“Do you now?” I had to smile again.
“It's Elissa,” she told me.
“And Elissa is…?”
“The receptionist.” She never even glanced down at her hip as the thing kept on buzzing in its little clip-on holster at her waist. “She knows I'm up here.”
I was mildly curious but not enough to delve into it. If the receptionist was out with the general populace of the building, that meant she could be near Kender, and I had the need to gloat.
“By all means,” I told her with a wave of my hand, “answer the phone before it goes to voicemail and she assumes the worst.”
Her hand was shaking a little as she pulled the phone out. She greeted her friend and sounded amazingly calm, given the circumstances. I could hear the mumblings of a woman’s voice on the other end but not the words. Olivia looked to my eyes, and I just watched, wondering exactly what she would say.
“I'm…um…in Mr. Kender's office…I know, but…”
While she blabbered, I stood quietly and took a step forward. I reached up and placed my hand over hers and pulled the phone away.
“Hello there, Elissa,” I said sweetly.
“Who is this?” The woman’s voice growled at first and then softened. “She’s just a kid—don’t hurt her.”
“Tell me, is Mr. Kender near you?” I asked, ignoring her comment.
“He’s standing a few feet away from me,” she said.
“Hand the phone to him now, without a word, or I'm going to start removing body parts from your friend here.”
“Fuck!” she said in a voice mixed with anger and fear. At the same time, I heard Olivia gasp. I glanced up at her eyes, and I saw the panic in them. Shit, I really hadn’t meant to do that. I wasn’t a monster, and I didn’t hurt innocents. Of course, then I had to think about the definition of a monster and realized I did kind of fit the bill, regardless of my motivations. Still, I wanted her to know she was safe—I wasn’t going to hurt her. I would never hurt her.
Shaking my head sharply, I placed my finger over her lips, silencing her gasps. I touched her jaw and stroked her cheek softly. She shivered a little. I won’t hurt you, baby…
“This is Mr. Kender…” The son-of-a-bitch was actually talking to me.
“Mr. Kender, so nice to speak with you again,” I said. I had to move away from the distraction that was the little PA and sat down in his chair again. I took a deep breath and watched the progress of the file copy on the screen. More than halfway done. I rested the heels of my shoes on top of the bastard’s desk.
“Lebourn, you little shit.” Kender’s voice growled back at me. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“I've been enjoying the company of your PA,” I responded innocently. “She's been very informative—with a little persuasion.”
I winked at her. Couldn’t help myself. I heard Kender snort in the background.
“I'm a little surprised, actually. She's a lot older than your usual tastes. She's probably out of high school at least, you sick little fuck.”
“Listen to me, you vigilante little cocksucker! You’ve got nothing—nothing—on me! No matter what you think, there’s no one who gives a shit that’s ever going to listen to you!”
To save my hearing, I had to pull the speaker away from my ear.
“I sure hope you walked away from the crowd,” I said when he was done yelling. “You're not exactly subtle.”
“I’m not stupid, you little prick.” I had to concede him that point. If he was stupid, I would have had all this information years ago. Maybe if I had, I wouldn’t be as wrapped up in everything as I was now. If he was stupid, maybe my life wouldn’t have turned out this way. Didn’t matter though—what was done was done.
I looked back to Olivia as she shuffled back and forth a little in her bright red shoes. Her teeth were sunk into her bottom lip as she alternated from staring at the ground to glancing up at me through her lashes. She seemed so young though she had to be twenty or so. I wondered if Kender liked her in those shoes, and the thought pissed me off. If he had done anything to her, I might have to forget my plan and just put a bullet in his brain.
“She's extremely attractive,” I said into the phone, but I could tell by the look on her face she knew I was talking to her. “Is that why you hired her, Kender? Are you trying to tap this sweet young thing? Have you laid a hand on her at all?”
“Give it up, Lebourn…” I ignored the rest of his sentence as I focused on her. Her head shook back and forth hard enough to make her hair spread out over her shoulders. I smiled up at her, glad to have her confirming it even as Kender’s sneering voice denied it as well.
