Unlawful Attraction: The Complete Box Set: Alpha Billionaire Romance (27 page)

“That's not an answer.” My chest tightened. I knew what I'd done. Or, at least, tried to do. I had no reason to doubt he hadn't done the same, no matter how much I wanted to think he hadn't.

“You want to hear that I fucked someone? Is that it?” His mouth twisted. “Fine. I did. But all I could think about was you. It was nothing more than a mindless fuck. No more than jerking off would've been.”

It was a hell of a lot different than jerking off.

“Don't worry about it.” I shrugged, trying not to let him see how much the thought of him with another woman hurt. “You’re not the first man who offered a line of shit to get in a woman's pants. We both had fun, so no harm, no foul, right?”

His eyes darkened and I knew he was angry at how flippant I sounded.

Too bad. Hurt shifted into anger.

Rising up onto my toes, I put my hand on his chest and pressed my lips to his ear. “Besides, it’s not like I’ve spent every night alone pining for you.”

It wasn’t even a lie. Stretching the truth, maybe. But not a lie.

In a blink, I found myself pinned to the wall, his mouth a breath from mine. “I'm not the sort of man you can toy with.”

My breath hissed out of me in a shocked rush as he licked my lower lip, then sucked it into his mouth. When he let go, I had to fight not to whimper.

“Do you really want to keep pushing me?” he asked, sliding a hand down my belly, his fingers pointing down so that I could feel the tips brushing over my crotch. He curled them in, and I gasped as he pressed them against me, forcing the seam of my jeans to rub into my sensitive flesh.

Swallowing, I stared at him.

He did it again, and then licked my lip, sucked it into his mouth. This time, before he let me go, he sank his teeth into the fleshy bit. He released it a little slower even as he increased the pressure of his fingers between my thighs. I couldn’t swallow the moan, and my hands curled into fists as I tried not to move my hips against him.

“Tell me you met up with some guy. That you found some Sub here and let your inner Dom out. Did it help any? You sure don’t feel like anybody has let you burn the edge off.”

He popped the button on my jeans and dipped his hand inside. When he slid his fingers past the waistband of my panties, I closed my eyes, my head falling back as I sucked in air.

“You’re so tight.” His voice was rough. “I think you’d come if I just...did...”

He twisted his fingers and I felt my body tightening, ready, eager. But before I could reach it, he stopped.

“See how close you are? Tell me about the guy you were with, Dena. Did you let him get you naked? Did you suck his cock? Did he go down on you?”

I opened my eyes to mere slits and glared at him.

“You’re an asshole,” I said.

“That’s not an answer.” He pushed one knee between my thighs and shoved upward. “Unless it is. Is that it?” Jealousy laced his words. “Did you take his cock there, Dena? Up that snug, sweet ass? Did you make your Sub fuck your ass?”

I leaned in, quick as a snake, and nipped his lower lip. He responded by fisting his hand in my hair and yanking my head back. We glared at each other for a long, tense moment, and then, slowly, he lowered me back to the floor.

“I didn’t pick up a Sub.” I ran my tongue along my swollen bottom lip. “I found a Dom...and I brought him into one of the rooms here.”

Arik growled.

“No one Dominates you but me.” His voice was fierce.

I dug my nails into the back of his neck. “I don't do one-way claims, Arik.”

His eyes held mine for several seconds.

And then his mouth slammed down on mine.

The next few minutes were a struggle between us. He controlled the kiss, but I didn’t want to yield. I was too angry. Angry for wanting him, for not being able to have him. Angry at him for fucking another woman and at myself for caring.

He fought to free me from my clothes and after a moment, I began to tear at his shirt, then his jeans. I wasn't even sure how we managed to get our clothes off, only that they seemed to be there one moment and gone the next.

When he stopped kissing me, I swore at him. He chuckled and flipped me over, pulling me onto my hands and knees. I barely had a moment to adjust to the new position when he was there, pushing inside me with one near-brutal thrust.

He was big and hard, and I felt every ridge, every groove. I'd be feeling him inside me for days.

Suddenly, he stiffened. “Shit, Dena...I’m not...I didn't...”

He didn't have to finish the sentence. I reached back as he started to pull out, my fingers wrapping around his wrist. I looked over my shoulder at him.

“I’m on the pill. I’m clean. Are you?”

He groaned, a shudder running through him. “Yes.”

I shivered at the want in his voice. Something inside felt a little broken, a little battered. Still watching his face, I opened my mouth, uncertain what I was going to say until the words came out.

“Either we have something going or we don’t. If you don’t want to see me for anything but this...” I gasped as he rolled his hips. “Then enjoy it. This is the last time.”

“Dena,” he rasped out my name as he withdrew and then slammed forward again.

Over and over, he drove into me, his fingers digging into my hips. Every inch of me was on fire, pleasure and pain coming together until I knew I wouldn't survive the explosion. There was no finesse in this, no S&M games. It was sheer domination and submission in its purest form. One person handing over control to the other with the sort of trust that rarely existed between two people.

When I came, I managed to stay upright only through sheer will and the grip of Arik's hands on my hips. Then he followed, curling his body over mine, lips pressed to my shoulder. He stayed there for a minute, not putting his full weight on me, but enough that I felt...safe. Protected.

I tried to get to my feet as he straightened, but my legs were still quivering too much to hold me. A few seconds later, I no longer needed to worry about it because he picked me up and carried me over to the bed.

