Conviction (A Stand-alone Novel): A Bad Boy Romance (19 page)

"Sorry, it’s work," Ayden laughed. He pulled out his cell phone.

"Go ahead, you know me of all people can understand. The CEO can never take a night off," I said.

Ayden's blue eyes flashed and the sensation was like the strumming of a guitar in my chest. Happiness, I realized as he walked away. His expression had been simple happiness, and my whole body responded to it with a surge of joy.

He answered the phone, blew me a kiss, and headed towards the manager's soundproof office. I turned to the bar and was grateful for a relatively peaceful moment to process my reverberating heartbeat. The music thumped mercilessly, but I did not care. One single sky blue moment of happiness in Ayden's eyes was enough to lift me into the ether.

I was still floating high when two young men approached the empty stool next to me. The braver of the two offered to buy me a drink, but Cindy cut them off.

"Look at her boys. She's out of your league. Plus, I'm picking up her tab, so you can move along."

They moved along, but I felt the shyer one's eyes returning again and again. "Why couldn't someone cute and harmless like that have stared at me instead of some pale-eyed nut job? I mean, he had to know he was creeping me out, right? Do you think he kept doing it on purpose?" I asked Cindy.

She shrugged and then dodged down the bar to corner the bar back. The young employee backed away from Cindy until I was able to catch his sleeve.

"Seriously, I didn't hear anything. You need to ask Mr. King if you want to know what they were talking about," he babbled.

Cindy held out both hands and boxed him in. "Oh, you're not going anywhere until you tell us everything you heard. And you know I know when people are lying."

He turned from his boss and pleaded with me. "It's loud in here. I don't know what I heard."

"Why did it make you so nervous?" I asked.

The bar back swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "The man was really strange. He didn't even blink when Mr. King got in his face. All he said was he had a message for Ayden and 'the pretty little thing over there.'"

"What was the message?" both Cindy and I asked together.

"All he said was Ayden and, um, you had to honor the agreement," the bar back squirmed. "That's all I heard, I swear. Mr. King asked him what he meant, but that was all he said."

Cindy released her employee, and he fled around the corner to the kitchen. "You don't think that was some guy he knew from prison, do you?"

"No, Ayden would have said so." I rolled my empty shot glass back and forth on the bar.

"Well, he was lying about it being nothing. You spotted that too. I know you did. That man was not here to ask for a job. He was here to deliver a message." Cindy folded her arms across her chest. She caught the attention of the nearest security guard who came right over.

"Did you see the man Mr. King confronted earlier?" I asked, peering up at the mountainous man.

"Yes, Ms. Bishop. Didn't like him one bit. Clocked him right when he came in," the security guard grumbled.

"Did you hear what they were talking about?" Cindy asked.

"No, ma'am, but the bar back told me the weasel was here to warn Mr. King. Something about an agreement that needed to be honored. Made the kid nervous as hell because he said the guy threatened Mr. King. Told him it was his one warning, and if he did not honor the agreement, there would be consequences."

I rolled the empty shot glass away, my stomach churning.

"Thanks, Charles," Cindy told the security guard. When he was gone, she plunked both elbows on the bar and leaned her chin on her hands.

We stared at each other for a few minutes before I broke the silence. "Ayden did not know the man."

"Agreed."

"He doesn't know what 'the agreement' is," I continued.

"Agreed," Cindy stood back up. "The only problem is that our Mr. King's reputation might be attracting a certain type of person. You know, the type of person that wants to make sure he is intimidated before they attempt to do business with him."

We started listing the shady sort of businessmen we had come across in Las Vegas, specifically the kind that were known to soften up others before engaging them in deals. We could have gone on for hours. Instead, we narrowed the list down to five major players, but nothing made sense. The three men and two women on the list already had agreements with Jace.

"Everyone loved working with Jace, no matter what. And if they did, then they heard about how much he loved and trusted Ayden. So it has to be someone new or someone that Jace did not bring to the table," I figured.

"I don't know, honey," Cindy sighed. "Your company is a huge conglomerate, so your best bet is to ask you-know-who for more details."

