Obession by Design (7 page)

Her
pulse raced.
“Almost nothing.”

“I
want you to have a
safeword
.
Something
easy to remember, and that when you say it, we stop immediately.
No
questions asked. Then we take care of your needs or talk about what upset you
or frightened you.”

“Okay.”

“Let’s
keep it simple and use ‘red’. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

“Now
limits. Tell me what you absolutely don’t want to try, ever.”

“I
honestly never thought about it in those terms. I’m so naïve.”

He
pulled her close and kissed her. “No, you’re not. You’re simply inexperienced.
There’s a difference. We’ll take it slowly,
Liane
,
okay? As slowly as you need me to go.”

“Do
I have to call you something special?”

He
chuckled softly. “No, and I don’t expect you to wear a dog collar or anything
like that. I merely love kinky sex, and I sure would love to introduce you to it.”

“I
want that, too. My fantasies are all mixed up with that even though I have no
experience.”

The
intensity of his gaze took her breath away. “Perfect.
Because
now I get to teach you from the ground up.”
He grasped her breasts
again. “But first, I did promise to taste these, as well as that wet pussy of
yours. And I’d love for you to suck my cock. How do you feel about the number
sixty-nine?”

She
giggled as fresh desire shot through her. “It’s my favorite number.”

Chapter
Seven

Emmett
led her out of the tub and took her hand. They walked into his bedroom, still
dripping wet from the water, but he didn’t seem to care. She thought they were
going to his bed, but instead he led her to a wide chaise lounge that looked
like it belonged in a movie from the 1930s or 1940s. It was covered in red
velvet, and she bit her lip to keep from laughing again.

He
had eclectic taste, and from what little she’d glimpsed of his apartment so
far, it ran the gamut from ancient cultures to total camp. That was part of why
she found him so interesting. He wasn’t predictable. She’d been picturing the
clichéd version of a good-looking rich man who had a different woman on his arm
every weekend, and he’d shattered that image in her first hour here.

Emmett
laid down on the lounge and told her to climb on, facing his feet. She’d had
oral sex before, but her attempts with Keith at actually doing a sixty-nine had
been awkward and clumsy for both. She knew Emmett was far more experienced, so
she trusted his judgment.

Liane
positioned herself over him, and
he brushed his fingers up and down her inner thighs. “That’s right. Oh, man. I
love a wet pussy right in my face. Come on, sweetheart. Move it closer to me.
You won’t hurt me.”

She
did, and then cried out as he licked her pussy lips. “That’s right. Just let me
have it, baby. You feel free to suck my cock dry and lick my balls, if you
want. Just be careful with the teeth, please.”

Liane
could barely concentrate on his
red, swollen dick, right in front of her face, as Emmett expertly licked and
sucked her pussy and clit. He moved a finger inside her, and she nearly lost
it. She wrapped her hands around his shaft and moved them up and down the way
he’d shown her in the tub, and then she licked the tip. It was salty and musky,
and he moaned loudly the more she did it.

Emmett
knew what he was doing with his mouth, and within minutes
Liane
cried out as another orgasm overtook her. Even when the contractions finished,
he didn’t let up. “Keep going, baby. Suck me,
Liane
.
You taste fantastic.”

She
wanted to have as much fun as he obviously was, so she licked up and down the
length of his impressive dick, enjoying the velvety softness contrasted with
the veins. He nipped at her inner thighs, and his tongue explored every inch of
her pussy and ass cheeks. He even circled it against her asshole, which sent
shivers up and down her spine.

Liane
took his cock into her mouth, a
few inches at a time, relaxing her throat muscles as she advanced it because
she wanted to do this for him, and because she was enjoying it. She sucked him,
alternating that with licking, and she even licked his balls. His cries and
groans told her she was doing a good job.

“Oh
God … I’m going to come, baby. I can’t hold back.”

She
braced herself, and within seconds her mouth was filled with hot cum.
Liane
swallowed every tasty drop, and then she licked his
shaft, in case she’d missed some. He turned her roughly around and kissed her,
tongue and all, which she found incredibly sexy considering where each of their
mouths had just been.

