Inferno Anthology (86 page)

The cool desert air swept up the tiny hairs on my neck and I shivered as his lips hovered over mine.

“The election maybe four days away, but you’re going to be president for four years. I don’t know if I can wait that long.”

“Maybe I can help you make up your mind.”

His lips crushed mine and I gripped his tie so I wouldn’t collapse at his feet. Every part of me throbbed with the need for his touch. He lifted my dress over my head and tossed it onto the floor of the balcony. My nipples hardened under the kiss of the frigid breeze. He gently leaned me back over the balcony wall, taking my nipple into his warm mouth, and I was immediately reminded of our rendezvous at his cliff-side restaurant.

His hands lightly caressed my back and cheeks as he licked and sucked my breasts. I gazed at the twinkling stars above us and, against all reason, I made a wish on the first star I saw:
Please let me be strong enough for him.

His tongue traced a line over the hollow of my neck and he took my face in his hands again. “I love you, Larissa,” he whispered. “One day it will be you and me walking down that aisle. I promise.”

I reached down to loosen his belt and unzip his trousers. His belt clinked as his pants dropped and I hastily undid his tie and peeled off his blazer and shirt. I ran my fingers over his hard chest and down his abs until I reached his cock. I lightly rubbed my thumb over the slippery head and he moaned. I crouched down and took him into my mouth.

“Jesus Christ,” he groaned, as I wrapped one hand around the base of his cock and raked the nails of my other hand over his chest.

I bobbed slowly then swiftly, bringing him to the brink of ecstasy before he slipped his hand beneath my arms and pulled me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he lifted me. He fit so perfectly inside me I let out an eager gasp as I clung to him. His teeth dug deeper into my shoulder with every thrust.

I hooked my arm around his neck and clutched onto his rock hard bicep to balance myself. I didn’t know how he had the strength to hold me for so long when he was clearly on the verge of losing himself. We rocked rhythmically, grinding against each other, until his body quivered and he came inside me.

He slowly knelt on one knee and placed me down gently so I straddled his leg. He exhaled hot, ragged breaths into my mouth as he kissed me. I wanted to stay like this forever, but I knew that soon he would go up to his penthouse suite where he and his wife would sleep in separate bedrooms—at least, that’s what he told me.

He brushed my hair out of my face and kissed my forehead. “I can tell when you’re mind is elsewhere,” he said. “I have something to ask you.”

No, not here, on a balcony in Vegas, in the nude.

He smiled at the hint of panic on my face. “I want you to meet Katherine.”

I blinked a few times, stunned by his words.

“She wants to meet you,” he continued. “And I think it’s a good idea to get that out of the way before the election happens and I’ll be… unavailable for a while.”

I had probably spoken a total of ten words to Katherine Underwood since I joined Chase’s campaign six weeks ago. Chase was a master at keeping us apart without raising the suspicions of the press corps that followed him everywhere he went. He even went so far as rescheduling a speaking event at a college so I could be there with him the day after Katherine and Teddy, Chase’s campaign manager, left town for a CNN interview. The event coordinator was not pleased when I called him to postpone, but Chase insisted the man would forget all about it once I graced him with my radiant beauty.

“What’s your answer, Larissa?” Chase interrupted my thoughts and I gazed at his face as it came back into focus. The chiseled cheekbones and model-perfect lips. And those eyes. A deep-brown that, in the dim lighting, appeared as black as the prospect of meeting Katherine.

“Of course, I’ll meet her,” I replied. “Will her lover be there?”

Chase wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. He slid his fingers between my wet folds as he kissed my neck and muttered into my skin. “You’ve already met him.”

I let out a small gasp, a mixture of surprise and pleasure, as he gently stroked my clit. “What… oh, god… what do you mean? Who is he?”

He took my earlobe between his teeth and exhaled into my ear. The whoosh of air tickled and made the hairs on my arms stand on end. “Come on, Larissa,” he whispered in my ear, as he slid his finger inside me to release more of my wetness. “Don’t tell me you can’t see that Katherine and Teddy are together.”

My body convulsed as he caressed my hard nub in light circles. I let out an involuntary shriek as I climaxed then crumpled against his chest.