She nodded towards the manager's office door. Ayden emerged and winked when he saw me looking. Instead of coming straight over, he went to check with the bouncers at the door and then surveyed the main club area. He took a circuitous route around the bar and finally settled down on the stool next to me.

"Anything for your business manager to do?" I asked him.

"No, just a major business partner calling to introduce himself." Ayden ordered a beer from Cindy.

"Good, because I hear your business manager is at the bar causing all kinds of trouble," I joked.

He cracked a smile and sipped his beer. "So what did I miss out here?"

"A pair of cute college boys you could have scared the pants off," I said.

Ayden raised a sharp black eyebrow. "They try to buy you a drink?"

"Well, I was sitting all alone."

He chuckled. "You know I do believe you can take care of yourself."

"If anyone lets me," I grumbled. "That guy earlier, for instance, you don't think I could have told him off my self?"

"Sorry, Autumn, it’s not that. It’s just I'm not about to sit back and let someone be rude to you." Ayden took another sip of beer to cover his frown. He still seemed on edge.

"I know you're lying about the conversation you had with that creep," I said point blank.

Ayden swiveled his barstool towards me and took my hands. "You know what I saw in the manager's office? A photograph of you and Jace in a team Jell-O wrestling contest. Are you going to tell that story, or do I need to ask Cindy here?"

Cindy laughed. "I almost cracked a rib I laughed so hard that night. It was a fundraiser for the children's hospital, so Jace dressed up like a superhero and Autumn was his sidekick. That man knew how to do a pratfall, that's for sure."

I was annoyed that Ayden had brushed off my comment, but the story was too tempting. "Mind you, Jace only lost to the really scrawny guys or the very pretty girls. He took down at least three of our own bouncers. All in the name of charity."

"And all in a giant pool of lime Jell-O," Cindy hooted with laughter. "We have more pictures back there somewhere."

"Yes, please!" Ayden reached out his greedy hands.

I slapped his shoulder. "That's not fair, I never once teased you about those awkward teenage pictures I found of you and Jace. I didn't even tell anyone about the one of you dressed as David Bowie."

"Until now, and now I will not rest until I too have seen that photograph," Cindy grinned.

The evening spun on with an endless supply of wonderful Jace Knight stories. The other employees dropped in and out, sharing their own memories. It was the best way to celebrate Ayden's take over as interim CEO. By the end of the evening, he was flushed and his cheeks ached from laughing.

It was the most natural thing in the world for me to get out and walk up the front steps to the mansion with Ayden, but when he tugged me towards the home office, I dug my high heels into the thick Persian rug.

"Why don't you take a look at the guest suite Jace had designed for me," I told him. It took one gentle tug on his hand to convince Ayden to follow me up the grand staircase to my rooms on the top floor.

"He designed it for you?" Ayden asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, he'd already hired the designer, but he and his then girlfriend had a massive fight. Jace knew I pulled a lot of all-nighters, especially with all the charity galas and nightclub openings, so he let me meet with the designer and, voilà, my own guest suite," I explained.

I stood back and let Ayden open the doors. The first room was a round sitting room with a glass-domed roof. Fig trees and lemon trees stood in large cobalt blue vases against the rich cream and white striped wallpaper. Dark hardwood floor was covered with deep blue patterned rugs. The right hand wall boasted a fireplace with a curved hearth of smooth limestone. A wide dark leather sofa was covered in jewel-toned pillows and soft throw blankets.

"You mean all this luxury has been up here the whole time, and you've been sleeping with me on that lumpy bed behind the home office? I'm flattered," Ayden said. He snagged me around the waist and tugged me away from the light switches. "Think we can see the stars?"

I glanced up at the clear glass rotunda and gasped as Ayden dipped me back in his arms. The strength of his iron muscles under my back made it feel like I could lift my feet off the ground and float in his embrace. The moment our lips touched gravity lost its meaning.

My fingers dug into his shoulders, gripping on to him. He lowered me gently to the plush rug, but it wasn't fear of falling that had me hanging on. Ayden was too good to be true. The hard press of his toned body, the tender brush of his warm lips, and the sapphire shine of desire in his eyes were more than I had ever hoped for.

