Surrendering to Us (2 page)

“Why, Miss Clarke, are you trying to intimidate me into giving up corporate secrets? That is very against the new rules I just happened to catch a glimpse of.”

“How in the hell did you know about that?”

“I have my own eyes and ears.”

“Mrs. Andrews?” He lifted his chin in the air and turned his head away from me.

“I will never reveal my sources. You forget that I once worked as a corporate spy. I know how to keep a secret and find information that other people don’t want me to know.” It was true. He had lying skills that I could never hope to acquire. It worried me, but only sometimes. He’d been so open with me about everything since he’d told me what he was doing at Clarke Enterprises and who he really was. It was almost a shock after him being so secretive for so long.

We took the T back to our (I still got flutters every time I thought about it) apartment. After groping each other in the elevator, I was fully ready and prepared for a long night of making love, hopefully with a shower, sleep and some food thrown in between. But as soon as I had gotten the door unlocked and open, and he had shoved me against the counter in the kitchen, there was a frantic knock. Lucah and I paused, mid-kiss, and his hand paused as it was lifting my leg up to wrap it around his waist.

“I know you guys are in there, and I’m praying that you aren’t mid-coitus. But if you are, remove your penis from my BFF, Lucah, and open the damn door.” Lucah and I stared at each other and I suppressed the urge to groan.

Sloane had been so good when we’d lived together about giving Lucah and me alone time, and even making us dinner, but since we’d moved down the hall, things had been very different.

“If we don’t let her in, she’ll never go away,” he whispered in my ear as his fingers tickled my thigh. Yeah, didn’t I know it.

We’d tried ignoring her once when we HAD been mid-coitus and she had just blown up both of our phones and knocked until Lucah had pulled out, we’d adjusted our clothes and let her in.

“Hello, former best friend,” I said as I opened the door. She just held up a bottle of champagne and walked in. Granted, we did use to live together, but that had changed a few weeks ago. I’d threatened to revoke her key privileges, but she just told me she’d made a ton of copies.

“Hello, Sloane,” Lucah said, leaning against the counter. At least he didn’t have a hard-on this time. Maybe he’d gotten better at getting rid of it. Turn it on, turn it off. Penis up, penis down.

“Look, I know you two are just about to have a night full of crazy sex that Rory will regale me with later, but I came with a peace offering.” She held out the bottle in both hands and bowed over it, as if she was giving us a precious gift. “It’s the last bottle of ‘96 Dom a client sent me. I saved it special for you. And I also wanted to tell you that I will, from here on out, give you your space. Another gift from me to you.” I took the bottle from her and went to find a bottle opener. I’d had to pretty much re-buy every utensil in my kitchen, because most of them had been Sloane’s and she’d kept them in our old place.

“What’s up, Ginger?” Lucah ignored her and went to the cabinet to get glasses, but he brought three down. He might complain about her interrupting us, but he was always kind to her. Yet another reason I loved him. I couldn’t say the same for Sloane, but I loved her anyway.

“Not a whole lot, what’s new with you?” He was fishing to see if she’d had any contact with his brother. Sparks had nearly ignited the building when they’d met a few weeks ago when Ryder came to help Lucah and me move down the hall.

I’d warned Lucah about it, and he’d been skeptical until he’d seen them in action. Sloane had even tried to get me to invite him to the company Ball, but I put my foot down on that one. Since then, I hadn’t heard any mention of his name, and Lucah said that Ryder hadn’t said anything to him either.

“Nothing. Just swamped with work. I have some new things I was thinking that our girl could wear.” Lucah’s eyes lit up. This was one thing that Lucah and Sloane saw eye-to-eye on. Me wearing her sexy lingerie.