“I can’t believe it,” I said, out of breath and shocked that I had been so completely deceived by Katherine and Teddy’s friendship. “But… isn’t Teddy your best friend? And… what the hell? Why have you been letting me think we need to keep our relationship a secret from him?”

“I never told you you had to do that, I just assumed it would be best not to confuse things further.”

My jaw dropped. “I’ve been driving myself nuts trying to keep this from Teddy! I was more scared of Teddy reading that feature in the
L.A. Times
than anyone else.”

He stood up quickly and began to get dressed. “I don’t want to talk about the feature right now.”

“Why do you keep doing that? It’s coming whether you talk about it or not and there’s a good chance Heather Rodin is going to blow the lid on us.”

He handed me my dress without looking at me. “I’m going to order some room service. Is Chinese good for you?”

I snatched the dress out of his hand and stomped into the hotel room, kicking up rose petals as I made my way to the bathroom.

“Larissa, stop.”

“I want my furniture back!” I shouted, as I stepped over the fat candles.

“I said stop!”

I stopped just outside the bathroom and turned toward him. His face was furrowed with an expression of rage that sent chills through me.

“Get over here,” he demanded, his voice coarse with anger.

I wanted to tell him to go to hell. He didn’t own me. But that wasn’t true. Even without the non-disclosure agreement, Chase and I were bound to each other by this dangerous secret. We would be bound to each other by these lies for the rest of our lives—or, at least, until he was no longer President.

“I’ll tear up that stupid NDA. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you here. But even if you decide to go back to L.A., I’m not giving up on you.”

Chase spoke those words to me six weeks ago and I was just now beginning to understand the gravity of their meaning. I would never escape this secret as long as I was a threat to his career. Even if I wanted to, I would never escape Chase. And now that Teddy and Katherine knew about us, there was no way they would allow me to leave. They had to keep me close. This relationship was a bomb strapped to my chest and Heather Rodin at the
L.A. Times
was holding the trigger.

I let my dress fall to the floor as I approached Chase. He entered the hotel room from the balcony, his eyes locked on mine until we met in the center of the room.

“I knew what I was getting into,” I said. “I just didn’t expect for it to blow up in my face.”

“It hasn’t blown up yet. Gideon’s been hounding the editor at the
Times
for weeks trying to figure out the angle on this piece. They’re not talking, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we have to panic,” he said, as he draped his blazer around my shoulders. “But you’re right. I did everything I could to erase our connection to
Black Tie Escorts
before you joined the campaign, but we have to prepare for the possibility that Heather dug something up. In fact, that’s what tomorrow’s meeting with Katherine and Teddy is about.”

“It’s a strategy meeting?” I replied, as he placed his hand on the small of my back and led me toward a red blanket laid across the carpet in the corner of the room. “What about Isa? Shouldn’t he be there to give you the statistics on how all of this is going to affect you?”

Isa was the Campaign Statician—a position Chase made up just to get Isa on board. Isa graduated last year from Cornell with two masters degrees: one in political science and one in statistics. He had been receiving job offers from various politicians for over two years before his graduation. It was no surprise to many when he decided to work with Senator Chase Underwood. Chase was hard to resist.

“Lay down,” he ordered, and I quickly knelt on the cashmere blanket and tossed his blazer aside. “Why do you think we’re having the meeting? Isa gave me the numbers this morning. The numbers are based on historical data and none of the data is clear, but we’re pretty certain I can still pull off a victory if….”

“If what?” I asked, as I lay down on my back and he stepped over me so he was straddling my legs as he looked down at me.

A candle had magically appeared in his hand and my fingers clutched the blanket as I watched him tip it over my belly.

“If you pretend to be with Teddy,” he said, as the first drop of hot wax hit my skin right below my navel. I drew in a sharp breath as the wax stung my skin for just a moment before it cooled. “You can start pretending right now.”

I could feel myself becoming engorged with pleasure as Chase let another drop of hot wax fall just below the first drop.

“But Teddy’s so… wound up,” I breathed.

