That was my last clear thought before exhaustion swept up to claim me.
Chapter 9
Ash
Awareness came slowly, but I didn't open my eyes. Not yet.
I was laying on my bed and although it was quiet, I knew I wasn’t alone.
That was strange, to say the least. I didn’t bring women home with me often and when I did, they never stayed. It was always fuck and then good-bye.
Still, in those odd minutes between sleeping and waking, I couldn’t find anything really wrong about the female body curled up against me. She was slim and small, my arms wrapped around her to hold her back to my chest. Certain parts of my anatomy already appreciated the feel of her. My cock was at attention, nearly painfully hard.
As I drifted closer and closer to wakefulness, she made a grumbling noise, then sighed and wedged her ass more firmly against me.
It was instinct to catch her thigh, raising it high enough for me to push inside. She was damp. Not wet, not yet, and her pussy clung to me, dragging against my cock as I rocked into her.
A low moan escaped, but I knew she wasn't awake.
Gripping her hip, I pushed up onto my elbow. Her hair was trapped under us, pinning her head down. It felt soft and satiny under my arm. I wanted to wrap it around my fists, my wrists, use it to hold her captive as I thrust my cock into her mouth...
“Toni.”
The name slipped out without any conscious acknowledgement of who she was, her presence still vague in my half-asleep state. She whimpered and my stomach clenched. Her hand closed around mine, the one gripping her hip.
It was the prick of her nails into my flesh that finally jerked me into full awareness. My eyes finally flew open as she rotated her hips and sobbed out my name.
“Ash, please...”
Common sense screamed at me to stop now.
Lust screamed louder, and I rolled her flat onto her belly. Without missing a stroke, I pulled her to her knees and thrust deep, hard. The rhythmic sound of my hips slapping against her ass filled the room. It was underscored by the harsh, hungry noises that slid past her lips. She clamped down on me, tight, her muscles milking me as she started to come.
Pressing my hand against her back just between her shoulders, I rode her harder, making her cry out. Just as her climax began to ebb, my balls drew tight in warning and then the orgasm slammed into me. I ground down against her, drawing out the pleasure crashing through me. My eyes squeezed closed and I gritted my teeth to keep from saying her name again.
I wanted to sink down on top of her, cuddle her up against me.
Instead, as I began to come down from my high, I withdrew.
That was when I realized I’d made a mistake. Another mistake. Last night had been a series of them. Touching her this morning had set off another chain reaction of mistakes, culminating in this.
I hadn’t worn a fucking rubber.
“I need to get dressed,” I said shortly as I climbed off the bed.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Toni sitting up, but I didn’t spare her a look as I strode to my bathroom. I mentally cursed myself for losing control. How could I have been so stupid?
I was a hundred different kinds of fool.
From the very first moment I’d asked her to come to Olympus with me, I’d been messing up.
Before that, really.
I should have just made my apologies at the police station and left. I could've had someone take her purse to her, and we could have continued on in whatever non-relationship we had.
Instead, I’d told her about the club, given her an inside look at just how perverse my sexual life was, and not only that, I’d given her a taste. Taken a taste for myself.
No, not a taste.
She was a fucking banquet.
“Idiot,” I muttered, viciously scrubbing at my hair while the shower pounded down on me. I could smell her on me. The sweet female scent clung to my skin, and part of me hadn’t even wanted to shower, because I didn’t want that smell to disappear. I didn't want her to disappear.
Dammit.
I’d messed this up so bad, I didn’t know how to begin to fix it, but I had to.
Toni worked for Isadora.
No matter what my doubts were telling me, my sister would be found. She would come home, and she’d need normalcy when it happened. Toni had been there when she disappeared, so Toni would be here when Isadora came back. They'd be able to pick up where they'd left off.
But I had to make sure I didn’t do something stupid like touch her again. Sleep with her again. Kiss her.
Remember how her face had looked as she stared down at the shibari display playing itself out in front of us. The look of avid hunger as a young Submissive was hogtied and two Dominants worked her up to a fever pitch. They’d done the same to Toni, all without even touching her.
I’d have to forget that. Forget all of it.
I closed my eyes. Like hell.
Forgetting any of that would be just about impossible. So what I needed to do was just stay away from her. That would be easier said than done, but it wouldn’t be impossible.
I just had to make sure she understood that this couldn’t happen again.
There were perfectly logical reasons why any of it had happened to begin with. Toni was a smart woman. Chances are, she was out there brooding over the very things that had me on edge.
All I had to do was go out there, talk to her, lay it all out.
I could be a grown-up about this, and I knew she could be. She’d proven to be the more mature of the two of us time and again.
With that plan in mind, I headed out of the bathroom, a towel around my waist. Toni was still sitting in the bed, the sheets pulled over her chest. She caught sight of me and smiled.
I acted like I didn’t see as I strode past her over to the dresser. It would be better to do this once I was dressed. Having rational discussions while naked just seemed to put a man on uneven ground. At least most of her was covered. I couldn't have done this if I saw those perfect breasts.
Since it was Sunday and I had no plans to go anywhere, I just pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, leaving my feet bare. It seemed best to get clothes on as quickly as possible…before I decided to climb back into bed and try for round three.
