Fighting Back (Harrow #2) (11 page)

‘You mentioned an offer,’ Ivy said.

Dax rested back on the couch, lifting one ankle to the opposite knee. Ivy twisted her body toward him to address Mauri and Brad and pressed her hands into his thigh. ‘You’re not interested in their offer,’ Dax said to her.

‘No, I’m not. But they said we had to hear it, then I could get my things and go. So the sooner we hear it…’

‘We want to offer you the chance of a vacation,’ Mauri said. ‘Two weeks in the California sun.’

‘Why would you want to—‘

‘We can afford our own vacation,’ Dax said.

‘We want you to spend two weeks at the beach house, with your relatives,’ Mauri said, glancing over at the silent women, Dax didn’t follow his eye line.

‘You want to facilitate some big reunion?’ Dax asked. ‘Sorry, we’re not interested.’

‘You have to be,’ Brad said.

‘If you do this, you’ll have the time to consider the offer that I made to you before,’ Mauri said. ‘Then if at the end of it you choose not to agree, we’ll provide you a million dollars, no strings attached.’

Dax didn’t like the way that Ivy shifted. He wanted to throw the offer back at Mauri without any hesitation. But the offer of money did bring clarity about why their relatives had come. ‘How much did you offer them?’ he asked, bobbing his head in the direction of the other two women. ‘That how you got them here?’

‘Financial incentive is effective,’ Maurice said.

‘What’s the point of this?’ Ivy asked. ‘What do you expect to happen?’

‘Family is important, I’ve always believed that, but it’s become more relevant to me recently. When I’m gone, Dax won’t have that parental figure in his life anymore. He and Brad have always tolerated each other, but we know what his relationship with Trystan is like. I don’t want him to be alone in the world.’

‘And you thought that bringing my relatives into it would tempt me to coerce him?’ Ivy asked. ‘I don’t have the influence over Dax that you think I do.’

‘Yes, you do,’ Mauri smiled. ‘You’re sitting here now negotiating with me while he remains silent because he will do what you tell him makes you happy. He doesn’t want to lose you. He turned his back on his life for you.’

‘Not for me, because of you and your unreasonable demands,’ Ivy said. ‘If I had influence over Dax, we wouldn’t be here now.’

‘I’m not expecting you to answer this minute,’ Mauri said. ‘We prepared your room and invite you to spend the night. We can complete our negotiations over breakfast. You’re free to leave at any time, from here or from the beach house if you choose to. There is a lot at stake, and it would be foolish of you both to turn your back on an offer of financial stability that you won’t receive again.’

‘Show us to our room, my husband and I have to talk,’ Ivy said and Dax’s eyes closed.

This was an impossible decision to make. He didn’t want to be Mauri’s puppet anymore, but in a few months Mauri would be out of the picture for good. Now they had the chance of a small fortune even if they didn’t choose to take over the empire, and he could use that money to take care of Ivy for the rest of their lives. She was right, they needed to talk.

For the first time in a long time, it seemed like they didn’t know what to say to each other. The party was still going on downstairs, but they had been shown upstairs to a beautiful room, which had a white carpet and blood red sheets on the four-poster bed. The grand space was at the front of the house, so it had a large window, currently covered by drapes matching the colour on the bedspread.

Brad had given Dax his jacket back, but it was cast aside, as were his shoes and shirt. Now just wearing his pants, Dax strode the width of the room, checked out the bathroom, then came back into the room and slid his hands into his pockets.

‘Ok,’ he said. ‘You were right.’

‘You should get used to that,’ she said, pulling the pins out of her up-do and putting them on the dresser by the nightstand.

‘What are we doing here, Minx? Why don’t we just leave?’

‘If you want to then we can,’ she said. ‘But a million dollars is nothing to ignore. And I don’t want tonight to change how you feel about Mauri. I think… seeing my sister there was a shock, but he tracked down your mother. How does that feel?’

‘When I came back here after Brad told me Mauri was sick, I was… I wanted to ask about my history, wanted to ask questions about where I came from.’

‘Now you can.’ And now Ivy understood what that unknown other thing was that had been playing on his mind.

‘Not sure I want to,’ Dax said. ‘She’s a stranger.’

‘Your identity is tied into being an orphan. You’ve identified yourself that way for a long time, all of your life. It’s not easy to change your whole self-image in a single minute.’

‘Maybe I don’t want to change how I look at myself,’ he said. ‘For all the shit I’ve been through, all the shit I’ve done, things worked out ok.’

‘Right now, you’re my husband. You’re a fighter, a friend, and you’re an ex-enforcer, but… none of those have to change if you let yourself be a son too.’

‘You think this is a good idea?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know what I think,’ she said, sitting on the bed and hooking her heels up on the frame beneath the mattress. ‘When I saw you storm out of that room… I wanted to follow you, then that guy came out of nowhere.’

