Power Play Read online

  My sweater and shirt lifted over my head before I realized it was happening.

  He scooped me up and set me on the back of a couch. His hard jaw landed between my covered breasts and he kissed my way off them. Just the sight of that powerful face at work on my lush flesh started me moaning. My voice wasn't mine anymore.

  Then, his mouth landed on my nipple. I grabbed clumps of his thick hair and shuddered under his wet, suckling ecstasy.

  “That’s right, darlin',” he said solemnly, shifting to my other breast. “Sing for me.”

  “Oh you bastard,” I sighed, and then my world went white as he clenched my nipple with his lips. He swirled his tongue hard and rough, making me peal like a bell, before lifting off.

  “Can’t say I’ve ever heard that number,” he smiled up at me.

  I tugged him back towards my mouth. He shot up with fresh hunger. I shrieked as kissed me almost horizontal over the couch back. Only his arm around my back held me up. A thrill ran down my spine mingling with my ache below.

  Then, his hand left. I toppled back over the couch. He caught my legs and I hung there in an arch, looking out at the twinkling city suspended over a land of grey clouds. Blinding lightning arced off in the distance. The world was as wild and unreal as what was happening here.

  There was a tightness as my jeans were shrugged off, and then my panties came off, and I was bare. I shivered, as the cool air hit my wetness, and again as Deacon’s hot breath blew it away.

  “Oh my,” Deacon threatened above me. “That berry looks ripe. Am I your first?”

  “Don’t flatter your- ahhh.”

  His tongue shoved into me sharply. It was a monstrous thing that flexed and spread in ways that made no sense. The ache swelled into a monumental longing to be filled deeper. The more the thing plunged in, the harder I wanted it.

  His lips moved brusquely on my entrance, hitting my sensitive nub, harder and faster until everything was just wet hot pleasure. I gasped out at the upside down city, so far away. The lights twinkled wider and wider until the whole room glowed white. Even the lightning strikes didn't come through.

  His hand came down, clenched my breast. His finger flicked my nipple. My body was a ball of current. I shook under his attention, but that just brought me closer into his mouth. His tongue furrowed me deep. I couldn't handle it anymore.

  Thunder clapped outside. I shattered.

  “Oh, Jesus.” I twisted, and shook, trying to fall out of his grip. Instead he raised me higher into.

  “Where you heading off to, honey? Polite ladies take care of those who take care of them.”

  Gasping, I lifted my head and saw his gorgeous face, wet and glistening. Was that all me? Could there really be that much in me?

  “My turn?” I panted, still lost. “My mouth?'

  His smile tightened. “There’ll be time for that later. I’ve already got you over a barrel here. Might as well make use of it and see what that firm little body can take.”

  He zipped down his pants. The second I caught sight of that thick spear of his, my legs spread on their own. I wanted it so bad. That was Deacon's real strength.

  “Oh, no, darlin'. You go on enjoying the view.”

  He flipped me over, grabbed a thick knot of my hair and pulled me up. My thighs ran slick with anticipation.

  I was just another piece of furniture. Geometric, bare and ready to be used.

  Very gently, he pushed himself into my slit. I cried out, and he froze

  “You ok, sweetheart?” His voice warmed.

  “God, no.” I flailed back, and cupped his own solid rear. “Take me deeper.”

  There might have been more words that night, but I didn’t hear them. He started pounding me, slamming my legs into the back of the sofa, pulling me tighter by the hair. The city lights scattered into a constellation as my vision went blurry.

  I came hard around him, once and twice and then who knows how many times after that. He finished in me, but we only lay there a couple minutes longer before he spun me around for a kiss and carried me off into the dark of the bedroom.

  I showed him what my mouth could. I showed him what my hands could wring out. I showed him how much strength I had.

  I showed myself all these things I never even knew I possessed. Was it my strength or his? It didn't matter at all that night.

  Sometime before dawn, we lay side by side, surprisingly dry and toasty. He lay stroking my head, and said, “Christ, I think I’m gonna have to call that a draw.”