Closing my eyes, I waited to hear the door close. But it didn't. Instead, I felt the dip of the bed, and then the warmth of him as he wrapped his arm around me, tucking me against his chest as he pulled a blanket over us. I tried not to think about how perfectly my body fit with his.

“What’s your phone number?” he asked, his voice drowsy. “I was careless last time and forgot the paper.”

“Maybe it just wasn't that important to you,” I countered. “Since you were so
careless
.”

“Tell me.”

His tone didn't leave much room for argument, and I didn't really have the strength to push back anymore.

I told him and he recited it back.

But I didn’t ask him for his number.

Not yet. I wasn’t sure if I was ready.

Chapter 9

Arik

I’d lost track of time.

I knew it was late, and I knew both of us had slept off and on. And I knew Dena was still asleep now.

I also knew that if I was smart, I’d wake her up, because we both had a job to do in the morning and even if she was friends with the owner, I doubted they'd want us spending the whole night here. Besides, it wasn't like we could wear club clothes to work.

My stomach tightened at the thought of seeing Dena in a court room, arguing a case, while wearing those tight jeans and that shirt. I doubted a single straight man in the room would hear a word she said.

All I could care about, though, was that Dena felt amazing in my arms and I was more at peace now than I had been in a very long time. Since moving here for sure. I wasn't certain I'd ever felt this way even back in Chicago.

She made a grumbling sound under her breath, an odd noise that made me smile. I thought about maybe rolling her onto her back, spreading her thighs and licking a path down her belly to her pussy. I’d bring her close to the edge, and then bury myself inside to trigger her orgasm.

Dena closed her hand around my half-hard cock.

My breath hissed out from between my teeth as I arched up into her touch. She fisted me tight, dragging her hand up, then down. As I watched, she sat up and stared down at me, eyes heavy-lidded, hair mussed. Her bottom lip was slightly swollen and I wanted to bite it again.

“I was...” I paused, trying to gather my thoughts as she twisted her wrist just near the head and tightened her grip to just this side of painful. “Hmmmm...do that again.”

She did and whatever I'd been thinking scattered. It took me a moment to regain it.

“I was thinking about waking you up.”

“You missed your chance.” Her voice was lower than normal, full of something deep and sexual, of something that was purely
her
.

I started to sit, but she pushed me down with a hand on my chest and threw her leg over my hips. I caught her waist, but didn't move her. I watched as she straddled me, waited to see what she was going to do next.

“I’m not in the mood for
master may I
,” she said, staring at me, a defiant look in her pale eyes.

She slid against me, her cunt slick and hot.

“I...” I supported her weight as she lifted up. “I have no problem with that.”

A moment later, she sank down on me, and I groaned. She was so tight, her body so small that I had to wonder how I managed to fit inside her. Then she began to move, leaning forward to give herself the leverage she wanted.

The view was mesmerizing.

There’s nothing like having a woman straddle you, the way her breasts lift and move, feeling her pussy gripping your cock. And a woman like Dena...with her delicate features and pale skin, she looked like some sort of ethereal creature.

A faint half-smile curled her lips as she rode me, her breath catching when I arched up into her. Her fingers flexed on my chest, nails biting into my skin, sending the sweetest pricks of pain through me. She was going to leave a mark on me.

As if she hadn't already.

She panted my name and my eyes met hers. Our rhythm sped up and, all too soon, we took each other straight over the edge, ending the best damn ride of my life.

As she collapsed against my chest, I curled my arms around her and wondered if maybe I hadn’t found the most perfect woman in the world.

***

We stood on the curb outside the club, the chilly October air waking me up more than anything else had. I’d already flagged her down a cab and it sat idling at the curb. A part of me didn't want to let her go.

As she climbed inside, I leaned down after her. She gave me a sober look and I whispered her number into her ear.

Instead of the smile I'd been hoping for, I got a blank face that told me she was already pulling away.

“I’ll be impressed if you actually use it,” she said.

If
. She said
if
rather than
when
. I couldn’t be offended, though, not after the way I’d acted. But, still, there was something I wanted to know.

“You didn’t ask for mine.”

That blank look didn't change. “I’m not going to. Not until I know you’re not being an ass again.”

She shrugged and looked away.

I kissed her cheek and then pulled back, resisting the urge to take her mouth...or climb in the back with her and go back to my place where I could take more than her mouth.

After they’d pulled off into the night, I turned and started to walk. It wasn’t that far to my apartment, and I needed to think.

I never should have left her number behind to begin with, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to neglect calling her this time. I ran through the number again just to make sure I still had it. I’d never been with a woman who made me feel what Dena did. I couldn’t even describe it, but it was...something.

Something different.

Something amazing.

Something...real.

It was time, I decided. Time to stop chasing one woman after another, time to stop bouncing around, hoping I could find more than one Sub I clicked with. Time for something more than just sex.

Although, it was funny. If I’d been looking for a woman, I never would have chosen her. I wouldn’t have thought I’d be happy with a switch, somebody who had their own dominant streak, who made me work for every inch. But that was one of the things I found myself drawn to, something I wanted in a partner. A person who automatically did everything I said to do without a word had once been appealing, but I now realized that desire had stopped when I'd stopped caring only about sex and started looking for something outside the bedroom.

I wanted Dena.

Chapter 10

Dena

Face down in the pillows, I tried to ignore the world a little longer.

It was raining, which wasn't strange for New York in October. I could hear the persistent drops pelting my window, and the dim light that had managed to filter in through the edges of the blinds was that thin watery gray that only came with an autumn rain.