I popped the cork on the champagne and poured us all glasses. My stomach rumbled, but I’d have to deal with it. As if reading my mind, Sloane went to the fridge, pulled out some cheese and then got some crackers and a plate. When it came to food, she did most of the grocery shopping for herself and then for Lucah and me. Things would just appear in my fridge that I didn’t buy, and she would plead innocence. Pretty sure she thought that if she didn’t monitor my eating, I would be reduced to starving, or eating chips because I couldn’t function without her.

“Thanks,” I said as she handed me a cracker sandwich.

“I’m making steak skewers with aioli and an arugula salad with grilled pears and crème fraiche over at my place. It should be done in a few minutes.” She said the whole thing with a smirk.

“What do you want?” I said, taking a swallow of the champagne. It was crisp and delicious. I knew the significance of the vintage, and they hadn’t been lying. I wanted to just grab the bottle and drink the rest of it myself.

“I don’t want a thing,” she said, popping a cube of cheese into her mouth. “I just . . . have a proposition for you. And for you, actually.” She turned to Lucah, and he raised one eyebrow. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I had the feeling I wasn’t going to like it, and neither was Lucah.

“So, your brother needs a job, correct?” That was all she needed to say for me to know what she wanted.

“No,” I said and Lucah shook his head and swallowed some of the champagne.

“No to what? You haven’t even heard my idea!”

“I can pretty much figure out your idea, and the answer is no,” I said. I glanced at Lucah. Back me up here.

“I don’t need your permission,” she said, draining the glass of champagne.

“No, you don’t, Sloane. But that’s not the way to get what you want,” Lucah finally said.

“How do you know what I want? Can you read my mind?” Sloane snapped, pouring more of the champagne. Oh, crap. This was not going to end well. Sloane liked to get her way.

“No, but I know the effect my brother can have. I’ve seen it many times, and I’ve seen what happens when that initial spark dies out. He’s not very nice, my brother, and he needs to figure his shit out. This is not the solution.” His speech was met with silence from Sloane.

“It was just a suggestion.” She acted like a pouty teenager, and it was completely out of character for her. I wondered if this had anything to do with the conversation we’d had not that long ago about her being afraid that she was going to end up alone. I also had the suspicion that Lucah and me moving in together had something to do with her extremely petulant and childish behavior. Just a hunch.

“I have to go check on dinner,” she said and left, taking her champagne glass with her.

“That went well,” I said, finishing my glass and pouring some more. The bottle was almost empty. So much for savoring the vintage.

“It’ll be for the best, in the long run. He’d break her, and I couldn’t stand to see that happen. She’s too good for him.” It wasn’t that Lucah had such a low opinion of his brother. Ryder’s track record spoke for itself. Lucah had filled me in on more of the dirty details, and most of the stories were shocking.

Ryder had done it all. Sex, drugs and rock and roll, leaving a trail of heartbroken women in his wake. One had even killed herself when he’d broken up with her. She’d been severely depressed and on drugs at the time. Drugs he’d sold her. And there was more. So much more.

It would be so much easier of Sloane was a teenager and I was her mother. Then I could lock her in her room. But maybe I could lock her in her apartment . . .

“But if she’s determined to have him, in whatever sense, there is nothing we can do about it. God, I wish I could ship him off to military school,” Lucah said.

This had been happening increasingly more often. I would think something and then he would say nearly the same thing out loud. Sometimes I wondered if Lucah and I were absorbing each other and someday we’d wake up and we’d be attached at the hip. Literally. That wouldn’t be so bad.

“I know, but she’s an adult and she has to make her own decisions.” He held out his arms and I leaned into them while he pulled my hair out of its low ponytail and ran his fingers through it.

“We could always tell her he has herpes.” That made me smile.

“I love you.”

“I love you, Sunshine.” Love made you feel fluttery even when your boyfriend mentioned herpes.

Sloane’s dinner was delicious, of course. All her dinners were. This happened to be extra fabulous, as if she was trying to rub it in our faces. Thankfully, she did let us eat alone, but not before she left a box for me, with strict orders that we weren’t to open it until we’d finished dinner. I had to race Lucah to get to it before he could.

