Knights of the Boardroom (25 page)

Feeling the hot jets of his cum splash back against the tip of his cock was hot as hell and made him wonder how she managed to swallow every drop of the gift he gave her even as she was being ravaged by her own orgasm. When Lawton finally pulled from her and helped her stand upright, Brodie saw nothing but devastation in her eyes. The look was so bleak he felt like the world had shifted on its axis. Stepping close, he bracketed her face with his hands, “Talk to me, love. What put that look on your face. Your heart is breaking and I have no idea why.” Tears pooled in her eyes and she closed them trying to shut him out, but he wasn’t going to allow her to hide from them or herself. They’d made several big mistakes with her during their time together, but he wasn’t going to let her give up on them, “No, don’t shut us out. Open your eyes and answer the question.”

*****

Cressida didn’t remember a time when she felt more emotionally transparent and she didn’t like it—not at all. Perhaps things would be different if she knew where she stood with Brodie and Lawton, but with the end of their time together so near, she just didn’t think she could stand having another layer of her soul exposed to them. So, rather than answer Brodie’s question she asked one of her own, “What was in our apartment?”

Lawton turned her until she faced him, “Pictures, baby, hundreds of pictures of Dale Roberts. They were posted all over the walls of your bedroom.” The room started to spin and the black pinpoints in her vision were growing larger by the second. She could hear someone yelling in the background but their words all seemed to overlap until she just let the darkness wash over her. Her mind registered the men’s cursing as they caught her, but nothing mattered. Floating in a place between being conscious and not, her mind raced with the possibility that she might actually go to jail for something she hadn’t done.
Could he really have me arrested? Would he?

She felt the cool sensation of crisp sheets and she let herself sink into the softness of Brodie’s bed. Her eyes finally fluttered open and every fear she’d been feeling came tumbling out in a chaotic jumble of words. “He’s going to make me look like a stalker. I’ll go to jail and no one will be able to stop it. He’s going to ruin my reputation and that will hurt you and my sister. No one is going to believe me over a self-made billionaire. From what you said about him earlier, he’s probably set everything up perfectly. I might as well move to another country since I have to find another job anyway.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Cressi swore she could feel the energy around her crackle as if it had been electrically charged.

Almost as quickly as she blinked, Brodie loomed over her, his expression thunderous, “What did you just say?”

“Sit her up. I want to see her look us both in the eyes and repeat that ludicrous statement.” Lawton sounded every bit as pissed as Brodie looked. Brodie shifted and each of them slid a hand around one upper arm and lifted her effortlessly until she was leaning against the intricately carved headboard. Just touching the ornate wood showcasing wildly erotic scenes brought on a rush of memories about the times they’d used silk scarves to tie her to the hidden holds carved into the headboard while securing her legs to the posts at the foot of the bed. Just thinking about the way they’d driven her out of her mind with pleasure made her long for something she wasn’t sure either man was ever going to be ready to offer her. Cressi didn’t necessarily want promises of two point five children and white picket fences, but she didn’t want to write the idea off entirely either.

Brodie’s snarled, “Focus, Cressida. What the fuck did you mean when you said you have to get another job?”

Hoping the deep breath she’d taken would fortify her courage, Cressi looked up to see both men seated so they were facing her. “The month you promised me is almost over…and I just can’t—well, I can’t imagine going back to the way things were before.” She was fighting with everything she had to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. So much had happened in the past few hours she felt raw, but at this point she really didn’t have much left to lose. After discovering her sister had been lying to her for years and the man she’d talked to fewer than a handful of times had set her up as a stalker, opening yourself up to a humiliating rejection by the men you’d fallen in love with seemed like a normal progression in the clusterfuck her life had become.

