A Million Dirty Secrets (23 page)

“You accuse me of treating you like any other employee, yet you never listen when I give you an order,” he seethed.

“Yeah, well I’m insubordinate. Fire me,” I said, getting to my feet to storm past him.

He grabbed my arm and swung me around until my back was pressed to the wall just inside the door. His body was pressed to mine, his forearms flush with the wall and rendering me immobile. He forced my legs apart with his knee and I could feel his hot breath against my ear as he ground the bulge in his pants against my stomach. He wasn’t kidding when he said he had a lightning-quick recovery time.

“Why? Why can’t I call you Lanie?” He buried his head in the crook of my neck. The sound of his voice was a mix of desperation, anger, and frustration, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why. He dragged his lips across my skin sensually and then lifted his head to look me in the eye. Piercing hazel orbs reflected an intensity that both shocked and made me want to give him anything he asked.

“I’ve treated you well. Better than you could’ve possibly hoped for in your situation. And I’ve always made sure you’ve been adequately taken care of in other ways as well.” He reminded me of his meaning by bending at the knees and slowly grinding into my very center. A traitorous moan escaped my lips. “So, why? Give me one good reason.”

How about five? Because it made all this too personal. Because it would be too hard to leave him at the end of the two years. Because it was going to make it too easy to fall in love with him. Because I just couldn’t …

That was the truth. But if I told him any of those things, he’d send me packing and demand a full refund.

“Because you want to,” I said, giving him the fifth reason.

“I want you.” He leaned forward and gently tugged at my bottom lip with his teeth. His hands left the wall and he began to run them up and down my sides desperately. “Why are you torturing me?”

I was torturing him?

“I’m not torturing you, Noah,” I sighed. “Not giving you permission to call me Lanie means that for once in your life, you can’t have something you want. And you only want it because you can’t have it. And it’s killing you because you have no control over it whatsoever. You’re overly privileged and
spoiled rotten. And it’s pretty obvious that everything in your life has been handed to you on a silver platter. But this one? This one is personal. You have to
earn
the right, and only I get to decide when you have adequately done so.”

I could feel the vibrations of his growl against my chest, reminding me of how enticingly close we were. Obviously he didn’t like my answer. “You’re mine. Maybe you forgot. Here, let me remind you.”

His body kept mine pinned against the wall, but his hands yanked my skirt up over my hips before he pulled the front of his underwear down and released the beast within.

I understood perfectly what Noah was doing. I had stripped him of the control he thought he possessed and had made him feel like less of a man. This was his way of regaining it. I expected it, even coveted it. We both knew my body would react. That went without saying. But my mind, my soul … those were mine to give, only when I felt him worthy. And that was never going to happen. This was no fairy tale. This was me, being owned by a man who had paid big money to ensure my physical submission. Nothing more. And I wasn’t about to put myself out there like that, because I could definitely see myself falling for the likes of Noah Crawford, which guaranteed a broken heart for me.

“Do it. Fuck me,” I challenged. “That’s what I’m here for, right?”

He stopped and searched my eyes. Then he leaned in until our lips were barely touching and asked, “Why did you sell your body to me?” His cock was pressed against my entrance, but he didn’t move.

“You were the highest bidder.” The tip of my tongue made brief contact with his lower lip and I arched my back to try to entice him to just put it in already.

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it. Why did you put yourself up for auction? Why did you need the money?”

“Boy, you’re full of questions today, aren’t you?” I ran my hands through his hair teasingly and tried to maneuver my hips so that his head could enter me, but he pulled back enough to thwart my effort.

“Answer the damn question and stop trying to fuck me,” he said forcefully.

“Why? Don’t you want to fuck me?”

He hooked his hands behind my thighs and lifted me off the floor, and then he thrust his cock into me. In one swift move, he was totally submerged inside my body. I gasped and clutched his shoulders.

“You tell me. Does it feel like I want to fuck you?” He rolled his hips to grind into me. “It’s damn near the only thing I think about lately. I’m so fucking addicted to your pussy that I can’t think straight. Now, stop trying to distract me and answer the question.”

