Scandalous Heroes Box Set (164 page)

Then Keys did something strange: he stopped. In all their passion and fervor, why had he halted the action? Did he want her to beg for him to fuck her? Hell, who was Eminence kidding? She wanted him to plunge so deep in her that it would make her forget her name, his name, and Les’s name.

“Shit,” he said between gritted teeth.

“What?” Eminence panted as she stared at him.

“Protection.” Keys stared down at his erection as though she couldn’t understand what he meant. “I don’t have any on me. Didn’t expect something like this to happen.”

“It’s fine. I’m still on The Pill.” She pulled him in closer using her legs.

Unfortunately, even with her bit of news, Keys remained cemented in his spot.

Eminence craned her head up again. This time she supported her upper body with her elbows. “You don’t trust me?”

Keys said nothing, but his waning dick spoke volumes. “Hurts not being trusted, doesn’t it?”

“You son of a bitch.” She braced her foot on his chest and pushed him back, making him stumble until he smacked against the wall. “I fell for your charms again.” She hopped off the desk and secured her bra over her naked breasts. Then she snatched her discarded panties off the floor. “Damn. How gullible am I? You did all of this shit to get back at me?”

“Not entirely.” Keys must have recognized that nothing would be happening between them right now. He zipped up his pants. “I wanted a chance to—”

“I gave you a chance. You ended up fucking my best friend.” Eminence tucked her shirt back into her skirt, then picked up her purse off the floor and headed to the door. “And here I thought you had all grown up, that you were more mature than you were back in high school. You’re still that same jock who wants to do nothing in life but coast by and play with people’s emotions.”

Before she could reach the door, Keys grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. He stared into her eyes. “I did not have sex with Jordyna. There’s nothing going on between us, not back then and not now. And despite what you think, I can be trusted.”

“Oh, so back then I catch you two hugging each other, and now you’re working for her, and I’m supposed to believe that there’s nothing going on between you two, right?”

Keys crossed his arms over his chest. “We were all best friends back then. Or did you forget that?”

The sincerity in his eyes seemed to match the strong statements he’d made. Could she trust him again? Had she been wrong about him for so many years?

“I only had sex with you then. You had my heart.” Keys started to reach for her face with his large hands, but stopped himself. “Then you walked away.” He pointed to her. “You left.”

The aroma of her intimate juices wafted to her nose. The scent reminded her of what almost just happened. She would have fallen back into her old routine. Eminence would have let him fuck her. Now removed from that moment, she felt stupid and cold.

She backed away from him. “Tell you what. Why don’t we just chalk this little reunion up as a failure and move on with our lives?”

“I have an even better idea.” He held up his incredibly long index finger in front of her face. “One night. One shot. One last call.” He waved his hand in between the two of them. “We do this. Get it out of our systems and then walk away.” He crossed his arms over his massive chest. “No closets, no desks, no empty offices. We do this and do it right.”

Eminence shook her head although inside her body screamed a cheer. “You guys are all fueled by sex, huh? You just want to hit it and quit it?” Just like she wanted to just moments ago. Of course, she wouldn’t be admitting that now.

“And so did you. Don’t pretend that you didn’t like what was going on here. Let’s put a period on this thing between us. We do this. We don’t have to talk about the past anymore. And we go our separate ways.”

She stared at him for a moment. Although Keys looked like the kind and sweet young man she once knew, the man who stood before her had become cold and uncaring.

Fine. She didn’t come there that night for another complicated relationship or even friendship. She came there to thumb her nose a Jordyna. If fucking Keys did that, then she could do this.

“Deal.” Eminence held out her hand to shake on it. “But I’m warning you now. Once I have you, you will never forget it.”

Keys grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. “Lady, I haven’t been sitting at home by the window waiting for you to come back. You’re going to want to tattoo my name across your ass when I get through with you.”

Eminence couldn’t verbally respond. How could she? If she couldn’t resist him in an empty office, what made her think she could do better left alone with him? Then again, it was sex. Just sex. No commitment. No promises. No problem.