  I smiled and nuzzled deeper into his neck. Sleep dropped fast on me like a curtain.

  I deserved a night like this with a guy who I didn’t have to think about. What use was freedom, if I couldn’t indulge in a little sin? Heck, if this was sin, sign me up for horns and a pitchfork.

  Some men were dark deep down. But under his suit and jacket, this man was no monster. All that draw was this sculpted body, curled up around me, no more no less. He might hold me tight now, but he was just as spent as I was.

  So it was fine.

  Besides, it was just one night.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Deacon

  The phone did not make a damn peep the whole night. Not that I would have noticed, gasping and sweating and thrusting in Kerry or after I passed out tangled with her. But when I groaned awake in the morning, the blank screen confirmed it. Even my e-mail only showed the new airline booking from Demetri.

  It was a true miracle. Even the universe played in moves and countermoves. Stranding me in Chicago and delaying my meeting, but then granting me a night of untarnished bliss with this succulent angel.

  Her soft, round face looked sweet in slumber. Her dark hair had settled behind her, only barely frayed from my grip last night.

  I considered steaming her awake in the shower, but she looked like an art exhibit, those juicy limbs strewn across the wrinkled sheets.

  Fucked girl in repose, by D. Stone.

  Yeah, I could probably get this up at the Met. Thought that wasn't saying much, considering we had a wing under our name in New York and Houston. I'd suffered many an evening there in futile attempts to impress my father. I should get something out of it.

  Then again, I didn't want to share her with the world.

  Five minutes passed with me just watching her chest rise and fall before I forced myself to rise. I found my clothes in a heap by the couch, and put on enough to go a level down. It was time to wake up the boys.

  I hit the elevator button and glanced out. The clouds lay thick as a blanket, but the windows were dry. Too bad. A full day with no distractions between Kerry and me but room service sounded exceptionally fine.

  Her face lingered in my mind. Not the night, but what came before. She had certainly been eager once we got started, but boy had she put up a fight. Not just the petty resistance of the high society Dallas girls that my mother set me up with. No there had been something real in there.

  Something very much like fear.

  True, I could be intimidating. Hell, I took pride in my aura – it was me. Not my name, not my money. You saw me, you knew I was a man who got stuff done. Some girls skittered at men like that.

  Kerry had ridden me just fine. So why the fear? She wasn’t a virgin, but maybe she hadn’t known she could handle me. Or maybe it was something simpler – that I’d just distracted her from work or something.

  The elevator doors opened, and I took it a level down. This floor actually had a hallway, but just six doors. Stone Holdings rented the three facing the city.

  I went room by room, waking up my grunts, passing on the flight time. I got to the last door before I found an ogre-looking Caleb, who handed me my suitcase. Damn, I'd forgotten this thing in the rush of last night. Hell, It was me who should be afraid of Kerry if she had that effect.

  I clapped Caleb on the back, told him to wash up and went back up.

  They were fine men, but I was glad my week with them would soon be over. Understanding them and their work was critical, bu
t there were only so many Bud Lights and racist jokes I could stomach. They weren’t even good jokes, that was the real offensive part.

  Even though the meeting had been bumped, I’d still have work to attend to when I got home. I picked out a charcoal sports jacket and slim white Egyptian cotton pants from my case and hung them up. The stuff was practically self ironing. Good products were worth every dime.

  I showered off the juices of our festivities, shaved my scruff and got ready inside a half hour. Then I went to wake Kerry up. She didn’t strike me as high maintenance. Half an hour should be plenty.

  She was already sitting quietly on the bed though, sheets pulled up around her like the slopes of a mountain. Her dark hair ran slick down the sides. Her eyes were shut and stayed that way, but she sniffed the air as I approached.

  “Did my mint wake you up?” I said, watching from the foot of the bed.

  “It did. You smell even better than you taste.” Her eyes opened and the calm vaporized. “Whoah, look at you.”

