Covet Me Read online

  We began a slow, sensual rhythm. Neither of us rushing as we lingered in the sensation of our union. He filled me, and I consumed him until we were one body, melding and morphing into a perfect symphony. Our tempo increased gradually as we rocked together, but then Smith stopped and withdrew.

  I missed him immediately, longing for the completeness only he could grant me.

  He moved farther up the bed, propping his back against the headboard. “I need to hold you.”

  I rolled to my stomach and crawled to his lap.

  “Slowly,” he urged as I lowered myself, one hand guiding his shaft home. I cried out at the deepness, my ass circling the delicious fullness stretching me as I settled onto him. “That’s it, beautiful. »

  Strong arms coiled around my torso, his warm palms flattening against my shoulder blades. He cradled me to him as he began to roll his groin against me. I clutched his chest for leverage as he sought the perfect angle. He shifted, the friction of his movement urging my seam wider so that my clit raked across the coarse patch of hair at his root. My head tipped forward, and I barely noticed the smart of pain as my forehead pressed into his shoulder.

  “I want to be inside of you every day for the rest of my life. I wish I was strong enough to give you up, but I’m not,” he said gruffly into my ear.

  “You promised me forever,” I whimpered, as my hips sought to drive him deeper inside me. There was no escape. I wouldn’t allow it.

  “And I’ll give it to you. Forever,” he repeated, plunging harder until I was nearly bouncing. His arm dropped from my back, and he took my hand, pressing my palm to the center of his chest. “Yours. All of me. It’s all yours. My future. My heart. My very life.”

  I closed my eyes and concentrated on his rapid, but constant, heartbeat. My own life hadn’t begun until the day I met him, and someday when he was gone, it would draw to a close. I’d spend every moment until then fighting for him.

  We’d made a decision together, and we’d said a vow. But now we had faced that which would attempt to rip us apart, and we were still here.

  “I love you, Smith Price.” My mouth closed over his, skimming his lips lightly.

  His groin constricted beneath me, and we rode toward our forever together, sharing soft kisses as we fought to get closer, preparing for the battle we faced outside these walls. When he finally slowed, his mouth curved into a cocky grin.

  “You look pleased with yourself,” I noted, even as I sagged against him. He had a right to look pleased. On the list of the world’s top orgasms, that one had blown them all away.

  “I was just thinking that I love you, Belle Price.”

  I tilted my head back to scowl playfully at him, even as a happy peacefulness descended over me.

  “You should have objected before you said I do, beautiful.” His index finger tipped my chin up, and he placed a cautious kiss on my bruised lips.

  “Can I file some type of negotiated contract?” The truth was that I wanted his name as much as I wanted him. My own surname held nothing but sad memories. It was my father’s name, not mine, and if I had to choose a man’s name, Smith’s was the one I wanted.

  “I doubt your lawyer will advise that,” he said dryly.

  I huffed in mock exasperation. “Belle Price it is, I suppose.”

  “On that note”—he deposited me onto the bed and swung his legs over the side—“I’ll be right back.”

  I slumped against the pillows, languid contentment taking residence in my limbs. I was blinking sleepily by the time he returned.

  “I took the liberty of stealing this from your purse.” He slipped back into bed, my wedding band pinched between his thumb and forefinger. “Because it belongs with you.”

  Smith captured my hand and gently urged the ring onto my finger. I stared at it, trying to process how much my feelings had evolved about wearing it. The circle of flawless diamonds set into gold no longer felt heavy. It no longer dazzled. It simply felt right. It was as timeless as our love. No beginning. No end. Just forever.

  “If you’d prefer a different one…” he began.

  But I shook my head and leaned forward to kiss him hard on the mouth. I blanched as my cheek bumped his accidentally, but I swallowed down the pain before he could spot it. “Don’t you dare try to take this ring off my finger.”

  “Good, you can pick out my ring.” He slid an arm around my back, and we lay there staring at the new addition to my finger.

  I glanced at him in surprise.