“Good,” I mouthed to her, and she blushed for me again. Time to get down to business. I looked away from her and watched the file copy process as I barked into the phone. “I've got the files, Kender, and this is just the first step. When I'm done with you, you are going to wish I had just pulled the trigger.”
“You know, we can make a deal, Lebourn,” Kender said quietly into the phone. “Whatever you think you have there, it won’t be enough. You’ll never be able to trace it back to me.”
I could hear the panic rising in his voice. Whatever was contained here, it had to be exactly what I needed, and he knew it.
“What’s it going take, Adam?”
Give me my niece back.
Give me my brother back.
Give me my life back.
“You know you have your price. Just name it.”
I had to laugh though there wasn’t anything funny about it.
“Not a chance! Now hand the lady her phone,” I yelled. After barely hearing his promises to make me regret what I was doing, the receptionist was back on the phone. What the hell was her name? Oh, yeah. “Elissa, I want to thank you for allowing that piece of trash to use your cell. I would suggest you have it cleaned. I wanted you to know your friend is safe—she won't be harmed in any way. Sorry for the earlier threat, but I really needed to talk to him.”
I shut the phone, dropped my feet back to the floor and stood up, handing the cell back to Olivia, who immediately started babbling.
“So…um…you have what you came for? Are you going to let me go now?”
“Let you go?” Images of her wrapped up in my arms with my lips sucking against the skin of her neck pelted my head. “I didn't realize I was holding on to you.”
I took a step forward and watched her gaze drop to my lips. I licked them, and her eyes dilated slightly.
“I rather like the idea though,” I said quietly.
“What idea?”
“Holding on to you.”
“What's stopping you?”
Now there was an interesting question. I wondered if she was actually playing with me, but the way her fingers twisted together, I knew it was only nervousness.
“It didn't seem like the most opportune moment,” I replied with a shrug. “Technically, you are my captive though I have never actually told you leaving wasn’t an option, and you have never asked to be released.”
“I guess I kind of assumed…”
“You know what they say about the word ‘assume,’” I said with a smirk.
“So…I could go?”
“Hmm…you could.” I nodded, hating the idea of both letting her leave and telling her she had to stay. “You could also buy into the whole Stockholm Syndrome thing. If you did that, I might find an opportune moment.”
“Stockholm Syndrome?” She obviously hadn’t seen any of the movies.
“Never mind,” I said dismissively. The whole idea was ridiculous, anyway. “Stupid psycho bullshit that only really occurs in movies. We're not in a movie.”
“I can't argue with that,” she replied, and something in her tone surprised me. I would have expected sarcasm, even venom, but there was none. If anything, she sounded…disappointed. It gave me an edge, probably too much of one.
“If we were in a movie,” I dropped my voice low, “then this would
be the part where I would make my move on you. Maybe shove you up against the desk and show you the way I'd mark you if you were mine.”
“That sounds like an interesting movie.”
Holy shit.
What was she trying to say? Was the idea actually interesting to her? Did she want me to make a move on her? I mentally processed every movement she had made since she entered the office—slow, cautious, meticulous. Once she got the idea, she did everything I told her to do. I would have thought her obedience stemmed from fear, but now…now I was seeing something different.
“Is that a movie you would like to see, Olivia?”
“I'd rather not choose,” she replied, and her eyes dropped to the ground in the most submissive gesture I had ever seen. She blinked a few times before taking a deep breath and looking back at me again through her long, dark lashes. I was instantly as hard as a rock, my dick pressing painfully against the Glock shoved down the front of my trousers. She wanted this. She wanted me, and I wasn’t about to deny either her wishes or my own. I knew what I wanted. I always knew what I wanted.