“Look at me, Cressida.” The bite in Lawton’s voice surprised her, bringing her eyes up to meet his before her mind had even processed the command. The softness of his expression was in contrast to the conviction she’d heard in his voice. “This is our fault. You should never have to feel insecure about the way we feel about you, and before we go any further I want to apologize for that.” Cressi was shocked by his words, but didn’t have time to respond before he continued, “We’ve been waiting for the perfect time to talk to you about the future, but by waiting for that perfect moment, we’ve hurt you.” He smoothed the hair back from her face in a move that was so soothing she felt herself leaning into the touch. “The month timeline was yours, not ours, love. We’d have tied you to us for life from the very beginning if it had been up to us.”

Cressi was stunned—completely speechless—and that wasn’t something that happened often that was for sure. Brodie leaned closer to speak, “Cressida, we have been trying to figure out how to get you between us since the day we met you. Trust us when we tell you, the month deadline is meaningless. We’d planned to have this conversation after spending some time in the private room we’d reserved last night at the club, but as you know things didn’t go entirely as planned.”

“You don’t have to”

“Stop talking.” Lawton’s interruption wasn’t loud, but the steel behind the words was unmistakable. “Think, Cressida, when have you known either Brodie or myself to say or do anything we didn’t mean?”

Reluctantly she had to admit she’d never known either of them to sugarcoat anything, it had always been one of the things she admired most about them as businessmen and bosses, but that didn’t mean they weren’t trying to smooth her ruffled feathers now. “I just don’t want you to feel obligated. After what I learned last night from my sister…I’m not going to lie—it’s shaken my confidence and it’s going to take some time to sort through how I feel about it.”

Lawton pulled her hand into his own, “Parker told us. For what it is worth they encouraged Carli to talk to you, assuring her you are a lot stronger than she was giving you credit for. From what they said, it sounds like she hadn’t told you in the beginning to protect you from the pain, but as time went on it became more about her fear that you’d resent her. I don’t think she wanted to face the possibility of you cutting her out of your life.” Cressi chewed on her bottom lip as she considered the fact she very well might have cut her sister off and that would have been a mistake.

“She shouldn’t have made that choice for me, but obviously that pattern was established by our mother a long time ago. He’d made a couple of comments over the years about her death being my fault, so I’d suspected there was more to my father’s dislike than his resentment about me looking like my mom. Let’s face it, my sister and I look similar and she is actually the one who looks the most like our mother. He sure hasn’t had a problem with Carli gracing the covers of hundreds of magazines over the past couple of years. My guess he’s used the fact to further his position in Washington on many occasions—he’s really not a very nice man, but then you probably already figured that out.”

Brodie’s fingers slid down the side of her cheek and once again she instinctively turned into his touch. There had been so many times over the years when she had yearned for the emotional connection found in human touch. The power of a hug or a hand held safely in another is often underestimated by those who have never lost it. Both Brodie and Lawton touched her a lot, they had even before they’d become intimate—a gentle touch to her lower back meant to gently guide her as they moved through a restaurant, a warm palm resting on her forearm when they pointed out something to her. Now that she considered it, they’d been moving her toward this for a long time and she couldn’t hold the tears back any longer. Both men’s expressions darkened so she explained, “I love it when you touch me. It grounds me. After Mom died, my sister and our housekeeper were the only people who ever touched me.”

“That’s never going to be a problem for you again, baby. We’ve limited public displays of affection out of respect for you since our relationship hasn’t been made public yet. We didn’t want you to deal with any media exposure we didn’t initiate. But as soon as you agree to belong to us, we’ll let our public relations team have their fun—those people live for this stuff.” Cressi knew the lengths Brodie and Lawton went to in their efforts to avoid the paparazzi, but their social positions, families, and economic statuses kept them in the spotlight despite all of their efforts to avoid it.

“I’d like to wrap up the discussion part of this now, and move on to another type of touching before we get some much needed rest. The outside world can wait a few hours for us to resurface.” Cressi saw Brodie’s quick glance at Lawton before he added, “I don’t know about you, but I have an insane urge to share our lovely sub. It’s time to remind her what all she agreed to—what she will be continuing to agree to for many, many years to come.”