He kept his hips still and refused to move any more, even though I was doing my best to get some friction going.

“Noah, please,” I begged like a shameless hussy. I could feel his thickness stretching me and I wanted more.

He leaned forward and his husky voice permeated my ear, sending shivers down my spine. “Answer the question and I promise I’ll give you what you want. Because you want it, too. Don’t you, Delaine? You want to fuck me just as much as I
want to fuck you. Goddamnit, just think about it—my thick cock moving inside that tight little cunt of yours. In and out until you feel like you’re going to explode.”

I moaned and slipped my hands under his arms and down his back until I could slide them down his boxer briefs to grab a handful of his ass. Then I rolled my hips the fraction of space allotted to me, desperate to feel the mind-numbing orgasm I knew he could give.

“Yeah, you like the thought of that, don’t you, kitten?” He sucked my earlobe into his mouth and nibbled it teasingly. “All you have to do is answer the question.”

I was already teetering on the edge of losing control, and then he just had to go and call me “kitten.” He’d been doing that a lot lately and every time he did, it shoved me right on over into the abyss of insanity. I wanted him so badly I thought I might cry. And he smelled so good that I swear I probably could’ve gotten off on his scent alone. I whined out of frustration because I knew I couldn’t give him the answer he wanted, just like I knew he wasn’t going to give me what I wanted if I didn’t.

“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

“No,” I answered, and he let out a frustrated breath. “Like my name, my reason for the contract is also personal.”

He shut his eyes tightly and I could see his jaw muscles working as he ground his teeth. Abruptly he pulled out of me and set me on my feet. He made quick work of tucking himself back into his pants and then secured the belt in place. It had to hurt because he was still hard as granite. He hissed in discomfort, confirming my suspicion. When he was done, he looked
back at me, shook his head in disappointment, and then walked out of the room without a word.

I sank to the floor with my knees drawn up to my chest and my face buried in my arms. That was when everything came crashing down on me. My mother’s illness, my father’s despair, the stupid contract—and Noah. The pretenses I had to keep up with him; pretending that I was so much more unaffected by him than I actually was. It was too much and it had made me numb.

I was lying to my parents. I was lying to Noah. And I was lying to myself.

Oh, what a very complicated web of deceit I’d spun.

I was so out of my league. No way was I going to come out of this unbroken.

I was falling for him big-time already. I meant what I’d said earlier; I had missed him today. I couldn’t stand being away from him. And then when I walked in and he was waiting for me, looking exactly like I felt—spent and anxious from the separation—I needed him. I needed him to need me.

Yes, I said needed. Not wanted,
needed
.

I sat there on the floor for hours, mulling it all over in my head and generally feeling sorry for myself. But I couldn’t stay there forever. Eventually, I’d have to face Noah, so I hauled myself off the floor and decided a nice, long dip in the pool would probably be a good idea. Maybe by the time I was done, Noah would already be fast asleep. I still wasn’t even sure he wanted me in his bed. Unless he ordered me otherwise, that was where I’d be. Great. Double Agent Coochie wouldn’t give me issues with that at all, I thought sarcastically. Yep, a nice dip
in a cold pool was exactly what I needed to sober me and the Cooch.

Luckily, the house was big enough that I didn’t bump into Noah on my way to the bedroom. He wasn’t there. I did a quick change, putting on the scrap of cloth Polly had sworn up and down was a bikini, and made my way outside to the pool. I may have also sent a silent prayer in thanks to the powers that be my father didn’t have to see his baby girl in that ludicrous getup. However, I soon realized exactly how much God was punishing me for this life of sin I had stumbled upon when I found Noah swimming laps in the pool.

I was momentarily stunned when I caught sight of his sinewy muscles as he sliced through the water like a hot knife through warm butter. His movements were smooth and fluid, like he was part of the water himself. When he reached the end of the pool, he grabbed on to the side and pulled himself out. Water cascaded off his frame and his wet hair shone black as night, reflecting the light of the moon. My eyes trailed over his shoulders and down his lean back to his … Oh. My. God. He even swam in the nude.

The Ridonkabutt was flexed and more chiseled than any butt had a right to be. I wanted to bite it. Hard.

