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“Perhaps the killer is tied to one of The Order's victims.” Ah, yes. There it is: the nail in his coffin. He's just guaranteed his own death with one long, sideways glance.
“Looks like your girlfriend is going to be a problem. Hmm, I wonder who predicted that?” Sienna instigates from beside me.
“You aren’t wearing a mask,”
“I can trust you,” I explain quietly. Hopefully.
Stardust seems to be satisfied with my answer, completely ignorant to how uneasy it’s made me. Her eyes soften as her mouth relaxes from the usual stubborn pucker it always seems to be stuck in whenever she knows I’m near. “I guess we’re both taking a leap of faith.”
“Something like that,” I agree.
“Are you going to come inside?” she asks, breaking me from the spell I was under. It’s the simplest question. An invitation inside her home—the house I own. But it’s like she’s reached into my brain and turned everything upside down. Since when do I walk in here with an invitation? Since when does the woman I’ve stalked greet me with good news and a lustful stare? None of this makes sense. I don’t deserve any of it.
“Is that a no?” Stardust pushes, self-consciously wrapping her arms around her middle at the thought of my rejection. “No. Let’s go inside.” My plan to prepare the workshop is tossed to the wayside as she leads me into the house, her ass bouncing with every step, and I decide I won’t be bringing any of those Order assholes around her ever again, shrouding her home in darkness and despair. So long as I can preserve her misplaced, innocent convictions about me, I’ll keep her out of this.
He turns to face me in my bed, careful not to allow any part of our bodies to intersect. His hands rest beneath his cheek, against the pillow, while those odd green eyes gaze at me. Into me. “Tell me to leave,” he urges in a calm, desperate whisper, taking me completely off guard. “Why?” I whisper back voicelessly.
“Your eyes change colors in the daylight,” he begins instead. “Right now, they're the sweetest honey brown. But at night, they turn dark and decadent, like the richest chocolate I've ever tasted.”
“When it comes to you, I can't resist. I want to know everything.”
“I'm hungry for the most menial details, and I'm willing to get them no matter the cost.”
“That's the problem. For you, I'll never tire. I'll never stop feeding on each and every scrap you give me. I want to devour you. Own you. And I'm afraid that by the time I've had my fill, there won't be anything left of you.” Own you. Those two words dance around my head, sending my heart into a fluttering mess of butterfly wings. They should be repulsing me, but instead I melt into a puddle at his feet. “I'm stronger than you think,” I assure him. “I know. I'm addicted to your strength. But everyone has a breaking point, and finding yours has become a game to me.” He releases my hand and
...more
“What were you thinking that first night you saw me staring at you through the window?” He asks, a curious lilt to his tone.
“I feel it too, Stardust. Every fiber of my being is clawing to give in—to take the dive. And I want to… so fucking badly. But I haven't yet because I can't freefall into this feeling, only to turn back and find that you didn't take the leap with me.”
His grip tightens against my jawbone, almost painfully as he rolls his forehead against mine, eyes closed. “This is your only chance to run. The only time I can guarantee I won't chase you, or burn the world down behind you. I can't tell you everything, but I can admit that I've done terrible things. Things that will damn me to an eternity in Hell. So, if you have any doubts about me, you need to run. Now.”
“Otherwise, I'm grabbing your hand in mine, and we're making the jump together. We're burning together.”
“If you burn, I burn,” I softly say. His lips are on mine in an instant, accepting my answer and leaving no room for me to reconsider.
Nothing will ever be the same again, and I couldn’t be more delighted.
“First days are always a little intimidating, but it'll feel like home by lunch. Everyone here is very nice.” She winks and nudges me in the side with her elbow. “Especially when the CEO recommends you personally.”
“I gotta be honest, I didn't expect to see you standing before me when he called and told me to find you a job. I figured he was just doing a favor for one of his family friends. You know how these rich, hoity-toity women are...” She scowls and throws her hand up, gesturing at nothing in particular. “I should have known he'd throw me a curve ball, especially after he bought that house for you.”
“Why is it so surprising that Bash—I mean, Sebastian—referred me?” I voice the burning question out loud, because if she's speaking off the cusp, so will I. “I don't know what he has you call him in private, but here, he's Mr. Lancaster,” she corrects carefully, and I immediately want to defy her, just to prove I can.
“Are you threatening my new employee? Should I find someone else to train her?” he jokes, his tone a tad too heavy. “I'm just playing,” she dismisses. “Yeah, the same way a tiger plays with its food before eating it,” Bash quips. He stops behind my chair, tightly wrapping his fingers around the back of it.
Bash moves his hand from the chair to my shoulder and gives a gentle squeeze. It's the simplest gesture. So subtle, many people wouldn't even notice. But Eliza does. Her gaze burns into his fingers, so hot that I swear he feels it on his skin. And he doesn’t pull away like I thought he would. Instead, he slides that same hand over my shoulder and down my arm, until he reaches my hand and entwines his fingers with mine.
I'm on her before my office door even clicks shut, pinning her against the wall with my hips as my mouth moves along her neck, her jaw, her ears, and then back to her lips. I know I caught her by surprise when I grabbed her hand in Eliza’s office, but I had to prove a point. I had no doubt Eliza was going to give her a hard time—that's why I came for her in the first place. As much as I love my assistant, she blurs the line between employee and family far too often. But when I actually heard her threaten my little Stardust, I snapped.