When
he released the kiss, he held her for long moments, still breathing heavily. He
stroked her damp back and hair over and over. “That was fucking incredible.
Please tell me you liked it, too.”

“I
loved it. What you did to me was exquisite. Thank you.”

Emmett
lifted her chin and gazed into her eyes. “You are so very welcome. I don’t know
if I’m going to be able to let you leave this apartment, though. All I want to
do is fuck you.”

“Well,
I do have my laptop.”

He
laughed. “Yes, you do. Now do you understand why I told you to bring it home?”

She
hugged him, smiling until her face hurt. She’d never been this sated or happy.
Liane
had no idea what would happen in the morning, or next
week, or next month. But right now she didn’t care. She only wanted to enjoy
Emmett and her exploration into every fantasy she’d ever had. It was about time
she looked after her own needs. It was about damn time.

****

When
Liane
woke, she smelled coffee, and thought it was morning
already. But a quick glance at the clock on Emmett’s nightstand told her it was
just after midnight. And how had they ended up in his bed? She didn’t remember
anything after cuddling with him on the chaise lounge.

“There
you are.” He was sitting up in bed against one of those molded pillows, with a
laptop desk in front of him. “I’ve been looking over this database.
Great work,
Liane
.
This is perfect
for our needs.”

She
sat up. “Thank you. Do you always work in the middle of the night?”

“I
work all the time. Are you hungry? We never did have our dessert. Have some
coffee.”

“I’ll
be up all night.”

He
gave her a sexy grin and shrugged. “So? We’ll work for a bit and then we’ll
play some more.”

She
laughed softly as lust coursed through her body. “That sounds delicious, but
what about going into the office?”

He
winked. “I’m the boss, remember? We go in when I say we go in.”

She
frowned as a thought struck her. “How did you get into my laptop?”

“I’m
an administrator. I can log into anyone’s work station anytime I want to.”

“Oh, of course.
Silly me.”

He
reached over and
rang a bell
cord. “I’ll have Jeremy
or Kim
bring
us dessert.”

“What
is that?”

“What?
Oh, this?
A bell cord.
It sounds a buzzer in their
room. The apartment has an intercom system, but I found this above ground and
thought it was pretty cool, so I had it installed in here.”

She
giggled again and shook her head, then climbed out of bed and started toward
the bathroom. “How did I get in your bed?”

“I
carried you. You fell asleep.”

She
stopped walking and faced him. “Have you slept at all?”

“A few hours.
I don’t need much. You’ll get
used to that.”

Liane
realized there were a lot of
things she’d need to get used to. When she emerged from the bathroom, Emmett
had put the laptop aside but was still on the bed. He patted the space next to
him. “Come and enjoy this. It’s one of Kim’s specialties.”

She
crawled onto the bed and settled beside him, then accepted a plate.

“It’s
chocolate raspberry cake. She makes it from scratch.”

Liane
tasted it.
“
Mmmm
. Fantastic.”

“It
needs coffee, don’t you think?”

“All right.
I’ll have some coffee. I can see
you’re determined to keep me awake.”

He
leaned over and nuzzled her neck, sending delicious jolts of electricity
straight to her pussy.
“If you’re really that tired I’ll let
you go back to sleep.”

“Well
I’m not now. Are you even human?”

“As
human as you are.” He put his plate on the bed and took hers, placing it next
to his. Then he cupped her face gently. “You haven’t been treated right,
Liane
. I mean absolutely no disrespect to Keith in saying
that, but tell me the truth. Have there been any other men besides him and
Connor?”

She
swallowed hard. “No.”

“I
didn’t think so. You two were just kids, and you had no time together to
explore your sexuality. As for that pig of an attorney, he will pay one day for
what he did to you. Let me show you what it’s supposed to be like. The way a
woman like you should be treated.”

“You
overwhelm me, Emmett.”

“In
a good way, though, right?”

“Yes.”

He
kissed her gently. “You belong to me. I’ve claimed you, and I’m going to show
you what you’ve been missing all these years.”

