Cunning (Infidelity #2) (7 page)

Just before I reached the conference room, my phone buzzed. Normally I wouldn’t check, but it could be Isaac. I slowed my steps and checked the screen. It was a text from Deloris.

Deloris: “THREE UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO LOG ON TO YOUR OFFICE DESKTOP.”

My father’s a fucking idiot. If he thought I would give him carte blanche in my office, he was dumber than his Neanderthal attitude.

Me: “OREN’S IN THE BUILDING.”

Deloris: “WILL KEEP WATCHING AND STOP FROM MY END.”

Me: “HE’LL NEVER CRACK YOUR SECURITY. BUT KEEP WATCHING.”

Deloris: “I ALWAYS DO.”

Pressing my lips together, I held back the smile. She was better than the lackluster security he had in London. As a matter of fact, unbeknownst to him, a few months back she upped their security and replaced a few questionable employees, saving his ass again.

Then I saw a message I’d missed.

Isaac: “MISS COLLINS CANCELED THE SPA APPOINTMENT. SHE JUST LEFT THE HOTEL ON FOOT. WILL FOLLOW.”

I took a deep breath. Maybe our afternoon discussion of rules wasn’t enough. Though my hand would miss the delightful sensation, my belt would be more effective.

AT 7:45 I STEPPED
from the suite with my head held high. Nox left me five one-hundred-dollar bills, and while my plan was to save every penny, that wasn’t starting yet. Instead of going to the spa appointment, I used my time wisely, walking to a few different stores, purposely avoiding the higher-end clothing. Nox may have said I wasn’t a cheap whore, but he purposely made me feel that way. I intended to deliver.

The off-the-shoulder skater dress was perfect—red and barely reaching the middle of my thighs. It was too short to follow Nox’s directions. I wasn’t obeying anyway. One more violation wouldn’t matter. Near the back of the store, I found a cheap gold armband that added to the illusion. Determined to avoid everything lying upon the king-sized bed, I found some strappy patent leather, high-heeled sandals and a matching purse, complete with a gaudy gold chain strap that matched my new armband.

My makeup was a work of art. Golden shimmery eye shadow and heavy black eyeliner made the woman in the picture in Nox’s letter look like she’d been without makeup. Of course I found a lipstick to match the bright red of my dress. I curled and teased my hair, keeping one of my favorite childhood movies in the back of my mind. By the time I was done, Julia Roberts and Richard Gere would have been proud and offered me a role in
Pretty Woman
.

The closer I came to Mobar, the faster my pulse surged. Twice he’d written not to disobey him. I’d disobeyed him on every count, and I had two more directions to defy before I was done. I just hoped Nox wasn’t there yet, because when he arrived, I planned not to be sitting alone. I also wasn’t planning on spending my time running my finger over the rim of a glass… and it wouldn’t be full either.

I stopped at the entrance of the bar and scanned the room. There were tables with couples and more with groupings of people. I smiled at the clientele: mostly men and women wearing suits, probably visiting New York on business. I took a deep breath. It was showtime and my main audience had yet to arrive. That was good. I needed another drink before that reunion.

THE MUSCLES IN
my neck twitched as I made my way toward Mobar. My note had been very specific as to attire and directions. Charli was mine for the next year. I planned to make her think she was completely at my disposal.

Isaac told me that she’d already defied my orders by canceling the spa appointment. I also knew she’d walked to some nearby stores. After her spanking this afternoon, the idea that she was purposely defying me had me both pissed and aroused.

I knew her dress size from Del Mar, but Deloris was the one who learned her shoe size. I didn’t read it, but apparently, Infidelity’s profile was extremely thorough.

The black dress I had sent over from Saks was beaded, short, and dipped in the front and back. She couldn’t wear a bra, and I left explicit instructions for her not to wear anything else. The shoes were black with high heels and reminded me of the ones she’d displayed on the dashboard of the Boxster. I was fucking getting hard thinking about it. In the matching handbag was five hundred dollars in cash. It wasn’t as if she’d need to pay for anything. It was simply a reminder that I paid for her—she was mine.

I would most definitely be fucking her tight pussy, but first I would fuck her mind.

The upscale bar with the red walls and golden booths created the perfect ambiance. It was like walking into a 1950’s film, and Charli was the starlet. Every man’s fantasy was my reality. I was ready to see if she followed directions as well in New York as she had in Del Mar. My jaw clenched as I approached the bar. Charli didn’t see me. She couldn’t with the men on either side of her.

What the hell?

She wasn’t wearing the black dress. I could only see a portion of the red material that hung from her slender shoulder as I moved closer. My entire body trembled. The walls and her dress weren’t the only red I saw… rushing blood tinted my vision as my teeth clenched. My day had gone from bad to worse, and soon hers would too.

I laid my hand on one man’s shoulder and motioned with my head for him to get lost. For only a second he looked as though he might argue. Charli flinched, but didn’t turn toward me. One down, I then placed my hand on the other man’s shoulder, the one seated beside her. My words came out more as a growl. “You have my seat.”

He looked from me to Charli. She smiled at him, and the heat boiling from my collar told me that my face joined the party of red. If this asshole didn’t move in the next three seconds, I wasn’t responsible.