Once I was dressed, I turned and found that Toni had slid soundlessly off the bed and was gathering up her clothes.
Shit.
Her ass was amazing.
“Last night was a mistake.”
I blurted the words out and nearly winced at how they sounded. I’d mentally rehearsed this several times over in the bathroom, but I sounded like this conclusion had just suddenly occurred to me.
She looked over at me, cocking her head as she straightened and turned. Holding her clothes casually, she studied me. “Which part was a mistake?”
“All of it.”
“I see.” She shrugged. “Okay. I’m going to use your bathroom if you don’t mind.”
That was it. No tears, no shouting. Not even a 'fuck you.' Nothing except 'I’m going to use your bathroom.'
That was...well. Perfect. My little speech that I’d rehearsed seemed kind of wasted now. Wasted and pointless. Big relief, really.
Toni strode past me and I caught her arm.
Immediately, I wanted to haul her against me and cover that smiling mouth with mine. Put her up against the wall and fuck her again. Fuck her hard and fast and then slow, soft. I wanted to make her moan, then make her beg. I wanted to be awake enough to feel those silken walls sliding against my bare cock.
“You understand, Toni.” I managed an easy smile despite the lust that was turning my brain to mush. “You work for Isadora. When she comes home, I don’t want things to be weird.”
“Ash.” She gave me a lazy smile. Then she reached up and patted my cheek. “I understand completely. I’m going to shower now. Then I’ll get out of your hair.”
***
She patted me on the fucking cheek.
br /> It was still burning me fifteen minutes later when she came strolling out of the bathroom. She had a towel wrapped around her and I almost swallowed my tongue as a bead of water slid down her neck and then the slope of her left breast before soaking into the towel.
Professional, I reminded myself. I was going to be professional about this.
“Oh.” She stopped as she saw me, frowning a little. “I thought you’d already be doing...well, whatever you do. I just wanted to grab the bag of clothes Doug washed for me.”
She said nothing else as she walked past me and out of the bedroom.
In a towel.
My towel.
My gaze zeroed in on her barely-covered ass and my fingers itched to grab her hips, pull off the towel. I wanted to turn her over my knee and watch her skin turn that same rosy pink it had last night.
Shit.
She had me twisted in knots, and all she’d done was walk out of the bathroom. In a fucking towel. For some reason, that pissed me off.
“You know, I have a robe in there,” I pointed out, following her out into the hall.
She shot me a wide, innocent look. “I wouldn’t want to be presumptuous, Mr. Lang. Borrowing something so personal seems rather rude.”
I scowled at her. “But you’re fine walking around my house wearing my towel.”
She looked down at the towel, and then up at me. “Good point.”
I knew what she was going to do before she did it and I took a step forward. “Dammit, Toni!”
Too late. She tossed the towel at me and it hit me in the face. Instantly, my head flooded with the lush, warm scent of her, and the pulse of lust turned into a roaring inferno. I dragged the towel off my face and threw it in the vicinity of my bedroom.
She was already several feet ahead of me, naked as a jaybird, walking toward the stairs.
“Toni, you are not walking around my house naked!”
“Don’t worry. I know where the bag is, Mr. Lang. I’m trying to be quick, though. I want to get out of your hair so you can forget all about that mistake.” Her voice was cheerful.
The look she fired at me as she started down the stairs was anything but.
I caught up with her just as she entered the small sitting room and I froze in the doorway. My heart thudded to a stop, though, because she suddenly bent over. My cock went on red alert at the sight. Her firm ass flexing. Her naked cunt was open. Two steps and I could be inside her...
She straightened and glanced back at me. “Don't worry, Mr. Lang. Two minutes and I’ll be gone.”
“Sir, may I…oh, dear.”
Doug stood in the doorway, his eyes wide. Wide and glazing over. I covered them with my hand as new flash of anger went through me. Anger that someone else was seeing her...
“Toni, get your ass dressed.”
“I am, Mr. Lang. I’m sorry, Doug.” She smiled again, still so cheerful. But the smile had an edge of violence to it. “Mr. Lang and I had an encounter last night, but he realizes now it was a mistake. I think he wanted to keep things professional after he had me arrested, but didn't quite manage it.”
“Yes...” Doug’s voice had a dazed tone to it.
I shot him a look. He leaned slightly to the side.
“Doug!” I snapped at him.
“Sir!” He turned his back, clearing his throat. Every inch of his visible skin was flushed. “Miss Toni, is there anything...shall I fetch anything else for you?”
“Nope!” She shimmied into her pants, sans underwear. The top went on over her braless breasts just as I recalled her bra and panties were up in my room.
“I can get your–”
“I promised minutes,” she said, cutting me off as she turned towards me. “I’m down to one.”
I sucked in a breath. Her nipples stabbed into the thin material of her sapphire blue top. Shit. There was no way I was going to let her go out like that.
“Doug. Please have a car brought around–”
“There.” She shoved her feet into her shoes. “Okay. I’m done. Later!”
Later?