  “What?” He shrugged. “I belong to you, beautiful. If you don’t want me to—”

  “Oh, you are wearing one,” I informed him.

  “I like it when you’re jealous,” he teased, knitting our fingers together.

  “I just want everyone to know you’re mine,” I whispered, “so they know how lucky I am.”

  “That makes two of us. Now get some rest, Mrs. Price,” he ordered, tugging the covers over me.

  “What about Ms. Price?” I countered.

  “As long as you’re a Price,” he murmured as he reached up to dim the lights.

  “Forever.” My eyes closed as I fell into a dreamless sleep.

  Purple. It was the only word filtering through the haze of painkillers clouding my brain. I lifted my hand and gingerly touched my swollen cheek. The woman in the mirror flinched as pain shot through me. No wonder Smith had been so hesitant to touch me. I looked like hell. No amount of makeup was covering this up, and trying to smooth foundation over the bruise seemed like a pretty bad idea.

  Smith appeared behind me, watching my reaction in the mirror. His strong hands gripped my upper arms, and I closed my eyes, savoring the touch.

  “Give it time,” he commanded in a low voice. “I’m going to arrange for a nurse to stay with you today.”

  I spun around, shaking my head. “No, don’t do that.”

  The thought of being alone with a stranger was too much to bear.

  “I can’t leave you like this, beautiful.” He raised a hand to brush back my hair, taking care to avoid my wounds. I saw the horror in his eyes and, behind it, an emotion that stole my breath.

  “Then don’t leave me.” I bit my lip in an attempt at seduction and immediately regretted it as a searing throb rocketed through my temple.

  Smith reacted instantly in concern, but I pushed him away. I couldn’t stomach his pity any more than I could the reality of what had happened. The police had found my car, but not the man who had attacked me. That fact, combined with the soporific effects of my pain medicine, had my emotions at maximum capacity.

  I swallowed against the tears that seemed perpetually lodged in my throat. “I’ll call my aunt.”

  “Are you sure?” Smith’s eyes softened, as if to remind me that the fury he couldn’t hide was in no way directed at me.

  “Yes.”

  He waited while I made the call from the hotel phone, perhaps suspecting I hadn’t planned to at all. When I hung up with Jane, he brushed a kiss over my lips.

  “I love you.”

  I caught his hand, clutching it desperately.

  “I’m coming back.” He spoke solemnly, and I relaxed my hold, allowing him to gently pull away.

  I wanted to tell him not to go. Or ask when he was returning. But some part of me that hadn’t been shattered in yesterday’s attack resisted. I wasn’t that girl. I didn’t want to be. I couldn’t permit it to change me.

  As soon as he was gone, I took another pain pill, swallowing it down with a gulp of wine. If I was going to spend all day pent up in a hotel room, I didn’t want the option of thinking.

  But even as a languid stupor descended over me, my brain continued to reel, replaying the attack on a constant loop. Smith hadn’t told me that I had been targeted, a decision I saw as calculated. However, I knew it had been. Coincidence was bumping into a friend at a restaurant. Being beat up when your husband worked for the city’s resident crime syndicate wasn’t.

  I froze when I heard a knock at the door an
d braced myself for Jane’s reaction. If she had thought it strange that I’d given her the room number of a hotel, she hadn’t said anything. But she wasn’t anticipating this. I took a peek before I opened the door.

  Jane’s mouth went slack, and I had to drag her inside, locking the door swiftly behind us.

  “Who did this?” she demanded, her voice thundering through the quiet room.

  “My car was stolen.” There was so much more to the story than that, but I wasn’t certain I had the strength to tell it.

  And then the questions began. Had the person been caught? Why was I at a hotel? Where was this boyfriend of mine anyway?

  “He went out to handle things,” I said, hoping the answer implied he was doing something simple like checking in with the police.

  Jane guided me to the sofa and sat me down, worry creasing the lines on her elegant face. “Belle, are you in trouble? Is this is something else?”