  “Do plenty of that already, thanks.”

  Her wrinkles only deepened though as she took me in, from my dark Italian leather loafers, to the six thousand dollar clothes I had on, up to my silk red tie.

  “What happened to Mr. Rig Hand?” she asked.

  “Mr. Rig Hand’s hands are tired,” I said. “No thanks to you, may I add.”

  She rubbed her brow. “So you’re not just some field manager. What are you, like an engineering manager or something?”

  Open your eyes, sweetheart. No engineering manager was getting put up at a penthouse suite. I'd spent time with those guys in my company, too. They were too stuck in their heads to craft a look like mine, even if they splurged on the clothes.

  But I liked the way her eyes were narrowed on me like a puzzle. She might be innocent to the ways of my world, but she wasn’t begging for answers. She was trying to work it out herself.

  “I’m a bit higher up than that,” I said. “I just like to get down into the dirt to see how my decisions play out from time to time. But now it's time to rise back into the sky.”

  Her face cleared and she nodded thoughtfully. “That explains so much.”

  “Wait, how much exactly?”

  A smile teased up her lips, radiant as any dawn this city could offer. “Not certain things we did last night, but at least how you got me up here. You have that presence.”

  “That? Yeah. You’re still a tough nut to crack, sweetheart.”

  She rubbed at her thighs. “You certainly found a way in.”

  Oh god, just the idea of the perfection that lay under that thin white cloth had me rising, ready to test us again. Fuck, why couldn't we control the weather? That was going to be my next damn project. I would bury this city in snow if it gave me the time to warm up with her.

  I went around, tipped her head to mine and pecked her on the lips. “We’ve got half an hour before we go,” I said.

  Just like that, her dreamy eyes shot awake. “Oh god, why didn’t you wake me?” She jumped out of bed, stark naked.

  “Well, you looked so –“

  “I need to get in to work when we land.”

  She looked around, whipping her hair this way then that, and charged into the living room. She gathered her own pile of clothes.

  It was like watching a phased echo of myself. Well, a prettier one.

  “At least I know one other thing out there that can get you as fired up as me,” I said.

  She flashed a weak smile and hustled into the bathroom with her pile and her suitcase. I heard about every faucet and showerhead come on.

  I chuckled to myself.

  I logged into my work account and tried to get through some e-mails, but it was hard with the images that pounding water conjured up.

  Instead of doing my job, I tried figuring out what hers was. I still hadn’t by the time she came out, dressed in a white office blouse that made her skin look vibrant and dark pants. Her hair was up in an even more energetic ponytail.

  “What exactly are we setting out to do?” I asked.

  “Huh?” She went over to the couch and started typing into her laptop.

  “Where do you work?” I asked.

  “I’m a consultant at one of the big four.”

  “An accountant?” No wonder the girl fought my charms so vigorously – she had a brain to work with. “Which one?”

  She finished typing and glanced over for a long while. My heart skipped a beat. I wasn’t used to being put on trial – well, outside the family in any case.

  “One of them.”

  “Ah, so that’s how it’s gonna be.”

  “Isn’t mystery part of the allure of an airport hookup?”

  “Sure, but I think that concluded early this morning.”

  She slapped her laptop shut and packed it. “So what’s this now?”

  “Networking, apparently.”

  That got her smiling again. Somehow she looked even more gorgeous in a formal getup. I mean I appreciated industriousness, but I didn’t figure it was one of my kinks. Today was turning into a real learning experience.

  My phone buzzed. The guys were down in the lobby. I packed my own things. “Unfortunately,” I said. “It’s time for us to head down.”

  “Walk of shame time, I guess.” She tugged her suitcase and joined me at the elevator. “This has to be a record for the easiest one ever.”

  Her fragrance washed over me, lily and jasmine. God, it was intoxicating.

  “Yeah,” I said, with more than a whiff of sadness. “Real short.”

