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“Or have you forgotten?” “How could I possibly forget? You remind me every chance you get,”
“Last night was …” His words drift with a hard swallow. “I thought you enjoyed it. Did something happen to change that?”
“You’re paying me to fuck you. What else do you want?” “Your heart,” he blurts out and then frowns, as if he just surprised himself. But he doesn’t backpedal. He doesn’t say anything. He simply stares at me.
Unwell
“I already told you that you can’t have it. I’ll never give that to you.” That would amount to emotional suicide. “Besides, you don’t want my heart. You just hate that there’s something you can’t buy.” “That’s not—”
Ouch
The only thing I could trust is that in the end he’d shred that to pieces.
“What is that?” I ask warily as he drizzles more lube. “You’ve never used one of these before?” “No.”
“It’s a plug. You’re going to wear it for me until we get home.” My eyes widen. “You want me to walk around the club with something in my ass? Are you out of your mind?”
“Whenever … whatever …,” he murmurs softly, echoing the terms of our arrangement.
“How about you bend over for me so you can learn firsthand?” He fixes the hem of my dress, his lip curled at the corner. “Something tells me you wouldn’t even have the decency to use lube on me.” I can’t help my bark of laughter. “You’re right, you are smart.”
“Is this why you’re acting the way you are?” “How am I acting?”
“Like I’m some asshole propositioning you in the prison parking lot. Like you hate my guts again.” He leans in to lay a slow kiss just below my ear. “Like last night didn’t mean anything to you.” I grit my teeth. “I don’t hate you anymore.”
“Listen to me very carefully, Mercy: you can never talk about this with anyone. Not your blond friend down there, not your therapist, not your dad. No one. Understood? As far as anyone knows, you know nothing.”
“I have to deal with these guys now but after, I’ll come find you and we can pick up where we left off.” He leans in to drag his tongue over my lips. “You’re going to like this, I promise.” Furious pounding rattles the door. “Fucking Caleb,”
“Too hot for you,” I retort, annoyed with the way he dismissed me so callously. But maybe he has good reason. Maybe his intentions are good. “Is that so …?” Caleb’s lips curl, and some semblance of the version I know—not the scary one that just stormed in here—appears. “That sounds like a challenge.”
I wanted her to look at me like she did last night. Fucking Caleb called it—I’m falling hard for this woman, and I can’t stand the idea that she doesn’t feel the same way about me. Won’t feel the same way about me. I need to find a way to win her over.
I only have eyes for Gabriel though, his collar unfastened another button, his face as handsome as ever, though stony. Whatever that meeting was about, I can’t tell if it went well. It must have, if he’s coming out here with the men now. A rush of heat floods my core.
“Better than I expected. But, more importantly”—his gaze skims my dress, stalling on my chest. I wonder if my nipples are showing through this silky material. I don’t dare check—“how are you?” “Fine.”
“Why do I feel like you’re marking your territory right now?” “Because I am.” He leans in to press his mouth against my neck, just under my ear. “How wet are you?”
“I’m basically the Sahara.” His responding laugh sends a warm shiver down my spine. Beneath the table, he smooths a calloused hand over my bare leg, traveling up my thigh toward the hem of my dress.
When I pull away, he’s smirking. “Why do I feel like you’re marking your territory right now?” He echoes my earlier words. “Because I am.” I match his steady gaze. “Have you fucked her?” “Yes,”
“Are you going to fuck her again?” “Not while I’m with you.”
“When will you just admit you want me?” I swallow hard. “Where’s the fun in that?” “Open for me.” “I told you, no shows,”
“You’ve never been this wet with me before,” he murmurs, stroking my clit with the pad of his thumb. “How close are you to coming?” “Close,”
“Imagine how tight it’s going to feel with that and my cock inside you later.”
“My office. Now,” he growls. I smile, and I imagine it’s equal parts sweet and victorious, because Gabriel is breaking first and it took only seconds. “I’m sorry, but I can’t leave my friend here alone.” “She’s with Caleb.” I give him a high-browed look. “Exactly.” “Caleb!” he barks.
After a moment, Caleb rolls his eyes but then holds his hands up in surrender. “Caleb will get her home, unmolested. She’s fine.”
I check the reflection in the window in time to see Gabriel grab both sides of his shirt and yank, sending buttons flying in all directions. He tosses the ruined garment to the floor, leaving him standing behind me with his pants pooled around his knees and the rest of his perfect, powerful body bare. It’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.