  I clenched my eyes shut, but it couldn’t stop my tears. “I can’t talk about it.”

  “Did he do this?” she asked in a low voice that sounded positively homicidal.

  “No,” I said firmly.

  “But he knows who did.” She didn’t wait for my response before she was picking up her purse. “I’m taking you home.”

  “No!” I leapt up. I couldn’t imagine what would happen if Smith returned to find me gone. I was already sick over whatever had drawn him away from here this morning. If I disappeared, he would go straight to Hammond.

  “What are you hiding from?”

  Everyone. No one. I didn’t know how to answer.

  “I’m safe here.” That’s all she needed to know.

  “And Smith?”

  “He’s dealing with it.” I couldn’t tell her more than that, not while everything was so screwed up. I already wished I hadn’t asked her to come. Too many people in my life were already caught up in this nightmare.

  Jane’s gaze drifted to my hand. Her mouth pressed into a thin line but she didn’t say anything about the band of diamonds sparkling on my ring finger.

  Another thing I would have to explain when the time was right. For now I was grateful that she seemed keen to ignore it.

  I patted the spot next to me, and Jane sank back down, still holding her purse. A large manila envelope stuck out of the top of it.

  “What’s that?” I asked, eying it as my blood turned to ice.

  “Nothing.” She twisted the bag away from me, but I reached out and snatched it.

  It was addressed to me. Tearing it open despite her protests, I withdrew a stack of legal documents. If I had thought things couldn’t get any worse, I was wrong. I scanned through them, not understanding half of what they said but getting the gist.

  My mother was moving forward with the legal action she’d threatened, and she’d made her case not only against me but also against my ownership stake in Bless. I stared at them for a long minute, saying nothing, and then I began to laugh. It racked my body, making my face throb, but I couldn’t stop.

  Jane yanked them out of my hand and studied them for a moment before tossing them across the room.

  “Sod her,” she announced, taking my hand.

  Gradually my laughter subsided as I faced the reality that confronted me. I was being attacked on all sides, and I didn’t know which direction to start throwing punches.

  My fingers drummed impatiently against my mug. The coffee in it was cold and had been for at least half an hour. I’d left Belle at the hotel over an hour ago. Withdrawing my mobile, I checked her message again. I was in the right place at the right time, but there was no Georgia. The longer I waited, the more exposed I made myself. I took out my wallet and tossed a few pounds on the table for wasting the waiter’s time.

  I wanted to believe she had forgotten, but as I started the Bugatti, my thoughts turned to more sinister explanations. Without thinking, I began to cut through traffic, heading back to a place where I’d vowed never to return. I arrived in record time, mostly due to breaking the speed limit at every opportunity. The street was deserted, which wasn’t unusual given the time of day. Only the most hardcore of Velvet’s clientele would be here at this hour, I thought, which gave me no pleasure.

  Punching in the security code, I entered the familiar corridor that led straight into a past I’d wanted to leave behind me. Sultry music drifted through the air, a relatively tasteful choice for once. As I entered, I found the space entirely empty save for Ariel, Velvet’s newest and most faithful barmaid.

  She looked up from the bottles she was arranging, her expression quickly shifting from casual interest to surprise.

  “Is Georgia here?” I asked as I started toward her office.

  “Nope.” Ariel glanced around, as if to make sure before turning back to stare at me. “She called in for the week. Some excuse. Hammond arranged for a temporary manager.”

  “Is he here?”

  She shook her head, to my relief. The last thing I needed was one of Hammond’s errand boys rushing back to inform him of my presence.

  “I’ll admit I didn’t expect to see you back here,” Ariel said a bit too conversationally.

  I paused, studying her for a moment. Her pink hair was gelled into a Mohawk, and unlike the last time we’d met, she was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. She wasn’t actually here to tend bar, which meant Velvet wasn’t open.

  Velvet never closed.

  I relaxed my face into a smile and slid onto a barstool. I could be charming when necessary, but it was a lot fucking harder when every impulse in my body wanted to leap over the counter and throttle her.

