A Feast of You (7 page)

I shook my head then slid to the floor. I felt like I was going to throw up or pass out or both. Asa knelt down before me. “Tell me what happened.”

Trying to hold back tears, I spilled the whole story. When I finished, Asa made no comment—nothing about how dumb I was or how I should have listened to him and William. Nothing about how much trouble he would be in when he explained to his employer that he had lost track of me. Instead, he pulled out his phone and started making calls. I closed my eyes and tried to stop shaking. I heard him tell whoever he was talking to that I was pale, shaken, and scared, but not hurt.

I just about had the nausea under control when Asa put a hand on my shoulder. I jumped, and he held his hands up in front of him. “Sorry. I’m taking you home now, Miss Kelly. We’re to go to the penthouse immediately.”

The penthouse. William.
Shit
. Asa carried me outside to the SUV, and I let him. I didn’t think I could make it down three flights of stairs on my shaky legs anyway. He placed me in the backseat, handed me a bottle of water, and put the seatbelt into my hand. I managed to click it into place as he closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. Asa got in and quickly pulled the vehicle into traffic and I gripped the armrest, the pangs of fear I had felt in the darkroom still fresh in my mind.

On the way back to the penthouse, I stared out the window. Asa had picked up the screwdriver from my kitchen floor and placed it in a Ziploc bag and I’d watched him do it, staring in disbelief at the object. I didn’t own a screwdriver, so whoever had come into my condo had brought it with them. Did they bring it just to lock me in? I shuddered at the thought of it being used as a weapon. As we approached William’s, I started to calm down. I was safe. I also started to apologize to Asa. “I’m so sorry. I really don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“Don’t worry about it, Miss Kelly.”

“It was all my fault. I’ll make sure he knows it.”

Asa didn’t answer, and we lapsed into silence. I was glad because I was still really nauseous. Wouldn’t the day be perfect if I threw up in the back of William’s SUV? I’d only ever felt this kind of fear once before and that was when Jace died. I never wanted to feel it again.

Finally we arrived at William’s building. Asa opened the door for me and asked me if I was okay to walk. I said yes. He escorted me up to William’s residence. He didn’t exit the elevator when I did, leaving me alone in the foyer. Then William stepped into view.

He crossed to me in three steps and pulled me into his arms. He engulfed me in his warmth, his strong arms encircling me and holding me close. He put his head down and breathed in my ear, “Thank God.” He wrapped his arms around me even tighter. I felt safe, loved, and oh so stupid. I lost it. I couldn’t hold the tears back, and I started weeping and blubbering. “I am so sorry, William. I should have listened to you. I’m so sorry.”

“Jesus, I’m not mad,” he said against my temple. “I was so worried.” He kissed the top of my head.

“I’m so sorry,” I said again. I felt awful. I never meant to worry him. What a complete nightmare.

William pulled back and looked at my face. “I was so scared something happened to you. You have no idea what you mean to me.”

His eyes were grey and as full of love as I had ever seen them. This man truly loved me. I had been a fool to put myself in danger. I burst into tears again, and William held me and rubbed my back until I was finally spent.

I was so tired by then that I allowed him to lead me to the bathroom, where he drew a bath, stripped me, and washed me. Everything was so tender. He touched me, as though I was some rare, priceless object. Then he dried me and took me to bed. He slid in next to me and pulled me against his chest.

“I love you more than I can say, Catherine. More than words. I can’t lose you. Do you understand that? I can’t.”

I nodded and snuggled deeper into him. “I love you too, William.” And I knew it was true. I had never felt safer or more whole than I did at that moment in William’s arms.

He kept talking, telling me over and over how much I meant to him until I fell asleep.

I
opened my eyes slowly, wiggling and writhing in William’s expansive bed as spirals of pleasure wound through me. It was early and the room was still dark, but I could feel William’s tousled curls softly brushing against the sensitive skin of my inner thighs. His tongue lapped leisurely at my sex, but he paused and raised his head when he realized I was awake.

“Good morning, beautiful girl.”

“Yes, it is,” I said with a moan as he gently thumbed my clit.

