Hardline (6 page)

  
“Now,” he gritted out.
 

  
The simple word pushed me over. My mouth opened with a soundless cry as the orgasm took its hold. I clung to him, my focus pinpointed on the throb of his cock plunging into me, guiding me over the edge to that perfect place. A few more powerful thrusts and I came with a scream. He dug into me, his grip rough, until every muscle went taut, his body buried deeply within me.
 

  
“Erica!”
 

  
His voice was hoarse, sounding as stripped down as I felt. Arms holding me closer, as if I’d disappear if he didn’t, he caught his breath, brushing his lips along my neck.
 

  
All my strength left with the orgasm, a fact that became evident when he finally loosened his embrace. When my feet found the floor, my legs wobbled. He held me steady, hands at my hips, as he slipped out of me. Warm release dripped down my thigh with his retreat. I went to move, but he stilled me so I was held firmly in place. His gaze riveted on the translucent line it trailed down my skin.
   

  
“Fuck, baby. Seeing that just makes me want to fill you up again.”

  
“I’m going to make a mess on your floor.”
 

  
He laughed. “We might have to make a mess all over the house then, because I’m still hard. I’m wrecked, but all I can think about right now is coming in you again. All fucking night.”
 

  
A delirious smile spread across my face. “You going to keep me up two nights in a row? You’ll wear us both out at this rate.”

  
He smiled and hauled me back into his arms, brushing a soft kiss over my lips.
 

  
“We’re on vacation, remember? I can make love to you all night and we can sleep all day. Not a damn thing anyone’s going to say about it either.”
 

  
“No house guests,” I whispered.

  
“Thank God. I’m not sharing you with anyone until Tuesday morning.”

  
He moved away, zipping his pants up. Then he lifted me into his arms, taking us to the bedroom and into its adjoining bathroom.

   
We showered, lathering each other. We stepped out and Blake wrapped me in a fluffy white towel and dried my hair with another. The heat of the shower might have wiped the last of our energy. We collapsed into the bed, weakened by the day, by our lovemaking.

  
I cuddled up to him, enjoying the closeness, our skin clean and smooth against each other.
 

  
“I love you, Blake.”

  
He tipped my chin up so I met his gaze.
 

  
“I love you too.”
 

I opened my eyes, and the world came into focus. Propped up on his elbow, Blake raked me in with a lazy smile across his lips.
 

  
I stretched, curious how long we’d slept. A glide of his hand down the side of my torso sent a tingle of awareness through me. I hummed, leaning against him, all too aware of my nakedness and the mere sheet covering his. His eyes gleamed with pure appreciation and the love that hummed between us. Love. It bloomed in small moments like this, making all the good times that much better, all the tough times worth working through. What I felt for this man took my breath away.
 

  
“You’re so beautiful in the morning,” he murmured.
 

  
I tried to hide my smile, turning to the pillow. “Stop.”

  
He brushed the hair off my cheek and kissed me there, lingering by my ear. “I’ll never stop. As long as I live, I’ll never stop.”

  
I arched to kiss him, melting so easily for him. I took it all in, let it soak into my skin down to my bones. This new freedom, being away with the man I loved so desperately.
 

  
I settled back down, nuzzled against his arm. A part of me was still groggy, like I could sleep for days. I’d recognized that in his tired eyes last night too. I sensed he had been struggling lately, but I still had no idea why. As close as we could be, physically, I hated that distance that crept between us at times. That wall that he kept up, usually to keep me safe.

  
I traced the ridge of his lower lip with my finger. “I want you to be able to tell me anything. Do you feel like you can?”

  
He raised an eyebrow. “Yes, why?”

  
“I feel like you’ve been...I don’t know, tense, lately. I wish you would tell me why.”

  
He released a breath, caught my hands, and pressed a kiss to my fingertips. “It’s not a matter of being comfortable sharing anything with you. I know that I can. It’s more whether or not I decide to burden you with whatever I’m dealing with.”

  
I waited until his eyes locked with mine, wanting to show him I meant what I said. “You’re not burdening me. Not knowing what’s bothering you is more of a burden. I never know if it’s me, or if there’s something I could be doing to help.”

  
His expression changed, masking whatever emotions brewed below the surface. “You can’t help with this.”
 

  
“With what? Just tell me.”

  
He sighed and leaned back into the pillow. “You really want to talk about Max? Not exactly a pleasant topic of conversation.”

  
I frowned. Curiosity over what Max was up to now burned through me. “What is he doing?”

  
“He’s not really doing anything, but that doesn’t keep him from being an impressive pain in my ass. I’ve been trying to get him off the Angelcom board since I found out he was funding Trevor to attack my—
our
—sites.”

  
“Shouldn’t that be easy? You’re the executive director.”

  
“I am, but this is more like a democracy versus a dictatorship, which I’m somewhat regretting now. I can’t just kick him out. I have to run these decisions by a board. The majority won’t agree to vote him out.”

  
“Why? Isn’t that a no-brainer?”

  
“They don’t want to piss off Michael, Max’s father. He’s got more money than God, and risking any potential connection with him isn’t worth penalizing Max’s complete and utter lack of ethics.”

  
I stared at him, contemplating this frustrating circumstance.
 