  The lobby lights were still on against the grey world outside, which gave the place a real melancholy vibe, even though it buzzed with activity.

  I spotted the guys off in a huddle, looking somehow worse dressed up than they did an hour ago. I started to head over, when I noticed I was alone.

  Kerry stood off by a fake potted plant, wielding her phone, but still glancing up at me.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” I headed back and asked.

  She shrugged. “I dunno. What should I be doing?”

  “Come with us. I’ll give you a lift to the airport.”

  “You know I’m not on your flight right?”

  “What?”

  It was so obvious, and yet it hadn’t occurred to me. It was inconceivable that our time could be over.

  “Why’d you shoot out of bed like a firework, then?” I asked.

  She ducked her head sheepishly. “I may have forgotten, too.”

  Her little nose scrunched up. She looked so god damn cute. I bent in and pecked her on the cheek. She glanced up with a strange look in her eyes.

  “Deacon…”

  “What?”

  “What’s happening?”

  “I thought you looked good, that’s all.”

  She looked around. “But we’re out of the room now.”

  “Ah.” I clicked my tongue. “You don’t want to be seen around me in daylight? Was I the one doing the walk of shame the whole time?”

  She smiled but it evaporated in an instant. “I don’t want your guys thinking there’s something going on.”

  “There was something going on.” I cleared my throat. “There still is, far as I know.”

  Her eyes darted to mine with a blend of emotions: sadness, surprise, that fear again. My own heart went still. I felt like a twelve year old back in boarding school, thinking of exits even as I asked out a girl.

  Words came bubbling to my mouth. Words to plug the chasm before it could form.

  “This doesn’t feel like a one-time thing to you, right?”

  “I guess not.” She glanced down as if embarrassed by the admission..

  “So why make it one? Come on, let me give you a ride to the airport. We can chat until I gotta go.”

  “I actually need to get some stuff done before I head back.”

  I rolled my eyes. “There’s time on the plane.”

  “It’s tough to work on a plane.”

 
They weren’t bad reasons, but she had a tremor to her eyes that made me disbelieve them. I would have had Jesse send in the damn jet for her to work on, if I didn’t think it would make her skitter.

  “So I can see you when you get back, then. North Dakota has its charms, but I spent most of my days in Houston.”

  Her shoulders were still drawn tight. My breath caught, but then she nodded. “Yeah, yeah, sure. Let’s do that..”

  “Great. Give me your digits.”

  Kerry read off her number and I punched it in. When she finished, I dialed and put it to my ear. She raised an eyebrow.

  “You don’t think I’ve gotten the whole fake number before?” I grinned. “I haven’t actually. Figured you’d want my number to call me though.”

  “I just might.” She said it smiling, back to her breezy self again.

  But I wanted more than a tentative ending.

  I swooped an arm around her neck and pressed down with a kiss. She tasted like cherry. I ran my other hand across her face like I was blind, trying to commit every inch to memory.

  She stood in a daze when I broke away. I gave her shoulder a squeeze, and winked.

  “We’ll talk again soon,” I said. “Count on it.”

  I turned and walked off towards my workers, wondering just how I was going to get her back in my grip.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Kerry

  The consulting office smelled vaguely like bleach when I got in after lunch. Unlike the sun-lit glass lobby that clients got to see, the cubes on our floor were lit by humming fluorescent lights.

  I’d made an anonymous suggestion that maybe, just maybe LEDs would make the place a tad less suicidal. Heck, it would even save the company money. Wasn't that our job? No dice. They just wanted to motivate people to be out on assignment.

  When I’d first waked in, this place smelled like promise. Just two years before that, I was on track to be a math teacher. Then came Mira, and my life changed. I changed my college, my major. And despite all that, I'd still somehow landed a position in the big four! I could be anything here, go anywhere.

  Well, not completely. But it did open a lot of doors. The more I went through, the more options I had. One day, I’d rise high enough to handpick my assignments. I didn't want to be the boss, just the master of myself.