‘I’ll take care of that,’ Dax said, finding his scowl again. ‘Don’t worry.’

‘That’s not what I’m saying. I saw that you were lost and hurt. I wanted to be there with you, to make you feel better.’

Lifting her hands, she beckoned to him, so he came over to take her hands into his. ‘You know how to make me feel better,’ he said.

Dipping down, he caught her lips with his and guided her hands to his hips. Sliding them around to his ass when he came lower, he hooked his hands under her ass and picked her up to move her further back on the bed. His solid form covered her, and he kept on kissing. His tongue slipped deeper into her mouth, and she kept on squeezing his ass enjoying the unyielding gluts that she liked to grope at every opportunity.

His fist closed around the neckline of her dress, and she pushed on his chest to break their kiss. ‘Don’t rip this dress, I have nothing else to wear.’

‘I don’t give a fuck about that.’

‘In front of Mauri and his men, you will, especially when I’m standing in front of them wearing nothing but a thong.’

Rolling off her, he dropped his hands onto his chest. ‘Take it off then.’

Leaving the bed, she unzipped her silk sheath dress and let it drift onto the carpet. Some of his tension ebbed, but the intensity remained in his eyes, though that was nothing to do with what had gone on downstairs.

‘Maybe we should talk,’ she said. Unhooking her bra, she discarded it, then bent to slide down her underwear. ‘There is a lot to talk about.’

‘Forget talking. Talking isn’t what I need from you now,’ he said. Losing his pants took only a few seconds, he kicked them to the floor and curled his hand around his dick. ‘Have a seat.’

‘This is stupid,’ she smiled, climbing onto the bed. High on her knees, she hovered above the crown of his cock that he was trying to direct into her. ‘We shouldn’t be doing this here.’

‘I need this here,’ he said.

One arm swept around her, and he reversed their positions. Getting her onto her back, he was now the one high on his knees above her. She tried to sit up, but he took her move as an invitation. Cupping the back of her skull, he leaned back so that he could guide his dick into her mouth.

Sucking on the bulb he’d pushed between her lips, Ivy held her mouth back, which was enough to make him mutter in his usual private fashion. Increasing his pressure, she was unable to hold herself back in the face of his strength, so she sucked, just like he wanted her to. But as soon as he relaxed his hand, she grabbed his shaft and took it from her mouth, working it with her hand instead.

‘You think that if you come, you’ll be able to see things more clearly?’ she asked.

‘Your mouth has a way of reprioritising my life,’ he said.

Snatching her arms, he pulled her out from under him and rested her on the pillows. ‘What are you—‘

‘Stay there,’ he said.

Lying above her, he kissed the side of her neck, and when he encompassed her in his arms, she sighed out. When he kissed her like this, Ivy’s whole body fizzed, her hormones took over, and she couldn’t think straight let alone tease or argue with him.

Dax knew every part of her body, he massaged her breasts, using the tip of his thumb and the knuckle of his forefinger to work the nipple, pinching and pulling her into a peak that he loved to suck into his mouth and catch in his teeth.

Running her hands through his hair and down his neck, she was pleased that this endeavour gave him focus. Physical activity was what he needed, and this would keep him occupied for a while. Except her desire was thumping in her ears and the heat of fresh blood gushing through her veins opened every one of her nerves, each of which begged for his attention.

‘Dax,’ she said, but he just grumbled around the breast he was sampling, which sent shivers of vibrations through her.

Locking her ankles at his back, Ivy regretted not taking her chance to ride him when he’d offered her the position. Lost in the deluge of pleasure she got writhing up against his solid member, she almost didn’t notice when he stopped kissing her body and lifted his head.

‘You really weren’t scared down there?’

‘While I was sucking your dick?’ she teased, knowing exactly what he meant. He meant downstairs when she had a gun pointed at her, and to that there was only one response. ‘I trust you.’

That answer wasn’t a tease, and he knew it because he opened his mouth and kept on tasting her. His tongue glided down her abdomen, and while he kissed and licked her navel, she squeezed her lips together because she knew what this was a prelude to. When he was done tormenting her, he moved his attention further south. Parting her legs wide, he pushed down on her inner thighs to give himself a panoramic view of her core.

Coiling her fingers around the pillows that she lay on, Ivy watched him scrutinise her, and held her breath when he descended to taste her.

His skilled mouth licked and sucked on her until she was panting, then he came up over her to kiss her mouth, giving her the full flavour of herself while he sheathed himself in her. Whimpering against the scope of his reach, she relaxed when he moved out and then slammed back in, making no apology for stretching her passage for his own pleasure.

‘I only need this,’ she breathed, taking handfuls of his hair. ‘I need… oh God, Dax, I only need you.’

Opening her mouth wide, she screeched out his name and bucked up into his latest thrust. Orgasm clenched her abdominals, and as she rose from the bed, he took hold of the head board, giving himself more leverage to pound in harder. One orgasm became two, and when his climax eventually conquered him, she was tossed over the cliff again.