No wonder Blake was ready to burst every night lately. To have to tolerate the man who had spent years trying to undermine him, with no support from his colleagues, was hard to imagine. At least the people on my team were on
my team
, and there was never any question who the enemy was. Well, at least now that Risa was gone. I was still struggling to quell my lingering paranoia that I couldn’t trust anyone after I’d trusted her with everything, confidential information that she was now using against me. Still, Clozpin was a far cry from white-collar investors and the corporate circles many of them ran in.

  
“Are you so surprised?”

  
“What do you mean?”
 

  
“I mean, the premise of Angelcom is to make more money for people who already have mountains of it. Seems like those kinds of people have it because they’re in the habit of amassing and protecting it. Would you expect them to act any differently than they have?”

  
He shook his head. “I suppose not. It’s pretty ironic though.”

  
“How’s that?”

  
“The company is infested with the greedy fucks I’d wanted to take down in the first place.”

  
“What are you going to do now? If they won’t vote him out, what other recourse do you have?”

  
“I haven’t decided my next move yet. I’m not sure how Michael would react if I approached him with what’s going on. If I could get him to understand, I could get the support of the board and make sure Max didn’t get near another boardroom of mine ever again.”

  
“I thought you and Michael were close.”

  
“We are. At least we were at one point. I haven’t seen him in a while, and understandably, I don’t want our next meeting to be me telling him that his son is a fraud and a cheat.”

  
I traced a path over his chest as it moved with each breath. My beautiful man. I hated that we had to deal with people like Max, like Trevor. Jesus, the list went on.
 

  
“I’m really sorry, Blake. It’s a shitty situation. But you’ll find a way through it. You always do. And someone like Max can’t keep going around stomping on people’s dreams and get away with it forever. At least I hope not.”
 

  
As angry as Blake was with Max, I wasn’t sure this was the best time to tell him about his and Risa’s new site and how it threatened me now.
 

  
He tipped my chin up. Our eyes met. “What’s going on?”

  
I hesitated before I began. “Max and Risa launched their little venture. A competing site. Total rip off of Clozpin, and it looks like they took at least one of our major advertisers with them. Who knows how many users.”
 

  
His eyebrows shot up. “When were you going to tell me this?”

  
“Alli told me about it yesterday. She wanted me to be the one to tell you. And frankly I needed some time to make sense of it. I don’t know if I have though. I’m mostly feeling like they’re going to systematically destroy my business with the same determination that they went after you. Except I’m not you. I don’t have your resources or your experience. I’m still trying to figure out how to run a company. I wasn’t expecting to go on the defensive like this in the midst of our growth. First Trevor, and now this. I’m trying not to feel hopeless about all of it, but it’s kind of hard not to.”

  
“Trust me, he’s not going to destroy your business. I won’t let him. And as hate-filled as they are, the two of them are no match for the two of us.” He brushed my cheek with his knuckles. “It hurts, but it’s business. You can’t lose faith. That’s what they want. If I gave up every time someone took a sucker punch at me professionally, I’d have been done long ago. You’re too strong for that.”

  
“I just can’t believe someone could be so devious, so hateful. I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to do this to someone, anyone, no matter how much I despised him.”

  
“I hate to say this, but get used to it. As soon as you start to do well, someone will want to take that shine away from the things you do, lessen it or make it their own.”

  
My eyes went wide. “You’re not making me feel so hopeful about a future in entrepreneurship.”

  
“You’ll toughen up. And you have me.”
 

  
“But what can we do? We have no control over what they’re doing. This feels like sabotage, but I’m totally powerless over it.”

  
He was silent a moment, as if he were strategically thinking his way through this one. “Well, I could always hack their site.” The corner of his mouth lifted.

  
I rolled my eyes. “Great. Dueling hackers. I think we can both agree that solves nothing. Beyond that, it’s beneath you.”

  
He laughed. “Is it?”

  
“You said you only use your powers for good, remember? Even if they are terrible, I can’t see you destroying their site.”

  
He pursed his lips. “Maybe you’re right.” He wrapped an arm around me and brought me down to him, kissing me gently.
“No more talk of Max. This weekend is for us. What do you want to do?”
 

  
I glanced at the clock; it was nearly lunchtime. Our schedule was all kinds of mixed up. Time didn’t really matter when it was just Blake and me.
 

  
“What do you want to do?”

  
His eyes darkened with a knowing smile. “If it were up to me, we’d never leave the bed.”
 

  
I pushed myself up and straddled him. “We didn’t come all this way to stay in bed all day.”
 

  
He groaned, raking over my nakedness. “You’re not making a very good argument for leaving.”
 

  
He followed the path with his hands, palming my breasts and teasing my nipples into hardened points. The carnal appreciation in his stare warmed me instantly. I ached for his mouth, squirming despite myself.
 

  
As if he could see my resolve melting away, he cupped my ass and ground me down against the hard erection that strained through the sheets between us. I bit my lip and rolled into the motion, seduced by the unavoidable truth that I wanted what he wanted, and just as badly. My head fell back as the contact rubbed over my clit in just the right way. Fire licked over my skin, heating me through to my core.
 

  
He lifted me with his hips, ripping away the sheet the separated us. His cock was as hard as I’d imagined, thick and ready for me. More than ready. His narrowed gaze told me refusal was a lost cause. Finding the slick heat between my legs, he fingered me gently.
 

  
“Always ready for me,” he murmured.
 

  
Answering the silent pleas my body gave, he lowered me down onto the rigid length of his cock. I gasped at the depth, the sharp edge that we always seemed to walk with each other.
 

  
“That’s it, baby. Take all of me.”