Before Cressi had fully processed his words, she found herself under Lawton. Looking up into his eyes as he lowered his lips to her own, her heart fluttered wildly at the possessive look in his eyes. Just before his lips sealed over hers, he practically growled, “You are ours, baby. Don’t ever question that again.” From the first brush of his soft lips against hers, the kiss was hot and clearly meant to convey a message that wasn’t lost on her. She
felt
possessed by him in that moment and thanks to the conversation they’d just had, Cressi was able to give so much more of herself over to the moment—the niggling fear in the back of her mind about Dale Roberts hadn’t faded, but at least now she knew she wouldn’t have to face it alone.

Cressi was so lost in Lawton’s attention she barely registered the fact Brodie moved off the bed. She heard him open the small drawer of his bedside table, but didn’t think about what that might mean until Lawton rolled them both until she was straddling him.
I don’t know exactly how that happened, but I sure do enjoy the view from up here.
Pulling away from the kiss, Cressi moved her hands up until the pads of her fingers, brushed Lawton’s nipples, causing them to draw up into tight buds. God, she loved knowing what her touch did to him, it was empowering to know she had the ability to elicit that moan of pleasure from a man who’d known plenty of women in his lifetime.

“If I belong to you, does that mean you both belong to me? Because if it does, then I think I should get equal time tying you to the bed and having my wicked way with you.” She’d hadn’t really expected an answer to her question, nor had she expected the stinging swat she’d gotten.

She hadn’t even realized Brodie had moved behind her until his hand moved from the place where he’d landed the slap spreading the warmth between her legs as his fingers slid through her slick folds.
Their touch sets me on fire.
Pressing his bare chest against her back, he leaned over her shoulder and nuzzled her ear, “We will let you explore and play, but we don’t bottom—ever. Don’t ask for what you don’t really want, pet.”
How did he know?

“Your face is so expressive, baby, it’s almost as if it has a voice all its own. We know you well, and we know your body even better than you do. You are a sexual submissive through and through, your pleasure is amplified when you give up control. Those few moments when we can push that brilliant mind of yours to finally shut down for a few minutes—just long enough for you to let go of all the worries you carry around with you—those are the times we live for. Seeing that surrender reflected in your eyes as they go unfocused just before your orgasm swamps you is what drives us. You won’t ever find that kind of release if you’re pretending to be something you are not—and, baby, you are not a top.”

She wanted to argue, but even as she opened her mouth to respond she knew he was speaking the truth. He kissed the tip of her nose and grinned, “Smart girl. No need to deny what we already know. Remember, there are two things we’ll never let go without a
response
. Lying, either to us or to yourself will always earn punishment—even if it’s a lie by omission. The second thing we will always address quickly is putting yourself in danger or not taking care of yourself. That is also going to elicit a response from us that you may not enjoy.”

Once again Brodie spoke over her shoulder, “For example, going out on your own to get supplies when you are too ill to know what’s happening around you.”
Nothing subtle about that, geez.
Several responses played out in her mind, but none of them seemed prudent so she kept quiet. The sparkle she saw in Lawton’s eyes told her he knew she’d intentionally held back.

“Are you wet for me, baby?”
Always.

“Yes.” She moaned the answer because he’d used his hands on her hips to slide her sex along the length of his erection. The neatly trimmed patch of hair at his groin stimulated her clit making her want to rock against him, but his grip held her still.

“Take me, baby. Ride me while Master Brodie prepares you to take us both.” His voice was rough with arousal and even though she was apprehensive, she’d known this was coming. They’d been patiently preparing her for a couple of weeks and even though she’d been looking forward to this moment—now that it had arrived she worried she might disappoint them. “You have a safe word, love—but you aren’t going to need it. You’re ready and Brodie is going to make sure your sweet ass is begging for his cock before he slides into you.” She’d already positioned the head of his cock at her entrance and at his words she slid all the way down his length in one quick move, moaning at the sweet burn as her vaginal walls stretched to accommodate his girth. Both men were well endowed from what she’d seen, just thinking about them both being inside her at the same time sent a shiver through her.