“No peeking. It ruins the surprise.” I dashed to my bathroom and locked the door. I think he let me win that race on purpose, though. I knew he liked seeing the lingerie on me better than seeing it in the box.

This time it was a black bra and panties that were made out of the same material as my gown from the company ball, and had little ruffles. It was adorable, but not the kind of thing you could wear under clothes, because of the ruffles. So I had no choice but to open the bathroom door and slink slowly out into the living room. Lucah was scraping up the last of the crème fraiche from the plate that the grilled peaches had been on.

“What do you think, Mr. Blythe?” I tried to go for the breathy Marilyn Monroe voice, and I leaned on the doorway, with my butt popped out. Lucah dropped the spoon. Ahhh, so satisfying.

It never ceased to delight me when I showed him one of Sloane’s new projects and he had this reaction.

“I’m thinking that maybe I was a little harsh on Sloane, and also that I need to get you to bed. Now.” He grabbed me and I screamed. He threw me over his shoulder and marched to the bedroom. With another growl, he dropped me on the bed and then did a flying leap and landed right next to me. I covered my eyes and screamed.

“You didn’t think I was going to hurt you, did you? Silly girl. I’d never hurt you.” He brushed my hair out of my eyes.

“No, but I’m going to hurt you if you don’t get these clothes off and fuck me, posthaste.” I pulled at his shirt to make my point.

“Yes, Miss Clarke. Whatever you say, Miss Clarke.” He batted his eyelashes at me and started loosening his tie. Painfully slowly. Bastard.

“Huh. This tie won’t come off. I think I need a hand. Or two.” Now I was the one diving on top of him. I wrenched the tie out of his hands and used it to pull his mouth to mine. He stuck his tongue in my mouth and I lightly bit down on it as my hands worked on the tie. He broke the kiss and smiled.

“Bad girl. Do you really want to go to work with marks all over you tomorrow? Because I can make that happen. I have no problem nibbling your sweet skin. Every little inch of it.” He blew on my exposed shoulder, which distracted me from getting the tie from around his neck.

“Stop that, or there will be no ‘coffee’ for you, Mr. Blythe.” He knew what I meant. He glared at me, but stopped when I started unbuttoning his shirt and followed each open button with a kiss. Once I got his shirt off, I went to work, kissing and sucking, freckle, to freckle, making sure I paid ample attention to each of his nipples, especially the one with the hoop through it. He moaned when I tugged on it a little with my teeth.

“I like that sound. I think I’ll make it my ringtone,” I said as I licked and sucked my way down to this belly button and then to the little trail of hair that disappeared under the waist of his pants. I made quick work of his belt, and then I had to shimmy down further to get his shoes off. I ran one fingernail on the underside of each foot and that made him growl again.

Then I grabbed the bottom of his pants and yanked. It took some work, but I got them off. You’d think with us having sex so much, I’d get good at undressing him, but I struggled sometimes.

I nearly cheered when I finally got his pants off, but instead, I kissed my way from his feet on up. His breathing got harsh and he started cursing, and his hips jerked a little. He’d messed with me, so now it was time to return the favor.

I paused with my face only inches from his dick. I blew a little and he made a strangled sound.

“Do you want your cock in my mouth?” I flicked my tongue out and caressed the very tip, just a little bit.

“No, not really,” he said, his voice tense with anticipation.

I licked him again.

“Liar.” I took him into my mouth, as far as I could. I’d gotten better at doing this, and Lucah never seemed disappointed. I sucked and then dragged my teeth along his length to the tip.

“Fuuuuuuccckkkkkk,” he said. His hands grabbed at my head and fisted in my hair, pulling a little. I didn’t mind one bit. I loved seeing him come undone because of me. I was the only one who could make him feel like this, make him say those things.

Watching him lose himself in pure pleasure that I created was a powerful feeling, and it made me feel like a goddess of desire. Which, of course, only made me want him more.