"You have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?" he groaned against my lips.

"Funny. I could say the same thing to you," I joked, until his lips stole my mirth and replaced it with a yearning hunger.

I could not get close enough to Ayden, our lips crushed, our tongues tangled, and soon I could not tell whose breath flowed in my lungs. He broke free once to glance towards the bedroom and the luxurious queen bed I had there, but the thought shattered when I arched my body against his. I did not want to give up one inch of contact for one second.

Ayden answered with a devouring kiss. His hands trailed up my bare legs to discover the impossible short dress had already shimmied up to my waist. He tried to suppress the growl in his throat, but I felt the rumble of his desire and answered with my own gasps of pleasure.

I kicked off my high heels and hooked my bare ankles behind his back. I needed him closer. I needed all of him. My fingers fumbled with his belt and all pretenses burned away under the blaze of our passion.

The heavy pressure of Ayden inside me brought a sweet relief, and then he began to move. The pressure built so swiftly I barely had a chance to breath before I cried out my release. He held onto me, his hands brushing back the hair from my face as aftershocks rocked my body. Then, with his blue eyes darkened by lust, Ayden locked eyes with me and began again.

The slow, deep connection wound tighter and tighter until I could not tell if I was gazing in his eyes or out the rotunda into the star-filled night. Then the stars exploded, and we came together, drifting back to earth in pieces to find ourselves entangled and satiated on the heavenly blue rug in my sitting room.

Chapter Thirteen

Ayden

The warm sunlight on my face tore me from the dream. I had never in my life woken up blinking in the golden assault of dawn. My cell had been on the north side of prison and even at Jace's house, the guest rooms behind the home office faced north.

Then I remembered and my smile warmed to match the sunlight. I peeked one eye open and saw Autumn lying next to me in her cloud-like soft bed. Her blonde hair streamed across the pillow like honey in the morning light.

My heart squeezed inside my chest and, like everyday, I came fully awake in shock. After over a decade of waking up at the same time and in the same way, everyday on the outside surprised me. I was more than out of place. I was out of my own reality. The sinfully soft sheets, the thick cushioned mattress, and the beautiful woman beside me had been so far out of reach for so long that I had not even let myself daydream about them.

As usual, the shock was followed by a surge of guilt. I did not deserve any of this, and all I could do was work for it. Work and make sure I was worthy of my good fortune.

"S'nice to see you," Autumn mumbled, with a dozing smile. "Look too serious though. Too early to be so serious."

"I'm seriously wondering if this is a dream or not," I said. My hand brushed against her bare arm and a current of desire shot through me.

"Seriously," Autumn lifted her head to glance over my shoulder and then nestled deeper into her pillow, "it is way too early on our day off. Go to sleep and dream of me a little longer."

I tickled her under the covers, and she muffled her giggles in her pillow. There was no way I could go back to sleep. My body was still primed to the prison schedule; I woke up at the same early hour no matter what, and I never fell back asleep.

"What are you thinking about now?" Autumn shuffled a hand free of the covers and smoothed my creased forehead.

"I'm thinking that maybe this is a dream and, when I actually wake up, I'll be back in prison. That sure makes a hell of a lot more sense than me winding up here with you," I confessed.

Her hand trailed down the side of my face, caressing the hard stubble on my cheek and chin. Then her silky hand continued down my neck and over the muscles of my shoulder. Her graceful fingers left a trail of electricity. Autumn curled closer under the covers and the smooth warmth of her naked body erased my philosophizing.

I shifted my head onto her pillow and nuzzled her neck. The slope just underneath her ear held a trace of her perfume, and I was hooked. It was a dizzying mix of orange blossom and a heady spice I could not place.

"I think I can prove to you this isn't a dream," Autumn murmured.

She pushed against me, and I happily rolled on to my back. One firm leg slipped over my thighs, and Autumn covered me with her body. My body was already taut, ready, and the silken brush of her over me was enough to make me throb.