cock fall from her mouth, her eyes never leaving mine. “I hope we do.”

Chapter Seven - Cindy

“What’s that mean?” Paxton asks.

“Shh,” I say, putting his hard cock back in my mouth. I lick his tip and then run my tongue up and down his shaft until all thoughts about tomorrow are safely tucked away in some unknown, forgotten place.

He moans and gives my tangled hair in his fist a firm yank, signaling for me to stand.

“Tired of me already, Detective?”

“Detective?” He stares hard at me, those dark eyes of his pure steel. I know what he is. I know what he does. I know what he's done. But I don’t care. The way he’s looking at me right now wipes all those things away. Besides, I’m no stranger to the underworld. I’m not some innocent girl. It might appear that way on the outside, what with my presumably perfect life on the Shrike Ranch outside Fort Collins, Colorado. My childhood was filled with riding lessons and ballet. I won the St Joseph’s spelling bee four years in a row. I was an honor roll student the moment I stepped into high school.

But none of those things are who I am now. They are just where I came from. And seeing me from the outside is nothing like knowing me on the inside.

“Detective,” I say again. “You like find things out about people, right? It fits you. Like it fits me.”

Paxton is still looking at me with that cold glare. Like he loves and hates me at the same time. “You’re not staying the night.”

I shrug. “Why would I?”

“I’m just trying to be crystal clear with you… Cinderella. And before this goes any further, I’m gonna need a background check.”

“What?” I laugh, my hand still absently pumping his cock.

“Background check, Sugar.” He repeats it with more conviction. “You can suck my cock while I run a background check on you. And if you decline, there’s the fucking door, sweetheart.”

I make a pouty face. It’s real too. “You don’t trust me.”

“Not even a little.”

“You think I’m hiding something.”

“We’re all hiding something. So it’s no big deal. I just want to know what that something is going forward.”

I place my lips on the tip of his cock, pucker them, and give him a sweet kiss. “Go ahead then. Check me out. I’m real.”

He places both hands on my shoulders and steps away. I slide down onto my butt and watch him walk down the stairs and then come back a minute later with a laptop. He beckons me with a finger and passes me in the hallway, takes a seat on the bed, opens his legs, and places the open laptop off to his right side.

“You can stay and watch if you want. If you’re confident I won’t find anything interesting. You can suck my dick while I run your name and we’ll just pretend like this little interlude never happened once I’m finished.” He stops, training that glare on me once more. “But if you think I’ll find something, even,” he says, holding his thumb and pointer finger a minuscule distance apart, “something very small, then I’d advise you to leave now. Because I don’t do business with liars.”

“So this
is
business?” I smile.

He doesn’t. “Everything is business.”

I think about this for a moment. What will he say when he really does find out the truth? But I decide that’s a problem for another day. He’s not going to find anything right now. Not running the name Cinderella Vaughn. I always knew he’d check. I’ve planned for this moment very thoroughly. He’ll find everything he’s looking for… and I will stay Cinderella Vaughn in his mind until he gets suspicious and puts all my lies together.

But by that time he’ll be hopelessly in love with me. So it won’t matter who I really am.

He will fight for us.

“I’ll stay,” I say, crossing the distance between us and taking a seat between his legs. His cock has softened slightly, but when I wrap my hands around him again, the tip of my tongue doing a seductive dance across the tip of his head, it jumps back to attention.

He starts typing as I try to relax and enjoy the moment.

I have Mr. Mysterious in the palm of my hand. I have his dick in my mouth and once this little expected formality is over, I’ll be in his bed.

I don’t ever expect to leave that bed. Figuratively speaking. Once Mr. Paxton Vance gets a taste of me, he will never want anyone else.

“Where did you grow up?” he asks, pulling me back from my future.

“Colorado,” I say. I can’t lie about that. There are many Vaughns in this world, but the Vaughn identity I’ve attached this name to all over the internet happens to be with my cousins. And they live in Colorado.

“Hmmm,” Pax says.

“Hmmm,” I moan back, making my throat vibrate as I suck on his cock.

“Jesus,” he says, leaning back a little, making his dick fall out of my mouth.

“You don’t like it?” I ask, blinking up at him innocently.

“Just give me a second.” He goes back to typing. “I have a few friends in Fort Collins. You ever heard of Shrike Bikes?”

“No,” I lie. “Should I have?”

“Before your time, maybe,” Pax says, absently.

I
am
Shrike Bikes. Baby Shrike, that’s me. It’s just too funny not to laugh. But I hold it in because the moment is precarious.

“You went to Catholic school?” A snort comes out with the question.

“My parents are very traditional.”

“Says here your father owns a tattoo shop. Doesn’t sound very traditional to me.”

Jesus Christ. He got that info fast. “Haven’t you ever heard of those Jesus bikers?”

“Your dad’s a Jesus biker?” Pax looks down his nose at me, like I’m totally full of shit.

“Call him up and ask him,” I say coolly.

“Hmmm,” Pax says, looking back at his screen.

I’m sure if he’s found a picture of my Uncle Vic he won’t be doing anything as stupid as calling him on the phone. He’s a scary motherfucker. All tatted up from back in the day. Still part owner of Sick Boyz Inc., my mother’s family-run tattoo shop.

Pax closes the laptop and sets it on the night stand.

“Satisfied?” I ask sweetly.

“No, princess—”

“Don’t call me princess. I told you, that nickname belongs to my older sister.”

“Aurora?”

“We call her…” I stop myself just in time from saying Rory, which he will surely recognize from his visits to my parents’ farm with Oliver over the past few years, and realize I fell into a trap. He has my sister’s name. My
real
sister. And of course, none of my cousins are named Aurora.

“Is the third degree over then?” I ask, hoping to God he won’t open that laptop back up and go looking for an Aurora Vaughn. That would be bad. Very, very bad. Because Rory’s middle name actually
is
Vaughn and she will pop right up, only her last name will be Shrike and my whole plan will go—

“What do they call you then? At home?”

“Sugar,” I say, breathing deeply to stop my panic. “They call me Sugar… just like you did.” They call me Baby Shrike. But I can’t tell him that, now can I? Fuck. How did I get here? I literally had his dick in my mouth and now I’m about to blow my own damn cover with this stupid mistake.

“Sugar what?” Pax asks. “You sounded like there was something else at the end of Sugar. Sugar what?”

“Sugar…” And before I can stop myself, I blurt out… “
Cookie
.”

“Cookie?” He laughs.

Oh, fuck. I need to stop talking.

“Yeah,” he says, threading his fingers through my long black hair. “Yeah, I can see it, actually. You smell like a fucking bakery. Sugar Cookie it is, then.” He leans down to kiss me on the lips.

I look up at him, my eyes filled with… relief, I’m sure. And I’m sure he can tell. I’m absolutely sure he’s going to call me on this. I’m positive that he’s been digging in Oliver’s family history and somewhere along the line he’s heard of Cinderella, even though I haven’t let my parents call me my given name since I was twelve.