“It’s about to get even better.” His smile was wide, genuine, and a little bit devilish as he looked up at me from between my legs. I was barely awake, but I could feel myself yielding just from that look alone. God, how I loved playful William, even first thing in the morning and hours before my first cup of coffee.

William excelled at sex, but he really excelled at oral sex. William clearly loved it. He knew how to use his tongue, his lips, his whole mouth to keep me on the brink of coming for what seemed like forever, heightening my pleasure in tiny increments until I was insane with need. If he wanted to start the day with a little taste of me, who was I to say no?

I spread my legs wider.

William got right back to business. My hips bucked, and he pulled away, teasing me with darting little flicks and nibbles. When his tongue dipped lower, thrusting inside me, my moans intensified and echoed through the enormous master suite.

“You’re so sweet, Catherine. Just like candy,” William said, withdrawing and then licking me with long, luxurious strokes that threatened to shatter me.

“William, please,” I begged. I could feel beads of sweat starting to break out across my forehead and chest. I hadn’t even been up to pee yet and the building pressure was starting to get a little uncomfortable.

My pleas went unanswered as two and then three fingers were thrust inside me, filling me, pressing upward against my g-spot. It wasn’t his cock, but it was enough to make me shudder and squirm.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck,” I gasped. I was seriously uncomfortable now, but in the most delectable way.

He knew it, too.

“Do you want to come?” he asked innocently as his tongue continued its assault. My hips arched off the bed, and I struggled not to piston them.

“Uh-huh,” I managed to say.

“Good.” He pulled back, his lips and chin shiny with my arousal. His grey eyes caught and held mine just as he reared up and plunged his cock into me, then started to gently rock.

I spiraled up, feeling every nerve tightening and ready to explode until he withdrew, leaving just his wide swollen tip at my entrance.

“No,” I choked out in anguish.

“What do you want? Tell me.”

“You,” I said hoarsely. “All of you.”

Our eyes stayed locked as he slid into me, inch by delicious inch, and my muscles contracted around him, holding him in place. He rocked again, the tip of his penis angled perfectly, stroking me in that spot that drove me crazy. I could feel the tremors starting in my legs and I cried out, “I can’t hold back.”

“Almost there.”

I could feel the contained power in him, the way he tensed before he said in a guttural shout, “Come with me, Catherine.”

I did, grabbing his shoulder and holding on as he pumped into me, the climax ripping through us both.

We tumbled back, William rolling over and taking me into his arms. Usually I went back to sleep after we’d had morning sex, but not today. Memories of yesterday’s incident started flooding back, even before William pulled out. The daybreak seduction might have been his attempt to keep my mind off of things, but—fabulous orgasm aside—it wasn’t working. I could feel my chest tightening as flashes of being trapped in my darkroom and images of that screwdriver flying as I kicked my way out looped over and over again in my head.

I was still clasped in William’s embrace, my head nestled under his chin and my ear pressed to his hard chest. He must have sensed my rising panic because he murmured, “I’ve got you, baby girl. I’ve got you. You’re okay.” He kissed the top of my head tenderly.

I nuzzled against William’s neck and let his reassurances wash over me. I never wanted to leave right here, this moment. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, letting the steady thump of William’s heart soothe me as his strong arms held me close.

I had just dozed off when William asked, “Feel like a workout?” His deep voice rumbled through me and he made the question sound way sexier than it was.

“Didn’t we just have a workout?” I replied weakly.

“This one takes place in the gym, with our clothes on. Come on, it will do you wonders.”

It was way too early to stand up, much less burn calories, but I agreed anyway.

On the way down to the building’s private gym, I kept waiting for William to say something about me going to my condo. Even though he’d said he wasn’t mad at me, I suspected he was actually pretty pissed that I’d made him worry and had put myself in danger. At the very least, he was entitled to an I-told-you-so, and I was ready to let him have his moment. Plus, we still needed to talk about the security system he was having installed in my building—the one he’d “forgotten” to mention.

But it didn’t come.

We walked into the gym, which was empty except for us, and he gave my ass a squeeze, then hopped on one of the treadmills. He liked to watch the stock reports while he exercised, which had the potential to put me in coma, so I grabbed a couple of magazines and wandered over to an elliptical.

