Chapter Seven

Chapter SevenSliding into Cole’s sleek, dark vehicle later that day, I felt my mouth curve as his ultra-blue gaze locked with mine. “Hi,” I said.He packed a sexual punch in his gray shirt, deep-crimson tie, and black slacks. Everything feminine inside me sighed dreamily. And I felt a definite flush of pleasure seeing him wearing something red. To signal they were claimed, blokes usually wore ties or accessories that were some shade of the color rather than go all-out and slip on a red shirt.His eyes flared and darkened as they slowly swept over me. “It’s gonna be hard to concentrate on the road. Really hard.” He leaned toward me, tracing the neck tie with his finger. “Mouth.” It was a demand.I gave him what he wanted, melting into the slow, wet, hungry kiss. His luxuriously masculine cologne seemed to curl around me and flood my lungs. It invigorated my senses and made my head swim.He hummed as he pulled back. “You taste good. Smell good, too.”“Thanks, I do try.” As we both straightened, I clicked on my seatbelt. I’d been tense before I left my building, my thoughts all in a tizzy after my conversation with Briar. But sitting beside Cole now, I felt that tension drain from me. There was just something about him that settled my nerves even as my hormones became flustered.I glanced around the very modern vehicle, noting the overabundance of buttons, the good-sized touch-screen monitor, and other hi-tech specs. Honestly, the amount of advanced technology in cars these days was fairly terrifying.Driving out of the lot and onto the main road, he spared me a quick look. “That’s some building you live in. The apartment must have cost a whack.”“Most in this area of Redwater do.”“Yeah, I know. I don’t live far from here.”I blinked, surprised he’d so openly told me when he usually hesitated to share information so personal. Then again, he evidently saw no harm in knowing my address, so …“Do you have an apartment or a house?” I asked.“House,” he easily replied. “It’s a little too big for one person, but I needed somewhere I could build a home gym. Plus, I like my privacy, as you know.”I wondered, then, if he might reside in one of the many gated, million-dollar homes in this area. Inaya herself lived in one with her grandmother, and it was bloody gorgeous.“My brother, Aiden, has a home gym,” I told him. “I don’t even know what half of the contraptions are in there. Nor am I interested in finding out. Cardio is so not my friend. I’m a yoga girl.”“Yoga?” He switched gears. “Explains why you’re so flexible and toned. I like how very flexible you are; like grabbing and bending you however I please.”“That hasn’t escaped my notice.”His lips hitched up. “I’d have been surprised if it had.”At this moment, I couldn’t help noticing how insanely attractive he looked when he drove. There was just something about the way he steered the wheel with only two fingers, his elbow perched on the open window, all ease and control and self-possession, that made me want to lick him all up. “Do you usually drive to the Vault?”“Yes. It makes sense to, since I don’t drink much.”As watching him behind the wheel was turning out to be foreplay, I hoped this wouldn’t be the only time he picked me up from my building on the way to the club. I wanted to ask what had brought on his request to do so tonight, but I wasn’t sure I could pull it off as a casual enquiry, so I instead asked, “How was your day?”“Fine.” Frowning as a particular song came on the radio, he changed the station. “How was yours?”“Productive.”“Where did you venture out to with your camera this time?”I hesitated. “Heaton Park.”“Yeah? I often go jogging there. In fact, I was there this morning.”I thought about not mentioning that I’d spotted him, but why bother? “I know, I saw you.”His head briefly whipped round to face me. “I didn’t clock you. How far away were you?”“Not far.”Though I could only see his profile, I didn’t fail to note how his jaw went tight. “So you could have come talked to me, but you chose not to,” he mused, his voice flat.“I was goingto try to get your attention somehow so I could at least wave or something, but then it occurred to me that you might not want that.”He cast me a sideways frown. “Why wouldn’t I want that?”I shrugged, turning to my window. “It seemed reasonable to assume that you’d prefer for our arrangement to not leak out onto our lives outsidethe Vault.”Stopping the car at a red light, he said, “Look at me.”Planting a neutral expression on my face, I turned to him and raised my brows in a querying gesture. His own expression was serious yet somehow also soft and warm.He pinned my gaze with his. “You ever see me in public again, don’t hesitate to approach or call out to me or whatever. There’ll never be a time when I would be anything but glad to see you, Izzy. Given the boundaries of our arrangement, I can see why you would think I wouldn’t want our paths to whatsoever cross outside the club even in a small way, but you’re wrong. Okay?”I swallowed, my chest going tight. “Okay.”He quickly checked the traffic lights, saw they were still red, and then returned his full focus to me. “Remember I told you how I don’t like distractions? How I cut them from my life?”I nodded.