“Goodbye, Chad,” Charli said. “Thank you for the drink.”

“Is this the guy you’re waiting for…?”

“Your three seconds are up,
Chad
.” My nostrils flared with exaggerated breaths. However, instead of decking him—as I wanted to do—I reached for Charli’s forearm. “We’re leaving. Now.”

“Do you know this jerk?” Chad asked, standing and meeting me chest to chest.

If he only fucking knew how pissed I was, he’d be running with his tail between his legs. I stood taller, dwarfing him by at least six inches. When I turned toward Charli, I couldn’t believe my eyes. She wasn’t wearing anything that I’d bought. Under my grip was some cheap gold jewelry that looked like a snake twisted around her forearm. Her eyelids sparkled. She was made up like some kind of eighties’ throwback punk-rocker.

“We’re leaving,” I again growled.

Chad’s hand came to my chest. The man had balls—I’d give him that. “I asked the lady if she knew you.”

Charli’s bright red lips pursed in defiance, but under my grip her pulse thumped erratically. It would be easy to allow mine to do the same, to be what she remembered—what I remembered. Touching her ignited something inside of me that I was trying to pretend didn’t exist. Now, as my fingers surrounded her forearm, the connection was undeniable. Her agreement was for one year. I couldn’t let her go after a week. After a year would be impossible.

But first she had a lesson to learn.

“I thought I did,” Charli replied.

Chad couldn’t hear the hurt and disappointment in those words. They weren’t meant for him. Well, too bad. I was disappointed too.

“You thought?” Chad asked. “So you don’t?”

The fucker was persistent. “She knows me. And we’re leaving. Now.”

“Thank you again for the drink,” Charli said, calling over her shoulder as I pulled her from the stool and walked her out of the bar. Her cheap heels skidded across the floor as she moved to keep up with my determined gait.

I needed to get her up to the room. If we weren’t alone in seconds, I’d explode. Leaning down to her ear as we neared the elevator, the muscles in my neck strained as I snarled, “Do you think this is funny?”

Charli made several attempts to free her arm, but my grip was iron. She would undoubtedly have a mark, probably the imprint of the ugly jewelry and maybe a bruise from my hold. But at that moment I didn’t give a fuck. She’d be lucky if it was the only mark I left on her skin by the time this night was done.

“Let me go,” she whispered, still as determined as she’d been in the bar.

“Never.”

When the doors to the elevator opened, I walked us to the rear wall as other passengers entered. Each one stood near the doors with their backs toward us. I didn’t give a shit about the other people as I turned my back on them and stared down at Charli. With my body as a shield, she was caged.

My mind was fighting an epic battle, and I didn’t know which side would win. On one hand, I wanted to rip off the ugly red dress and fuck her into submission. My hand was done with its morning workouts, and seeing her, touching her, being this damn close to her, my cock was ready to get the party started.

On the other hand, I wanted to punish her for her blatant disobedience. I wanted to redden her perfect round ass again. This time I’d use my belt, and she’d remember exactly what happened when she didn’t listen to me.

We stared in silence as the elevator made its painfully slow climb. Finally the last couple got off, and we were alone with over fifteen floors to go. I squeezed tighter on the jewelry, feeling the metal bend. “I asked you a question. Do you fucking think this was funny?”

FUNNY? NO I
didn’t think any of this was funny.

Defiantly, I stared up into Nox’s eyes. The cold glacier blue of this afternoon was gone. Navy swirled in their depths. I was playing with fire, and I knew it. However, the longer we stood, our lips a whisper apart, his warm breath skirting my cheeks, and our hearts beating erratically against one another’s, I didn’t care if I got burned. No, I
wanted
to be burned.

“Your caveman routine is getting old. Unhand me. Now.”

His nostrils flared as the tendons in his neck flexed. Nox was a bull ready to charge and in the dress I purchased, I was the red cape. From the cyclone in his eyes to the force of his grip upon my arm, I watched the millions of thoughts swirling through his mind, thoughts that should scare me, but they didn’t. I was mad and hurt by his words. I wasn’t letting him off the hook that easily.

“What the fuck were you doing down there? You’re mine.” The last part came as a low, menacing whisper that reverberated through the elevator.

His declaration was both fire and ice, sending a chill down my spine while striking a match to the fire deep inside. Taking a step closer, his hard body pressed against mine to pin me to the wall, his chest flattening my breasts and his erection pushing against my tummy. Without warning his lips captured mine, their warmth setting my insides ablaze as our tongues battled. Tenderness was forgotten as he unapologetically took what he claimed to be his.

The emotion he’d tried to contain earlier in the day exploded in the fury, washing over us as we melted together. It was as if he’d needed to taste me, to know I was real.

When the elevator stopped, Nox stepped back, and I sucked my bruised lips between my teeth. His stare held me in place. In his eyes wasn’t the menacing gaze that melted my insides. This was different, new, unyielding. Without words, he dared me to speak, and I wanted to, but my mind and body weren’t sure what to say. At the moment they couldn’t reach a consensus. The doors opened. He seized my hand and wordlessly pulled me toward the suite.