“I do have to share something with you.” Keys released her hand and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ve changed a lot. I’m into a particular lifestyle now. I will be using a lot of those techniques tonight.”

Eminence felt her eyebrows furrowing together. “What do you mean? Are you into drugs or something?”

Keys shook his head. “Of course not. Not then and not now.”

“What then?” She chewed her lower lip while waiting for his answer.

Just before Keys could answer, a solid knock sounded on the door before it flew open. Damn, the door hadn’t been locked? Anyone could have walked inside? The thought of that had Eminence crossing her arms over her chest. Had Keys had a condom, they could have still been going at it right now.

The guard that stood at the door when Keys had ushered her back to the office now appeared in the room. He split his gaze between Keys and Eminence, who now found it hard to look this stranger in the eyes.

“Hey, dude.” He directed his full attention to Keys. “Jay is looking for you. Said she needs you.”

Eminence glanced back at Keys in time to see him take a deep breath as though gearing up for a fight.

Jordyna. The guard had to be talking about her, otherwise why would Keys look so torn?

“Just like old times. She snaps her fingers. You come running. I’m out of here. Forget the deal.” Eminence headed to the front door of the club when she caught an image of someone she didn’t want to see right now, especially after she just almost made a fool of herself with Keys.

Jordie stood close to the door. Eminence only saw her in a profile. Could this night get any worse? Just as she approached Jordie, she turned when she heard a door slam behind her. Keys and the other guard strolled out of the office and headed toward her.

Confronting the long-time lovers all at once didn’t top her list of things to do. She darted into the club.

Eminence wanted to have a good time tonight. Then she would check out of Keys and Jordie’s lives for good.

Chapter Eight

Tank spotted Jodyna by the stairs that led to the V.I.P. section. “You wanted to see me?”

He needed something to cool down his overheated demeanor. Doing work would do it.

So close. He’d had Eminence where he wanted her. No way did he think he would have gone that far with her. Tank wanted to talk to her about what her disappearing act did to him. As soon as he saw her, smelled her, touched her, he became lost. Tank wanted to bury himself deep in her molten hot channel. Then reality hit.

Jordyna gave instructions to one of the wait staff members before directing her attention to Tank. “Let’s go up to my office,” she shouted over the music and pointed upward.

Tank nodded and led her to her private elevator. After swiping his I.D. badge, pressing a series of numbers on a digital screen, and doing a thumbprint identification, the elevator doors opened.

“Security system working for you?” Tank asked as he ushered her inside the car.

“It’s great. Just perfect. But you know that.” Once to her office on the third floor, she spoke more freely. “So how’s it going so far?” She could have sat behind her desk in her expansive office. Instead, she plopped down on her long white leather couch as she spoke to Tank. Just like the old Jordie he knew, she kicked off her heels and crossed her legs on the chair. The woman never met a stranger, and treated every place she went to as her home.

“The lines are long. The music is hot. The people look happy.” Tank said all the things a budding nightclub owner would want to hear. In his head, he only thought about Eminence.

Had she left the club after their run-in or did she stay? If she stayed, did she jump into the arms of another man? The thought of that had him gritting his teeth. Tank had her body under his control. Just like back in high school, she responded so well when he squeezed her nipples.

Playing with her clit proved to be a harder reaction to ignore. She’d thrashed about until Tank could almost imagine what she would do had they had sex. Just thinking about it had his cock getting hard again. He clasped his hands together and stood with them in front of himself, looking stern and almost militant. Jordie didn’t have to know he covered a burgeoning hard-on.

Jordyna stared at him for a while. “You don’t look happy. What’s going on with you? Did something happen?”

Tank stared at the multiple TV screens that had cameras monitoring the action in the club. “More like someone.”

“Who?”

Tank continued scanning the screens until his gaze fell upon Eminence standing by the bar. Even in the throngs of people, he couldn’t mistake her.

“She’s here?” Jordyna sat up straighter. “She actually showed up?”