“There’s nothing in my life more distracting than you. You pop into my head far too often. It should bother me. It doesn’t. Not once have I considered letting you go.”He probably thought I’d find his words reassuring. They were certainly flattering enough to make my belly all warm, but they gave me no real comfort. Because he might not have ended our arrangement yet, but he would at some point.I wasn’t going to think about that, though. Not tonight. Tonight was a night for fun, so I kept my next words light. “Who would consider letting me go? I’m a keeper.”His lips twitching, he faced forward again just as the lights went green. “And full of humility, it would seem.”“I fairly brim with it.”He lightly squeezed my thigh, the tips of his warm fingers brushing my bare knee.“So, what room did you book for tonight?”“You always ask me that, even though I always tell you that you’ll find out for yourself in due time.”“It seems worth asking.” But, as usual, he didn’t tell me. Bloody tease.Eventually, we arrived at the indoor parking lot beside the Vault. We didn’t enter the club through its main doors. We used the side entrance that was exclusively for those who were heading to the basement.As was becoming our habit, we had a meal at the lounge. He sat beside me, just as he normally did, alternating between kissing, feeding, and talking to me. Oh, and subtly feeling me up.By the time we’d finished our meal, my body was ready to fucking roll. So I easily placed my hand in his when he held it out. He guided me through the door at the other side of the lounge and into the hallway. He didn’t stop at any of the private rooms there. He led me through the dome’s ornate doors, across the length of the large space to its other set of doors, and then out into the hallway beyond them.We hadn’t used any of the rooms in this section before. I knew from Cat that one was a library, another was a doctor’s office, and there was—Cole stopped outside a particular door and swiped his membership card through the slot to unlock it. He pushed open the door, ushered me inside … and suddenly I was in a private jet.I felt my brows shoot up. Windows with shades lined the marble-effect cream walls. Blue spotlights dotted the white ceiling. Adjacent from a long leather sofa were two wide, matching recliners facing each other.Also, there was a red velvet curtain on the left, as if acting as a divider between the cabin and the cockpit. An identical curtain could be found on the other side of the area, as if blocking the entrance to the galley.With a hand on my lower back, Cole shepherded me along the carpeted aisle toward the seating area. Pausing beside the recliners, he held out a hand. “Panties.”It was such a casually spoken request, as if he was asking to borrow my phone. No, as if he was asking me to return his phone to him … like any part of me, including my own clothes, belonged to him. And my blood promptly heated.Not moving my gaze from his, I slowly but deftly removed my underwear, bunched them into a ball, and then placed them into his outstretched hand. “I’ll want them back.”“You’ll get them back.”I wasn’t so sure I believed him.We each settled into a recliner, and I placed my purse under my seat. Beneath the hissing of the air conditioning were sounds coming from behind the curtain that, if this were a real cabin, would lead to the galley area—murmurs of voices, dishware clinking, cupboards clicking shut. It was easy to sink into the illusion that we were aboard a jet; that, more, we weren’t alone.Opposite me, Cole stretched out his legs and placed his arms on the rests, claiming his space in a very dominant gesture. He raked his heated eyes over me. “Only one thing could make my view better. Slide up your dress and spread your thighs. Show me what’s mine.”The order was so casual and expectant. But rather than make me bristle, it made something in me … settle. Like I could now breathe easier, because I didn’t have to think or worry anymore—the control was in his hands now, giving me the reprieve I needed in a way I could never quite put into words.I sank into the moment and did what he asked—well, commanded.“That’s a good girl. Now pull your tits out of that dress. Hmm, just like that.” His gaze did a slow, sweep over me, gleaming with need and satisfaction. “Fucking perfect.”My nipples tightened under his scrutiny, and a warmth spread from my core outwards.“Tonight,” he began, his voice low and calm, “I want to fuck you slow and deep. But not the first time. Our first round is going to be rough. I’m going to take you hard. Maybe too hard. So I need you to get yourself wet, or it’s going to hurt when I fuck you. I don’t want that.”My hormones were now all in a freaking flutter. “I’m already wet after all the teasing you did in the lounge while we ate.”“I want you even wetter.”He wanted to watch me touch myself—that was mostly what this was about. I had to fight a blush as I lowered my hand to my pussy. I was no shy flower, but touching myself in front of him … it made me feel vulnerable. Nonetheless, I put on a show for him—rolling, rubbing, and flicking my clit over and over.His hands flexed on the armrests. “Inside you, baby, put that finger inside you.”I slipped it through my folds and thrust it into my pussy with a sharp gasp.Cursing, he tore open his fly and pulled out his dick. “Another finger, Iz,” he said, sliding his fist up and down his shaft. “I want to see you shoving two up there.”I added another and upped my pace, pumping and pumping and pumping.