I grabbed her by the waist and brought her up tight against me before devouring her mouth with my own. I reached my tongue between her lips, and she didn’t hesitate to let me in as her arms wrapped around my neck. Her mouth tasted like heaven, and I wanted it all. I gripped her back through her thin blouse for a moment before I reached farther down, my hands finding purchase on the glorious mounds of her ass. I wanted to grind myself into her heat, but she wasn’t tall enough, even with the heels, so I lifted her effortlessly—she weighed practically nothing—and dropped her ass onto the edge of the desk. I never broke contact with her lips but pushed against her roughly.
I gripped her sides, moved up her ribs, over the edges of her breasts, then around her arms and up her neck until I had her face in my hands, holding her head to mine. I pushed her backwards with my body, and her hands dropped from my shoulders so she could brace herself against the desk. I caressed her tongue with mine before kissing and licking her chin and moving down to her throat. I was going to mark her, label her, and show everyone what was mine. I found her breast with my hand and cupped it, running my thumb over her hardening nipple as she gasped warm breath into my hair. I sucked at her skin—hard—feeling the warmth of her blood underneath her flesh. When I opened my eyes, I could see the reddish-purple mark blemishing her skin. I licked the spot and pulled back.
“You're going to have to button that blouse all the way up later,” I told her. I wasn’t going to hide what I was doing—she knew I was claiming her. I pressed my lips back to her neck, and I didn’t miss the way she tilted her head to give me better access. She wanted this. She wanted me to claim her.
Friction was what I needed—just a little friction—then I was going to bury myself in her as quickly as fucking possible. I could hear her arousal in her breaths and feel it in the rapid beating of her carotid artery under my lips. I could practically smell how wet she was, and I wanted to taste her, but I wanted to be inside of her worse. I grabbed her ass again and pulled her forward.
It fucking hurt as the barrel of the Glock slammed against my cock. I yanked it out of my pants and tossed it aside. She wasn’t going to grab for it. If there was anything I had learned over the past few years, it was how to judge a person’s character. She wasn’t going to stop me. I latched my lips to her throat again and shoved hard between her legs, my dick now meeting nothing but her hot wet core underneath her panties as her skirt rode up her thighs.
“I want inside of you,” I said, sounding more base than I had meant to, but she was driving me crazy, and I wanted her to know it. “Since you walked through that door, I've had trouble thinking about anything other than having you naked and riding my cock. I don't even have a fucking condom, but I just might be willing to take the risk.”
“My period just ended yesterday.”
I had never been prone to fainting, but her words nearly caused me to do just that. I kept my grip on her ass and ground into her again.
“Are you sure?” I asked as I licked up the side of her neck and tasted the shell of her ear.
“I'm sure it ended yesterday,” she said.
I swear, if she didn’t start answering the right fucking questions, I was going to go insane. Obviously, I was going to have to be perfectly fucking clear.
“Are you sure you want me to fuck you without any protection?” I breathed warm air against her ear and felt her shiver. As badly as I wanted her, I wanted her to know that I was not only serious, but I was also safe. If she wanted it—if she was willing to take the chance—then I was going to give it to her. “I'm clean, but you only have my word to go on.”
“I believe you.” Her voice was breathy, but her tone was deadpan, and it sent a chill down my spine. I considered the position she was in, and Stockholm Syndrome aside, she may very well have been thinking she had to give me what I wanted, regardless of her own feelings on the matter. Her body told me she wanted this, but I needed the approval of her mind as well.
“You don't have to do this,” I told her, and I tried to convey my sincerity with my eyes. I didn’t want her to think I would force her to do anything. I had to make sure she understood that. “You understand that, don't you? This is your choice if you want it. You will not be harmed regardless of your decision. I swear to you, I will make sure you are home safely by the end of the day, no matter what you do. Do you want to have sex with me, Olivia? Because I really want to lay you over this desk and listen to you scream my name when you come but only if you want it, too.”
“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “Um…does it have to be on the desk?”
I couldn’t help my laugh as I realized that was her only trepidation—she didn’t want to be fucked on a hard, wooden surface. Fair enough. I gestured toward the black leather couch on the other side of the office.
“Would that be better?”
“Yes, please.”