“Well, you can’t just leave.” “Why not? Everyone expects me to be this bimbo, who only got the job because I'm sleeping with the CEO. The worst part is that they aren't even wrong.” “Yes, they are.” My lips flatten into a tight line in an attempt to stamp out my irritation. Whoever has made her feel like that is going to lose their fucking job today.
“This company is my life. I built it from the ground up. I threw everything I had into it, and continue to do so every single day. You clearly don’t understand that I wouldn’t have allowed you to come here if I didn’t think you could do it. If I thought you were some bimbo. So, for once in your life, allow yourself to have something good. To fucking deserve something other than the bullshit you’ve accepted.”
“Do you think I'm afraid to get on my knees before you and beg in my own office, little Stardust?” I round the desk, slowly stalking toward her, savoring every bated breath she takes.
“Do you think I'm above ripping those pretty thighs apart right here and running my tongue along your pussy?” To prove my point, I get down on my knees before her and place my hands on her upper thighs.
“No one will have to walk in here to know I'm fucking you. You'll be screaming my name so loud as I worship every inch of this beautiful body, they'll think I'm murdering you,” I promise, flashing my teeth.
“You're sick,” she quips half-heartedly, running her nails against my scalp. Her hips push forward, as if her pussy senses its owner nearby and feels gravitated toward me.
With that single taste, I'm unhinged. My restraint completely dissolves as she moans again, grinding herself into my face. I rip her lace underwear in half, throwing the shredded fabric to the side haphazardly as I stick my tongue inside of her. Relief sweeps through me when she cries out again and I'm sucking and nibbling and licking with abandon. Anyone could walk by and hear her. She's completely let loose, just like I wanted her to. Consequences be damned. She makes me reckless.
Stroking myself, I close the distance between us with a smirk. “I love that smart mouth of yours, but I think it's time that you learned how you're going to speak to me.”
“That's funny,” I continue, running my fingers along her neck and shoulder. “I seem to remember you begging to suck my cock just a few nights ago.”
My other hand moves to wrap my fingers around her throat, earning a sensual sigh that goes straight into my mouth and down to my groin. “This thing between us… it's poetic. Sacred. We're more than just two deprived souls feeding off one another's despair. And you can threaten me all you want with the police, or HR, or whoever the fuck you can think of to give yourself a false sense of security, but we both know you're just as afraid of losing this as I am.”
“You can’t escape me. Not in this life or any one that comes after it. My soul has latched onto yours, melding us into one. I’ll always find you, Stardust.”
Because that's what you've been dreaming about since the first time you caught me in your bedroom, and because it's your punishment for referring to me as anything but yours.”
“Mm, that's my girl,”
Ah, yes, she's so fucking cute. But that's enough playing. “That's a nice little speech, but I think it's time for you to shut the fuck up and take your punishment like a good girl.”
“And just so you know, I've done far worse than any of that,”
“Such a disobedient, impatient little lamb,” I muse, kneeling before her. “Now, let me enjoy my lunch.”
I'm so fucking turned on by the erotic display, I'm hoisting her up from my desk and carrying her over to the floor-to-ceiling window before my mind can even comprehend what I'm doing. Leaning her back against the glass to bear her weight, I capture her mouth in a wet kiss, sharing the delicious taste of her orgasm with her. My erection rubs between her legs, right against the sensitive spot I just worked on.
With a sheepish smile, she hops off of me and stands on shaky legs, shimmying her dress back down her legs, sans underwear. We don't bother exchanging any awkward goodbyes. Instead, she mumbles something about needing to get back to work, and then slips out the door without looking back, leaving me alone to sit back in my chair and marvel at how fucked I truly am.
Just before I turn away, I notice a smudge on the glass. Her ass was planted there so firmly, it left a perfect print behind. I smile to myself, leaning farther into my chair to admire it. I don't think I'll ever let them wash my windows again.
His hand immediately slithers against my ass as he moves behind me, his hot breath blowing over the crook of my neck. And while I know I’m going to hate myself for it later, I lean back, pressing myself against the hardness of his erection. Bash releases a low moan into my hair, and I take it as encouragement to begin slowly swaying my hips against him. “You’re a devious little minx,” he growls, splaying his fingers across my abdomen to hold me closer.
Bash rolls his eyes, stepping toward me to brush his knuckles against my chin. It takes everything in me not to lean into his touch, which has me overcorrecting and propelling myself away from him with more force than necessary. I stumble backward, and his eyes widen as I barely catch myself from falling on my ass. “I promise, Stardust, no one here gives a shit about us.” “I-I just can’t do this with you right now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I’m already backing away from him, nearly tripping over a group of people who just walked out of the same building we were just in. They mumble a string of curse words at me, immediately cutting off their threats when they notice Bash standing a few feet away.
Being with Stardust out in the open feels like a sin. She’s self-conscious about being seen with me in public, and while one part of me wants to bend her over right in the middle of the sidewalk and show every other asshole around us who she belongs to, most of me is afraid that someone from The Order is going to find us together and use her as leverage against me.
“Hotel pillows suck.” “Well, it’s a good thing you aren’t staying at a hotel then, isn’t it?” “I’m sure your pillows suck too.”
I open the back door and gesture for her to climb in first. Naturally, she hesitates, because who would she be if she didn’t question every fucking move I make to a frustrating degree? “What’s the worst I can do, Stardust?”