“You enjoy teasing me, don’t you?” he murmurs, rolling his hips, his hard length pressing against the base of the plug.
A moan escapes me, unbidden. “Who’s teasing who now?” I whisper, bucking against him. “Maybe I shouldn’t give it to you yet. I like seeing you like this.”
“I can’t wait to take this tight ass,” he murmurs. Jesus, I can barely handle this small plug he put inside me, let alone that. “You should see this view.” “You talk a lot,”
“Are you going to tell me that was just okay?” “No.” I close my eyes. I don’t even have the energy to lie to him.
“Hold still a second. Okay, baby?”
“I’m going to have to start carrying around extra panties as long as I’m with you,” I mutter, fastening my bra. “Or just don’t wear them at all,” Gabriel retorts with a smug smile. He fishes his shirt off the floor, scowling at the missing buttons. “That’s two ruined shirts in twenty-four hours,”
“I’m sure your patrons will appreciate it. You can bring a few fresh women home.” “You finished with me already? Can’t handle a full month?”
“What do you care if I’m doing something dangerous, anyway?” he asks after another moment, his tone a touch softer. But only a touch. “You’ve already got your money for your father. That’s all you want me for, isn’t it?” I could be mistaken but the words seem tinged with bitterness. His question gives me pause.
“And all you want is my body, so I guess we’re even.” He presses his lips together. For a moment, it seems like he’s going to respond, maybe argue with me. But then he strolls away briskly, tucking his shirt into his pants as he walks across the office. He grabs his keys and wallet from a shelf by the door. “I’ve had enough of this place for one night. Time to go home.”
“I’m helping you, aren’t I?” he says in an overly calm voice. I snort. “Yeah. At a pretty steep cost, I’d say.” “That you don’t seem to mind paying, if your screams last night were any proof.”
He grips my chin with a firm hand, just tight enough to feel forceful but not to hurt me. Penetrating eyes stare back at me. “You are just another pretty little fuck of mine, who sees nothing and knows nothing,” he says, enunciating each word. “Do you understand?”
Asshole
“Why don’t you go find another one of your pretty little fucks for the night? I’m sure one of them’ll be in the mood.” His eyes roam my features, his jaw tense. “If that’s what you want.” “You don’t really care what I want, Gabriel. Let’s not pretend.”
And I care that whatever luster he saw when he looked at me seems to have dulled the moment I started asking questions, starting trying to get to know him. Basically, when I started acting like I’m more than just the woman who’s warming his bed. Fucking hell, this wasn’t supposed to happen. I was not supposed to care about that asshole. A hot tear slips free from the corner of my eye.
She glances over her shoulder at me, and that’s when I see her tired, puffy eyes for the first time. I figured she was up late studying. Studying, and pissed off at me, if her position hugging the very far edge of the bed when I came home is any indication. But those aren’t just regular tired eyes. Those are “I cried last night” tired eyes.
“I’m coming with you.” “I don’t need a sitter. I can manage on my own,” she argues, her slight, sexy limbs tense against mine. “This is nonnegotiable.”
“I’m sorry about last night.” Her jaw tenses but she says nothing. I press a kiss against her delicate shoulder. “I wasn’t with another woman.” “I don’t care if you were.”
“I haven’t been with anyone since I met you. I haven’t wanted anyone else. I still don’t want anyone else,”
But Mercy is quickly becoming not just any woman. In fact, I don’t think she ever has been, not from the moment I laid eyes on her.
“It’s safer for you if you don’t know anything about anything. Do you get that?” “Like you said, I’m just another fuck,”
“What’s going on? Are you starting to worry about me, Mercy?” “No,” she throws back too quickly. Another lie. I smile. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re starting to care.” “About your dick staying operational, sure.” Her voice is husky. “You’re no use to me otherwise.”
“I need to wake up like this every day,” I murmur, beginning a steady, soft thrust into her. It feels new and yet it’s quickly becoming familiar in the best way. Yeah … I’m beginning to see why someone might want to tie themselves down to one woman for life.
I seek out Gabriel and find his steady gaze is on me. Channeling my best “what the fuck” questioning look, I glare at him. He merely shrugs. One of those sexy, lazy shrugs.
Meanwhile, Mercy would laugh in my face. Will that always be the case? Or will she eventually be able to accept me for who I am? A man trying to change.