‘I don’t want his money,’ Dax panted, resting his head on her shoulder while he regained himself. Then he flopped onto his back and she rolled onto her side toward him, to keep their bodies in contact. ‘I’m sorry, I put you through all of this again.’

‘No,’ she said. ‘We had to come and see this.’ He shoved an arm around her and tucked her head down under his chin. ‘If we don’t want his money or the familial bribe, all that’s left to consider is this: the mansion, the offer of taking over here.’

‘Brad must know something about it, but I can’t see him happily signing over half the assets,’ Dax said. ‘Trystan too, he’ll go crazy if he thinks that I’m going to be in control of his budget, or any aspect of it.’

‘You think that Mauri is setting you up? Or that Brad will just pull the rug from under you when Mauri is gone?’

‘Maybe, I don’t know, the point is, I’m done. I told them when I walked out on that midnight meeting that I was through. I should’ve stuck to that. We should never have come back.’

‘I don’t see my things here, do you?’

His head moved above hers. ‘No. What’s so important to you in this bag?’

‘My birth certificate, all of my pictures, my memory stick, my jewellery… things that can’t be replaced.

Kissing her hair, he moved her body aside, away from his, and got off the bed. ‘Where are you going?’ she asked. But he was already getting dressed again.

‘Wait here, I’ll get your things.’

‘How will you do that? Are you going to tell Mauri how we feel about his offer?’

‘Not until after I’ve gotten your stuff back,’ he said, fastening his shirt and sticking his feet in his shoes. When he was dressed, he dropped a fist to the bed to balance his weight as he leaned down to kiss her. ‘Get dressed, but stay here. I’ll come back in a minute.’

‘I can come with you if—‘

‘No,’ Dax said. ‘I can be more persuasive if I’m alone.’

Still naked on the bed, she watched him depart the room then lay back to look up at the canopy over the bed. If they didn’t want Mauri’s money, family, or empire, then they could leave here and close this chapter for good.

Recovering from the exertion of their lovemaking, she took an extra few seconds to herself before she rolled off the bed and began to don her underwear. Being back here had been difficult for Dax, and she knew that he had high hopes of what he would get from Mauri, like maybe some respect and a bit of reassurance. Instead, he had received none of what he aspired for.

Ivy considered whether she should have been more forthright with her opinions of Mauri and what she expected, but it was difficult to dash Dax’s hopes. The fact that Mauri had trotted out Dax’s mother was conniving. It was a whole new level of manipulation that even she wouldn’t have expected from Mauri, but as Dax had frequently reminded her, she didn’t know Mauri well.

Picking up her dress from the floor, she was surprised to hear the door opening; Dax hadn’t taken as long as she thought he would. ‘That was quick,’ she said, unwinding the fabric.

‘Thought the same thing myself.’

The voice didn’t belong to Dax. In an instant, she was off the bed and facing the door, with her dress held to her chest. Fear didn’t invade her when rationale could be used to explain away the actions of men like Mauri. But the man who was in her room now didn’t work off any kind of sane rationale.

‘Trystan,’ she said. ‘What do you want?’

‘Don’t worry,’ he grinned. ‘I’m not here for a replay of the night we met. You’re safe.’

‘That’s debateable,’ she said. ‘So what are you doing here?’

‘Came to say hello, to say sorry for the way things went down.’ Though wearing a grin like that didn’t exactly scream contrition.

‘And you just walked into my bedroom to say that without thinking of knocking on the door?’

‘Sorry,’ he said, swaggering to the foot post of the bed closest to her. ‘But it’s not like I haven’t seen those before.’

Ogling her breasts, his grin morphed into something more salacious, and she stood tall, unwilling to shrink in the face of his intimidation. He’d seen her breasts before because he’d ripped open her shirt in Vegas, he’d violated her, and now that stare was designed to remind her of that sequence.

‘You’ve said you’re sorry, you can leave now.’

‘Oh, I have more to say,’ he said.

Where he stood blocked her from exiting the room, she could make a dash for the door, but she’d have to pass him, and she didn’t trust him not to intercept her and the last thing she wanted was his hands on her.

‘Then say it.’

‘Dax was a bit rough downstairs, don’t you think?’

‘He has reason to be.’

‘Sure he does, he’s jealous. It’s a shame things never worked out between you and me.’

‘A shame? I don’t think so. You wanted a wife you could lock up at home to satisfy your father’s urge to see you married. That’s not the kind of life I could ever embrace.’

‘We knew that, we figured it out,’ he nodded. ‘Dad came up with the ideal scenario, this could all have been settled if Dax had agreed to Dad’s suggestion.’

‘What suggestion?’

‘He didn’t tell you?’ Trystan asked. ‘You remember that meeting you were supposed to come to? That Dax was supposed to bring you to before he ran off?’