Tank turned to her. With the exception of the time he comforted her when Eminence caught them, he’d never seen Jordyna looking so distraught.

He answered her with a simple nod.

Jordyna stood and smoothed her hands down her black slacks. “I can’t believe Eminence Dutton is here.”

“Why wouldn’t she be? You invited her.” Tank split his attention between his friend and the image of Eminence on the screen.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think she would come. We haven’t spoken since, well, that day.”

“Trust me. That day is not a distant memory for her either.” Tank had hoped it would be. Absence making the heart grow fonder and all.

“You talked to her?”

Tank gave his full attention to his client. “You didn’t see her? I had her in the back room.”

“Why?”

At her query, he cocked his eyebrow.

“Oh.” She nodded. “Without getting too graphic, are you two…?”

Tank walked away from the screens. “We’re nothing. She still thinks I’m a jerk and she thinks you’re a—”

Jordyna held up her hand. “Don’t say it. I know.”

He walked over to Jordyna and stood in front of her. “What I don’t understand is why you never told her the truth.”

She blinked. “You didn’t tell her what I came to see you about that day?”

“Like I told her, the reason you came to see me wasn’t my story to tell. I’m loyal to you.”

That bit of news got Jordyna to smile. “Thanks, Keys.”

“But to keep your secret, I lost Eminence. The least you could have done is told her why you really came to my house that day so I don’t come off as a cheating asshole.” Tank didn’t mean to curse at his friend. The more he thought about the time lost between him and Eminence, the angrier he became.

“I know. I know.” Jordyna paced around the office, stomping her bare foot on the carpeted floor. “I tried. Believe me. I tried. The day it happened, I tried calling her. She wouldn’t take my calls. Then I went to her house. She refused to see me. Once she went off to college, it was impossible to get her. I would write her letters that all came back stamped ‘Return to sender.’ I would even e-mail and send text messages to her until she closed her e-mail account and changed her phone number. She blocked me on Facebook. She closed her Twitter account. I drove cross country to California to see her at school. On that big campus, I couldn’t find her.”

“Or she didn’t want you to find her.” That idea never escaped his thoughts.

“Inviting her here was a last resort. I just can’t believe she showed.”

“Don’t think she’s here to patch things up. She’s angry and bitter, even if she doesn’t have the right to be. She still feels betrayed.”

“I know. You’re right.” Jordyna let out a long sigh. “I hope you two can—”

Tank cut her off. “Nothing more will happen between us.” He shrugged.

Jordie blinked. “Okay. You mean after all this time, you’re willing to just let her go.”

“Under the right circumstances, absolutely.” Those circumstances being one night of passion in exchange for all the years she doubted him. “I thought she cared about me, and she obviously didn’t. Without talking to me, she just left. If she’s still that type of person, I don’t need that in my life.”

Too bad his body begged to get Eminence back, even for one night. Tank could fuck her and walk. Hell, who was he kidding? He’d never been that type of man to have a one-night stand, and he wouldn’t start now, not with someone who had at one time captured his heart.

“Are you still leaving out in a couple of days?” Jordie stood next to Tank.

“Plans are set. The deal is done.” Tank had been excited about going home to grow his business. Seeing Eminence caused him to question himself, his purpose, especially when she accused him of being that same slacker he was in high school. Would she never get over that image of him? Hell, for that matter, did he think of himself still as the guy without a plan?

Jordyna smiled. “I appreciate everything you’ve done around here, setting up my security team and all.”

“Friends help each other out.” He hoped the meaning of his statement didn’t fall on deaf ears. He knew if he had any chance getting the truth told to Eminence, Jordyna would have to help.

“I’m going to miss you around here.” She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him hard enough that he felt her heart pounding.

“You’re really scared about confronting her, aren’t you?”

Jay backed away from him. “As hard as it was to get my dream club off the ground, I would much rather do this ten more times than to face Eminence.”

Tank held onto Jordyna’s shoulders to steady her, then stared into her eyes. “There’s strength in truth. Once she hears what really happened, everything will be fine.”