While
she let those cryptic words sink in, he picked up his cake again and began to
eat as if it were the middle of the day and they were sitting at a table. She
ate hers, too, because it really was fabulous, and she was hungry. She also
drank a cup of coffee, and then of course she was wide awake.

He
rang for his staff again, and they didn’t seem the least bit embarrassed to
enter the room and clear the dishes with both
Liane
and Emmett sitting on the bed naked. Once they were gone, Emmett crossed the
room and retrieved his laptop, a second laptop desk, and a pillow for her, then
settled next to her and signed onto his machine. “Let me show you our progress
so you can see how far we’ve come in a few short weeks.”

Liane
had never had this experience
before.
Sitting in bed naked with a man, peering at two
laptop screens.
It was sexy in a way, and very intimate. Much more
intimate than she would have imagined sharing time with Emmett would be.
Yesterday, she’d been resolved not to let him seduce her. Now, she never wanted
to leave this room. She was in deep trouble here.
Way,
way
in over her head.
And yet it
didn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable. She and Emmett might as well have known
each other for years. How was that possible?

“Okay.”
He pointed toward a series of windows he’d brought up and cascaded. “Each of
these
are
the separate databases I was talking about.
The others let me have access to theirs so I can coordinate combining the
information once the database you build us is up and running.”

“How
many of you are there?”

He
grinned. “Did Tania or Stacie explain what we call ourselves and why?”

“Stacie
did.”

“There
are an even dozen. We each live in a city underneath the USA, but rather than
spend time and resources traveling, we use the Internet for communication.” He
opened a text document. “This is the list of names we’ve found at Radcliffe
Enterprises so far that appear on message boards within the various public
access sites, and which also appear on the message boards and sites my hacker
team has been tracking.”

“Holy shit.”
There had to be over three dozen
names.

“I
know. We all missed the boat on this one. Each of my friends now has a similar
document with just as many names, and the lists are growing every day. If it
hadn’t been for Harper noting one similarity between the two jobs she did for
Ace, we might have spun our wheels for years yet before realizing the
connection.”

“What
are you doing about these names? There are ways to track them, aren’t there?”

“We
have people working on that, but they change their identities a lot and also
use each other’s names to try to mask their online movements. It’s more
complicated than we ever believed possible. In the case of people like Rob
Marin, once he discovered we were on to him, he likely abandoned the username
and has another one by now.”

“So
this is why you need a central database. Not only to share names you’re each
finding, but to look for other patterns or similarities.”

“Exactly.”
His eyes gleamed with
excitement, and goosebumps broke out along her arms. This seemed so simple to
her, but based on what she knew about masking IP addresses and even masking all
the way down to individual routers or machines, she suddenly understood what
they were up against.

The
people who had done this were good.
Too
good.
They’d hidden it all these years. Emmett and the
other Weathermen were among the wealthiest people in the country right now.
They had access to unlimited resources and money to dig as deep as they needed,
and in six years they hadn’t been able to track down the hackers or take back
control of The Madeline Project.

What
she was doing for Emmett was nothing more than a blip on the radar, but at
least she could do
something
. Because
the people who had tried to hack into the program and instead sent it off on a
course of destruction had killed her husband, her daughter, her family, and
Keith’s family as surely as if they’d pulled the triggers and shot them each
point blank, one by one. Now that she understood there was a possibility of
finding them and stopping them, she wouldn’t rest until it was accomplished.

She
and Emmett worked side by side for another hour, and then he closed his machine
and placed it on a table across the room. She closed hers, too, and he took it
from her. When he crawled back into bed, he pushed her onto her back and
climbed on top of her, kissing her deeply. She melted into his embrace, already
familiar with the feel of his body on hers.

He
was covered with tats on his arms and torso, and his muscles were impressive.
He must work out every single day. But it wasn’t only his physical appearance
that held her spellbound. It was the magnetic energy emanating from him, as if
he could seed those clouds on his own and control the weather in the same way
The Madeline Project now did.