  “What are you doing here anyway?” I asked, fingering the edge of a napkin. “This place is dead.”

  Her eyes darted over her shoulder, but she continued to pull liquor from the cabinets to replenish her stock. Finally she turned around, bracing her palms against the edge of the wood and shrugged. “Inventory. We had a busy weekend. I don’t like to get caught unprepared.”

  “I can respect that. Neither do I.” I kept my tone conversational, but there was no ignoring the threats hidden beneath our words.

  Ariel’s pierced lip curled up, and she leaned lower so that her t-shirt flapped open to reveal her tits. “Why? You interested in doing something else?”

  This was why I’d discounted her before. It was obvious she was hot for what went on in the club. She’d practically begged me to do a scene the last time I’d come here. That she’d been treated to a display of my dominance only sealed her interest. Her voyeurism had blinded to me to her true intentions, but it had also undercut her purpose.

  It was a dangerous thing taking on a job when you couldn’t control your desires. It had always undermined Georgia’s power. Ariel appeared to suffer from the same lack of self-restraint.

  I undid my cufflink, tossing it on the bar, and rolled up one sleeve. Ariel’s tongue darted between her lips as I repeated the action on the other side to reveal my forearms. It was my signature move. The one that I had become known for amongst those in the lifestyle. Her eyes hooded as I stood up and analyzed her.

  She was lacking in every way. Too eager. Too fresh. She’d watched but she’d never participated. Hammond must have seen something in her that I was missing. But then again, he liked the malleable type—women he could mold into whatever his black soul desired.

  Ariel fidgeted in front of me, her fingers twisting together under my penetrating gaze.

  That’s right. I might have lost my desire for anonymous submission, but I hadn’t lost my touch. There had been a time when I could walk into this room, pick out any woman I saw, and she’d be on her knees. Ariel was about to prove I still had that ability.

  “I assume that’s an offer.” I slid off my tie and popped my top collar button. But that was where I stopped. My body belonged to Belle, and this bitch wasn’t getting anything more than a hand around her throat. “Serpent Room, now.”

  It was easy to slip into the role of Dom, a fact that I took little comfort in
as I walked toward the aptly named private room. It had always been my least favorite due to its gaudy use of snakeskin leather as its primary decor, but it was where this snake belonged. Ariel entered behind me and I pointed up. She scurried to the center of the room, lifting her arms to the row of shackles that hung overhead.

  This was going to be far too easy.

  “Do you want me to undress?” she asked hopefully.

  Fuck no.

  “Did I tell you to speak?” I growled.

  She fell silent, and I went to work binding her wrists to the inescapable restraints.

  “This is what you wanted,” I accused, circling around her. “So much so that you’re willing to feed yourself to the wolf.”

  “Yes, Sir,” she panted.

  I slapped her. “You don’t get to call me that.”

  Her eyes fell even as her legs wiggled apart.

  That isn’t where this is going. I kept the thought to myself as I rounded on her restrained body. Her breathing sped up as I took a step closer. But rather than stripping her, I wrapped my arm over her shoulder and closed my fingers around her neck.

  “You’re going to answer some questions now.”

  The effect of my words was immediate. Ariel jerked against the shackles, trying desperately to free herself.

  “It’s too late for that. You wanted to be dominated, and I’m going to do just that. You’re going to tell me every fucking thing I want to know.” I squeezed her throat to emphasize that I was the one in control.

  “No!”

  My grip tightened, cutting off her air supply. “You’re new at this, aren’t you? No need to answer. I can’t believe Hammond trusted you to do this job. That’s why you came to work here, isn’t it?”

  I loosened my hold on her, and she gulped for air but didn’t speak.

  “I don’t think you understand,” I snarled, sliding my hand up to her jaw and capturing it. I leaned into her, my mouth pressed close to her ear as she tried to writhe away from me. “Desperate men lose control. I’m not desperate, but you have no idea how far I’m willing to go for answers. That was a simple question, so answer it. Did he send you here?”