Dumbfounded, I watched as she sailed toward the front door. Surprised by the nonchalant farewell, I almost didn’t move in time. Lurching after her, I caught her arm. “You’re not leaving yet. We need to talk.”
She lowered her gaze to my arm, studying it for a moment before looking up at me with those cool eyes. Her voice lost its cheerful quality and went straight to flat. “No. I don’t think we do. You established we’d made a mistake. Now if I’ve made a false presumption and you don’t want to pretend it never happened, that us having sex last night wasn’t the mistake you were talking about...?”
Her words trailed off and she stared at me expectantly.
I opened my mouth. I could talk my way through this. It was what I did.
But nothing came out.
“Okay, then. We talked. It’s settled.” She patted my hand, then tugged it off. “I should go.” She took a couple steps and then paused, throwing her final comments over her shoulder. “And, by the way, you should probably start calling me Ms. Gallagher. We want to keep things professional, right?”
She was gone before I had a chance to say another thing.
It took me nearly a full minute to get the taste of my size twelves out of my mouth. Just how had I managed to mess this up so badly? I hadn’t just shoved my foot in my mouth. I’d shoved both feet in, past my ankles and all the way to my knees.
Shit.
Chapter 10
Toni
There were days when there was only one way to handle all of the craziness inside, and I knew that was where I was going very soon. At the moment, however, I sat on the subway with my arms wrapped around myself, staring out the window as if mesmerized by the sight of the tunnel speeding by my window.
When a guy took the seat next to mine and slouched down low, spreading his legs wide the way guys did when trying to direct attention to a certain part of their anatomy, I ignored him. He tried to talk to me and I deliberately put my earbuds in, even though I didn’t turn them on. He called me a bitch, got up and wandered off to try his tactics somewhere else. Mentally counting down the stops, I prayed nobody else would settle in the now vacant seat. I'd never been in less of a mood to socialize.
Ashford Lang was a bastard. A stupid, self-centered bastard.
I should have just punched him again. Maybe a knee in the crotch.
Why in the hell had I gone to Olympus with him?
And why had I…immediately…
I closed my eyes and tried to pretend I wasn’t remembering every detail of the past night. No, the past day. Even him showing up at the station house. The stilted apology, us sparring down in the gym. Those hot, torrid moments at Olympus...and then even hotter moments that had followed at his house last night. And again this morning.
I hadn’t been expecting any diehard declaration of love, but for him to go and turn all asshole on me again just seconds after he'd woken me up by sliding inside me...
The car lurched to a stop. At the last moment, I realized it was my stop and I darted through the doors just in time. Moving through the ever-jostling crowd, I emerged out into the brilliance of another hot New York day. It was Sunday, I realized. Since my usual Friday evening family dinner had been interrupted by my stint in jail, I was supposed to go today. But if I wanted to deal with the family's response to what had happened, I'd need to work out some of my issues first.
I hurried home and immediately changed into my own workout gear.
It took me less than ten minutes from the time I hit my lobby to be back outside again, earbuds in place. The music was loud, blasting the hardest, fastest rock I could find. I settled into a quick pace and tried to outrun the anger. I couldn't, but between the lingering exhaustion from yesterday, and my worry about Isadora, I knew I could at least run myself to empty.
After five miles on the city streets, I was back at my house and in the shower. As the hot water beat down on me, I willed my brai
n to empty. When I was done showering, I planned to lay down and grab a nap. Then I’d go to my parents' house, hang out with my family and recharge. Maybe tonight, I’d go somewhere and get a drink. Or just come home and read, have a glass of wine. Anything to unwind and try to forget about the past few days.
About Ash.
That was the plan.
After I talked to my brother about a slightly uncomfortable subject.
***
Vic leaned against the railing of the small deck my parents had built onto the back of their house this past spring, studying my phone. After a minute, he frowned at it. “That’s the best picture you got? You couldn’t have had them email you a decent one?”
“I'm not even supposed to have this copy, Vic. I need to keep it quiet that I have it, but...”
Vic cocked a brow, studying me with his dark eyes.
I forced myself to ask the question I knew he didn't want to answer. “Can you show it around?”
Vic looked away, the set of his jaw grim. “Show it where, Sis? It’s not like I...”
“Vic, you still have connections. I know you do.” My voice was soft but I wasn't going to let it go.
He pushed my phone back into my hand and shoved away from the fence. He paced across the planks, putting as much distance between us as the small deck allowed. Long moments passed before he said anything else. “I’ll do what I can. But you stay out of it, Toni, okay? Kidnapping...hell, this isn't some prank. This is serious. Let me talk to some people, but you keep out of it. That’s the deal.”
I folded my arms and scowled. “I’m not an idiot, Vic.”
“Nah. That’s my job,” he said wryly.
Joining him at the railing, I shoulder-bumped him. “You’re not an idiot.”
“Eh, I suppose I've wised up some.” He hooked an arm around my neck. “How are you doing?”
“I’m...okay.” Resting my head against his shoulder, I sighed. It was the truth. Sort of. I was mostly okay. I was tired and sore, and not just from the sparring or the running. Of course, I wasn’t going to tell Vic that.
I loved my brother, but that would be a total overshare.