I lifted her up, and her legs circled my waist as her arms wrapped around my shoulders. I carried her to the side of the couch and gently lowered her. I needed to see more skin. I needed to mark her again.
“Unbutton your blouse,” I heard myself mumble. And for the sake of elucidation, I made sure she knew exactly what I meant. “All the way this time.”
Her lips pressed together tightly, stifling what must have been a laugh. Her hands, though they were shaking a little, made quick work of the buttons on her blouse. When she completed the last button, she dropped her hands to her sides, and I immediately pushed the fabric from her shoulders. I saw light tan, silky fabric with a touch of lace around the edges. I wasn’t surprised but strangely intrigued by her simplicity, her innocence. I slipped my finger under the strap at her shoulder, then ran down the edge until it traced over the top of her breast.
“Simple, beautiful, no pretenses,” I murmured. Though it wasn’t easy, I lifted my eyes back to hers. “You are exquisite.”
She bit into her lip, and her eyes danced away from mine. She had no idea what was to come next, and she needed me to tell her. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but my cock got harder.
“Unzip you skirt,” I told her as I stepped back a bit. She hesitated for a moment, and I lifted an eyebrow at her. Her cheeks turned pink, but she reached behind her back, and I heard the sound of the zipper being lowered. She placed her hands at the waistband, but I stopped her. I was going to teach her exactly what I wanted—one step at a time, baby. I’ll tell you what comes next. She met my gaze, and I could see her confusion.
“I want to do that,” I informed her. I pushed her hands away and gripped the top of the skirt before slowly pushing it down her legs as I dropped down in front of her. I lifted her feet one at a time and chucked the skirt off to the side. I grazed over the edge of the straps of her heels, up around her ankles, and then up the back of her bare leg. I brought my hand back down again, reveling in her smooth, pale skin. I focused on the strap of the heels again and smiled to
myself.
“Hmm…I think we'll leave these where they are.”
“You want me to leave my shoes on?”
“They're fucking hot,” I said. There was no doubt in my mind. “Yes, I want them on.”
I moved my hands back up her legs and gazed at the tan lacy panties that matched her bra, then looked at her face. She blushed again and seemed embarrassed by my appraisal. I didn’t want her embarrassed.
“That blush is also fucking hot,” I said. I positioned my hands on her hips and used her for balance as I stood again. As tempting as it was to dive my face straight into her pussy, I wanted inside of her more. I leaned over close and whispered in her ear.
“I want to see your breasts, baby. Take off your bra for me.”
No hesitation this time. I left my hands on her hips as I leaned back to get a good look at the glorious, feminine flesh revealed as the garment dropped down her arms and spilled on the floor at her feet. Her tits would fit in my hands perfectly, and I couldn’t wait to taste them. I licked my lips in anticipation as a low growl escaped me.
“Exquisite,” I murmured. I couldn’t wait any longer and took them both in my hands at once. I lifted them, feeling their weight in my palms and grazing the nipples to watch them harden. A little sound escaped her mouth, and I could see the reappearance of gooseflesh over her skin.
She raised her hand to my neck and pulled at the knot of my tie. I had been so intent on getting her naked, I hadn’t even thought about my own clothes yet. I froze the movement of my thumbs on her and let her loosen the tie and pull it over my head. She then went for the buttons on my shirt and pushed it off of me. I had to let go of her tits for a moment so my shirt could follow the path of her bra, but I grasped her tits again as soon as the cuffs came loose.
With wide eyes, her fingers lightly traced the outline of the muscles on my chest and abs. She felt the line of hair in the middle of my stomach, pointing the way to the part of me I really wanted her to touch. She drew her lips behind her teeth again, and her eyes narrowed a little as her brow furrowed.
“Adam?” her voice was barely a whisper. I grunted back, waiting for her to say whatever it was she was going to say. The pit of my stomach tightened and not in a good way. Something about her posture had changed. She was having doubts. Nervous now, not just anxious. “Um…there's something I should probably tell you.”