Consequences of Deception (12 page)

“Watch it, princess. Sorry to disappoint you, but Chord and the guys are busy with something else today, so I’ll be the one going with you. What time do you want to go?”

Somehow I manage to keep from gritting my teeth as I tell him that I need twenty minutes to change and pack a beach bag for the day. To say that I’m not looking forward to spending the day with Killian is an enormous understatement.

We get down to the beach about a half hour later. I escape into the water with an inner tube while he sets up our area before joining me on his own tube. Pensacola is possibly the best and most relaxing beach that I’ve ever been to because the waves are practically non-existent, so you can just chill out. I’m expecting that we will float in silence, so I’m surprised when Killian starts talking.

“Is this what you do everyday with Chord, Trey and Adam? You let them see you like this?”

As ridiculous as it is, I’m now realizing that he’s suspicious and jealous of the time I’ve been spending with the security team, even though he is the one that left me with them in the first place!

“Yes, this is what I do and yes, I let them see me like this. I’m in a bathing suit for God’s sake. They’re all friendly and I have no problem spending time with them, but you should know that they’re completely professional and I don’t think that they’ve ever looked at me as if I’m anything more than their boss’…
Ugh!
—Whatever the fuck I am.”

His answer is quick. “What you are is mine, and they fucking know it. You make sure they keep it professional around you because if they don’t—they’re gone—and so are you.”

“Killian, really, they’re fine. You’re being ridiculous. And honestly, why do you care? I watched another woman blow you in our condo last night! It’s not like we’re exclusive.”

I startle when he wraps his hand around my ankle and yanks my tube closer to his. “You’re exclusive to me because I own you. Don’t make me angry because you won’t like what happens. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” I snap past my gritted teeth. “I understand that I’m your seven million dollar fucking trophy. You don’t need to keep reminding me.”

He says nothing for a few minutes after that, but he doesn’t let his hold of my ankle go which means that we stay floating, right next to each other. When he does speak again, I’m relieved that he just lets the subject of the security team go.

“Why didn’t you get the teaching degree that you always said that you wanted?”

Since he’s not being rude or obnoxious, I answer honestly. “Celine decreed that it was stupid and that was that. I was planning to start working toward my teaching degree this fall, but obviously now…”

“Now what?”

Sometimes men are really daft and Killian fits into that category at the moment. Pointing to the ankle that he still had a grip on, I snap, “Now that I’m tethered to you for a year, obviously I can’t go back to school.”

Shaking his head at me, he lets go of my ankle. “That’s ridiculous. I live closer to the college than you did when you lived with your asshole family. If you want to go to school, go to fucking school. It’s not like I’ll be chaining you to my bed. At least, not during the day.”

It takes everything that I have not to snap at him or push away entirely. Shielding my eyes from the sun, I choose to answer him simply. “Then I’ll schedule an appointment with my advisor to sign up for classes. When will we be going home?”

“No idea. I’m playing it by ear.”

I was sure that he would have a definite answer and I am surprised that he doesn’t. This is so not him, and I can’t keep myself from asking why he is suddenly Mr. Vacation. “Since when do you vacation so much time away?”

“I can work from anywhere, Sloane. I’m renting another condo in our building and I’ve got everything that I need there. That’s where I’ve been going every day.”

Now
that
is interesting, and it makes me see things in an entirely different light. “Hmm,” I murmur.

“Hmm, what?”

I debate for a tenth of a second about whether I should say what I want to, and in the end I throw caution to the wind and go for it.

“The fact that you have another condo set up in the building leads me to believe that you
wanted
me to find you having Grandma blow you last night.”

Shading his eyes, he glares at me. “She wasn’t a grandma.”

“Since you’re not denying why you brought her into our condo, I’m going to assume that I hit the nail on the head.”

“No,” he snaps, “You didn’t. If you must know, I only came into our condo to get the keys for the other unit. There’s a lot of fucking equipment in there and I’m not leaving it with a fucking push in entry code. Once I got into our condo to get the keys, one thing led to another and I didn’t think you would be awake since you crashed so early every other night.”

How I manage to not grind my teeth down to nubs is a mystery. Talking about him and the cougar is making my blood boil. Instead of reacting the way that I want to, I go with bubbly. “This is great! From now on you can take your cougars upstairs and I can sleep through the night. It’s a win-win for me!”

Honestly, I hope he gets an STD. Who the hell buys one person and then fucks around with others? What the hell is wrong with Killian Brandt… and why do I care so much that he’s not sleeping with me?

The silence that follows is welcomed as we both figuratively retreat to our respective corners. We spend an hour at the beach followed by an hour or so in the pool, breaking to eat lunch at one of the restaurants in the resort before heading back to the condo.