“You’re staring at my ass again.” His voice dripped like liquid sex and knocked me out of my drunken stupor. Yes, I was drunk on the badonkadonk. And he had eyes in the back of his head? Maybe those little back dimples were actually an extra pair.

I gasped when he turned around, and he quickly covered himself. He shrugged and, completely uncharacteristic of him, looked embarrassed. “The water’s a little cold.”

Well, you could’ve fooled me. I mean, he wasn’t as colossal as I was used to seeing him, but there were plenty of men out there who only wished they were as large when they had a raging hard-on as Noah was when he was limp.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you’d be down here. I’ll just …” I turned to go back inside.

“No, don’t. Stay.”

I turned back around and he was walking toward me with that towel wrapped around his waist and beads of water clinging to the fine patch of dark hair on his chest that stretched into a trail leading to the object of my affection. The towel did nothing to dissuade my ogling. The Wonder Peen was bulging under there, and if he got excited, I knew the massive tent he’d pitch would be big enough to shelter the whole damn Von Trapp family. Kind of made me feel like singing, except my singing voice really sucked. So much so that it had been outlawed in my own home. But I digress.

Cooch was threatening to gnaw her way through my bikini to get at him, and I smacked her on the head to get her to settle down. Apparently it wasn’t a mental smack, because Noah looked at me with a raised brow.

“Um, I thought I felt a mosquito, and well, that would be a really uncomfortable place to have the itchies,” I said. It wasn’t a very good cover.

“Uh-huh. Well, you’re free to use the pool. But if you don’t mind, I’m going to relax in one of the lounge chairs for a bit while I dry off. I’m feeling a little tense and could really use the fresh air.”

“I could give you a massage if you want,” I blurted out. “I mean, I’m pretty good at it.”

He looked just as surprised as I was by my offer, but he tilted his head to the side as if he was considering it. He nodded and then gave me a crooked smile. “Yeah, that would be really nice.”

I followed him over to one of the lounge chairs and waited while he reclined it all the way flat and lay down on his stomach. He folded his arms so that his chin rested on them while I stood there like a complete idiot trying to think of the best way to approach him.

The assterpiece looked like the best seat in the house, so I straddled him and perched the Cooch right on top of it. Like the ass whore we all knew she was, she got herself a little better acquainted with him right away, flirting unabashedly with him behind the Wonder Peen’s back.

“Um, this usually works better with lotion. Do you want me to go get some?” I asked.

Noah lifted his head a bit and looked back at me. “Not really. I’m pretty comfortable and would prefer you stay right there.”

The Cooch and I were in agreement on that one.

I started on his neck and shoulders, kneading the flesh as firmly as I could without pinching his skin. He moaned in approval while I worked the tense muscles until I could feel the tension melt away under my fingers. He kept his eyes closed and I did my thing, making my way across his shoulders and down his back. I couldn’t help myself—I leaned forward and gently kissed his neck. He moaned again and shifted his hips, causing a delicious bit of friction between my legs. I figured since he liked that, I’d do it again to see if I could get the same reaction. Noah did not disappoint.

I kissed a trail down his spine, all the while continuing to massage his muscles, craving the feel of him beneath my fingers and palms. He arched his back, which brought his ass even closer to my center like an offering. So I slid down his legs and made a pit stop to swirl my tongue in those little dimples above his ass, dragging my arms and hands along the flesh of his back as I did so. When I reached the towel, Noah lifted his hips and I slowly peeled it back, exposing God’s gift to ass whores everywhere.

My tongue slipped out to wet my lips as I ogled it, feeling suddenly ravenous. Then I slid my hands over the two luscious mounds and palmed them greedily.

“Your ass is so perfect.” I leaned forward, gave it a quick flick of my tongue, and then bit him.

Noah flinched with a hiss and I bit him again, but on the other cheek. He was delicious. I took a hunk of his skin into my mouth and gave it all the suction I had. Oh, God, I was finally getting what I wanted most, and it was so worth the wait. My moans mixed with Noah’s hisses and then some stuff went down seriously fast.