The magazines weren’t half as interesting as watching William run on the treadmill. My man was in excellent physical condition. If not for the fine sheen of sweat on his body, you’d never know he was working hard. His breathing stayed level, even as the incline rose and his pace increased. He was like a fine-tuned machine, every sculpted muscle working in tandem with the others.

William glanced over at me and, when he saw I was ogling him, gave me a slow, smoldering smile. It was hard to exercise when I couldn’t breathe, and I took a huge gulp of air when he looked back at the TV screen—and not just because he turned me on. I definitely needed to work out more. William never invited me to join him at the gym. Then it dawned on me: inviting me to this workout was another attempt to keep me busy and my mind off what had happened yesterday.

Okay, Cat, deep breath
. I had to face it. What exactly
had
happened yesterday? I wasn’t an idiot. There was no way another criminal had just randomly chosen to break into my condo, in broad daylight, at the exact moment I happened to be there, then spontaneously decided to lock me in my darkroom. I hadn’t seen anyone and neither had Asa when he’d rescued me. I hadn’t heard anyone come in.

Which meant whoever it was had either followed me there on my walk from Beckett’s or...was already inside when I’d arrived.

Bile burned at the back of my throat. The possibility made sense. Someone could have hidden until I went in the darkroom and then come out and...

I didn’t want to think about what could have happened or the fact that some creep might have been there, watching me, the entire time. Something bigger
was
going on and it was finally crystal clear to me that William was right. He’d had a lifetime of experience with threats and extortion attempts. What did I have? A stupid impulse to prove I knew better, which had backfired horribly.

I let out a huge sigh. I definitely didn’t want to be alone until whoever was pulling this shit was caught. Which meant I’d be staying at the penthouse. That wasn’t so awful, really. I sighed again.

William must have heard me exhaling because he looked over from his treadmill and gave me a thumb’s up, like he was encouraging me to keep pushing myself in my workout. I smiled back.

But I wasn’t working out very hard, and in fact, I was barely moving my arms and legs. I’d already expelled enough energy this morning. I really wished I was back upstairs in bed.

The latest issue of
Chicago Now
was open in front of me, and I was mindlessly flipping through pages filled with images of beautiful people at various events around the city—boutique openings, charity fashion shows, a debutante ball over the holidays—when something caught my attention. It was a picture of Hutch Morrison at some party, surrounded by about eight women, all sticking their chests out for the camera. I kept staring down at the image of smiling Hutch, whose grin looked a lot like the ‘shit-eating’ kind. Who could blame him, surrounded by a bevy of babes? My new boss—I guess I could call him that—was smoking hot and his ripped body and rock-star tattoos screamed “bad boy.”

The good kind of bad boy.

No, really the
best
kind of bad boy. Judging by the looks of the ladies in the picture, Hutch’s bed wasn’t cold. I was just curious how many of those women had been in it.

I looked up just as William walked over. He’d finished his workout and had a towel around his neck. He glanced down at the open magazine in front me, and his gaze locked on the picture. Something flickered in his eyes and turned them stormy blue.

“Are you ready to go? I have an early meeting.”

Shit.

* * *

W
illiam didn’t say anything until we were back upstairs, naked, and under the shower jets in the master bath.

“Keeping tabs on Morrison now?”

I let the water wash over my hair. “No. I just happened to see him in that picture. I don’t see people I know on the pages of society magazines very often.” I reached for my shower gel, but William already had it in his hands.

“Interesting that it was Morrison you happened to spot.”

I wanted to roll my eyes. Did he really think I was interested in Hutch? “Just coincidence.” I held out my hand. “Can I have my shower gel?” He started to hand it to me, and then seemed to think better of it.

He flicked it open and squirted a small amount into his palm. “Turn around.”

Since this was the first time in the last fifteen minutes he’d lost that annoyed, pouty expression, I turned. William’s hands started at my shoulders and worked their way down my back, leaving a trail of yummy smelling suds. I heard him squirt more into his palm, and then his hands were on my waist and working their way down my bottom. He moved lower, his hands caressing my thighs and my calves, then back up again to soap my backside.