Tired from the combination of having slept like shit last night and the hours spent in the sun today, I’m looking forward to a shower followed by a nice nap. After showering all of the sand and chlorine away, I brush my hair, throw on a tank top and a pair of underwear and climb right into my gigantic bed.

I wake up with a smile on my face due to getting the best sleep I can remember in years. With a little moan of appreciation, I snuggle into my nice warm pillow, rubbing my face on it as I sigh in pleasure and allow myself to drift in that twilight state between being asleep and awake. As I take a deep breath in, I notice that my bed smells like Killian. It’s a good smell—the best, really—and I allow myself to enjoy it for a few seconds… until my brain finally decides to come back from la-la land. The cozy pillow I am snuggled up against is not, in fact, a pillow at all.

It’s Killian.

At some point the giant asshole has made himself at home in my bed and, like the idiot that I am, I’ve snuggled right up to him! My pillow is Killian’s chest and as I open my eyes all the way I am horrified to see that he is wide awake and watching me.

“You move around a lot in your sleep,” he says matter-of-factly.

As I sit up, I rub the sleep from my eyes. “Why are you in my bed?”

“Mm… I’m not in your bed. You’re in mine. Or actually, I should say—ours.”

My eyes dart around quickly, confirming that I really am in his bedroom. “What do you mean,
ours
?”

“I mean that you’re not going to be sleeping anywhere else but with me from here on out. I paid a lot of money for you and I want you here—with me.”

I choose not to rise to the bait of the money taunt, but it is hard. Instead, I decide to ask a practical question. “How did I even get in here?”

“I went into your room to talk to you but you were passed out so hard that you didn’t respond to any of my attempts to wake you up. Since what I say goes, I didn’t need to wait for you to wake up to enact the change. So I picked you up and brought you in here.”

The whole thing makes me anxious because I like having my own space—hell—I need it. Meanwhile, my inner ho, traitor that she is, jumps up and down, clapping like a goddamn idiot.

“I like having a room of my own…”

He brushes me off with a wave of his hand. “And I like having you close by so that I can get inside of you whenever the mood strikes me. You and I are about to start spending a lot of time in bed.”

My entire world tips on its axis and it takes a few seconds for me to find words for a response. I am so confused that I can only string two ridiculous words together. “We are?”

He dazzles me with a smile that I feel throughout my entire body. “You can bet on it, princess. Get used to this mattress because you’re about to spend most of your time on top of it.”

His face and words liquefy my brain and body. And I hate myself for being such a pushover for him.

“Take your clothes off and show me your body, Sloane.”

This is it, the put up or shut up moment. It’s time for me either to do it or run away. The truth—the humiliatingly awful truth—is that I want it to be him. I saved myself for him, after all, even if I like to pretend otherwise. This is my chance—and now I have to decide whether to take it.

I hesitate, but the look he gives me says that I’ll be pissing in the wind to even try putting it off anymore. No matter what I do now, we are going to have sex—and in my heart of hearts—I want it.

Focusing on a point over his shoulder, I pull the tank top off and toss it to the floor before wiggling out of my panties and tossing them down as well. I want to cross my arms, but refusing to give him the satisfaction, I force myself to keep my arms in a relaxed looking pose at my sides.

I raise my eyes defiantly to meet his, surprised to find that he is staring at me in awe. For just a moment, I think that he looks as affected as I, but then the shutters come back down as he reaches out for me and pulls me into his arms. Giving me no time to think or object, he covers my mouth with his own and works at the seam of my lips until I open my mouth and let his tongue inside.

Within seconds, I am no longer thinking about fighting him at all, and my arms wrap around his shoulders at the same moment that his arms wrap around my waist and pull me up so that I am sitting on his lap. We kiss passionately, the only sound in the room being that of our combined heavy breathing, our moans, and the occasional sound of lip smacking.

My body, wanting everything immediately, rocks back and forth on top of the erection trapped beneath his lounge pants and tucked against my liquid center.

Pulling his mouth away from mine he pants, “Give me your hand.”

Complying without question, I put my right hand in his and then watch as he uses his other hand to take his cock out of his pants. I gasp when his huge erection springs free, then moan when he guides my hand to it and lets me touch him — like this — for the first time.

He hisses when I fist the top portion of him and begin lightly twisting my hand up and down. A dribble of clear liquid appears at the head and I spread it around with my fingers before going back to working at him with my fist, drinking in the sound of his groans with a smile.

“Fuck, princess, you’re going to make me come so fucking hard. Tell me how your pussy feels. Are you wet for me, Sloane?”

I clench and unclench my inner muscles a half dozen times in reaction to his words, letting out a whimper as I feel wetness coating my inner thighs.

“Yes, I’m… I’m… wet…
Killian
…”

He growls; an animalistic sound of pain. Before I know it, he’s up and off the bed, ripping his lounge pants off. I clench again and moan looking at him—totally naked—for the first time.