“All mine,” he growled, his eyes on my pussy. “No one else gets to see you like this. Only me.”I felt my orgasm begin to crawl toward me, but I gave no outward sign of it, not trusting that he wouldn’t let me come so soon. I kept thrusting my fingers, biting on my lip in case my moans became too loud, too desperate, too—“Stop.”I halted mid-thrust with a sound of complaint. “Why?”His brow lifted. “You think I don’t know when my baby’s about to come?”Ugh.He released his dick and crooked his finger. “Bring my pussy over here.”Swallowing back a frustrated huff, I pushed to my feet. My legs were a little shaky as I moved to stand before him.“Closer.”I planted a knee on his seat either side of him. I was about to sit on his lap, but then a large hand gripped my arse and held me still.“Stay there like that.” He took my fingers and sucked them clean. “Can’t have it going to waste, can we?”Well no, no, we couldn’t.“Let’s see if you did as I asked.” He slid two fingers between my folds and then dipped them inside me. “Soaking wet. Good girl.” He thrust his fingers deeper and swirled them around.Desperate to come, I would have bore down on them, tried to ride them, something. But his hold on my arse was too tight.“Now lean forward just a little. That’s it.” He withdrew his fingers and painted my nipples with my slickness. All the while, his eyes traced my neck tie. “I like that something marking you as mine is wrapped around your throat.” He sucked a nipple into his mouth.I jerked with a gasp, planting my hands on the top of the headrest. He teased my breasts, palming and squeezing, as he sucked and raked his teeth over my nipples again and again. Until my inner muscles were spasming and tightening. The ache in my core, the ache to be filled, was becoming downright unbearable.Lifting his head to meet my gaze, he breezed his fingertips over first one lip then the other. “I want to feel these sliding up and down my cock, but I always get carried away when I’m fucking your mouth; I never want to leave it. So we’ll have to skip that tonight. Now … kneel on the sofa over there and grip the top of it.”I was so eager to finally have him inside me I might have scrambled to get into position if I wasn’t determined to have some dignity. Instead, I slowly complied. As I waited for him, I heard clothes rustle and a wrapper tear. Coming up behind me, he slid my dress up to my waist and took a firm hold of my hips. I licked my lips—He slammed home. Forced every thick inch of his long shaft balls-deep inside me. My head shot back, my lips parted on a shocked gasp, and my pussy spasmed.He gave me no time to adjust, no, he drilled his dick into me. Hard, just like he promised. It was merciless and primitive and I relished it. All of it—the friction, the pressure, the fullness, the pleasure, even the burn of his thickness overstretching my inner walls.The slap of his balls and the bite of his fingertips added to the sensations. His every grunt—so primal and feral, like that of a savage rutting on a woman—was a flick to my clit. And I knew I’d come soon.My breaths turned ragged. My thigh muscles bunched tight. My hands ached with my death-grip on the top of the sofa.Cole shifted his angle and, oh God, that felt even better. A growl vibrated in the back of his throat. “I could fucking live in your pussy.”The air left my lungs as he picked up his pace, ramming into me almost feverishly. Wanting to chase the orgasm fast approaching, I would have reared back to meet each powerful lunge if it wasn’t for his firm grip on my hips. “Cole, I’m gonna come.”Two beats later, the tension inside me abruptly snapped. Pleasure exploded through me, hot and electric. I thought I screamed but I wasn’t sure.Blanketing my back, Cole looped an arm around my waist as he thrust harder, faster. “Fuck, Iz.” He buried his face in my neck and came.Feeling all hollowed out, I would have slumped forward if he wasn’t still holding me tightly to him. Gasping for breath, I licked my lips. “You’re really good at that. Making a girl come, I mean. If they printed that kind of thing on hallmark cards, I’d absolutely buy you one.”His mouth curved against my neck. “I appreciate the sentiment.” He pressed a kiss to my throat. And another. And another.I closed my eyes as he slid his hands up my stomach and filled them with my breasts. He didn’t clench and squeeze. He ghosted the pads of his fingers and thumbs over my skin—his touch so light yet so possessive.When his softening cock slipped out of me, he released me and stepped back.I jumped as a hand swatted my arse. Tossing him a scowl over my shoulder, I slipped off the sofa and then turned to face him. “What was that for?”Cole shrugged. “Just felt like giving that luscious ass a quick spank.”“Did you now?”“Yes. It’s mine to spank as and when I please.”I was about to give him an earful for that—mostly just because—but then he unexpectedly whipped off my neck tie. I felt my brow pucker. “I thought you liked it.”“Oh, I do. I very much do. But it’s made me want to do this.” He snaked both hands around my throat and squeezed.I sucked in a breath, feeling my nipples tighten all over again.His languid gaze darkened. “Your pupils just swallowed the color of your eyes. You like me collaring your throat, don’t you? Good. Because I’m going to be doing exactly that when I fuck you slow and deep. First, you’re going to use your mouth to get me hard again. It won’t take long, never does.”I gave him a prim look. “Full of demands, aren’t you?”He smiled. “You like that.”He was right, I did.