“I think you’ll find Teddy can be very charming. I have to make sure I leave you with an experience you’ll be thinking about all day tomorrow,” he replied, and a stream of wax hit the skin just above my pelvic bone and my body tensed as the liquid slid toward my lips. My hand immediately shot toward my crotch to keep the wax from burning me, but he warned me off. “Don’t move.”

I drew my hand back and was quite relieved when the wax rolled sideways onto my thigh. He stood above me, his shirt unbuttoned and a hungry look in his eyes.

“Close your eyes.” I shut my eyes and he brushed against my arm as he sat next to me on the blanket. “Put your hands behind your head.”

I clasped my hands behind my head and he immediately poured the wax over my nipple. I yelped with pain, which was quickly relieved as he brushed the warm wax away with his fingers and took my nipple into his mouth. He gently licked and sucked until the pain was gone.

“Better?”

“Yes, Sir.”

He poured the wax over my other nipple and I gritted my teeth against the pain as I waited for him to relieve it again. He waited a bit longer this time before he wiped away the wax and soothed my pain with his mouth. He pulled away and I nearly reached out to pull him back, but I wasn’t supposed to move.

“Turn over,” he commanded. I flipped onto my belly and even the soft cashmere felt scratchy against my raw nipples. “Spread your legs and lift your ass.”

I followed his orders, laying my face against the blanket as he positioned himself between my legs. He poured a fat stream of wax across my ass cheeks and I gasped.

“Oh, god!” I cried, as the wax dribbled down my ass and the backs of my thighs.

I could feel him moving behind me and suddenly his tongue was in my crease as his finger worked my clit. His tongue licked and massaged my opening and I tried not to squirm. The sensation of both areas being stimulated at once was unlike anything I’d ever felt.

“Oh, Chase,” I whispered, trying not to raise my voice as I was still conscious of the open door leading to the balcony.

“Louder.”

“Oh, Chase!” I cried into the blanket bunched up beneath my head. “Don’t stop!”

“Louder!” he shouted, as my body quaked beneath him.

“Oh, Chase!
CHASE!
” I screamed, as he stimulated me beyond orgasm. “Please stop.”

He didn’t stop. He continued stroking my clit until I came again, even harder. When he finally drew away, I collapsed onto the blanket shaky and exhausted. He laid his body over mine, brushed my hair aside, and kissed the back of my neck as I attempted to catch my breath.

“What if someone heard me?” I whispered, as his fingers traced the curve of my hip.

He kissed me behind my ear before he replied. “It was worth it.”

The knock on the door came just as I was slipping on my heels.

“Coming!” I shouted, and my heart raced as I approached the door of my hotel room.

I pushed the door open and found Teddy Holt standing before me in a crisp gray suit and no tie holding a copy of the
L.A. Times
. The headline read: UNDERWOOD’S TORRID AFFAIR WITH ESCORT.

“It’s show time,” he said, as he pushed his way past me into the hotel room.

He took a look around at the dozens of melted candles and wilted rose petals and didn’t even flinch. Teddy was only a few months younger than Chase. From what Chase had told me, they had shared a dorm together at Yale and had been best friends since. Teddy had handled all of Chase’s campaigns since he became Senator ten years ago at the age of thirty-two. It was no secret that Teddy intimidated everyone, but I’d been harboring a special kind of fear for him these past weeks. To see him standing before me as an ally brought forth a whole new set of emotions.

“Larissa,” he said, as he held the paper out to me. “It’s time to get this story straight, so it’s time for you to start paying attention.”

“I thought we were going to lunch to discuss this.”

“I said pay attention, Larissa. We’re getting our shit straight right now. There’s a pack of reporters at every hotel entrance. We’re not leaving here until you’re ready. You got it, sweetheart? This all hangs on you. It’s time to see if your acting skills are up to snuff. Can you handle that or am I wasting my fucking time?”

Fuck!
I’m supposed to pretend I’m in love with this guy.

“Yeah, I can handle that,” I replied, as I snatched the paper out of his hand.

“Good. Now, you don’t have to read that shit because none of it’s true. The truth is Chase ordered you from
Black Tie Escorts
as a birthday present for me and you and I fell in love. You got it?”

I wanted to punch him in his perfectly chiseled, condescending face.